The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-05-27
Strangers in Public Places.

SSCGdURGTS
Is there man in the country who can lay
his hand upon his heart and say that he
would not object to strangers being placed
in every Office Of prominence in his native
State to the exclusion of those who were
born and raised in it? st
or course we know this natural feeling Is
too strong to be denied by any one.
II the fact, at best, is disagrceable,-i. G..
supposng the strangers thus in the best
nlaces werc themselves capable and we'll
behaved men-what shall We say when they
arc not? And yet this is the sort Of daily
offence which the oppressed and outraged
people of Virginia have endured. Men lir
ing upoffthc means wrung from the sweat
Of the brow Of the Tirgiuians have SLAM
dcred and rcyiled them--represented them
ms rebcllious, violent, and hostile to all
northern men-as unable to do justice to
those opposed TO them in politics, and so
embittered towards the "truly loil " that if
the right to vote and hold Office were re-
stored to them Union men would not be
safe within the limits of the State.
Governor WELLS has led the body of SLAM
derers-the men reviling those whose bread
they were eating. lie has said all this, and
more. The motive was to induce the Fede-
raj Government to continue the disfranchise-
mcnts and disqualitications of N1rGlnlans
that these slanderers might fill all the public
offices. Thus they sought for office ana
cmolument, not upon any merit of their
own, but by the dispraise and calumnation
of others. This was ut least crcditablc 10
their sagacity, since it would have been II
hopeless enterprise based upon any claims
or merits of their own, they having none
whatever.
Thus is the welfare Of great community,
intimately blended with the national pros
pcrity, subordinated to the personal interests
of few strangers who are neither honest
nor capable Of dscharginS the public trusts
towhich they aspire. Their calunnes nave
poisoned the public mind ut the North, ana
every stranger who visits the State Is amazed
10 find society rs quiet, orderly. and cour-
tccus to the stranger, as that of any other
country on earth. 1t is of daily and hourly
occurrence that travellers express this sort
of surprise with rs much pleasure as amaze
mcnt. Some come with preparation for de-
fence from personal violence, and find that
they can travel with more safety in Virginia
than they can in any northern State.
But in this way the public interests suffer- |
investments are checked, and immigration |
repealed. But what is that to the brutal III |
tr,ltlcrs who seek to hold by falschood ana |
hypocrisy the places into which they have
been foisted? They would, if they could.
divide up the State, sell ii out, and pocket |
the proceeds. They would be glad to get |
full swing at the public cxchcqucr, provided
it might be parceled out amongst only Il
few. They occupy positions over people |
with whom they have no sympathy, and who |
most cordially detest them for their mex
haustblc fund of Discrimination, cunning, |
rapacity, and mendacity. This is mon
strous relation of the otlice-holdcrs to the !
constituent body, and cannot last. We |
must have "peace' by bringing it to an |
end.
We have just cause Of complaint against |
the northern people who could credit the |
atrocious SANDERS against the people of Nir-
gina. Is their reading SO limited, or their |
rant OF the character of these people? Do |
they not know that Virginia has been the |
mother ofstatesmen and warriors, the leader |
in all great achievements Of the nation, the |
defender of Justice and the cheriShcr OF the !
great principles of republicanism: That
she is the great bcncfactor of the nation: |
That of all the States she has been free>t |
from outrage and disorder, and that her pco- |
pie. from the beginning of her existence to |
this day, have had no superiors in the gracc> |
of life, decorum, gentleness, business, and |
hospitality: These are things that ought TO
lie familiar with the whole nation and it is |
more to the shame OF others that they are
not than it is to the people of Virginia.
Then, we have Il great grievance against
the nation; and that grievance is aggra-
waited that such slanderers as WELLS and
his rapacious and disreputabe followers
against this great State and her noble popu-
lation should be believed.
But we shall soon right these things. The
people of Virginia, astounded and indig-
nant at the outrages hcaped upon them,
have been inclined to withdraw from the
arena and leave it to the plunderers to carry
everything their own way. But practical
view of the situation has changed their pur-
poses, and they are rising us one man to
rcSssert their birthright and the claims to
share in the government of their own affairs.
They will triumph, and their slandercrs,
who are eating out their substance, Will be
hurled from the places they disgrace.