Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1854-09-07

"reahiuS up 'ue Union ny tnclr secession. Mr.. |
Clay was again the " Saviour by the dimin-
ishing tariff which he devised and got carried
but the brewing of the storm, the preparation
for its outburst, the breaking of the waterspout
at the critical moment by skillful shot, and
tho subsequent setting to rights, occupied a !
good deal of time; precisely the time that it |
took to put down the Poles after their rising in
1881, and to smooth down France under the Or /
leans rule, and to settle Belgium and Holland
after their severance; and to get rid Of the alb
sconding Duke Of Brunswick and to override
Italy once more, and ta saab bhs Germaas who /
demanded their promised constitutions, and to
abase Turkey to the last extremity in short, to
get the troublesome affairs of Europe" settled ;"
las despots called i'll before America had time to
look off from her own business It can hardly
be necessary to observe that though the Amer-
can trouble went by the name Of " Nullifica-
tion," the state right question, IS called was
originated by, and was bound upwith the qucs-
tion of slavery -....I rt...
Here were two " condolences" Tho third
was within the memory of the youngest who
takes an interest in the welfare of nations
While Europe was up in 1889, the patriots in
many countries were asking what the Ameri-
cans were about Well, what were they aboat1
They were doing what was beyond measure
grateful to the Czar-passns more compromise
measures-passing the Fugitive Slave Law, to
which the enemy of all liberty fondly looks as
the instrument of the disruption of the Union
wheuover it shall suit him to render the Ameri-
cans helpless. The Amcrican-not tn people,
but their epresmtatives-werc passing the Fu-
gtive Slave Law-infringing their Constitution,
overriding that of several of the States, incur
ring the roproach and pity of their best friends
all over the world, and preparing for the further
struggle which Russia has now, for the fourth
time, been instigating and aggrlvating, while
the Eastern question and its probable collateral
results have been occupying the attention of
Europe. ".
We all know from the newspapers, if not 9TH
orwise, that Mr.. Stephen A. Douglas, United
States Senator, was the chief actor in the pas
sage of the Nebraska bill-the man to whom its
rapid passage (too quick for any efnctual pop
ular orposition) was mainly owing. Perhaps
some Of us may not havegforgotten the curious
incident of the distinction with which the Czar
treated this Mr.. Douglas, ut u review at st. Pc.
tersburgh, before the Nebraska bill was ovei
heard Of. Thoss peblfe honors were, as Mr.
Douglass friends declare, followed up by pri
vate interview and long conversation. Some
light is cast on the business by comparison Of
what took place before and after this adventure
Detailing the American tourist. Before he left
home he was a warm friend and admrer of the
Hungarian refugees, with whom he associated
and conversed much in America, his sympathy
being all on behalf of the liberal cause. After
his Russian adventure, he endeavored to avoid
the recognition Of those democratic friends wher
they met in society, and went home to carry the
Nebraska bill, just when the Eastern Question
was ripening to war. OF that bill the con
stituents of the men who passed it have sait
that it was driven through the two Houses by
some disastrous power which the people had nc
time to restrain it was passed, not only with
out the national concurrence, but absolutely
against the national will. If so, it may be sal,
they must undo the mischief and repeal th
law. True; and this is what they probabl,
will do; but the process will consume preciou
time, and wholly absorb the national energy du
ring the crisis of the European struggle. TIL
Nebraska bill and the Fugitive Slave Law ar
both most dangerous to the long continuanc
of the Union and they will, therefore, disaI
pear as the Missouri compromise has disappeare
before them 1t cannot be that such scenes o
those at Boston on the delivering up of Burns
and throughout Massachusetts, on the Fourth {
July, can be repeated without imperiling tn
. Union, and the repeal of the obnoxious law
must therefore be looked for with hope by ever
friend of the liberties of mankind. But to e
feet that repeal there must be new election
conflicts of parties, long debates, many Weiss
tudes, and a slow calming down of the swe
after the storm. before the sympathy of Il
American people can be fairly embarked in an
European cause This is precisely what sui
the Gar. He is believed to have wrought IL
this end, and he has obtained it.
The great question is--how do the American
like all this! How docs it appear to them whe
= their own case is set fully before them! The
). have had some preparation in the discovery th'
!. the newspapers in the slave States were publis
f ing Russian accounts of the progress of the wa
. Their truest and heartest friends cannot te
them more. If they do not like this positit
as an implement for royal sport in the hands
;. the most monstrous despot in the world, tn
know how to shake off his abominable clntc
: They must release themselves as nation (wha
ever individual States may choose to do) fro
:. the one despotic institution which places the
. Mt the pleasure of tyrants; they must wren
ont and cast away the keen wedge which t
- Russian mallet occasionally greets; and VIII
have closed up that fssure, and made their graz
: nolitical fabric all sound and smooth, so tn
= no sly hand can dribble in powder and set t
match, they need fear no explosion. 1t is n
!. the Abolitionists, nor any power on the side
- human freedom, that will blow up the Unio
! it is the mighty and boastful shareholders
J. the North of Europe, with bis pro-slavery age
= always working within the Republic, who W
I ! destroy it, if it be indeed under doom of d.
L traction, 4eA
i. But such on issue is incredible and almt
be inconceiyable. The mind and the heart tn
he created the Republic must live on, through 81
ba cessive generations, to preserve it, and it v
he not only the fathers Of the Republic, but