The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1854-06-28

our Chief Magistrate will remain long
on earth and return late to hcavcn-ScruS
IN coei,tm rcdeat but when he does 20
there. We have no advice to give as to
the place he shall occupy. He may take
his seat among the saints north or south,
if there be such polar divisions in the
New Jerusalem. We have no fear that
his weight will unbalancc the spheres, or
shake the settled equilibrium of the
heavenly world. There is one thing We
do wish, that while he is on carth--no
no while he is President that he will
try to keep the terrestrial cquipoise; and
when we are lcgslating, that he will not
throw the weight Of his great Office, and
the tremendous power of its bribing pat
ronagc, into our political tropics.
now como to ask, in all seriousness,
what have the clergy done to merit such
abuse? They have signed memorial
praying Congress not TO pass certain
lbill--the Nebraska bill-and based their
petition on moral not political grounds.
The first charge is, that in speaking Gin
the name and presence of Almighty
Cod" they assume, as His organs, to
speak His condemnation of this act as
communicated to them. They assume
no such thing. | ask any lawyer here to
correct me in the Illustration | give Of
this language. You are familiar with a
legal instrument beginning with these
words: TN the name of God, amen "
What is the meaning of that formula
When you sit by the bedside of a dying
man and use those words, do you mean
to assert that you speak by the insplra-
ton of God debating the language that
follows? Certainly not, You use that
as solemn form of expression attesting
the sincerity of the person making last
will and testament. The only difference
in the two expressions is, that one has
and the other has not the adjective
" Almighty" which does not change the
sense, whether taken or left. These
words are used in the memorial in the
same sense as in the legal instrument
1t has seemed surprising that congros.
sional lawyers should use congressional
time in abusing the clergy for the use of
form of words that is certainly famil-
lar, and ought to be understood by their
own profession.
Another charge is, that the Judgments
of God are invoked on the supporters of
the bill. There is the memorial, hold
it up, and challenge any man to come
forward, and show single word to sus-
tain the charge, will give him an
abundance of my time Will no one ac.
cept the challenge ? You cannot get an
invocation Or donunciation of vengeance
out of that memorial, for the plain roa,
son that it is not in it The language is,
I'VE protest against it as measure full
of danger to the peace, and even exist
tencc, of our beloved Union, and expos
ing as to the righteous judgment of the
Almighty" A more unfounded or re-
morselcss charge could not be fabricated.
Another charge is, that they have for
sakcn the character Of citizens when they
appear as clergymcn; that they have no
business to petition as a class. Why has
not that been thought of bcforcl
There are numberlcss instances where
men have petitioned Congress as class.
cite only few cases Merchants have
done it repeatedly in commercial mat
scrs; they have done it as class.
Farmers have petitioned Congress to es-
tablish an agricultural bureau in the De-
partment of the Interior they have
done it as class. Physicians have ask
ed Congress to prevent the importation
of adultcrated foreign drugs; they have
done it as class. Marshals and deputy
marshals have petitionod as class.
Soldiers have pctitioncd as class. Since
the offensive memorial was presented on
the Nth Of March, mechanics of this
District have petitioned the same Senate
for money equal to the value of land to
be given by the homestead bin they did
it as a class, Why is thisobjcction brought
to bear against a single class ? l beg
no pardon for asserting in the face of
the highest authority, that "thc miuis-
ter is as much kno,cn to this Goreyt.
nent" as the lawyer, or merchant, or
farmer, or physician. or marshal, or sold.
icr, or mechanic. Neither is to be strip.
ped of his rights as citizen, because, in
his petition, he uses the term by which
he is known In his vocation, There is no
evidence that any two of those men were
together when giving their signatures. 1t
is as truly an independent individual act
of each, as if three thousand and fifty
memorials had been sent, each bearing
only solitary signature. From whence
has como the authority to brand as in
truders more than thirty thousand men
in this Government, if they exercise
and that very rarely-their known and
acknowledged rights} What imperative
sense of duty has broken down the re-
luctant modesty Of Senators and Con
gressmen, and forced them, so much
against their will, to employ gross abuse
in "rcbuking the presumption of the
clergy ?"
Since this discussion began, it is quito
common to represent the clergy as lag
ging behind the rest of the world in all
the movements that tend to the progress
of the race ] cheorfully meet that is
sue From whence is derived our pres
ent system of representative govern
ment, that is our pride and our boast
We are brought together in this Hall by
the power Of that system 1t is impossi
bic that tho millions of freemen should
be gathered from the four winds-almost
from the caves Of those winds-elch to
take care Of his own individual interest
Hence each Of US, from separate
locality, feels the serious responsibility
Of guarding the rights of ninety three
thousand persons, and SO harmonizing
the whole rs not to trench on the rights
of twenty.four millions in other localities