Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1886-08-06

pen, occupying TWO columns, IN as many
issues OF the Rutland Telegram. He be-
gins by saving that Mr.. Edmunds 'let his
name 90 before the last Chicago conven-
ton but when its work was done he
stood silent, nursing revenge"
All intelligent Nermonters know that
Mr. Edmundss name did not 60 before
the convention with his permission. In
interviews and declarations throughout
the preliminary canvass, he uniformly
and repeatedly declared that he was not a
candidate, and did not wish his name
used in that connection. In an editorial
in the FREE PRESS of June 3, the morning
OF the day the Chicago convention met,
this paper spoke of Mr.. Edmugds rs "a
man who does not want the Office and dis
courages every effort toward his own nomi-
nation.n In IA conference of EdmundS dele
gates, held the evening before the conven-
ton opened Gov. smith, as the dispatches
stated while he "lauded Mr.. Edmunds's
fitness" also praised ''his attitude OF not
seeking the place" Several New York
and Massachusetts and Michigan dele
gates also alluded in their remarks to the
well known fact that Mr.. Edmunds dld
not want the nomination. Gov. Long
in his eloquent presentation OF Mr.. Ed
munds's name, after alluding to our sena-
tor as zone whose tested services, whose
tried ncorruptibility, whose upright walk
through the storms and fires of public
life, whose approved wisdom and capacity,
are everywhere recognzed--one who
stands for whatever has been honest and
of good report, for whatever is economy,
financial wisdom, clean politics and in
tegrity Of national life" also spoke of him
rs one to whom the honor Of the nomina-
ton would come unsolicited, if at all.
"His letter of acceptance of an unsolicited
honor" said Governor Long, will cOnsti-
tute all the machinery he will ever put into
its procurement" Evidence of this sort
could be multiplied indefinitely. Mr. Ed
munds's name did not go before the con
vention by his own will and consent, and
the assertion that his refusal to take the
stump was the act of a sulking and disap-
pointed candidate is gratuitously false.
Mr. Edmunds's hired assailant next
argues that the theory that the personal
attack of Mr.. Blaine's spokesman and adj
vocate, William Walter Phelps, upon Mr..
Edmunds, had anything to do with the
latter's silence, must be wrong, because
Mr.. Edmunds's omission to endorse the
choice'of the national convention was at
an earlier period than Mr.. w. w.
Phelps's letter. Now that letter appeared
in April, some six weeks before the con
ventiun. Mr. Edmunds has always said
that he cared nothing about that attack
after .he first natural irritation at
so uncaled for and false an assault upon
him had subsidized. and that it
did not affect his subsequent course. Still
it is quite possible that that letter had
more effect upon Mr.. Edmunds than he
was conscious of. 1t certainly was not
particularly calculated to cOnciiate him.
In the opinion of many men, that gross
and malicious, though futile, attempt to
hold up Mr.. Blaine by blackening the
character of Mr.. Edmunds, afforded req
son enough why the latter should hesitate
TO prefer congratulations and support to
the man who was believed to have in
spired the attack. The attack occurred
as we have said, six weeks before the con
vention. If the Tclcgr0m'S imported editor
did not know this, he would do better to
confine himself to matters he knows some
thing about
Whether the same writer's reports of
various alleged applications from and in
| terviews with national and State Repub-
lican committeeman, and Others who wish
ed Mr. Edmunds to take the stump,
are due to ignorance or wilful
Misrepresentation, we do not I'M
dertake to decide. They are, in
their main features and as regards the use
made of them, essentially false and mis-
| leading. Mr. Edmunds, we undertake TO
say, never returned 'insulting replies" to
any such application. We do not believe
that in any case he varied from his Gus
tomary habit of receiving all honorable
men with entire courtesy. In most cases
we believe, he stated the case to the gen
tlemen who applied to him and left it to
them to say whether or no under the cir
cumstances it was wise to put him on the
stump-a responsibility which none OF
them were willing to take. His own posi-
ton was that he was doing what was best
for the party This idea is not, as the i'm
ported editor alleges, an invention of the
FREE PRESS. 1t was stated in CONVERSE
ton, by Mr.. Edmunds, to many men. Ii
was stated by him in writing to several
Mr.. Edward Conant of Randolph n well
known and respected Republican, evi
IDENTIFY has such statement. In a com
munication to the Montpelier IVdtcltmdu
Mr.. Conant says:
Referring to Mr.. Edmunds's own writ
ten statement, it does not appear that HI
was ready to speak in the Republican
campaign of 1854, but ii does appea
that in 1854 he greatly preferred the sue
cess of the Republican party to the return
of the Democrats to the control of the gov
eminent, and that, in his judgment, h
took the best course for the party that
man of honor and truth could do in hi
circumstances.
p We have seen similar statements mad
by MI Edmunds in letters to other gen
tlemen. No one heard from Mr.. Edmund
9 any denunciations of the results of tn
I Chicago convention and predictions of tn
defeat of the ticket, such as the editor o
the St Adams Messenger and som
other gentlemen who now denounc
: Mr.. Edmunds used to indulg