Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1848-07-07
WEDNESDAY EVENING. JULY i. 1918
The Worcester Convention.

of submacd politicians at Worcester. NIassa-
chusetts, who, it was predicted. were abou, TO
make such inroads upon the Wig rariv, in
Massachusetts especially, as would be prct,v
likely to leave it in somewhat paralytc con-
dllion! Universal Old IInnkerlom, and partic-
ular old llunkcrs like the BURLINGTON Sentinel
who support for the Presidency political Jock
ey from the Free States who discovers no war
rant in the Constitution of this Republic for
preserving its Free Territories from the birht
and curse of Slavery, have been in cxtravarant
rapturcs with the hopes that the co,aing Wor.
cestcr Convention" furnished to them that the
power of Northern Wings to prercnt The eicc,ion
such man was about to be essentially impair
ed. The JurenHe Ga-eiie, here in Burlington.
especially, gave the Manifesto of these gentle.
men, who were about to set the world a-blaze
with their rush lights a onspicuous insertion
in its columns, and went ncontinently into fd.
dc-strings of Joy over its denunciatons of that
" remarkable doughface'' LewiS CdSs. A cou-
pie of harmless, but exceedingly conscientious
politicians named Wilson and Allen, universal
and particular Old lIunkerdom thought, would
open the eyes of the Wings of Massachusetts,
to the corrupt and dangerous counsels of such
inconsiderable citizens as WEBSTER and CuoATE
and LAWRENCE, and DAVIS, and WINTHROP, and
lIUDsoY and AsHMuS, and others of like stamp,
who had sold themselves, in market overt to
Slavery, and were engaged in the credtable
work Of renouncing all the WING PRINCIPLES
which, during lives hitherto not particularly dis
honorable, they had been strenuously laboring
to maintain To be sure the effort appeared TO
be formidable one, but this Mr.. Wilson and
his colleague Mr. Allen, with little co-opera-
ton from Joshua LearH, and a few other Anti
Unonsts, would certainly bring it about
They had been delegates to the Wing National
Convention and knew all about it There
were, to be sure. tep other Wings in that
Convention, who had not been heretofore con-
sidered either fools or knaves, and who discov-
cred none of the bargain and sale, and surging
waves of corruption, that were so manifest to
them. But that was nothing :-Messrs. Wilson
and Allen knew they were right" and so they
went ahead
The" Worcester Convention was held and
behold the $4,000 or 10000 of the "sturdy
ycomanry' that were to congregatc i'll righteous
Indignation, suddenly sunk to less than a quar-
ter Of the lowest number of Locofocos Third
paryites. political Asccnsionists, &c. &C., with
scarcely a sufficient infusion of Wigs to an
swer the mercilul purpose for which a few hon
est men were needed in the emergency that be-
fel" the cities of the plain!'
We invite the attention of our readers to the
following calm and consderate article from the
Boston Daily AdrertiSer, touching the probable
consequences Of this gathering of mal-contents
upon the Wing Party in Massachusetts. That
those consequences are correctly ANTICIPATED we
entertain no doubt. The Wings of Massachu-
sets are not yet quite ready to embrace that
form of political trancendcntaism which is re-
lied upon as an apt agency to secure the cleo
ton of Leicis CaSs to the Presidency of the
United States. There is good deal of political
common sense left in the Old Bay State
"Thc Convention held at Worcester on
Wednesday, (of which we give the closing pro-
ceedings to-day, in letter from that town. was
regarded, in advance, as a matter Of importance,
only in one point Of view. 1t was represented
as the nuc leus, the type, the organization of a
large and destructive secession from the Wing
party in this Commonwealth. 1t was urged
that from many towns nearly all the wing voters
would proceed TO Worcester and that from ali
quarters large delegations of those who had been
wings would be sent, TO declare an indignant
and reputation of the decisions of the
Philadelphia Convention. 1t was contended
that the action Of this meeting, and not the doings
of the former organization OF the party, would
furnish the true platform and declare the true
will and purpose Of the Wings of Massachu- |
SETS
The character thus given to the proposed con-
vention gave it importance in the eyes of those
who could be led to suppose that there was to be
a sudden change thus made in the policy and
principles of the party and the State. But the .
meeting and its dOings have dissolved this illu-
SION There is no longer any reason to look
upon 1t as an organ or expression of the Wing
party. 1t was a gathering in which it is true .
were some able men who have formerly acted
with the Wings. but was nothing but an dboii- .
ton meeting, drawing TO itself mal-contents of
all classes As when David went to the Cave .
Of Adullum, the call Of Mr. Allen was answered .
" and every one that was in distress, every one
that was in debt, every one that was discomfort
ed, gathered themselves unto him; and he be-
came captain over them; and there were with
him about four hundred men, The address
and the resolutions the whole tone of the speech
es, gave full and undcniabc evidence that this
was not reformation of the Wing party, but
he formation of a new one, in which few, and
out few, Wings joined.
Every speech and every speaker was full of
condemnation both of the present and the past
conduct and course of both the leading parties
fhelI honesty, purposes, measures, sense, were
lenied and sneercd at. As If those parties were
not composed of tho whole sound, free, H.
elligent population of the country. they werer
abused as if they never had had an intcn-
ion but for rapinc, or done an act but for evil
With those who have claimed to be the wings,
he Wing party was most the theme of abuse.
md nothing was farther from their desire. as in
Heated in the appeals To the audience, than to
,e called by the name of Wing again.
Now if the secession from the Whir party
vas general or a numerous one, there might
yet be reason To consider the movement one like
y TO affect the coming election. But of the
whole audience-whether it was of two or three
thousand as estimated by our core ponlent, or
If five or six thousand as stated By others-a
'ery small portion were those who have been
Nhigs-certalnly within the last year or two
The list of the Speakers and of the committees
will show how small part Wings hold among
he leading men of the Convention. The LIB
'ry party proper seemed to be the most pleased
~ the movement. 1t might well be so. The
doctrine OF independent political action ON the
md Of IL,