The Norfolk post. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1865-1866, 1865-09-01
THE RICHMOND MEETING.
CONCERNING VIRGINIA LOYAL
TY AND OTHER THINGS.

For many weeks back, extraordinary
efforts have been made on the part o
the Observation-Disclosures men o
this city to remove the smutch of dis
loyalty which had been, by all observers
discovered upon their brows. At first
it seemed as if the decoration was wei
under the skin. Tourists and news.
paper men noticed the phenomenon
and wrote public letters upon the won.
derful mystery. OF course some exag.
gerated, and declared that they saw q
good deal more than was actually visible;
others, who had been accustomed to
analyze facts for the press, kept closer to
the truth in their descriptions, and de.
tailed only what they actually saw. In
addition to the phenomenon, reporter
now andthen sent forward a little speech
of the fresh loyalists, such as might be
expected from a " conquered " but not a
subjugated people. These reports
damaged Richmond they injured Vir-
GINA; indeed, they worked a general
prejudice against the entire South. Such
was the feeling springing up, and still
springing up, that gentlemen at the
North who, three months ago, would
have signed petition for the pardon of
Jefferson Davis, are now so changed in
sympathy, that they are quite indiffer-
ent as to the fate of that man. AT
length, the twenty d-dollar-bond
men saw this; but they were still too
naughty to yield an iota of the old pride,
The Richmond Republic newspaper saw
it, and the mischief it was breeding,
and warned the people against their lip
loyalty. For this act of patriotism, seve-
raj patriots discontinued their subscrip-
tons to the Republic with glee equalled
only by that with which they would
have broken the Union six months be-
fore. While all this was brewing in the
North, some of the shrewdest of the
capitalists were in Washington seeking
pardons and many of them were sue.
cessful, and returned to Richmond. AT
length, all the newspapers here joined
in a public moan, and implored the
President to visit the city, and see for
himself how these innocent sucklings
had been slandered and DETAINED and
outraged by the Northern press. Mr..
johnson paid no particular attention to
the lamentations of these unhappy Jere-
miahs, so they resolved upon another
expedient, which was to hold a public
beneath the shade of the State
House of Virginia Grand idea, and
all the newspaper editors of Richmond |
were deputed by themselves, as the Com
nittee of Arrangements. The patriotic
met frequently at Mr..
Charles H. Wynne's house, drank lib
orally of his good wine, and planned |
copiously the very best way of remov.
ing the smut, which was the source of so |
much annoyance to the suspected patri- |
OTIS. 1t was determined to hold a grand |
mass meeting in the Capitol grounds ; |
the speakers were resolved upon and |
The meeting was held, according to |
agreement, at five o'clock yesterday
afternoon.
l attended this gathering. When
most bulky, there was a gang of about
light hundred of us, "such as we were"
s friend remarked. The Richmond
Times says that the meeting of which
We composed particle, twas in every
vay worthy of the occasion which call
d as together" The editor may know
THAT that Occasion was; but there
7as heap of ladies and gentlemen on
he east side of the Capitol, as intelli-
ent quite as their neighbors near the
peakers' stand, to whom all that was
OF mummery was fiummery, and what ]
AS neither mummery nor fiummery,
as ill-cOncealed treason. But had {
hat had been said fallen into no other c
trs than those of the two hundred citi- t
ms and the six hundred negro women a
I'd loafers present, it would not be g
orth while to take pains to review the
'oceedings and expose them. How a
er, since the managers have taken h
inns to represent the meeting as "wor- 81
y of the OCCASION" let us see what the W
Getting really was. 1t seemed to me G.
at the whole mendicant fraternity, II
tn all their baggage" was there, and te
al from the crowded crossing, from C
e corners of streets and turnings of d.
eys, the parting genius of beggary d.
rs with signing sent" 1t wore more az
aspect OF convocation of impover- pl
led rag-dealers in the presence of III
Dud paper-makers, appealing for tn
CHER rates for the decayed robes which ne
ey exhibited, than grave assembly III
grave men, in council upon affairs of pl
ate. On the ground, the meeting rep r.
ented nothing but poverty. A gem an
JUS man like Charles Lamb might uT
We been enabled to have sucked much 10,
I'd from the beggars ON the rostrum so
cannot. And notice that the pa
tors of the Richmond papers, who tir
as mute as fish this morning in re- Co
d to the "great mass-meeting,n are an
ally dumbfounded. So much for the Ly
Let us see what the men ate
he high place did. WI
II. William H. Lyons presided, and M az
H.