Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1863-02-27
For County Commissioner
WILLIAM MILLER,
Of Williston.
The sentineI's Blindness.

Inc sentineFs Kindness.
It Is Just as we feared. The blindness of
the Ssahnsl is bevond our power to cure. 1t
can't see, because it won't see. When it
said there would be no more volunteers, and
that the people would not submit to q draft,
and it dared the a1ministrstionto Try one,
we called its language disioyol The Ssnti-
mel said it could not see it, and asked ne for
light. We said Try your language by
simple test. Suppose our soldiers in the
field believe You, will they not be dishearten-
sned and weakened? Suppose the rebels be
lieye YOU, viii it not aid and encourage
them Suppose our foreign enemies believe
you,wil they not be so much the more ready
to give help to the rebels Not a word Of
answer does the Sentinel give to these plain
questilns. The obvious reason for its dodg-
ing them that to say YES, would justify
our charge, and to sayYo would be so grossly
absurd that the Ssntnci does not ike its looks
oft. What then does it say? 1t goes off into
repetition for the hundredth time, Of its as
ser;ion that the papers and men opposed to
slavery are responsible for the rebellion.
repeats it misrepresentation Of the Prcsi-
dents emancipation Proclamation, and di,re-
gard, the most notorious facts as t. the
origin and progress of the rebellion. striped
Of its verbiage the rest of its talk
amounts to this that when the rebellion
broke out, the anti-slavery men and anti
slavery papers should here all turned in and
dinned into the ears Of the millions in the
Sputh'n States ,protcstaticns and assurances
{, t'C "fftct that, No matter what they did
Slavery should be held sacred No matter
how many forts and mints and navy wards
AMI "'tionll ships they seized no matter
h"w .n ny Union men they robbed and muir
dcr.... or drove from their homes 10 escape
beng murdered; or how many they hung be-
ca1-' Icy werecharge with being abolition
'ffS n matter how grcatarmies they mustered
g sci ursu the capitol Of the nation ami to
Kill % .iisrerze the c,nstitutionally elected
authorities. and to place in their stead JEFF.
Dsvis, Beauregard, Alexander Stephens,
Memninger, benjamin, Wigfall, Floyd, Cobb
and the whole gang Of traitorous villains
who have rebelled against the government Of
the United States and turned the Southern
States into a hell upon earth no
matter how much help they 20;
in their Internal schemes from
slavery, and no matter how many thousands
Of loyal men might he called upon to die in
the battle field and in the hospital,to save the
nsti1n from being broken Up and made p scorn
and kissing to the despots Of Europe
and the worse deepots Of the Southern
Ststes, the aforesaid loyal snti-slaverv
mon should have made the great mans Of the
Southern people 5s'iers that in nocontngeucy,
und,r no necessity whatever, would slavery,
their great idol, the fetch Of the Seut,rel and
others like it, he meddled with.
If they had only done tbat-why then,
avs the Sentinel, the rebel leaders would not
have carried the masses with thcm-and
the rebellion would have come to
naught, off hand And since the Free Press.
and all the other Ialers who now support
the government, did not undertake that sort
of missionary business, the Sentinel ssk- if
we and they are not therefore disloyal,'
Verify the S.nhReTs notions Of layalty
are peculiar and original. 1t is generally
understood that loyalty consists in a hearty
support Of the lawful government Of ones
country,s readiness to help it with hand and
money, and if need be with life-blood, against
the armed attacks Of It's enemies According
to the S.HtiHeys notion, in consists in bend
ing all ones energies to convince those in
arms against the government that come what
will of their assaults, no great harm shall
happen to those who are making them.