Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1873-07-18

they are absolutely above the control Of lenal
enactments.
which they have disposessed hundreds Of
farmers Of the homes that by years of toll
they have built up; have induced Others TO
mortgage their farms for roads never intend
ed to DO built, and, after squandoring the
money thus obtained have left their victims
to the mercy Of courts over which they held
absolute sway.
They have obstructed the administration of
justice by injunctions procured from venai
judges by legal bubbles and appeals from
court to court, with intent to wear out or ru
In the prosecutor, openly avowing their de-
termination to make 1t so terrible for the
public to prosecute them that they will not
dare to undertake IL.
They have virtually made Judges dopend.
ent on their will alone, and have proenred
their appointment for tho express purpose of
reversing decision of the highest court of
the nation, by which millions were gained 10
them, to the injury Of the holders of the bonds
and the breaking down this last Sc feguard of
American freemen.
They have affected to render themselves
independent Of and superior to the civil pow
Ell, by ordering large bodies of hireinRs to
enforce their unlawful emotions, and have
protected them from punishment for nm iniu-
ry they might infiict upon peaceful citizens.
while ejecting them from their conveyances
for refusing to pay more than the rate of fare
prescribed by laws.
They have arrested and summoned from
their homes for trial, at distant points, other
citizens for the Same offense of refusing To
pay more than the legal fare, putting them 10
as great Inconvenience and expense AS posSi-
BILE, and still further evincing their determi-
nation to make 1t too terrible for the people
to dare engage in any legal conflict with them.
Ihey have combined together TO destroy
70
elimination, contrary to the expressed pro-
visions OF our constitution and the spirit Of
our law.
They have virtually cut off our trade with
distant parts Of the world by their unjust dis
ordinations and by their exorbitant rates of
freight, forcing upon us the alternative Of
accommodating upon our hands n worthless
surplus, or of giving three-fourths of thoprice
our customers pay for our products for their
transportation.
Under the false and specous pretenso of
developing the country. they have obtained
enormous grants of public lands from Con-
gress, and now retard rather than develop its
settlement by the high prices charged for
They have controverted the bonds fraudu-
lently obtained from the government into
great corruption fund, with which they arc
enabled to bride and control Legislatures,
and subvert every branch of government to
their own base and sordid purpose.
Ihey have increased the already intolera-
Die burden OF taxation, which the people have
to endure, compared with which the tea and
stamp tax which precipitated the war of the
revolution seems utterly insignificant, by the
appropriation of money from the public treas
ury, while they have escaped taxation them
selves by evading and violating the expressed
provisions of their charters.
In every stage of these expressions we have
DptltiOnpd co,. L., Nha
most humble terms. Our repeated petitions
have been answered only by silence, or by
attempts to frame laws that shall seem to
meet our wants, but that are IN fact, only n
legal snare for courts to disagree upon and
for corporations to disobey
Nor have we been wanting in attempts to
obtain redress through Congress. We have
warned them from time to time of these va
rious and repeated encroachments upon our
rights; we have reminded them of the cir
cumstances Of our emigration and settlement
here; we have appealed TO them, ms the adj
ministrators of n free and impartial govern
ment, to protect us from these encroachments
which, If continued, would inevitably end in
the uttor destruction of those liberties for
which our fathers gave their lives, and the
reinstatement of privileged classes and an
aristocracy OF wealth, worse than that from
which the war of the X evolution freed u.s.
They, too, have been deaf to the voice of JUS
Il ce ana oil duty. we must therefore RcQul-
ssce in the necessity which compels us to de-
nouncc their criminal indifference TO our
wrongs and hold them rs we hold our Leg
islaturc-enemies to the proGucer--to the
monopolists, friends.
We, therefore, the producers of this state
in our several counties assembled, on this the
anniversary OF that day that gave birth to n
nation of freemen and to government of
which, despite the corruption OF its officers,
we are still so justly proud. appealing to the
Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude
of our intentions, do solemnly declare that we
will use all lawful and peaceful means to fires
ourselves from the tyranny Of monopoly and
that we will never cease our efforts for re-
form until every department Of our govern
ment gives token that the reign Of licentious
extravagance is over, and something of the
purity, honesty and frugality with which our
fathers inaugarated II has taken its place.
That to this end we hereby declare our
selves absolutely free and independent of all
past political connections. and that we will
give our suffrage only to such men for Office,
from the lowest officer in the state to the
president of the United States, AS we have
good reason to believe will use their best en-
deavors to the promotion of these ends; and
for the support Of this declaration, with firm
reliance on Divine Providence. we mutually
pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes
and our sacred honor.