Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1906-01-18

THE
between them-tho Green mountains shall
be the line of division. They work to.
gethcr upon Congress- and Congress UNI
dcrtakcs at last to decide her fate. But
stop! Vermont denies its right to Judge
She is a sovereign Independent State, as
right in her revolt from New York as
Congress in its revolt from Great Brit
ain, and will not submit the question OF
her existence to any court or congress
under heaven. If Congress will not take
her in she will appeal to the Legislatures
of the States one by one, and begins to
send forth her messages.
GREATER DANGER THREATENED.
But now greater danger threatens.
An English army is coming up the lake
under Carleton In New York the Mo-
hawk valley Is raided. In Vermont Roy
alton is visited by 800 redskins under a
British leader, and laid in ashes. Yer
mont is the buffer between the colonies
and Canada-open to be run over from
the north, left defenceless, the Continent
al troops withdrawn, plotted against by
New Hampshire on tho east. by New
York on the west, Massachusetts claim
ing a part of her territory on the south.
Congress itself taking steps TO stamp her
out, the horrors of invasion and Indian
massacre staring her in the FACET is
17S1-it is the hour of her supreme trial
it is the world against Vermont, and
Vermont against the world.
WHAT VERMONT is.
Such was the making of Vermont. But
what of the State that was made
Browning wrote
"A people is but the attempt of many
To rise to the completcr life of one"
Unity Of ideal, purpose and effort
that is what makes a State. The peo-
pie of the New Hampshire Grants were
made one by their resolve to defend their
homes against the court at Albany; by
their zeal in the colonial cause and con-
tempt for the tagging policy of New
York; by their welcome of the Declara-
ton of Independence, SO perfectly suit
ing their own case; by their ambition
to frame n government fit for the sons
of Puritans: but most of all by the ef-
forts they put forth, by their toll, their
dangers, their hardships and their suf-
ferngs. The outcome of their long trial
and struggle was that peerless and cost
ly product. national people one in pur-
pose, effort and ideal.
She was one people then-she is one
people still. The qualities that marked
hor n, No q h1.b orcoIf hnr
to-day. She has always had an individ-
uality and character of her own. re
say that a word or deed WAS like Yer
mont has always been to praise it and
to give it the highest praise. She has
been first on many fields She gave the
first blood of the Revolution. at West
minister; received the first surrender OF
a British flag, at Ticondoroga; was first
to seize and sell the property of Tories
first to prohibit slavery by bill of rights
and first to answer Lincoln's call for
volunteers. l am proud that she could
not he enslaved herself,-prouder still
that she would not enslavc others. In
III. when Ebenezer Allen took prisoners
Iinah Morris and her child, he spread
their freedom papers on the town rec
ords of Bennington, being conscientious
that it is not right in the sight of God
to keep slaves" 1t took the Union al
most a hundred years to reach that point
but that is where Vermont stood from
the beginning Early in the century
when Judge Harrington was requested to
send back a fugitive slave. he asked to
see "a bill of sale from God Almighty"
and in later years when the fugitive slave
law had hopn or OIL u,to nj,
Northern State knelt to the South and
even Boston gave up the hunted ones,
let it stand to the erlasting glory of
the Green Mountain State that no master
ever dared to take a runaway slave in
Vermont.
Vermont has been the modern Sparta, -
1.acedaemon, tine best example in all an
tiquity of infeXible devotion to the ideal
State. Thermopylac was but one in.
stance Of an obedience TO law that could
never think of retreating or turning
aside. There was n time when il was
said. let Greece furnish the troops anG
Sparta the commanders. On the field OF
battle. in the court and in the hall OF
legislation Vermont has shown herself
great. Her bench has been adorned by
great judges; she has sent to Washing
ton line of statesmen; she has mus
tered and armed forces that earned the
ever-quoted order of Sedgwick, Put the
Nermonters at the front and close ur
the column" But let us not claim for her
what she has not earned. Her sons can
afford to be modest Respectable moro
than respectable. is the work Vermont
has done in almost every line OF human
endeavor. and in some she has wor
eminonce. In art We point with pride to
the productions of Towers and Mead
and Hunt and Thomas Wood in poetry
We claim admiration for the wit and
satire of SAKE and for the retinemen,
and melody of Mrs. Dorr. But speaking
broadly of our country and quarter OF
individual life it must be admitted tina,
Vermont has shown herself far stronger
on the practical side than on the aes
thetic. 1t has rather been her part. If
great crises, to utter the calm word OF
counsel or strike the unerring blow.
We cannot bear comparison with Mas
sachusctts in art and letters nor will
New York in wealth. luxury and COM