Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1866-08-29


their rights. He said, not long ago, that he
recognized the Civil Rights bill, and the
Freedmen's Bureau bill, passed over HE veto.
as the law Of the land, and yet he denounoes
the legislative body which he has thus officially
recognized as the law-makipg power of the
nation, as '' body hanging on the verge of
the government, q body called, or which as-
sumed to be the Congress of the United
States" This is either the fren1led extrava-
sance OF political demagogusry,or the maudlin
ranting of a giddy and bewildered political
traitor. Intoxicated by the incense of fattery
from these Office holders and Office seekers, and
by the pictures which the finger of Thurlow
Weed-mistaken by A. j. for the .' finger of
Providence had traced before his foolishly
delighted eyes, he stulti6es himself by assailing
as illegal the Congress which be hs officially
recognized as valid for eight months past, and
betrays in advance, by his unguardsd express
sons the plans of the conspira tors to recog-
nize-lf they dare-the rebel and copperhead
representatives and senators as the true Con-
gress of the United States.
oOhhoOh 10 la ulo stdtcucut tudt Suo
Philadelphia Declaration of Independence is
new. 1t certainly is n's much like the one
promulgated at Philadelphia ninety years
ago That affirmed that q" all men are created
equal, while this new johnson version
studiously ignores that grand key note. The
prime object OF this political farce called a
convention, was TO perpetuate the inequality
OF man by putting IN power those who do not
believe iu The rig hts of man as declared by
Jefferson and TIE founders of the Republic.
| Ii Andrew johnson had not lost his W its, be
would not have contrasted his convention OF
unrepentaut rebels, fossil whigs, renegade
Repu ublicAns, and hungry Democrats, the
debr,s and the drlft-Vood of the political
revolutions of the last twenty years, with
that grand historical body which made the
annals. He might we'll have compared
Benedict Arnold to WashIngto or Wilke:
Booth to Abraham Lincoln. The mean spirit
of caste and oppression which inspired every
act and word of the Philadelphia conspira
tors, and which inspired President Johnson il
| MS tQ4Oguiln Vi lHtlu, was NO nOEc lihc Suc
noble spirit Of freedom which animated the
trainers of the Declaration of Independence
than the devils that entered into the swine
ere like Him who cast them out of their Lu
man victims.
But Mr.. Johnson, still with the maudlir
faculty Of seizng upon the most unfortunate
comparisons, lkeus the Philadelphia platform
to q new proclamation of Emancipation
President Llncoln's Emancip4 tion proclama
ton pl dyed the whole armed force of th
Republic to maintain the freedom which b,
gave to an oppressed race, while these Phil
adeiphia conservators OF caste and oppression
pledged the whole resources of their move
ment to repuilate this pledge of Preslden
Lincoln. The one lifted the bondman 10 hl
ieet and stood between hm and his oppressor
The other says to the opprsssor, d" The gov
- crnment belongs TO you, and we shall no
80 interfere between you and your niggers
" and II the niggers attempt to get thei
rights you shall have the army and navy t
" aid you in suppressing any such movement.
1t is enough that Johnson should betra
into the hands of the slave holders ever
refuge to which the black man can ty io
shelter, without telling the poor men whoI
be thus deserts with the most internal an
diabolical irony, that his s-heme to kee
them from their rights Is :" new proolams
. tIon of emancipation
We need not further expose the impuden
, hypocrisy, or tne dangerous assumptions an
= declarations Of this infamous speech. 1t
most painful and me ancholy because 1t show
= how utterly and hopelessly wrong Mr.. Johr
son is gong, how completely, heartily an
zealously he Is 10 league with the wicked me
who have hated and fought the goyernmen
and hated and fought freedom, and how reel
e less almost REASONABLE he is IL his disregar
e Of the coordinate branches of the govern
ment. And 1t leaves Us to fear that, IN h
. truculent enmity against equal rights, an
the Congress which defends them from b
assaults. he will stop at no measures whic
q he feIcest and most unrelenting rebel,
the most savage and untamed copperhea
may advise him to adopt. Congress and Il
! people must now save the country from /
n betrayers, as the people bave saved 1t fro
+ rebels in arms.