The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1872-08-01

oTershadow the best Of the age. AS states
mln, no man has ever lived in this country
who has witnessed in his own day the con-
summation of his peculiar dogmas more COM
p'cely. As friend of the oppressed aud the
helpless, he is presented in bold relief, for the
central idea Of his life has been the personal
freedom aud the moral and intellectual ele-
walton Of the negro. His public life is with
out blemish in point Of integrity; no shade
Of mercenary selhshness rests upon him his
private life is distinguished by the most
scrupnlous purity. All that can be said a.
gainst him, is that he has antagonized the
social and domestic systems Of the South
but he has done it as statesman. Greeley
has done the same thing, but he has done it
as Politician
Now. if VIC can forgive one, why not for
give the other If the wells of human kind
ness have been opened in earnest, let the
waters flow freely and be Of unive rsal appll-
cation. Forget the past, wash out the black
record sponge off the slate, and commence
the new entries under the inspiration of an
elevated christian civilization.
We write this to test the earnestness Of
the original friends Of Greeley, for reconcile
alton. Who will DO the first to prescribe
US? We oppose partial amnesty for the
South and the North. We favor clean
sheet for both. IF the policy is right and
Just, it should be universal. fit is arplica-
Bile to Greeley, it is none the less SO for Sum-
ner. Let US not strain at a gnat and swallow
a camel. The only exception we have to
make is Beast Butler. After he has been
purged of his moral turpitudc, the stains that
rest upon him as q bold and reckless robber,
by term in some penitentiary, We may take
his case into consideration. The thief on the
cross had only to ask forgiveness. But when
the offence has only been difference of
opinion on political questions involving high
moral convictions as we'll as government pol
ICY honestly entertained and frankly stated,
if forgiveness is to be extended and fellow
ship courted With the one, do not withhold
it from the other.
Can any original friend of Greeley and
amnesty, dispute the justice Of the premise
or 90 farther towards carrying into practical
effect the beautiful sentiment Of Hea ven born
forgiveness, amnesty, reconciliation, fulfill
meut Of that blessed prophecy, when the lamb
aud the lion shall lie down together aud a
littls child shall lead them. It is the iuau-
guration Of the millennium.
Why cannot we forgive the mere utterance
Of a sentiment, when we have cheerfully re-
cognized, by formal and deliberate legislation
the destruction of our property, equalization
of citizenship, tho right of universal fran
chise, the devastation of our fields, the butch.
cry of friends and relatives, the lurid glare
of our burning homes If we can forgive
and forget these, as we do in spanning the
bloody chasm of the war and casping hands
with our battle SCARED foes aud their Incl
tiers, why not rise to the great christian idea
involved, and forgive everybody and every
thing? In adopting the Cincinnati platform
we declare that we will hold in sacred re-
membrance and cherish the obligation that
we are under to the soldiers of the Federal
army, for the service they have rendered us
in our subjugaton and the sea of troubles
that have swept over US by reason thereof
IF we can do this, why not forgive Sumner,
Wilson, and all the prominent Puritan pro.
pagandsts of New England moral ideas p
"Let us have peace, if to attain it we have
to swallow sewerage from now till dooms
day-gulrh down every new dish that is pre-
scented, and proclaim it as sweeter than the
nectar of the Gods.