Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1869-01-21
Again, he says:
The Situation in Virginia.

We are glad to see the Richmond Enquirer,
SAYS the National htelligcHcer. with its admit
ted influence, freely conceding the patriotic in
tentions of the eminent citizens from whose
judgment as to the proper course to be pursued
in the present situation it yet dssents. We
trust this spirit of courtesy may pervade all
the discussions of this subject among those who
have a common and an abiding interest in the
safety, honor, aud welfare of the Old Dominion.
We can most fully appreciate the feelings of
those in Virginia who differ with us in this dis
cussion, and the regret that we feel in yielding
to what is clearly inevitable is heightened by
the pain and regret this conclusion brings to
proud and gallant people. Would that there
had been enough of liberality in Congress to
spare the feelings Of PROSTATE foe, to allow
them to rebuild their shattered fortunes with
social and political fabric, containing the
same safeguards for a wise exercise Of political
power as Northern and Western States possess.
We wish that our opponents would realize how
grave peril they are preparing for the whole
country by such wholesale admissions Of ignor-
ant persons to the ballot. But argument on
this subject is exhausted ours certainly is ex-
hausted and We have now to deal with a body
of partisans completely masters Of the situation,
inhexible in their determination not to yield
this shibboleth of party, but ready, we would
fain hope and believe, to grant on other points
such features Of good State government as
may lessen the perils and mitigate the evils Of
this new organization of power. That It's the
part of wise men to recognize the inevitable, to
see that negro suffrage is a fact which, however
distasteful, is still beyond our reach to avert,
seems to us plain. That there should be many
worthy and gallant spirits who are slow to re-
cognise this necessity, slow to accept facts, and
resentng koenly what, indeed, shocks every
feeling and attribute of their nature, is not at
all surprising. We have been through it ALL
and know what it is. But neither passion nor
pride, nor yet just resentment at unprovoked
wrong, will solve the problem of Virginia's
safety Concede the mischiefs of this inevita-
bic negro suffrage, and there is yet much to be
saved from the wreck, for which good and wise
men ought to struggle, in duty bound to them
selves, to their families, to posterity; above all
to a mass of suffering poor around them, now
in a critical condition, and whose circumstan-
ces appeal to every man that has heart in his
bosom. Considering all this suffering, the re-
suit in a large degree Of an unsettled state Of
affairs; considering the case Of Missouri, West
Virginia, and Tennessee, with their people
writing year after year under their disfran-
chisemeuts, and vainly seeking to escape them,
like Laoceou in his agony, we welcome the on
ly mode by which a similar yoke for Virginia
can be averted, and State government secured
which shall be something better than machi-
merry for robbery and revenge 1t may fall
much below what Virgininns want, or have a
right to expect but it will probably be para
disc 10 the Underwood constitution