The daily Green Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1861-1865, 1863-03-28
rhs Copperhoad Platform and the Presidents
Inaugural

Ing, at WalCl tAe I0liOWIn8 IeSOIuLIOL were
adopted:
- Resolcei, That the masses Of the Ameri-
can people throughout Lhs whole land are now
Offering u p their daily and heartfelt prayers for
gleace, and demanding that this most unnecessa-
~, Rlost Intellectual, most devastating and most
cruel war OF modern times shall DO brought TO
close thaJ the government at " ashlngton must
ere long hnd Itself p0Werle9s 10 continue con
6ict which the awakened judgment OF Chris
eian and civilized people emphatlcaly condemns,
and upon hich the displeasure Of Heaven would
seem 10 have fallen; that in order to produce
even D seeming and temporary unity OF public
sentiment at the North in favor OF d c0erciVe
war, it required the suppression OF newspapers,
nhe intimidation of the weak, and the lawless
imprisonment of brave aud consistent tlibunes
Of tie people in military bastl9s, along with az
unex mpled pr0lusion OF the official fayQTs OF a
corrupt administration, LAVISH distribution OF
civil and military hOnors, and the shameless
plunder Of millions from Che public treasury
but now, after tTO years Of tina tfrrible tratrl-
cidal struggle, when hundreds Of thousands OF
our best and braveSt youth lie IN their bloody
graves, ami the land is filed with mourning and
suffering, while bankruptcy and grinding taxa
tion are pressing upon uG, and The declared OBJ
ject OF the war has long since been lost sight of
and abandoned-Ne recur to the words which
Abraham Lincoln uttered on the day OF bis own
lll-omened inauguration, when he said Sup
pose you 90 to war You cannot fg 1T always
and when after much loss on both sides and no
gain ca either, you cease fighting, the identical
questions are again upon you.
(. RESOLVED, That the policy of war having
had fair trial for two long, miserable, bloody
years, and having failed to bring us, to all APP
pearance, single step nearer to the restoration
of the Union, the people insist shat policy Of
peace should now be undertaken and attempted
and that convention should be called, as con-
tempiased and provided for in such exigencio5
by the Constitution OF the United States, at
which convention all the States when were adj
herring to the Union on the fist day Of Novem-
Der. 1860, should be invited to be re RESENTED
by delegates elected from their PEG ple and that
such convention should be held at the earliest
possible day, Tor the purpose Of dovleing means
FOR a reconstruction OF the American Union and
Gho restoration o. peace
what cJuld be accomplished by such con-
vention as proposed by the above resolutions is
not quite clear. There would be nothing for
such convention TO do, to advance peace I'M
less ii amended, in some radical particular, the
Consultation, on / gave Slavery new guarantees
in rha;iastrument and we presume that is what
Fernando Wood Is seeking to accomplish. How
eyer, he will De much older villain than be is
now before no secs such a result as shat reached
Bat We had another purpose in abiding to
these resolutions. This Copperhead meeting
saw Iii 10 impress into .hor service sentence
trom President Lncoln's inaugural address,
hoping 20 make it avail them in recommending
ebeir 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 monstrously per-
verted its intent and scope by assuming that it
for one moment gives any counteaance to their
das,ardly arguments. When the President
made usa Of the argument quoted, he was reas-
oning with those who were then traitors, or
Gnnplating treason, and he wisely warned them
that war would bring them no relief from any
of the evils OF which they complained, that after
raSey had grown weary of the war the
Identical questions" would still remain to be set
sled as before. This was only saying that wal
was not legitimate or wise instrumentality
through which to amend tho Constitution of q
free government, in short, that it could not bt
changed by such means.
And the South are beginning to find to theil
sorrow the Presidents words were full of pro
phetic wisdom. The identical questions are
upon them still. To-day, as two years ago, thu
voice of the Government is, VIII you submit
and be, as of old, a part of the United States, Of
.uill yon adhere 10 Yorr treason and take the con