Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1874-03-04

a caucus held in Village Hall, Monday
evening last, but were in reality put in
nomination at an informal meeting of sew
eral of the leading conservative citizens
of Montpelier, held in Samuel Wells Of
flee some ten days since,-to Which the rum
champions proper were not invited. The
caucus held in Village Hall, was regularly
called to ratify the nominations heretofore
made; and to this work of ratification, I'M
hesitatingly rallied all the opponents of
the temperance movement so long carried
on by the ladies of this village. Several
of our best citizens also attended and gave
countenance and character to the caucus
and but for the cooperation and influence
of that better. although slightly conserva-
tive, element, the caucus would have put
in nomination a ticket more appropriately
representing the rum and riot sentiment.
which finds somewhat of an existence in
every community and which came to the
front in this election only when the battle
of the lions had been fought and decided.
Then there were found men ready, with
the instinct of the jackal, to creep upon the
field after hard-fought battle, and under
The security of night-fall and the helpless
ness of their victims, seek Ito rend and
mangle and devOur the remains of the
helpless dying and the already dead
A ticket such as this element would
have naturally put in nomination, if left
to itself, or one which would in any
sense have fifty represented it, would have
been voted down by square majority of
two hundred votes, among which would
have been the ballots of the very men who
were voted for on Tuesday by this same
element
And yet the ticket elected yesterday, and
composed we are happy to say almost en-
,irely of the best men and most worthy
citizens to be found in this village, owes
its scccess really to this diSorderly element,
these dangerous men to the well-beine
md prosperity of any community which
tolerates or encourages them in their de
pravity.
Let us not be misunderstood. While
we frankly and cheerfully concede that Of
the sos votes cast for the citizens ticket
200 of them..were thrown by men the peers
# any man that voted the so-called tenn
perance ticket, the fact is still patent that !;
large proportion of the remaining 100 were
brown by persons who have no interest in
II desire for good order or the best interests
If civilized, progressive people. They
came from men who are ever res i've ano
turbulent under such wholesome laws ant
restraints as every well-informed, law-re-
>pecting citizen knows to be necessary
for the preservation and progress material
y as well as morally and socially, of the
community in which he resides And
without the votes Of these FESTIVE men the
citizens ticket coming into the field as il
did, could not have prevailed. And the
fact is still more patent that without the
votes and the responsibility attached to til,
ticket made by and composed entirely Of
these really worthy and well-meaning, il
mistaken, citizens-the rum party, if We
may be allowed the expression, would have
presented ticket so fittingly characteristic,
of it, and so repulsive to the better iudg
ment of this community. that it would have
been promptly voted down by four fifth:
of the citizens of Montpelier.
The practical question that now comes
up, is this-I1as the whale swallowed
Jonah, or has Jonah swallowed the whale
Are the nominees of the citizens ticket
ticket composed of men whose habits O
personal Indulgence are at least as unob
Jectlonable as those of the candidates O.
the temperance party-are these mer
bound by pledges or by reason of the sup
port given them at the polls, to cater tc
the tastes and demand of those turbulent
law-hating fellows who made up the ma
lority which secured to them their election
Or will they by their act of going down t.
those fellows, or rather. perhaps we ought
to say, by their successful bringing these
fellows up to them, exert such a whole
some influence upon them as to Undue,
them to become quiet law-abiding and
good citizens. 1t may be possible perhap
for the leopard to change his spots, w,
have little hope however that men VIII,
get gain by total disregard of law, an,
who filch the bread from the mouths O
wives and children by pandering to tn
base appetites of a besotted husband o
father. regardless of the woe and sufferin.
it may bring to that sot's household. i
thereby their tills may be filled with tn
filthy lucre-little hope we say that sucl
men can be touched in heart by kindnes
or consideration, or the I" let alone policy
The terrors and the justice of the Law
can alone reach or reform such men.
But we hare hope in the men yesterda
elected town officers. We think we kno,
them, as incapable of STOPPING to do
mean or unworthy act. They are larg
property in this community. The
are identified with the social and moral a
well as the material prosperity and reputa
ton of this village. They cannot, an
would not if they could, afford to allow tn
disorderly element viii h yesterday con
tributed to their election to control or die
tate to them the policy by which tow
affairs shall be managed The interes
to say nothing of the desire, must impe
each one of them to set his face like a fir
against all law breaking, all disorderl
men. all infractions of wholesome rule
; We think the whale has swallowed Jonal
We do not envy the ease and honors for til
coming year of the men just elected upo
the citizens ticket The beds upon whic
the suffrages of their friends have place
them will prove anything but beds of rose