The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1867-08-21

The Butler-AshIey Conspiracy against thu
President. IS
The Baltimore Gazette has clear editoria
synopsis Of this matter. It fully expresses
our views in the following extract:
Though the people Of this country have
witnessed, in .course, Of this revolution, the
preparation Of a thousand stupendous frauds
and oatrages by officials occupying high civil
and military positions, and have heretofore
looked upon their disgracefu1 and ruinous pro
ccedings with an unaccountable apathy, we
can scarcely think that the public will receive
the startling revelations just made by CHAR
LES A. DUNnAMl alias SANFORD CoNovER
without being startled into some manifestation
Of Indignation and alarm This man, it will
be remembered, testified, and tutored several
other pcrjurers who testified. before the Mill
tary Commission which murdered Mrs. SUR
RAFT. After having rendered this service to
the Government and the Radical party, he
was left to his fate, and to conciliate what re-
manned in the country Of honest public opin-
ion he was tried and sentenced to the peni-
tentiary He petitioned for pardon on the
9th Of July, basing his application on purely
technical grounds, and it was supported by
Mr.. AsHLEY.b by Mr.. Hour, and by Mr.. RID-
DIE, one of the counsel for the Government
in the late SURRATT case, who all urged the
services which they said CoNovER had rem
dered in that case as entitliug him to pardon,
On the goth, finding that orders had been is
sued for his removal from the Washington Jail
to the Albany penitentiary, he addressed to the
President the communication we published on
Saturday. In that document he states that
ASHLEY, the prime engineer of the impeach-
ment business in the House of Representa-
tivcs, approached him with proposition to
suborn witnesses who would swear that BooTH
had paid familiar visits to Mr.. JOHNSON at
the Kirwood House just before the assassina-
ton; that he and BOOTH had correspondent
with each other, and that the latter had stated,
about.the 4th of March, to friends whom he
sought to enlist in the conspiracy, that he
was acting with Mr. JoHNsoN's knowledge,
and that it had been arranged that Mr.. LIN
Congress, ASHLEY said, would protect all
who would swear to these statements, and
CoNovER was assured that he would be re-
leased. He says he accepted the proposal,
whether in good faith or not we did not stop
to inquire. He was then furnished with a
memorandum Of the lies which the witnesses
were to be schooled to repeat, and among
these were statements duplicating Mr.. DAVIS
and Mr.. BENJAMIN, as we'll as President
JOHNSON, as parties to the assassination
CoNovER sent for some scoundrels Of his ac-
quaintance, and they were duly instructed
and then examined by ASHLEY and BENJA-
MIN +. BUTLER. Congress passed at Bur
LER's instance an act for the protection of
just such witnesses, and their dispositions
were about to be taken, but CoNovER would
not permit it until his own pardon had been
secured. This however he failed, through
the blunders, he asserts, of one of AsnLEY's
agents to receive, and he then exposed the
whole conspiracy, as he says he intended to
do from the first. Such is brief outline of
this damning story Of an attempt by Radical
leaders to get the PRESIDENT out Of Office,
and to prove him and other obnoxious men
parties to an assassination by means of per-
jurcrs who were to be protected aud ''splen-
didly rewarded for their diabolical services
We ayow in the sight Of Heaven, our sincere
undoubting conviction Of the truth Of Cox
OVERS revelations. That he is an unprinci-
pied scoundrel We fully coneede. That heis
an abandoned perjurer we admit, but the
basest of men sometimes tell the truth, and
we solemnly believe he has done SO now. Bad
rs he is we would accept his word at any
time just as readily as that of ASHLEY, or Of
BUTLER and ASHLEY cannot deny his cred
bility, for the fact is indisputable and noto-
fious that he has latterly been repeatedly Wis
ting CoNovER in Jail to procure testimony
from OF through him in the impeachment case.
The Resources Of the South European Cap
italists-G0od Advice.
Hiram Hams, Esq, Of Alabama, formerly
# Virginia, who has just returned from Par
IS, whittier he wentsas commissioner from his
adopted State, has made a report to Cover
nor Patton of his success in inducing Euro
oean capitalists to turn their attention to
he undeveloped resources of Alabama, and
IF the southern States generally. He makes
he following gratifying announcement:
aImprovised andincompleteas were the rep
of our mineral resources at the Elk
position, it has awakened an interest in the
minds of European capitalists the extent Of
which few in Alabama have any conception.
The day before left Paris | had short in
,erview with Mr.. Hewett, of New York. He
lad just returned from a tour of inspection
,mong the iron establishments Of England,
where he distributed number of our pamph-
cts, and he informed me that there now ex-