The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-03-28
From the Richmond Wing.
Senator Phelps's Let er.

dents of the evening.
From the Richmond Wing.
Senator Phelps's Letter.
With no ordinary qualification, we lay before
our readers and the country at large, the pa
triotic letter of Hon. Samuel S. Phelps, a senator
of the State of Vermont, addressed to JOSEPH
Segar esq., of the house of delegates, and re-
lating to the late enactment of that State in OPP
position to the execution of the Fugitive slave
law of the last session Of Congress.
That enactment was, under the circumstances
most unfortunate, and produced most properly
in the South, no small degree of excitement
1t tended, we are inclined to think, to roll back
the tide of public sentiment which was setting
in favor of the late adjustment, and impaired to
considerable extent, the confidence of the PEG.
pie of the South in the good faith Of the North
in regard to that adj ostment.
But we are rejoiced to be informed from q
source so respectable and authoritative, that the
case IS better, even in Vermont, than we had
been led to suppose. The letter of Senator
Phelps explains the circumstances under which
the Vermont law was enacted, and adds another
to the assurances we have already received, that
public sentiment at the North is undergoing a
salutary change, and that a spirit Of conserv-
atsm is at work there most suspicious to the
tranquility of the country and the perpetuity of
the Union. From the statement of Mr.. Phelps,
we are prepared to expect an early repeal OF the
exceptionable law.
We cannot too much commend the broad and
national spirit of the letter of the distinguished
senator from Vermont. 1t ranks him among the
bright patriots and prominent statesmen OF the
land. When such men take the side of the
Constitution and of right, the republic is safe.
But to the letter:
SENATE CHAMBER, January 10, 1851.
HoN. Jos. SEGAR--
Dear Sir: have the honor to acknowledge
the receipt of your letter, dated Richmond, and
addressed to my colleague and myself, contain
ing an inquiry in relation to the recent act of
the Legislature of Vermont, which has been the
subject of such general remark throughout the
country.
! hesitate not to say, in the most unequivocal
manner, and in this l have the concurrence of
my colleague in the Senate, and | believe that
of the entire delegation of Vermont,) that the
act referred to does not 'embody the deliberate
sense of the people of Vermont may add
with TRUTH that it does not, in my opinion, en-
body the deliberate sentiment of the legislative
body of the State. The act was hurried through
absence of many of the members, without dis
cussion or explanation of its character and ef-
feet, and have reason to believe, in utter TO-
norance on the part of many members who were
present of its Observation-Disclosures Such was
the haste attending the passage of the act, that
the first intimation to the public that such
measure was in contemplation was through the
publication of the law itself That publication
produced general surprise, and among men OF
reflection, almost universal and very deep regret
The act is disapproved by the almost entire
press, and, doubt not, by a vast majority of
the people of the State. 1t certainly was re-
ceived by her delegation in Congress with sen.
timents of regret and deep modification, as in
hicting stain upon the high character of her
people for patriotism, attachment to the Union,
and submission to constitutional authority and
as classifying the professions and pledges so bold
ly and confidently made during recent exciting
discussions, by her delegation on the floors Of
Congress. The law has been the subject Of
general discussion by the press of that State,
and, with one or two exceptions, has received
from that source the most pointed reprobation.
| have seen but one or two attempts to vindi-
cate it. Perhaps the courtesy due to the source
from which those efforts are supposed to pro-
ceed forbid the expression that they may be
characterized as weak but that they will fail to
satisfy the people of the State of the proprety
and constitutionaity of the act of her legisla-
ture, most con6dentially predict.
No attempt has been made or will be made,
to sustain the right of the State to override,
modify, or annul an act of Congress, by State
legislation. The only attempt to vindicate the
law which has fallen under my observation, con
sists in the effort to reconcile the law of the
State with the act of Congress commonly called
the Fugitive lava task so hopeless, in my
judgment, that whoever attempts it will very
soon find it m st convenient aud mo ST agreeable
to renqush it, IL there be at this moment any
difference of opinion among the people Of that
State, as to the merits of the State laws it is
upon this point Those, if such there be, who
can discover no conflict between it and the act
Of Congress, will of course discover no consti-
tutonal impediment to the exercise of legisla-
tive discretion by the State legislature but let
the point be once settled, that the law is repug-
nant to- and rreconciiable with the act Of Con.
gress, and pledge myself that there is not one
out of ten Of the voters in that State, including
the whole population, who would stand by the
State law for a moment. That they will dis
cover the utter incompatibility of the two laws,
| have no doubt They are an intelligent. as
well as n patriotic people, and will not fail to
perceive that, unless they oan endow dark skin
with the power of ubiquty, so a. to surrender
fugitive to the claimant, to be removed to the
State whence he fled, in conformity with the act
of Congress, and at the same time retain him az
free man under thoir protection, for further in
vestigation, and with view to his future dis
charge as such, the two acts cannot be carried
out without a conflict
1t is my deliberate opinion that this law will
share the fate of other acts Of hasty and improvi
dent legislation, of which the history of State
Legislation is full A few years since, a similar
law was enacted by the legislature of Vermont,
but in conformity with the decision Of the Su-
preme Court, in the case Of Priggs vs. Pcnnsyl-
vania, was very readily repealed. Such am
confident, will be the fate of this law when an
other legislature shall meet.
founded this opinion upon the intelligence
Of the people Of that State, which will not fail