The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1871-06-22
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staunton Viryinian. How any man, who
was once true to the "Lost Cause could
have penned it, passes our comprehensive
In behalf Of the people of the Lower Valley
we make haste to condemn both the Ian
guage and sentiments of the article, as uu-
warranted by anything that Mr.. Davis said,
and as extremely un Kryinian. Ettu Brute
We take the above paragraph from the
Winchester Times. We wrote our article
criticizing Ex-Presidents Davis and john
sons course, at the time, after reading Mr.
Davis speech at Atlanta, in which occurs
the following sentence ssThese can't phrases
that We hear so much of about accepting the
situation and about our rights having been
submitted to the 'arbitrament of the sword
are but the excuses of COWARDS" The
logical inference from this quotation is, most
conclusively, that every man who did accept
the situation and submitted to the arbtra-
ment Of the sword, was coacard We as
sumo that he has accepted it, from the fact
that he is not in armed resistance, and is liv-
ing under the laws. We further assume that
the Implication is fairly deducibe that Mr..
Davis has called every officer and soldier
under the command of General Lee, aud
Gen. Lee himself, coward Mr. Davis has
no more right to call such men towards than
we have to say that he brands himsclfa cow
ard when he does so.
The abstract sentiment of the speech of
Mr.. Davis at Atlanta, SO far as it relates to
political theories, may be all right, but they
are not practical at this period. The situa-
ton has been accepted, and We can no more
change it than we can destroy the govern
ment that made it. The facts which the re-
suit of the war has forced upon US, are ire
yersible, until the character Of the admins.
tration is changed and the Democratic party
which maintain those theories is again in
power.
Mr. Davis course, in our judgment, is
calculated, and must inevitably result in the
defeat of. the wishes of every friend and sup
porter Of the original Constitution. One
thing certain, it is inevitable as fate, that
negro slavery, and the social organism of the
South, are gone forever There is nothing
in the range of human probability to base a
supposition on t hat such destiny could be
changed, from the fact that no one in the
South, at lie asst in Virginia, desires that me-
gro slavery should lie restored. We assum-
ed these facts to be SO, and hence our article.
The pun Of the editor Of the Times on
the pirytuaan, with an sun" pre6xed, if it
means anything, it is that the editor of this
paper is not true to Virginia. He was born
and reared in Virginia, and educated in a
printing Office, and not at the University of
Virginia. We were educated to look at
things practically. This may account for
the different views taken by the editor of the
Times and ourseif. We are willing that
that difference shall exist, satisfied Of the
practicability Of our own views, and the want
Of it in those of Maj. Hunter. We believe
the people of Virginia thiak with US, and
that it is the only way to even approximate
the return to the forms and usages and the
fundamental ideas which have been hereto
fore asserted and practiced by the Democrat
ic party. Indeed, we are satisfied that no
other course than the one suggested in our
article of which the Times complains, can
ever alleviate the wrongs and expressions of
the South. Mr. Davis speech had sentence
on which We commented. We conceive it
can have no other effect than to rivet the
chains which are now bind ing the Southern
people to the ground, His speeeh-making
will have the tendency to fix our present con-
dition irrevocably, at least this is our cougic-
ton. We have never yet been accused of
faithlessness to Virginia, and if the editor Of
the Times means to convey that idea it is
simply for the reason that he doesn't know
what he is writing about.
We cannot see the application Of the stale
latin quotation Of our cotcmporary-et tn
Brute. We do not profess to be Brutus,
nor do we suppose Mr.. Davis claims to be a
Caesar, modestly bowling his head for the
imperial crown to be placed on it. It was
then the Republican Brutus drove the fatal
dagger, to save the Republic, and the world,
in all ages, from that period to this, has APP
pauded the act. Virginia's grand motto is
Down with Tyrants."