The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1886-03-31
Not the Committees Fault.
From the New York Tribune of March 81. J

The Boston Adrertiser of February 22d
published special Geographic communica-
ion from Burlington, VT, dated February
R1st, in which occurred the following remark
able statement:
am able to contradict the report which has
esn SO ndrsIiousy circulated IN vermont to Mr.
Pn5can ticket during the ast cam
.sked, at the same time frankly telling them Of the
rim in the spring e ss He s tbs to them them to s say
o make any addresses. The committee decided it
Why Mr. Ea%nnds did not take d more % a city PIT Tt
en rn as bas Secn alleged lie was earnest for the
success Of the republican ticket and voted for It
nat i was not expedient that he should speak on
ten Gf 1885, whe Was in the hands S of hTd
party
There was a general assumption on the
part of the press of the country that this
statement originated in the office of the
Burlington Free Press. The Free Press
known as the organ of Mr. Edmunds
quoted it from the AdUertiSer, and had in
deed preceded it with intimations to the
same effeCt-Causing it thus to he under
stood that this explanation of Mr.. Edmunds'
declining to speak was to be accepted as
authentic and conclusive. AS it must have
fallen under Mr.. Edmunds' observation,
his silence gave 1t an apparent personal
sanction.
The fact thus announced, if it were a fact,
was 50 important, not to say extraordinary,
that we determined to investigate it with
special care and thoroughness. There was
but one authoritative source from which IL
could be corroborated or conclusively dis
proved, and that was the national republic
can committee. On examination of the
files of that committee left in the custody of
b. F. Jones, Esq, of Pittsburg, PENN
widely known as an honorable and consci-
entous gentleman-we find the following:
On the 10Th of July dSSI Mr.. JONES' as
chairman of the national committee, wrote
to Mr.. Edmunds, inviting him to address a
republican meeting in Notwithstanding
in appropriate terms on the Importance of
speech from Mr.. Edmunds at that early pc
Rod of the presidential campaign. Five
days later Mr.. Edmunds sent the following
reply. 1t was written in the hand of
another, but was signed by Mr.. Edmunds
himself, and the word "private " was writ
ten over it in Mr.. Edmunds' well-known
chirography. This mark of private " was
specially observed by the committee, from
the fact that Mr.. Jones letter was written
officially as chairman and on the official
paper of the committee. Here is an exact
copy of Mr.. Edmunds note:
Dear Sir,Priyate.i have yours of the 18th inst
at yE a at the sn RO OF en fna
gret that my condition is such that it is impractical
70 hsSs of y PGia %SFa And
tional committee before left there.
B. Jones' 1s I Esa: ~ f Ase Ne , GRMONDs
The reference made to this " condition
by Mr. Edmunds was at first interpreted by
the national committee as assigning the state
of his health as the reason for declining to
speak, and, while the circumstance Sug-
gested regret, no other significance was at
tached to it.
A short time afterward, it being ascer-
tanned that Mr.. Edmunds was in his usual
condition of health, the national committee
sent personal friend and political sup
porter of the Vermont senator to see him at
his home in Burlington and earnestly re-
quest that he would make a speech for
the republican cause. Mr.. Edmunds again
declined.
A few weeks after this unsuccessful Grand
Mr. Edmunds was in the city of New York
in connection with the telephone case in
which he is, or was, counsel. AS he ap-
peared to be in excellent health, the national
committee dispatched another personal
friend to call on the senator and request
him to speak at some time and place agree
able to himself. Mr.. Edmunds again de-
clined.
During the week preceding the election
Mr. Edmunds was in the city of New York
for short time. He was waited upon by
prominent and most earnest republican,
who represented to him that the electoral
vote of New York would in all probability
decide the national contest, that the state
was known to be close and therefore doubt
full, and that speech from him might af-
feet enough votes to decide the presidency
of the United States The gentleman
urged Mr. Edmunds almost to the point of
Importantly, but the Vermont senator
steadily refused The gentleman then pro-
posed that he would cause an invitation,
signed by prominent citizens of New York,
to be sent to Mr.. Edmunds asking him to
speak, and that Mr. Edmunds in declining
could write a letter that when published
would do good to the republican cause Mr..
Edmunds would not consent, saying that " it
would embarrass him and would in any
event be too late"
Wy ii Al. E.. I
the statement in the Boston Adcertiser may
be disproved-and, in fact, proved false at
every point and in all details. To what
members of the congressional and national
committee Mr.. Edmunds' letter referred
was not known to Mr.. Jones or to any one
of the four other members who STAYED at
the headquarters of the committee for the
campaign. Nor was it known by Mr.. Jones
or his associates to what place the " there "
in the conclusion of Mr.. Edmunds' note
pointed. 1t certainly did not point TO the
headquarters of the national committee.
The five members of that committee in
trusted with the conduct of the campaign
never heard a suggestion or hint during the
campaign of the reason for Mr.. Edmunds'
silence now put forward in the Boston Id
uertiSer and by the Burlington Free Press.
We do not make this statement to revive
| any unpleasant controversies, personal or
political. But it would be culpable to de-
gree involving party fidelity if a severe
reflection on the faith of the national com
mittee and on the presidential candidate of
the republican party should be passed over
in silence, lest its conclusive refutation
might hurt the feelings of somebody else.
We have confined ourselves to a bare
narration of the facts, which we trust will
be sufficient to correct the erroneous state
ments which, originating in Vermont, found
expression first in the columns of the Boston
AdUertiSer. We have but one thing more to
say. When the first public ntimation was
given, six years ago, that Mr.. Edmunds had
written private letter to Vermont CRITICS
ing Mr.. Blaines acts as IA fellow republican
senator, our opinion was that the letter
should at once be given to the press. We
now repeat that opinion and we have ne
hesitation in saying that every ;ntimatior
of the existence of such letter should be
withdrawn or it should at once be given tC
the press. Our columns are open to its
publication whenever the custodian of this
mysterious, not to say mythical, document
will forward to us a duly certified copy o
the same.