Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1860-04-06

sorted to. and all the violence which result
ed this Government saying that it would not
correct ANYTHING. and those laws should be
carried INTO effect with the whole power of
the Government; together with the rayagcs
Of war. and bloodshcd and burning, and dcs-
oation. which went over Kansas Territory.
These all followed your act Did YOU think
they were worse than other people What
were you attempting to do; You were at
tempting to have a Territory that should be
slayohoding Territory and free Territory at
the same time; and you could not make 1T go
through. In the nature Of things it cannot.
The people supposed their territorial govern
mcnt was TO settle the question. The Mis-
sourians went over. and chose the territorial
government. because they understood it was
TO settle It, All understood it so at that
time. That was an entirely different thing
from the Utah and New Mexico bills. That
was new experiment attempted
How has it worked Is anybody SO much
satisfied with the results and effects Of that
experiment that he desires to push it further
do not believe there are many. Tho pco-
pie Of tho North believe that was all wrong !;
in the first place, because it was contrary to
the original policy of the Government. In
the next place. they do not believe it is bcnc-
fetal to the country to turn il over 20 the
people. on the plains Of Kansas, TO fight out
a subject of this kind in which the nation is
interested 1t never was tried before, and /
trust will never be tried again.
But, Mr.. President, it is said great danger
will result from the action Of the Republican
party, If they should rcestablish the Missouri
compromise line and stop the spread of slave
~ in the Territories which the repeal Of the
line attempted TO effect. We propose to do
nothing more and nothing less than restore
the Missouri compromise by excluding slavery
from the Territories and if we should carry
il out. does not that make a pretty fair divis-
ion Of this countrys We have, in round
numbers. about onc-ihird Of our people in the
slaveholding states We have about two
thirds Of them in the free States We have
about three million square miles, in round
numbers. 1t does not differ hundred thou
sand from that. 1t is very fully shown from
the best evidence and the best information, as
collected and collatcd by Professor Henry,
and to be found in the agricultural report in
1856, that there is little more than onc-third
Of this whole country that is incapable of set
Element. We may be unwilling to acknowl-
edge that to ourselves but that is the fact.
As stated by the Senator from Georgia, and
which believe is true, the slayeholdinE States
now have within their territory, and they arc
in the occupancy of eight hundred and fifty
thousand square miles about ono million, OF
the best part of the country They are about
one-third of the people. There will be left,
then, for the other two-thirds Of the nhabit-
able part of the country, one million ono
hundred and fifty thousand square miles,
Have they not much the larger part Have
they not got the best part Can gentlemen
say now, that when we declare they shall be
and ought to be confined to that we are try
ing to smoke them out 1t is the other side
that is in trouble. The free people, with their
institutions, according to numbers, are about
to be restricted to less than their proportion
Of the country, and they are to be smoked
out or starved out, if either.
What, then, should prevent us from doing
this justice? What is there wrong in it ;
What is there Unprecedented in it; What
is there unjust in it, Certainly nothing
But still it will not do, they say, to have "A
Republican President chosen; it will be a
cause Of dissolution. Why? Because they
say some of the free States have passed un-
friendly laws to that provision of the Coust-
tuition about fugitives from labor Mr.. Pres
ident, in relation to those laws, | would call
gentemen's attention to this it certainly is
the exclusive duty and obligation. we'll as
privilege, Of every State to protect the liber-
ties and lives and property Of its own citi-
zens. say it is exclusively their duty within
their own territory.
not very unfrequently, especially among
unlettered people, hear it asked why Congress
cannot abolish slavery; and | cannot but
say that | think at times there have been
some mistaken notions, like those suggested
by the Senator from Texas, about this being
a consolidated government, and talk of that
kind Take the plainest case imaginable
Here is man, it you please. in northern
State, confined by another as a laborcr in his
cellar, chained for years. The whole power
of the United States Government cannot az
feet it. They have no power to grant any re-
lief just so in the southern States no
matter how many men they hold in bondage,
if YOU call it such, it is a matter exclusively
theirs Congress has no power over il. II
they as some of them do, propose to reduce
to bondage a large number Of men who are
free, no matter how we may look on il, it is
utterly beyond the reach Of the power of Con-
gross. SO, on the other hand, take it. the
right and duty to protect their own citizens
in their liberties and lives in the exclusive
duty and privilege Of the States.
1t is not true, as was properly suggested
by the honorable Senator from Ohio Mr..
Waldo yesterday, that because the South have
right to pursue and take their slaves that
run away, and bring them home therefore
every man in a free State is subject to being
taken away. Let us think, for a few moments,
OF the decisions on that subject. In 1912
came the decision Of the Pngg case. That
case contained some pretty important things
new to the country at that time. We may
have become familiarzed with them now but
they called for the action of the States
The Supreme Court decided in that case
| that the owner OF fugitive slave had the
/ right to pursue him into free State, without
/ any process whatever, TO take that slave, re-
capture him, and carry him home. take i
that it is the privilege and duty of every Stat
TO so arrange the manner in which a man ex
ercises his rights, that the rights and privil
eyes Of others may be secure. That is a mat
ter Of Legitimate legislation. We have, 70
/ instance, in the State in which | live a cen
/ siderable number of free colorod citizens.
| do not know their number nova thousand
/ perhaps more, They are just as much entitle
/ to the protection of the laws as the whit
men, When this opinion was pronounced b.
the Supreme Court that person could com