Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1867-08-07

and his good sense. The least evil in the
case would be to sacrifice his freedom and
to vote for neither and hundreds and
thousands of voters. whose votes would
certainly be worth as much as those which
are generally cast, are impelled to this al
Tentative every year. They don't vote at
all.
The questionis, shall the interests of
the State te controlled by set of oligar-
chical cliques, who are responsible to no
one, or by the people themselves. If by
cliques, then our offices become prey for
the interests of the few. instead Of an i'm.
partial authority for the benefit of all.
An officer who owes his election to a
clioue, must serve the interested views Of
that clique. and must allow considera
ton to those who have helped him to his
office. Even the virtue of gratitude be-
comes corrupted in this way, and is made
an injury to society instead of a benefit;
for the successful candidate must be CRATE
hl to the few agents by which he has
I been nominated, however corrupt they
may be, A man must be greatefm to hia
friends, Of course. We would therefore
have aN, the people or a majority ofthem,
his friends, land them when he mounts
to office, he vii be greatful to them
all, instead of only to few. 1t is
utterly impossible for man in authority
to serve intriguers, workers, and
clique mongers without Observing the
people and the State. i.ra saE 1853
That independence and integrity which
are indispensable to the officers of free
government. can be secured only by al
lowing to every voter free and untram-
elled exercise of the right of selecting his
officers. If the people are not capable
Of exercising this right, then they arc not
capable Of free government. And it is not
the way of rendering them capable
of free government by restricting them
in the exercise Of this right. Practice
is necessary to perfect one. in any thing
and where the duties of citizen of a free
state are not practiced more than they arc
among us, we shall eventually, and at no
semote day, lose all knowledge Of free
government. Other causes besides indif.
ference to these duties are operating very
powerfully to this effect. g asasa s7a- s
We have noticed that in one Of our re.
cent county conventions nearly one-third
If the towns 10 the county were not rep
resented at all. This Indifference is due
lin great measure, to the disgust of the
people at the convention system. They
ire reasonably offended at having theil
rights invaded and taken possession of by
managers and intriguers: "for," they say
there is no use going up to the conven
ion, the thing is all cut and dried.
But as to how it is "cut and dried" NJ
one knows and no man wishes to 90 to ;
convention merely to ratify what some
body else has done for him without con
sulting him in the matter. '-'
Even our conventions are not so abl,
managed and directed as they used to be
they have become mere clap traps for th
benefit of politicians. In proportion as tn
people have grown Indifferent to then
through disgust, in that same proportio
men Of Inferior ability and character hav
aspirtd to manage aud control them T
call such men "the best men Of The State
is to put low valuation upon all other
who do not attend conventions.
|
, The modus operandl of filling an oftic
! by the present system, appears to be this
A man of some little clcverness in th
practice ofpopuIar arts wishes to get
: nomination. He begins course of VIII
J pulling and intrigue to which no one
for Office wouId,coudescend !; he appeals
b cliqucs, political hacks, railroad runner
o and minor aspirants for office, and thes
S from the utter Indifference of the g.ei
e mass of the Taople, are enabled to carr
n out their plans and elect their, maj
T. When once elected, he is Of course boun
d to get all the contracts, Offices aud favol
! that he can for his select circle of friend
/ and also TO pave the way for the mo
J, prominent of them to be his successor.
a return. his friends are to eli the papeI
u and the public car with the most fulson
L praise of their great man BY avoidlr
! all specialities and minor details, and 6
6 ing it strong on generalities, they NAL
IS out their great man to DO little the grea
6 est and best man that the state ever pr
duced. This is SO often and 50 continua
IS ly dlnned into the public that at la
IS they almost come to believe it; and
10 this way Offices are got and held by mt
,e whose qualifications are of the least p0
10 sible amount when compared with Il
N duties that they should perform, d