Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1866-03-13
VALEDICTORY ADDRESS
OF
MIR. SPEAKER BALDWIN TO THE HOUSE OF
DELEGATES.
A MANLY SPEECH FOR COESTETE-
TkONAL LIBERTY AND UNION.

On Saturday week, Mr.. Speaker Baldwin of
Augusta being informed Of the vote Of thanks
accorded to him by the House Of Delegates for
the ability and impartiality with which he had
presided over its deliberations made the follow
ing spirited and patriotic address to his brother
members
My friends, have honestly tried to be all
that your kindness has attributed to me, but if
| have, in any degree, given satisfaction in the
discharge of the duties OF my Office it has been
due chiefly to the kindness, courtesy, and for
bearance with which you have sustained me-
and to the faithful and efficient help given by
the officers of the House, from the clerk and
sergeant-at-arms to the smallest of our pages.
l. have, at different times, been member of
several deiberative assemblies, and [ feel it to
be due to this House to say that | have never
been connected with any body of gentlemen a.
mOng whom there was so much Of earnest in
dustry in the public service, and so much of
kindness and good will in the personal inter
course OF the members
The results of our labors await the Just judg-
ment of the people Of Virginia and / venture
to anticipate that, taking into consideration all
the circumstances by which we have been sur
rounded, it will be found that we have deserved
| the approval OF our constituents.
1t will be remembered that we came together
at time when our State and our people were
suffering under an accumulation of msiortunes
such as have never before been known in the
history of the Commonwealth. For many Of
these evils there could, of course, be no legisla-
tive remedy; but it WILL | think, be found that
our labors have been addressed earnestly, and
with some efficiency, to relieve the distresses Of
the people, and to accommodate the institutions
and laws Of the State to the altered circunstan-
ces in which we find ourselves
Fortunately for us, the hopes Of our people
do not rest wholly upon the benefits to accrue
from our labors. They have other and higher
grounds Of faith and confidence
A comparison of our condition now with that
in which we were placed less than year ago
must satisfy us that if the progress of restora-
ton in Virginia has not been as rapid as We
could have desired, it has been marked, steady,
and practical and that although we are not yet
restored to our constitutional rights as we claim
and understand them, our course is onward and
upward, and our future has in it much Of hope
and promise.
We who know the people Of Virginia. under
stand fully how thorough and how universal is
their determination and purpose to perform, in
entire good faith, all the duties they have un-
dertaken as good citizens Of the United States.
We claim that the history of Virginia is free
from the reproach Of false pretences or bad faith,
and that what she processes may be believed,
and what she promises may be relied upon
She has taken her position in the Union, and
under the Constitution, and will be found as
true and as trustworthy as any one fthe United
States.
Sooner Or later this must come to be uniyer-
sally acknowledged, and in the mean time our
condition calls for the exercise Of great prudence,
calmness and forbearance and we must learn
to watch, and work, and wait, possessing our
souls in patience
1t is important that We shall, by every means
in our power, cultivate kindly relations among
ourselves, and shall continue to deal with all
the departments of our State government, and
with all our people, in a spirit Of cancellation
and mutual forbearance becoming those who
have common interests and common hopes
Let us cherish the same dispositions toward
the National Government and toward the peo-
pie of all the States
If at any time we have felt inpatient u.adey
the delay to which, under the name Of proba-
ton, We have been, and still are, subjected, We
must remember that our full restoration to all
our relations with the common government re-
quires the concurrence of all its departments,
and that what has been done for Us but marks
the progress Of a great constitutional struggle,
for which the history O. this country has no par
allel
1t is true that, in the national councils, where
these great sub ects are discussed, Virginia has
no voice; but the vacant seats of her represent
atives speak with unapswerable logic and with
moving eloquence-not in behalf of local. or
sectional, or party nterests-but in the cause of
constitutional integrity and of representative
republican liberty. This appeal, addressed to
common interests, and founded upon common
rights has resoundad through the entire north
and west, and has brought thoughtful men ev-
erywhere to consider whether what they have
been disposed to regard as merely the cause Of
the South may not, in fact be the cause of con-
stitutional supremacy and constitutional liberty
for the whole country.
President Of the United States, who has taken
hold of the subject with the grasp of a states
man, and who in his recent veto message, has
dealt the boldest, and most manly, and most
mastery blow for civil liberty, social order, and
constitutional republicanism, that has been
struck since the foundation of Our Government.
It happens that the great constitutional issue
which the President on behalf Of the States
and people of this Union, has made with the
dominant party In Congress, involves In its I'M
mediate consequences cur most vital interests
and our dearest rights It is natural under the
circumstances, that we should feel disposed to
appropriate him as our defender and our pecu-
! liar friend but it would be doing injustice to
him, and to the great and general interests he
represents, to regard him as, in any sense, To-
cal or sectional partisan. five desire worth
ily to acknowledge the great service he has rem
dered us, We must endeavor to appreciate his
high position and to rise to the height of his
great argument. We must recognize him as the
Constitutional President Of great government,
which is our government, and as the defender
of the Constitution of the United States, which
is our Constitution. And we must be ready at
all times to render to our President, cur Govern
cordial support, obedience, and fidelity as Will
vindicate before the world the wisdom, and sa-
gacity and magnanimity Of the confidence which
he has reposed in us.
When we return to our homes, and go among
our people, let US then regard it as duty to
ourselves and to them to speak to them words
OF hope and encouragement, and to impress up
on them the Importance of realizing and acting
upon the great truth-that whatever may have
occurred In the past to ALLEVIATE or divide us