Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1856-03-14

means it is prepared to use for their accom-
plishmcnt.
We cannot shut our eyes longer to the fact.
that the slaveholding interest is determined to .
counteract the tendencies Of time and of civil |
ization, by its own energy, by its bold appro-
priation Of all the powers and agencies of the |
government, and by the violation, if need be,
of the most sacred compacts and compro-
misses. 1t is resolved that slavery shall be |
under the protection Of the national flag
that it shall no longer be the creature of To- |
cal law, but that it shall stand clothed with |.
all the sanctions, and sustained by all the |
power of this great republic 1t is deter |
mined that the President shall doits bidding,
and that Congress shall legislate according
to its DEGREES. 1t is resolved upon the de-
thronement of the principles of republican
ism, and the establ shment in their stead of
an oligarchy, bound together by common
interest in the ownership of slaves
Nor have we any reason to believe that
slavery will be content with this absolute SUI
premacy over the federal government, which
1t has already SO well-ngh achieved On the
contrary. the dark shadow of its scepter
falls upon the sovereignty of the several
states, and menaces them with dire disaster.
South Carolina, abandoning her once cher
ished doctrine Of State Rights asserts the
federal supremacy over laws made by states,
exclusively for the protection of their citi-
zens. The State of Virginia is contesting, in
courts of law, the right of the state of New
York to forbid the existence Of Slavery with
in her limits \ federal court in pcnnsyl-
yania has denied the right of that state to
decree freedom to slaves brought by their
masters within her borders. and has pro.
claimed that slavery exists by the law of
nations. The division of California, and the
organization of slave state within her lin
its, have been proposed. A senator on the
floor of Congress has demanded the restora-
ton Of the African slave trade, and the de-
mand is repeated by southern journals. and
by leading public men in the southern states
When these great objects shall have been
accomplished when the states, as well as
the general government, shall have become
subject TO the law of slavery and when three
hundred and fifty thousand Shareholders shall
hold despotic rule over the millions of this
republic, slavery cannot fail, from the neces-
sity of its nature, to attempt outrages which
will awaken storms that will sweep it in car
mage from the face Of the earth. The longer
tyranny is practised unrcsisted the fierccr
and the more dreadful is the resistance which
in the end it provokes. History is full of
instances to prove that nothing is SO dan
gerous as a wrong long unredressed-tha
evils, which at the outset it would have been
easy to remove. by su6erance become fatal to
those through whose Indifference and tolera-
ton they have increased.
The tendency of the measures adopted by
the slayeholding interest to secure its own ex-
tension, through the action of the federal
government, is to give to Congress urisdic-
ton OF the general subject and its represen-
tatives must be sagacious enough to perceive
that ii they establish the principle that Con-
gress may interfere with slavery for its pro.
lection, it may interfere with it also for its
destruction. If, therefore, they succeed in
such an enlargement of the power of Congress
having already discarded the principle Of
compromise from lcgislation-thev must
torcsee that the natural effect of their en-.
croachments upon the rights and liberties OF
the non -slaveholding population of the coun.
try, will be to arouse them to the direct excr.
else of the power thus placed in their hands
Whether it is safe or wise for that interest tC
invite such a contest, we need not here consi
der.
The time draws nigh, fellow-countrvmcn
when you will be called upon to decide upor
The policy and the principles of the genera
government. Your votes at the approa ching
Presidential election will determine whether
slavery shall continue to be the paramount
and controlling influence in the federal ad
ministration, or whether other rights anC
other interests shall resume the degree o.
consideration to which they are entitled. Tn,
issue is upon US by no act of ours. and it con
not be evaded. Under a profound conviction
ofimpending dangers, the grounds whereo
we have now set forth, we call upon You t,
deliver the constitution and the Union from
the sublugation which threatens both. Hold
ing, with the late Mr.. Calhoun. that Z" thu
obligation to repcl aggression is not mucl
less solemn than that of abstainng iron
making aggression, and that the party whicl
submits to it when it can be resisted is no
much less guilty and responsible for conse
qnences than that which makes it, we in
yoke surrender Of all party lreiudces ant
all personal feelings and cordial and curnes
union Tor the yindcaton of rights and liber
ties which Se cannot surrender without de
graduation and shame.
We summon you to send delegates, in mum
bers three tunes as large as your representa-
ton il Con 5ress, to meet in convention a
Philadelphia, on the 18th day of June next
to nominate candidates for the Presidenc
and Vice Presidency of the United States
Let them come prepared to surrender all per
bOnal preferences, and all sectional or lOca
views, resolved only to make such nomua
tons, and to take such action, as shall ad
vance the principles we hold and the pun
poses we seek to promote. Disclaimng an
intention to interfere with slavery in tn
states where it exists, to invalidate thos
portions of the Constitution by which it
removed from the national control let U
prevent the increase of its political power
preserve the General Government from i
aacendancy, bring back its administration
the principles and the practice of its wise an
lllustrlous founders, and thus yindicate tt
Constitution and the Union, and secure tt
blessings of liberty to ourselves and our 20
terity.