The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1877-08-16

born in this country or brought from over
the sea, ought to be holden by the law to
serve any person as a servant, slave or ap
prentice, after he arrives to the age of twen-
| ty-one years, nor female, in like manner,
| after she arrives to the age OF eighteen
years, unless they arc bound by their own
consent, after they arrive to such an age"
This provision of the constitution received
| judicial Interpretation (clear enough without
| it, by the Supreme Court in 1902, that no
| inhabtant of this State can hold q slave, and
that by becoming an inhabitant his slave
| brought from another State, becomes free.
| Windsor D.Jac06, 2 Tyler's Repts 1922 The
| bill of sale in such case to be effective must
according to the traditional ruling of Judge
| Theophilus Harrington, be under the hand
and seal of the Almighty. We give our
| fathers credit, that they did not distort the
| logic of their broad declaration Of human
rights, or attempt to accommodate an in
flexible truth to the passion of power, or
| the lust of gain that they were ready to
award to all men what they claimed for
| themselves, and stamped the soil of Yer
mont with the seal of freedom for all, and
/ forever.
Thus reviewing cursorily the carly his
| tory of this state, we may safely say, that
none has history more romantic in its in
| cidents, or more illustrious for the heroism
and sagacity of its chief men nor moro
marked for the sturdy independence and
honesty of its people, for their energy, per-
| sistence, will indomitable to defend their
| rights, and readiness to accord like rights
| to others. II we of to-day have become
| spindling and weak, 1t is not the fault of
| the fathers. True, we have not had their
personal experience and training in the
1 e G. tt.A
| teal sagacty which comes OF necessity I;
nor yet that schooling of whole people in
| civil rights and law and craftsmanship,
which their long controversy with New
York, New Hampshire, Great Britain and
congress gave them, during the years Of
| that great awakening of thought which pre-
| coded, accompanied and followed the
| American revolution, and made of plain
men shrewd thinkers and wise Judges.
| But they have left us their thoughts, their
/ spirit, their institutions, town organiza-
| ttons, those little democracies where all the
| inhabitants, assembled in common meeting,
| discuss and decide all matters of local gov
| eminent, distribute the offices of admins
tration and jury service, by which, and the
| official service imposed upon those esteemed
| the fittest, the people are put to school in
the principles of government and kept in
| training for the duties of civil life, and
| made at one with the law which they make
and administer They have left us, too,
| the school house and the meeting house,
and foundations for religious teaching, for
| the grammar school and the university, Us
well as cleared fields, roads, bridges and
| mills, and we have entered into their Ia
bors.
| 1t is a question which presses upon US,
whether the state in its subsequent develop
ment has proved itself worthy its origin and
| whether we of to-day deserve such ances-
try how far the spirit and the times Of a
hundred years ago have impressed them
selves upon the century, and made its his
| tory what it has been, and the people what
| they are. In the way Of partial answer to
such questionings, it may be truthfully
said, that the age has not passed beyond the
| impulse which first set in motion the state
| and its institutions that the temper and
| spirit of the fathers are yet traceable in the
| moral lineaments of their posterity that
the principles upon which they founded the
| state lie under it to-day, undisturbed in
place upon the bedrock of truth, untouched
by decay.
| Thus, upon all questions of human lib
erty, especially in the fierce conflicts which
have since been waged between the absolute
i
| doctrine of human equality and the wild
fantasy of property in man, Vermont has
/ ever been true to her early declaration, and
| fixed as her mountains Exhibiting even
an aggressive zeal for liberty and holy anger
against slavery, contemptuous Of all excuse
or apology for such invasion of human
rights. Thus it happened, that the teach
ings of the carly abolitionists seemed to ouI
people no new doctrine, but the awakened
echo of the voices of the fathers who had
passed into silence, and their appeals fell
upon willing ears and sank into sympa-
thiZing hearts. 1t was this kinship to the
spirit of the fathers, which impelled oui
people to the verge of the compromises Of
the national constitution, or beyond it, in
their legislation upon the subject of fugitive
slaves and made hostility to slavery the
dominant question of politics, making and
unmaking parties, and moulding the policy
; or debating the utterances Of all parties
This spirit mingled largely with the spirit
of nationality which inspired our people tC
the heroic devotion displayed in the late
civil war, and made it, in their esteem, q
war twice holy, since in its issue was bounC
up as well as the liberty of the slave, as the
nations life.
So if we consider the part taken by Yer
monters in the wars which have arisen sinct
the revolution, it may be claimed of them
that they have not disgraced the memorie
of the men who took Ticonderoga and con
quered at Bennington. Thus Lake Cham
plain and Pittsburgh cheered the rush o
the Vermont farmers, to repel the British
invasion of 1914. So in 1861, the gun fire.
on Sumter was heard in every hamlet il
: Vermont. The spirits of the Green Mount
ain Boys of ''the Grants" slumbering in tn
caves of their mountains, seemed to arous
|, to a quickened life, and Allen, Warner ant
their compeers once more to walk thu
earth. Every heart was stirred with a di
vine anger, and from every valley, hill
, side and mountain top echoed back the re
sponSiye cry, "Slnce you will have 1t so, 81
be it,-and God defend the right" Ant
so Vermont sent forth to the fray som
thirty-four thousand of her sons, with he
, gift Of blessing aud armor of the spirit o
the fathers, aud they so fought al TO max
} the name OF Vermont and the Vernon
| brigade historic glory, and so died, to tn
: number Of five thousand In the shock o
battle, as only heroes know how TO die
} And so the nation was saved by the sacri
ficial blood of her sons,-the issues Of tn,
: fratricldal strife happily solving, as W
trust, the riddle of Samson, "Out of tn
| eater came forth meat aud out Of the stronj
7 came forth sweetness" the riddle OF al
time-good out of evil, the wrath of maj
praising God. Thus far, in spirit OF free
dom and Eelf-sacrihce, in patriotic de
1 votlon aud heroic courage, note no de
generacy. We are to bear in mind, that
is the times and their necessities that searcl
out the before undiscovered man for tn
times that the opportunity creates tn
: man for the opportunity and the grea
4 occasion makes the man great for the occa
G sion, who, without such stress, would hAv
2 | seemed hut Common CLAW and have diA,