The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1888-10-03
A Minister'S PrOtest---Th Argus
Arraigned.

To the Editor Of the Argts:-I now seek
the columns of respectable paper in which
to enter a protest against the base false
hoods printed in the Argus of September
II, under the head of " Plainfield Para
graphs" But in doing so, it is not my
purpose to speak in detail of the wrong
statements made in the same issue concern
ing other citizens than myself. Their
reputation, as long residents of this town,
is proof against any attacks from the ArguS,
especially where it and they are known.
AS for myself, while have no fear of any
truthful statements that might be made
concerning me, am comparatively new
resident of this town, and for that reason
falsehoods might injure where truth could
not harm Moreover, / have labored as
Christian minister more or less in other
towns of this state, and am liable to do
more of the same kind of work in the future.
Hence it can be readily seen that such false
hoods as your paper contained might not
only do me personal injustice, but much
more the cause of Christian righteousness,
which it is my mission to promote. 1t was
mainly for this reason that | wrote you
under date of September H. asking you to
do me the justice to correct the wrong
statements printed in the previous issue of
the Argus. The result is proof of what
Others had told me, viz. that you are not
the man to correct false and malignant
statements against those whom you, or your
reporters, seek to victimize. AS my lot is
] cast WlUn tndt DOuy OF CUTlSUldnS undU has
always repudiated the doctrine of " total de-
pravity." | had some hope that even you
would not refuse to grant my appeal for
simple justice.
When | asked you to make corrections, /
claimed that all you printed concerning me
was false in every essential particular" and
! that | did not therefore need to specify"
as the whole always includes its parts. No
honorable man will allow himself to circu-
late falsehoods about another and then re-
fuse to make corrections on the miserable
plea that the man who has been wronged
should either prove his innocence, or con-
tinue to suffer the wrong And yet that is
! your method of dealing with me.
! But to specify: In trying to make it ap-
pear that | know nothing about the " dis
grace attending elections in the South" you
state that it is a section which have " never
seen since early boyhood." The fact is, |
was past twenty-three years of age when
left the once slave state in which / was
born, and have repeatedly visited it and
other Southern states since. Neither was
such an - offensive partisan as to love my
party more than my country in its days of
darkest peril. If am correctly informed,
you were just that kind of partisan"
and / say it to your shame AS for myself,
was born into the lap of slave-holding
democracy, but from my earliest recollec-
! ton human slavery was revolving to my
very soul. Still, it was not until my party
had violated the Missouri Compromise and
passed laws virtually making bloodhounds
of northern citizens to pursue the black
man in his search for freedom from the
task-master's lash and chattel bondage; no,
| it was not until my party refused to submit
to the majority of the American people and
fired upon Fort Sumter that / left it at once
and forever. Ceasing then to be partisan,
l simply became lover of my country, and
! hence naturally became warmly in SYM
| patty with that party which untlinchingly
! or for nf Union
| the overthrow of treason and human
! slavery The record of the old party to
which / belonged in the South is black with
infamy, and am utterly amazed that better
men than yourself can be so party-blind as
| to follow the lead of the old slave-beaters
and traitors of the South-the same old
enemies of honest governmet, who make
their majorities in several states in the
solid South" by ballot-box stuffing and
shotgun tyrany! These, sir, are crimes
! which southern papers of your own party
admit. Why not print these facts in the
Argus' By so doing, could you not do more
| for honest government than by printing
falsehoods about Plainfeld elections?
To your statements in the Argus that
ordered " a certain prohibition circular
taken down." and that "a selectman
obeyed the order and took it down." have
only to say that did not "order it taken
down. nor did selectman take it down /;
and | will give you or your reporters $500 if
you will prove these statements to be false,
and those of the argus to be true. l have
little reason to hope that you will either try
| to prove the statements or correct their
! falsity in an early issue of the Argus.
Finally, in behalf of truth, peace and
good will that should prevail in neighbor-
hoods, protest against the evil influences
of your vile and slanderous sheet The
Argus has been used repeatedly as the too
willing tool of malicious persons to injure
their neighbers, or to crafty personal spite.
personally know of families who are not
on friendly terms on account of falsehoods
that were printed in the argus. II is just
as wrong now for you to print falsehoods as
II was when your paper lied about an hon
orable Universaist minister which cost you
so dearly. In Justice TO myself and the public,
l make this protest against the vileness of
your malicious paper. l.. +. FoRTNEY.
Plainfeld, Vt, Sept. 26, 1888.