Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1858-08-12
The Republican State Convention.

in various ways, by legislation, practice, and
platforms, had :" sanctioned the guilty fantasy
that there can be property in man." But,
whatever Vermont may have done heretofore,
and however much some of us may think the
chips must have flew in the faces of those who
adopted that resolution, still we are bound, in
charity, to believe, or at least to hope, that
they were honest that the resolution says what
they mean, not only as to what Vermont has
done, but what she ought to do.
Taking this for granted, let US look once
more at the resolution. 1t has been published
several times it ought to be many times more.
wish it might stand as a motto at the head of
the Freeman and every other paper, till slavery
with all its untold enormities shall bo banished
from the surface of the delivered earth
" Resolved, That as Representatives of the
Republican Party, we glory in the record which
our State holds up to the world upon the ques.
tions which crncern the natural rights and lib
critics of men-that she has never for one mo-
ment. by constitution or law, sanctioned the
guilty fantasy that there can be property in
man-that the claim of superiority by birth,
prescription, or law, finds no warrant in her
annals but that the great truths of the Dec
laration of Independence, sneered at by some,
and impiously denied by others, have been to our
people solemn and living reality
There Who, ask in all candor ever utter
ed stronger language than that! The most rad
ical aboltionists, from Garrison to- Gerritt
Smith, who have been. denounced as fanatics
and madmen for quarter of century, have
SAID just that, and no more.
| The idea that there can be property in man
is a wild and guilty fantasy, said Mr. Garrison
twenty-five years ago. There is and can be no
law for Slavery, says Gerritt Smith Neither
of them, nor any one else, has ever said any
thing more, and that is simply the doctrine of
the Declaration of Independence to deny which,
the resolution says, is mpious. So, then, rad
ical abolitionism is not only right, but to be
anything less is impious. Surely the resolution is
radical enough all the lack there is in it, it is
like fainting ladies, it wants d" carrying out"
And here is the great difference between radical
abolitionists and others 1t Is in the carrying
out, or, in other words, in the application of the
principle to governmentsand institutions.
/ Radical abolitionlsts take the plain, simple,
statement, that " all men are created equal"
as their foundation, their groundwork, their
guide, their polar star. Hence government
which in its organic structure, or in its admin
stration, plainly, palpably and designedly vio-
lates that principle, is " guilty." is impious:"
1t has discarded the very principle for which
governments were, OF should be, instituted,
namely, the protection of human rights. They
are left like ship without ruddcr, or mar
liner without compass.
Abolitionists, then, simply ask for the appli-
cation of this principle both to general and
state governments, and they cannot consistently
vote for any man who is not ready to make that
application. They are unwilling longer to pull
down with one hand what they build up with
the other.
Now then let the Republican Party of YER
mont, as they are in a large majority, carry
out the principle of their resolution, by nassing
law making every slave free the moment he
sets foot on the sacred soil of the Green Noun
tain State What binders Is the Constitu-
ton of the United States in the way? And
does Vermont sanction such q constitution?
Then indeed is her % record held up to the
world not SO pure-not so much tobe gloried
in, as the resolution seems to suppose. Here
we intend to test their courage. They talk val
iently for freedom let us see how they will
act
Sir, is it not amusing, not to say disgusting,
to see certain individuals come into the throng-
ed conventions of the dominant party of the
State and boast of courage-of back bone.
Plucky as young Bantams Wonderfully cour-
ageous, when out of danger Valiant advoca-
ties of freedom when it is popular Where
were they when to advocate the principles of
freedom subjected one to scorn and ridicule !!
Where were they when the little valiant band
of true and tried abohtionists used to meet in
convention and pass just such resolutions as the
above, and were sneered at, and slandered as the
n,gger party? Where were they in 1850, when
the shameful compromise measures were adop-
ted when it seemed as if the whole North was
about to cave in: When that illustrious Il had
like to have written infamous) Daniel Webster,
basely bowed his giant neck to the slave power
eat his own valiant and eloquent words for
freedom uttered on Plymouth Rock, and signi-
fed his readiness. yea willingness, to "con-
quer his prejudice" and do the " disagreeable
duty" of getting down on all tours and blood
6 hound like, scent and chase the poor painting
victim of southern slavery on the hallowed soil
trod by the Pilgrims,-where, | say, were they
! then? Let the resolutions of 1852 as published
= in the Freeman tell the sickening tale. Talk
of back bone they are not yet in the gristle.
But just now reccollect your caution to be
. short. In conclusion, then, let me say let
: Vermont enact q law making her soil and all
4 who stand upon it free, and we shall have nc
o occasion for a " radical party, and when the
next State Convention meets they can consistent.
ly say +" we glory in the record Vermont holds
d up to the world upon the question of human
: rights" Yours for human rights.
n s. NJ. SEAvER.
Willamstown, July both. 1858.