Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1866-03-09

are not yet restored to cur 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, I'M
derstand fully how thorough and how univer-
sal is their determination and purpose to per-
form. in entire good faith, all the duties thew
have undertaken as good citizens Of the United
States. We claim that the history of Vir-
ginia is free from the reproach of false pre-
fences or bad faith, and that what she pro-
fesses may be believed, and what she promises
may be relied upon. She has takeS her no
sition in the Union, and under the Constitu
ton, and will be found as true and as trust
worthy as any one of the United States.
Sooner Or later this must come to be uni
versally acknowledged, and in the mean time
cur 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 rela-
tons 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 foYbearance
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 impatient I'M
der the delay to which, under the name of
probation, we have been, and still are, sub
jected, we must remember that our full res
toration to all our relations with the common
government requires the concurrence of all
its departments, and that what has been done
for us but marks the progress Of a great con-
stitutional struggle, for which the history Of
this country has no parallel.
1t is true that, in the national councils,
where these great subjects are discussed, Vir-
! ginia has no voice but the vacant seats of
her representatives speak with unanswerable
logic and with moving eloquence--not in be-
half OF local, OR sectional, Or party interests
= but III the cause Of constitutional integrity
and Of representative republican liberty
This appeal, addressed to common interests,
and founded upon common rights, has re-
sounded through the entire north and west,
and has brought thoughtful men every where
to consider whether what thew have been dis
posed to regard as merely the cause Of the
South may not, in fact, be the cause Of con-
stitutional supremacy and constitutional lib
erty for the whole country.
This is the yeiw taken of the matter by the
President Of the United States, who has taken
hold of the subject with the grasp of states
man, and who, IN his recent veto message,
has dealt the boldeet, and most manly, and
most mastery blow for civil liberty, social
order, md 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 Immediate consequences our most vital
interests and our dearest rights. Ii is natu-
raj, under the circumstances, that we should
feel disposed to appropriate him as our de-
fender and our peculiar friend but it would
be doing injustice to him. and to the great
and general interests he represents, to regard
him as, III any sense, local or a sectional
partisan. If we desire worthily to acknowi-
edge the great service he has rendered US,
we must endeavor to appreciate his high po-
sition and to rise to the height of his great
argument. We must recognize him as the
Constitutional President Of a great govern
ment, 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, our Government, and cur
Constitution, such cheerful and cordial sup
port obedience, and fidelity as will Yinlicate
before the world the wisdom, and sagacity
and masnanimity Of the confidence which he
has reposed in Us.
When we return to our homes. and 90
among our people, let us then regard it as a
| duty to ourselves and to them to speak to them
words Of hope and encouragement, and to
impress upon them the Importance Of reeli-
zing and acting upon the great truth--that
whatever may have occurred in the past to
ALLEVIATE or divide US, the people of the United
States are fer the future one people, inter
ested alike in maintaining the integrity Of
,, the general Constitution, in unfolding the
national honor, in sustaining the public cred
it, and in promoting the peace prosperity,
ana happiness of our common country.
In a word, my friends, let us realize the
fact, that after all that has passed, we have
still country to make the most Of to make
the best of and that it is, and must be, our
country If need be, against world in arms
AN IMPORTANT ACT.
AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE ADJUSTMENT OF