Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1858-12-18

From tho AntISlavery standard.
LEGISLATION AGAINST SLAVERY IN
VERMONT.

bl -
We were mistaken in saying, as we did last
week. that the Legislature Of Vermont had ad-
= journed without passing q Personal Liberty law.
b A law ITO secure freedom to all persons in the
s State" wds enacted by decided ma%jorities in both
e Houses, and approved by the Governor. The
bill was reported by the Special Committee Of the
. House, appointed to consider tho subject of "slav'
9 cry, the bred Scott Decision and the action Of the
n Federal Government thereon" The Committee
I supported the bill and certain resolutions which
!, they proposed for the adoption Of tho Legislature
j in en- extended and able argument, which the
| House ordered to be published in pamphlet form,
o and which is now before US. 1t is understood to
s have been written by the Chairman of the Com
!, mittee, r. V. Marsh, Esq. 1t describes the legal
T consequences of the bred Scott decision, showing
. how it undermines the foundation Of personal
q freedom and invades the sovereignty of tho States,
carrying slavery everywhere within the national
2 Jurisdiction, and leaving the free States no altern-
alive but submission or resistance. 1t takes the
8 ground that "Slarery is an outlaw eueyywhere
outside Of a slaue State )" that the provision of the
r Constitution for the surrender of persons held to
) service OF labor" has no relation to slaves that
D the Fugitive Slave law Of 1850 is unconstitutional
and that it is the right and duty of the States to
protect fugitive slaves by special enactments adap-
{ ted to enforce the principles of the common law.
We give some extracts
"At no period since the adoption of the Constitu'
ton and the formation Of the American Union has
there been a time which, in the opinion of your
Committee, was so fraught with peril to that Con.
stitution and Union as the present. Principles
have been advanced and doctrines avowed and act.
ted upon by the Chief Executive of this nation,
endorsed by a party majority in Congress, and
8 promulgated from the Bench Of the Supreme
Court Of the United States, which if practically
T enforced. would subvert the 30 vereignty of the
r States of this Union. If practically enforced,
a they would destroy those cherished State Rights
held so sacred by the Fathers of the Republic, by
z the National Judiciary and by the whole Democ
J., racy of the country. from Thomas Jefferson and
;. Chief Justice Marshall down to the advent Of some
Q of the recent administration of this govern.
}, ment.
:. eff these doctrines be enforced as constitutional
law, then are the lives, the liberty and the pro.
perty of the citizens Of this State without protec.
|, ton. Citizens of Vermont and of the Free States
can be reduced to slavery with impunity, their
persons imprisoned and their property destroyed
|, without remedy. That bond of union called the
Constitution of the United States, instead of les.
tabiishing justice, promoting the general welfare,
or securing the blessings of liberty is made in
{ strumeptal in the destruction of all these. In
stead of cherishibg and protesting the civil and
J political rights of the citizens and of the States,
this Constitution is used by its expounders and
administrator as an instrument to subvert and
annihilate these rights. II this condition of things
is to continue, no FREQ State could exist. 1t
would be an anomaly, a contradiction of terms, an
utter impossibilitJ for Freedom and Slavery to ex.
list and flourish together at the same time. One
or the other must eventually yield to it's inevitable
doom. No free community or free man would
submit to remain as partner or member of a
f union where bis dearest and most cherished rights
Q we're cloven o w and destroyed"
This doctrine, that slavery exists and is proteo.
ted in the Territories, proceeds upon the ground
that slaves are property, and recognized as such
: by tho Constitution of the United States. If this
3 position be true, then, certainly, the stakeholder,
as q citizen of the United States, is invested with
the right to take and enjoy that property wherev-
a er the jurisdiction of the Federal Government ex,
-. tends. In other words, the Constitution of the
United States recognizes and protects The right Of
0 property in human beings, and carries this protec
. ton wherever it's authority extends. He is pro.
tected in the right on board of national vessels on
! the high seas, and wherever the national flag car
ries the national property. Wherever Federal
law or Federal power prevail, he is protected in
this right, whether on the land or the sea, wheth'
er in the Territories or the States. Whereve r the
Federal Government own a foot o fland, Ii fortifca.
ton or o public building, an island, a harbor, or a
3 Observation-Disclosures in or out of the State-Mere
the stakeholder has a right to take his slaves, aud
enjoy ht property in them, unmolested.
"Nay, more if property in slaves be a consti-
Q tutional right land it is 30 distinctly affirmed by
r the President and the Supreme Court), then that
same Court might, with equal truth, declare that
y the stakeholder has also the right to take and en-.
JOY this species Of property in all the States of the
d Union, under that clause of the Constitution
q which gives TO the citizens of each State all priv.
ieges and immunities of citizens in the several
u States. If he has the personal right Of going
Q from one State into another State, then might the
Court say he has the same right to take and enjoy
any property which the Constitution of the United
+" States recognizes and protects as such. And If
this be a right at all, it is not a mere temporary
: right, to be enjoyed while passing through the
State, but to continue for such time as any citiz0n
Q stakeholder shall be pleased to remain in such
State. If the Constitution does not limit the time
be is to continue in such State, neither does it lin.
it the time beyond which the right ceases to hold
g and enjoy his property. This doctrine, thus ap
r piled. would convert every State into a slavehold
ing State. precisely as it now makes every Terri.
tory q slaveholdiDg Territory and no State OF
Territory could escape its consequences. No
State or Territory would have the right to exclude
e slavery from its limits. The trembling tread Of
II the slave might be seen among ihe green bills aud
along the valleys of New England. which. In
1t Elysian dreams. We had long fancisd were eonse
II Grated as the home of the free.