The daily Green Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1861-1865, 1863-08-20
WINDHAM COUNTY.
Mr.. Redfield's Record.

The .4rsus & Patriot has an editorial (evid emf
ly from the pen of Mr.. Redfed,) complainin
that The FREEMAN =" falsely stated Mr.. RI
position in 1851. 1t says
If the Freeman, and those other papers whicl
have Joined in its assaults, will publish the plat
form upon which Mr.. Red6ed was candidate TO-
the office of Governor, and not substitute another
as it has done, and also publish the ,Ohole article
whose authorship it attributes to him, and will
then publish his speech Of one week ago last Sat
urday, wherein will appear inconsistencies, if Their
are any in his course, it will then show a dispo
sltlon to treat the matter fairly.
The real point that Mr.. R. relies upon to prove
that we" falsely stated his position, is that W,
did not copy the whole of the platform upor
which his party stood at that time, nor the whole
of the article which he then wrote for THE FREE
MAN. We quoted, however, complete and indie
pendent paragraphs, and consecutive aad entire
resolutions and SO far as we could then, or can
now see, the views of Mr.. Redfeld and his plat
form as stated by us, were not made to depend
upon anything we omitted. We should very
cheerfully have printed the whole, then, had our
space permitted, and we would print it now, in
Guiding his speech at the Convention here on the
9Th inst, had we room for it, or did we deem it
at all pertinent to the inquiry whether Mr. Rs.
views respecting slavery have not changed since
1851.
Mr.. r. evidently sees that his present position
on the question Of slavery, and his sympathes and
arguments respecting it, are utterly at variance
with his position when Free Soil candidate for
Governor, and he attempts to avoid the charge
of inconsistency, by raising an immaterial ISSUE
He says now,
"The whole scope and spirit of the article, (the
one in the FREEMAN in 1851 was to impress
the Palladium of Liberty" that it must be
glance -" that " having offered to it our allegi-
ance we demand in turn, that it shall fulfill its e-
climate functions that slavery could engraft
no new dogmas upon the Constitution to foster its
peculiar interest, nor could the antagonists of
slavery revolutionze an established government
for the purpose of its ertvpat,on that " the Con-
full play, and its action is healthy -" there are
too many political nostrums, there are too many
political gamblers"
This is an evasive and disingenuous plea, snack
ing more of the lawyers brief than of the state.
mans logic and with all due respect for Mr.. R.
we must decline to accept this commentary upon
the political gospel he preached twelve years ago.
His text aud the body Of bis discourse were then
Liberty to all. His argument was against slavery.
To be sure, he affirmed his allegiance to the Con-
stitution and the Union, but it was Constitution
which he said was ordained and established to
secure the blessings of liberty y; and, he added,
if the mildew of African slavery shall ever rot
away the ligaments that bind this Union together.
The last drop of warm blood circulating in the
veins of American freemen will be found upon
g FREE SOIL" He also said " The Union must
be preserved. The Constitution must not be
shackled. FREEDOM MUST BE NATIoNAL1zED.
SLAVERY MUST BE LOCALIZED. We take no steps
backwards. The times demand men for official
station, magnetized with the spirit of Constit,t-
tiondI freedom, and true as the needle and who
can by no stress Of circumstances be unmagnet-
lied. This shall be our course. Others may de-
sert us, but we shall not desert our principles. "
The italics and small capitals in the above quota
lions are Mr.. Redfeld's, and plainly enough indi.
cate what was then his polar star. He then was
lighting against slavery and for freedom and no
ingenuity can torture bis language into any other
meaning. ,.-'i
I sr0u"9iit