Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1842-10-07

ed within THIS Stale one whole year last preceulOg
any election of Governor Lieut. Governor, and
Treasurer of the State, and Senators, also Repre-
| sentatives to Congress- Electors OF President and
| Vice President Of tho United States and shall be
Of quiet, peaceabe behavior shall have a right to
| vote in such Election" Considering this section
of the Statute alone, even this only according to
the letter of the law, they sagey decided that We
must have been in the State all of the time for tho
last year, or we could not vote. Their Father
confessor, Gen Il. b. Ransom, to whose keeping
| they seemed ~ have entrusted their consclehces,
acknowledged such was not the spirit aud intent
| of the law, yet in his wisdom voted in almost eV'
| ery individual to exclude us on that very
ground Every consistent man, who realistic u
| hove article of the Statute alone, would cOnsrue
il as relating to the establishing II residence, not
the continuation OF residence already establish
ed. For the latter construction, adherng 10 Tue
letter, as they did, would exclude every man who
| had beer absent from The State one week, yea,
one day during the whole year, But this is NOT
our on, argument; he Statute itself is express
upon the point, stating how long nn abscnce not
simply from the State but even the United states,
will forfeit citizenship. Revised statues. sec
| ton 9Th, of The same article, and upOu the same
page as the above reference, read follows " III
any citizen Of this State, who snail heretofore
have removed or shall hereafter remove out OF the
| United States (eVen) aud shall have resided III any
! foreign State, Kingdom or government Tor the
! space Of one whoe year. such person shall not he
admitted TO vote in any lreemen's meeting IN thls
State until he shall have returned and resided one
| whole year in this ante next preceding The day OF
such freemens meeting, and shall also have Ia
ken the oath of allegiance to this state, the oath
to support the constitution OF the United States
and the freenen's oath. This seems to to place
the matter entirely beyond discussion, since the
almost invarable testimony OF each one was that
he was born and brought up in Vermont, his pa.
rents reside there he has always had hi residence
there aud ns never been absent at school
or oil business. more than about three months ut
time, and some never having been out of the State
at all, except on business, before coming here
some Two or three weeks since TO attend the med
icnl lectures for n short term, again to return
their own loved hills and wales yet the remarka-
BILE sagacity of the authority of the town OF Nor
wch clearly saw aud decided we were alien aud
foreigners, and could not vote. And more extra
ordinary than all, and what they E,ust rely upon
as their only redeeming action in the whole affair,
was to allow some four or six that right which
they had no legal power to take from any of us,
merely because they were inhabitants of Nor
witch. Their circumstances were precisely the
same as of the rest OF us, except the particular
toion OF residence, and its being So teur they could
visit their mothers oitener. Yet the sharp acu
men of that self styled and law-required Impair
taI board could see clearly through the whole mat
ter and they even decided that since these four or
six could get their shirts and dckeys washed at
home, instead of bringing money from home to
pay for the same work here, they were entitled to
VOTE Even that miserable apology for reason,
the place where and person whom should EN-
ploy for wash, rwonan, formed II criterion of their
decision upon the great and vital question of CHI
zenship. Yes, OH that shallow despicabe pretence
some fifteen Of US denied the rights of free.
ranchsed-without home or residence
our holy birthright crushed--our dearest priy-
leges as freemen OF Sovereign State wrenched
from us by the undue and unjust exercise of pow
h,,t EtY,,t
But there may be an excuse for the Doctor who,
by the way, was the "democratc" candidate for
town representative, since his two students were
also here of our number, and he well knew them
TO be of his party-tho' we would by no means
insinuate the Doctor thought of securing his own
election by the aid of their votes. We would not
be understood to include all the members of the
board of arbiters under this same head for some
two or three were gentlemen and regarded their
oath of Office and the rights OF citizens us sacred
and invoable They could not he taught to sac
riice justice and their sacred honor at the shrine
of party On the other hand, had they all been
so contemplate mass of bigory and prejudice
as Mr. Neal, should view the case far differ
emily, for their ignorance and obsequioLsness
might be an excuse but no less than DIR. Davis and
Gen. Ransom adopted the same un ust COURSE
The Generals suavity OF manners, gentleness of
speech, aud kind pretences, called in common par
lance soft soap, by no means took with us In.
deed ii might have succeeded much better than il
did, had we not seen him successfully make his
marks against u.s. For W. had supposed him
man of higher principle, OF nobIer feeling and
more sacred regard to constitutional right. The
high places he has been desirous TO obtain and
10 which his party have vainly tried to elevate him.
we had received as recommendation TO him as
n gentleman OF honor, integrity virtue, and prn-
ciple. We cannot but look upon his course as an
arbitrary assumption OF power, never delegated to
him, nor even intended to be; assumption that
would not stand for moment before any judicial
tribunal of ordinary intelligence One oftwo DO
stons must be true, either tie General is remar-
kably deficient in common sense, ignorant of the
most common principles of Statute aw, ind sed of
the English language, or he il Of that other char
acer, treacherousy and dishonesty dsregarding
known principles Of right and justice preferring
his own promotion to the good of the people, and
even setting aside, without scruple, the most sa
cred rights when they happen 10 conflict with his
chance OF personal agrandizement The former
position we. and doubtless his espeea! friends. are
unwilling to allow. Himself and his comneer
DIR. Davis, worthy indeed of such leader, are a.
like equally culpable, and what has been said off
the one applies with equal force to the other
Such, then, is the democracy of r. b. Ransom
whose aristocratic course OF conduct has not IN
aIlel in the State D JUSTICE thou art fled to brut
ish beasts, and men have lost their reason" Never
was word so prostituted as thu, word Democracy
banded forth from the mouths of those dems
gogues, who acting as the spiritual fathers of the
old Romsh Church, exercise atyrrany over the
minds OF their mnious as completely US i'm the
old leuda times and less ondurabe, because in
more enlightened uge.
, We protest against the unjust course of these
heartess functionares and recommend them TO
a better husbandry of their consciences Although
their arbitrary will has this year robbed US pf our
birihright, still, we love our own green native hills
around which so many holy assoc ialions cluster
where so often the songs Of Liberty havo beeu
sung, and from which Liberty, il ever enlhron
ed, will take her flight to the skies We know
the generous feeling for love of order aud Justice,
which finds soil congenial to its uxurant growth
in the bosom of every Vermonter will leei ITSELF
outraged, and the noble hearts of our brotbers