Vermont Phœnix

The Senatorial Question.

We have hitherto refrained from entering into the discussion about the Senator to succeed Mr. Collamer, to be chosen at the next session of the Legislature; not because our mind was not made up in regard to it, but because we did not think it time for us to speak. We wished first to be assured whether Mr. Morrill would positively decline a re-election to the House; and we wrote an article two weeks ago giving some reasons why it would be advantageous to the country, the State, and the District, if he would consent to hold his present position; and the purposes for which we wrote that article being in part already accomplished and others in the way of fulfilment, we consider it opportune for us now to have our say. Being fully assured that Mr. Morrill declines a re-election to the House, as appears from his card which we publish below, the choice for Senator on this side of the mountain lies between him and Mr. Poland. In giving our support to Mr. Morrill for that place we have not one word to say against Mr. Poland. We respect the latter for his talents and worth; we honor him for the manly stand he has taken in the Senate, and we cordially approve of what he has said and done while a member of that body, and were he now the only candidate we should cheerfully give him our support. And in what we have to say in favor of Mr. Morrill, we wish to have understood not as comparing or contrasting the two men, but as simply personal to Mr. Morrill. We think he has the requisite qualifications and characteristics for the office. In the first place he is a man of high moral character, of unswerving adherence to the great principles of justice and right, courteous and gentlemanly in his intercourse with others, and correct in the habits of his life. His character is unexceptionable. In the second place he is a man of national reputation. He is not mere partizan, not simply a politician devoted only to the interests of a clique or party, but is a true statesman, consulting for the interests of the State, the nation, and humanity. The Union as a whole and in all its parts has received his attention, and he has earnestly labored for their interests, both for the present time and for future years.
In the third place he is well acquainted with the business, the resources and the financial condition of the country. His knowledge of these matters, and his sound judgment pointed him out as the most suitable man in the House to be placed at the head of the Committee on Ways and Means, and how well and how faithfully he has discharged the arduous duties of that position we all know. No man understands these subjects better than he, or how to shape laws to our financial condition and wants.
In the fourth place he has especially identified himself with the masses of the people. the farmers, the mechanics, and the laboring classes generally—that is, with the vast majority of the people. Many of the prominent measures which he has inaugurated and helped forward had special reference to the elevation and benefit of laboring men. His sympathies are with the people and for the people, and here he has a strong hold upon their respect and confidence.
In the fifth place he has had great experience in public affairs. Both in peace and in war, in the most troublous times of our nation's history he has been a public servant laboring earnestly, patiently and perseveringly for the nation's safety and welfare. So long and so faithfully has he labored in the public service, and withal with such good judgment and wise discretion, that he has won the confidence and respect of his own State, of Congress and the whole country, and there are few if any in either House that have a larger share of public confidence, and of genuine respect than he.
Having these qualifications we think Mr. Morrill every way fitted for a seat in the Senate of the United States. And since he has so long, so faithfully and so well served the State in the House of Representatives, we think he deserves promotion to the Senate; we believe he has fully earned it, is justly entitled to it, and that we ought to give it to him. And further, Vermont owes it to herself, to her own reputation, to show her appreciation of worthy and valuable services, to say by thus honoring and promoting Mr. Morrill that those of her sons who do her honor by faithful and worthy deeds, shall not go unrewarded. For these and for other reasons which we may state at another time we shall support Mr. Morrill for a seat in the Senate with the same hearty good will that we have heretofore supported him when a candidate for the House, and shall use the influence of our widely circulated paper by fair and just statements and arguments, and by such persuasions of truth and candor as we have in our power to secure his election.
The following is Mr. Morrill's letter declining a re-election:-

To the voters of the Second Congressional District of Vermont:
It may be proper for me to say that I respectfully decline to be a candidate for re-election. Proud of my constituency and profoundly sensible of their long-continued favor, it is right that my decision should be authoritatively announced in season for them to fix upon some one to be chosen as my successor. If I have been able in any degree to be useful in the public service, it is entirely due to the generous support of the people of the Second District of Vermont, who have honored me with six consecutive elections. In retiring from this post of honor, which I have faithfully endeavored to make the post of duty also, I tender to my friends and constituents the tribute of a grateful heart.
JUSTIN S. MORRILL.
House of Representatives, Washington,
June 8, 1866.