The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1875-02-04
".JUsTICE."

we give DSloW the communication OF ',Jus-
tee, -" which was received last week, too late
for publication. We have no disposition to ell
ter into discussion with psr correspondent as
to the particular CONSTRUCTION he has given to
Isolated extracts from our article. We may,
however, repeat the remark made last week,
that nothing was farther from our intention
than to do an act OF injustice to Senator Lewis,
nor was it Our purpose to question his devotion
to Republican principles. We are perfectly
willing that the comment and the editorial
shall be read and considered by the same class
OF readers, satisfied that il any injustice has
been done, it has been perpetraIed upon us by
the article OF ''Justice.'' But as we have no
inclination to initiate proftless controversy,
we forbear reflections that naturally suggest
themselves at this point:
EDITORS VALLEY VIRe1NIAN:
Dear Sjrs.-In your paper Of the 2lst inst,
I notice an article headed senator Lewis
Letter." which [ think does that gentleman
great injustice
You publish the letter and then proceed to
comment on it, assuming that Senator Lewis
has taken a position which the language of his
letter does not warrant you in assuming 70
show how you have msconstrued the meaning
Of the letter, will first quote some Of the con-
tents contained in your editorial, and then
quote the letter itself. You say: ''We think
Senator Lewis was entirely too hasty in COM
ing to the conclusion lie did," SC. Then
again, ''The Presidents message, to be found
OH the first page OF this issue OF the VIRGIN
IAN, demonstrates that it would have been
better Tor Mi. Lewis, and all others, who have
given hasty expressions to opinions, to have
withheld d final Judgment until the official
facts were furnished for the action had.''
Then again, as if to put beyond all doubt
the fact that you want to say that Mr. Lewis
had written letter conlemning the action OF
the President, you say, Elm the approval we
have expressed of the action of the President,
we have the hearty and full concurrence OF
the leading Republicans in Augusta and Rock
ingham with whom we have conversed, all OF
whom regret that Senator Lewis should have
been betrayed into the fears he expresses, and
manifested by implication a distrrst Of the
conservative purposes Of the Administrations "
From this last quotation it will be seen that
you assert that Mr.. Lewis had condemned, at
, least by Implication, the administration. Now,
just here, will say that have not seen SEN
ator Lewis since the Louisiana excitement, nor
have 1 seen any letter from him on the subject
except the one which you publish, and it may
: be he does not approve of the action OF the adj
ministration in regard to Louisiana; but if so,
, there is nothing in his letter to warrant such a
conclusion, and | am surprised that your paper
which is a Republican paper, should be the
| first to suggest that Senator Lewis was oppos-
ed to the administration in its policy in regard
to Louisiana, and that he made haste to cen
sure the administration before the facts were
officially known.
The letter under discussion asserts, first, an
/ emphatic condemnation of General Sheridan :
! proposition to substitute trials by military
, commissions for jury; and, secondly, that he
1 Il
+ to exist by wrong and usurpatien There is
S not a sentence in the letter which censures tht
, administrator even by Implication and yol
know as we'll as do that ii Senator Lewis hat
: intended to condemn the administration be
c would not have hesitated to have done Sc
= in language clear and unmistakable. There
. fore the Inference to my mind is irresistible
= that Senator Lewis only meant what he said
i viz: to censure General Sheridan for his un
: constitutional proposition to substitute martha
v law for civil law.
Is Now, let US see The letteritsclf
q CITY OF WASHINGTON, I
92l, G street. January 10, 70. !
e My Dear Sir:
: There is great excitement here regarding
G the Louisiana question. AS You are aware
am party man and a Republican, but low
my country and freedom more than party,
. think the proposition Of Sheridan most infa
Il NOUS one, and he ought tie be recalled instant
IS er. If the Republican party cannot exist ex
q cept by wrong and usurpation, then lee it die
. 1t is not q Republican party but a military
despotism.
" Thanking you cordially for your prompt re
It ply to my letter, ain your friend,
. JOHN f. LEWIS.
y. TFhisis all that he says and no fair construct
, ion Of the language Gun make it mean more o
/ less than condemnation Of General Sheridan
e suggestion, and declaration that if the part.
V is to exist by usurpation and violations oil TN
constitution that then it would not be anythin!
more or less than q despotisnl.
think that everything in the letter is sound
W and endorse everything, except the opinion
It that General Sheridan ought to be recalled. Ii
;, this think Senator Lewis was too hasty.-
/" General Sheridan was so Disguised by thu
IS atrocities Of the leaders OF the White League
e that he naturally desired to see measure
J.. adopted which would. in his opinion, speedil,
check them in their bloody work, and not be
: ing lawyer he suggested remedy Nhic}
l. was clearly unconstitutional, and which ha
n been so declared by the Supreme Court of tn
a United States within the last six or eigh
! years.
This proposition of General Sheridan was s.
e repugnant to our constitutional liberty and s.
l. diametrieany opposed to that clause of the con
n stitution which guarantees trials by jury, tina
; no prominent Republican so far as have seer
or heard approves it,
It Every Republican Senator who has yet spo
G ken in the United States Senate has taken oc
$ casion to say that General Sheridan's suggest
ion, in Recommendation, could not be legal.
carried out
| President Grant, in his able message to tn
Senate, also says that General Sheridan's sug
gestien could not be adopted, because there
no constitutional way Of dsfng So
So you might as logically infer that Senator
: Conkling, Morton, Logan and Frelinghuysel
l were censuring the administration as that Sen
, ator Lewis did so in the letter above quoted.
Yours, &c.,
JUSTICE.
The Spectator, as usual, very ably copies AM
adopts as it's own, an editorial from the RicA
mona Dispatch, headed "The Grand Con
2 spiracy." The entire column is nothing but
+ mass Of partizan stuff, absolutely insulting t
} the intelligence Of the country. Because tn
} President has simply taken action under hi
: oath of office in conformity to the constitution
an the laws, to suppress Instruction and pre-
vent bloodshed in louisiana and Mississippi
he is denounced as scheming conspiracy t
y overthrow the government and destroy repub
, lcan Institutions He has done no more thai
Washington did in Pennsylvania, during TIN
whiskey rebellion; than Tyler did in Rhod