Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1852-06-24

true democrats. to look care fally back
into the misty records aud old curiosity
Shoes" of the political past, and hunt out
the " old landmarks" and platforms erect
ed BY jefferson, Jackson aud democracy I'm
the one hand, and by Hamilton, Webster
and federalism on the her,-to declpher
the inscriptions and read the placards upon
them and be sure to adhere to the one
and eschcw the other! Why did he drag
from the "garret those old clothes OF the
q" alien and sedition laws and put them
up in the pleasant cornields OF democracy
to scare off the crows and Cormorants oil
modern whiggery? Why did he hold up
in one hand that 4" old hat" of the United
States Bank, and in the other, that " old
boot of Land distribution, and cry be-
warel bewarei nerer mcUer these kind Of
political apparel again, they are tuH OF
cOb-scebs, mice and moth and are besides
shOckingty out Of fashion" Or why, on
the other hand, did he hang out for his polit'
cai banner, like devout Musselman, those
old short breaches and long vest and cooked
hat of Jefferson, and cry Justify to the
people" Behold the embems of the true
iailh-the oriAamme Of democracy-rally,
rally, under the happings of these breaches
and that vest and under the bene6cent
shadow of that hat, for under no other flag
do the faithful" gather and under no
" other sign" can they conquer"
But our ingenious friend says, you mis-
take us--we admit that principles are al.
ways the same and are always to be main
tanned, but landmarks, platforms and reso'
lutions are the instruments to carry out
principles, and they change and are of one
kind to day and another kind to-Inorrow-
the platform Of last year is good for nothing
and obsolete this the resolution Of lS49
are entirely out of place in 1859 AS the
bInd-man says /" let US, see" Principles,
it is admitted, are always the same and
should be adhered to- The eternal prin-
cples of justice cannot change, aud the
fundamental principles Of democracy are
eternal principles of justice aud freedom
This. we presume will not be gainsayed, by
Major Eastman or any other protested Dem
ocrat. But principles, either of justice or
democracy cannot well exist and be of any
practical utility, if they are not expressed
and enforced and made to influence human
conduct and human affairs. Principles "in
the abstract" are mighty useless things
Lamps is lamps" says the drunken and
benighted loafer, " but they are not of much
use in practical point of view, if the wicks
amt fire." So principles are principles
but they amount TO nothing, if they are not
proclaimed, adhered TO and enforced in act
iOn Proclaimlng, asserting and laying
down, as rule Of action, certain principles.
is establishing land marks, erecting plat
forms, passing resolutions! Principles and
platforms are then identlcal--they are the
same thing. Principles and platforms can
not then be different, only as one set o
principles and the platforms expressing
them are opposed to each other. A princl
pie ON any gwen subject cannot be, in an,
way, different from the platoon or resolu
ton declaring it. AS long as the principle
remains, the platform to sustain it must b.
the same If the principle be eternal an
Just that freedom should be accorded to ever
human being no platform to sustain tina
principle Can announce that all men are III
Ieutited to Freedom and ought not to EMO
Tit. If the principle that slavery is the grea
est wrong that can be inflicted on man q
a community, and its extension ought to b
resisted now and forever is right, no plat
form can sustain that principle, which an
nounces, that it IS Inexpedient to oppose
any longer, the extension of slavery, an,
that what has been done ON that subiec
shall be a inality"! If the princIp
that slaveay ought not to be tolerated at thu
Capital Of the Republic, and that no NOR
Slave States ought to be admitted into tn
Union, is true, the platform that lays dow
that principle is as eternal and immutab
as the principle itself, and cannot be aban
doned or repudiated without abandonin,
and repudiating the principle. If the plat
form is to be treated as cast off clothes, tn
principle must be treated in the same way
The platform no more "passes away" un
less by reason of its entire success, than tn
principle passes away" The " occasion
Tor that platform exists as long as the prin
ciPte OF which it is the assertion, is no
carried into practice. If it was right l.
assert II, It is right to maintain it. If
was proper to lay it down as rule of act
ion, 1t is weakness or cowardce or dishon
esly to abandon it, until the object is secur
ed. But Major Eastman seems to thinl
that the platform is something entirely indie
pendent OF the principle and that the plat
form can be abandoned, like vice, cast OF
like an old garment and repudiated like un
wholesome food, and the principle be pre-
served lnvlolate in the opelation-that tn
one is as distinct from the other, as the rocI
is from the lever that is to be used 10 remov
lt--as the disease is from the remedy Ii
seems to treat the platform and resolutions
as though they asserted that the rock mus
be removed by the teoer alone, and that tn,
disease must be overcome solely by calOmeI
He argues as though i. was an admitted PROV
r. osltioa' that the Pt1tform and resolutions Z
a party were only an assertion that the part
adopting them them would resort to certai
means 10 accomplish given end, and there
fore, he concluded that the party may prop
ery change the means at any time aud la
aside one set Of instrumentalties when bet
ter ones offer, If his premises were cor
rect we should not quarrel with his logic
But his premises being false his logic proves
nothing. Platforms and resolutions, arr
properly aud ordinarily the assertion Of tn,
business sacFehneSs and vitality If certa II
principles and aPIedge to seek the adoption
and incorporation of those principles int,
the policy and legislation OF the government
Such pledge necessarily includes a resor
to all the means proper and expedient to Sc
cure the desired end. The platform ant
resolutions, ifthey assert vital principles are
therefore, just as sacred aud changeless al
the principles themselves, until the oblec
aimed at is accomplished. They are no