Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1860-06-15

secs himself invested with power enincnily cOntrar,
70 mo'a. ana I,.'aa he continual exercise Of ar
uniting tho character M no @ li'sn' ny ,4
| mont The possession N slave being th,
slave rsnno, he o,hep. ,e,on' OF hg master Th ,a'
Among good masters land itis agreed 10 csi 80
those VINO do not abuse their powers as much as they
puensnt tban omor others. h", Ee,o ,Sr ,'' g,rc1cc
stops. Who could remain always pure when, carried
cWy oy ' aso,2n eAied oy hi. tempe dagR ey
bis fcllows And LEI I be carefully remarked that in.
ielllgenee civilization do not avail, The enlightened
should MOI empress "a 4 n@ors,ry at /, sb"nd ba o
impossible for him to Cypress An men cannot ike
bcy e ,. 9r'T , 'oe o' y.g ggdoT 6 when
/ roL H., page, los.
Another authority. upirroocb,blo NJ al
points whose fortune it has been. from extern
sive travels, to sec slavery in the most vari-
Gus forms. and slave masters upder the most
various condition. refer to the great AGi-
can traveller. DR.. Liyinrstone-th touches
the character Of slave masters:
81 can never cease to be upfcigr,ily b,ntt,t,,,,
was not born in land of slaves no one can under
,Sc n;rI w NC 5 ~ q, p, lne Save 'y1jen IN
which trren,s f,on fsiag TN dcgredrtioa Of no., by
g ge"lDe, ,',ogA inpay for serr'c,s rendered would
urai To- them as p,,ine onc,. ,oy IL t ,c re, d ,,n,.
/ kind"-LnrHqstone's Tyoreh, chap. H. page 49,
Thus does the experience of slavery ia
other countries confirm the sad experience
among us.
SECOND AssuNprfoN. - Biscardinr now
all the prcsumptuous boasts for slavery. and
bearing in mind it's essential barbarism. I
come 90 consider that second assumption of
Senators on the ,thcrsidc. which is. of course.
inspired by the first even if not It's immcdi-
ate consequence. that under the Constitution
slave masters may take their slaves into tho
national Territories. and there continue TO
hold them, as at home in the slave States
and that this would be the case in any terri
tory newly acquired, by purchase or by war,
as Of Mexico on the South OF Canada on the
North
And here ! begin by the remark that as
the assumption Of constitutional law is inspir-
cd by the assumption of fact with regard to the
"cnnobling' character of slavery, so it must
lose much if not all Of its force when the lat
ter assumption is shown to be false. as has
been done to-day.
When slavery is seen to be the barbarism
which it is, there arc few who would not
cover it from sight rather than insist upon
sending 10 abroad with the flag of the Re
public. 1t is only because people have been
inscnsibc to lis true character that they have
cAnOrUiLuUt
tensions. Therefore this long exposition.
where slavery has been made to stand forth
in its fvc-fold borbarism. with the single OBJ
jcct Of compelling men to work without wa
ges, naturally prepares the way to consider
the assumption of constitutional law. This
assumption may be described an attempt
to Africanize the Constitution by introducing
into it the barbarous law of slavery. derived.
as we have seen, originally from barbarous
Africa; and then, through such Ajrtcaniza-
ton Of the Constitution, to Africanizc the ter
rtories. Analize the assumption, and it will
be found to stand on two pretcnsions, either
Of which failing, the assumption fails also-
These two are-frst, the African pretcnsion
of property in man and, secondly, the pre-
tension that such property is recognized in
the Constitution.
With regard TO the first Of these preton-
sions, | might simply refer TO what have
already said in an earlier part Of this argu-
ment. But should do injustice to the part
1t has been made to play in this controversy,
If | did not again expose it, Then | sought
particularly to show its barbarism; now !
will show something more
Property implies an owner and thing
owned On the one side is a human being
eAA vi we Ntuti hllt "a tuluI. ilNt the very
idea of a human being necessarily excludes
the idea of property in that being. lust as the
very idea of thing necessarily excludes the
idea ola human being It's clear that thing
cannot be a human being and it is equally
clear that human being cannot be a thing.
And the law itself, when it adopts the phrase.
"relation Of master aud slave. confesses its
reluctance to sanction the claim Of property
1t shrinks from the prctension of Senators
and satisfies itself with formula, which does
not openly degrade human nature.
If this property does exist, out Of what title
is it derived q Under what ordinance of
nature or Of nature God is one human being
stamped an owner and another stamped things
God is no respector Of persons. Where is
tho sanction for this respect of certain persons
to degree which becomes outrage to other
persons God is the father of the human
family, and we are all his children. Where
then is the sanction Of this pretcnsion by which
brother lays violent hands upon a brother
To ask these questions is huminating but il
is clear there can be but one response. There
is no sanction for such pretension no ordi-
nance for it. or title. On all grounds Of rea-
son, and waving all question of positive"
statute, the Vermont Judge was noby right.
when, in rejecting the claim of slavo-master.
he said "No not until you show bill Of
sale from the Almighty" Nothing short of