State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1831-1836, 1836-03-22

IldsOHsyJ anu ulCJ ouSul ultItlOIc W w
widely dihused. We do not wonder tina
Mr. IIalett shrinks from the task of making
any direct reply to these Letters.
LETTERS TO MR.. HALLETT.
No. 4.
FEBRUARY, 1886.
To b. +. HALLETT, ESQ.
SIR: OF all the parties which have ars.
EN- i'll our country, the antimasonlc has
=, been among the most distinguished for It's
devotion to principle 1t originated in a
principle obviously important and essential
in our system, but which, until the MUIR
der of one of our citizens in compliance
with the obligations of Il secret and power
full institution, had never formed the basis OF
a distinct political organization. 1t is among
the most important and enduring of the
benefits connected with this organization
/ that it has. so to speak, immortaized the
great principle of "the supremacy Of the
ia,CS." The value of this principle is seen
not only in its bearings upon freemasonry,
but upon every exercise ofpower which is
not in strict conformity with, and subordi-
nate to, the laws--whether that exercise is
1 by individuals and private associations, or
in assumptions of undclegated power.
Antlmasons having assumed a political
organization, and become thereby necesa-
rily connected with the government of the
country, could not fail to perceive the pro-
priety and necessity, if they would main
tain their consistency, of applying their
leading principle to the administration of
the government. They have thus applied
( it. The administration has been weighed
in the balance of antimasonry, and found
wanting and by no portion the people
have its leading measures been more deci-
dedly disapproved than by them.
! / have thus adverted to the leading prin-
ciple of antimasonry, and the practical APP
plication Of it which the party has made in
reference to the 'misrule" of the present
administration, for the purpose of showing
| you how great my surprise was, on reading
/ in your second letter to; me, the following
paragraph. After asserting that, so far as
the Presidency is concerned, the Antima-
sonic party is discrgani4od, [lIo,v and by
whom this has been effected, | have
shown you proceed to say;
"Nou yourself must have been aware of
| it, or you would not have made the eXper-
iment this summer in Vermont, of iCeduing
into the system Of dntlmdSonry ANOTHER, and
Il irhOly distinct system. 1t is the manifest
design of your pamphlet itself, 10 prosecute
this purpose. Hence your array of resou-
tons. Hence your "vague generalities."
You are for supplying nelc bottom in the
place of the old one. You must forgive
Inc for charging you with purloinng most
Of it from your friends, The Wings. But it
does so happen, strangely enough, ] confess,
that there is no perceptible difference be-
tween your "yague generalties" and those
commonly used by that party. |, in
my simplicity, might have been tempted to
call your scheme going over from anti
masonry to whiggism; but as perceive
you somewhat insist on keeping the party
! distinct; am reduced to the necessity of
| believing that you seriously propose TO
take from the wings the tub upon which
| they stand, solely for the purpose of mount
ing it YOURSELF and christening 1t "distinct-
! i've antimasonry."
Now, sir, who would have supposed that
you, who, addressing yourself in the name
of the Antimasonic Convention of Massa-
chusettS, in 1882, to the antlmasonic peo-
ole of that State, solemnly asserted that
''the national welfare and the purity of our
national institutions called upon all citizens
TO unite in ,idiing the country of the mis-
rule of Jacksonism," as well as the misrule
of masonry that you, | say, should have
charged me with "weaving into the sys-
TEN of antimasonry, another and a wholly
distinct SYSTEM" What, sir, did you mean
by the ''miSrlde of JacksonismM Was it n
mere 'vaguc generality" Did you mean
any thing by it? And if so, what was it,
but the very system of "misruIc" which is
now, in your opinion, so wholly foreign
from antimasonry that an attempt TO con-
meet them is regarded by you as worthy
even of rdicue: Was it right to call upon
antimdSOnS three years and half ago to
make an effort to rid tie country of the
"misrulc of Jacksonism," and is the same
call now to he deridcd ms "a going over
from antimasonry TO whiggism :"--n0it
when the misruc Of 1882 has ripened into
a most alarming maturity ?--noW when il
has brought forth the fruit Of a Baltimore
Convention; no,O when it has produced q
presidential nomination of n successor; and
notU when the people of the United States
; are called to give distinct sanction to Ht
lchole by obsying the Presidents will in the
election of his nominee, pledged to carry
out the principles and policy of his admin
I istratou?
, Need J. to mark your raillery at my inn
puted whiggsm with grosser unlaimcs'
and injustice, advert to tire ground Ions
since deliberately taken by the antimason,
of Vermont, as well as by yourself on this
subject? Will you turn to the history
which / gave Of the course of Vernon
pntimasonry, in my second letter to you
? Why have you overlooked that history o.
not chosen TO rememborit? Do you neeC
to be told that Vermont antimasons accord