Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1871-08-23
DEMOCRATIC INTOLERANCE.

But the list of Democratic offenses is no.
exhausted Responsible for the continual
disorder in the South, their recent conduct
in the City of New York threatens the most
dangerous of all political excitements "A
war of clans and OF creeds. The Govern
ment is based on the absolute liberation Of
all forms of religious belief--Protessant and
Catholic, Jew and Centile-and whatsoever
aims to strike blow at the rights of one
imperils thereby the right ofall The same
article in the Federal Constitution which
guarantees freedom of religious belief, guar
antees the right of the people peacefully
to assemble and when the Democratic Gov
eminent of the City OF New York undertook
to say that certain procession of Protest
ants should not march through the streets
of the American metropolis, they were false
to the first principles of religious freedom,
they aimed deadly blow at the spirit of
American liberty. Protestant myself, |
stand for the rights of all and while
concede the fullest right of the Catholic
Irish to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, | de-
mand the equal right of the Protestant Irish
to celebrate the Boyne Water. The spirit
of religious liberty, which isrully enjoyed on
the 18th of March, must be held equally
sacred on the 18th day IF July.
REPUBLICAN POLICY AND PRINCIPLES
Over against the shortcomings of the De
mocracy, the Republican party stands strong
and firm, panoplied in the right. - Its
ways are ways Of pleasantness, and all its
paths Of peace" In our domestic policy we
declare for the equal rights of all men before
the law-knOwing no caste, no creed, no col
or, but only and simply the inalienable and
indestructible rights Of American citizenship
as proclaimed in the Declar alton Of Indepcnd-
ence, and decreed in the Constitution of the
United States, as IL nOlO IS. For, until the
Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amend
ments were adopted, the Federal COnstitu-
ton did not embody the doctrine of human
rights, as set forth in the immortal Declara-
ton
In our foreign policy we rest the honor of
the Government upon peace and prestige
the prestige which Commands peace the
peace which adds to our prestige Our dip
lomatc history, from the first Inauguration
of Washington down to the present hour,
contains no other chapter so brilliant as that
which records the recent treaty with Great
Britain. j powerful nation is not only led
to do us justice in the matt Of debts and
dues, but, in the less palpable but more en-
during reparAtion which, by acknowledge.
errors, removes the source Of irritation and
gracefully heals the wounds of pride-thu :
bringing to the adjustment OF national dir
ferences the knightly courtesy and the
Christian spirit which marks the intercourse
OF true gentlemen. " hen we reflect on tho
nameless and unima ENABLE misery and
Indebtedness inflicted on hundreds Of thou
sands by the late war between France and
Prussia, the vast number that were slain, the
still vaster number that were less kindly
dealt with in their cruel wounds and MAIN
ings, the hardly less cruel burden Of debt
ami tax falling upon all alike, We may in
some faint degree measure thc blessings of a
policy that avoids war and secures a peace
founded upon justice and upon honor Our
differences with England were Of the graves;
possible character-those between France
and Prussia were but trivial in comparison
The latter were settled by an appeal to arms
and a frightful war. IL Is to the highest
honor of an administration at whose head
stands victorious soldier, that the former
were adjusted in the spirit Of that great
beatitute which was given to Us in the ser
mon on the Mount.