The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1874-03-11

j
that could hold the office. performed
the duties believe satisfactorily to the
people; and during my brief service in
that capacity challenge any one to show
that any violator Of law went unpublished
by my dereliction.
The fourth affirmation concerning my
connection with the postoffice at Manassas
IS also incorrect in several particulars. In
1871, some time after had ceased to be
attorney for the commonwea th, Hon.
Lewis Mckenzie, then an &C Independent
member of Congress, without any solicita-
ton on my part, offered me the position of
postmaster at Manassas, which accepted.
Il IS incorrect that was compelled to re-
sign the Office by Grants order,n when
| was elected to the Legislature. The or
der of the President sin ply forbids Fed
eral officeholders, whose salary is over
81 900 per annnm, to hold any state
office l am sorry to say that the Manas.
sas office is not so valuable. SO that, as
far as the Presidential order is concerned,
l might have been postmaster and
member of the Legislature at the same
time. But notwithstanding that was not
within the letter. Of the Presidential order,
| did recognize its spirit, and before was
elected, as soon as | became candidate
for the General Assembly. 1 resigned the
office Of postmaster, and I did what was
never before done in Virginia to my knowl-
edge: l recommended the Postoffice de-
partment to allow the patrons of the office
to select their own postmaster by ballot.
The result was thar all the people, Con-
Ssrvatives and Radicals, met together and
elected my successor who was duly recon-
mended and appointed.
The last charge | shall notice is that a..
enough was elected as an Independent"
I am "Civil Rights" man and "Radi-
tai" | will simply say on this subject,
that l do most emphatically endorse the
second plank of the last Conservative
platform, guaranteeing equal civil and pr.
litical rights to all citizens Of the state, ma
tive and adopted, white and colored.
believe that if the Conservative party car
ries out its principles thus authoritatively
announced, it will be worth untold millions
TO the Commonwealth. IF that is to be
a CIVIL Rights man and Radical of
the deepest dye" let the Petersburg press
aadke the most ofa!
Mr.. Speaker, it was my fortune or mis-
fortune, to have been brought up in the
belief that my allegiance was due to the
Nation, of which my native state formed
Q part. Under that belief I enlisted and
fought from the beginning of the recent
war to its ending in the armies of the
Union. But have no quarrel with the
young men of the South, who believing
that their allegiance was due to their state,
fought as long and persistentlv for what
they believed to be right. And from the
bright spring morning when under the
shado1 of the state Capitol at Raleigh,
divided my rations with the ragged
veterans in gray, who told me with
tears in their ewes that it VS.
true that Lee had surrendered, and that
they were on their long and weary mar h
to their homes in Georgia, from that time
to this defy the world to show that have
ever uttered one word or done single act
against any man because he served in the
Confederate army. have but one contest
with those brave men, and that is as to
who shall do most in building up the fields
and cities laid waste in the unhappy civil
strife.
The county which has honored me with
place on this floor is we'll known to you
all. Her geographical position made her
q sufferer perhaps beyond any other sec
ton of the South. Her very runs and
rivers ran red with the blood of war, and
the sound of the battle never ceased on
her plans till it ceased forever. Among
my constituents are some as brave as ever
rode with Mosby or fought with Jackson !;
and others, like myself, who have left the
homes of their youth and fallen in love
with the genial cline of Virginia. To
that people which l represent, to the
members of both parties who sit around
me and have observed my course on this
floor, and to the official record of this
house, l leave the question whether have
preserved the Independence" which I am
religiously pledged to maintain.