The daily Green Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1861-1865, 1863-08-10
TIP. Redfeld as he is and as he was.

/" Blue Light" Convention here last Saturday
but the speech OF 7. P. Redfeld, ESQ.,, the can
didate of that party for Governor and we would
spend no ink upon that, were it not that the
speaker once held different views from those he
expresses now, and may possibly be reasoned with
from the position be occupied little more than
ten years ago, if he cannot be convinced that the
ground he then stood upon Was infinitely str onger
more humane, more in accordance with the spirit
and teachings Of tie fathers, than that be now
occupies. Mr.. Redfeld used to write for the
FREEMAN, when the paper was, as it is now, the
incorporating foe of Slavery, the outspoken
advocate of freedom and We regret that man
Of his ability, who has once been right, should
now, when, if ever, the natsn needs the aid of its
strong men, make his bed with the enemie of bis
country, and give aid and comfort to those who,
with infinitely less brains than he possesses, are
doing what malignant spirit of disoyalty can in
spire and give them wit to perform, to weaken
the Government and help the enemies of the Re-
public. We thought Mr.. Redfeld not only had
intellect enough, but was warmly enough attached
to his country, not to lend himself to the base
uses of party which has no word of cheer for
victories over treason, and offers no thanksgiving
for the successes that have restored the old flag
to many thousands of miles of territory from which
rebellion had driven it.
But we were disappointed. Mr.. Redfeld,
though choosing most of his words with care, and
dealing in convenient generaties in his speech
Saturday, did yet lend his influence to the men
who are doing all their little might is capable of,
to weaken the arm of the nation, and prevent its
success in the conflict with traitors. He dis.
coursed learnedly of the constitution and it's sa-
cred character of the wise and sainted men who
framed it of the great and good men who ad-
mnstered it in its early history, and of the men
who were now overriding its limitations and dis
regarding it's guarantees. He did not, however,
as one might reasonably infer, mean southern
rebels, by the bad men who were endeavoring to
bre4k up the Union and destroy the constitution,
but with an effrontery of statement which ought
to be yelled by an ignorance to which he can lay
no claim, boldly charged this crime upon the Ad-
ministration and the only party in the country
that has with any earnestness withstood the as
saults Of armed traitors upon the Government.
1t was not the lawlessness of treason which he
standing by the Government and unfolding the
old flag. He had not one word of condemnation
of Jeff Davis ard his confederate traitors, but bis
choicest rhetoric was turned upon Abraham Lin
coin and those who with him are sustaining the
Republic and he was cheered to the echo by
those who denounce the war, oppose the conscrip-
ton, sneer at thanksgivings for the victories of
Federal armies, and declar that the war ought 10
stop, leaving treason to dictate terms to us with
the bayonet when we are powerless to resist
And the best reason he could give for thus organ
izing resistance to the Administration in its pros
ecution of the war; was that it was ant-slavery,-
in his judgment unconstitutonally SO.
AS we have already said, Mr. Red6eld did
not always utter sentiments SO delightful to pro-
slavery auditors. He was once an anti-slavery
man of the advanced type. In 1851, it will be
remembered that Hon. l.. B. Peck declined to
accept the nomination Of the Free Democracy of
Vermont, for Governor, because be could not cub
subscribe to their platform. In that platform, we
find, among other things,the following declaration
of principles
d That it is the duty OF the Federal Gov ernment
to relieve itself from all responsibility for the ex-
istence or continuance of Slavery fn the District
of Columbia, and every wlere else that Congress