Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1845-07-17
ADDRESS
OF THE WING STATE CONVENTION TO THE FREE
MEN OF THE STATE OF VERMONT:


OF THE WING STATE CONVENTION TO THE FREE
| MEN OF THE STATE OF VERMONT:
Fello,c Citizens:
| The last address submitted to you on an occa-
| sion like the present issued under crcumsan
ces of great intrinsic interest," and at crisis prep.
nant with hopes and fears Of most absorbing and
agitating character 1t emanated from Conven-
ton numerous beyond all former domestic precc
dent, and unsurpassed in the PATRIOTS and intolli
gence of its members, and it was gated on
the eve OF an election more important than any
that has occurred since the formation of oui gov
crnment, both because it destined to affect the
interests Of an increased and still increasing popu
lation, and because it involved the triumph or
defeat not only of oft disputed principles but of
new, strange and alarming schemes of National
policy and sectional ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. But though
the stroke was great, and the prognostics were
threatening, yet such was our confidence in the
intelligence and the incorruptibity of the Amer-
| can people, that we scarcely permitted ourselves
to doubt the success of our cause, the decisive vic
tory of the principles for which we were contenJ-
ing, and the signal overthrow of the various fac
tons, which tho acting in combination agreed in
nothing but their common hostility to the meas
ures of the Wing party, and the statesmen who
advocated them
But in these anticpations have been dsap.
pointed. The long tried stability Of our own peo-
pie led us to repose charitable confidence in the
which the event shows to have been unhappilv
misplaced, and while the freemen of Vermont have
abundanly redeemed their expressed ard implied
pledges, we have witnessed with modification and
alarm, the detection Of numerous sister states
which every consideration of self-interest and pat
riohc duty entailed upon US to count as our own
| and the consequent triumph Of the illassorted ca
bal, which had contrivcd 10 gain the ascendency
the spirit of the larger and less obhoX.
ious portion of its own party. We have seen the
candidate of that caba, selected, not because he
was distinguished for the possession of any one
quality required in the head Of a great nation, but
because the very want of them rendered him
fit instrument for the selfish purposes of those who
raised hun up, elevated to the Executive chair by
great ajory Of the electoral votes. We have
seen the administration thus brought into power
exercise, even before its legal organization an in.
fuence subversve of every principle Of virtuous
liberty and accomplish by the boldest intrieues
and the most barefaced corruption, measures hos
tile to the spirit, and probably fatal to the pcrma-
nent existence of our national charter-and at this
hour we hear in every quarter, from The official ga
Zette down to the humblcst echo the note of preoa
ration for iicrce onset upon almost every principle
of policy that makes the federal union desirable.
We do not propose at present TO give an expo
sition of the weakness, venaliiy and corruption,
which has led to so deplorable Il result You are
already sufficiently instructed as 10 the means that
have secured the election of a candidate, whose
enmity and whose friendship TO the protection of
domestic industry is proved by one and the same
document, who was avowedly nominated by south.
ern politicians, because his whole public career
had given irrefragable evidence of the narrowest
and most unelenting hostility to every Northern
and every National interest, and who was support
ed by the Northern Democracy, because in their
eyes the integrity of the Union and the sacredness
of the constitution were but of small account when
opposed to the temporary ascendency of their par
ty.
The election is matter Of history, and like all
history, derives is own Importance from it's con. |
necton with the future, which it influences either
as a cause or as beacon or example. TO the past
then let us give but transtory regrets and devote
our wlsest efforts and most active energies TO aver.
ting the evils which threaten, and securing the
blessings which may yet smile upon the uncertain
future.
1t will be we'll to devote a moment to view Of
the respective positions of the two great parties
which divide the Union, before we discuss our own
proper VOCATION rightful expectations, and our
duty.
The dominant party is composed of factions
held together, one Of them has fecinoly and for
chilly said, only by the cohesive force of nnhIic
plumber and 1t would be impossible to state anv
one principle in which they are agreed, except the
one said to have been enumerated
by one OF their great lights, that SO the victors he
longs the spoils of political warfare 1t is easy To
see that, however comforting their doctrine NAV
be in the abstract to those who hope 10 proGt by il
1t Is nevertheless attended with pretty serious diff
ccutcs in the application. The 'victors are un.
happily out of all proportion to the 'spoils;' the
candidates are bundled fold more numerous than
the offices, and the number of malconten,s must
necessarily be much greater than that of the re-
warded. Agreeing then in nothing but this one
principle, which is Of itself an apple of discord
and being destitute of commanding head who
might impose silence and submission upon disap-
pointed or refractory partzans, the prospects of
stgoIouS ana harmonious administration Of public
snairs under the present inefficient executive are
iSt rom hattering But besides these causes of
he9r-burnng jealousy and alienation,
,"riT p aln wider grounds of discord The anti.
,hn Eponu, G,anS OF The extreme South demand that
me Executive shall fulfill the conditions Of his
nomination and satisfy the pledges implied in his
whoe Pollica me- by exerting his entire personal
and political influence, and expending the eneroon
OF his administration, in crusade against the
rights and interests Of the free laborer of the nor
and in the mean time, they look askance at ,ba
Cabinet, and though thrice invited, keep alooffro