Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1866-05-01
West Virginia Conservatism.

A State Convention of those opposed to the
radical misrue which is now cursing West
Virginia and disturbing the social relations of
her people, was held at Carksburg in Harrison
county, on the 10Th instant. There were thirty
counties represented out of the forty which con-
stitute the State and these so represented in
cude those which sent to the Legislature the
bitterest, most intolerant and most ignorant
delegates, under the unwlse, restricted suffrage
which excludes all men who ever felt sympathy
for the South or gave Confederate crust Of
bread or cup of water
The Convention was a highly respectable
body, numbering many of the best known ard
most intelligent of the western public men,
Thomas Sweeney, of Ohio county, (Wheelingl,
was chosen to preside over the Convention.
The President of the Convention explained
the objects OF the meeting in a sensible and
manly speech after which, a committee on res
olutions appointed, of which Daniel Lamb,
well known lawyer of Wheeling was chair
man, and John Basel, also well known here,
was a member.
The committee, after some deliberation, re-
ported a series of very proper. resolutions, Of
which we make the following abstract:
First. Approving President Johnson's policy
to ''re-establish peace and civil law throughout
''the land. )"
Second That by the Civil Rights and Freed.
mems Bureau bills the majority in Congress at
i tCihpoOO W taA tAC pCOplC W SuppOIG tLc uCT
gro IN ldleness and vice, and maintain new
''swarms of officers to harass our people and eat
| ''out their substance
Third. That the Constitution is supreme in
what it grants and what it reserves-that it has
granted ample powers to the United States for
national objects, for common defence against
war and insurrection, and reserved to the seve-
raj States the care and regulation of civil rights
within their hmlts-that while, on one hand
the central power ought to be supported in the
exercise OF Its legitimate powers, on the other,
the very existence of the States and the pres
'ervation of their rightful authority are neces-
''sary to the liberty and welfare of the Ameri-
can people, yet, by the Freedmen's Bureau
and Civil Rights bill, Congress have endeavored
to deprive the States of many of their most i'm
portant functions-''an attempt which, if it
prove successful, must lead, in the end to the
adjustment OF State governments. as useless
''and expensive membranes to the central
''despotism at Washington
Fourth, That in these bills, to favor the ne
gro, Congress has endeavored to subject the
white inhabitants to military rule and the juris-
dctlon OF tribunals foreign to their habits and
institutions and destructive to their liberties.
Fifth. Denounces negro suffrage: declaring
it to be impossible to support republican govern
ment upon negro constituency and reprehend
ing severely Stevens 4 Co. for endeavoring to
prevent the restoration of the Union until negro
suffrage is established.
Sixth. Declares those to be 'sUnionists'' who
, would restore the Union, and those ''disunion-
lists who seek to prevent its restoration.
Seventh. Denounces the test oath and regis
t tration law Of West Virginia as suppressing
freedom of electons-in instisatigg public officers
to violate the Constitution, and protecting them
In lt-denylng the people the protection Of law,
, subjecting them to fraud, oppression and plum
der, by pretended lOyalIsts-and as inconsistent
alike with the provisions fthe Constitution and
the principles OF free government.
: Eighth. Declares that if the Legislature may
thus set aside the provisions ofthe Constitution
declaring who shall be voters, there can be no
5 security for the rights of any.
, Ninth. Reprehends the proposed amendment
} to the Constitution Of West Virginia, perma-
nently deprlvlng of civil rights and citizenship
2 all who have IN any manner given aid to the
rebellion, as unjust, cruel, averse to the in
terests of the State, and calculated to generate
excesses and to keep up strife aad discord among
the people.
$ Tenth. That the war of the Radicals on those
they style Rebels, Copperheads, &C.. is merely
intended 10 divert attention from their own mis-
t deeds And
S Eleventh. Calls on the people to organize in
= opposition to the lntolerant measures Of the
: State Government and in support of President
: johnson.
ne resolutions We're UNANIMOUSLY adopted,
: and the Convention proceeded to make arrange.
ments for the campaign An executive COM
: mittee was appointed to take care of the well
! fare oSthe party. They are also empowered to
call a State Convention, to nominate candidates
e for State offices.
n During the session, speeches We're made, and
e much spirit and entire harmony were displayed
: in the proceedings.
NATURAL BEAUTY. i,npression of hu-
! man beauty, either in marble or in canvas is,
to those who can feel it, great delight but the
living and the actual is rapture which admits
Of no defining. All adventitious; distinctions
are nothing III its presence. The youth bare
q footed on the mountains, clad iii the godliness
ct nature, is a,trre prince and peer Of earth
The good girl by the spring, robed in homespun
cotton, with the light of loveness around her,
IS queen with right divine from Heaven.
i WHAT GENERAL JOE JOHNSTON SAID.-It
is stated that in recent trip up the Mississip-
o pl, General Joe Johnston and Sherman were
e passengers In the same steamer. One remark
t from General Johnston was worthy of note,
t which was to the effect that under the Presi.
. deat's LIBERAL, humane and truly Democratic DO
# hey OF reconstruction, the South would soon get
O over the visible effects of the war, and that il.
S four years time the United States would be the
!, most prosperous and powerful of all nations and
!, OF all governments.