Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1855-12-20
Sand smile to see It's splendors fly
In triumph Ger his closing eye.M
SHAREHOLDERS A PRIvTI1 eyed CLASS

SHAREHOLDERS A PRIvTL. eyed CLASS.
William II. Seward, ia q re cent speech, af-
ter noticing the successive aggressions of the
Slave Power, remsrks, :
| do not stop to stigmatize or even to char
~acterize these aggressions. Of whatus would
it be to charge perfdy when the losses we de-
plore, have resulted from our imbecility and
cowardice. | do not dwell as others SO often
and 50 justly do upon the atroo,ieus usurp4tipa
of the government of Kansas by the Saye-
holders of Missouri, nor even on the batbar-
Gus and tyrannical code which they have es-
tablishad to sti6e freedom in that territory,
nor even yet on the fraudulent and nefarious
eonnivance Of the President with the usurp
ers. Nor will / draw into this picture. al
ready too darkly shaded, the personal hp-i
Mutations which daily come home to your
selves in the conduct of your own affairs
You are commanded by an unconstitutional
law of Congress to Seize and deliver up to
the members Of that privileged class their
fugitive slaves, under painsof imprisonment,
and forfe;tire Of your estates. You may not
interpose. betwe en- the armed sla veholdor and
the wounded slave, to prevent, his being muir
dered, without coming under arrest for trea-
son, nor may you cover his naked and lace
rated limbs except by stealth. You have
fought twenty years and with but partial sue
cess for the constitutional right to lay your
remonstranc Q on the table of Congress. You
may not tel the freed slave who reaches your
borders tina f he is free, without being seized
by a iedera court and condemned, without a
trial or ,eves an accusation; to an imprison-
ment without bail or mainprize, and without
Limitations OF sentence. Your representatives
in either House of Congress must speak. with
bated breath. and BUNDLED countenanfA in
presence of the representatives of the Y
LEGGED class, lest justice be denied to y6aas
old soldiers when they claim their pensions,
or to your laborers when they claim the psF-
tortnaace of their contracts with the govern,
merit, The President of the United States
is reduced to the position of adeputy of that
privileged class, emptying the''treasury and
masshaling battalions and ships of war to
dragon you into the execution of the Fugi.
tive Slave Law on the one hand, while he re-
mo"ss Governors and Judges at their com.
mand who attempt to maintain lawful and
constitutional resistance against them in the
territory of Kansas. The, Vice President Of
1.-THE United States and tho Speaker Of the
House of Representatives, are safe men, whom
the privileged class can trust in every case
The care Of the Judiciary, of tho Territories
and even of the Foreign Relations is intrus.
ted in either house to assured supporters o
that class. Protection is denied to your WOO
while it is freely given to the Stakeholder
sugar. Millions OF acres OF the public do
main are freely given to Alabama for Rail
roads and even as gratuities, while not a dol
tar can be obtained to remove the rocks o
Hellgato and the sands of the Overslaugh, O
the bars in Lake St. Clair, or in the mouth
Of your Lake Harbors. Canada, lying al
along your Northern borders, must not ever
be looked upon lest you may lust after it
while millions upon millions are lavished il
war and diplomacy to annex and spread Sla
very over Louisiana, Florida. Texas, Mexico
Cuba and Central America. Your liberty 9
speech, where is it? You may not, withou
severe rebuke, speak Of Despotism in foreig'
lands, lest the slave overhear you on tn
plantations of the privileged class, or the for
eign Despot visit them in retaliatian, for you
Iunavailing sympathy. The National flag
the emblem of universal liberty, covers car
goes OF slaves not only in our own view, bu
faunts defiance over them in foreign ports
Judges of the United States Courts, safe un
der the protection Of the President and til
Senate. charge Grand Juries, in advance Q
any question, that obnoxious and unequal fed
eral laws are constitutional and obligatory
they give counsel to legislative bodies how t
frame laws which they will, sustain, instea
of waiting TO review thosslaws when enacted
They even convert the Writ of freedom to a
engine of slavery, aud they pervert the pow
er of Furnishing irregularities committed i
their presence into the machinery Of a ty
> RAINY as odioas as that of the Star-chambol
, The privileged class in Virginia ~impriso
, your seamen in their ports in retaliation fo
| the independence of your Executive author,
ties; and you are already in a doubtful strus
gle for the right to exclude the traffic {
; slaves from your own borders.
, l will only ask, in concluding this humi
/ iatiDg rehearsal, whether there is netih thi
privileged country a privileged class; wheths
es