Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1861-10-11
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BURLINGTON
FRIDAY MORNING, OCT. Il. 1851.
SPEECH OF
HON. CHARLES SUMNER.

Vt the Union Republican State C0nyentio
Of Massachusetts, October l, Hon Cbarlc
Sumner made a speech to the assembled de-
cgatas. OF course, the burthen Of bis speec
was the Rebellion, and Slayery-tho grea
cause Of it. lie rejo;ced that the creates
slave ofall-that of the National Goyernmcu
to the Southern 0ligarchy,-had been freed
Providence will be with the good cause il
times to come, rs it has been in times past
Others may despair | DO not. Others mar
see gloom can not. Others may hesitate
| Will not Already the country has beer
saved. Great as may seem TO be its present
peril, its peril was greater tlr while if wa:
sinking year after year, under the ruia %
slavery. Often have | exclaimed in time.
past, that our first great object was tn,
emancipation OF the National Government
SO that it should no longer be the slave Oh
slavery, ready to do its bidding 10 all things.
But this victory has been won il was won
/ first by the baliot-box, when Abraham Lin
/ coin was elected President OF the United
/ States and it was won the second time by
/ the caTtridge-box, when, at the command Of
! the President, the guns of Fort Sumter rc-
! turned the fire Of the rebel artillery. Such
was the madness Of slavery that the first Was
not enough. Uuhapplly, the second was
needed to complete tle work.
The slave oli-arCav, which, according To
tie ylunt Of -layc-hoidiug senator, has
ruled the Republic tor more than so years ;
which has stamped It's degrading character
| upon tLo national forehead which has en-
tered into and posse isCd not only The p3.itcs
bat the literature and even the religion of
the country; which has cmbIolel as 40
home and given us q bad name abroad i.
which has welded at will President, Cabinet
aHd even Judicial tribunals which has stu
pclseded public opinion by substituting it's
own immoral behlsts; Whi'h has apprlpril
ted to itself tho Offices and honJrs Of the
Republic. which has established slavery as
the single test and shiholeth OF favor: which
aiger opening all our territories e. lis WIau-,
was already promising to renew the slave
trade and all It's uuuttr.able WyD-, nay.
more, which IN the ins.iact # Jhll tyranny,
through which it ruled, wos beating down 4ll
the safeguards of human rights-ireedpm Of
speech, freedom Of the press. and cuJiy TO
person, and delivering the whole uutry of
rule whose vulgarIty was second only % It's
madness tons slave UlISarchy has been Dis
lodged from the National Government, uev
ormore to return. Thus FIR, ~ least, ha,
emancipation prevailed. The greatest slave
of all is free
Surely, II at any moment we are disp sed 60
be dlsheartened--lf the future is not always
clear before US, we may find ample occasion
for JOY in the victory already won. Pillars,
ike those of llercG.os, might Gtly mark this
progress.
HOW SLAVERY CAN EE ENDED.
\ simple declaration thar ali men comm,
" thin the lines of the United States troops
shal be regarded as lreemen, vi De in strict
conformity to the Constitution, and also
with prscelcn,s. The Constitution knows
no man as a slave. It treats all within It's
jurisdiction as persons, while the exceptional
provision for the rendition of parsons held 10
service or labor, you Will observe, is care
fully confined to such as have escaped into
another STATE. l. is clea, therefore. that
there can be no sanction under the Consutu-
tiJn for turning a camn into slave pen, or
iJr turning military officers into slaye-hun--
erS. Let this plain construction be adopted
and then, as our lines advance, Freedom vii.
be established aud our national flag in is
march will wave with new glory.
\ brave General. whom Massachusetts,
has given to the c0untTy-tLough com
mencing his career with preiudices derived
from the prosIarerv school ol politicians
has known hDw 10 see this question in iis
true light. / mean, of course, Gen. Buti.r
lie has declared in his letter to the Secretary
of War, dated Fortress Monroe, 30th July,
1861, with reference to fugitive slaves, that
lt Us his duty, go take the sane care o
these men, women and children, honssess
homeless and unproyIded for, rs he would of
the same number OF men, women and chill
dren who for their attachment to the Union,
had been driven or allowed to Gee from the
Coned crate Statcs" These words are bet
t-r for his reputation than victory.
Another General, born in Kentucky and
living and dying ia the S1uth-Maior Gen
eral Games OF the army OF the United States
laid down the same rule as long ago as
1888. Il gili be found IN the documents Of
Congress.
''Thc militl-2 officer. said he, "cau enter ia
10 no juaicial examination Of the claim Of one
man 90 the bone and muscle Of another as prop
ertv. Nor could he, as a military officer, know
what the laws Of Florida we're while engaged in
maintaining the Federal Government by force Of
arms. In such case, be could only be guided 10y
the laws Of war; and whatever may be the laws
Of any state they must yield to the safety OF tho
Federal Government"
Enis proposition, though Of seeming sim
p.icty, would be Of incllculabie efficacy IL
honestly and sincerely enforced. Then would
our camps become nurseries of irecmen, and
every common soldier would be n chain
breaker.
Bui there Is another agency, lhat may be
invoked, which is at the same time under
the Constitution, and above the Constitu-
tion mean Martial Law. 1t is under the
Constitution, because it is distinctly rec0g-
nized by the Supreme Court among the
functions Of onr government. 1t is above
the Constitution, because, when set in mo-
ton, like necessity, it knows no other law
For the time it is law and Constitution. All
other agencies, small and great, executive,
legislative and even judicial, are absorbed in
this transcendent triune power, which for
the time declares It's absolute will, while it
holds alike the scales of justice and the
sword Of the executioner. The existence Of
this power-nobody questions. II it has
been rarely exercised in our country, and
never on an extended scale, the power none
the less has fixed place in our political sys-
TEN. As well strike out the kindred law Of
sell-deiense, which belongs alike to States
and individuals. Martial law is only one
form of sclf-delense.
That this law might be employed against
slavery was first proclaimed in tie House
of Representatives by Massachusetts, states
man, who was champion Of freedom, John
Quincy Adams. H's authority is such that
l content myself itn placing the law under
the sanction of il namc, which becomes
more authoritative when VIC consider the
circumstances under which tic doctrine
was put forth, repeated, and then again
vindicdted.
1t was as early as tie 25th Of May. 1886,
that Mr. Adams first expoundcd what he
called - The war power and trcaty>making
power Of the Constitution. F" Then it was
tnat he declared
"From the instant that your slayeholdiDg
States become the theatre Of war, civil servilo or
foreign, from that instant tho war powers Of Con-
gress extend TO interference with the institution Of
slavery il every way in which it be interfered
with, from a claim Of indemnity for slaves taken
or destroyed, to the cession Of the State bur
dened with slavery to a foreign power"
81 Al. II