The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-06-25
The Right Sort OF a Man.

ten. sSnhrAeS Ess stone, formerly o
gallant Federal officer, who has set
tled siHcs the war in GooevahiI I'd
County, Virginia, where his upright
and coukteops demealior has won him
many friends, was recently iunani-
mously nominated by convention
OF the conservatives of Goochlend,
Powhattan and Fluvanns to, repre-
sent their district in the Senate Of
Virginia. He declined the honor in
q letter, 80 manly, frank and delicate,
that we cannot refrain from making
an extract, to illustrate the difference
hetween The Northern gentleman and
the carpet dagger. a. sd p II ..S Z "
Having thanked the Convention
for the honor of the nomination,
and observed that it is proud posi-
ton, when perilous times come upon
apeople, to be selected as their rep
resentative by their free choice,
Gen. Stone says:
sit is not to be supposed that it
can have been perfectly free choice
in this case 1t is not to be supposed
that In sVirginia Senatorial District,
comprising three large Counties, o
free choice should set aside all the
gentlemen who were born and bred
in the district, and who have lived
honored in it from youth up, and Sc
lect one, who, while yielding to no
one in sincere and earnest devotion
to the welfare, and in desire to pro-
tect the rights and advance the inte-
rests of the people of the district,
yet has beena resident in it only two
and half years; one who was born
q Yankee, in Yankee land, and who
looks back to five generations of
Yankee ancestors, glorying in the
lineage. Public duty demands of
man that he shall, if necessary for
the public good, sacrifice everything
that is his, save his self-respect.
That can never be required, and if
required, cannot be yielded.
Z. 81 should lose mine did ] accept
public trust not freely offered, and
climb to Office by reason of the pre-
sent peculiar condition of public
affairs.
''While, by its Constitution, our
country claims to be q free republic,
resting upon the consent of the
whole people, no voluntary act of
mine shall appear to admit that it is
not one-and it would be apparent,
should I now be selected from among
my peers for the trust in question,
that one strong point governing the
choice, is my mere ability to freely
take an abominable test oath, which
disgraces the proposed Constitution
OF the State, rendering ineligible
large numbers of the most honorable
and most trustworthy voters and
taxpayers within its limits. can
never accept Office under such condi-
tions."
What rebuke this is to the tribe
of Adventures, numerous as the
locusts of Egypt, that have over-run
the whole South, absorbing all the
Offices, and glorying in that which
should be their shame Most of
these birds of prey migrate to the
South, for no other purpose than to
gorge themselves upon what the bat
tie has left. Not few of them have
left their own country "for their
country's good" Instead of being
ashamed to "climb to office by reason
of the present peculiar condition of
public affairs" they would be
ashamed of themselves if they ne
elected the opportunity. It,is not, as
q general thing, for the distinction of
the offices that they care to have
them, but for the emoluments and
stealings, though there are some
who really seem to think that an
office confers honor, no matter how
it is obtained. General Stone de-
serves the thanks of his own section
for giving the South at least one
specimen of true, self-respecting
Northern manhood, which has so
long been disgracefully represented
in the official vampires who are riot
ing in the life-blood of the Southern
people.