VERMONT. 



Almighty, passed a statute declaring what God has 

 authorized a crime against the law. The Supreme 

 Court now affirms that law to be valid. Does this 

 affect in any way the truth that God has revealed 

 and commanded it? Not in the remotest degree. 

 Tlie principles which underlie the plural marriages 



815 



are just as true to-day as they were at any previous 

 time, and no human law or court decision can possi- 

 bly alter or abrogate them. The issue is between 

 i Supreme Being and those who venture, igno- 

 rantly or otherwise, to oppose his purposes and do- 



VERMONT. The Republican party of this 

 State held their Convention at Burlington on 

 the 22d of May, to nominate a State ticket, 

 with the following result: For Governor, 

 Redfield Proctor, of Rutland ; for Lieutenant- 

 Governor, E. P. Cotton, of Irasburg; for 

 State Treasurer, John A. Page, of Montpelier. 

 This Convention was considered the largest 

 ever held in Vermont by the Republicans. The 

 platform adopted was as follows: 



The Republicans of Vermont, steadfastly adher- 

 ing to the oft declared principles of their party, and 

 sensible of the gravity of present exigencies "in our 

 country, hereby resolve : 



1. That the motives and general course of the Ad- 

 ministration of President Hayes have our hearty ap- 

 probation ; and though differences as to party pol- 

 icy may exist we rejoice in the belief that both the 

 Executive and the Republicans in Congress are dis- 



2. That, welcoming truth and shrinking not from 

 investigation, we yet condemn as unfair, uncalled 

 for, and revolutionary the measure of the Demo- 

 cratic House of Representatives to investigate a part 

 only of the facts pertaining to the Presidential elec- 

 tion, and consider that all efforts to reopen a ques- 

 tion of such magnitude after it has been lawfully and, 

 as we believe, justly closed, are detrimental to the 

 prosperity and perilous to the peace of the country, 

 and deserving the reprehension of all good 'citizens. 



3. That, while we deplore the continued opposi- 

 tion of a portion of the South to the efforts of the 

 Administration to give equal privileges to all the 

 citizens of the whole country, we do recognize the 

 patriotic action and devotion 'of those in that section 

 who now stand firm for the Union and the perpetu- 

 ity of good government. 



4. That we cordially recommend to the suffrages 

 of the freemen of Vermont the candidates this day 

 nominated. 



The nomination of candidates for Congress 

 by local conventions resulted as follows : First 

 District, Charles H. Joyce, of Rutland; Sec- 

 ond, James M. Tyler, of Brattleboro ; Third, 

 "William W. Grout, of Barton. 



The Democrats met at Montpelier on the 

 20th of June, about three ' hundred delegates 

 being present, and nominated candidates for 

 State officers as follows : For Governor, Wil- 

 liam H. H. Bingham, of Stowe ; for Lieuten- 

 ant-Governor, Jerome W. Pierce, of Spring- 

 field ; for Treasurer, George E. Royce, of 

 Rutland. The following platform was unani- 

 mously adopted : 



The Democrats of Vermont in convention assem- 

 bled congratulate the country on the restoration of 

 home rule in the South, the era of peace and recon- 

 ciliation and the overthrow of military domination, 

 brought about in response to the demands of the na- 

 tional Democracy, backed by the strong voice of a 



large majority of the people whose suffrages elected 

 Democratic candidates for the Presidency and Vice- 

 Presidency of the nation. We recognize the present 

 deplorable condition of morals and business inter- 

 ests of the country, as the result of the departure 

 Irom the fundamental principles of government as 

 taught and practiced in the early days of the repub- 

 lic, and that upon the Republican party, its mea- 

 sures and men, rests the grave responsibility for the 

 departure from those principles and for the financial 

 distress, misery, and want that have brought the 

 country to the verge of bankruptcy and ruin. It lias 

 had the entire control of legislation of the country 

 for sixteen years, and it has enacted and perpetuated 

 a policy which has tended to enrich the few and im- 

 poverish the many, and to control in its interests if 

 not utterly destroy, the rights and franchises of peo- 

 ple and of States, under the Constitution. Its sys- 

 tem of finance has been one of favors to moneyed 

 monopolies, of unequal taxation, of exemption of 

 the rich from the just burdens of the Government, 

 and reckless and criminal extravagance in public 

 expenditure, thus tending to discourage every enter- 

 prise that promised remuneration to labor or general 

 prosperity to the nation. It has granted the lands 

 of the people to gigantic corporations and has shield- 

 ed the most flagrant dishonesty in official station. 

 Its present hold upon the Federal power was secured 

 by fraud, perjury, and forgery, in shameless defiance 

 of the will of the people as legally and constitution- 

 ally expressed at the ballot-box in 1 876. In opposi- 

 tion to such principles and such measures and men, 

 we cordially invite the freemen of the State, of what- 

 ever political predilections, to unite with us in the 

 following declaration of principles : 



1. Fidelity to all the provisions of the Constitu- 

 tion, retrenchment and economy in Federal and 

 State administration, and the lessening of the bur- 

 dens^ imposed on labor by reduction of offices and 

 taxation. 



2. The strict accountability of all officials, and the 

 restoration of the Democratic tests of honesty, 

 fidelity, and capacity as essential qualifications for 

 all public officers. 



3. The honest payment of the public debt in such 

 currency as its terms imply, and the preservation of 

 the public faith. 



4. Home rule, no centralization of State or Federal 

 powers, no Federal interference in municipal, State, 

 or Federal elections. 



5. A just and equitable revenue tariff incidentally 

 fostering our agricultural and manufacturing inter- 

 ests. 



6. One currency for all. "We oppose the present 

 national banking system, and recommend the grad- 

 ual substitution of greenbacks for national-Dank 

 bills. 



Whereas, The people of the United States in the 

 last Presidential contest elected by an overwhelming 

 popular majority, and by clear and decisive major- 

 ity in the electoral college, the Democratic candi- 

 date for President, and the will of the nation as con- 

 stitutionally declared having been nullified by the 

 grossest usurpations and frauds, instigated, protected, 

 and adopted by men now high in position nnd in 

 the confidence of the Administration t and rendered 

 operative by the presence of a formidable military 

 force: therefore, 



