Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1875-12-31
' mf!!yht Minhitatar+
FRIDAY MORNING, DEC. 81, 1875.
Local..
THE CANVASS.

Local.
THE CANVASS.
CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN HON. A. II.
IL. Quart AND CAPT. OPIE-A PROPO-
sITIoN Observation-Disclosures OF MR.
sTUART-IE DECLARES HIMSELF WILL
LING TO SERVE IF ELECTED-REMARKs
OF CAPT. OPIE,
&C., &C., &C.
The very brief canvass about to be open
ed in Augusta county, for member of the
| House, may be said 10 have been opened
| on Monday last. The announcement that
| Hon. A. H. H. Stuart would address the
| people on the financial condition OF thu
State had drawn larger crowd than il
usual on court days, and as the result Of
| the holidays there Was a large sprinklint
| of colored people around the court hOus.
porch. from which Mr.. Stuart's address
| was delivered, Judge Hendren, from the
pressure of business, not having been able
| to grant the use Of the court room. AT
noon. Mr.. Stuart who was evidently labor
| ing under indisposition, having passed a
sleepless night before, addressed the people
| of the county.
REMARKS OF Mr.. STUART.
| Mr.. Stuart said he had hoped to address
them somewhat at length from a position
4 more convenient to both speaker and au-
dience, but His Honor. Judge Hendren,
from a strong sense Of public duty had,
under pressure of business, been obliged
| to decline allowing the use of the court
room. His object was to fulfil q duty which
| ought TO have been performed more than
| six months ago, and he could but feel that
| he had been guilty Of a great error in not
| having given an account Of his steward
ship en- his return from the General AS
| sembly. 1t had been the custom before
the war for the returning representative
| to give an account Of what he had done,
and his reasons for doing it; but when he
| returned last spring he had found so much
apathy among the people that he had not
| felt called on to render his account; so that
he thought both were to blame-the people
for their apathy, and he for his failure.
The custom was good one, giving the
people clear understanding of what had
been done, and the representative an OPP
portunity of placing himself fairly before
the people, From having passed a Sleep
less night he found that he would not be
able to enlarge on the subjects which might
be set forth, and would confine himself to
few of the more prominent topics
PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONs.
More than thirty years ago. when scarcely
more than Il STRIPPING, / was sent from
this county to the General Assembly, with
Instructions to secure you an outlet to
| market for your productions. I was sent
as a young champion of Public Improve
ment. You. now in the full fruition Of
those schemes, can hardly unders and the
difficulties of those days. l left at O'Clock
in the morning, and on the first day got to
Charlo tesvi!le; on the second, to Whining
ton. Fluvanna, and on the third reached
Richmond-thr days and SIT spent TO go
to Richmond-a journey you can make to-
day in one-fourth of the time, and at less
| than half the expense. You farmers re-
collect when it took a fortnight for a
wagon-load of your flour to go to Rich
| mond and return, and many days and much
expense to 60 to Scottsville, the shorter
point The delegation consisted of Kenton
Harper and VIM. Kinney and myself, and
| il secured for the countY-let US see what:
it secured as the result of three years legis-
| lation the erection of the Deaf, Dumb 4
| Blind Asylum, at Staunton; the building
of the Valley Turnpike; the building Of
the roads to Parkersburg and the Licking
ton pike and. in addition, an appropriation
of S75, 900 for the w. L. Asylum, which
under the adm Illustration of the lamented
DR.. otribling was transformed from a
prison into an asylum, and now stands
first among the asylums of the country. l
then withdrew from public life until l Al,
when was nominated for Congress, and
in a canvass with Gov. Mcdowell, was
elected. After serving three sessions, hav-
ing large family TO support, returned to
private life and the practice of my profess
sion, and remained until 1859, when | was
summoned 10y President Willard Fillmore
to his cabinet, where my companions were
Webster and CorWin, and .;rittenden and
| Edward Everett. and men of that stamp.
I can say that tried to do my duty, and
| can remember but one act of mine in that
office that was thought to be of questi ona-
BILE character | had been bred up in the be-
lief that the name of Virginia was the
synonime of everything that was honorable,
and trusted her She was building a
monument at her capital to the greatest
| OF her sons; she was engaged in extending
a work of public Improvement to the Dor
ders Of your county, and while she was 80
engaged she wanted money. then, trust
! ing in Virginia, as Secretary Of the In
terror, loaned the State out of the Indian
annuity fund 100000, with which she
completed her works. This money was
rom the Indian fund, and the bonds are
now held by the Indians, and yet there are
men within her borders today who say
that obligation ought to be repudiated!
| HOW THE STATE DEBT WAS INCURRED.
Have you thought Of how the public debt
of Virginia was incurred? 1t was in
Cured to build the James River Il Kanawha
| Canal, the Chesapeake IL Ohio r. r.. the
| three State Asylums for the insane. The
Deaf, Dumb Il Blind, the University of
Virginia and the Virginia Military Insti-
tute--all for the benefit of the people. The
institution of learning for their education
the institutions of humanity for their re-
! lief and the Railroads for their commerce
and facllitaticn of intercourse. And yet
| / am told there are men within the limits Of
Augusta who are willing to repudiate it.
| The State now owes little over $29 ,000-