Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1860-03-30
puIilttal.
nNLY A FoRM nE GnvERNMENT.

ONLY A FORM OF GOVERNMENT.
Mr.. Jefferson Davis, senator from Mis-
sissippi in brief reply TO Mr.. Seward, said
that slavery, as il was established in the
southern States, was "nothing but the form
Of civil government Instituted for class Of
people not fit to govern themselves. IL is
exactly what in every State exists in some
form or other. It Is that kind Of control
which is extended in every northern State
over its eonvicts, lunatcs, minors, its APP
prenticos. 1t is but form Of civil govern
ment for those who are not ft to govern them
selves. We recognise the fact of the inferi-
orty stamped upon that race of men by the
Creator, and, ffom the cradle to the grave,
our government, as a civil institution, marks
that infcriorty."
This Davis, we are told, is not a fool, al
though he utters such transparent nonsense
as this. Has he really imposed upon him
self or does he hope 10 impose upon others
by such language; Certainly he cannot have
read the statutes Of any of the communities
in which slaves exist, and still regard them
as devising form of civil government Gov
eminent is only applied to persons and not to
things, and civil government to persons who
are a part of the Gins State whereas
slaves are not persons at all, or if they are
treated as quasi persons, when punished for
criminal acts, they are, nevertheless never
recognised as members of the civil community.
"Slaves," says DR.. Taylor, in his Elements
Of the Civil Law, "were held pro nuIlis, pro
rnortuis, pro quddripedibus.' They had no
head in the State, name. title or register;
they were not capable of being injured nor
could they take by purchase decent; they
had no heirs, and therefore could make no
will; they were not entitled to the rights and
considerations Of matrimony. and had no re-
lief in cases Of adultery; and they could be
sold, transferred and pawnod, goods or
personal estate. But this condition, pre-
scrbed by the Civil Law Of old Rome, has
been adopted in nearly all States ia which
slavery has been adopted. every endeayor,"
says a South Carolina court, "to extend TO a
slave positive rights is an attempt to reconcile
an inherent contradiction for in the very ma
ture of things no is subject to despotism.'
Or. as the statutes of the same State say
SLAVES shall be deemed sold, taken, reported
and adiudged in law to be chattels personal
in the hands Of their owners and possessors,
and their ancestors, administrators and as
signs. to all intents. constructions and pur-
poses whatever The dominion of the mas
ter, therefore, is unlimited, and slaves are not
in any sense, members of civil society.
1t is true, the slave is protected by law
from injury in certain cases, but he is pro-
tected as the property of another rather than
as person he may commit offences, such as
murder. arson. theft, &c, and be punished
for them; but he cannot be party in a civil
suit, he cannot be a witness against a white
person, he cannot educate himself or be cdu-
Gated, and no cannot, without permission, en-
Joy the means Of moral and religious instruc-
tons. He cannot be said consequently, to
be the subject of form of civil government,
and is. in fact, only the victim of the arbitra-
ny aud irresponsible will of another man.
Even if it were admitted, however, that
slavery is form of civil government, it does
not help the case which Mr.. Davis has in
hand. The name of the thing would be
thereby softcned, but the thing itself would
not be changed. II would be none the less a
very bad form Of government. The Day of
Algiers dignifes his despotic sway over his |
subjects as government, but most civilized
nations would stamp it as execrable gov
ernment. So the satraps of the Oriental des-
potisms call their arbitrary rule government
of subjects, although the whole world de-
nounces it as the exercise of an unlimited
power, according to the caprice or passions or
vices of the satrap. In tho same way slavery.
il it be form Of government, is one which
has few or no laws, and takes its direction
from the personal caprice of the master. obi
Gus as it is, when simply denominated slave
~, it is equally odious under the moro Gu
phonious phrase of "a form of civil govern
ment."
Now what we wish to say to Mr.. Davis is,
that he loses point in thus trying to get rid
of the opprobrium attached to the word
slavery. He contends that it ought to be
carried into the territories I; the South has
right to take its property where it pleases--
so runs the argument; and all laws of Con-
gress interfering with that right are a wanton
injustice inflicted upon the South. But, what
becomes of this argument il slavery is to be
regarded as form Of civil government Has
the South right to dictate "the form Of gov
eminent which prevails in the territories
BY what constitutional provision is it that
such right has been acquired II has al
ways been supposed, heretofore, that Con-
gress in the first place determined the form of
the territorial government, and that this form
was afterwards modified by the will of the
territorial people; but here we have Mr.
Davis asserting that the slave owners of the
South should possess and exercise the high
prerogatiyo. His logic is so blind, that in
his eagerness to gain one advantage he neg
lects others far more important to his ends
NJ Y. Epe Post.