Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1867-10-03
Words of Truth and Force.

Col. WARD H. LAMON, native of our once
sound and reliable old Wing County of Berke-
lev. and the intimate friend and associate of
President Lincoln, has written an admirable
letter to the committee OF the friends of Presi-
dent johnson lately assembled at Bladensburg,
whose meeting he was unable to attend
After speaking of the usurpations of Con-
gress, and threats of the more desperate Of the
Radicals to dep0se the President even before
trial. he says:
"Will it be said that Congress will not set
such precedent, because the Radicals cannot
always expect to possess this power If they
succeed now, they intend, by force and fraud,
% hold that power, at least until the genera
ton has passed away. The present is merely
a desperate struggle to that end. Confessedly
acting outside the Constitution, claiming the
right to disfranchise the people or exclude the
representatives of any State which may not a.
gree with them, and holding in the hollow of
their hands the ten rotten bOroughs Of the
South, to return Radical Congressman, white
or black, rs they may dictate, they will possess
the power to accomplish any purpose, however
revolutionary, however atrocious. Even now,
with the form Of government still unchanged
1riihom a usurper in the Presidential chair, are
not the Representatives of Kentucky and the
defrauded Senators Of New jersey and Mary
land, to say nothing of the ten Southern States,
driven from the seats to which they were elect
od /? And, further, will the FIVE monarchs then
be withdrawn from one-third Of our common
country, and our free system of government
extended to the unfortunate people? On the
contrary. we may expect that they will make
them despots in name, show, and parade, as
well as in fact
Referring to the remark that tie Radicals
will withdraw the Viceroys from the Southern
States so soon as the negroes are putin posses
sion Of those States, and the whites are suni-
GENTLY ground beneath the black heels, Col
Lamon makes thefollowing forcibe response:-
al do not believe that such purpose exists
Military, deSpotc, unlimited power is never a.
bandoned, except upon compulsion. Despotism
is delicious 10 the despot and when peoples are
freed from his power they achieve it by their
own good swords. In the meantime, it would
be cruel pleasantly to compare the condition
Of those States with that Of ireland, Hungary,
Gambia, or any other people on the globe
They produce but half what their industries
ought to make now, but when the negro and
the soldier contend over the entirely ruined and
PROSTATE country they will produce nothing
The GREAT staples will disappear from our com
mercc. We have said the North must carry
the debt of the war without aid from the quar-
ter where we had right to expect it. The
Presidents hands are tied by tenure of-oiice
bill. passed to shield horde Of corrupt officials
fastened upon the Government, and all banded
together in one great combination to elect a
Radical President. RevenUe to the amount Of
hundreds of millions witness 'whiskey frauds
alonel remain uncollected through the unpar-
alIclel corruption Of financial agents. Not
only must onc-third of our territory be made
desoate; not only must the laboring North be
taxed to support standing army and negro
governments in ten States, but must he ticeced
and mortgaged in the way Of these stupendous
frauds, to insure its own subjugation TO the
Radical party.
" But we all hope that the hour Of our deli
veranco is at hand Every State that speaks,
from Caliafornia to Maine, speaksin defence of
the Constitution and the President who upholds
it. If the coming elections result as the late
ones have, we will see the fallen framework Of
our constitutional Government reared again,
and the pillars Of republican liberty fixed to
stand unmoyed forever"