Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1855-10-26

men,s. broke up no, only this compromise Of
Issu bot even the compromise Of 1870, and
the ordinance OF 1852, and obtained the dec
Iarat,on Of Congress that all these settle
ments, so far as they were adverse to the
privileged class, were Unconstitutional usur-
pa;ions Of Legislative power.
do not stop to stigmatize or even 70 ohar-
scterize these sggressions. vi what use
would II be to charge perhdy when the loss
e. we derlore have resulted from our own
;mbecility and cowardice do not dwell
as others SO often and so justly do upon the
atrocious usurpation OF the government OF
Kansas. by The Shareholders Of Missouri nor
even on the barbarous and tyrannicai code
which they have established TO sttie free /
dom in that Territory, nor even YET on tne
fraudulent and nefarious connivance OF the
President with the usurpers. Nor VIII draw
into this picture, already too darkly shaded,
the nsrsonal humiliations which daily come
home 10 yourselves IN the conduct OF your
own affairs You are commanded by an TN
constitutional law Of Cong ess to seize and
deliver I'D to the members of that privileged
clnes their fugitive slaves, under pain Of im-
prisonment and forfeiture of your estates
You may not interpose between the armed
stakeholder and the wounded slave, to pre-
vent his being murdered, without coming un-
der arrest for treason, nor may you cover his
naked and lacerated limbs except by stealth.
You have fought twenty years and with but
partial success for the constitutional right to
Law your remonstrances on the table OF Con-
gress. You may not tell the freed slave who
reaches your borders, that he is free, without
being seized by Federal court and condem>
ned. without trial or even an accusation, TO
ha.1
and without limitation Of sentence. Your
representatives in either house of Congress
must speak with batej breath aud BUNDLED
countenance in presence of the representa-
tiyes Of the privileged class, lest justice be
denied to your old soldiers when they claim
their pensions, or to your laborers when they
claim the performance of their contracts
with the Government The President of the
United States Is reduced to the position Of o
deputy OF the privileged class, emptying the
treasury and masshallIng baualions and ships
of war 10 dragon you into the execution of
the Fugitive Slave Law on the one hand,
while be removes governors and judges at
their command who attempt to maintain law
full aud constitutional resistance against them
in the territory Of Kansas. The Wee Pres-
ident OF the United States and the Speaker
of the House Of Representatives. are ssie
men whom the privileged class can trust in
every case. The care of the judiciary of
thc territories and even of the foreign rela~
ticns is intrusted in either house 10 assured
supporters Of that class. Protection is de-
MED to your wool while il is freely given to
the Shareholders sugar Millions of acres
Of the public domain IRE freely gwen to A.
ALBANIA for railroads and even RS gratuiiies.
while moi dollar can be obtained to remove
the rocks Of He'll gate and the sands of the
Overslaugh OF the bars in Lake 81. Clair, or
in the mouths Of your lake harbors. Canada,
lying along your northern borders, must not
even be looked upon lest you may lust after
1t, while millions upon millions are iavished
IN war and diplomacy 10 annex and spread
Slavery over Louisiana, Florida, Texas, Mex
leo, Cuba, and Central America. Your hb-
erty 0. speech, where is 1t? You may not,
without severe rebuke, speak of despotism,
IN foreign lands, lest the slave overhear you
on the plantations OF the privileged class or
the foreign despot visit them, in retaliation,
70. your unavsling sympathy. The nation
al flag, the emblem Of universal liberty, COW
ers cargoes Of slaves not only IN your own
view, out flaunts defiance over them IN for
eign ports. Judges of the United States
courts, safe under the protection of the Pres
ident OF the Senate, charge grand iurles ! n
advance of any question. that obnoxious and
unequal federal laws are constitutional and
obligatory they give counsel to Legislative
bodies how to frame laws which they will
sustain, instead of waiting to review those
laws when enacted. They even convert the
writ Of freedom to an engine of slavery, and
they pervert the power of Furnishing irregn-
larities committed in their presence into the
machinery Of n tyranny as odious as that of
the star chamber. The privileged class in
Virginia imprison your seamen IN their ports
in retaliation for the independence of your
executive authorities and you are already in
doubtful struggle for the right to exclude
the traffic In slaves from your own borders.
will only ask, in concluding this humili- |
ating rehearsal, whether there Is not in this |
privileged country privileged class wheth
er It does not stand on an enduring founda-
ton whether it is not growing stronger and |
stronger, while the unprlvileged class giows I
weaker and weaker; whether its further |
growth and extent would not be not merely !
detrimental but dangerous; and whether there
is any hope to arrest that growth and extern
sion hereafter If the attempt shall not be
made now?
The change that has become at last so ne
cessary is as easy to be made as 1t is neces-
sary. The whole number If Shareholders is
only three hundred and fifty thousand. one
hundredth part of the entire population of
the country. II you add their parents, chill
dren, immediate relatives and dependents,
they are two millon-one fifteenth part OF
the American people. Slavery is not and
never can be perpetual. 1t will be overihrown
eilher peacefully and lawfully, under this
,xtl fha NH
of the Constitution, together with its own
overthrow. Then the shareholders would
perish in the struggle. The change eau now
be made without violence, and by the agency
Of the ballot box. The temper of The nation
is just, liberal, forbearng. Il will contrib.
ute any money and endure any sacrifices to
effect this great and important change in
deed, II Is half made already. The House
of Representatives is already yours as it al
ways must be when you choose to have II. -
The Senate Of the United States is equally
within your power, If you viii only persist
emily endeavor, for two years to have it,
Notwithstanding all the wrong that has been
done, not another Slave State can now come
into the Uaion. Make only one years con.
stanl, decisive efioi,. aud you can determine
wat Srntes shall be admitted.
The Will exists because the evil has be-
come lniolersble, and the necessity of a rem
edy is universally acknowledged. What
then is wan,ed' Organization Orgsniza-
tion! Nothing but organization.
Shall we organize Why not? Can we J
maintain the revolution so suspiciously be-
gun, without organization Certainly not !
Are you spprehenslve Of failure because the /
revolution Is not every where aud at all times
equally successful' Was there ever rev.
olution that was equally successful at all !
times and everywhere? Certainty not Do