Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1863-03-31
The Coppsrhead Platform and the Presidents
Inaugural.

adopted
=" Resolved That the MASSES Of the Amer-
can people throughout this whole land are now
Offering up their daily and heartfelt prayers Tor
peace, and demanding that this most unnecessa'
ry, most Intellectual most devastating and most
cruel war Of modern times shall be brought to a
close that the government at Washington must
ere long find itself powerlesS 10 continue con
Aict which the awakened Judgment OF Chris
tsn and civilized people emphatically condemns,
and upon which the dispeasure OF Heaven would
seem to have fallen that in order to produce
even seeming and temporary unity OF public
sen iment at the North in favor OF coercive
war it required the suppression of newspapers,
the intimidation OF the weak and the lawless
Imprisonment Of brave and consistent tribunes
Of the people in military bsstiles along with an
uuexampled proIuslon OF the official favors Of a
corrupt administration, a LAVISH distribution OF
civil and military honors, and the shameless
plumber Of millions from tho public treasury
but now, after two years of this terrible tratrl-
cidal struggle, when hundreds of thousands OF
our best and bravest youth lie in their bloody
graves ami tho land is filled with mourning and
suffering, whlo bankruptcy and grinding taxa
ton are pressing upon us, and the declared OBJ
JuAb VI hbo wal use lpik nluOo boSh lVot hbhp VI
and abandoned we recur 10 the words which
Abraham Lincoln uttered on the day Of his own
lll-0mened Inauguration, when no said Sup
pose you 70 to war You cannot fghtslways, ,
and when, after much loss on both sides and no
gain On either, you cease lighting, the identical
question: are again upon you.
4 " Resolusd, That the policy Of war having
had fair trial for two long, miserable, bloody
years, aud having failed to bring US, to all sp-
pearanco single step nearer to the restoration
OF the Union, the people insist that policy OF
peace should now be undertaken and attempted 4,
and that convention should be called as con
templated and provided for in such eIlgenc0s
by the Constitution Of the United States, at
which convention all the States which were ad-
herring to the Union on tho first day Of Novem-
Der. 1860, should DO invited 10 be represented
BY delegates elected from their people and that
such convention should be held at the earliest
possible day, for the purpose OF devising means
Tor reconstruction Of the American Union and
the restoration O. peace"
What cJuld be accomplished by such a con-
Veation AS proposed by the above resolutions is
not quite clear There would be nothing for
such a convention to de, to advance peace, UNI
less it amended, in some radical particular, the
Constitution, AMI gave Slavery new guarantees
in tina! instrument; and we presume that is what
Fernando Wood is seeking to accomplish, How
aver, he will be a much older villain than be is
now before he sees such result as that reached,
But We had another purpose in abiding to
these resolutions Thi, Copperhead meeting
saw ct to impress into their servico a sentences
from President Lincoln's inaugural address,
hoping to make it avail them in recommending
their nostrum. They have done the President
the justice-which very many of the Copper
heads have not--of quoting the sentence
correctly, but they have most monstrOusy per
verIed its intent and scope by assuming that it
for ono moment gives any counteHance to their
dasardly arguments. When the President
made use of the argument quoted, he was reas-
oning with those who were then traitors, or
tsmplsng treason, and he wsel y warned them
that war would bring them no relief from any
of the evils OF which they complained, that after
they had grown weary Of the war " the
identical questions" would still remain 10 he set.
tied as before. Thi, was only saying that wal
was not a legitimate or wise fundamentally
through which to amend the Constitution of q
free government in short, that it could not Of
changed by such means
And the South are beginning to find to theiI
sorrow tn. Presidents words wers full Of pro
phetic wisdom. The identical question. ar,
4 upon them still To-day, as two years ago, tn,
Q voice Of the Government is Will you submit
e and be, as Of old, part Of ths United States oil
J. will you adhere to your treason and take the con
=, sequences Of your crime II you have griefs
+ will you seek redress peaceaby through the balo
y box as is your right, or will you violently TAXI
' the sword and compel the Government to trea
: you as rebels ?-The South have not beuered
/ their condition in any respect by their violence
T. They are no nearer the end proposed to themselves
than they were then. After all their fighting
they find the identical questions still unan
. svered, still demanding solution. They have
h suffered they never suffered before. Theil
fields have been laid wastes, their harveSs have
. been destroyed, the plaques Of war have visited
Y their homes and 6resides, and the idsntiea
questions still, like their shadows, keep them
! company. The peaceful remedy i, still open &c
> them, as at the first, but the way Of violence and
i. blood has brought them nothing but sorrow, pain
e hardship, wounds and death.
When the rebels submit and lay down their
arms there will be no more war and no need o.
p, conventions but until that time, there can be
+ no peace short Of a disruption of the UDion.-
With arms IN their hands, they cannot be treated
+ with except by recognition Of their ndepend
d enop, and new Union with the old Consultation
d would then be impossible. Until they submit
" such a convention as Fernando Woods meeting
t anc the New Jersey Legislature have recon-
. mended, would end as the Peace Congress a
e Washington ended, in making matters worse
n When the North is whipped, and is ready to giyt
up to the Rebels all theyclaim, it may be worth
: while for US to makea treaty with JEFF Davis
l. Government, giving il what it asks, and possible
Is bride history TO make no mention Of the UniteC
i States of North America any more forever. Unit
&C that time arrives conventions will be out Of order
J.
;. CONFERENCE.-THE New York World, ant
:. every other Democratic and pre-,lavery paper il