The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-03-28

Some days ago the Richmond Wing
expressed the opinion that "Governor
"Peirpoint is the most liberal, least pro-
"scriptive, and in many respects, the
"bast Governor, Virginia has had for
twenty-five years"
After bordering this paragraph for
several days, the Enquirer avows itself
prodig1ousIy scandalized, to quote the
Language of the Wing, and arrays all
the Democratic dynasty, living and
dead, to confound the assertion. The
Wing comes back at the Enquirer with
are-afi rmation of Governor Peirpoint's
precedence, and backs it with citations
from the record. 1t contrasts his lib
erality with the intolerance and pro-
scriptiOn that marked the long and
wearisome reign Of Democracy in Vir-
ginia, especially on the part of its Gov
errors. 1t makes bold to affirm
that "ths relentless intolerance
" OF that party, not only in Vir-
''ginia, but throughout the Union, be-
"came so odious that the dread OF its
"return to power even now influences
"many men, and. in the opinion of
"many, the success of the Radicals last
"year was very much owing to tina
apprehension"
Continuing in this vein of remark
the Wing further says:
"Governor Peirpoint is certainly less
proscIiptiYe than any OF these men. a
single circumstance will show the vast
difference between him and them: OF
the three Judges of the Supreme Court
ofAppeals, nominated by him and COM
missioned on his recommendation, two
were Democrats. Can the whole annals
OF Democracy furnish such an instance
of generosity?
When Governor Pierpoint came to
Richmond, the liberality, or rather the
noble mHgnaninity and tender sensi-
biIity displayed by him in behalf of
pArdou-seekers,s surely cannot have been
forgotten by the Enquirer and its trem-
bling friends. When gentlemen,
shaking in the knees, appeared before
him he felt for them, and suppressed his
disgust. When Democratic leaders
stuffed themselves with racy anecdotes
with which to regale His Excellency at
his levees, while approaching their dis
interestedness, he smiled graciously
upon them and lent them IA helping
hand. All this had the appearance not
only of eating dirt, but of hCEHEeri1I0
after it; and if the parties voluntarily
stopped lower than necessary to get 1t,
that should not subtract from the gen.
uineRnd upadected kindness ofthe Gov
ernor. And il some of these, rallying
from their fright, have sought to redress
their sslf-esteem by bewraying the hand
that helped them-ls less TO his than
their discredit.
But the Governor was not merely
mercifuI to individuals, but with n no.
BILE phila nthropy and the enlarged and
comprehensive views of real states
man, he sought to extinguish the bit
terness of the past, and invest all his
fellow citizens with all the civil and
political rights they ever possessed. II
we consider his standpoint; if we con-
slider the circumstances OF the times,
= the fierce and angry passions which
had been engendered by four years of
bloody war, it must at least be con-
coded that his conduct was such as no
good man would ever be ashamed of.
With respect to what Governor Peir-
point did or left undone before he came
to Richmond, we know but little. Since
he has been here, in the discharge of
the ordinary duties Ofhis office, he has
shown himself an energetic, practical
and sensible man of business, and, so
far as we can judge, wholly devoted to
the best interests of the State. We wish
we may always have AS good "a Cover
nor.