Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1857-03-27

THE WATcnMAN AND STATE JouRNAL.-A
few days ago we copied from the Green
Mountain Freeman few lines in which the
editor found fault with the citizens of
Montpelier as penurious In regard to their
chief institution of learning, their streets
and their sidewalks. The Waterman of the
Goth quotes it also, and then says
" Remarkable as the above paragraph is,
we would not make q single remark upon it
had it appeared in the Freeman only. 1t
has been copied by the Burlington Free
PreSs-possibIy out Of pure love to Mont
peier, and to stir up the minds of its Mont
pelier subscribers by way of remembrance.
Perhaps they rH remember it. The ar
ticle has been copied by the Bratteboro
Phoenix also, with this remark
Had the following [abovel which we clip from
the Freeman been uttered by any inhabitant of
Vermont during the Extra Session of the Legsla-
ture, at Montpelier. the author would have been
denounced as slanderer"
Now inasmuch as this assault upon the
reputation of Montpelier has gained SO
much currency, we think it is our duty to
say that in the main it is u SANDER of the
grossest sort"
The Waterman then proceeds to refute
the imputations Of the Freeman, and claims
great superiority for Montpelier in the
article of sidewalks over Burlington and
Brattleboro and in liberality of outlay for
roads and side walks, it thinks the people of
Montpelier are ahead of the other two
places in the ratio probably of ten to one,
Nearly one half lit says of the village of
Montpelier has been made, like st. Peters
burgh, by making the soil on which it
stands has been raised, by filling, from
one foot to ten even entailing the cost of
raising or reconstructIng buildings again
and again
After then discoursing to the Freeman OF
the extent and variety of geological know
ledge which 1t could gain by grubbng down
through Montpelier side walk, and of the
enlarged ideas of the persistent enterprise
and liheralty of the " Montpelier chaps, -
which it would gain when told where all
the logs and dirt came from, and at whose
expense, it concludes as follows
Indeed II the editors oil the FREEMAN, the
Free Press, and the Pheu.l would lust take
Il look ut one section of Montpelier side
walk--say in State or Main streets-they
would ioel bound to retract their SANDER,
and erect a tall monument in honor of the
hGraiHy of the people Of Montpelier. "
The PhaniI can take care of itself we pre-
sumo. For ourselves we have only to say that
we made no remark whatever on our
quotation from the Freeman, nor have we
said word any where, which any body
could construe into an illiberal imputation
on the people of Montpelier, Il the WatcA-
man wishes to train the Fireman for SLAM
der, it may do so to its hearts content. 1t
is nothing to US. But its implication that
we have slandered the people of Montpelier,
by barely quoting as an item, a remark from
Montpelier paper, and its reference
to the subscribers to the Free Press in
Montpelier, are things which the Watch
man ought to be ashamed of. As to the
comparison which the Waterman makes
between the liberality of the citizens OF
Montpelier and those of Burlington, we do
not care to give it any attention.