St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1885-10-08
Senator EdmundS.

Senator Edmunds.
There have been intimatiOns that the
reunion of Legislators at Montpelier
this week will be used by friends of
Ex-Governor Smith as an opportunity
to promote his alleged ambition to sue
coed Senator Edmunds next year. This
is probably a mistake or a SANDER, but
it is not in human nature for so many
politicians to assemble, with nothing
to do but visit, without talking over
the most interesting topic in state pol
tiles that is now impending.
That there was wide spread dissat-
isfactiun with Senator Edmunds for
the cool support that he gave to Mr..
Blaine last year, need not be repeated.
That there has been Il studied effort to
keep alive this displeasure is equally
apparent And that this effort is con-
fined to the friends of only one of the
fOur or five gentlemen who are con-
sidcred available candidates, requires
no calculation. 1t is plain to all OBJ
servers that the displeasure has been
waning and would probably by this
time have disappeared, or at least
have come to be very charitable, but
for these efforts to keep it alive.
| YermOnters begin to ask themselves
how they would appear in the eyes of
mankind if they, the most liberty-lOv-
ing and personally Independent peO-
pie in the world, should depOse from
his proud eminence the most distin-
guished and influential man they ever
sent to the national councils, for no Of
fence but the exercise of that right of
personal Judgment and conduct with
out which he would be an unworthy
representative of these people. AS
party because they consider that it at
fOrds the best hope for good legisla
ton as well as for good administration,
they begin to inquire what good it
would do to recall to private life the
man who has proposed more beneficial
measures than have come from the en-
tire democratic party in the last 20
years. AS friends of honesty and good
morals, they begin to think it would
be a monumental blunder for them to
refuse to return to the senate the man
whom every jObber and cOrruptiOnist,
every grasping mOnOpOlist, every foe
of free elections, every apOlOgist for
the Mormon cancer, most fears and
hates.
1t is the great good fortune of Yer
mont to possess many men who would
worthily fill any post of honor in the
state or nation. The men are more
numerous than the places. But the
state owes her influence, not to the
fact that she has been exerting her
self to- make all these men cOnspicu-
Gus, but rather to her wisdom of choice
aud to- the persistency with which she
has kept in public service, for periods
long enough to enable them to make "A
mark for themselves and her, the ser
wants who have won her highest APP
probation. 1t would be a great mis-
take to depart from this policy, and es
pecially now, when the party that is
dominant in the state is under in the
nation and needs it's strongest leaders
in the field, and when, too, measures
for the Improvement of the public ser
vice, the currency, the government of
territories, inter state commerce, the
laws regulating the presidential cleo
ton and successiOn-measuTes with
which the name of George f. Edmunds
is most cOnspicuOusly and hOnOrably |
pending and ought to
be carried to a successful issue by the |
men who best understand the strength |
and tactics of the opposition.
There is no occasion now to discuss
or even to remember the events of the
last campaign. Many men supported
Mr.. Blaine who did not think him the
best representative of the "party of
great moral IDEAS" but who could not
endure the thought of democratic as
cthuenCy MdHS OTHERS VINO shared
the same opinions withheld their
support because they feared success
more than defeat. Both classes were
equally patriotic, equally good re-
publicans. In New York and Massa-
chusetts the men who then divided are
now substantially reunited. 1t is not
to he expected that always and in
all respects public man can please a
of his constituents. He owes
to himself and we must con-
cede something to his better OppOrtu-
nifty of understanding. 1t is not very
long since Massachusetts, in a moment
IF unbecoming heat, cast vote of CEN
sure upon Charles Sumner bat she
Ias expunged it from the records aud
reared his statue in the public garden
IF her capital. Vermont should stand
serene, like her lofty hills, in an upper
of public judgment. Her
garments may be ruttied by passing
storm, but she will remain steadfast
% the principles, the policies and the
men who have made her illustriOus.