Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1843-08-16
Testimonial of Grotitude.s

ID 5s@ a USIvERSALIsT.
Testimonial OF Gratitude.s
Eighty-fve citizens of New York
have presented two silver pitchers to
Captain Wardrop of the Steamboat
Highlander, as 'stestimonial of Craft
ude Z to him, for having enacted the part
OF a rufflan and bully under the follow
ing circumstances. On the 18th ofJune
last, the steamboat Highlander convey
ed large number of persons down the
pay TO Amboy, to witness the reception
OF President Tyler, then on his way
from Washington to Bunker Hill The
boat was decorated for the occasion.
with ensigns and banners, among which
were some bearing the names of WASH
ington, Adams, Jefferson, and others
who have filed the Presidential chair
zo3'te IN the centre, or,r them all, large
nag bore the name of Henry Clay
Now, Captain Wardrophad an undoubt-
ed legal right to dispose ofthese flags,
as his fancy might sug 3est, but no one
who Venerates the name Of WASHING
TON, can admire the judgment of man
who elevates Henry Clay above him
who was 6 first in war, first in peace,
and first in the hearts of his country
men, Only think Of it-W AsHINGToN.
Jefferson, Adams, Madison, Monroe &
others, grouped around Henry Clan,
like military staff around their com
mandlng officer, who stands in the cen
ire, elevated above them air! What
could be more indecorous in itself!-
what more insulting to the American
people One of the passengers, it
seems, possessed with more zeal than
discretion, demonstrated against this ell
ovation of Clay above Washington, and
not content with remonstrances,tookh ol,
of the line which sustained the flag, and
commenced lowering it What did
Captain Wa'rdrop dor Why, instead of
asserting his authority, like gentleman.
and a Christian, he Immediately knock
ed his passenger down, as a ruffian with
more blood than breeding might be ex-
pected to do. Grant that the passenger
was guilty of an impertinent interior
ence with the arrangements of the Can't
ain, what thens 1t gave the Captain no
right to commit an assault upon the pas
senger, and to trampie upon the laws Of
the land, which were made for the pro-
lection of all. As a law-breaker, Capt
ain Wardrop deserved the censure of
every citizen = notwithstanding we
might find some palliation for his offence
in the excitement Of the moment.-But
what shall we say of those who. in cool
blood, after days and weeks of reflection.
not only 3uasly the ruffianism of the
Captain, but regard it as so meritorious
that it demands a peculiar commenda-
ton, accompanied by rich reward!-
Certainly, they can be neither the rev.
erencers of virtue nor the lovers of law.
though, with gravity that is laughable,
they record themselves as beionoinp
" to the law and order party.o Club
law, they probably mean, and for order.
we should read dls-order-for it is GER
talnly On error Of the types.
Such an exhibition as is presented in.
thus rewarding man for his outage
upon Christianity, and his contempt Of
law, IS not only 10 wretched taste, but is
spirit of lawlessness - an increasing dis
position to confound all distinctions be-
tween right and wrong, and morbid
sympathy with the wrong doer. No
wonder that mobs tear up railroads,
burn dwelling houses, and plumber
churches, when respectable and intelii-
gent men countenance and applaud the
violation of the law, and bestow their
fayors upon ruffians, as if yengence was
virtue, and the code lynch, the only
recognized statute of the land. This
affair IS eminently disgracefuI to all
concerned--to none more so, than TO
the eighty-fiye gentlemen who have vol
untary constituted themselves the con-
SENATORS of lynch law, and the patrons
of rowdylsm CHRIS. Freeman.
Trade OF a PRIEsT.-It consists in a
pretended knowledge of The spiritual