State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1831-1836, 1836-03-08
LETTERS TO MIR. HALLETT.
No. 9.
FpRRuARy 1876
To b. f. HALLETT, ESQ:

TO B. F. HALLETT, ESQ.
SIR: Though proceeding to reply to the
letters signed by "a Massachusetts Anti
mason," address myself to you, because
you have, for what purposes it does not
concern me TO inquire, put forward this
unknown parsonage as your substitute
When say "y0u," therefore, in this and
the following letters, l shall mean the
compound" formed by the union of the
Editor of the Boston Advocate with the
man who deems it prudent TO mask his
identity under the cover Of fictitious sig
nature.
You begin by complaining that edo not
come to the points" that is, to the point of
naming candidate for the Presidency
but that "consume sixteen pages in the
discussion Of general principles" can
not, surely, blame you for feeling FESTIVE
under discussion of principles which you
have made up your mind to abandon 4; nor
for your desiring to force me from an in
vestigation of those principles, as connected
with the proposed election of Mr. Van Bu-
rem, TO the invidious Office of proposing my
own candidate for the Presidency. When
the resolutions in question were adopted
and when addressed you, it was the gen
eral expectation that there would be Ma
tional Convention to deliberate on, and de-
eide, the question iCho should be the candi-
date of the antimasons of the United States.
To report resolutions containing an asser-
ton of the principles which should be kept
in view in preparing for, and acting in,
that Convention, and to address you and
the public in explanation and support of
those principles, must, ! think, seem quite
proper to all who are disposed to he gov
erned by any principles other than those of
sey-intereSt. 1t was easy to determine who
should not be the candidate to carry out
the principles avowed in the resolutions
and explained in my letters. Martin Van
Buren, could not be, because he was pub
lcly pledged to a course of measures utterly
at uariance with them. To support him,
therefore, would be to give up the princi-
pies for which the antimasons of Vermont
and the whole country had long commended.
To determine, however, who should be the
candidate, was matter of more difficulty
and one with the decision of which did
not feel disposed to interfere, choosing to
leave it where the party had, supposed,
by common consent left it, to be decided,
upon full deliberation, in a national con-
vention.
Thus, after advertng, at the close of my
first letter, to the resolution of the meeting,
that 4" the ground should be firmly taken
and steadfastly maintained, that the selec-
ton of men for office should be made sub
servient to the support Of principles, and
not the selection of principles subservient
TO the elevation of men !" and saying when
the proper time shall arrive, think | may
safely assure you that they 1.-THE Vermont
AntiInasons) will not abandon their old
principles and adopt new ones for the sake
Of aiding in the elevation of Mr. Van Buren,
TO the Presidency" l added, "Do you ask
me whose elevation they will aid? My
reply is, that of some man who, while he
shall be qualified by age, experience, tai
ents, temper, and moral principle, to become
the depository of nations confidence,
shall be known as an opponent both of Sc
cret societies and of the misrule of the
present administration. There may, and
doubtless will, be differences of opinion as
to the man who should be selected On
this, as Oh all other similar occasions there
must be spirit of mutual concession and
compromise, not of principle, but of per
sonal preferences, for the sake of promoting
The public good. Such spirit, trust, will
not be wanting whenever and wherever
ahtlmasons are brought to act upon this
great question, ander direct responsibility
10 their country and the world"
The determination thus evinced by me,
10 stand by the great principles avowed by
the antlmasonic party, and await the action
oil national convention to carry them out,
ns far as practicable, in the selection of !
candidate for the Presidency, you are plea
sed to characterize as "procrastination,"
the " resource for all wagering minds" and
an attempt to get over giving an opinion,
by leaving to national convention, what
would be just us ditiicnlt to, decide at the
time Of its meeting as it is now"
And here, sir, you have, in part, disclosed
the true secret of your hostility to the reso-
luton, which reported. They contem-