Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1874-04-24

| subject with which tho federal government
bas nothing 10 de-" thank him for leach
ing the Senate that word. True, most true,
sir, ours Is government OF freedom which
has nothing to do with slavery. This is the
doctrine which l have ever maintained,
and which am happy to find recognized
in form, If not In reality, by the Senator
from Louisiana. The Senator then pro-
ceeded to declare that "all the South asks
is TO be let alone" This request is mod
crate. And say for the North, that all we
ask is TO be let alone. Yes, sir, let us
alone. Do not involve us in the support Of
slavery. Hug the viper TO your bosoms, II
you perversely will, within your own
States, until it stings you TO generous re-
morse, but do not compel US to hug 1t too (;
for this we assure you we will not do.
But the Senator from Louisiana, with
these professions OH his lips, proceeds to
ask, doubtless, with complete sincerity,
but IN strange forgetfulness Of the history
OF our country, "Did we ever bring this
subject into Congress :" Yes sir, that was
his inquiry, as if there had been any mo-
ment, from the earliest days OF The Repub-
| lie, when the supporters of slavery had
ceased TO bring this subject into Congress.
| Almost from the beginning 1t has been
there, through the exercise of uSurped pop-
! err, nowhere given under the Constitution,
for am glad to believe that the Constitu-
ton OF my country contains no words out
of which slavery, or the power to support
slavery, can be derived and this conclu-
sion, doubt not, will yet be affirmed by
the courts. And yet the honorable Sena-
tor asks "Did we ever bring this subject
into Congress p The answer shall be plain
and explicit, Sir. you brought slavery in
to Congress, when, shortly after the adop-
ton of the Constitution, you sanctioned ii
in the District of Columbia, within the Ma
tional jurisdiction, and adopted that bar
barous slave code, still extant on your stat
ute-book, which the Senator from Connect
icut MFR. Gillettel has so eloquently ex-
| posed tonight. You brought slavery
into Congress, when at the same period
you accepted the cession of territories from
North Carolina and Georgia, now consti-
tuting States of the Union, with conditions
in favor Of slavery, and thus began 10
sanction slavery in Territories within the
exclusive jurisdiction of Congress. You
brought slavery in Congress, when, at diff
| ferent times, you usurped power not Civ
en- by the Constitution, over the fugitive
slaves, and by most offensive legislation
thrust your arms into distant Northern
homes. You brought slavery into Con-
gress, when, by express legislation, you
regulated the coastwise slave trade, and
thus threw the national shield over traf-
| fic on The coast of the United States, which
on the coast Of Congo you justly brand as
'piracy." You brought slavery into Con-
gress, when, from time to time, you sought
TO introduce new Staies with slaveholdng
Constitutions into the National Union.
And, permit me to say, sir, you brought
slavery into Congress when you called up.
on it, as you have done even at this very
session, TO pay for slaves-and thus, in de-
lance of cardinal principle of the Consti-
tuition, made the National Government
recognize property in men. And yet the
Senator from Louisiana, with strange sim
| plicity, says that the South only asks to be
let alone. Sir, the honorable Senator only
borrows the language of the North, which,
AT each Of these usur9ltions, exclaims,
Let us aloue.' And let me say, frankly,
that peace can never prevail until you do
let US alone-until this subject of slavery is
banished from Congress by the triumph Of
freedom until slavery is driven from its
usurped ioothold, and free }om is made ma
| tional instead Of sectional-and until the
National Government is brought back TO
the precise position it occupied on the day
tha. Wa ihington took his first oath as Pres
| : 4 q 81.
no Fugitive Act, and the national flag, as it
floated over the national territory, within
the jurisdiction of Congress, no where COW
cred single slave.
And now, sir, as an effort in the true di-
rection of the Constitution; in the hope OF
beginning the divorce of the National Gov
ernment from slavery, and TO remove all
occasion for the proposed measure under
consideration, shall close what have to
say with motion TO repeal the Fugitive
Act. Twice already, since have had the
honor OF seat on this floor, I have press =
ed that question TO vote, and mean 10
press it again tonight. After the protract-
ed discussion, involving the character OF
this enactment, such a motion seems log
ically to belong to this occasion, and may
fitly close its proceedings.
AT a former session, on introducing this
proposition, l discussed it at length, in an
argument, and now, in the debate, have
already touched upon various objections.
There are yet ether things which might be
urged. l might exhibit the abuses which
have occurred under the Fugitive Act the
number of free persons it has doomed 10
Slavery; the riots it has provoked; the
brutal conduct of its officers; the distress
1t has carried; the arrangement Of bust
ness it has caused, interfering even with
the administration of justice, changing
court houses into barracks and barracoons,
and filling streets with armed men, amidst
which law is silent. All these things
might expose. But in these hurried mo-
ments, forbear, Suffice it TO say that the
proposition 10 repeal the existing Fugitive
Act stands on adamantine grounds, which
no debate or opposition can shake.
There are considerations belonging TO the
present period which give new strength 10
this proposition. Public opinion, which,
under popular Government makes and
unmakes laws, and which, for a time, was
passive and acquiescent, now lifls itself ev-
erywhere in the States where the act is
sought TO be enforced, aud demands a
change. Already three States, Rhode Is
land, Connecticut and Michigan, by formal
resolutions presented to the Senate, have
concurred in this demand. The tribunals
of law are joining at last with the people.
The superior court of Cincinnati has deni-
ed the power of Congress over this sub
ject. And now, almost while speak,
comes the solemn judgment of the supreme
court of Wsconsin-a sovereign State ol