New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1856-01-25
WISE ON CALmNEss AND COMPOsURE

II isa very old trick with wrOng-dOers when re-
monstratcd with by those whom they have injured
to put on all the airs of an injured party, and to
represent the very remOnstrance addressed to
them in the light of an insult and injury.
Such are the tactics to which Gov. Wise of Viz
pinia has resorted in a Message of his which we
give in smother column in the reception which he
proposes to give to certain resolutions of the Yer
mont Legislature, protesting against the agrees
sons of the Shareholders and especially the repeal
of the Missouri Prohibition, and the attempt TO
make Kansas a Slave State.
Mr.. Wise seems to despair of meeting those res
Olutons in the way of argument so ms to get up any
plausible justification of the aggressiOns and out
RACES of which they complain, so he proposes to
tbe LEGISLATURE 10 clOthe themselves with meekness
as with garment, and with great air of injured
innocence to pocket the insult of which he insists
that Vermont has been guilty, and instead of an
swcring the offensive resolutions to file them away
in the Department of State as testimony to pos
terity of the wrong offered TO Virginia and of her
patient forbearance under it.
The Governor seems disposed to adopt the same
policy as against the opponents of Slavery Exten-
sion which the desperate Roman Senators resorted
to at the time when the City of Rome was taken
bv the Gauls They, it will be remembered
seated themselves in the Senate-house in their
chairs of Office, and "in calm, dignifed and pa
tient composure"-to borrow the words OF Mr.
Wise-awaited the approach of the invaders, fond
" hoIing if not to strike them dead by the glare
of their indignant eyes, at least to arrest their sac
Il nj al 70 tlarn
respectful behavior. But this experiment, il We
recollect the story Alright did not altogether sue
| ceed The barbarans were awe-struck for mo-
| nent, but soon recovered themselves, and pro-
! cecded without more ado to pull the reverend
Senators by the nose to twitch them by the beard,
| and finally 70 proceed to extremitics with them.
Whether Mr.. Wise and his Richmond Senate
will succeed better with the VermOnters than the
! Romans did with the Gauls remains to be seen.
| We cannot, however, but consider the recon-
mendaion by such man as Mr.. Wise of such an
exredient as an acknowledgment that he considers
the case as pretty nearly desperate.
Indeed, toward the close of his Message, he
! himself acknowledges as much. As long as the
Slavery Extensionists had only Vermont TO en-
counter, the prospect was not alarming but since
the enemy have removed their point OF operations
from Montpelier to Washington, the case puts on
very different aspect Resolutions of the Yer
mont Legislature, passed even unanimously, might
safely be filed away among the old papers, and left
there to be forgotten; but when parties affiliated
with those Of Vermont, who have sent these
resolutions, have grown so strong as TO succeed in
"electmg to Congress more than one hundred Rep
resentatiVes to oppose mere minority who are
"nOw defending the Constitution" g. e. the right of
the shareholders under the Constitution to rule the
country and to do as they please(- Mr.. Wise
does admit, presents most alarming aspect of the
case.
| Yet even as to these disorgsnizers and those