Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1869-06-08

change or repeal over the Constitution itself
which, under the system of exclusion it designe'
to perpetuate, would have been forever impos
sible. On this subject the State of Tennessee
affords mournful, but instructive example,
There what practically constitutes the State i
this constitution, in It's original form. Th,
blacks brutalized by years Of slavery, joined
with native whites of the lowest order, and ad
venturers from abroad, ifp6ssible worse, max,
up the body polite. There we have seen mol
| militia, white and black, headed by rufiar
Governor, indulging Its proper instincts in the
| widest excess. Lawless force usurps the place
of order and law. No right is sacred, no home
is safe. Meantime the virtue, intelligence anC
| wealth Of the State are wholly excluded from
! the Government, and denied its protection
Those who in fact oacn the State stand outside
of the organization thus created, powerless te
change, because denied admission into it. And
thus must this unhappy people continue, until
perhaps, bloody revolution puts a period to
the suffering they endure.
Only second IN Importance to the successful
| assertion of our rights as members of the body
polite, will be the election Of Legislature,
with the power and the disposition to avert or
mitigate the various evils designed to be infict-
ed under this constitution The taxing power
will be In its hands-the election of judges and
other State oficers-legisation on salaries,
county organlzatlon-governm Of cities and
towns, education -militia-homestead and 9th
er exemptions-a re-apportionment of repre-
sentation after the census to be taken next year
future changes in the constitutional the
great objects of government may enter into its
deliberations. Can we hesitate whether to con-
fide power over these vital interests to friendly
hands, or by indifference and inaction suffer it
to devolve ON such as are alien and hostile? 1t
is earnestly recommended that men of ability
and character, deserving the confidence of the
people be brought out and supported for the
Legislature, in the counties and districts. The
arrangement of representation in this constitu-
ton, was designed to exclude such representa-
tives from the Legislature. Fraud, rapine and
the spirit of confscation presided over its for
nation, and dictated its provisions and in
nothing more conspicuousy than in the gerry
mander of the representation. Yet, the whites
have the numbers to defeat the scheme, and
can do so, if they will. Let them not be want
ing In the zeal, energy and determination re-
quired to effect 1t.
The Convention made no recommendation in
regard to the election of the principal State Of
fcers. But while all are free in this matter, the
committee feel it to be within the line of their
duty to offer such suggestions as seem prudent
and wise, to be received, however, only for
what they may be worth, in the judgment of
those to whom they are addressed.
A like objection is said to exist in the minds
of some to both Of the candidates to whom a
choice is now restricted, that they are Northern
men; and If beyond this circumstance of simil-
itude, there existed no difference between them,
it would be safe to indulge sentiment of in
difference to both; but as ttas so 2
In Colonel Walkers antecedents, as we'll as
in the character he bears and the interests he
holds in the community, where, without poiti-
cal design he has made his home, we find such
hostages as only men Of honor and rectltude
can give for right conduct in situations of trust.
He is understood while living in the North to
have actively opposed the eXcesses OF the radl-
cal party here he is known to have received a
lage Conservative vote for the convention which
framed the constitution. Believing the politi-
cal status of the negro to be fixed, he would de-
ny him none of his just rights; while he IS the
earnest advocate OF amnesty to all and dlsfran-
chisement to none His views on all questions
of State policy are broad, catholic, and embrac-
ing assurance, that if elected, he will represent
the whole people.
Those who know him well, attribute to him
frankness, sincerity and truth, and this gives
title to be believed and trusted by a people
who regard these qualities as essential In all
who claim their confidence and respect. These
are our guaranty that the powers of the office In
his hands will be used to mitigate or avert, not
to aggravate, the wrong and suffering SO wick
edy contrived against us; for he proclaims
that IF the Constitution, expurgated, shall be
adopted, and you have elected your State tick
ct and your Legislature, you may proceed at
once to propose such amendments to the Con-
stitution as will clear it of all its dangerous
3zvf1 moo
aeuer be enforced. If am elected, with Legls.
lature not Radical, it never will be put in ope-
ration.
With his opponent, the case is far different.
From the moment he entered the State, he has
played the part of a political incendlary. Bent
on stirring up the worst passions OF the black
race against the white, he began by addressing
them Tin the spirit of John Brown and has
never ceased his efforts to instll into their weak
and Ignorant minds feelings of feroclous intol-
erance, and purposes the most proscrptlve.- =
His object has been all along to rule the State,
through the supremacy he has labored to estab-
lish in one race over the other. 10 TINS ena ne
has opposcd the repeal of any of the odlous
prescriptions and exclusions in the Constitution
with that purpose, haunting the Radical COM
mittee-rooms OF Congress, and disgusting even
them with his vile asperslOns and mlsrepresen-
tations of people whose money he takes, and
repays with foul and insolent abuse. He has
persevered in efforts to prevent the revision OF
the registration, whereby one-third Of the white
vote through falling to register, would have
been excluded from the polls. He has declared
on oath that to remove our disabilities would be
fatal to reconstruction. But now, when the
President condemns this cruel oppression,
straightWay this would be successor In Office OF
Jefferson and Henry, not to lose the prestige OF
his favor, publicly avows conversion, secretly
endeavoring the while, to keep his negro dupes
in the same spirit of hostility to white enfran-
chisement which it has been his constant study
and labor to instil. His hostility to the inter
ests of the State, and his afiliation with foreign
interests, are evinced by his willingness to sell
out her internal improvements to Northern
purchasers. His enmity or indifference to the
true interests of education, and his willingness
to sacrifice them to the arts OF the demagogue
are shown by his proposal to cheaper instruc
ton in the higher Institutions of learning to the
level Of the common schools, or else at the pub
lie expense to open them gratituously to ALL
He declares it to be necessary that every
| grade OF school shall not only be provided for
| but placed within the reach of all, policy to-
| tally destructive of the established schemes O
academic and collegiate instruction in this anC
every other civilized State, and akin to tht
Radical barbarism which in the two Southern
States nearest to us, has destroyed both. Elec
Legislature enlisted in the true interests o.
the State, and how would its best considered
counses fare with the tremendous veto power IL
the hands of such man? In short, in this elec
ton we have to choose between an enemy ant
a friend the one Invested with qualities tha
justly challenge our confdence-the other II
| II Il L -