The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1858-05-12

judge. Above us all-above Congress, !
the President, and the court-stand the
~ oroign people Of this .oAd aud to that
mightier court that mighty case will be
appealed.
MIR. Chairman, | warn tho Representa-
tives of the South. You count the court
upon your side in this mad party strife.
You dream OF triumph Mr0ugh the court;
you dream of safety, IN the court you
quote its words; you call them law you
try to bind us by their power. Are you
safe? What mean these words The
rigM Of property IA q Stare is distinct
~ and enprcssivelv affirmed IN The
Cops,atutign it makes no distinction
between that description Of property and
other property 2" What is the nterpre-
tation of your President ? "Slavery en-
isis Br VIRTUE OF THE CONSTITUTION !"
What is the actual effect that has been
given, and that you are fierce still to give,
to this doctrine? Slaves, RS pr0perty,not
as persons" pass from States to Terri
tories. Do you not see that properly"
thus passed, by sale or otherwise, is COM
merc50i mottey between the States Do
you not see that the court has reversed
the opinion of Judge Barbour, to wit ; that
slaves, as "perSonS, are not subjects OF
commerce2 Do you not see that it has
reversed late discussion of this very
court, to wit; that slavery did mt come
within the power of Congress TO regulate
commerce. beth external and internal, be-
cause it was " STATE INSTITUTION ?" Do
you not see, then, that, as property mn
DISTINGUISHED fran other property, Con-
gress has the clear rig ht, by specific grant
of the Constitution, to regulate the slave
trade among the several States" and Ter
ritorics, and with the indian tribes ?"
Ay, do you not see, that as mere proper
IN uadiaiaeuiShed from other proper
ty, slavery falls within that other consti-
tutional attribute Of Federal sovereignty
the power to take private property for pub
lie use, on making just compensation
Representatives Of the South, is it not
even so? If it be SO, then has your strong
wall of State sovereignty crumbled to the
dust then Federal power will rightfai(y
touch your slaves within your very cita-
dels; then will it touch your ;loues with
death. to give your men to liberty and life.
If it be so, single generation shall not
pass - the half of a generation shall not
pass-ere your slave system falls; ere not
one slave remains, save here and there
battered wreck-a few lone servants, su-
per-annuated and sad, standing by your
lintels, like the lettering pillars of some
old Egyptian temple-the melancholy
monuments Of past slave holding age
Are you safe? Is this the lesson of the
court Is this the lesson you are teach
ing us to-day? If the dicta of the court
do stop short of this, then tell me where is
the line? 1t is not marked in the chart
the court has given you. But if there is
line, what then? What is the lesson
that you teach, as 10 THE POWER OF THE
COURT? Run that lessen out Of its inev-
liable result One day will come another
court; one day will come another opinion
Of majority Of the judges | will not say
another revolution, but a movement for
ward-a very slight advance, compared
with the recent stride-some new Install
ment of judicial law some new invest.
ment or new denial Of Federal power, to
bring to its very end the system you now
so desperately sustain Are you safe
And when that day comes-and by your
present teaching it may quickly come
will you not call it DEsPoTIsM Ay you
know it, and | know it; and by that to-
ken let me say that the powers that you
have invoked, the powers which you have
so unscrupulously used for your unscru-
pulous schemes OF dominion or disunon--
the excuses of power, Of the court, of the
Executive, of the Army, all unwarranted
by authority of Ga,c-can bear no softer,
smoother, courtlier name, 1t as despotic
power. 1t is irresponsible power 1t is
demonstrations power,
Rejecting, as wish to do, the hitherto
unknown and abcminable doctrine, that the
right of property in slaves exists "by vir-
tue of the Constitution, would also re-
ject the logical consequences that flow from
it but il, on the authority of the court
and the Executive, we are compelled tC
take the doctrine the South certainly mus
not complain, should we carry it rigidly
OUT 10 All It's Consequences piS'ol wv
teachings and the policy Of the fathers.
prefer to act up to their sentiments.
prefer prohibition of slavery in all Fed
eral Territory rigid exclusion of all th'
trade, in all its old and all its new dis
guises and encouragement to all the slav'
States for the ameioration and ultimat,
extinction Of slavery, within their Owl
limits, by their own voluntary acts. Al
this would be in harmony with the spirit
the principles, the expectation, and tn
acts Of the fathers of the Union. All thi
undertaken with the kindness, and prudenc
and wisdom, believe to be yet possible
in the faca of the madness that rules tn
present hour, yet believe it. Undertake
in such spirit, and pursued in such
spirit-though the struggle be long an
foes many-no good thing has ever failed
Sir, hope the crisis of to-day is the crisi
of the disease; and that coming days wi
o be the happy days of health and peace
Are there not symptoms warranting hope
in the fresh example of Russia, and eve
in your own new voluntary movement
You of the South to-day are calling tt
laborers to till your golden fields. Why
Al 4 - 60 L. an "