The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1873-10-02

| which its taking and faithful keeping iavolv
ed. had for four years been against thu
Union, against all the laws and proclama
tions mentioned in this oath. I had beer
for the Confederacy and for all those doc
trines and principles of government whiel
had beer staked upon the issue of war, and
had been lost.
| This oath required right-about face from
me. and from every honest citizen who tool
it. It required from me that act of imconsastcm
cy, that only act, which my enemies SO mucf
and SO continually condemn. Yet, every
one of them committed the same inconsisten
| cy in 1865 which did. I took new po-
sitioa then | have stuck to it like an hon.
est man, like loyal citizen, like faithful
patriot. Have this party done SO? Let us
see /:
That oath was an acceptance Of the YER
dict of the war on all the questions of poll.
tics which we had staked upon the issue OF
arms. 1t was an abnegation Of the Confed-
eracy, Of its cause, and of the distinctive
principles Of politics on which the Confeder-
acy had beed maintained by its friends. It
was an acceptance Of the Union, of the aboli-
lion Of slavery by arms, and of all the logic
al results which should come from rc-estab.
fishing the Union, and from abolition of sla-
very.
You will recollect that we all took well to
our diet Of humble pie for some time and
that none seemed SO content with their ra-
tions as the persons who now are the most
rampant Conservatives. You will recollect
that the clemency of the government was a
subject Of thanks and praise in the mouths
of all and that Andrew Johnson's policy
of 'making treason odious" was promptly
abandoned even by himself You will rec
ollect that after year or two-Johpson hav-
ing grown fat-the opposite policy began to
be manifested by some of our present Con
servatives, namely, the policy of "making
loyalty odlous." think can Justly claim
to have done as much to prevent treasno
from being made odious by the authorities,
as any Virginia man, and I doubt if there is
Virginia man who has been more vililied
than myselfby those who for the last five
years have been trying to make zogalty obi
Gus.
The year 1867 came on. You may recol-
lect that Democratic convention was called
to meet in Richmond, in December, to organ
ize against the adoption Of State constitu-
ton, nat one line Of which had then been
a0ritten. This Democratic convention met !;
and it contained men who felt extremely
awkward in Democratic oonclave. They
we're such men as Mr.. Baldwin, Mr.. Stuart,
and other old Wings. So it was resolved to
call the convention aud the party it organ
lied, the Conservative convention, and party
Of Virginia. Then was organized the party
which we Republicans are fighting to-day.
have given the oath Of allegiance which
its members took. Now behold the chief
plank in the platform Of this new Conserua-
the party
ATIC-coNsERvATIvE PLATFORM OF
DECEMBER II, 1867.
"This convention doth distinctly declare
that the governments Of the States and of
the Union were formed by white men to b.
subject to their control; and that suffrage
should be so regulated By the States as to con.
tinue the federal and state systems under the
control and direction of the white race"
Observe the ingredients of which this new
tangled platform was compounded. They
were state-rights-ism and white-n,an's party
ISM. State rights had been virtually repu-
dated by the members Of this party in their
oaths OF allegiance to the Union, after wa
in which state-riglt-asnp had been staked and
lost. Race prescription had also been virtual
ly repudiated by them in swearing to the
, same oath. But here these dogmas are drag
ged forth again to light. It is pretended
that the Republicans Of Virginia are respon-
si5le for raising this issue of race and color.
But the resolution just quoted discloses
that as early as 1867 the Conservatives made
Virginia for aohite Nryinians the chief plank
in their platform. You will see that the
authors Of this platform, having sworn allie
glance to the Union in 1885, and renowned
the principles which had been staked on the
issue OF arms, now turn around in 1867, re-
hoist the state-rights banner, and 1naugurate
war OF race against the results of the acts
OF Congress and proc!amations Of the Presi-
dent in behalf Of the colored population.
Our Conservative friends, we see, were
one thing in 1865, and the exact reverse of
that thing in 1867.
How were they in 1858? The Conserua-
ti0es of Virginia again met in State conven-
ton, In Richmond, in May Of that year, to
appoint delegates to the National Democratic
convention which was to be held in Tammany
Hall, in New York city. The delegates
were sent.
What was the platform adopted there I
give the essential resolution in it., which you
will recognize as again brim-ful of the state
rlgsts-isna and sahite-mon-isnp which had been
forsworn in the oath Of allegiance taken in
1865.
The following was the Leading resolution !:
THE NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM FOR
JULY, 1868:
"We do declare and resolve, that ever
sisce the people of the United States threw
off all subsection to the British crown, the
privilege and right Of suffrage haze belonged
to the several States and have been granted
regulated, aud controlled cIusively by the
political power Of each State respectively
and that any attempt by Congress on any
pretext whatever, to deprave any State Of
this right, or to interfere with its exercise,
is fragrant usurpation of power which can
6nd no warrant in the constitution; and If
sanctioned by the people will sqbvert our
form OF government, and can only end in
single, centralized and consolidated govern
ment, in which the separate existence Of the
STATES will ha ent;ral1 ,bsorhod .d