Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1851-09-04
For the Freeman.

pdllClpauon III lue polltlcdl SflfeS OF the COun-
try that have many times waved my right of
voting at elections. Whenever vote it is with
the hope doing something against slavery, and
| have once voted for you as a candidate for the
office of Governor. Your late letter declining a
nomination for the office, contains things of
which your confding and disappointed friends
might reasonably complain. Yonr manner of
treating their understandings is almost disre-
spectful. You write as if either you or they,
too dull to learn in the school of human rights,
had not comprehended that an innocent mans
right to his own freedom, is unalienabe, and that
no legislation, however paramount" can create
for another counter right. 1t appears that if
one of your friends who have voted for you
should be claimed as fugitive slave, under the
late law of Congress, and if the claim should be
sustained by a legally bribed tribunal, without
jury, you would pronounce the proceeding free
from all constitutional objections" Should the
person so claimed apply to you for legal aid
under law of this state, he would get the com
fort of being told that the law which favors free
dom and jury trial is unconstitutional and void
while slavery's law should be faithfully and
fairly executed" Should any of US, yielding to
sense of duty or to feeling of kindness, and
the escape of hunted fugitive, you are willing
to have US severely punished, besides paying a
thousand dollars to the claimant. We of Yer.
mont. generally at least, perform our own labor
or pay honestly when others perform it. We
have no ambition to serve idle lordlings by
catching their runaways for them. Still less
would we put those who have always been rob
bed in way to be robbed again. We would
not treat with peridy those who, hoping for oul
kindness and seeking our protection, escape tc
us from bondage that neither you nor coult
think of enduring. If the STAKEHOLDER must have
the privilege of hunting and catching his prey or
our soil, we prefer that he should do his OWL
business, run his own risk, and pay his own ex
penses under all the disadvantages Of such reg.
ulatlons as are necessary to protect our own cit
liens. But you would have our regulations ou
of his way, and have us partake both of the des
potism of the master and the degradation of the
slave by performing, when required, that kind o
service to which the masters hounds are trained
Your position makes it difficult to argue witt
you, for in your upward ascent to a paramount
or higher law," you have stopped at that law
obedience which is the test of devotion t.
slavery. At this elevation you are above ever,
state law, however right, which may happen t.
conflict with slavery's sustaining law, and at TIL
same time you are below the Jurisdiction of rei
glon and natural right. How can man be con
viced of wrong, who is either above or below
all law, except that which makes wrong duty
Your principle that paramount or higher law
annuls all confistlng lower law, is good. Blu
only you could have convinced me that vor
would turn the good into evil by magbifying iha
law, which, fayorlng oppression, puts the Who'll,
nation on'the rack OF the unprotected fugitive
Go up to the highest round Of the legal ladde
and your principle will make the oppressed bles
you. ~
Although you are unassailable In the position
you have chosen, your attempt to influence tn,
public sentiment of Vermont in favor of slav
catching, calls for reply. You say, "If ever
man is to Judge for himself whether law is OBJ
llgatory, and each state has the right to deter
nine whether an act of Congress is constitution
al or not, there Is an end of all law, of all ordeJ
and peace" 1t seems then, we are not to b
governed as intelligent beings, conscious of nor
al right and wrong, but obey every law, righte
GUS or wicked, which the tribunals NAV pro
nounce constitutional. The supreme court r
the United Statate must decide, and all tn
states dali the people say amen. | wonder
you do not think it dangerous for the commo
people to read the constitution. Whenever yo,
will show, against the teachings of all history
that the bench is infallible, that it does not par
take OF the common depravity of human nature
that its decisions are above the control or in
fuence of despotism, will adopt your notions
I'LL then bow respectfully to the decisions o
the supreme court only when those decisions ar
sustalnedby enllghtening references to the con
Stltuuon and addressed to the intelligence of tn
community. Blind acquiescence withhold.
Your assertion as copied above, seems intend
ed to impress the duty of obedience to the fugI
tive slave act Now aver, resting on the self
evidence OF my position, that the spirit neces
sary to give effect to that act, is of all other
most opposed to law, order and peace. The &C
would be poweress if the community would b.
freed from all bad men. 1t is an ingenious piec
OF machinery, Of which the basest passions ar
the moving spring. 1t could not work momen
without the aid of avarce and cruelty. Tn
more we reverence a still higher law and ar
guided by the spirit of Christianity, and tn
more tender we feel of the rights of our fello,
men, the less will that act be obeyed and tn
more peace and order will prevail. The &C
itself reverses all the ends of law. Does a goo
law protect the weak aginst the aggression {
the strong? This act arms the strong wit
double power to Cypress the weak. Is it esser
tlal to good law that it be free from injustice
Subtract from this act its outrageous iniustlc
and what would be the remainder? Does
good law commend itself to the moral sense {
the community and enlist the cooperation of tn
wise and virtuousP Then this is just the oppc
site of good law. Does good law respeC
the rights of conscience? This act require
conscientious nen to do for Shareholders an
strangers what they would not dare to do ic
themselves. Is it an excellent feature of a la,
that it encourages industry? This act goes
deprive labor of its fair reward and help slave
holders and slave hunters to live without usefl
employment Such is your paramount" Law
which, " like good law-abding people" 70
l. IL