The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1876-03-15
Tho WHO'S defence of the course Of The

The Who's defence of the course Of the
chairman OF the State Executive Committee
contains the following paragraph, which we
reproduce as an act Of justice to that officer:
But, Notwithstanding this disclaimer, 1t
forthwith quotes an article from the issue OF
the Wing bearing date October 80, 1874, in
rotation to the Walker canvass. which it az.
tempts to hold the chairman Of the Exeeu.
tive Committee responsible for, although IL
is perfectly well known to the editors OF the
Dispatch that for months before and for up
wards Of year after the date Of that article
the chairman Of the Ex acu'ive Commute
had no connection whatever with the Hh9'
much less control over It's columns"
That's cool ia the face Of the following,
which appeared in the Wing last week:
GAS to the course Of the Wing, we, lndi
yjdusilg, the editors, are personally ana
solely responsible for its polst,cas course, ana
for eyery word 10 its editorial columns. Its
nroprieiors, heretofore and now, confding
in our iuGgment, have never interfercd in
the least degree with the perfect freedom
OF action that we have, and shall ever main
tain" ...s.
ave have no apology TO offer for our
course in that canvass 1.-THE Walker canyassJ.
We did as we had perfect right TO do
oppose The nomination of our present repre-
sentaiive-and we utterly deny that there
was the siightes. obligation imposed upon
lis ny virtue Of our connection with the
Executive Committee to keep silent pending
the canvass for the congressional nomination.
We offered no factious opposition 10 Gov
ernor walker, nor penned line not In har-
moav with that party discipline that we nave
pcrSs.e1;ly maintained should DC rlSioit
enforced"
Tnc>e two extracts establish the point that
We were trying 20 make against the chair
m3n aforesaid. Last week, he declared that
he bad 10 apology TO make for his course IL
the Waller canrass. This week he declares
that for months before October 20, 1874, he
b.d no correction with the Wing, although
Governor WALKER was nominated less than
t"o months before tia. date. We DON'T
know when he first came 10 the Wing, nor
when he went away, nor when be came
back and We do tol care to examine our
files 10 fled out. Ope thing is certain: the
chairman Of the State Executive Committee
ought not to be q man who is here to-day
ard gone ;o.morroH "-nor one who edits &
Conservative organ in Angus, turns it over
to boilers in October, aud takes it back
again the next year; because the general
public must necessarily be confused by such
state OF things. We were nisled by the
Chairman'S own avowal OF ais resp possibility
for the course OF the Wing in the WALES
campaign.
We quote again:
"The course Of the Wing, too, at later
Gay, in its Efforts to unseat nominee G
the Conservative party in this senatorial dis
trict' is otjacfed to. Hold on, friends; you
will fiod upon that subject discretion will bt
the better part Of valor, and If you really
have The good Of the party at heart tbs
sooner you drop and forget, if possible, tina
controversy the better. We have made
some sacrifices TO dc so. but just here let II:
say we unGcrstaud our duty 10 our party dit
frrently. You. 1t would appear, would &C,
cord O c0utrs'ed scat 10 Il nominee because
be is the nominee. We would do nothing
of the kid. We would sustain him AS u
candidate nefore the people, but award the
scat 10 bum alone who vas honestly and fairly
elected, whether the nominee, an lHdepcn.
dent, or republican"
The Wing misrepresents our position. We
took no part in the decision Of the question.
We lefC the whole matter to the Senate. The
Wing, on the contrary, declared that JOHN
son Yves not fairly elected, and Insisted time
and again tina, the Senate should unseat him.
Even the above paragraph by implication
charges the Senate with having seated q
fraudulen'ly elected candidate, although he
was 50 seated by vote of twenty Conse1va.
tives TO fifteen Conservatives. We have no
reason for dropping the matter. "The
party" has suffered from the course
Of the Wing, not from ours. II
those who sustain the nominees must
keep silent for fear of offending boilers,
then "tbc party" is already dead. But the
Wing is more eXacting even than that. II
thinks that We have need to hold our peace
now and hereafter because we took no part
in trying to unseat JOHNSON! II we arc
guilty, who refused to Try to Influence the
action OF the Senate, and left that body free
to Judge for itself as TO whether JOHNSON
was elected or not, what must the chairman
of the Executive Committee think of TIT
guilt of DANIEL, and HEKNDoS, and CRlTCuER
and CLAUGuToN, and all the rest of the sen
s.ors who spoke and voted for the seating
of a senator cit cted by fraudS
The chairman declares that he is anxious
to surrender his position. We can Yer.
easily credit bis assertion. 1t is thankleS
pace. But we assure the chairman that we
do not object to him as himself, but in BIZ
capacity as editor Of the Wing. We have
found no fault with bis course as chairman
But we think that we have shown that how
ever suitable man N. B. MEADE may be fo
the place, the editor of the Wing certain!
ought not to hold it. ...