The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1876-10-12
SEVENTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT.
cApT. +. W. EARLY's LETTER or ACcEP-
TANCE.


4 To Messrs. Ldacsoa,, PARKER md others, D
| the Republican Committee Of the Serenf
i Congressional district Of Iiryinia:
GENTLEMEN--I received OH the 4tll inst.
yonr communication informing INC OF m
nomination as the Republican candidate 10
Congress in this District.
A nomination unsolicited aud made tlnan
imously, implies confidence on che part o
The party, which is highly gratifying. AM
compels my acceptance in despite OF TIN
enormous odds which am called upon to Ell
counter.
| am forced to this conclusion by the pro
| found conviction that no man who esrnestl
| desires the success OF his party, is at libeT
ty to decline to sacrifice his personal inter
ests and feelings in order to promote the sue
cess of great questions, and advance interest
of national Importance.
We are in the midst of Presidential cam
paign which involves vital questions and mo
mentous issues, affecting the general wei
fare OF our common country and even threat
ening the continued existence of established
institutions and republican form of govern
ment.
1t remains for the white people of Virgini:
and the South to determine which of the two
great political parties shall receive their sup
port; whether, as the result of the rccen
elections in Alabama and Georgia would
seem to indicate, they intend to display al
anti-national and eX-Confederate spirit by
arraying solid and sectional South agans
united North; whether, in short. they pro
pose, at this late day, to return to the section
al times OF 81, and wrest victory from defeat
by winning at the ballot-boX all that was
| lost OH the field of battle.
| The best evidence of the spirit which con
trolls the Democratic party in this State, i;
the fact, that in each of her nine district;
an ante-bellum Democrat has been nomina
ted for Congress almost all of whom were
! secessionists per Sc, thus ignoring wholly the
old Wing wing of the present Democratic
party, which embraced the great majority Of
the men who stood by the Union and oppos
| cd secession but finally went with theil
| State.
| This spirit was boldly proclaimed anC
maintained on the floor OF Congress by The
| gentlemen who represents the AppomatoS
| District, in a debate in which he asserted
that this was not a nation, and the entire
! Virginia Democratic delegation further sig
nalized their want of patriotism and loyalty
! by voting against the Centennial Appropria'
| ton, initiating therein the action of our leg
islature, which refused a petty appropriation
| of SIC, 900, the amount required in order that
| Virginia. once the first State in the Union,
| should be represented at the celebration of the
nations hundredth birthday birthday
| which was conceived in the brain, and dated
by the pen of one of Virginia's illustrious
sons, and made permanent and glorious by
the victorious sword of another.
! 1t is conceded that not only in Virginia, but
| throughout the whole South, moderate men
of the present Democratic party have no
| weight Or influence, and the remarkable
spectacle is presented of the old Wings and
| Jackson Union Democrats, following blind
| ly to-day the same Democratic leaders Of the
Calhoun stripe, who fifteen years ago, under
! the preteXt of peaceful secession, precipta-
ted the South into u most disastrous civil
| war; gigantic struggle in which we gained
| brilliant victories and glorious laurels, but in
which our section was swept as by the Bosom
| of distinctions; three hundred thousand of
our best and bravest died OH the field; our
property lost and destroyed; our country
desolate and in ruins, and every heart and
home clouded in the gloom and humilia-
ton OF poverty stricken and conquerd peo-
| pie. Secession was worse than blunder: it
was political crime, and it is time for the
| Democratic leaders who brought upon us
| that Had Of woes, under whose fearful effects
we still groan, TO take back seats in the po-
| litical arena, and resign all claim to form
and guide public opinion.
''Blind leaders of the blind,' they boldly
present this issue to the union loving people
Of the North. Shall the men who fought to
| preserve the Union, surrender its control to
that party in the South which seeded and
battled to destroy it, and which in the North
sympatized in the attempt? Can any thought
full man doubt the result of this suicidal pol
icy, and fail to perceive its baneful effects in
destroying fraternal relations between the
sections, retarding the advancement and de-
velopment of the material interests of the
South by preventing immigration and the
Introduction of capital, and forcing the con-
viction upon the minds of men, that the spir-
it CT true craftsmanship and comprehension
OF measures tending to render our common
country and government, greater, more pros
porous, and enduring, has departed from the
public men of the South?
The people OF the South were divided into
three classes. Calhoun secession Democrats,
Uuon Democrats and Wings. Many of the
latter Two classes believe to-day that it is
better for the South and the whole country
that the Confederacy was a failure; that in q
great and united country there is strength
and glory, and protection for all; no danger
to republican institutions from standing ar
ernments, no danger of war between such
governments had they been established; no
danger Of our great Union being split and
subdivided and lowered from the proud and
lofty position as one of the first nations on
the globe. My political belief and that of
many others is embraced in the old Wing
motto, mo North, 70 South, no East, no
West, but our country, our whole country,
one and indivisible, now and forever.'' The
belief that on the maintenance of the Union
depends the welfare and prosperity of the
whole country, allies me forever and indisso-
lublv to that party Which preserved the Un-
ion, and antagonizes me to chat party whose
line of policy, nd the records Of whose lead
ers plainly show itissectional, reactionary and
anti-national.
The history of ancient and modern times
shows the value OF union in giving and pre-
serving power, liberty and prosperity. Greece
united was mistress Of the world, till the in
sidous arts of an Alexander turned the arms
of the sister States against one another, and
thereby overthrow forever the power and
liberties OF the most llustrious OF all nations.
England, Scotland, Wales and LELAND as
separate kingdoms. were constantly at war,
and Of no Importance; unitedas Great Britain
the extent of the dominion has been eloquent
ly epitomized, "a power whose morning
drumbeat, following the sun and keeping
company with the hours, circles the globe
with one unbroken strain of the martial airs
OF Britain"
Germany and Italy owing to divisions into
petty States, were the battle grounds of
Europe, and oppressed by foreign conquer
ers. Struggling through centuries for union.
behold consolidated Germany to-day the first
power on the continent, and united Italy oc-
cupying front rank among the nations.
Instances might be multiplied proving the
fact that the attempt to establish a confeder-
acy was reactionary, and its eXpediency OPP
posed by the history and experience ofnations
but our knowledge of the affairs of the neigh
boring States of Mexico and South America,
renders this unnecessary.
The record of the Democratic patty in
Virginia since the war has been most pecu-
liar, and its line of policy extremely vacilla-
ting. This mongrel party of model reform
ers seems to be consistent in nothing save its
strict adherence to Punic faith; it seems to
be destitute alike of name of platform and
OF fixed principles, in fact, of everything ex-
cept an Unsuitable longing for the spoils Of
Office.
In the Walker campaign. their candidates