Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1856-06-19
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Iiaration ol independence, and adopt the Circu-
lar of the Holy Alliance, which declares that
" useful and necessary changes in legislation
and in the administration of States ought only
to emanate from the free will and the intelligent
and well-weighed conviction of those whom
God has rendered responsible for power.''-
Face to face, put the principle of the Declar-
alton OF Independence and the principle of the
Holy Alliance, and bid them grapple 1.-THE
one places the remedy in the hands which feel
the disorder; the other places the remedy in the
hands which cause the disorder /" and when
thus truthfully characterize them, l but adopt
q sententlous phrase from the debates in the Vir-
gina Convention on the adoption Of the Feder-
al Constitution.-(3 Ellito'S Debates, l07-Mr.
Corbin) And now these two principles, en-
bodied in the rival propositions Of the Senator
from New York and the Senator from Illinois,
must grapple on this floor.
Statesmen and judges, publicists and authors,
with names of authority in American history,
espouse and vindicate the American principle
Hand in hand they now stand around Kansas,
and feel this new State lean on them for sup
port. Of these content myself with adducing
two only. both from saveholdiug Virginia, in
days when Human Rights were not without
support in that State. Listen to the language
OF St. George Tucker, the distinguished COM
mentator upon Blackstone, uttered from the
bench in q judicial opinion:
" The power of convening the legal Assem-
blies, or the ordinary constitutional Legislature,
resided solely in the Executive. They could
neither be chosen without writs issued by its
authority, nor assemble. when chosen, but un-
der the same authority. The Conventions, on
the contrary, were chosen and assembled, either
in pursuance of recommendations from Con-
gress, or from their own bodies, or by the dis
cretion and common consent of the people
They were held even whilst legal Assembly
existed, Witness the Convention held at Rich
mond, in March, l775: after which period, the
legal constitutional Assembly was convened at
Williamsburg, by the Governor, Lord Dunmore.
y Yeta constitutional depenpencc on the
British Government was never denied until the
succeeding May. The Convention then,
was not the ordinary Legislature of Virginia.
1t was the body of the people, impelled to as
somble from q sense Of common danger consult
ing for the common good, and acting in all
things for the common safety. ."-( Virginia
Cases. ~, II, Hamper Us HaDkinS.)
Listen also to the language Of James Madi-
son:
That in all great changes of established
government, forms ought to give way to sub
stance that a rigid adherence in such cases to
the forms would render nominal and nugatory
the transcendent and precious light of the peo-
pie to abolish OF alter their Government, as
to them shall seem most likely to affect their
, safety and happiness Nor can it have
been forgotten, that no little i'll timed soruples,
no zeal for adherng to ordinary forms, were
4 anywhere seen, except in those who wished to
t indulge under these masks their secret enmity
to the substance contcnded for.'-(1he Fedcr-
Il atiSt, No. 40.)
| procnol;,ra +l,o an,t,;,ol ~, ,ou,;Il;pr
n to call revolutionary, although this term has
IS the sanction of the Senator from New York
G They are founded on an unquestonable Amer-
8 can right declared with Independence, con-
:, irmed by the blood of our fathers, and expound-
e ed by patriots, which cannot be impeachcd
without imparing the liberties of all. On this
s head the language of Mr.. Buchanan, in reply
: to Mr.. Calhoun, is explicit
' " Does the Senator Mr.. Calhoun contend.
then, that if, in one of tho States of this Union
tho Government be so organized as to utterly
destroy tho right of equal representation, there
! is no mode of obtaining redress, but by an act
of the Legislature authorizing Convention, or
, by open rebellion! Must the people step at
once from oppression to open war! Must it bo
either absolute submission, or absolute revolu-
tion Is there no middle coursel | cannot
agree with the Senator. | say that the whole
ciple that the people are sovereign and that n
majority Of them can alter Or change their fun
A damental laws at pleasure. | deny that it is
either rebellion or revolution. 1t is an essential
l and recognised principle in all our forms
Of Government. - Cong. Deb, Vol. 13. p
r. 3l3, 24iA Cong, I'd sess.)
t Surely sir, if ever there was occasion for the
exercise Of this right, the time had come in Kan
= sas The people there had been subjugated by
$ horde of foreign invaders, and brought under
! tyrannical code of revolving barbarity, while
n property and life among them were left exposed
! to audacous assaults which haunted at noon
J. day, and to reptile abuses which crawed in the
= darkness of night. Sclf-defence is the first law
s. of nature; and unless this law is temporarily
@ silenced-as all other law has been sllenced
l. thcre--you cannot condemn the proceedings in
/, Kansas Here, sir, Is an unquestlonable law
}, which belongs to all countries and times-which
IS is the same in Kansas as at Athens or Rome
}, which is now, and will be hereafter, as it was
l. ia other days-n presence of which Acts of
/, Congress and Constitutions arc powerless, as
e the voice of man against the thunder which
: rolls through the sky which whispers itself
j. coeval with life-whose very breath is life it
l. self; and now, in the last resort, do place all
n these proceedings under this supreme safeguard,
0 which you will assail in vain. Any opposition
Is must be founded on q fundamental perversion
% of facts, or peryersion Of fundamental princi-
It pies, which no speeches can uphold, though
v SURPRISING in numbers the nine hundred thou
Is sand piles driven into the mud in order to sus-
al tain the Dutch Stad d-house at Amsterdam
ID Thus, on every ground Of precedent, whether
D. as regards population or iorms of proceeding
s. also on the vital principle OF American lnStl-
as tutions; and, lastly, ON the absolute law OF
in sell. f.defence, do now invoke the power OF Con-
ye gress to admit Kansas at once and without hesi
tation into the Union " New States may be
IS. admitted by the Congress into the Union
of such are the words of the Constitution. Ii you
b. hesitate for want of precedent, then do ap-
,l- peal to the great principles of American lnsti
- tutions. If, forgetting the origin of the Repub
r. lie, YOU turn away from this principle, then
on in the name of human nature, trampled dowr
ed and oppressed, but aroused to just sef-defence
u do plead for the exercise of this power. Dc
IN not harken, pray you, to the propositions
ed Tyranny and folly do not be ensnared by tina
Ids other proposition of the Senator from Illinois
on mir. Douglas, in which is tee horrld root O.
hi Injustice and Civil war. But apply gladly, ant
te. at once, the True Remedy, wherein are Justic
to and Peace,
Mr.. President, an immense space has beer
- traversed, and now stand at the goal; ih'
his argument in its various parts ls her oioseu'-
on The Crime against Kansas has been disp'aye'
tu- in its origin and extent, beginning wi'h wy
de- overthrow of the Prohibition OF slavery hoH'
~t ;Ipsanr; then hardening into continuity o.
- ,ontrace through organized invasons and mis-
N colianeous assaults, in which all security wa
ar. DESTROYED. and ending at last in the perfect sub
:.,t;o, IF n ganerous peOple to an unpreCe