The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-10-09

so also did they just as fully and sincerely.
President Lincoln was right when he suid
The rebel soldiers are praying with great
deal more earnestness, fear, than our own
troops, and expecting God to favor their
side. - There is nothing so discour-
aging as their evident sincerity in their
prayers"
From their standpoint we were wicked
aggressors and all our arguments to convince
them We were not would be as futile as
theirs to convince lis that we were. We
must be content to let the matter stand thus.
We believed we were right, they believed
we were wrong; and so our several opinions
with the issue OF the contest will pass into
history. .-..-.. -.
fr"Eutif after the war the whites of Virginia
| possessed all the political power of the State.
| The war, and the subsequent contest be-
| tween Congress and President johnson,
gave political
POWER TO THE CoLoRED PEOPLE. -
! Up to this time the master class possessed
unbounded influence over the servant class.
The moment, however, that the col0red peo-
pie obtained political rights the master class
| found their influence was gone. The former
servant had looked about and found a new
guide. 1t may be this was partly or entirely
| the fault of the old master. 1t does not
| help the matter now to know where the first
! blame was. But the master found the Yam
| kee," who had lately been Ia arms against him,
| leading bis servant, and the TWO forming u
| party independent OF him, and threatening
| bis Iong-continued control. am not ques-
| tionipg their right to combine, nor am I as
sailing the wisdom or honesty of their SUBJ
sequent acts. l only introduce them to show
the train of events that were forming opin-
ions in the minds of the people. DO not
forget this.
When the combination was first made, the
servitude of the colored man and the war
| record of bis new leaders were fresh in the
minds of the people, and they added the
| combination to the list of their real or sup
posed grievances. They looked with suspi-
cion and distrust upon the northerner be-
cause they believed he only controlled the
colored man by misrepresentation and de-
ceit. The charge may have been we'll
founded, or it may not have been so. They,
the old citizens, believed it TO be so, and that
belief is the thing that interests US now.
They had that belief. and from that day to
this it has been rather confirmed than
changed. And rs a northern man / must
confess many things occurred to confirm it.
lIuc DdSSCu OtI, DllHSlSS OLHCl
settlers in. Many of
THESE NORTHERN SETTLERS WERE REPUBLICANS.
Some of them came for work, some of them
came for place; bat all of them, when met
by the managers of the Republican party
here. were talInted with " "sceking the strong
side" and "desertion of principle" where
there was any indiSposilion to join the CO.
lored men and their few white leaders. This
went on until it began to be looked on as
matter of course that northern emgrant
should side with the servant class and against
the white native citizens. 1t is not easy for
US to put ourselves in the place of these en-
ConfederateS, or to reason as they lid and
do. If we could we would not probably
wonder so much at many things they say
and do We assert and | believe that we
have all put behind us the hostilities Of the
war; but voting and acting as we do, they
cannot so understand it. From their stand
point we must be controlled by
OUR OLD PREJUDICEs AND ANIMos1TIEs,
or we would not SO blindly and uniformly
vote against them. TO their mind it is but
another method of continuing war we all
hoped was happily ended. need not say,
my friends, that many of us are wrongly
Judged in this matter. We know that. But
the fact that we are so judged is none the
less true; and it should make us the more
circumspect in our political action. We
ought to be firm in the exercise of our rights.
But we ought to exercise them to lessen ra-
th er than increase the discomfort that fol-
lowed the war. He who does not, fails in
part of his duty as Il good citizen. We
ought not unnecessarily TO add ourselves to
the number who are pointed at rs enemies
Of the South and her people. We came here
to live. 1t makes no difference to any one
what we like here-Whether the soil, the
climate, the people, the prospect, or none of
them. We are here to live. We desire to
raise or families here, to educate and settle
our children here, and we wish to be of
and part of the people here. We want
to be their friends.
VIE NEED THEM FOR OUR FRIENDS.
So all of us will be most prosperous and
happy But how can we hope to gain this
end if we always vote so that they believe
| in our enmity? It cannot be done! 1t can.
not be done. If we wish to secure their
| friendship we must sometimes vote rs though
we desired it. would have no man vote
against his conscience for the friendship Of
all the earth. But before rejecting proffered
friendship / would have him weigh we'll
what he is voting for and against; whether
in bracing himself against one influence he
is not pushing himself into the jaws of an
other and worse; whether his action is con-
science or prejudice. Let us give old no.
tions, old prejudices, old passions, to the
winds. Let Us open our minds to passing
impressions. Let us see and hear before we
| determine. Let us seek out and accept the
| best--the best for ourselves and the people
we come to live with and associate with.
Then let lis wisely, temperately, and firmly
act for the future regardless of the past.
At the conclusion of Colonel Boards ad-
dress vote of thanks WAS unanimously ten
| dered him, and a resolution ratifying the
nominations passed amid great cheering and
enthusiasm. In response to calls able
speeches were made by Messrs. John Hun
ter, Jr., w. S. White, and Darlington Ca
bell
The meeting was one of the largest ever
held in town, and the Wide-Awakes deserve
| credit for the manner in which the meeting
was conducted.
At the conclusion of the meeting Colonel
Beard and friends were Hospitality enter
tained by Vice-President Jones, OF tine
Alerts.
This was not the grand ratification meet.
inc intended to be held, but was mprovlsed
at short notice by the Wide-Awakes, the pi-
oneer campaign club of the State.
WARD MEETINGS To-N1GHr.-Ward meet
ings of the Consely yatiye party will be held
at O'Clock tonight to elect delegates to
the City Convention, which convenes at
the Exchange Hotel on the 10th instant,
to nominate candidates to represent the