Republican vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1857, 1857-05-02

IN Cnion Hall on Monday last, had adj
joWncd, JAMES II. SKINNER Esq, the De-
,mocratc candidate for the Senate, took the
stand, aud spoke, ia substance, as follows:
He supposed he ought to feel some en-
harrassmcnt, when he compared the circum-
stances of his nomination with those attcn-
liant upon the nomination of his opponent,
Mr. Stuart He Cir. Skinner had been
brought forward in the usual mode, by a
County Convention, without, any dramatic
aid, with no notes of preparation to arouse
the public mind, and unheraldcd by any
flourish of trumpets. A nomination had
been rendered him suddenly and unczpcct-
edlv, and he had been compelled, without
pause, to accept it. His opponent, on the
other baud, had been allowed to daily with
the nomination for weeks, and at last had
he understood, like the coy but willing dam
81, saying he would ae'er consent, con-
seated.' lie might have felt alarmed at the
imposing written eall which had been made
on his opponent, had he not remembered
that an eminent gentleman of our bar had
once offered TO wager that he could, in brief
space. obtain FIVE hundred signatures to a
petition Ito hang the Judge" He (Mr. S. J
could not, therefore, be surprised that at
least t,co-thirds of that number had been
found to unite in a paper, the effect of which
would inevitably be to hold his opponent in
i scarcely less pleasurabc and perhaps not
less fatal state Of suspense,
Mr.. Skinner stated that he had been de-
sirous Of meeting Mr.. Stuart that day in a
discussion upon the issues Of the canvass,
bat that Mr.. Stuart, for reasons, doubtless,
satisfactory to himself, but utterly unsatis-
factory to him, (Mr. Skinner) had declined
the meeting. lie thought it strange that
those who Tagged an issue into 3 canvass
should decline, at any ttae, to subject their
views to the test of a discussion-nor did it
seem to him that all unwillingness, at any
time, to discuss question before the people,
afforded very satisfactory proof that the
candidates views were likely, should he be
elected, to be properly maintained in the
councils of the State
Mr.. Skinner said that his distin guished
opponent had that day proclaimed himself,
"a National FILLMORE American" and had
INDUCED in very extrayagant pretensions of
consistency. His opponents excessive \
mericanism was certainly Of recent birth
In 1862, Mr.. Stuart had written letter in
which he said
Il have always regarded it as happy
omen Of the perpetuity Of our Government
that so large Il portion of the emigration to
orr shores is of the Irish ce-kindred to
oarselycs--and who 50 readily become IN
eorporatcd with US
And added
Il have been struck with the facility with
which they adapt themselves to our institu
tons, rightly entering into their scope and
becoming, in u word, thoroughly
Americanized
And vet, in 1865, Mr.. Stuart had not
only bound himself by an oath never to sup
port any man of foreign birth, whether
irish or other, for any office in the gift of
the people, but had written a series of let
tiers, under the signature Of Madison" in
opposition to their rights, and had also
made lengthy speech, in which he had de-
picted in glowing colors the dangers to the
country from the efforts made by leading
politicians to WOO this foreign influence to
their support When he considered this
contrast between his opponent in 1852 and
his opponent in 1855, he could not refrain
from exolaiming, in the lines of the satirist:
"Who would not smile, if such man there be ?
Who would not weep, if "MADlsoS" were he 2"
But he supposed--in justice to his oppo-
nent-thst he had gone to Washington en-
vcloped in an atmosphere Of rural simplicity,
and, like the country lassic, who upon WIS.,
ting cty-rather than be singular falls
into the modes, without minute inquiries
into the why's or the wherefores, ne (Mr.
Stuart, upon witnessing the delicate adj
Yanees made, by other politicians, to "our
forcign-born citizens" had INDUCED himself
in the same direction, for no other earthly
reason, than because he had learned, that
in some situations, it was ''better to be out
of the world than out of the tashioa"
Mr.. Skinner continued by saying that he
lad never felt the same confidence in claim
ing rs Democrat, the support of al!
friends Of the Union and the Constitution.
lis audience could not but remember the
fierce conflict through which the country
had passed in the late Presidential election
they could not but remember that the
country had been saved from the fell domi-
nation Of a purely sectional party, and the
Union preserved unbroken, if not intact
solely through the patriotism and fidelity of
the Democracy, North and South. The
Democracy had saved the Union the party
Of his opponent had-only not lost Mary
land But his fellow citizens would espe-
sally bear in mind the great principle upon
Which the Democracy had triumphed and
which he sincerely hoped they had settled,