Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1869-02-16
About the NEW Movement

There can be no doubt that the masses of our
people are warmly in favor of it. There can
be no doubt that it has made a profound i'm
preston upon all the circles of influence at the
seat of government There can be no doubt
that, recent as is its origin, it has kept back
| the Underwood Constitution from being impo-
sed on US. There can be no doubt that it will
ultimately save Virginia and secure to her
constitution under which she can be respectable
and prosperous
Our intelligence from Washington is that the
friends OF this movement are at this moment
more hopeful than they have been at any stage
of it. Rich Wing.
1T may be considered certain that Congress
will not modify the Underwood constitutions so
as to make it endurable and if it is passed in
its modified form, it will be by the radical vote,
with the addition Of whatever conservative ele-
ment can be controlled by the new movement
men. They have gone as far as they can go,
unless they go all the way into the Republican
ranks. Is it not time for them to call halt
and not separate from the conservatives at
home? We have all along deprecated division.
At first, we feared it would come from the in
| temperance ct their opponents We now fear
1t from the persistence of the nine.
Up to this point their action has done good
by showing the more reasonable people of the
North, the good grounds on which the geople
OF Virginia oppose the constitution. Really
anxious for peace, and fair reconstruction, they
have been represented as obstinate and I'M
reasonable. These misrepresentation have
been met and refuted publicly, by Messrs Bald
win and Stuart So far, good; but if they
Constitution and strengthen its friends so as to
get it put on the State, even in modified
form, they will do an injury which they will
not be able to repair - Charlottesville Clron-
,cle.
Our friends who are so sharp upon the har-
monious mine labor much to keep them
selves warm. Never give up! Vote it
down. they say. Vote it down is good It
is like a stiff drink on a cold day-it warns the
man that swallows it, but has no effect on the
weather. ''-Richnsond Dispatch
1T is true the drink has no effect on the
weather; yet when the thermometer is below
zero it may save the man. But since the whis-
key has been 'doctored' by the nine the re-
suit has become doubtful -Nog0N Tfgiaian,
The new movement papers go, OFT half
cooked They want hackers They claim Gen
eral Lee: we are satisfied this is not SO. They
claim R. NJ T. Hunter this is not SO. They
claim! Judge Robertson of Albemarle this is
not 50. Rich. Enquirer
w e have never seen set OF men work In
better temper, and in a more cheerful, hopeful
spirit, than our Committee They went at
their herculean emprise with the eation and
pluck Of forlorn hope exhilarated by the very
odds that seemed to be against them, and at
tracted by the very fervor OF the fame which
| threatened to consume them. For four weeks
| they circled with their bright Virginia plumage
nearer and nearer around the dazzling light of
| the Radical Northumberland now and then
some more adventurous and highly excited
spirit would dart through the fame itself and
relish the fiery baptism. But the night is far
spent, the revery draws to q Close the tapers
burn dim, the host grows heavy with sleep,
and the gay moths vanish one by one from the
brilliant scene to fold their singed wings in In
glorious death.
The attack was against orders, and as such a
breach ct military discipline; it needed une-
qulvocal success to secure any liberation; and
what must the devisers of it think now that it
has been repulsed with, such heavy loss p
Doubtless some of them looked for breyets it
they had met with good fortune; did they cal
c"zats on ANYTHING # they failsd ?
It will not be in good taste for the advocates
Of the new (now old) movement to look for
ward now to the incoming of General Grant
that is our thunder, and we told them very
long ago that Grant and Schofeld would not
permit the Test Oath to remain In the Virginia
constitution. We take it that the whole subs
jeet has been buried so far as the present Con
gress is concerned, and We hope, as we have al
ways hoped, that the new President will do
what is right without attempting to eKtort any
dishonorable conditions. But our Committee
must not claim when all this shall occur that
they converted General Grant, for we happen
to know that General Grant was against the
Underwood constitution before the Committee
Of Nine was in existence
X X X y
We hope now they will not press their Con,
yentlon. Let that be given up. 1t was post
poned to await the action Of Congress-. But
there has been no action, ard probably will be
none the occasion, therefore, fails. There
would be nothing for the Convention to do but
to shield the TwentysEght, and the Twenty
Eight had better not provoke an investigation,
for discipline must follow If they put on 2 bold
front. What we want is silence: let us not
wash our dirty linen in Convention and
that Convention will have no clear water to
wash in, aud if they return the clothes ironed,
We shall have to put them in the wash again.
Verbuna sap.-Eaqitircr and Examiner.
The path of duty is the path of safety no
less now than in the past, and we exhort d halt,
On the part Of those who having started upon
what many Of us may have esteemed patriot
ic mission at the outset, is fast verging on to
say the very least Of sacrifice Of all those
cardinal tenets which have made past lives IL
lustrious. Fredericksburg Herald.
A special despatch to the Alexandria Gazette
under date of the 18th inst, says:
1T is reported, on pretty good authority,
that the Judiciary Committee of the Senate
have agreed to adopt the plans and modiica
tons proposed by the Committee Of Nine from
Virginia, and that the House bill for an cleo
ton in the State will be amended accordingly
and passed.
The question in reference to the removal OF
the disabilities of the Judges is again agitated,
and it is now said that the probabilities are
that they will be relieved with the exception
of Judge Parker. against whom there is vios
lent opposition. Mr.. Joseph Segar, who has
just recovered from severe illness. has filed a
of the disabilities from all the Judges, which
it is thought will have some weight
The National Ineigencer says that the bill
of Mr.. Boutwell,, proposing to establish eolored
suffrage by an act of Congress-, which must be
carefully Disseminated from the pending amend
ment to the Constitution, which proposes to do
the same thing in another way will probably
not be pressed this session; the Ohio delega
ton Directing as they have an election to come
off in that State next fall The attempt of Mr..
Boutwell, to make out the power Of Congress to
pass such law under the Constitution as it
now stands was met by Mr.. Beck, of Kentucky,
with great power and fullness of argumenta
ton.