Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1850-08-01

when they look back on all this, and then look
around them, and behold such host coming
forward to proclaim the doctrines they then
preached unheeded and unheard, and see not
only the masses, but the Congress Of the nation
ITSELF engrossed, for whole session, with noFe
other than the some idea" they were ridiculed
for entertainng-when they witness such
state of things, and feel conscious, as they must
that it is all the result of their own exertions,
why should they not feel proud of what they
have done? Why should they not feel thankful
for that strength and faith which enabled them
to persevere in their unrequitted laborsP And,
reasoning from the past, why should they not
look forward, with confidence, to the time, when
their once feeble band will be swelled to an ar.
my of such power as will not be turned back
from its onward march, till the triumph of free
dom shall be perfected through the length an(
breadth of regcnerated land?
But though the old Liberty men have
done thus well -though their own hands have
laid the foundations of the platform on which
the great Free Soil party now stand, remains
there yet nothing for them to doP Are they
not still wanted as active soldiers in the ranks
to infuse into them the right spirit, and to pre-
vent departure from the right principles P
The history of all parties will teach them, thai
as party grows numerous by accessions Of
those of different former predictions, it grows
more and more liable, however honest may be
their intentions of being true to the banner un
der which they have newly enlisted, to lose sight
in greater or less degree, of the pure princi
pies on which it was founded. and embrace OBJ
jects tending to weaken the force of its assoca-
ted action on the main point at issue. Is it mol
necessary, then, that the old leaven be constantly
added to the new mass? Should not those who
reared the platform and know its construction
be ever present with all those who stand on it
to exercise their watchfulness in seeing thai
every stone and plank remains in the right place
and unimpaired?
Come forward then, we old soldiers of Liberty
come forward into the front ranks of the battle. II
things, in your apprehension, do not all go quite
right, come on and help right them--help guide
the mass of energies you have put in motion. =
In a crisis like this, in which all that has beer
done for Freedom is endangered by the desper.
ate move now making to crush her and silence
the voice of her votaries forever, is there any
rule of duty that will permit you to hold back
AS you would see the cause prosper, then, be uE
and doing. If with The little army of recruit;
enlisted, land mainly in good faith, we sincerely
believe) since you bore the proud name by
which we have now addressed you--if with
these, the 5000 old and tried Liberty men o
! Vermont would enter the contest with the same
frmness and resolution with which they once
breasted the storm of opposition and contumely
that ragged over every rod of their path, We
might this fall achieve a victory which would
make the slave power tremble in all her darl
places from Maine to Georgia.