The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-05-26
The New Movement

We are sincerely gratiied at the iresn APP
,,rcc;atiou Of the wisdom and pracu ah'hty
eft the new movement IN tne e''-.''
movement which adroit Repuhnca'i ''e"s.
,,spers seek to style the NALLASpi'hA"
u movement. ~ a short way to bring IL NV"
disrepufe. since those papers CONSIDER W.
.,yuIAsp,aHAx as unpopular ana S'c"'c
:, under prejudice and dlsla'or '''N'"e
northern people. saf td .n.
Now. as we intimatcd yesterday, the new
movement is nothing more nor "SS 'n"'
tho virginia movement, which was ~ s"'
.ns.fn,,v engineered by the ce'entatcu
,"committcc of nine IN tue "'n'e' u
2, 1ses.,e That movement was paSea upon
rfhe platform Of national harmony. II pro-
,,,sna IN consider reconstruction ana the
commandments rs settled-to establish eqaau-
. ~ among the States-to grant general
.y,n,s,y to all engaged in tho late war 'i
resistance 10 the Government--to abandon
war issues and war passions and hates-te
unite the people upon the broad questions
Of The general welfare and the peace and
harmony Of the country Ito resStablish the
Constitution and laws i'll full and Impartial
fo,ce-to secure by popular elections freed
from sectional animosities the best and
wlsest men to administer the Federal Gov
srnmcnt, with just regard for State au-
thori,v. and the rights Of the citizen, Is
we'll vs. for the preservation OF the proper
, authority Of the central Government ana
the general welfare Of the nation.
?. This was the essence of the ''new move
mcnt" Ms set atloat in Virginia. The Com
mittee of Nine gave it direct and positive
application in the case of Virginia, which
was threatened with a Constitution framed
by the State Convention in '6f, in which
negroes and unprincipled whites held the
majority, and which Constitution deprived
almost every capable and honest man in the
State of the right to hold office, and, if 1t
had been adopted, would have perverted
the Government to a curse and ruin to the
State. The Committee Of Nine pressed the
considerations against this terrible fate with
such force that General GRANT had TO ac-
knowledge that to force Virginia to submit
to such Constitution would be one OF the
greatest of outrages. General SCHoFIELD
had previously informed him that under it
there could not he found In Virginia enough
capable men to run the Government"
Entering heartily into the views of the
e'new movement" General GRANT pledged
his influence in relieving Virginia from this
peril. He was upon the Virginia line, and
took that direction under the wise counselS
OF ScHoFIELp and RAwLlNs. But RAwLINs,
our liberal friend, died, SCHoFIELD was sent
10 the West, and General GRANT went to
the bad. His progress in the wrong direc-
ton was slow ut first, but his march was,
after time, so much facilitated that his
impetus carried him far out into the sea of
extreme Radicalism. Fortunately, the
=" Virginia movement" cxtorted from him
the message to Congress recommending the
passage of q law admitting Virginia which
should, as a condition precedent, allow her
TO adopt the Constitution without the from
clad OATH c., that the vote on that oath
should be separated from the vote on the
Constitution, and if the people voted down
the oath and adopted the Constitution,
then the Constitution should he declared to
be adopted without it. These facts are so
fresh that it seems supertluous TO repeat
them, but that we cannot well exclude
them in the narrative.
Had any further delay occurred in the
action Of Congress We are satisfied General
GRANT would have made no such recon-
mendation; for he evidently made it with
great reluctance.
Upon the platform of this new move
ment the WALKER ticket was nominated
and triumphantIy elected in 1869. The
Conservatives, with that ticket and oppos-
ing the proscripliyc features of that Viz
ginia Constitution which General GRANT
said "no people ought to be made to live
under" gained II brilliant victory. But
General GRANT had in the interim swept
far away from his anchorage, and was sup
porting with all the patronage of the Gov |
eminent the prOscriptiye party that he had, |
infercntally, most bitterly denounced.
And yet it was a fair inference that the |
Conservatives, in defeating the proscrlp-
tives and clecting WALKER, had done eX-
actly what General GRANT said should be |
done. Therefore the memorable telegram
sent TO Gen. GRANT by Mr.. DANIEL, presi- |
dent of the Central Conservative Commit |
tee, ongratllating him upon the success Of
his policy in Virginia, was correct, and yet, !
owing to the general taithlesSness to "his
policy" it became one of the sharpest
pieces of irony that we remember.
Thus the new movement, organized by
Virginia and Steered by the "Committee
OF Nine,' gained its first great victory. 1t
has gradually won its way to favor, and
now is the accepted platform Of all really
patriotic men not blinded by prejudice or
mlsled by greed for office and emoiuinent.
1t is no more BIZ. VALLANDIGHAM's IDEA
than it is the idea of the King OF Dohamy.
Indeed, Mr.. VALLANDIGHAM has until re-
Gently bitterly opposed it and sought 10
build up party on the old idea connected
with issues upon reconstruction and Inc
constitutional amendments, which are IN
separable from the war and its bitter pas
sions. -,.. .. ...-
MIR. yA1LANDIGHAM has thought more
wisely on it, and is now passenger III the
ship of the Virginia moYement-that ship
which will finally take us through the
storms and agitations growing out Of the
strife of blood, and bring us safely into the
harbor of national harmony and prosperity,
Under the true administrative virtues"
of wise and trustworthy men.
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mt.