The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1878-08-01
Wholesale Excommunication.

The Dispatch of the Both was in very
bad humor with the People of the Valley.
because they have indicated purpose to
stamp out the caucus. That paper goes so
far as to read out of the Conservative party
all who are opposed to the machinery of the
organization, and who have determined to
defy the managers in the attempt to perpet-
uate their despotic and corrupt rule. 1t is
especially indignant with the people of
Rockingham and Highland, who have for
mally declared against the Staunton Con-
vention which meets to-day, and chasing
them with ''Re-adiusters, Regulators,
Greenbackers, or Republicans, places them
out of the pale of the Conservative party land
declares they are not entitled to recognition
by that organization. If that is the case,
then where is the Conservative party. and
what does it amount to in the Valley, or in
the State? If the Re-adjnsters, the ''Repu-
diators' (?) and the Greenbackers are all to
be communicated, then the "Conserva-
tive" party would be constituted of an in
finitesmal part Of the people. If they would
form into a third party, the Conservative
party would have to hang its harp on the
willow tree, and the Dispatch 90 weeping
forthe party because it is not.
We have anotion up here that the People
make a party, and not d few machine ma
npGlatcrs, and that when the People speak
it is the party that speaks. And the voice
that has been uttered in the Valley, and re-
ally throughout the 18th district, proclaims
that the party as heretofore run, has ceased
to subserve the interests OF the constituent
body, has been perverted to unworthy ends,
and that il its ways cannot be reformed, the
organization should be dsbanded. The peo-
pie begin to think that there is a higher du-
ty for them to discharge than to follow the
lead of trcking politicians, and subordinate
all the great interests Of the State to the
plots and schemes Of the wire-pullers and
caucus managers who have brought the
Commonwealth to IT'S present deplorable con-
dtion.
The presumption of the Dispatch in its
bull Of accommodation is illustrated by
the old lady who sought to stay the surses
of the sea with her mop, or the mad ambi-
ton OF Caunte to control its waves by his
command. 1t is the People who are NOV
ing. and against the very authority that the
Dispatch assumes. 1t is that kind of party
despotism, insulting their majesty, that has
aroused them to q sense of their tame sub
servence heretofore to the party lash, and
they have determined to assert their own
dignity and authority, and take the business
OF commanding into their own hands
We publish the article OF the Dispatch that
the People of the Valley and of the State
may fully consider the arrogance and i'm.
pudence which pervade it, and determine
whether they will longer submit to the hui
initiation which that kind of party despotism
implies. What possible compensation is
there for the honest people of Virginia, and
especially the Valley, to tolerate party Or
ganization, which deliberately insults them
through its recognized organ and assumes a
mastery more imperous and brutal than was
ever conceived in the perverted Imagination
Of Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe in her Uncle
Toms Cabin delineations.
Such petty tyranny may suit thepeople of
Richmond, the centre OF ring influence,
where the great Ring Mogul, Bradley L.
johnson holds court and Eliminates his edcts,
but it is mistaken idea to assume that this
mountain atmosphere breeds q race OF slaves
and towards, who will tamely submit to such
q gross insult as is contained in the article
to be found in another column, under the
caption Of 'sBoters." 1t furnishes the most
conclusive vindication of the eminent propri-
city of the action of the People OF Rocking
ham, Highland and Bath, in revolving
against the corrupt machinery OF an organ
ization that recognizes such authority.