St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1884-10-16

! efs profferlng their ald, "OoZing all
over with the fat affectionate smile
which makes the widow lean,n and
saying: "Come with us let us lay
wait for blood let us lurk privily for
the innocent without cause let us
swallow them up alive, as the grave,
and whole, as those that go down into
the pit. We shall find all precious
substance, we shall fill our houses
with spoil. Cast in thy lot among us
let us all have one purse" proverbs
| |, 1I-l4.) Now, | ask my correspond
/ ent whether he wOuld expect the thou
sands of republicans who regard the
prohibition issue as the one before
which all others sink into insignifi-
canoe, still to hold fast by the party
| But many did hold on. They said {:
perhaps the candidate will stand for
us, if the party will not" But when
/ they saw that eminent statesman and
accomplished leader standing befo+~
| the ballOt-bo in Maine, where the
question of the protection of the homes
of his own state was to be settled, .vd
simply refusing to vote, and then
washing his hands in innocency before
the country, So that he might compass
the presidential altar, the last hope
was gone 1t was history re-enacting
itself; it was Daniel Webster's 9TH of
March speech repeated. Our great
candidate had joined the ignOble army
of comprOmisers, and illustrated again
the awful tyranny of great and organ
lied wrongs over great and ambitious
men.
In the face of this history, the ex-
hortatiOns of my correspondent con-
cerning the solemn responsibility of
my position in giving my ''inf1uence to
elect n man who has such a vile and
beastly record as the democratic can
didate" makes very little impression
upon me. | give not not one particle
of influence by word, or vote, or voice,
to elect that man. No one can revolt
more utterly than | do from such a
suggestion. But ask the question, am
| shut up by any law to a choice be-
tween two candidates neither OF whom,
though for very different reasons, is
satisfactory When it is urged that,
| between two evils-that is, between
the party that ignores this issue and
the party that denounces tive must
choose the least, has not Il citizen. with
Il conscience in his breast and the
Judgment seat before his eyes, the
right to say Il choose neither and
leave the issue with God? If the i'm
moral man shall be elected president,
which hope may not be, | hold my
self as prOhibitiOnist
FREE FROM ALL BLAME
therefor. 1t is men like my cores
pondent who would be responsible for
such Il result, for he signs himself
Temperance" and then acts with Il
party which ignores temperance. 1t
he and all temperance men in the
country would vote their convictions
instead of voting their party, there can
be little doubt that st. John, ii clean,
unsullied man, would be elected to the
presidency, but, if Grover Cleveland
should be elected, who knows what
future good and reformation might
come out of present i'll ? am not too
young to remember the trucking ad-
ministratiOn of James Buchanan, and
r how he was called "the political pOul-
tice which drew the anti-slavery issue
to IA head" Perhaps the present dem
ocratic candidate, if elected, might
serve the same ignominiOus Office fol
the anti-liquor sentiment.
reached the same point of political
subserviency which characterized the
last days of the last democratic admin
istration. AS one living under the
iron heel of the rum oppression, il
seems to me to have become practical
question, whether the sober citizen has
any rights which the liquor seller is
bound to respect !; and whether really
| a. .Dff
loon, by the saloon and for the saloon
''In youI effort to chastise the repub-
. lican party, are you willing to punisl
the nation p it is asked. We have nc
wish or purpose to chastise the repub-
lican party, least of all to punish til,
, nation. But we do wish to lift the
chastisement of the liquor tyrant from
= the ten thousands of helpless women
, and children who are daily scourgeC
: by this curse. And, after long wait
! ing, we see no other way but to set on
- faces like a flint toward this one end
turning neither to the right hand nor t,
the left. As that noble veteran, JOIN
= b. Cough, said the other evening, Il.
Y ut 20 years of age he publicly an
y nounced that he must this year turl
y from the party with which he hat
l. voted from the beginning and cast hi
| first ballot with the prohibitiOnists
:. 1--WE have waited long enough for re
t dress and now the time has come t
! speak"
II We may learn Il lesson from our foe
: at this point. At a recent brewers
a convention, it was unanimously re
: solved that, when any party sets up
5 man who favOrs laws interfering wit
the liquor traffic, "we pledge ourselve
n to
d OVERLOOK PARTY AFFILIATIONS,
" and aid in defeating their candidace
for office" If those who favor t.
~ suppression of the liquor traffic wJ6l
y be equally consistent, it would not b
u long before this awful destroying It'd
~ will begin to be stayed.
- And this answers the taunt that b
their course the prohibitionists al
. giving aid and comfort to the rumsel
- ers, and throwing away their vote
~ &c. The prohibitiOnists simply thrO
~ their votes at a longer range and t.
: ward a remoter object than the immt
va diate presidential election and i
with the present extraordinary grOwt
- of prohibitory sentiment, especially
y the south and west, they will stand t.
" gether, and refuse to leave their priI
= ciple to promote some temporary pol
:" CIV they will soon become the dOminaI
~ ~ national party, having gathered un;
." themselves the best and most virtuoI
>, elements from north and south, an
~ then the rumsellers will get SUE
u "comfort" as Job got from his thr,
'' friends: miserable cOmforters are J
- all.n
~ With one more reason for standir
~ ~ firmly with the prohibitionists, clos
iisS viz: In doing SO, | follow the examP