Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1852-02-19

Forthe Freeman.
The Slave Power VS.. Mans Inhe-
rent Rights.

persons who claim to be their ldtgfMl OlOners-
who claim the right to use them as chattels-to
make them slaves. The position they assume
and the premises taken, am disposed to treat as
untenable and wholly unfounded. Jusnan
says, Captivity and servitude are both contra
ry to the law of nature; for by that law ali
men are born lree." Freedom exists in the ma
ture of man. 1t is an inherent principle in our
organization. That principle was recognized
by the United States ia the declaration of their
bill of rights; when they first assumed nation
al existence. That principle they still profess
sedly adhere to.
A slave is not held to service under laws, but
merely obliged to serve by force. Neither can
the service of slave be saiu to be due to any
one. 1t is not due in legal sense, ard much
less in natural sense. The language of the
constitution, as a language, has not the emtest
earthly reference to slaves, and was not design
ed.to have by the very men who draft ed the
constitution, or The men who intended te mpora
rily to make it apply TO slaves in prac tice.-
Whence came this nuton Of right 10 enslave
and Cypress human beings? Is il not impnssi-
BILE for one man to be the lawful owner Of an
other, in this 9 Lalldef the free and hoa ee re-
byans under the Declaration of iHdepefsd nee
and Constitution of the United States? The
former of which declares :" all men are created
equal; that they are endowed by their creator
with certain inalienabe rights that anon these
are Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" And
the latter declares that it was adopted to "es
tabIish Justice, ensure domestic tranquil ty, pro
vide for the common defense, promote the gen
eral welfare, and secure the blessings of Liberty
to ourselves and our posterity." Talb; about
being the talgfut gunner of another mani, under
such circumsta nces Is it not prepos tero Is?
Is it possible to place laws upon our satu tie books
making any class of persons SIaves How can
a lawful claim be est lbsh'd by one man, to
the bones and MUSCLES body and soul Of another
man2 | say soul, for what slave, while every
mental energy is suppressed beneath
the pondrous weight of oppression reduced to
the lowest grade of ignorance can exercise the
moral energies of the soul
More than three millions of human beings,
"made in the the i'm age Of God, but little low
err than the angels" are held in relentlentless,
cruel, inhuman and unjust bondage, " one hour
of uOhich Is JraugM aclh more misery than ages
Of that tOhich our fathers rose in rebellion to OPP
pose" And that those who assume to be their
masters, and cell them at pleasure-hnve NJ
more right to do so, than the slaves would have,
could they obtain the power to enslaVe their
present masters and sell them upon the auction
block to the highest bidder. 1t cannot be by
virtue of Justice OF Right, or OF law; but by
virtue of power, which enable men to assume
the relation oi lawful owner" which power,
sooner or later, b. eve, will cease to occupy
its present seat "1'here is no attribute IN the
Almighty that car take sides with Slavery"
Who can successfully denv that every slave in
his chains has not right TO his immediate un-
conditional liberty? believe in the sentiments
delivered by the Chief Justice Of the Supreme
CceFt Of Massaohusgtts at ptiBisc Dinner, that,
f. ehere is not 4 Save upon southern planta
tnss yho ias gsss a-v-.s.s, ssosl gsvsn fignt 10
demand his immediate liberty Of his master at
any moment, and if it is denied hr1, to lake il
over all opposition, at any expense of blood or
! life"
Great exertions ever have been made, and are
still making by the Southern states, to protect
and extend the institution of slavery: and to
our shame be it said Northern people have ded
in this diaboica work and in many ms tances,
have been the means of giving that man degrad-
ing institution Governmental protection. SAYS
President Fillmore in his last annual message
10 Congress, 'the act of Congress for the, return
of Fugltives fiom labor, is one required and de-
handed by the express words Of the C,onstitu.
ton"
The latter clause of Sec. :, Art, 4, declares
that no person held to service or ab1 in one
State, under the laws thereof, escaping into an.
other, shall, in consequence OF any law or rcgu
lation therein. be discharged from such service
or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim oil
the purity to whom such service or labor is due
r e President, in the message reterre to, as
sumes the position that, that anguag in the
constitution warrants and authorizes lie gislatior
by Congress for the protection OF slav cry, ant
manfests disposition to throw around it the iII'
huence of the executives by sustaining the Flu
gitive slave law in all its unjust and inhumat
bearings.
The Governor Of the State of Vermo NJ in hi,
last annual message to the Legislature of thu
State.-while speaking Of the const tuliom
powers of Congress in relation to the Fugitive
: Slave law, says, That Whatever other powe1
Congress may possess, in order to ensure t. an
uuiIlity and promote the general welfare, to war
rant the passage of the law in question, | bAvr
not been able to find it in that clause of b,
constitution, in relation to lngtlves from llbnr.'
He comedies in opinion with other learned jurlst
and distinguished statesmen. THAT no legisls
ton by Congress was authorized or required
The Hon. Chas X. Williams may we'll be rank
ed among the first men IN the Union, az inrs
and statesman. The noble and hig hmnde,
position he assumes in relation to huma rights
the great issue that agitates the pub lie min(
r throughout our country, must meet the approba
ton of every philanthropist and lover of free
principles. Certain it is, that he is susti lined il
his position in relation to the slavery ISIS ues, BY
large majority of the heemen of the Greer
Mountain State.
The Hon. John C. Calhoun, when the Sha-
drach affair was before the Senate, said in his
place, "the delivery of fugitive from labor is
an affair between two States The fugitive is
to be delivered up. To BE- delivered up he must
be seized. He must be in the possession Of
thnsa who nre IN haliuer him IN No nnthnrifu