The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1870-10-15
FROM LEWIS COUNTY.
The Meeting on the sth-Joint Dis.
cussfon between John ]. Davis and
Nathan GoT-k. G. Davis and w. T..
Wiley.


WESTON WEST VIRGINIA,
October Sth, 1870.
Editors of the Register:
To-day has been one Of considerable
importance to hepeople of this section
and has been marked by more interest
than is usually felt over political dis
cussions @ -aa'
Hon. John J, Davis, Hon. A. G.
Davis and Hon. John NJ. Phelps were
present on behalf of the Democracy,
and Senator Wiley, n. Gotf and Dav.
Farnsworth for the Radicals.
In the morning the Chairman Of the
Democratic Executive Committee wait
ed upon the gentlemen and asked il
they wished to take part in the discns-
sion, proposing to divide time equally
with them. They consulted with their
friends, and finally announced
their willingness to join, but insisted
that tier o'cn arrangements as to the
time to be occupied by each speaker, as
well as to the order in which each
should speak. Various propositions
we're submitted to them, but without
effect, and in order to obtain discussion
at all, our friends were compelled to
submit 10 the terms which they dicta-
ted, which were that Hon. John J.
Davis should open the discussion in
speech oil one hour, to be followed by
Goff, in an hours speech, he to be fol-
lowed by Wiley in the same time,
Wiley by A. G. Davis, he by Farms
worth and he by Phelps.
In accordance with this arrangement,
about one o'clock George Cozad, Esq,
rose and introduced John j. Davis, who
proceeded to address the people. His
speech was manly, statesmanllke et-
fort. Beginning in 1860 he traced the
course Of the Radical party down to the
present time, holding up the pledges
which they had broken and which were
strewn all along their pathway, cpl
tomizing it as living lie. He showed
that the whole scope and tendency OF
the Fifteenth Amendment was to
strip the States of their reserved rights
and centralize the power thus iraudu
lently usurped in the hands Of the Fed
eral Government. He charged that
the Radical party had, by its legisla
ton, dissolved the Union of our Fathers,
subverted our form of Government, sub
stituted a new Constitution into which
they had violently incorporated their
dogmas for the original instrument, vio-
lated every pledge made to the people.
and were deserving the eXecratiOns OF
all honest men. He then referred to
the action OF the Radical party on the
negro. and called attention to the fact
that in 1868 every Radical stumper de-
nounced as a Democratic lie the
charge that they were in favor Of negro
suffrage. Nov" continued the speak
er, Il ask YOU who told that lie ?? a
voice, Senator Wiley Loud laugh
ter. "Who said negro suffrage would
never be forced upon you? Gov
ernor Stevenson replied voice in the
crowd, amid cries of wiley" &c. J
and these are the same gentlemen who
perambulate the State advocating the
Fifteenth Amendment and all its mon
strous incidents The gentleman then
read from Willey's speech on the Dis
trict of Columbia bill, for the abolish
ing OF slavery therein. in which that
gentleman took strong and emphatic
ground against the proposed measure,
and denounced it in the most unmeas-
ured terms. lie continued his argu-
ment on this subject at length, and then
alluded to the fact that the Radical
party had not on ly enfranChised the ne
gro, but had disfranchised the white
men of our State. General Goff,' con-
tinued the speaker, says that this was
necessary to secure the fruits Of tie ocar!
What are these fruits that the gentle
man is so anxious to preserve? The
Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth
Amendments. The first is negro, the
second is negro, and the third is negro
all over. And are these fruits which
my Republican and Democratic friends
fought to secure? Cries Of no, no.
No, indeed You fought to maintain
the Union and preserve the COnstltu-
ton, with all the rights and dignities Of
the States unimpaired. His whole
speech was calm, considerate, dignitied
and able, and was listened to with
marked attention by the large audience,
and during its delivery he was frequent
" interrupted by bursts OF applause.
Mr.. Golf was next introduced and
proceeded to address the people. ! re-
gret that every Radical in the State
could not have heard it. 1t would have
zone far toward curing them of love for
Radicalism The General. as a poll
tician, has but one redeeming trait, and
that is his bOldness. He here advocated
the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and FIf-
eenth Amendments as right IN principle,
justifable on legal grounds, and as hav-
ing been properly and legitimately
adopted. Nor did he stop here, but he
endorsed all the necessary sequels Of
these amendments, including negro suf-
frage, &c. The remainder OF his speech
was devoted to stale rehash Of politi-
cal TRADE, &c, gathered from Stevenson {
speeches, charging in one breath that
Democrats were responsible for the war
and in the next asserting that the Dem
ocratic party OF 1870 was not, in any
particular, that of 1860, and after wad-
ing through his hour, he sat down COW
cred with pcrspiration.
Senator Wiley next proceeded to ad-
dress the crowd. He said that he had
not before been compelled to enter into
any personal explanations, but since he
had been here a gentleman had handed
him a copy OF The Democrat, charging
him with having told the people here
that negro suffrage could not nor would
not be forced upon them until they had
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