Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1855-04-24
The Same Old Gam :


itnpeaoh the orthodoxy of the Know Nothing
Candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Cover
nor, on the question Of Southern rights. have
surprised 40 man who is at all conrersant with
TIE history Of Locofueoism in Virginia We do
not row ,,her aha, th, s aig partyeHer presented
candidate f any prominent Office. whether
State or Federal whom their opponents did not
seek TO stigmatize Abotionst or Free
Soer. The Know Nothings need not expect,
any mere than the Wings. To escape these Sian
derous impu,ations. To have his fidelity to tho
land of his birth imragned is penalty which
every man must pay who dres to question the
infallibility or resist the DEGREES of the Rich
mond Regency, and we might safely have sworn
before the Winchester Convention met that its
nominees would be assailcd on the score of aho-
htionism.
OF the outrageous and criminal injustice to tho
Wing party of Virginia. which has been sysie-
matically practised by the democratic leaders for
the last twenty years, we do not propose now 10
speak. But there is one feature in tho party
policy Of those mon to which we would call Mt
tenton. We bold that they guilty of rank
and unmitgated treason to 1he South, in thus
North. that there is party in our midst which
cannot be trusted on the slavery question. What
could be better calculated to encourage the Abo
litionists in their Vaccinations against Southern
institutions than to be told that they have allies
in the South itself; that party comprising nearly
one half the population, wealth, influence, virtue
and intelligence of this ancient Commonwealth
the border land Of slnvery-have so little attach
ment to slave institutions Ms to be unworthy the
Office of their guardianship When the fanatics
of the Free States hear such men as Summers.
Flournoy, and hundred others whom we might
mention-men eminent for their talents, their vir
tues and their public influence. men identified
with the South and her institutions by every
tie that can bind the heart of man-we say,
when the abolitionists hear such men denounced
Us unsoupd on the question of slavery by their
own follow citizens can we wonder at the per-
sistent and protractcd crusade which they have
wa red against that institution When the COM
mander Of beeagured fortress takes occasion
TO inform the enemy that one half of his garri-
son are traitors, what is more natural than that
the hopes the courage and the exertions of the
besiegers should be stimulated by the intelll-
geneel And yet this is precisely what the dem
ocratio rulers of this State have been doing ever
since we can remember. They have taught tho
aboh6onists Of the North TO believe that tho
South is divided on the slavery question, and that
many of her most illustrous citizens cannot be
relied on for the defence of Southern rights and
Southern interests. And what have been the
motives Of these INSCRIPTIONS demagogues for
propagating this monstrons deiusion To retain
power IL their own hands and to monopo'ize The
Offices of the government Tor these selfish and
sordid purposes, they have, Systematically and
through long series Of years, aspersed the patri
otism of one half their fellow citizens, and that
too with the full and distinct knowledge that their
appeals to the prejudices of the ignorant at homo
would be heard by ear enemies abroad, and joy
fully hailed by then, eFilences of our domestic
weakness and dsscns.ons. If such conduct rs
this does not involve dsloyalty TO the South,
are at loss to understand what the term i'm
plies.
In view of the notorious antocedents of the
Southern Democratic, party it might have been
not unreasonably hoped that their leaders in this
State had learned some little charity towards
others, respecting this everlasting subject of
Southern orthodoxy. Certainly no set of poll
ticians ever deceived the pepole oftener, or have
greater cause humbly to inplore pardon for their
offences against the cause Of Southern institu-
TONS Never set of men more unfortu-
nate than they have been in the choice of their
favorites They palmed Martin Van Buren, upon
the people of Virginia, man perfectly sound
and true to the South in all his principles and
instincts, and yet Martin Van Buren, turned out
to be an aboltionist They lauded Cass TO the
skies. as another model of Northern man with
Southern principles, and forced him down the
threats of their followers, and yet they them
selves now repudiate Cass,as unworthy of South.
ern confidence. They endorsed VIM. J. Brown,
to use the language of the Richmond Enquirer,
as "a first rate man and democrat" and yet the
said Brown sold the South to the abotionists,
and actually had the bill of sale in his pocket at
the very moment when he received the imprima-
tur of the Virginia democracy. In the last
gubernatorial canvass they assaulted Mr.. Sum-
mers with intense bitterness and ferocity, as an
abolitionist and held up Mr.. Joe johnson the
eremplar of a sound Southern man. And yet this
gentleman, of Jordan Hatcher notorety, had
hardly got warm in his seat, before he officially
proclaimed doctrines on the subject of slavery, in
its most vital aspect. which threw the whole
commonwealth into blaze of excitement, and
which were Immediately denounced as dangerous
and disorganizing by the popular branch Of the
legislature, although the governors party had an
over whelming majority in that Sody.
The memery of the past" says old Ossian,