Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1885-06-19
SENATOR EDMUNDS.


whose position in politics gives him II
thorough knowledge of the sentiment of
Vermont Republicans, when asked re-
Gently concerning the significance of the
rumors of Republican opposition in this
State to Senator Edmunds, replied as fol
lows "All these rumors are merely the
last faint echoes of personal bitterness en-
gendered in the campaign of last sum
mer. You hear very little of this matter
anyway except from sources outside of
the State but wherever they come from, !
these rumors have little or no foundation.
When Vermont Republicans 90 back on
Senator Edmunds, it will he for some
reason other than that of his adherence
to independent opinions ! myself was
supporter of the Republican ticket last
summer, and was veXed to see the cam
paign treated SO cOldly by our leading
statesman but EdmundS stood where
thousands of Republicans in this state did
in the last election. Mr.. Edmunds did not
forsake his party last fall the mass OF
Republicans in this State who voted
their own ticket did exactly what Mr..
Edmunds did, they simply went to the
polls and voted, but kept their mouths
shut before and AFTERWARDS. We dld not
elect Blaine, nor did Vermont give
him more than three quarters of her Re
publican majority. but the fault was not
with Edmunds, and the Republicans of
this State know ii now. No, sir. The
mistake was made at Chicago last June,
All this eunity agants Mr.. Edmuhds is
but the outcome of the bitterness of
heated personal campaign like that of
last summer The cutlery against Ed
muudS among many of the old line Re
publicans was at first very great. Men
talked of political condemnation, of party
ostracism, and of all kinds of rebuke, but
/ the question of party Ccnsure comes nom"
to them in Il different light from what
it dld eight months ago. He has only
done his duty if he has shown that princl-
pie Is dear to him to repudiate him Is
to repudiate our party, for insist that
ours is party of principles. The first eX-
/ preston of Republican opposition III tins
State to Mr., Edmunds was impulslNe. 1t
is fast passing away, and to-day there Is
not II man in the State who would com
mand against him one in twenty Of the
. Republican votes. When the legislature
convenes in 1856, Edmunds will be return
ed to the Senate, backed, as before, by an
almost unanimous vote.
The feeling against Edmunds has never
been II real party feeling among the Re
publicans of Vermont. Even rs earlyaS
last November, when the legislature re
turned Senator Morrill, to the Senate by
an almost unanimous vote and the ques-
ton of Edmunds'S position was being much
discussed at Montpelier, your COrre~pOn
dent took occasion to interview on the sub
ject several members of the legislature,
that body, and he found that, although
, criticism of the senator's position was Of
ten expressed, when it came to the queS-
ton of his return to the Senate, very few
were ready to oppose that. The severeSt
critics in that body of the senator's ac-
ton during the campaign were on the
Democratic side and it is fact worthy
of comment that it has been from that
side III a great measure, that dreful
predictions of Mr. Edmunds's future have
come. The truth is, Senator EdmundS is
appreciated in his own State, and there
has not been day since his entrance into
the Senate, nearly twenty years ago, when
NermonterS were not proud of him, and
when Vermont Republicans would not
vote for him. | know it to be fact, that
if the name of Senator Edmunds had been
the one to come before the legislature last
fall, he would have been returned to the
Senate by a large majority. And the
prejudice against him is now slighter than
1t was, and the principal reason why it
has not completely died away is BECAUSE
as intimated above, there are those whom
the remote possibility of withdrawal OF
Republican support from Senator Ed
munds has kindled a hope that there may
be il chance for successor. 1t is through
the selfish designs of these men that what
little animosity there is for Mr.. EdmundS
has been kept alive There can be no
doubt as to the result Sixteen months
from now this "movement' will not be
heard of.
From the Montpelier Watchman.l
Vermont has never for IA moment en-
tertained the idea of throwing Senator
Edmunds overheard Here and there in
the State IAN original Blaine mans dis
appointment may have got the better of
his good sense-in talk and outside news
papers, like the Boston JOlTIidj and New
York TribUIiC, conspicuous for their par
tisan devotion to Mr.. Blaine's political for
tunes ut the expense of even national
Republican success, in Il spirit of petty
personal revenge have been reaching out
for Mr.. Edmunds's throat. Neither the
people of Vermont nor the Republicans
of the Union are so fOOlhardy. Mr.. Ed
munds was acknowledged by political
friends and enemies to be the man hay
ing superior qualifications for the presi-
dency of this nation. He was an ideal
candidate. He has done no act that de
tracts from, or in the slightest degree mod
flies, except to heighten, the just eulO-
gums his name called forth before and
at the Chicago convention. So there
I would be embarrassment and qualification
to any selt-respecting person III an at
tempt to give any sufficient reason for
! engaging i'll scheme to drop him out of
the senate at the end of his present term
: 1t is folly to consider the matter at all
: unless the senator shall express IA desire
to retire from the service of the State,
; reasons why his wishes should be respect
ed. That, or equivalent contingencies,
might open the lists to Il contest which
; might be spirited and in which there
might he Il very determined competition,
, but neither the State nor the Republicans
of the nation will allow Mr. Edmunds to
leave the Senate for any trivial or INSULT
: cent reason. One of the alleged competi-
} tors for the senatorshp, in the alleged
scheme to punish" Mr.. Edmunds for
. grim adherence to honest and reasonable
convictions, Hon. John Stewart, represen-
tative in congress from the first district
makes to Il reporter of the FREE PRESS
the following emphatic and honorable
aVowals 81 authorize you to say that !
am not nursing any senatorial boom,
| and that | am not and will not be can
didate for the senate against Mr.. Edmunds,
The public welfare, in my opinion, de
mands the retention of Mr.. Edmunds
1t is not II time when the Re
publican party can afford to dispense
l with Il leader and supporter such as Mr..
} Edmunds is and if there are Repub-
Il.