Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1856-02-14
Banks Election.


Banks. The views Of the New York
Euening Post, comedies, with the general
feeling and embodies the whole impression 80
we'll that we give it entere.
A great triumph of Right and Justice was
achieved in the House Of Representatives On
Saturday. No tidings of SO graceful char
acter, so full of suspicious promise for the
future, have reached us from Washington
for years, as the news Of Mr.. Banks's cleo.
ton as Speaker of the House. We congrat.
ulate the whole country, North and South,
on this result OF long and uncertain Strug-
gle between the party of freedom and that Of
slavery, between the Representatives of
class.
To say that we are glad of the event. be.
cause Mr. Banks is eminenty fitted for the
post of Speaker, is preferred by the largest
of the three parties in the House 70 any 9th.
er possible candidate, and is the representa-.
tive of opinions zealously cherished by vast
majority of the people of the United States,
is but inadequately tc express the reasons Tor
the general satisfaction with which the news
is received. We lejoice at his election, be.
cause it is the first triumph achieved by the
party of the people over the party of the
slavehoders-we do not say Of the North
over the South, because that is not of the
true designation Of the ltigants in this great
strife Go back as far as you choose, you
will find that no man against whom the slave.
holding potiticions have chosen to exert their
influence has held an office of the federal gov
ernmont-no measure against which they
Hitherto not Speaker has been placed in
the Chair of the House of Representatives
but by their permission. No man has been
allowed 10 represent our country abroad or
to sit as a judge in the federal tribunals
against whom they have thought fit to com.
bine, in order to bring home to him il the
Senate chamber the charge of holding DANCE
rous opinions respecting the class of men held
in this country as chattels. From one term
of the Presidency to another they have exer-
cised this power Of exclusion, this veto on
the appointment of all federal officers, from
the chief magistracy to the place OF tide
waiter, with less and less of reserve, and more
aud more Of severity, till under the present
administration all the offices in the gift Of
the executive are conferred, as they are in a
close corporation, without regard to the wish
Of the people In all contests on the great
federal arena, the shareholders have hitherto
wen tie day; as journalists, we have had
} only to chronicle their triumphs, and the de-
fects of those who have taken the liberal side.
In general conventions they have out-man.
aged and out-yoted us, made our nominations,
drawn and passed our resolutions In Con-
grcss their asccndancy is almost immemorial;
they have gone on from one success to anoth.
er. the party of the people losing ground at
every attempt to measure their strength with
that of their adversaries. Not single ad-
vantage once gained by the capitalists of the
slave states is ever given up, not an inch of
.. ground which the friends of freedom have
. been permitted to keep for the time is safe
: from future attempts to carry it by storm.
1t is matter OF rejoicing that we see at
length change in the fortune of this war
A Speaker of the House of Representatives
has at length been chosen against the wish
: and in spite of the opposition of the slave
!, holders with all the power and influence of
u the administration on their side. Let this
= be recorded as the first example Of the kind
: since our Congress had an existence, and let
the defeated party draw from it what omen
\ it may. We put it down as the precursor of
t yet more important defeats of the party
: whose sole bond of association is the property
in slavcs-as symptom of its decline, its
decrepitudc its extinction as power in the
state-asa promise of the time when it will
. no longer be thought necessary for those who
start In the race OF political ambition to be.
gin by making friends of the shareholders.
= One reason which we have for pricing this
e victory is the difficulty with which it was
won. The policy of delay, which proved so
successful III passing the Nebraska bill, was
. fully tried by the administration in the present
instance, and we confess that we feared at one
= moment that it would be efectual. Ample
q time was given to sound all the members who
o were elected as enemies of the Nebraska bill
: to practise upon them all the arts which were
i so sklltuly employed in getting that bill
. through the House, to cajole Or intimidate the
t weak, to purchase the corrupt. and to furnish
70 the treacherous with plausible excuses for be.
e traying the cause of the people. When We
d saw the friends of the administration forming
II a coalition with the Southern Nativists, con-
n centrating their united strength upon Mr..
y y Aiken OF South Carolina. and drawing into
) ~ this strange alliance several who were elect
/. ed as Ant-Nebraska members; when we
e saw their candidate just on tbs verge of
N plurality, we confess that our minds mis-
lie given US aud we feared that corruption would
y accomplish what little was yet to be done
=, in order to elect him. When the admins
w ttation. after this fusion had been effected
W gave permission for the plurality rule to be
lie applied, 1T was naturally inferred that they
e did so in hope of success. The delight with
t, which their defeat is welcomed is the greater
a. GU account of the supposed peril We have
II escaped. 1t is consolation in these evil
3 tunes to find so many members of the House
j. beyond the reach of either cajolery or cor
r. ruption.
of 1t anything could add to the titles which
d. Mr.. Banks has to the Speakership, it is the
.. admirable manner in which he has behaved
ID throughout the whole of the competition ior
IL that post-the dignity, courage, and self.
We possession with which he has maintained the
er ground ou which he was brought forward by
he his iriends-never alarmed, never irrtatcd
., never indulginig in indiscreet debate, never
I !, appearing to forget, in the desire for his own
,e advancement, the duty he owed to the com.
d mon cause.
IS The next lecture of the course will he at thu
!, Free Church, on Wednesday evening, Feb. 18th
r BY Hon. Chas. G. Eastman, who will deliver
% n0em