Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1856-03-28

power under the Constitution to
prohibit Slavery in the Territories.
They did it, aud their act has re-
NAMED, from that day to the pres
ent, unchallenged aud unrepealed,
Let me ask you, SIR, if, in the histo-
ry Of this Government, from the
time Of the adoption of the FEEDER
al Constitution down to the present
day, any President Of the United
States has suggested to Congress
that the existence Of that Statute
was not warranted by the Constitu-
ton, and ought therefore to be re-
pealed No, sir And do not
belive there will very soon be such
a President. | do not believe that
there is a man quite rash enough at
the present day to venture his repu-
tation upon such an onsl tughl as
that would be on the judgment, the
Intelligence, and the patriotism Of
the Father Of his Country, who he'll
ped to form the Constitution, and
who signed this very act
Then, sir, look at the acts organ
izing Territorial Governments ever
since, and you will find, without ex-
ception, that Congress have taken
jurisdiction Of this subject, unchal-
lenged-prohibiting Slavery in GER
tain cases, regulating it in others
You will find that IN laws organiz-
ing Territorial Governments for ev-
en- the Southern Territories Of Lou
isiana and Mississippi Congress did
take cognizance of the subject of
Slavery, regulating and limiting it
in those cases, and restricting it III
others.
The country reposed in safety,
peace, security, aud harmony, under
this construction of the Constltu-
ton, until these latter days, when in
the new-light revelations Of the
present it has been discovered that
Washington, Madison, Langdon,
King, Ellsworth, Gerry, and all
their compatriots, who were engag-
ed in making and administering the
Constitution, died in happy igno-
rance Of what its essential provis-
ions were. confess that, for one,
am willing to take my chance of
being mistaken, with those dead ia
theirs of the past, rather than run
the doubtful chance of getting illu
minauon from the new lights OF to-
day.
Now, sir, what do we want p
What do we ask We ask that the
country shall come back to the point
from which it started. We enter
upon no crusade against any South
ern rights. We ask for no new test, =,
AZ nov u',O,.;.--, nO no" OAPrfi-
Inents, no rash, doubtful, or untried
measures. We are content with the
wisdom of the past. We are satis-
fed with the inheritance and the
legacy which the patriots of the Rev
oIution have left us, We are viii
ling to take the Constitution as they
understood it, and the law as they
framed and administered it. Is it
arrogance for us to ask that you
come with us there We ask you
TO 60 no further; we merely ask
You TO come with us and take couu-
sci of the departed patriotism of the
fathers Of the Revolution. We ask
YOU to listen to their doings when
the wounds OF the Revolution were
not yet healed over, when the blood
aud dust Of the battle We're hardly
wiped from their brows, and when
their locks were hoary with the
frosts which had fallen upon them
as they stood sentlnels round about
the camps of Liberty. That is what
we ask, and we are willing to ablCe
by it and when we ask that, and
when we demand it, how are we
met We are told that we are ag-
greSSive; and we are threatened, g,
that if our aggressions do not cease,
if our tauntings do not come TO an
end, and if the spirit of Northern
fanaticism, which Is continually ma
king aggressions, does not cease,
this Union cannot be maintained.-
Sir, | feel obliged TO believe the sin
cerity of gentlemen, when they get
up and talk about Northern aggres-
sion, but it is one of the hardest
things | am bound TO believe
Bound as | am TO believe it on their
word, | have never had the face to
go home and tell my constituents
so because they would tell me
that, however | might believe It,
they knew better. Sir, they have
made as much progress as Mr.. Ev-
erett made on the Nebraska bill /;
they not only knew it themselves,
Fbut they know that every body else
knows it; that there is not only no
truth in 1t, but that the exact re-
verse is the truth Of history, the
truth of the past, the truth of the
present; and may God grant that it
may be the truth Of the future
Sir, we ask TO stand nothing more
than your equals. 1t has been the
fashion of late years To quote Mr..
Webster. Mr.. Webster never made
a truer remark in all his life, than
when he said there was no North.
No, sir in the history of this Gov
erumeut, there has been no North,
except to collect revenues FROM
You have found out that there was
a North for that purpose but in
debating the policy of this Govern