Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1857-01-02

the General Government possessed the power
of sovereignty over the Territories, and ought
TO exclude the institution of slavery therefrom
He says that was prctense, and the real pur-
pose was TO intcrmedde with slavery in the
States. What is the legal notion of false pre-
lenses 1t is that men profess to do thing
by some professed design, and unless you can
expose their covert design, they will succeed
in their object and the only way to prevent
them is to expose their covert purposes. APP
ply that principle to this case. The President
as much as says that the doctrine which they
hold-the exclusion of slavery from the Ter
ritories of the Union-is a doctrine in which
they will succeed, unless he can make it ap-
pear that it is a covert design-a trick, pre-
tense He admits that on that principle they
will succeed. We are told fairly, frankly,
honoraby. by the gentleman from Virginia,
Mr.. Mason, that the candidate, whoever he
was, whether man Of straw or not, was en-
tirely immaterial The question is what is
the principle involved That Senator told us
that whenever the principle which have sta
ted shall be adopted by the majority and as
serted, then will come a time for separation.
The President tells us that unless he can make
out that that is not the design which they
have in view, they will succeed in it. Is not
this a precious confessions 1t is an obvious
and logical one, though probably not intended.
But, sir, the probable ultimate success OF
that principle is not simply to rest upon this
oblique confession of the President 1t rests
on some more important basis than this.
Whenever we see set or party of men
come forward with new doctrines, the advance
ment of new principles, for the commencement
of a new set of measures, we apt to think,
and we suppose we have good grounds for the
presumption, that they made for the occa-
/ A.. IL 10 nnY
sderation, from the fact that they are got up
simply for the time being If that were the
character of the principles advocated and sus-
tained by the Republican party, if they are
the mere creatures of the day, they would be
very likely to be of ephemeral existence. If
they are mere novelties, if they be the crea-
lures of the hour, the fgments of the brain
at the moment, then, indeed, it might be sup
posed that they had some other, and oblique,
and covert purpose in view, and they will not
be likely to be sustained. Though the Re-
publican party is a party which may be a new
one, the principles which it sustains, the doc
trines on which it is based, the purposes which
it announces, may be very ancient What l
insist upon is, that these principles, these
purposes, and these objects, as old as, and
older, than the history of this Government;
ann further. that they have been sustained at
every stage of this Government, until within
very recent period. They are doctrines
which entered into the very framework OF
our Government They not only brought
forward and supported by the slaveholding
community ITSELF but they have been reenact-
cd and rcestablished and reafirmed at every
stage of our history, from the commencement
of this Government for more than half CEN
tury. The progress of this country, under
these principles, until within very recent oc-
casion, and the prosperity which has attended
I it, go fully to affirm the soundness Of those
principles. l shall contend further, that these
principles, which are now reafirmed and de-
clared by the Republican party, have been
trenched upon only within short time past,
by the action of the southern people for local
purposes, entering upon system of measures
that have now called out and demanded the
formation of this republican party, for the
purpose of redeclaring and fully sustaining
the principles of their fathers
Sir, when the settlement of this country
commenced, the history of the human race in
all its civil and social relations commenced
new era of progress it began from new
starting point. The institutions Of govern
ment in all the forms in which they had exist
ed in the European world, were intended and
expected to be sloughed Off The idea was
that here there should be established sys-
TEN of equal laws and of happy men. They
commenced the settlement of this land with
the great idea of popular system of govern
ment-a system of government which implied
democracy, if you please--a system of gov
ernment which implied the elevation of every
man in the community to occupy an equal po-
sition, and to exercise an equal power in the
regulation of its concerns. 1t has been said
by some that their idea was the establishment
of State without king, and a church with
out bishop. Yes, sir; but it was equally
clear in their minds that they were to be not
only clear of tyrants and of kings, but they
were also to discard the whole idea of nobili-
ty. There was to be no hierarchy and no OIL
igarchy. All that relationship with which
the world in its progress had been embarrass-
ed for rcenturies-underw whatever name, wheth-
er patrician and pleban, whether patron and
client, whether landlord and tenant, whether
lord and vassal, whether master and slave
should cease in this country.
This great idea took form first upon that
little piece of paper not bigger than mans
hand, which was written in the cabin of the
Mayhower. That contained a great seminal
principle; and when they entered upon their
colonial course, so far as lay within the cir
cult of their power, they exerted themselves
to realize that idea Their first impression
was every man shall own the land he cult
Ndles, una every man snail nlnlsell cultivate
the land he owus. They established at once
the idea of fee-simple--yes, of allodial title.
They struck off all the notions of primogen-
iture, and they went on in their progress in
this way SO long as they continued in their
colonial condition. When at last, in the or
dering of Divine Providence, the time arrived
when they were compelled to assert their In
dependence against the Government of Eng
land, what did they say We have acquired
that position; we have passed into that
strength of manhood by which we are enabled
to say, " You have no right to make laws for
us without our being represented; you have
no right to tax us without our consent" The
right of government lies in the people Of this
country. 1t was for the assertion Of this great
principle that the declaration was made
These same principles were embodied more
fully and more largely, and in all their lati-
tude, in the Declaration of Independence
When the crisis arrived, our fathers of New
England found themselves not standing alone
in relation to these principles. They looked
down little south of them, and there were