Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1848-08-24
THE BUFFALO PLATFORM,

HARnrrrD sirrEh-Benjamln +. Butler in the course
his sroech ut Buffalo sad lam not hers 10 undo or un
any thing Ihdre before done sad" lilo Inns always
-awoys supporter of Van Bur and esn6rm"d Jourb
face How can Wing ooalesce with ocofooo who refu
to give inch but demands of wings that tov must
come over to him! 49,
Benjamin F. Butler was always Mr.. Van Blu
ren's man for all work, a smart smooth, sanctimo.
NOUS, slippery fellow. He made the Van Buren,
platform at Buffao-ond it is a cunninaly devils.
ed work. After half dozen PREDATORY pream-
bes and resolutions, the pith of the matter APP
pears thus:
" Resolved, That it is the duty of the Federal
Government to relieve itself from all response
bility for the existence or continuance of slave
nv ,ohererer That government possessed constitutions
al authority 10 tegsiuie on hat subject and is thus
responsible for its existence"
So the fatal door Of constitutional Scrup'eS is
left vide open to Mr. Van Buren,, and King We
to may still ride at his free will over both Con
gress and the people. Now is 1t not utterly in
vain that Mr.. Ben. Butler goes on declaimlng
through half dozen more resolutions against
any more slave territory or slave States, and IN
favor of prohibiting slavery in territory now free?
What if. by repetition Of the Texas trick, sla-
very is quietly slipped into the new territory be-
fore another session OF Congress, or before the
session of Dec. 1sl9, all icthom Congression-
al responsibility: is there any guarantee that Mr..
Van Buren, will not hold that Congress has no
poorer to Dust it Dor if it has the power, that he
will not veto abolition from motives Of expedi-
cncy, precisely as he pledged himself as to the
District? In his letter of goth of June last, the
introduction of slavery is the burden Of his ar
gument-not abolition and Introduction" sim
ply is the burden of Benz. F. Buffers resolutions
Ben, too, is not to unSdy or undo any thing he
has ever before said or done and so, like Mr.
Van Buren, on the goth Of July last, he may be
for the Veto still! Ben was for the Veto in '36.
Now let us take another of Ben's slippery res
olutons, made to wheede the land retormers:
RESOLVED, That the free grant to actual set
tiers in consideration of the expenses incurred
in making settlements in the wilderness, whlci
are usually fu " equal to their actual cost, aht
the public benefit resulting thereIrom, of reason
able portions of the public lands, under suitable
limitations is a wise and Just measure OF public
policy, which will promote, in various ways, thu
interests OF all the states of this Uninn;
low nice! Out of "reascnabie portions o
the public lands under suitable limitations" ev
cry poor emigrant is to have farm, isn't he
all for nothing; and the free soil folks are al
going to pledge themselves to go for this Tree oil
vision of land, are they not? But let us sec
Ben has worked up the expectations OF the poo
emgrant to fever heat-and thus ends the reso
luton with flood of the coolest sort OF water
-"and we therefore recommend it to the ia
| vorablc consideration of the American people
So the land reformers and poor emgrants ar
| dismissed with very polite and very genera
| letter of recommendation to no party i'll partlc
ular, and the American people in general =
The free sellers are not exactly for free soil a
ter all to poor white folks.
There are other instances of Ben's carcfi
guardianship over Mr.. Van Buren,, so as not
be too strongly comn.itted for instance 81
abolition OF all unnecessary o6ces,"- all civil o
fcers are to be elected by the people, $50 far
The same may be practicable" Congre
must 90 for internal improvements, 'in The ere
else of its constitutional po,cer 10 provide tier
for" bul we remark especially this:
''BfS0trtu, nat ttle OullButlOlio VI H'iio ~ ~
trioism require the earliest practicable payme
of the national debt; and we are therefore in f
vor OF such tariff of duties as iUH raise rerci
ne adequate TO deiray the necessary expenses
the federal government, and TO pay annual II
stalnens of our debt and the interest thereon
Here is all we frd in behalf of "Free labo
that is, the old locofoco notion of a reren
tariff which was harped upon all through the a
II 1
its realization in the Free Trade British Tar
of '46 under the operation of which, the cou
try is now groaning under monstrous debt {
British goods, while our own products of Il
soil the work shops and the factories, arc runnr
down to the very lowest point.
The doctrine of PRoTEcrIoN TO FREE l.
, BoR found no response at Buffalo; Free Soil
dismissed with letter of recommendation, al
Slavery is entrusted to Martin Van Buren's nj
constitutional scruples and rather loose MOTTO
of expediency. Such is Ben. Buffers platfor
Nobody who knows him will wonder that it CT
ses with the following clinchcr:
Resolred, That we inscribe on our bann
FREE SOIL, FREE SPEECH, FREE |.
Dor, AND FREE MEN,' and under it "
fight on and fight ever, until a triumphant vic
ny shall reward our exertions."
There may be some sincerity in Ben's anxi,
D. for the "REwARD OF HIS ExERTIoNs" fir
III the time that he was managing swindli
Bank at Sandy Hill down to the present, he
or always had lions share of spoils: but as
y "free soil, free speech, free labor and free me
nc we think he cares just about much now as
~ did when defending slavery, burning aboit
r., newspapers, resisting The right of petition
p preaching free trade. Mr.. Van Buren, KIN
an his man when he selected Ben Butler to soap
Liberty party swallow it.
r, Tho Van Rurau PARTY