Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1885-10-16
The Fireworks.
THE BANQUET.
Five Hundred People Sit Down to the
Grooming Boards The Toasts and Their
Responses-A Notable Speech From
Senator Edmunds,

!
Grooming Boards The Toasts andTh
Responses-A Notable Speech From
senator Edmunds.
The reunion of Vermont legislators at
Montpelier was brought to most sue
cessful close by the supper on Thursday
evening This took place at the Golden
Fleece rink. Four long tables extending
lengthwise through the room, which is $50
feet long, were filled with legislators and
their wives, the sexes being in nearly
equal proportions About 500 sat down to
the feast. The material part of this was
prepared by Mr.. Waterhouse, the new
landlord of the Pavilion and demon
strated the fact that he is young man of
no little executive ability 1t is no light
matter to clear hall of seats for 2OOO per
sons, and make ready in it a supper for
500 persons in five or six hours. This was
done, however, in excellent time and
shape The collation. was simple, consist
ing of oysters, cold meats, salads, ice
cream, cakes, fruit, confectionery and
| coffee, and the suD>laitlalS aud deilCaClca
appeared to he fully appreciated by tn,
guests. Col. George W. Hooker prusidtG
and in due season called the tables I,
order for the feast OF reason and read tn,
|. Vermont First born OF the Oid Thrtcci
| -EXempiar of Freedom an tnItN-MOth
! of worthy sons, we have Il ri9nt to be pruu
Of her history, her people. her institution.
| Foremost in many a God cause, let lis see
| it that she is still kept at the ont.
| In the absence of Gov Pingree, who ma
departed to his home, Lieutenant GuN
ernor Ormsbee was called on to rrspon
to this sentiment. He said he could do IL
better than to amplify the Suggestion
/ al.
which he proceeded to do, dwelling witt
earnestness on the various things whicl
entitle the Green Mountain State to the
honor and love of her sons.
II. The United States Senators Of Vermont
honest, able, Influential from the beginning
| Il succession of statesmen and leaders and
1.-THE last are better than he first
Senator Edmunds was called on to re
spond, and rose amid long and cordial
applause. Promising by a remark that he
supposed that he was to speak to a toast
to the United States Senate, rather than
to one to the Vermont Senators, and that
he should prefer to make some Observa-
tions on the relations of the United States
Senate to the people of the States, he pro-
ceeded as follows
Permit me to remind you, ladies (who
are as they ought to be, as much the
rulers of this world as the meD as well as
| gentlemen, that it is matter of the great
est possible importance for every citizen of
every one of the thirty-eight States of this
| Union to remember that the sheet anchor,
as John Adams called 1t, of the unity and
freedom and progress of this republic is in
the nature of the organization of the Sen
ate of the United States; and the nature of
that organization. As all of you know, Is
precisely the same in its intrinsic charac-
ter as the nature of the organization o; our
own Vermont House OF Representatives,
in which every town, great or small, has
ar y of tori ion 'hA ma.
sentatOn in the United States Senate de
ponds on the individual entity of the State,
whether 1t contains many inhabitants or
few, whether it contains many thousands
OF miles of territory or only Il few, whether
it contains men who earn their living by
the sweat of their brow tilling their farms
or working in their shops, or whether II
be built of great institutions, great cOrpor-
atlons and gigantic monopolieS W nat
ever may be its circumstances, i'll the Sen
ate of the United States each stands in its
individuality as a State, the absolute equal
of the rest. We can imagine what would
have been the condition of this country AT
this moment had the Senate of the United
States been constituted on a different
principle, if the size and populations
of the several States ha dbeen the test OF
representation in the Senate of the United
States. think ii is not too much to say
in sober minded truth that this republic
would not have endured until now. Many
and many have been the times when, II
the right of the Senators of each State to
resist and defeat the current of popular
passion and prejudice which arises some
times in the action of the popular body,
the House of Representatives., had failed
to exert itself as it would have failed il
the Senate had been constituted as is the
National House of Representatives,, dis
cord and revolution would almost Ger
tainly have caused the dismemberment
Of MI fhlt
there are some people in the United States
thinking citizens of the great States, who
in recent years, have said that the time
was beginning to draw near when the
composition of the Senate must be
changed and the. states must be
lation, but | have confidence
, that this will never be done. feel sure
that there is sufficient patriotism, sutl
Gent sense of justice in the citizens of the
{ great States, to say that the small States
, shall keep their equality of representation
and to refuse to consent to such an inva
, sion of their rights. Applause Bu
, this is not the time to discuss sub
jects of this Importance | have
felt ever since | came here prouder anC
prouder of my native State, rs have once
, more renewed cquaintanceships o
my earliest public life and met my fellow
! members of Legislatures which eXistel
! more than fourth of century ago. Tim
reunion has been spectacle which
would be glad to have all the Senators o
the United States, of whatever politlca
, party, See and | can safely say the.
would all be glad to be here and witness
r this scene.
/ The things that touch us most as w
5 look over the years that come and TN
I years that go are personal recollection
I which cluster round the men who haN
% gone before us. In the time that | have
! been i'll the Senate have seen every mem
| Der from the other thirty-seven States o
Y this Union come into the Senate and =
ont of It, The great men otithe state
e of this country have marched upon tn
| stage of their duties in procession an'
g disappeared. There is only one Senate
who was II member when | entered tn
[ Senate in 1866, and he has not been con
! inuOus member, Mr.. Sherman, All tn
e rest have gone, and new men have takel
: their places with equal powers, equa
$ splendor of intellect, equal patriotism,
+ OF all parties and creeds one cannot il
: such case help feeling that he stand
e almost alone in the years that go by 81