Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1861-01-11

THE PERSONAL LIBERTY LAW OF VERMONT
Vermont, many years since, passet
bills calculated to obstruct the rendition
of fugitives. The following is section
from an act of 1843;
SEC. 3. No sheriff, deputy sheriff
high baliff, constable, or other officer ol
citizen of this State, shall transport ol
remove, aid or assist in the transportation
or removal of any fugitive slave, or any
person claimed as such, from any place
in this State to any other place within
or without the same.
SEC. 4. Imposes penalty Of five
years in states prison and a fine OF ST.
0OO.) Act Of 1913. G. S. 537.
Two years since an additional enact
ment was made, containing tue following
section
SEc. G. Every person who may have
been held as a slave, who shall come, or
bo brought, or be in this State, with or
without tue consent Of his or her master
or mistress, or who shall come, or be
brought, or be involuntarily, or in any
way in this State, shall be free.
A bill is now before the Vermont leg
islaturo repeating all these former enact
ments. As the subject is now exciting
general attention in the South, we take
pleasure in presenting portion of the
remarks Of 5. b. Colby, Esq, before
the judiciary committee of the Senate of
Vermont, in favor Of the repeal. Mr..
Colby is one Of the leading lawyers Of
the state, and every reader will admire
his elevated and forcible treatment Of the
question. We quote:
Remarks Of S. B. CoBy before the III
dietary Committee Of tie Senate Of
Vermont, upon the bill 70 repeal the
Personal Liberty Bills.
"MR. CHAIRMAN This legislature
has been instructed by the recent over
whelming vote of Vermont for the Re
publican President, in language most EN-
phatic, TO repeal all those lajthess enact
rnents on our statute books, the undis-
guised purpose Of which is to embarrass
aaI thrart the 9i,at.tioa. Of .l= ..f--'.'---
slave" law. Mr. Lincoln stood soIemnly
pledged to the country, to enforce the
act of 1850, for the rendition Of fugitive
slaves, and in faith Of that pledge he
has been elected. The vote is an over
whelmjog verdict of the people, in favor
Of the constitutional rights of every sec
ton Of the country; and especially in
favor Of an honest regard for that clause
of the Constitution, which was intended
as 4 security to owners Of property in
slaves.
1t should not be forgotten that Yer
mont, above every other state in the
Union, stands pledged, by solemn act,
to a faithful performance of duty toward
her sister states. For upon her admis-
sion into the federal Union her statute
laws we're revised, and a penal act, which
it was supposed might initiate against
the second section Of Article ~ of the
Constitution, was repealed. 1t was an
act to prevent the transportation Of
negroes and mulattoes out of this state,
passed October 80, 1886. (Vt Statutes,
Haswelrs ed, p. ll7) On this plight
Of good faith she was admitted into the
confederacy; a pledge solemnly given,
and never in fact violated; but in hooght
and ,oord it has been, by the enactments
complained Of in the resolutions before
this committee.
The language and authority of the
Supreme Court of the State, in a case
incidentally involving this question as
early as 1902, are sometimes I fear Of
late, in times of excitement, quite forgot
ten, deserve to be read and remembered.
/ refer to the case of Selectmen of Wind
sor Us. Jacob; q Tyler's Vt Reports,
l99) The chief justice says:
4 shall always respect the Constitu-
ton and laws Of the Union; and though
it may sometimes be a reluctant, yet l
shall always render a prompt obedience
to them, fully sensible that while rever-
snce a constitution and laws which favor
the opinions and preiudicea of the citizens
of other sections of the Union, the same
constitution and laws contain also provls-
ions which favor our peculiar opinions
and prejudice8 equally irreconcilabie with
the sentiments Of the inhabitants Of other
states, as the very idea of slavery in
wolves solely the interests of the inhabi-
tants of this state, l shall cheerfully car
ry into effect the enlightened principles
Of our State Constitution
Associate Justice Tyler adds:
Whoever views attentively the Con
stitution Of the United States, while he
admires the wisdom which framed it, will
perceive that in order to unite the inte-
rest Of a numerous people inhabiting