The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1873-09-18
WHAT IS CoNSlsrE

WHAT IS CONSISTENCY!
Several of the speakers in the recent Con-
sentative club meetings in this city have
deemed it appropriate to make allusion to the
editor of this paper, and his consistency, &c
Inasmuch as we are not candidate for any
sfice, and not asking the sufrages Of the
people for ourself we must decline to enter
into minute defence. We have bigger
game inview than to vindicate our consistency
against the attacks of these gentlene b.
They neyer reach to the discussion of any
tangible issue involved in the two policies
proposed for Virginia, but confue themselves
to retailing the stale stuff about the negro,
and the condition of South Carolina, which
has been worn threadbare by the Conserva-
tive papers of Richmond. 1t is necessary
that they should have something to gas about
10 kill time, and we have no objections to
any remarks they make about us, SO long as
shey keep within the recognized limits of pro
priety and courtesy. They do not seem to
understand that principles are Interchangeable,
chat parties are ohangeable, aud that there
is but little significance in o party nomen-
cature unless it represents we'll defined
principle. One guiding principle of ou'
life, part of our being, has been sympathy
rsth the people, and We have always main
tanned thas principle and policy of govern
ment and the party that represented it, which
aims to secure the greatest good to the great
est number" That is the principle that I'M
derlies the Republican party of to-day, it is
the principle that lay at the base of the old
Democrttic party, antagonizcd as it once was
by the old whig party, and nov is in Vir-
ginia, by the Conservative party. We have
an abiding faith in the expansbility of the
human intellect; that, whatever may be
said by chronic croakcrs to the contrary, we
are progressing to higher civilization, to a
more universal development of mans intel
lectual and moral attributes, and that in this
new era of unfettered freedom to all classes,
the ground work is to be laid for the full de-
velopment Of our system Of popular govern
ment, which contemplates the capacity OF
the people for selfgovernment.
To this conviction, to this principle, we
have never been inconsistent. 1t is the liv-
Ing, vitalizing essence of Republican theory,
and the fruitful agency of working cut the
grand destiny of the human raco
We lay no claim to routine consistency, of
adherlpg TO efete notions and traditional US
ages. 1t is in contravention of our idea Of
the elasticity Of the human mind, its grand
mission, to be run in the ruts and grooves of
the past, and do precisely as somebody else
before US has done. We would not give the
snap of finger for the man who was not in
consistent, measured by suck a standard
He is dragged down to the level Of material
Ism, if he is not ever inquiring and ever
seeking after new lights. In adhering to a
living principle of political economy, we
should not hesitate to change our party re-
lasions every morning. if the demands Of
that principle required it.
These gentlemen who assert our consis-
tency never essay to discuss d theory OF a
principle. Their dlsjointed harangues are
made up Of news paper paragraphs, embrace
lug surface transactions and individual ut
teranses. Their shallow brains do not com
prehend the object of parties or the appli
cation of principle. We, therefore, can af-
ford to allow them to indulge in their windy
illusions, and their aippant conclusions, and
exhaustive gesticula:ious, even if to make
up their silly pieces, they assail us. While
they are doing that. the principle we main
tain is progressing, silently Selling hold of
the minds of the people, and grounding itself
in their convictions. It is the living princi-
pie of free government the groundwork of
our political system, the vitalizipg agent in
the consummation of higher civilization
aud christianisation, the progressive element
in the mental and emotional organism OF
man, which fnds its expansion in a compre-
hensive understanding Of the principle Of
Republican government. These superficial
aeclaimefs might as well attempt to arrest
the order of nature or reverse the principle
Of gravitation, as to seek to stay the onward
progress of this principle Of our system of
government which harmonizes with the in
,tincts, the aspiratioad and the reason of the
people,. It is vitalizing and resistlcss and
is as sure to triumph as the sparks fly up
ward"
TAxEs.-The burden of the songs Of the
local campaigners in Augusta county Will be
he increase of taxes, in the event the Con-
5 .rvatives are defeated. Let the people re-
member what the Conservative have already
lone for them. They have piled up debt
r -