Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1872-08-22
Address of the Conservative. State
COMMITTEE.
~. ~ ri 49,.

10 t1e CoaSe7y1tiN F0erS o. pTytae0'
In discharge Of the duty devolved on
tho State Committee by the late Con-
sentative Convention. VIC present list Of
assistant and senatorial electors fer the
presidential campaign 1t has been pre-
pared with much care, after consultation
with such Of our consulting members as
recently assembled With US in council, and
|,on such formation as could be procured
from .the district. rot represented On that
occasion, Ths list Of county canvassers
| will Be published as soon as it! is com
pletcd. =. $50 isd 9as
Another Office was assigned to the com
mittee Of i stili more delicste and respon-
sible ebaracter-that Of redressfng The
inequalities which existed in our plan of
Organization inregard to voting in nomi
mating conventions.
The original plan by which representa-
ton in nominating conventions was re-
Egulated by townships and precincts had
been condemned as upfxed and uncertain
because liable to constant change in their
number and bounds; as arbitrary and
and unequal, because of the difference in
! the number Of their Conservative popu-
lation respectively, and as affording no
! test Of their relative Conservative voting
strength. ~
Two othev bases of arrangement sug-
gcsted themselves-population without
regard to color, and the numerical Con
sentative voting rtrepg tn. The first
presented this incongruity, that those
would have practically weight in the Sc
lection Of our candidates who, so far from
having any weight in electing them,
mike it their prime object, as party, to
defeat them; and it was felt that until
the blacks shall become citizens in fact as
well as in name, and act upon some more
rational ground of public conduct than
blind and fanatical opposition to all that
tho whites propose. they can never be
counted properly as part of the Con-
servative body, any more in the selection
than in the appointment of those deputed
to represent it. That plan being dis
carded for these obvious reasons, nothing
remained but the method adopted by the
committees nominating vote in con-
ventions by each township and precinct
scaled by its Conservative vote in the
next preceding State election, Or election
for the Legislature. as the conventions
may determine. Counties having large
negro population may regret the loss Of
representative strength by the operation
of this rule, as compared with the strong
Conservative counties, and prefer the
population basis; but surely the latter
might complain with more justice of a
system by which their just influence
would be dwarfed and weakened by the
accidental presence in the:former of that
:antagonizing and lnimical element.
/ 1t is gratifying to preceive the ready
approval and adoption in all the convea-
tons which have since been held of the
rule adopted by the committee, and it is
believed that the more it is examiL ed and
tested the more it will grow in public
i estimation.
The campaign on which we now enter
opens with brilliant auspices. Nothing
is wanting to complete triumph in oul
State but diligence aud energy in the
acorh Of organization, and for this We
earnestly appeal to our whole party-our
electors, our county superintendent and
assistants, our rank and hle-in word
to all who sigh for deliverance from the
Houte of Bondage.
There are some considerations which
so far as the future can be safely reason
ed about, would seem to make the success
Of the Cincinnati movement secure.
1t is the FIRST real honest proffer OF
peace to the Southern States which has
been made since the war, and we, Instead
OF meeting the offered grasp of friendship
with the shut hand raised to strike, re-
ceiye the offer with heartfelt cordiality
Il is not too much to say that the whole
South will so respond to it, except where
oppression, military and civil, has stided
the public vocie beyond the power of ex-
preston. Indeed, the desire for peace,
real peace, is growing--nay, has grown
into national sentiment. This feeling
which, with other causes, originated the
movement will guide its progress and
| govern its issues.
1t is the first instances in our political
annals when nearly all the wise and good
of great party in power, cutting loose
from party trammels, have come out from
their recent associates, abjured their
policy and practices, proclaiming broad.
liberal and national statement principles
embracing all the important needs and
wants Of the country, and without concert
| rather by spontaneous impulse, have
been joined in their action by another
great and powerful party in common war
against abuses and evil practices which
awaken the indignation and censure Of
both. The cause Of this anomaly lies
deeper than in the practices of politicians
and party leaders. 1t is popular move
ment. the impulse of the popular heart,
and finds its fit expression in that decla-
ration Of principles which make up the
union policy of the great Liberal Repub-
lican and Democratic parties.
1t is therein declared that tho changes
in the Constitution which came in place
of treaty peace between the warning Sec
siens are transacted things-belong to the
irrevocable past-and can never be dis
turbed; and that amnesty, forgetfulness,
forgiveness, On both sides, without any
sting of reservation to mar its generosi-
ty and grace, is alike the right and the
duty Of sill.
That the rights Of the States to their
proper autonomy shall be sacrediy pre-
served, and the rights Of tho citizen,
particularly as guarded by the great writ