Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1880-09-01
Mr.. FineId and Mr.. Tarb0x.

No event Of the campaign created such nutter
In the Democratic ranks as Mr.. Fiheld's speech.
The leaders began to "answer" IL at once, and
after innumerable REPLIES" they seem to be
still unsatisfed, and clamor for another opportu-
nifty. The local orators essayed first, and In a
meeting held the next day after Mr.. Fifeld's
speech was Published in this paper, no less than
three distinguished gentlemen Of Montpelier,
Messrs. IIeaton, Gleason and Livingston, made
speeches, Of which that was the burden. Their
efforts, however, did not seem to satisfy either
themselves or their followers, and after rather a
long interval spent in searching for fit champion,
it was announced with great flourish Of trump
cts, that the Hon. John X. Tarbox had been i'm
ported all the way from Lawrence, Massachu-
setts, to do the business for Mr. Ffeld, and that
he would, metaphorically, crush him into nfini-
tessmal atoms. 1t might be thought that the pro-
curement Of Mr. Tarbox, after the triple assault of
Messrs. llcaton, Gleason and Livingston, was
something Of a slur upon those gentlemen But
that Is nothing The pestiferous Fifeld must be
answered, no matter whose sensibilities are
wounded. Those gentlemen are accustomed TO
humiliation, and with lamb-like docility they
marched to the Pavilion green last Thursday
evening, to learn from the Lawrence champion
how 1t ought to he done, and how easy 1t was II
one only knew how. To do the home trio JUS
tice, however, we doubt whether they received
much instruction. To our mind, as an attempted
answer to Mr. Flfed Mr.. IIeaton's speech was
far superior TO Mr.. Tarbox's and the efforts OF
Messrs Gleason and Livingston would not at all
suffer in comparison, judging them as logical ar
guments. In the Ancient Mariner" Colerdge
says Of the wedding guest:
"A sadder and a wiser man
lie rose the morrow morn"
Our trio were doubtless sadder men the next
morning, for each had cold in his head by
standing in the foggy night air but as to whether
they were wiser men, we suspect they have their
own opinions. But to the subject matter OF the
| speech In regard TO the two chief points made
| by Mr.. Fifeld, and which In fact constituted the
cornerstone OF his whole speech, the present con-
| struction Of the congressional committees in the
interest Of the south, and the possible reconstruc-
ton OF the supreme court for the notification OF
the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth constitu-
tiona amendments, he had nothing to say. lie did
| not even allude to them by implication. On these
the most important arraignments OF the Democratic
party which MIR. fifeld made, which have been
| copied all over the country and which. 10 our
own knowledge, have made many converts to the
| Republican ranks, Mr. Tarbox was ~ silent as a
| mute. As an answer to Mr., Fiield, his speech
| was like the play OF Hamlet and Hamlet left out
| Many Democrats spoke Of these singular omis.
sions and asked why he had not alluded TO these
| points. Probably for the very good reason that
| he could not c0ntrovert them. Mr.. Fifeld's sta
tstics upon the construction Of the congressional
| committees are taken from the records and while
their truth cannot be denied the differences there
| from are obvious. The south has already got
control OF congress, and II Gen Hancock IL elected
| they will have control Of the government De-
| voting himself to what he considered to be easier
tasks, Mr.. 1arbox quoted Mr.. Fiield's summary
OF the record of the Republican party that IL Is
| the party which came to the rescue of the country
in 1861, 1t is the party under whose auspices the
| rebellion was subdued and the union maintained
| which has'reduced the national debt from nearly
| S4,0W,0W,OOO to less than 81, 900 600 600 and
| claimed that the glory OF all these achievements
| did not belong TO the Republican party alone; that
the Dsmocatic party deserved a share Of praise
because many of the members were union sol.
diers, and all had helped pay the taxes and reduce
the debt. 1t ia true that many individuals who
belonged, and do still belong, to the Democratic
party went to the war; but 1t is equally true that
| that party, as a party, opposed the war from it,
beginning to its end party is to be Judged
| not by the Independent action of persons belong.
ing to 1t, but by its solemn enunciations OF policy
Now, in 1861 the Democratic platform denounced
the war and declared 1t to be failure In 1865
| 1t, as a party, condemned the adoption of the
amendments which were the fruits of the war
and 1t never relinqushed its opposition to then
until 1t was forced by the pressure Of public opn
ion. As To the payment of the public debt the
entire policy which has tended to that great re-
suit was established by the Republican party in
spite Of the opposition Of the Democratic party
and while its members, in common with all the
people Of the country have paid their taxes still
as Mr. tiheld conclusively showed in his speech
the southern states, the backbone of the Demo
cratic party, have paid very small proportion o.
the taxes In comparison with the Republican States
good deal of Mr.. Tarbox's speech was devoted
to the shortcomings of the Republican party. W,
have no controversy with him on that The Re
publican party has not always done the best 4
could. There have been many scandals in II,
history which have left stain never TO be effaced
But on the whole it has been the party of free
dom, progress and honesty, in contradistincton t,
the Democratic party, which resisted all tn,
great progressive movements of the past thirt,
years, and never accepted them until they had
been forced down its unwilling throat by the
inexorabe logic of events The Democratic party
like the Bourbons, forgets nothing and earn
nothing; and to-day it comes before the country
As it did in 1860, the creature of the south read,
to do its bidding, and asks TO be once more giyei
the control of the country, because forsooth tn,
Republican party has been in power too long
This reason is not good one, and will not pas,
current with the people. Meanwhile in Vernon
the time is growing short Next Tuesday tn,
Democrats will be buried under another great ma
jority, larger even than their entire vote The,
must hurry II they are To produce another speake
to answer" Mr.. Fifeld,