The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-05-07

him the republican nomination, which he
does not seek, which he expressly declares
he does not wish for, but which we be-
lieve he would accept. Save for his per-
sonal satisfaction, however, no denial or
disproof of the assertions of Mr.. Phelps
letter were necessary. Senator Edmunds'
reputation for integrity in this republic is
not so fragile as to be exposed to the
slightest injury from anybody engaged in
the onerous task of clearing up the Little
Rock & Fort Smith record of ex-
Speaker Blaine. And as for the New
York Tribune's reiterated falsifcations,
what possible harm can come to Senator
Edmunds through anything that may be
said of him by person who served for
years as Mr.. Jay Goulds stool pigeon ?"
FREE PRESS "There was New Jer-
sey regiment attached for short time to
the First Vermont Brigade during the
war. Soon after the arrival of the Jer-
seymen the Vefmonters who csmped next
to them began to lose their rations of
fresh meat, stolen from the quartermaster's
tent. They thought it hardly worth while
that good mutton should be wasted on
such culprits, and having procured large
fat dog, had it killed, dressed and hung
where the quarters of mutton had been
wont to hang. That night some of the
Second Vermont placed to watch saw
some Jerseymen stealthily enter the
quartermaster's tent, seize the canine car
cass and bear it off to their camp, and
followed up the dog-meat till they saw it
served in some of the New Jersey officers
messes, where it was eaten with the gusto
which among thieves is supposed to give
sweetness to stolen dainties. The whole
brigade was soon roaring at the expense
of the discounted and disguised Jersey
men and for weeks the presence of any
of the latter in the camps of the Ver-
monters was the signal for an outburst of
barks and growls from among the tents,
which put the New Jersey boys to fight
quicker than volley of musketry.
The latter unanimously concluded that
thereafter they would let the Ver-
monters alone if the Vermonters would
let them alone. History repeats itself.
MIR. William Walter Phelps of New
Jersey has recently undertaken to rob
Vermonter of his good name; has
had his own words to eat, which must
taste good deal worse than dead dog in
his mouth; is now, with his pal, the New
York Tribune, undergoing the boots and
derision, not of brigade, but of the whole
line-and is understood to have come to
the same conclusion reached by the preda-
tory patriots of the Twenty-eighth New
Jersey, in 1862"
HARpER's WEEKLY: "The attempt to
smirch Mr.. Edmunds by calling him a
mask of the president is unworthy of any
one who processes an interest in better
politics. If the friends of the president
should pursue at Chicago the course that
they did at Utica, and support Mr.. Ed.
munds, it would be due to the fact that
they again preferred him to Mr.. Blaine.
But it would be childish to assert that
they had outwitted the friends of Mr.. Ed
munds by taking the more agreeable horn
of dilemma. The unwise friends of Mr..
Blaine and the equally unwise opponents
of the president, who seem to have formed
tacit combination, will perhaps try to
discredit the Edmunds movement by rep
resenting it as supported by the old New
York machine. But such an attempt
would be fruitless in view of the fact that
Messrs. Platt, John F. Smyth, Louis Payn,
and other chief and most Objectionable
leaders of that machine are hot for Mr..
Blaine, and that both General Grant and
MIR. Conkling are unfriendly to the presi-
dent. The situation is summed up in the
statement that the peculiarly independent,
progressive, and reform element of the
republican party has made Mr.. Edmunds
its candidate, and that candidacy cannot
be injured by the fact that it divides with
that of Mr.. Blaine the support of the old
machine, which is not strong enough to
sustain candidate of its own"
BRATTLEBoRo PHGNIx: "The letter
of Lieutenant-governor Pingree, in reply
to the withdrawal of Hon. George Mich
OILS, amounts to neither more or less than
an assertion that he is ready to be gov
ernor if he can be elected. Whether his
promotion to the governorship is to be
accepted as an event sure to happen re-
mains to be seen. In the minds of many
republicans there is Enthusiastically Sc
rious question as to whether any two men
can arrange between themselves which
shall have the suffrage of their party.
There was never better chance than
there is to-day for the people to take the
matter into their own hands and say
whom they will have for their governor.
We have no wish or purpose to prejudice
the candidacy of Colonel Pingree, but it
must nevertheless be borne in mind that,
if it is allowed to become an established
u Al =. l. l..