The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1875-01-07


msy be continued in its articles. lis eSirava-
giant use OF the most abusive and incorporate
epithats, in its characterization OF Repu )lcanS
and the Republican party, is not calculated TO
arrest and carry conviction to the thoughtful
mind. Following the lea'l OF the most lnvete-
rate sectional prejudice, its style of argunenta-
ton, or rather lcnuncation, is more calculated
to arouse a feeling OF resentment, because OF
the natural Inference that it speaks by author
ity of the popular will and disposition Ct the
South, and especially Virginia, than to invite an
Impartial consideration of the questions it pre-
tends to elucidate. In its recent criticism OF
the proposition OF Senator Morton to chlnse
the method of electing the President and wee
! President of the United States, so rs to more
| directly secure an expression OF the popular
sentiment it assumes an inpartiality and fair-
ness on the part OF the Conservative-Demo-
cratic party OF the South, and a corresponding
wckedlness and trcacAery OIL the part OF the
Republican party, that it is not proper OF right
to c,ncedc to be true.
\ recent article in the Washington RepHbh-
can, anticipating the contingency OF the entire
electoral vote of the late sl;lyeholdng states
being cast for the Democratic candidate in
1915, whether fairly Or fouly obtained, and the
necessity of the Northern and Western States
protecting themselves from the election of the
President by fraud and violence, is the occa-
sea for one OF the most abusive and ill-timed
articles it has been our fortune to read. Were
there no grounds for TIE apprehension express
ed by our Washington contemporary, and no
significance 10 be attached to the White League
organization throughout the cotton States, in
the extreme measures it has adopted to control
elections, then there might be some excuse for
the Indignant, if not insane, fervar OF the DIS
patch But the careful reader of the current
history of the extreme Southern States, during
election times will have noted the fact that the
aygressioas have come from the organized
Leagues, first in the fact OF organization, and
then the avowed purpose Of organization to
control the elections, and then the result OF
blood and carnage, i'll which white and black
republicans haze invariably been the Victims
. We hear OF no attempts OF republicans to con-
troll by threats and intimidation democratic
voters. They have simply asked the privilege
of exercising the elective franchise in con-
Il
ments at the ballot box, under legal sanction,
and with the same freedom that their political
opponents do. 1t is not an excuse for tlae Use
+ of violence to assume that the negro is not CO.
Il pable of judging what is right, when he votes
! the Republican ticket. His appreciation OF
q the high privilege of franchise is conceded
= when he casts his suffrage for the Conservative
ticket. He is commended for the wisdom Of
his course, when this is the case, and only con
. d.mned and denounced when he votes for tht
Republican candidates, and declares i'll favo
of the government which has conferred upol
him the right he exercises. Nor will it do tt
y say that the granting Of this privilege is wrong
" lin itself. The Dispatch and the Virginia Con
seryltives were among the first to insist upol
. 1.-THE acceptance of the constitutional amend
;, / ments that guaranteed this privilege. Two
hundred thousand voters in Virginia sustained
:. the proposition, and now that the fact is a
= irreversible as fate, it has the appearance O
- madness to attempt to contrayene the logica
- result of that endorsation A strict observance
of the laws as they exist, and are destined t;
. eXist-the awarilment to each man the right t.
r, reflect his sentiments in his vote, free from
molestation or intimidation, will alone restor
= quiet to the South.
~ Neither will it comport with the truth
"A aver that there has been no fraud OF volenc
~ in the efforts that have been made to defea
the popular will as thus embodied. While WI
do not speak from personal knowledge, yet W.
believe it to be conceded fact, that election
have been carried even in the city Of Ric!lmon,
and in, flo IF Of
/, ular will as fairly expressed at the ballo
y box. The result in the Norfolk Congressional
District is of too recent date, to need more thai
"a a reference to establish the premise that tn
"a voice Of the people-of the legally constituted
4 voters-was defeated by the tricks and fraud
l.. of party. Passing from municipalities t.
4 States, we fad the same result in Alabama
T. where Republican majority of ten thonsant
= was turned into a Conservative victory of tel
Il thousand. and Republican majority of %, 90;
: in Louisiana, reduced down to dcbatable poin
\ as to which of the two parties is in the ascen
= dency, while in Vicllsblrg five score of blood
. corpses testify how republican officer can b
made to yield his legal functions and make wa
-, for a Conservative successor by default in til
:. election.
IL 1t is not the question whether the republican
~ candidates in these various Instances were tn
proper persons to hold eMcs and enforce law
- The point is, were the laws governing the case
- respected? That is the point that is attractin:
. :, the attention of the Northern mind and wheth
Or the election Of President is to be cons,lnl
" mated through the same instrumcntalites tina
=. =. have defeated the Republicans in States ant
Districts, in the South. If Conservative suc
;, cess in local instances means the practical nul
LITIGATION of laws, is it wonder that attention
3 is being drawn to this fact, as likely to be thu
> result in the more important contest for Presi
dent of the United States?
J., 1t will be we'll enough if Tins matter receive
:. timely and impartial consideration Throughout
= the South 1t will not do to rush madly on
d / over afl the restraints of law, and subordinate
e everything to prejudice aud feeling. 1t is
+ matter that Will have to be jlldieially deter
il mined. The denanciaton of the Republican
: party ofthe South rs horde of carpet-baggers
scal!awags. negroes, thieves and scoundrels, is
q no argument to show that the plighted faith Oh
= each State of the South has been religious.
n,;ntainnd-tJ,ot t1,o frnadn,,, U,11 ra ptaad Inv