Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1877-07-17
From the Charlottesville Jeffersonian.
Our Mex. Governor.

Inc nominee OF the conservative par
ty will of course be our next Governor.
Who ought to be that nominee? Upon
this question we had decided, for reasons
satisfactory to ourselves that the Jefer-
sonidn should be strictly neutral, al
though we had our individual decided
preference. But the last issue, without
authority, and without any notice to us,
placed it squarely for Mr.. Daniel. Now,
while we have a very high opinion of
Mr.. Daniel, and will cheerfully vote for
him if nominated, he is not our first
choice, and, under the circumstances,
we feel constrained to state that we are
decidedly in fauor Of
COL. F. w. NJ. HOLIDAY
as the nominee of the Conservative par
ty for the high Office of Governor. And
we propose now to give some of the rea-
sons for our choice.
l. He is gentleman Of very decided
ability, of broad statesmanlike views. of
high and extensive culture, of SO pure
and spotless Il reputation, that he is
above suspicion. In every quality that
Governor of Virgin ought to possess,
he is the peer of amy living man in Vir-
ginia, while he possesses in higher de-
gree than any one whose name has been
mentioned in connection with the office,
happy combination of all qualifications
for the office, in greater degree than
any of them.
2. Because We deprecate, and Intense
ly despise all sectional issues. and espe-
cially the selection of u candidate for q
State office OH sectional ground, and
deeming it the duty of every true Vir-
ginian to do every LEing he eau to dis
courage and crush out such an idea, we
are decidedly in favor of Gel. Holiday.
Since the wal the Valley of Virginia,
though possessing men of her OWE, fully
equal to any we have offered for this
high office, has with patriotic fervor and
fidelity sustained our men. Her Holii.
day, her Letcher, her Baldwin and her
Stuart, have teen passed by for our
Walker and our Kenper, as Governors.
In like manner we have had the Office
Of Lieutenant Governor filled all the
time with our men, while at the same
time the Valley had men u plenty of
whom were the peers of those furnished
by us. We have, during the past three
| or four years, filled the office of Attor-
ney- General, and will undoubtedly fill
| 1t for the next four years. although the
Valley has men who are well qualified
| for the office, and yet the people OF The
Valley have as yet, raised no sectional
cry against these things. This is as it
should be. We rejoice at it. But let it
be remembered that the Valley is in the
minority and we in the majority. I'm
US to insist upon still filling the Office of
Governor with an Eastern man? Is it
generous? Is it magnanimOus? Is it
WICn2 IF Hn GA 81 a nlVInr
occasion for the denagogues and small
er politicians of the Valley successfully
to raise the cry of sectionalisin against
us? Aye, and if we persist in using our
power to nominate our own men exclu
sively, will it not satisfy good and wise
men that We are influenced by sectional
ism Aye, more, ii We candidly analyze
our feelings, will it not appear 10 us, that
we have beer, though uncOnsciously, in
f1uenced by this feeling? Now when
the Valley offers US man every way
well qualified for the office. is the time to
sh axe it off, if such feeling has possess
sion of US to any extent, and whether it
has Or not. ii is time to proveby our acts
that it has no influence on us. Colonel
Holiday has great many friends and
admirers in Albeniarle aud other Pied
mont counties, rs well as throughout the
State. The Valley of Virginia tender
him to us as her lavorite son and capdi-
date for Governor He is every way
worthy of the place. 1t becomes Us of
the East, in spirit of fnagnanin!ity, dis
carding all sectional preferences, to ac-
cept him as ourcand,iate and make him
the nominee of the Convention Let his
friends go to work at once in earnest,
constant and organized effnrt and secure
II ic hoe CTR ri
and it only requires proper exertions by
his friends to secure this happy result for
our grand old mother of States.
The people of the Valley will read
this article with keenest relish, and join
with one accord, in grateful recognition
of the patriotic motive which inspired
its Just and generous sentiments.
Coming as it does from the other side
of the mountain, it cheers and refreshes
us with the assurance that there are
many of our Eastern brethren who
recognize the Valley, not only geograph
ically, but really, as an integral part of
the Old Dominion, and thus entitled to
share in the distribution Of its honors,
as it does in the bearing of large por-
ton of its burdens.
It is fact, and we thank the Jefer-
sonsGe for thus OPPORTUNITY calling the
attention of the people of the State to
it, that since the war 1.-THE Valley of
Virginia. though possessing men of her
own, fully equal to any in the State for
the high office of Governor, has with
patriotic fervor and fidelity sustained
the men of the East" And the same
is true of the Lieutenant Governor, the
Attorney General and the other high
offices of the State. Indeed, the Jefe7-
sonian might have gone farther and adj
ded that never in the history of the
State, from the days of Capt. John
Smith down to the present, has Gov
ernor been chosen from the great Valley
region which stretches from the Rock
bridge line to the Potomac river.
By reason Of its remoteness from the
State capital, (where the rings are form
ed and the states are made) and other
causes not necessary here to recite, the
rightful claims of the Valley have been
persistently ignored.
This is not generous. 1t is not mag
unanimous. 1t is not wise.
An enlightened public policy, which
political action should ever have in
view, should foster the affections and
rivet the allegiance of every part of the
State, and repel none by Indifference or
neglect.
LII was the disregard OF THIS sanitary
principle by the selfish and short-sight-
politicians of the East which contrihu-
ted largely, first to the alienation of the
people, aud finally to the loss to the
State, Of that large portion of her ter
ritories lying west of the Afieghanies.
"Keep the extremities warm" is as
wise and wholesome an Injunction in
its application to the body polite as to
the individual man.
The Valley raises no sectional cry,
and scorns the paltry pleas of denla-
goguism.
It is in no boastful spirit that she
points to her historic part in the first
Revolution nor does she parade claim
to precedence over other parts of the
State because it was her fortune to bear
the bruntin the late war, to suffer heavier
losses and make greater sacrifices than
others whose locality exempted them
comparatively FROM its calamities.
Her loyalty to the Commonwealth
has never abated because her people
have had to bear an undue proportion
of the State burdens and to contribute
annually SoOrasS Of ti,nI1ca,:HS Of t1Olla rs