The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1876-09-14

that line drawn between the two parties
would be simply separation of the sheep
from the goats, admitting there are good
and bad elements in both, you do not believe
, that in intelligence, ability, patriotism, pub
lie virtue. and private character, the Repub-
lican party would suffer by the comparison.
Try the question by the history Of your own
city, county, State, or Of the whole country,
which party is the best representative of the
heart and conscience of the Nation; in
whose hands is its honor safest, its welfare
most secure? Which is the most intolerant
. fraud?
} The success of the Democratic party
means more than the control OF the Federal
Administration. 1t means powerful intlu-
ence cxerted in every State, county, ard
school district. Now, there are certain gen.
eral principles and outlines of policy which
people by tacit consent desire should be rec
ognized and pursued. Among these are,
chat the Government in all its various de-
partments, general, State, and municipal,
should be economically administered, not to
confer places and honors, but as the com
mon guardian Of all, its whole power pledged
to each for the enjoyment OF his own.
That there should be no liberation Of
fraud or of its apologists. y
4 That there shall be sucha reform i'll the
civil service that fitness shall be the, highest
recommendation for appointment to office.
That all men shall be free in their reli-
gous belief and observances.
That there shall be no division of the pub
lie school fund. Tha. schools supported by
taxation, in whole or i'll part, shall be free
from sectarian bias or CONTROL and shall be
ample for the elementary instruction OF all
/ children. .noa
That the public debt shall be honestly
paid; no part OF the rebel debt assumed,
and that no compensation be made for the
/ emancipation OF slaves. ~
! That the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fiji
teenth amendments to the Constitution, by
which freedom is made universal, and equal
ity before the law secured shall remain I'M
disturbed rs part of the organic law of the
| land. II & is,5al.a i4da .sl3 1
! That this Nation shall be known and re-
cognized everywhere as the representative of
| liberty and equality, in the onward march of
humanity. ~ M &a3' l tnt
| If there be q general concurrence OF senti-
ment in favor of this brief outline of policy,
the practical question before the people in
every important election is, through which
party can it be best advanced as a whole. 1t
is not a question OF perfection; that exists
nowhere. 1t is question of choice. In this
instance, it answers itself. And let me say
here that the moral effect of Presidential
election, asa general expression of public
sentiment, is of far more consequence and
! Importance than the present success of any
| measure advocated by either.
|. There is no danger of the re-establishment |
of slavery, but whatever of its spirit and
| teaching survives, live in the Democratic par
ty. There is no danger in our generation of
an armed attempt to destroy the Union, but |
whatever of discomfort there is with the |
Union re-established on the basis of freedom
and equal rights is represented in the Demo-
cratic party. Therefore it ought to be de-
stloyed. 1t acquiesces in the results of the |
war. Acquiesce is a good word. George |
III. acquiesced in American independence! 1t
acquiesces in the victory for the right. 1t
acquesces in emancipation, in restored I'm
ion. and universal freedom. 1t acqliesces in
the amendments to the Constitution, which |
are the charters Of freedom and Union. There
is difference, my friends, between lip ser
vice and heart service, between the letter
which kills and the spirit which maketh alive;
between saying 'sthe lines are hard, but it is
so written" and that rejoicing shout ''before
ever the world was it was true, therefore it |
is so writtcn.'' The Republican party does |
not s'acquiese.'' These are its trophies. 1t |
achieved them through tribulatlon and suf |
fering. They are red with the blood of its
martyrs, and it is prepared to defend them
against all corners, in whatever name, with |
life, fortune and honor
CoNFEDERACY VS.. NATION.
Now, my friends, let me ask you in CAN
dor, if the rebellion had succeeded, the Con-
federacy been established, and the present
Democratic candidates for President and
Vice President had gone down there and ran
for office, could one utterance of theirs in
their Northern homes have been quoted to
prevented any Confederate from voting for
them? Would not their Northern record
l,o1 Jo thoy1 al; hlp o,,1
candidates for the highest offices in the South
ern Confederacy?
When the great trial came which searched
the hearts of this people, in that supreme
moment of our history when the instinct of |.
patriotism was higher guide than learning
or philosophy, when the great idea Of coun-
try came like revolution of love, Gov I'll
den took down the Constitution to see il he
could find in its written words any warrant
for the existence of this nation among the
powers of the earth. He examined it as
though he were to find flaw in criminal
statute, to ascertain if he had IL country. Tie
idea OF a country whose living presence is in
the heart Of a patriotic people never dawned |
upon his calculating and metaphysical mind.
He analysed sentences, hunted among nouns
and pronouns, adverbs and proposition, among
| commas and periods, colon and semi colons.
Think OF 1.-THE character and existence of |
the Nation, the question whether it should |
meet armed rebellion with sovereign power,
was a matter of punctuation. Our destiny |
hung upon a semi-colon. AT last he reached |
a conclusion-hear it, we stars. The Union
was a-''federative agency - I don't know
whether that is copulative or distinctive, |
whether it is to be, to do. or to suffer, mper-
feet, pluperfect, past, present, or to come ; |
[ don't know whether it is animal, mineral, |
or vegetable; don't think it is anything to |
live for Or to die for. do not think the col |
or-sergeant from Otter Creek, who left the |
home OF his childhood to join Company c., |
to follow it through march and bivouac, in |
sickness and suffering, and privation and |
danger; who stood with his comrades in the |
front of the battle, joined them upon the
charge OF the batteries that blazed with the
fires OF hell, fell bullet-pierced, grasping the
standard with the grip of death, as the dark
ness of death sank upon his eyes L do not
believe that his soul went out to the I'M
known with the aspiration s'God save the
! federative agency" What is our country?
Is it not the land and the sea, the rivers and
the mountains-the people, their history, land
laws. 1t is something more than all these.
1t is bright ideal. a living presence in the
heart whose destruction would rob the earth
of its beauty, the stars Of their glory, the sun
OF its brightness. life of its sweetness, love Of
its joy. s ttA
My countrymen, cherish this ideal. 1t will
exalt youas you exalt it. Make it your cloud
by day, your pillar of fire by night Follow
where it leads. Enlarge your horizon. Take
counsel of the dead. No martyr ever died in
the conflict of ideas, which is one OF the con-
ditions Of human progress, but pleads for
the cause consecrated by his blood. Strive
to pierce the future; listen to the football of
| coming generations. No child to be born
on earth but has an interest in the cause OF
liberty and equality. Hear the voice OF the
ages. Take your reckoning by the stars.
Then choose. Onward, with ''malice to-
wards none, with charity for all, - and may
God forfend the right"