Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1838-01-26


paragraph OF the letter. There is found
request, or q suggestion, that the "Gover>
nor issue his Proclamation requiring the
people Of the State to observe a strict neu
traiity, between tho conlending parties"
This is seemingly the sole object to be
OBJ, tanned There should be good reasons
for such request, and an intelligent man
would soon and easily satisfy hlnself what
those reasons were. lie would say that
we were bound by treaty of peace with
Grca, Britain, which becomes fer us law.
He would say that by the laws of the U.
States we were forbidden to interfere by
force in the contests Of other powers. He
would infer hat these laws were in danger
Of violation, and, thence, the prtpriety and
necessity Of a Proclamation winch should
assert the duties Of respec. and obedience
which they impose. To go,d citizen
this would have been an abundnt argu-
ment and sufficient reason. It would,
doub less, be on these Legitimate grounds
that he would expect tn 500 n request for
Proclamation based, without regard to
the character Of the respective parties
between whom we were to observe ncu.
trallty, or to the claims which either might
have upon our sympathy.
AS we discover, however, "therefore''
prefxed to the concluding paragraph. we
rccur to the beginning Of The letter for the
purpose Of seeing how far the reasons
assigned by the writer square with those
which we had before conceived to be the
proper and sufficient ones to urge - bear
ing it in mind that the person addressed is
the Governor Of The State, and that the
pretended object was tue preservation Of q
strict neutrality.
We here fad rare and curious specimen
of Impartial augmentation.
The ingredients Of TIVE letter are four
fold. They divide themcvcs into ques
tons Of principle, Of eXLcdiency, and OF
fact, inlerspersed with insnuaIions which
occasionally rise to the dignity of sneors.
Yet, such systematic classification of its
contents, although easily made, would
probably be rather dry, and is by no means
necessary to my purpose The letter
opens, however, with fling at the $50
called patriots" supported, farther on, by
the ingenious intimation that as "evcry
lease Of resistance is not to be dgnIiied
"wih the name Of a struggle for liberty"
and as '(ep among US are sufficiently pos
"sessed OF the questions at issue TO Judge
"upon which side the right les we are
"to be cautious lest our III judgcd sympa.
ethics betray us" into very naughty acts I!
Confident, it would seem, that lhey had
monopolzed all the information relative TO
the "ques,ons at ISSUE" they very charita.
bly, concluded that there was not enough
LEFT in the rest of the community to support
an opinion.
Fortified by this conclusion, and assuming
it to be sound, they make it the founda-
ton o: another: that all moral presump-
tlons are and ought to be, Of course, in
favor Of the Brltish--I mean the "eslab-
lIshed'--government; and, moreover, while
they discaim any disposition to dscuss the
questions pending between the pa ties, they
follow up this bold stroke with the Incl
dentaL remark thai "the malcontents have,
Sin short, no grinding expressions to com,
"plan of, but that all their grievances
"resolve themselves into bare question
concerning alleged political rights, which
are said to be denied to Them
Mr.. Editor, it must be confessed that
the "socaled patriots have not TO com
plain hat Lord Gosford relieves the tcdi-
um Of his office with pistol ract ce at the
pipe Of any unfortunate Jean BaFts,e who
may chance to stray beneath his Castle
windows; it cannot be pretended that, like
the Car, he issues his orders for a levy o
the daughters of Canada to be the hand
maids and adorn the camp of his soldiers
no, no, Mr.. Editor, it was only fer the poo
boon of political rights that they hav,
taken up arms
Alas, our Fathers reasoned not thus
In the simplicity Of their prmnlve oil
hearts they supposed that political libert
was the Only security which they held 70
the foil enj yment of their cirU rights, an
they sought it in the field. Sir" said Mr.
Webster, "they went to war upon pre-
amble, and they counted not tie cost.
Alas, again, how widely did they dlle