Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1859-09-03
THE STATE ELECTION.

bles and posted on the town halls and meet
lighthouses" in the several towns in the State,
the annual election this year for governor, lieu
tenant governor, senators, representatives, coun-
ty officers, judges of probate, and justices of
the peace will take place on Tuesday of next
week. In this quiet manner the freemen are
called upon to discharge one of the highest and
most important duties of sovereignty-that of
choosing their own rulers and aw-givers.
To men living in other States the political
newspapers of Vermont and more especially
those in sympathy with the dominant party,
must seem, during the tendency of political
canvass, tame and spiritless, indicative of any
thing rather than an interest in the result. In
none of them can be found those inHammatory
appeals and denunciatory diatribes that are SO
uniformly resorted to by our contemporaries
abroad in similar emergencies. There is total
absence of displays of full-faced type, exclama-
ton points and double-leade articles that else
where invariably adorn the columns of political
sheets on the eve of an election. Sensation ar
ticles headed "Once more to the rescuer "a
llc lHOlhSl NOuNVloiOH; a
charge refuted," Bring out the Voters" "Look
well to your ballots" "Be not deceived" and
hundreds of other spirited titles displayed with
lavish prodigality of type, may be found in
every partizan newspaper outside of Vermont
whenever any election is about to take place ;
but they are of no account here The risk is
not sufficient to warrant the outlay in wear and
tear of conscience their use occasions. They
are in no demand for there is no market here
for them. The asperiies and bitterness which
mark partizan contests in many other States
and especially atthe South, where editors almost
constantly have duel or a challenge on their
hands, would be as entirely out of place in this
State as the politics Of the national administra-
ton are out of fashion in New England
The reason of this apparent indifference may
be properly ascribed to the certainty attending
the result of our elections. The political status
of this State is so well established as to be past
controversy. 1t may be regarded, comparative
ly speaking, as permanent. The political aspect
of Vermont has, during the last quarter of
century, undergone less change and presented
fewer variations than that of any other State in
the Union, with the exception, perhaps, of Vir-
ginia and South Carolina. While her sisters
have more or less frequently been under the
control of the democracy, as expounded under
Van Buren, Polk, and Pierce-to say nothing
of Buchanan, whose chief success lies in his
ability to make democrats true Republicans
this, the eldest daughter of the confederacy, has
been faithful in her opposition to their political
heresies. The men whom she has placed in
power have ever been faithful to the cardinal
principles of Stree labor, free speech and free
men, and so well satisfied are the people with
the result of their administration of public af-
fairs that they have not even longed for change
in the basis of their action.
In the days of Jefferson and his immediate
successors, Vermont was thoroughly Republi-
can State while all the rest of New England
was federal, as parties were then known and
recognised. Her people then opposed the par
ty with which James Buchanan then acted, and
they are now even more decided in their oppo-
sition to the party which has since made him
their representative man. The best practical
illustration of the departure of the democrats
of the present day from the Jeffersonian policy
of opposition to slavery extension, as manifest
ed in the efforts of that statesman to make the
Northwest Territory free from the blighting
curse of slavery, may be found in the pertinac-
ity with which the freemen of Vermont then
and their descendants aver s;nca bava adharaJ
to and maintained those views. The federalists
Of that period, who have been made the subject
of so much derision by the latter day demo-
Gratis, find lneal descendant and fit represen-
tative in the present chief magistrate of the
Union.
During the whole period of her history as
State, the people of Vermont have manifested
more thorough appreciation oil the true prin-
ciples of democratic government, and have Civ
en- them more extended practical exemplifca-
ton than any of her sister States The legis-
lative, executive and judicial departments Of
our government have all been elected annually,
and thus made directly responsible to the source
of all power-the people. We have, as yet,
hou ~ iSoSoh W pam tiidt tiic ~ stcin uOtS
not work well. At the present day our county
officers, probate judges, and even our justices
of the peace are annually elected by the people.
BY the term "people" we do not seek to mysti-
fly the subject of popular sovereignty" and
make it as does Douglas in his magazine article,
delusion and cheat but we include white
men, negroes, and town paupers-all men OF
age, and not rendered incapable by crime OF
enjoying the elective franchise.
The result next week will be but repetition
of the same old story. As our opponents re-
sgnedly yet facetiously say, ''the Dutch will
again take Holland" The Republicans will
elect all the officers of importance, more even
than is necessary to give them full control Of
all departments of government, and the demo-
Gratis will content themselves with thirty or for
ty representatives from as many towns when