Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1852-02-12

ne party TO whom SUCH service UT loOO' "UJ ~
DUE" My reasons why this clause has no refer
ence to slaves are the following, to wit:
LIST. The preamble to the Constitution, stating
the objects of the instrument, states no ooIec'
of keeping slaves in slavery, or retaining 'He'h
when escaped into free State; but the reverse
as one essential object, to wit, to secure Inc
blessings Of liberty not only TO those VINO
adopted the g)Unstitution, but to their PoS'elity
likewise.
Cd. The perfect absurdity of calling slaves
persons, when the very laws that make the"
slaves excludes them from the cntagory OF per-
sons, and makes them mere anlmals-mere goooS
and chattels.
Sd. Slaves are not held to service under the
laws of any State, They are SO held by brute
force. The laws merely protect the master IN
the exercise of brute fOrCecover them. When
this very Fugitive Slave Law was under consld
Grafton, motion was made to amend the ac' SO
as 10 make it read, no person legally held to
service or labor" Mr.. Mason of Virginia opPt
sed the amendment. He said it would defeat
the whole bill, for no slave wOs legally held to
service.
4th. The perfect absurdity Of the expression
of service due to the claimant, as applied to
slave. The owner has no clam upon the slave
for labor or .seryice, any more than upon his
beast. TAeElaye no more owes service than
the beast All the law upon the subject is the
will of the owner or master, and that is-do, or
take the lash.
5th. BY the rules herein cited it is wholly in
admissible to strain this language to include
slave, not only because it sets it in opposition to
the whole language, provisions and spirit OF the
whole instrument, but because there is in every
State necessity of such provision to reclaim
fugitives who were legally holden to service or
laboL Such are bound apprentices, &c. Men
ton Is made in some newspaper of late, of an
apprentice escaped from New York to Hartford
in Connecticut, and sent back by Commits
sioner under the Constitution.
9Th. This Constitution was not adopted by
those who framed or wrote it. They could give
it no force. But it was adopted by the people
And the people, as Judge Story says, must have
read it. I" by the help of common sense, and can
not be presumed TO admit in the words Of it any
reconcile meaning or any extraordinary gloss y"
Again, he says, "every word must be expounded
| in ito nlain ohvions nj copmop sense y There
is nothing in this clause of the Constitution, to
make the people think of the word slave. And
the applying this to slaves, and congress lsgisa-
ting about what is not committed to them by the
Constitution, but which, in its very natule, be-
longs to the States, the giving up Po,Ver, are
usurpations. with which the people ought not to
be satisfied.
Can it be possible that the people have been
entrapped to adopt provision they never thought
of, and that now they can have no President but
one who is pledged to cram this down their
threats to The destruction of State sovereignty,
and even Of individual rights of conscience! -
What a mockery of the idea of establishing
justice, that we should be compelled under Sc
we're penalties, 10 aid inwhat VS. conscientiousy
consider to be sinful oppression! What justice
in compelling us by stringent penalties, to treat
as criminals and outlaws, human beings who
have cccAwitted no Grippe 1hutever, bat are flee
ing from oppression, as every one of us would
do in a like case, If We saw good prospect Of
success! What folly for the people to fasten
upon themselves the burden Of such injustice
by elevatIHg to places of power the authors OF
it, or those who uphold it
1t would appear incredible to an impartial oh.
server, that people should SO act, who boast Of
their liberty and of their Tree lnstitutions who
live under Constitution of their own adoption
which probe SEES to be made to establish justice
and secure the blessings Of liberty, while moth
ing can be more antagonistlc TO justice and lib
erty, than the very slavery which has become
the standard of fitness for President of this
great Republic.
What is the enquiry about the candidates fo
President, by either wings or old line demo
Gratis p? What do those candidates inscribe oil
their frontispiece to commend them to the no
tce of their respective parties2 IL am Tor TIT
compromises Of 1850, fugitive law and ali.''
They seem all to feel dependent upon thu
slave power tor every political boon. The al
tentative is plainly presented to them: "Suppor
these compromise measures, these supports O
slavery, or YOU have no part nor lot in the re
wards of Office"
If such despotism, such dictation, such com
bination of shareholders, and of aspirants t
office, don't rouse in the hearts of the pcopl
something of The spirit of '76, and cry for
Washington to lead them out of q tyrann
worse than British, it is difficult to concelv
what would arouse them to any action in fave
of freedom.
, 1t is not cenAin who will be nominated a
: candidates fol the next President. Whoeve
, votes for the next President, will vote for {
, against the continuance and extension of slave
, ry. And all, who feel 1t their duty to suppo
, the liberty achieved by our foreiathers, an
which our Constitution purports to secure, ma
hope, that, in cue time, candidate will he i
, nomination, with regard to whom no objecilo
) will be raised in truth, unless it be his love {
freedom, and opposition to the rule of slavery
: TIrUs HUTCHINSON.
Another step in Repudiating thu
nan1apa+ior, NJ TY1donandouNn