Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1856-07-17
To JOHN G. Fremont, Of California.
COL. FREMoNT's REPLY.

To JOHN G. Fremont, Of California.
COL. FREMoNT's REPLY.
Gentlemen: You call me to high respon-
sibility by placing me in the van of great
movement OF the people of the United States
who, without regard to past differences, are
uniting 10 common effort to bring back the
action Of the federal government to the prin-
ciples CT Washington and Jefferson. Com
pretending the magnitude of trust which
they have declared themselves willing to place
in my hands, and deeply sensible to the honor
which their unreserved confidence in this
threatening position Of the public affairs i'm
plies, | feel that | cannot better respond
than by sincere declaration that, in the
event Of my election to the Presidency, |
should enter upon the execution Of its duties
with singIe-hcarted determination to pro-
mote the good of the whole country, and to
direct solely to this end all the power of the
government, irrespective Of party issues and
regardless of sectional strifes. The dcclara-
ton Of principles embodied in the resolves Of
your Convention expresses the sentiments in
which | have been educated, and which have
been ripcncd into convictions by personal OBJ.
servation and experience. With this declara.
ton and avowal, think it necessary to re.
vert to only two of the subjects embraced iu
the resolutions, and to those only because
events have surrounded them with grave and
critical circumstances, and given to them cs.
pecial Importance.
concur in the views of the Convention
deprccating the foreign policy to which it ul-
vcrts The assumption that we have the right
to take from another nation its domains be-
cause we want them, is an abandonment OF
the honest character which our country has
acquired To provoke hostlities by unjust
assumptions would be to sacrifice the peace
and character of the country, when all its
interests might be more certainly secured
and its objects attained by just and healing
counsels, involving no loss Of reputation.
international embarrassmcntS are mainly
the results of secret diplomacy, which aims
to keep from the knowledge Of the people the
operations Of the government. This system
is inconsistent with the caracter Of our nsti-
tutions, and is itself yielding gradually to a
more enlightened public opinion, and to the
power of a free press, which, by its broaG
dissemination Of political intelligence, secures
in advance, to the side Of justice the judg
ment Of the civilized world An honest, firm
and open policy in our foreign relations would
command the united support Of tho nat ion
whose deliberate opinions it would necessarily
reflect
Nothing is clearer in the history Of our
institutions than the design Of tho nation in
asserting its own Independence and freedom
to avoid giving countenance to the extension
Of slavery, The influence Of the small but
compact and powerful class of men interested
in slavery, who command one section of the
country, and weld vast political control as
a consequence in the other, is now directed
to turn this impulse of tho Revolution and
reverse its principles. The extension of sla.
very across the continent is the object Of the
power which now rules the government; and
from this spirit has sprung those kindred
wrongs in Kansas SO truly portrayed in QUO
Of your resolutions, which prove that the Ell
ements of the most arbitrary governments
have not been vanquishcd by the just theory
of our own.
1t would be out Of place here to pledg'
myself to any particular policy that may b.
suggested to terminate the sectional contro
vcrsy engenderod by political animosites
operating on powerful class, banded togethe
by common interest. A practical remod
is the admission of kansas into the Uniol
as a.free state. The South should, in M,
Judgment. earnestly desire such contamination
1t would vindicate the good faith--it woul,
correct the mistake of the repeal and thu
North, having practically the benefit of thu
agreement between the two sections, woulC
be satisfied, aud good feeling be restored
The measure is perfectly consistent with thu
honor of the South, and vital to its interests
That fatal act which gave birth to this
purely sectional strife, originating in thu
scheme to take from free labor the country
secured to it by solemn covenant cannot be
too soon disarmed OF its pernicious force. Iht
only genial region of the middle ATTITUDES Jeff
to the emigrauts of the northern states fol
homes, cannot be conquered from the free la
borers, who have long considered it as SCI
apart for them in our inheritance, without
provoking a desperate struggle. Whatever
may be the persistence Of the particular class
which seems ready to hazard everything FOL
the success of the unjust scheme it has par.
TALLY effected, | firmly believe that the great
heart of the nation, which throbs with thu
patriotism Of the freemen of both sections
will have power to overcome it. They viii
look to the rights secured to them by the
Constitution Of the Union as their best safe
guard from the oppression Of the class which
BY monopoly Of the soil and Of slave-labol
to till it, might in time reduce them to the
extremity Of laboring upon the same terms
with the slaves. The great body of non-save
holding freemon, including those Of the South