The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1877-10-04
LYNcHBURG. VA, Sept. "a.

ana She mas never Deen supposed W Uo
wanting in due respect to official position.
We have passed through trying scenes,
but it is hoped that it may turn out that
these qualities have suffered no diminu-
ton. Another characteristic equally
marked is her unchanging devotion to
what she considers the. true principle of
the Constitution. She may err in judg-
ment, but she judges candidly and ad-
heres to her convictions most firmly.
However dark the hour which may have
fallen upon her, or however tempestuous
the waters on which her bark may have
been launched, there has been ever seen
streaming from her masthead the motto,
"Principles, and not men," Recent
events have given prominence to two
leading political requirements, the equal
ity of all citizens before the law, and the
equality of ali States under the Consitu-
ton. We long felt that in the great de-
sire to uphold the first, the government
neglected and discarded the other. We
saw States which had been admitted into
the Union and had become entitled to
equal rights with the others, still held
guarded as prisoners of war, and COM
PEELED to perform their most sacred func,-
tions of government under the suryll-
lance, and sometimes under the direction,
Of the military authorities. This EeEe;,
garded as an immenseMrongs Itrapkled
in our minds as thorn III the feshi; and
while it continued we were poorly pre-
pared to listen to appeals to our good
feelings. 1t was wrong to our sister
States; it was an outrage on the bond of
the Union. But all this has 9been
changed, and each of the States has been
restored to its constitutional rights. Lo-
cal self-government has been restored to
all, and South Carolina and Louisiana
are now on an equality with Massachu-
setts and Michigan. And what has been
the result? Magic itself could scarcely
transform a scene more completely.
Where there was sullen discomfort there
is now satisfaction. Angry chickering's
and impending strife have given place to
stiffness and quiet, and in the States sus-
pected Of disloyalty there is now cheer
full performance of every duty. 1t has
been found that by proper enforcement
of the State laws the rights of all citic
zens are best protected. A sense OF
wrong being removed, good feeling and
harmony have come!to occupy its place,
and the Angel of Peace, like halcyon,
now spreads its white and downy wings
over our entire country. This has been
done, Mr.. President, and truth requires
the admission that your agency has been
most potent in the work. A short time
ago the land was filled with complaints
of ineffciency and corruption in the civil
service of the country, and the demand
for reform was universal. The civil SER
vice order lately issued by your admins
tration was bold and manly step in the
right direction. Is there virtue and in
teIligence enough in the country to up.
hold and sustain it?. Surely all good
men desire suchia result. We have seen,
Mr.. President, with pleasure the words OF
kindness you have spoken on your pres
ent tour. You have spoken them in the
North and South alike. Those were
good words you usedswhen you said that
your cause was not.the cause of party,
but it was ''the cause of the Constitution,
the cause of the Union, the cause of har-
mony, the cause Of peace" These words
will accomplish much good, and we know
that you have done these things not at
the dictation of party leaders. So tar as
we can see or know, you have done them
because they were right, and so meet you
not as party men. Our action has no
party significance whatever. We have
come as patriotic citizens to acknowledge
the facts; we have come as true and loyal
Virginians to recognize our principles,
by whomsoever ayowed awe have come
as honest men to say that your Official
acts in the particulars named have de-
served no condemnation. The future
must take care of its own record. The
rehabilitation of all the States, the puri-
fcation of the public service, and the
pacifcation of the entire country, is a
great work, and if accomplished should
fill the measure of a high ambition: 1t
your efforts are to continue as they have
begun, can foresee great results ahead.
Under the inspiration of the thought a
vision of the future comes up before me.
The chasm that once yawned so wide and
bloody between the Southern and the
Northern States is filled and obliterated.
The bright flowers Of Charity and con-
cord lift their pure heads in the sunlight
of favoring heaven, and overhangy in
all their gorgeous colors the bow of
promise and hope. Mr.. President, again
I greet you and bid you welcome.
After music by the Band, the President
said:
My Friends: It is very gratifying to
have the opportunity to make the ac-
quaintance of SO large number of ladies
and gentlemen and people Of Lynchburg,
and of this section of the State of Vir-
ginia. A week ago I entered what the
speaker who then welcomed me- was
pleased to term it, "the gateway to the
South and Southwest" Louisville
Since then have met the people of three
great former slaveholding States-Ken-
lucky, Tennessee and Georgia. have
the happiness to assure you that l met
assembfages feeling and thinking as you
do to-day. Those audiences, like this
one, were composed of the representatives
of all political parties, and in each there
was respectable sprinkling of veterans
&c botl, orrn;oo nnloueo I fa1t hv