National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-03-17

the colored and the white raceA Since his
hts enthusiastic ssupptsen In Issersburg
have burned him in (ngy, however, and
nave sttsmpted to Ak pan hin the stigma
OF pclitiul tseacAssy NJ are inclined 70 &C
cepe his peo6essioas q the honest prompt
inp OF IN honea heart We believe that
the man who b subjected % the adverse
critcifIA and enmity Of tho leading white
elsment Of Petersburg b one who thereby
becomes entitled to the respect and admira-
ton Of the law-abiding and justice-loving
people of the community. But there are
peculiar circumstances connected with Gov
ernor Hampers case which eatitle him to
extraordinary consideration. Very wisely
the Republicans framed proyiso in tho
constitution Of the State of Virginia giving
the Governor the veto power. The argu-
ment that the right to vets is one-man
power, and that 1t centres in the sin
gle will of one person the strength
to place obstacles in the way
Of desired legislstion, was advanced by
the Conservatives % sufficient reason why
the proviso should not be adopted. 1t Is
true that they expected 1t to be used only
by Republican Governors; but at the same
time they hoped to 90 gerrymander the
State as to secure an opposition majority in
the Legislature. Their objection to the
veto power becomes apparent with this ex-
and It Is one Of the strange coin
cidences Of politics that they should now
have occasion, at the hands of one Of their
own party. to regret their failure to success
fully assert that objection When they
framed the law intrusting the officers Of Con-
courts with the virtual govern
ment of the city of Petersburg they counted
without their host. They had precedents
for such an enactment both in New York
and Pennsylvania, in which States both
political parties have wrenched the political
control of great municipalities from the
rightfll hands of the people; but they had
no precedent of Governor, either in their
own or in another State, whose moral sense
of justice and whose obligation to duty gave
him the courage to veto such q law. Gov
ernor Kemper knew that the majority of
the voters of Petersburg are Republican,
and that to take from them the control
Of their own municipal affairs would be to
violate the plainest of the fundamental
principles of our governmental system. He
his pledges during the cam
paign. and that he had promised to inter
pose no obstacles to the advancement of the
black race. or the exercise of their rights as
citizens. Every Conservative speaker and
every Conservative journal in the State did
The same; and it is strange, now that he has
Kept his promise, that he has done some
hing to remove an obstacle to the exercise
Of the right to vote by the blacks Of Peters
burg. and that he has thereby done credit
10 his State and to his party, to sec him SO
roundly abused. to learn that he has been
burned in effigy, and that he has been sub
ected TO the contumely of his own political
associates. The conviction is forced by this
of the facts of the case that he
s honest while his former supporters have
assumed the character Of politi-
al traitors. They, and not he, have proved
alse. False they were when they promised
o protect the rights Of their for
ner slaves and false they proved
to be when they attempted
o destroy those rights, In Governor
zemper's course we recognize q pure
craftsmanship, which guarantees something
Ike equal justice to ALL and q near APP
roach to the true significance of the word
Let him pursue this policy,
nd we will hasten to acknowledge the fit-
ess of the title assumed by the party to
Which he owes his election. The field be-
ore him is wide, and has been but par
ALLY cultivated. He need not look beyond |
he limits Of the capital city Of the State to |
nd restriction of the rights of citizenship |
lmost as tyrannicalas that embraced in the |
Infamous act which he vetoed. When the |
olored people enjoy the same privileges in |
he courts that are accorded TO white citi- |
ems, he may rest again with new laurcls |
lpon his brow. Until then let him work |
nceasingly, with the assurance that he re-
elves the deserved sympathy Of all good
itizens; but under no circumstances must
e allow himself to descend to the dema-
ogism of an argument that a precedent
established by the Conservatives may be
sed to their oppression in the event of a
hange Of administration. Let him do
ight because it is right to do so, and let
i'm do it without regard to future political
contingencies. 1