Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1874-07-01
Senator EdmundS' Speech al the
Convention.

) Senator Edmuds, after an opening SEN
tence Of thanks to the Chairman, proceed
: ed to express the please with which he had
returned to his home. though but for day,
and his qualification at meeting here SO
many citizens of the State who had in for
mer years been his associates in public and
political duties at Montpelier and else
where. l can almost imagine, said he, as
l look around me, that We are standing
ouce more IN the halls Of the State.house
to consult and legislate for the public well
: fare. Yet | cannot forget that we are
: met in the old Town.hall of Burlington,
where, as so well remember, took place
the first gathering of the first company of
! Vermont Volunteers for the late war,
whence they marched for the protection Of
liberty and union, and to which, alas, so
many failed to return. | cannot forget
that here, at the close Of the war, some of
our regiments, with we!l-worn clothes and
tattered flags, and with thinned ranks, and
men with bandaged or crippled limbs,
marched back, to lay down their arms,
and to resume once more the honorable
place and duties of private citizenship.
As here and now we assemble for such
duties and amid such memories, it is not
uniting that we should briefly review
what has been accomplished and what re-
MAINS of our great work.
The rebellion ended at o cost to the
people of 100000 lives, of its youngest
and most enterprisiDg blood: at the cost
of 100000 of the same muscle au0 intel
hgence, who brought to the walks Of peace
the sufferings and the diseases which the
war Brought to them, as continual me-
mento of sacrifices and Of honor. 1t cost
you the toll of assisting in the raising of
almost three thousand millions of dollars
spent in the war, and left you as legacy
q national debt of about three thousand
millions more. Our party, having achiev-
ed victory greater than ever seen before !;
having quietly disbanded the greatest
army of modern times, finds itself now
confronted with the question: Is it our
duty to still carry on the work, or shall it
be turned over to some other party or
combination, whose purposes, as set forth
in the last national Democratic platform,
are at best evasive, and whose sympathies
as party, as formally expressed by them
in ga and '6S and '72, were given to the
principles it has cost us so much to over
throw. The question is, shall we pledge
ourselves to pay the debt, and keep sacred
these memories. or shall We turn the gov
ernment over to the other party, in the
expectation that they will redeem the
national houor, and hold sacred the hero
ism and sacrifices that achieved our trl-
umph. This is question, to which, as it
seems to me, the answer of every patriot
by whatever party name he calls himself
should be, Never, never, nerer. [Ap-
plause.]
1t is for us to remember, that the good
OF the citizen is part Of the good ofsociety.
A good government must keep sacred its
obligations, even as every honest man
meets the obligations his private station
imposes on him. Therefore say that
every man who asks himself concienclous.
ly and fairly his duty, waving all party
names, must say the government must
be committed to those who will preserve
tho results, Of the war, will encourage
every industry, will bear taxation to
meet the public obligations, and will so
administer the laws that the civil rights
of the lowest citizen shall be living re-
ality, throughout the land. [Applause.
In order to secure these results, the
Republican party adopted three great
measures. 1t enacted by constitutional
provisions, first, that slavery shall exist
no more second, that every citizen shall
have the protection Of the flag, and shall
enjoy liberty and eqaality before the law;
and third, that no man shall be deprived
of the privilege Of voting on account Of
lace, color or previous condition Of servi-
tude. These amendments, and especial
ly the last, have received the persistant
assaults of the Democratic party, in order
to secure return of their asccndency.
Think ofit-a "democratic" party de-
claring that there may be determinations
among our citizens in their right to choose
their rulers and TO govern themselves !!
What would be said here in Vermont, if
we undertook to declare that no. man of
German or Irish descent should vote,
though citizen? Yetyou find the Dem
ocratic party ever by solid votes resist.
ing the amendment. The Democracy,
North and South, hold that the amend
ments were not constitutionally adopted
and are Of no binding power. ! do not
saw that they say so, now they dodge the