Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1874-09-09
Walnhman g. Jnurnal.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER o, 1874.
TEuus-s2O0 per year. strictly In advaucoi or $3.50
u not paid within three months.


he is responsible for the uttcrances OF one
TO whom he gives, in his writings for the
paper the liberty Of the selection Of bis own
topics and the manner Of treating them in
all respects, and who can lay claim to no
other relation to Judge Poland than that
Of acquaintance and respect for twenty
years and more.
The result Of the election in this district
was certainly surprising to the friends Of
the nominee Of the convention, and doubt.
less far more SO to bis oPposers. There is.
no question whatever that the candidate Of
the boiling members Of the convention OK.
pressed openly and privately his indisposi-
ton to run in opposition to the regular can
didate. Yet spite Of his expressed views,
a plurality Of the electors Of the district cast
their ballots for him. There is no doubt,
also, that strenuous exertions we're made to
defeat the nominee aud turn the voters
from the course which they would naturally
have pursued Strong and costly means
were used to prejudice the minds of tho
voters against him. 1t is said, too, that de-
famatory and injurious reports were printed
and extensively circulated to poison the
minds Of the people against their hitherto
honored representative. These things,
doubtless, did not spring out Of the ground,
and were not done at the expense Of the
electors whom they influenced to vote
against Judge Poland. On the face it
looks as if a more adroit and inscriptions
politician than is often to be found in the
villages Of Vermont engineered the affair
and stampeded the voters in the silence and
darkness Of his secret Vaccinations. But
VITA the causes that led TO this result W,
have but little to do, because but little il
known of them. That the result is a SQUIRE,
Of shame aud regret, even to many tina
aided in bringing it about, we are well in
formed The causes are new to Vernon
politics. They indicate treachery and dis
honor They we're not open, honest, an,
manly, but smell Of intrigue, or what is ia
worse, Of secret organization at work to &C
complish political results. 1t was an In
dian mode of warfare, and belongs to tn
category of the ambush and Of skulkin
cowardice. Judge Poland made an honor
able aud open canvass, received the nomina
ton in fair and legitimate convention Q
his party, and was defeated at the ballot bo
by secret and cowardly means. That muc
is on the face of the thing. We are sorr
to record it as a historical fact in the hith
erto honorable course Of the Republica
party in the State of Vermont. 1t con
firms the judgment which some men hav
come to entertain, that politics are fast re
ceding from an honorable, open and nobl
struggle between parties of opposing prin
ciples, aud are becoming a system Of pro
found treachery between the members O
the same party. Looked at in this light, tn
defeat of Judge Poland is the indelible dis
grace Of the Republican party of the sec
ond district.
We believe that political parties are es
sential to the preservation and purity o
Republican institutions. They act as
check and stimulus on each other. The
keep the principles Of civil and social wei
fare constantly before the people by earnes
and enthusiastic discussions and controver
sizes. While they sometimes fall into ran
corous and bitter hostility, yet on the Who'll
they keep the body polite from sodde
stupidity and stagnation, and bring ever
popular remembrance the principles upo
which our public liberty and purity al
guarded and preserved. But when IL
politics of the community, the State, or ii
nation, cease to create an honest contr
versy between people Of different polite
opinions, and become a system of fraud al
SANDER and cheating and conspiracy AT
treachery between men Of the same polit
cal views and feelings and affiliations, the
they are sham, discredit and disgrace,
then they are rank, and their often
smells to heaven.
1t is said by those who profess to kno,
that this result, as well as some others
like kind, was brought about by the pre-
ence of that unknown quantity, the grang
element. But Of this there is no credib
proof. IL it is so, the granger has show
himself equal to ways that are dark, to pc
icies that are peculiar, and to results ov
which ouly Ignorance and folly can boai
And here we may as well bear our test
mony against the granger as not. We mi
respect him as a man, but we dislike al
condemn him as a granger, bringing to be
secret social organization and class fec
ing upon the politics of the State. Fran
has gone to political perdition, al
moral and social perdition, too, becau
Of the action on her civil affairs Of seer
political associations. Such societies, O
ganized to act upon public interests at
political affairs, are absolutely fat
to the very idea of civil and T
ligious liberty. We do not care |
what name they are called, or for VIII
ends they are professedly established
whether moral, social, commercial, polite
or religious; If they are used to combiI
men secretly, in the dark and in Il
mass, on questions of public policy, ia tow
aud state elections, they deserve the execr
tion Of every honest lover of civil aud T
ligious freedom. There is as muclrpropr
ETY., abstractly, in the Ku-Klux as in Il
Good Templar, or the Granger, as a seer,
association, designed TO mass men for polit
cal action. Our republican freedom an
heritage can be preserved only 10 the opt
agora Of public and generous discussiC
and competition, where honest and fran
men meet each other face to face, and
their manly controversy the truth aud Il
right are elected and preyail When seer,