Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1869-01-22
FRIDAY MORNING, JAN, %. 1869.

Nsg- The order acaI De f0undm daother column.
livery day for the past week we have been
Shxaled with dispatches and communications
s. Washington, expressing in glowing
e5lors the progress of the committee of nine,
who are engaged in the work of attempting
to secure from Congress universal amnesty
in consideration of voluntary acceptance
of universal suffrage, and its concomitants
of eligibility to Office &c. Er+ u-s
We expressed our want Of confidence in
the new movement, several weeks since,
decming it unwise and likely to result to the
disadvantage of our people, but, from the
repeated assertions from Washington that
it was gaining ground with Radical members
of Congress, and hoping that our fears might
not be realized, and that something Of good
might result to our oppressed people f1om
the labors of the Committee Of nine, we re-
Trained from saying any thing further against
it, than to admonish our people to be ready
to defeat the Underwood Constitution, which
we believed would be an inevitable necessity.
The papers of Tuesday night, however,
show the progress Of the committees labors,
in way not calculated to impress one with
the idea of great results being accomplished.
They bring the news Of the passage of the
following joint resolution, by the Lower
House Of Congress, without division:
"That all persons holding Office in Vir-
GINA and Texas, Except those whose disa-
bilities are removed,) who cannot take the
test-oath of July I'd 1862, be removed with
in thirty days from the passage Of the reso-
luton. and that the district commander fill
their places With men who can take the oath. "
This looks as if the committee Of aine has
been most egregiously imposed upon, if for
mer reports be true. Members of both Houses
of Congress are reported to have expressed
great sympathy with the project of the COM
mittee, SO much so as to lead them to sup
pose that Constitution, freed from such
Objectionable features as test-oaths, disfran-
easements &c, would meet with the almost
universal favor of Congress. That bill
would be passed, relieving the disabilities of
the 18th Amendment at blow, &C., nc.
On the heels of this, in fact in the same pa
per containing such gratifying news to many,
comes the news of the passage Of the above
resolution Evidently the synlpathsSing
members of Congress have either misled the
committee or else have most suddenly and in
a remarkable manner changed their convic-
tions.. We are inclined to believe the for
mer and consider it but retributiya justice for
the attempt to s'sell our birth-right for q
mess Of pottage." u
# the committee, by their efforts, place the
condition of the Southern people in fairer
light before the people of the North, as some
suppose, they will have accomplished fully
as much as we believed. Of this We are
doubtful now. The fear chat the project Of
the committee, il successful, would result in
the overthrow of the Radical party in the
South, i'll our opinion, has preeipitated the
resolution we copy above, and we may be
thankful if no harsher legislation be the re-
suit. 1t were far better that we had stuck
to principle. We were fast winning the
admiration Of the Northern people for con-
sistcncy, while carpet-bag representatives
were fast playing out. A little faore nerve
and all would have come out right. A few
however, and we may add very few, (for
nine out Of every ten we know oppose the
new movement thought differently and ac-
ted otherwise. The results, we fear, will
make us regret, for long time to come,
that even those few had not remained true to
their past sentiments, which were the senti-
ments Of the many, and found their express
sion in orc Of the most harmonious conyen-
tons ever assembled in the State, the Con-
servativc Convention Of December 1867
The Hon. A. H. H. Stuart was called to
the chair, and in most appropriate speech.
which was loudly cheered. expressed the,senti-
ments ofthatbody which are the sentiments Of
nine -tenths Of the people of Virginia at this
time and, from which, for their concisenesa
and volume Of expression, as well as being
the embodiment of our sentiments o-day,; we
copy the following extracts: ''2;szA
''That policy is to be inaugurated here
which tends, if it be not designed, to subvert
our whole social fabric and to bring the land
of Washington, Henry, Jefferson, Madison,
and Marshall, under the dominion Of an alien
and inferior race. We should be false to
all the instincts of humanity false to the
blood which courses through our veins false
TO every obligation Of duty to ourselves. our
kindred, and our country, if we did not ear
nestly protest against and seek to arrest so
fearful a calamity" * y = y
''We prefer military rule to the despotism
of an ignorant rabble. And we wish to de-
clare with earnestness and emphasis, that,
come what may. we and those we represent,
can never agree that this shall be. any 9TH
er than White Mans Government. Our
rights may be wrested from us by violence,
but we will never agree that our proud old
mother shall be presented in the attitude of
conserving to her own degradation. !"
The Rev. T. U. Dudley. late Of Harri-
sonburg, who accepted call to Christ
Church, Baltimore, preached his opening