Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1856-10-24
A Letter TO the Anti-slavery Buchanan Democrats
of NArmOnt.

GENTLEMEN The object Of this letter is, to
enable you, If possible, to discover the position you
occupy, and to give you some slight knowledge Of
the appearance you present to all honest men. so
that you may better " sec yourselves as others sec
YOU" For this reason, let Us look over the past a
little, and compare tho pc ition you then occupied,
and the professions you then make, with those you
hold to-day. Let us place then and nor side by
side, and see how they will look together. Some Of
you were once Liberty or Third Party" men a
party which was much moro anti-sllvery than tho
" Black Republican" you now SO much dc.pise it
was much more sectional, and it sought much more
to array one section Of tho country against the
other, for it had for its object the abolition Of
slavery wherever it existed. Your candidate for
Senator, in the county, (Mr Tyler, l vol remsm-
Der, ms beng very active in aiding Mr.. Briggs to
publish the Liberty Gazette, aud you aprlaudgd
many articles in that journal, which, if you were
now to see in the Free Press, you would turn from
their perusal with horror, and shuddcr for fear Of
n dissolution Of the Union. Others Of your numbcr
left the Democratic party in lstS, and adopted tho
Bufall Platform, a platform that declared ihat all
of the public domain, and all that might be here
after obtained, should be forever free. (T would ad-
wise you to look the platform up, in some of the
Vt. Patriots printed at that time,and read it again.
You then supported a candidate for the Presidency
who was,-or pretended to be--in favor Of abolish
ing slavery in the District Of Columbia. Your
motto then was, Frce-soil, Free speech, Frecmen.
You were loud in your professions to freedom,
strong in your opposition to slave territory and
vehement in your denunciations of slavery. You
denounced Gen. Taylor as a Stakeholder, and the
Wing party as a slave party.
You denounced Cass as a " doughflce,'' " a
northern man with southern principles" and the
Democratic platform, as n " slave trading plat
form, a platform no freeman could stand on. That
was eight years ago, and where are you now ;
Voting for the very men you then %despised, stand
ing on the same platform you then denounced as
rotten and pro-slavery, only now more rotten, and
pro-slayery. Then you were Free Democrats"
now National Democrats" And what is a Ma
tional Democrat They tell us, it is one who
knows no North, no South, no East, no West, that
they are the same in South Carolina, as in Massa-
chusctts. the same in Missouri as in Vermont.
Then you were for Free territory, and for Freedom
in the District of Columbia, now on q platform
whose policy is, non-intervention with slavery
whether in the States, territories, or the District of
Columbia" Then you were for free speech, now
your brethren at the south mob free speech, and
c~owarily attack Senators, who speak for freedom.
The Democrats of Missouri destroy printing
presses, and shoot peaceable citizens whose only
crime is that they come from the free States. Your
Democratic Atshisons and Stringfcllow, raise
armed bodies of men, to drive out and murder
those men aud women, who would make our terri
tory free. These are all your brethren, they are all
Democrats, aud Democrats are the same everywherc