Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1867-12-12
ALEXANDRIA,.
THURSDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 70.
Virginia Conservative Convention.

II Inc State Conservative Convention assem-.
tled at the the theatre, in Richmond, yester-
day, at noon, about eight hundred delegates
being present, representing all parts of the
Commonwealth. qt sa. T.
Hon. A. III. III. Stuart, of Augusta, was
chosen President, with a large number Of Vice
Presidents, among whom were r. NJ. T. Hun
ter, 7. s: Bocock, and ex Governor Letcher.
On taking the chair, MIR. Stuart made an
able and eloquent address, in which he said
that this was not a convention of party but
of 5Virginians, At the close of the war we
were assured that upon the repeal of the or
dinance of secession, the reputation of the
Confederate debt, and the emancipation Of the
= slaves, we would be restored to our rights in
the Union; but, instead of these promises
being fulfilled, policy has been inaugurated
placing the Southern States under the control
;,of an inferior race. L We have met to appeal
to the North not to permit the inhiction Of
this disgrace upon US. Our rights may be
wrested from us, but We will never agree to the
rule Of an alien and inferior race. We prefer
the rule of the bayonet.' y
At the conclusion of the address, and after
, the appointment Of a committee to prepare
business, the Convention adjourned until seven
O'Clock at night Upon re-assembling, r. Il.
! Daniel, Chairman of the Committee on Bust
ness, stated that the CONF ittee was not ready
to report, and asked for further time, and
I moved che appointment Of eight additional
members Of the committee, which being car
ried, the Convention adjourned until this morn
ing at 10 clock
reflected in the speech of the president. There
liz an entire willingness to accept the result of
the war, as final, but there is on earnest oppo-
sition 10 the State Icing under the control Of
the coored race.
The theatre was packed, it being estimated
that upwards of three thousand persons we're
present
g Among the Convention delegates are seven
ty-three members of the last Legislature.
POLITICAL PREACHERS. friend at the
North has sent u.s. as curiosity, collection
of extracts from pulpit dscourses, =" delivered
before, during, and since the late war, by ''po-
litical parsons "a pestiferous race, quite COM
mon in some portions Of this country--but,
thank God rarely to be met with in the South,
and there find no countenance or appreciation
from the people. These discourses were all
them, and the perusal Of some of them, we
find they are all, more or less, devoted to the
excitation OF ill-will, and hatred, against the
Southern people, to firing the hearts Of
their hearers against their fellow citizens = and
to the incubation of anything but love, kind
ness, and charity For the most part, they
are disgusting in sentiment, false 10 doctrine,
and miscellaneous in design-and it has been the
preaching of these men that did so much to
produce the civil strife, and to keep alive dis
cord, and encourage oppression and tyranny
since the appeal to arms. We laid down this
collection, and thought of the noble words Of
Edmund Burke: 'Politics and the pulpit are
terms that have little agreement. No sound
ought to be heard in the church but the heal
ing voice of Christian charity The cause Of
civil liberty and civil government gains as little
as that of religion by this confusion of duties.
Those whose quit their proper character to as
sumo what does not belong to them, are, gen
orally, ignorant both of the character they leave
and Of the character they assume. They have
nothing of politics but its passions. Surely,
the church is a place where one days truce
ought to be allowed to the dissensions and ami
mosities of mankind. .
:. And, if political preaching is thus to be dep
reoated-how much more ought the blasphemy
of political praying to be condemned and
its use denounced2 How it ought to be
secuted, with scorn and Indignation, from the
! church, and the halls of legislation! And how
those who dare to insult the majesty of heav-
en-, and outrage decency and common sense, by
apartizan, political, pretended appeal to the
Almighty, but in reality an iuhammatory ad-
dress to wicked men, ought to receive the
contempt Of every true man, no matter what
his politics may be, or to what party he may
> be attachedl .sv.4s
-, We are glad to see and note the bold and
manly attitude the Conservatives in: Congress
are assuming. It is their duty no longer to
lsubmitlquietly to the domineering, naughty,
dictatorial tone adopted for year or two past,
by the Radical leaders; but to meet them de-
fantly if needs be, and tell them to their faces
the TRUTH! Never give back an inch OF quail
moment! Accuse and denounce the viola
tions; Of the Constitution that have been COM
mitted. Expose to scorn the presumptuous ar
rogance of Sumner and his satellites in the
Senate, and Thaddeus Stevens and his 'tail''
in the House! Show to the gaze Of the.peo-
pie all the Secession" and Rebel beginnings
of Logan, Stokes, and that set. It is time for