Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1872-06-20

Governor William Smith.
HIS VIEWS ON THE POLITICAL
SITUATION.

HIS VIEWS ON THE POLITICAL
SITUATION.
WARRENToN, Va, May, "a, 1872.
Dear Sir-On reaching home I found
YOUR esteemed favor of the 18th instant.
Presenting as it does for your considera-
ton, the policy we should adopt in the
approaching Presiden tisl canvass. I be-
longing to a prescribed class, aud ineli-
gible 10 the offices and honors of our
State, may, in this form, be expected to
frankly contribute my counsel and advice
to those who may seem to desire tit is
pretty nearly all can do, and I shall do
it without reserve. rcI 1. ..
Governments are instituted among
men for their happiness, the chief end
being the protection of persons and prop
erty. They prescribe the mode of real.
izing these grand results, and it is called
a Constitutes. If the government thus
formed be administered in the spirit in
which it was created all is well. For
three-fourths of a century our govern
meut was thus administered. The officers
of the government were the servants Of
the people, and in the exercises of their
powers this relation was rarely forgotten.
But the case is widely different now.
The will of the people, as expressed in
the constitution, is no longer respected,
but has been made to give place to thatIof
our servants, who claim the right to do
whatever they may think Unnecessary to
the life of the nation" Hence the forms
of the constitution in the organization Of
the government alone remain and | do
not hesitate to say that in the Federal
government we have the most complete
aud VICIOUS despotism in the civilized
world. l say despotism, because those
who WELD the supreme authority of the
State with unlimited power are despots,
and that is now the case and | say Vi
cious, because the power is exercised cor
ruptly, maliciously, and tyranically IN
the last degree. Witness the manner in
which the Ku-K laws, as they are
termed, have been executed in North and
South Carolina. Upon the mere sugges-
ton of unknown, Interested, or malicious
or corrupt persons, without specific charg-
es, without warrant, and without even
affidavit, the armed soldier in the dead Of
night, breakes into the house of the citi-
zen, arouses the family from their peace
full slumbers, arrests trembling age and
trembling infancy alike, marches them
of without indulgence, delay. or prepa-
aration on the part of the victim, to some
comm on receptacle of vul garity and crime,
thence to some distant point. to be tried
by packed jury and by prejudiced
judge, and, by foregone conclu-
sion. convicted, and sentenced for long
term of years, usually to imprisonment
in the penitentiary of some distant State.
thus completing the ruin which the war
had left undone. And for what were
they tried? For conspiring to protect
themselves against the negro and others
who had been placed over them by the
wretched misrule Of Federal power. Shall
we omit any opportunity to rid ourselves
of ouch oppression as this 2 1t is not due
to ourselves, and to all our hopes of re-
storing constitutional liberty to our coun-
try 4? There should be no question about
it.
But while this is my clear and we'll
considered conviction Of duty, it is deep
ly interesting and important that We
should adopt the best policy to ensure its
accomplishment. To this great end, it
is plainly our duty to preserve the Dem
ocratic organization in all its strength
and vigor, and to move it as a unit in
the great work of our deliverance from
the despotism which habitually tramples
upon the constitutional rights and liber-
ties of the people. Under no circum-
atances should we disband. The ties of
party should be more firmly knit than ey-
er, and the recusant should find no quar-
ter now. Ofcourse We must send de le-
gates 10 the Baltimore Convention. And
it il most important and interesting
question as to what that body should do
when they assemble. I hold it to be
the duty of every good citizen to unite in
the effort. to free the country from the
government which now Expresses US, and
to restore that respect and reverence for,
and observance Of grants Of constitusi ton
al liberty. Doubtless the Baltimore con-
vention will fully recognize these consid-
erations, and the anxious inquiry should
be as to the best means of carrying out
the policy they indicate. i,
e Shall we boldly take the field under
our own banner and our own captains, or
shall we fall in as an ally, for this occa-
sion, ofthe Liberal Republicans? for l
axe it that no lover of constitu tional
libarty-no true man can, upon his sober
second thought, resolve to break with bis
party associates and enlist in the ranks
of the Radical Republicans,
Ought the Baltimore Convention. ia
roommate Democratic candida tes ? I'm.
doubtedly, if we could elect them. Our