Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1861-06-14
THE STATE CONVENTION.

ne WWds1f JohfHW lhcpuOlican) pro-
tests against it, notwithstanding the Republic
can Committee have become party to a trade
Of betrayal made with the clique which has
already too long ruled the Republican party
Of the State"
/ On the other hand, the Rutland Courier
T (Democratic) says "Thc margin Of their call
is broad enough for other parties to como in,
but it bears upon its face evidence Of the
'toait into my parlor says the spider to the fly
doctrine, that must prevent any honorable
Democrat from responding to the invitation"
These extracts represent extreme views Of
the call--the views Of those on both sides
who look at it simply in the spirit of party
and they pretty thoroughly neutalize each
other.
On the other hand there is substantial
agreement between some Of tie Republican
and Democratic presses
From the Middlebary Register, (Repub).
Wchavc no doubt that the course pursued by the Com
mtcc i'm extending the call an supporters u the gov.
eminent will commend itself to all as wise and patriot
From the Bellows Falls Times. CRepub).
Tho call is broad and embraces an who are 10 earnest
ia ihe support Of the Administration n les measures
put down rebellion and treason We do not boa this,
As some do, an abandonment " the Republican party
On the other hand. we think the call is broader than
similar calls have been To- years past The Burlington
Ftee Press intimates that the state Committee design TO
sell out and Trade oil thc Republican party. We not
In any particular Of the Committee but are assur
~ Boy At least one % thcm that such their purpose
From the Burlington Sentinel, (Dem).
rs terms che calD broad that feel ourselves
included 20 IT, end therefore entitled TO say VOID in re-
Spouse tnit Without amy knowledge N the motives of
the gentlemen whose names are appended To IT, otherwise
than what appears from the .al itself; and without the
slightest reason 20 suppose that 10 proceeds from other
than those o that generous aud large minded patii
otsm which should At ibis crisis absorb ihc thought. and
aims of All men NJ an parties, give 20 sincere
and cordial APPRECIATION. We shall respond % the call,
and we TINS, that Democrats will do the Let
us Democrats consider well and knd, the circumstances
under which this proposal from our late Republican OPP
poncns come and whether anything but generous
aud Irsc-mindtd patriotism could have prompted them
To nake a. As Marty have they anything TO gain by
making it TO ust They alrcad, three or four
our one, and need none Of our aid II is only patriotic
citizen, ofOur common country, struggling for its
very existence that they need u.s. and It is such that
the' approach u.s. Our interests in this respect
much az stake AS theirs and BEE need their ala As much
40 MV go ous Aud they the first 90 make the adj
vance Their act, We must say is noble generous and
manly ones and we have heart o. do otherwise than
% respond 90 tn the same generous and manly spirit
we ha'eno doubt that ia doing 10 1t required ~ them
strggig with scihshucss and sacrifice " old feelings
aud party auimosues. Let us Democrats do no less
Let o., forget the past n the present. and rhccfly place
ourselves side by side with ancient foe and jointly
with mm do h''ca inst the new and more dangerous
Zoe ofueasou aud rebellion.
The call is addressed to the freemen Of
Vermont, and not simply to the Republicans
hence in part at least, the suspicion of the
Windsor journal and Others Of its way Of
thinking But this is no new thing. In
1854 the Republican party was organized
upon the simple platform Of union Of all
parties against that pro-slavism which has
now eliminated in treason. In $50 the call
was addressed to the froemen Of the State
Of Vermont who desire to cooperate
in opposition to the pro-slavery policy Of the
then present National Administration; :" in
1856, to the people of the State of Yer
mont, without regard to past political LITER
ences or divisions, who are opposed to the
repeal Of the Missouri compromise, to the
policy Of the then present administration,
and Ito the extension of Slavery into the
Territories, in favor of the admission of Kan
sas as free State, and of restoring the action
Of the Federal Government TO the principles
Of Washington and Jef'erson' and in 1857,
the call was precisely in the same terms
We're these calls betrayal Of the Republican
party; Not at all, but rather the very pro-
cess by which the party was built up and
consolidated, taking its material out of all
the pre-exsting parties. In 1858, 50 and
90, the party was regarded as having been
firmly established upon the pending issues,
and the calls for State Conventions were ad-
dressed 10 the party. In 1861 a new exigency
has arisen: pro-slavism has become seces-
sion, rebellion and treason. 1t is the same
old enemy of 1855, Sc and 81, but in arms.
Il has the same purposes to achieve, and it
would achieve them through the ruin of the
Union and the Government.
What ought the Republicans to do: We
say fatty, they ought to meet the enemy in its
new positions meet it with all the power
that can be brought against it, and meet it
with crushing power. The State Committee
has but adopted the very spirit of the early
calls ; it has opened the way for all who wish
to act with the Republican party in the last
and most fatal phase of pro-slayism and,
Interpreting this call in the light Of previous
examples, we do not regard it as an abandon
ment Of the Republican cause, but rather as
an attempt to strengthen it; and we trus.
that those who respond to the call will re-
spond with this understanding, and no other.
1t is true the call embraces "all who arc in
favor Of supporting the Constitution and the
Union, and sustaining the Federal Govern
ment in its efforts to suppress rebellion and
put down treason" Doubtless there are
some WHO take these words in too narrow a
sense They may construe them as taking
every body short Of traitors We give the
language a larger meaning, and the only prac-
ticat meaning it will bear The sustaining of
the Constitution, Uion and Government.
and the suppression OF rebellion and treason,
do IN our judgment cover the whole Repub.
liean ground on the Slavery question. That
matter is to be settled by this contest. and settled
by Republican Administrations Republicans
Democrats, Conservatives, Secessionists and