Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1867-10-03
RECORD of the Past.


In these days of Radical blataut loyalty,
when every conservative is branded as cop
psr head southern sympathizer, and the like,
i "a refreshing to look over the public speeches
and review the acts Of the Statesmen l?l of the
time.
We have nowhere seen the political charac-
tiers of the prominent men Of the Radical party
more thoroughly ventilated, than in recent
speech of Judge Thurman, the Democratic
Candidate for Governor of Ohio at WapakOne-
ia. on the 26th ultimo.
Hon. B. T. Wade, O. S Senator in 1855,
when bill was pending which he said was in
tended to promote the execution Of the Fugitive
Slave Law, used the following language =" /
am one Of those who have quite as much re-
gard for the rights of the States as some who
make louder professions on the subject than
DO believe in the wisdom, the constitution
atty, and pToprietyof the Virginia Resolutions
Of '9S and 90 Furthermore he said, | ground
myself upon these resolutions; aud, standing
upon them, denounce this bill as q violation,
GOT only Of the spirit of these resolutions, but
as an attempt to trample upon the rights Of the
the States, and deprive them Of the power to
protect their own citizens Who is to be the
Judge in the last resort Of the violation Of the
Constitution Of the United States, by the enact
ment Of law; who is the final arbiter, the
General Government, or the States in their SOW
ereignty2 Verify, Sir to yield that point, is to
yield up all the rights of the States to protect
their own citizens, and to consolidate the Go
yernmeut into a miserable despotism."
" said there were States in this Union whose
highest tribunals had adjudged the Fugitive
Slave Act to be constitutional, and that be-
lieyed it unconstitutional that under the reso-
lutious of 9s and 90, State must not only be
the Judge Of that, bat Of tie remedy in such a
case" This is nothing more nor less than what
the original South Carolina Socessionists pro-
claimed before the war
Chief Justice Chase, even after he became
Secretary Of the Treasury under Mr. Lincoln,
said that the South was not worth lighting for,
and to let her go. This too, after he had op-
posed every measure introduced intot the memo
rable Peace Congress, that looked to an AMIGA
bic adjustment of the pending difficulties.
Hon. f. NJ. Stanton, late Secretary Of War,
| whose political summersets we can hardly
keep the run of) upon the secession Of Missis-
sippi. told Gov. Brown of that State, "your
State has done right, and be sure you don't let
her back down"
Hon Joseph Holt, after Lincoln's election,
wrote one Of the strongest letters ever penned,
denouncing the Republican party, and the Rad
icals especially. Yet he became the presiding
genius Of the Bureau of Military Justice.
We think that our Radical brethren, in view
of the above-recited facts, should exercise great
charity and forbearance towards conservatives.
| If men who uttered such sentiments were after
wards converted to the true faith, there is yet
hope Of the rankest copperhead in Dixie
Wade & Co. are now denouncing the Presi-
dent for his unfinching adherence to the Con-
stitution Why not show mp his record It
will be found, that from the first he has been
uniformly and persistently consistent in hissup-
port Of the Union as it was and the Constitu-
ton as it is.