The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1868-09-21
Characteri.tic Consistency

An animated contest for the Judge
ship is now going on in the Parkersburg
district. Hon. GEORGE LOOMS, the
present incumbent, is the Radical can
didate. His opponent is j. NJ. JACKSON,
Esq, of Parkersburg, finished lawyer
aud an honest man. Alarmed by the
popularity of Mr.. JACKSON, the Radi-
Gals are making furious attack upon
him for alleged "disloyalty," and are
making a prodigious fuss over the
charge that he doubted the propriety
of the proceedings which organized"
the West Virginia Government i'll 1861,
and hestated ahoat taking an oath to
support it. The character of the accu-
satiOn merely indicates the extremities
to which Radicalism is driven. Of what
consequence is it whether Dir. JACKSON
did OF did not doubt the validity of the
restored government, while the expert
ment was yet in its infancy Many OF
the ablest lawyers in the country, OF
both parties, doubted the legality OF
the PIERpoINT Government, at the time
of it's establishment, and it is not dis
creditable to any man that he duly
weighed so important question before
hazarding the consequences involved IN
a decision.
More than this, the PIERPoINT Gov
ernment was established. Its repre-
sentatives were admitted to Congress
and its validity was finally acknowl-
edged by every branch of Federal au-
thority. The Courts endorsed it; Con-
gress approved it; the Executive sane
toned it, and for all practical purposes
it became the Government of Virginia
1t discharged every function of State
Government; it formed West Virginia
and this State to-day depends for its le'
gitinacy upon the legality OF the re-
stored Government.
Notwithstanding all this the Radicals
themselves now deny its validity. They
exclude its representatives from Con-
gress; they drive FRANK PIERPoINT from
his seat as Governor, they subvert hi
government by military power, and
make it criminal for any citizen o.
Virginia to vote for President or Vice
President of the United States. Their
military bills declare that the PIER
POINT Government sis not legal Gov
ernment" and their bayonets give force
to the declaration. How can the Radi
calls condemn a man for having doubted
what they deny themselves How car
Colonel JACKSON be censured for no
rashly and hastily acknowledging az
authority which the Radicals them
selves now swear is bogus and Illegal
Their reconstruction policy debar
them from questioning any mans posi-
ton, even had he denied the validity o
the PIERPoINT Government, for they no
only deny it themselves, but they over
throw that Government at the point o
the bayonet. s.
The consequences of their course ar
at once ridiculous and inconsistent. Ii
enacting that the restored Government
of Virginia is illegal, they deny the lie
gality of West Virginia, whose forma
ton was the leadisg act of that re
stored Government. Furthermore, the.
admit that Senators WILEY and CAF
LILLE, who represented that restore
Government in the United States Sen
ate, were bogus representatives, an'
drew pay for unlawful service in behsl
of an illegitimste authority. Wit
such results following their own incon
sistency, it i'll becomes them to charg
"disloyslty" upon any man who ma
have questioned the legal status O
Virginia restored.
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