The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1866-03-02

| that the American people were capable
of self government. He quoted as al
appropriate motto the concluding pass
age of Daniel Webster's great speech
Liberty and Union, now and forever
one and inseperable." We want and
must have Liberty and Union, for without
| liberty our Union would not be worth
preserving. 1t was for liberty and Union
| that President Johnson had vetoed the
| Freedmans Bureau bill. 1t infringes
| upon the constitutional liberty of the
people. The friends of the measure were
also foes to the Union. They held tc
the theory that eleven States were gone
out from the sisterhood and that eleven
| stars had been erased from the national
| banner. He was thankful and glad that
| the votes of our West Virginia Senator:
had prevented the triumph of the radio
| al scheme aud had sustained the Presi'
| dents veto. Without the two votes
cast by the Senators from West
Virginia the Freedman's Bureau bill
! would have been passed in def
| ance Of the Presidential, veto
| and. would have wrought incalculable
woe. But now the Rubicon was crossed
the President had boldly made issue
with those who were aiming to subvert
the government for their own selfish
ends, and he would be triumphantly
sustained The people would rally to
his support and the union would be re-
stored, liberty preserved and the consti'
tuition enforced
The speaker then turned his attention
to home affairs. He alluded to the time,
now nearly. past but still lingering in
some localities in this State, when the
dominant party denounced all as trait
ors who did not do their bidding. Free
dom of speech and of the press had
been stricken down and the radical leg
islature Of West Virginia was seeking TO
perpetuate tie terrorism and tyranny OF
those times They had passed law de-
nouncing a heavy penalty upon all who
dared as individuals to call in question
before the people the constitutionality
of any of their acts or who counselled or
advised officers to obey their oaths to
support the constitution Of the State
rather than an act which their own in
telligence convinced them was uncon-
stitational and void A singular feature
developed by the legislation of these
days is that its character is tentold
more proscriptiye and Odious than was
thought necessary in time Of war. Many
of these acts had been called war meas
ures and were excused during the con
tinuance Of hostilities, but now that the
war is over they are doubled ia intensi
ty, unconstitutionality and partisan bit
terness These test oath acts are really
a compliment to the honesty and cOnsci-
entiousness of the rehals Tho" r"s""so
10 ;~a~.aoed solely by the idea that no
rebel can be found who is willing to in
cur the moral guilt of perjury by taking
the oath.
The speaker then referred to the reg
istration act discussed its provisions and
exhibited its deformities. The grand
principle which was held by the patri-
OTIS Of the revolution, the founders of the
government, was that taxation AMI rep
resention should go hand in hand. This
principle was violated by the registra-
tion act, by the proposed constitutional
amendment and by the various test oath
acts adopted by the Legislature. He
concluded his address with an earnest
appeal to the people of the State to la
Dor unitedly and increasingly for
the overthrow of radicalism and
the restoration Of constitutional right.
After the conclusion of Mr.. JohnsOn's
address, MI Kellar, member Of the
House of Delegates from Barbour coun-
ty, was introduced and addressed the
meeting, His speech was exceedingly
witty aud droll, and abounded in severe
hits at the radical party in the House,
and was especially severe upon the
preachers" He thought that greater
proportion of men would go to HI
from that House of Delegates for the
sin of hatred aud revenge, than from
any similar number OF men that
could be collected in the
State. The audience was kept in almost
a continuous roar of laughter and cheers
during the continuance ofMr kelIar's
remarks, rendering it impossible for us
to report his speech with any degree of
accuracy or without depriylng it OF ITS
wit and point
H S. Walker, of Harrison county Was
then called for amid much applause, he
would have preferred toremain silent
spectator, but he had come here to unite
his destinies with those of the people OF
Ohio county and the state'of West Nir-
ginia, and would briefly state his views.
He was thankful that Andrew Johnson
was President of the United States, and
was satisfied the people were grateful,
and would yield him hearty support in
his efforts to check radicalism The
President had declared his intention to
stand by the Constitution and protect
the government from the rolling tide of
fanaticism Mr.. W. then alluded to the
rump caucus by courtesy styled the West
virginia Legislature, body which was
composed of the perjury and 'villainy Of
the State-a set of illiterate and uncouth
men who had arisen to the position they
occupied by the ebbing tide of commo
ton like the scum which arises to the
surface of the troubled waters -
A majority Of the members OF
that body had disregarded the sanctity
of their oaths and the promptings of de-
cency, and had enacted measures called d
laws which were in conflict with the con-
stitution of the State and every inter
est of the people He said the Anglo
Saxon race had fought for and Won this
government, and that race would rule
It. The test oath and registrar law was
enacted to distranchise large portion
of the citizens of the State in order to
perpetuate in office the men who had
abused the position they had by acci-
dent obtained Such measures were un-
wise, ine1pedient and could only be fruit:
ful of enmity and discord. If We desired
to see our State grow and prosper, we
should give our citizens eanal rights: no