Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1858-01-28

adopted requesting the President, II hoI inoori
pattble with the public interests, to commun,-
cate to the Senate any information IN hls pTs0
session derived from United States ofhcers on Tue
Coast of Africa, or from the British or FRENCH
Governments. or any official sources, concerning
the revival of the African slave trade; G.
Mr. Houston announced the death OF Sen
ator Rusk. ,o,,4od
The usual resolutions of respect were adopted
and the Senate adjourned.
HoUsE.-The proceedings in the Senate conse-
quent upon the death of Senator huSk, nasns
been received. the usual resolutions OF respect
were adopted and the house adjourned: On
SENATE.-AIr. Hale resumed his remarks
from Monday, and commented on two OF ehe
positions held by the Supreme Court IN the Gel
ebrated bred Scott case. First-The Court az
firm that the right of property in slaves Is Oh the
same nature as the right to all other properly
Secondly-That the right to hold this descrip-
tion of Propertv, and to traffic in slaves, at the
time of the American Revolution was UNIVERSAL
" recognized and acknowledged by both Eng
| land and this country, and no man ever thought
of disturbing it. He took issue on both these
points. The legal principle was unsound and
nrnsunported. What purported to be the state
ment of fact was equally unsupported py DOM
truth and History. ],
The first proposition was more distinctly anu
fully expressed in the Lecompton Constitution,
which declared that " the right OF property
is before and is higher than any constitutional
sanction, and that the right of the owner to the
slave, and to such slave and its increase, IS the
same and is as inviolable as the right OF the
owner to any other property whatever. lie
had higher respect for the Lecompton Conven-
ton than for the Supreme Court because the
Convention had been more explicit than the
Court in stating Just exactly what they meant
He did not deny that in States tolerating slave
ry there was legal property in slaves. In some
of the free States there was qualified property
in human beings. In New Hampshire, Grimm
ais were sent to the penitentiary for the public
good, and anybody might contract with the
Warden having the custody of these prisoners
for the use of their labor. The laws recognize
his right to the labor of the conFicts, and he
can take them where he pleases Within the ju-
risdicton of the State but if he should cross
Connecticut river, and undertake to make them
quarry marble in the Green Mountains of Yer
mont, his right to their labor would Immediate
ly cease.
Precisely similar was the right of the slave
holder to the labor of his slaves. 1t is legal
right where slavery exists by law, and no where
else. The moment the slave goes beyond the
jurisdiction which imposes servitude, that mo-
ment he is free.
There was an essential difference between the
right to the labor of human beings and the
right to property in tnanimate things and in
the brute creation. A man may 60 all over the
world with horse, and anywhere-both among
the civilized and savage nations his right to the
ownership will be respected. This right does
not depend upon the existence of statute law
but because by the universal consent of man
kind the horse is subject of property When
the horse was created he was made to be prop
erty, and man was made to own him. The
right to do so dates back to the earliest period
of recorded time. When God created the earth
and gave it to man to cultivate, and filled the
land with cattle, and the sea with fish, and the
air with fowls. God also gave man dominion
over the cattle, and the fish, and the fowls, u
but he never gave him dominion over his fellow
man. He reserved his last and greatest work
for his own puculiar worship.
This distinction had been recognized by every
writer who ever wrote on the subject, and by
no States more decidedly and clearly than by
Virginia, Maryland and Louisiana, and Other
|slaveholding States 1t had also been recog-
nized by the unanimous concurrence of every
member of the Supreme Court of the United
States, and in support of his argument he read
EXTRACTS from various authorities. During the
remarks he declared that if the attempt be per.
listed in to force the Lecompton Constitution or
the people of Kansas, he hoped that they would
fight and resist even unto blood and death
Mr.. Harlan obtained the floor. The further
consideration of the Kansas question was post.
poned until Monday next ; adjourned.
HoUsE.-The House went into Committee Of
the Whole on the Presidents Annual Message
A debate took place on the proposition to re-
fer 50 much of the Message as relates to the
Pacific Railroad to committee.
The Committee of the Whole, after rejecting
all the pending resolutions adopted one thai
so much of the P residents Message as relates
to the Pacific Railroad be referred to Select
Committee of fifteen, with power to report by
bill or otherwise. Adjourned.
Jan. %.
HoUsE.-NIr. ZollicoAer asked but failed tc
obtain leave to introduce resolution calling
upon the President to communicate all the in
formation which gave rise to the Utah expedi
ton the instructions to its leaders, and al
correspondence shedding light on the question
to show how far Brigham Young is in rebellion
or resistance to the government of the United
States. Adjourned till Monday.