The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1879-10-18
WASHINGTON COUNTY.

| ABINGDUny d.s NSbObSA - - ~
Ed;,ore Dispatch:: A large and intellt.
oent crowd assembled at this place yester-
5 5orto hear the Hon. John Randolph Tucker
snsat iinnn the ereat question now pending
Before tf,e people Of Virginia. The Read
insters. headed by one Of their great n
leaders. Captain Frank S. Blair, OF Wythe-
Vile. appeared upon the scene, and asked /!
division of time. After some delay 1T was
agreed that Captain Blair might. open in
sneech Of one hour and quarter, MI.
Tucker to- follow in same time, and eacn 70
have fifteen minutes reply. 49,, 90.
Blair waited in about O'Clock, FULLY
confident: Of bis unsurpassed abilities
though doubtless be has had twenty such
-drubbings before as be was now aDout TO
reeeiyeSand amidst his dancing, pranclng.
thinning, humping, hopping, stopping,
dnckfnSs diving, with q mighty strlylog,
|;bawIiug. soualllng, at nothing mauling, and
;wa,ter-f1au]ing, made what his friends per-
hans will cali the ablest effort OF his life,
but what any fair and intelligent mind
would characterize as nothing, and pray
God for deliyerance from another, such
deluee Of nonsense. This was his first Ell
fort at public speaking here, and Judging
ffo ON its character, its delivery, and its re-
cept,on, it ought to be his last; but there is
no accounting for the view that Blair may
take of it. wish I had the power to give
an outline of this speech; but no man VINO
has thought less over it than this great lead
err could even do that. 1t abounded with
all OF those inaccuracies and inconsistencies
for which the Readi usters are so remark
able. Amongst these he stated that OF the
improvements in West Virginia paid for by
the State was the Chesapeake and Ohio rail-
road and the James River and kanaWha ca
nal-no part OF the latter being in West
Virginia, and not a rail OF the former laid
in that State until after the war, as Mr..
Tucker afterwards, to the amusement OF
the crowd, informed him. He was evident
" highly pleased with bis speech, and con-
Guided it amidst profound silence.
Mr.. TUCKER
then came to the front amidst deafening
applause. He very soon skinned this great
leader and laid him on the shelf, much to the
amusement Of the crowd. MIR. Tucker
then proceeded in his inimitable way to de.
liver one of the grandest speeches we have
yet listened to upon this subject. 1t was
overwhelming in argument aud absolutely
convincing to all save those who would not
be convinced il they could. He went to
the very foundation OF the matter, and
drew so beautifully and at the same time so
plainly the line between honesty and dis
honesty that the simplest mind in the au-
dence could understand. His arguments
upon the irrepealability OF contracts, and
the improperly as we'll as the power OF the
State to pass law impairing the obligation
of contract, cannot be surpassed, and are
simply unanswerable. He said much had
been said by the orators on the other side
l. LII ~, or oo,,itoi q said 90 III
tai was nothing but saved wages; that man
was originally endowed with what God
gave him, and that when he converted his
muscle or brain into something useful, and
that something into money, it was his as
much az was bis muscle or his brain. He said
that when Tom, Dick, and Harry la
bored for q year, and had by economy
saved two hundred and fifty dollars each, it
was theirs. Said he, suppose Tom buys
land With his, and Dick should say to Harry,
lend me your $3.50 to buy cattle, and that
Harry would lend 1t to him, preferring to
take in the way OF profits interest on his
money, and that, having bought the cattle,
be should take them to Tom to be pastured
on his land. Tom should and would charge
rent. Dick would have the profit on his
cattle, and it would not be honestto say that
Harry should not have the interest on his
money; yet by this transaction he, the
Iaborer, had become the capitalist and a
bloated bondholder, and, according to some
people, deserved to be denounced and
damned. He showed, very much to the
amusement OF the crowd, and amidst en-
thusisstic applause, the great wrong of al
lowing Dick to repeal or repudate or forci-
bly, readjust this contract. He showed
most copcusively that we owed every dol
lar OF the present debt, that we had the
ability to pay it, and that it was dishonest not
to do so. His appeals to honesty and for
the honor of the Commonwealth, and his
whitening denunciation of reputation and
the miserable heresies of the Agitators
which lead to it, elected round after round
Of applause, and must have caused the
cheek of the misguided Readjuster to man.
tie with shame. This he did as only
Tucker can do it, and the man who failed
to be moved by it is indeed immovable.
How Blair ever survived this "ten.strike
at his party and his principles it is hard to
conceive. The truth is. he didn't; he only
thought he did. Mr.. fuckers answer to
the argument that the State is not the
same' was simply overwhelming. He
illustrated and ridiculed this idea amidst
the shouting OF the crowd, until even
Blair looked meaner than be had
before. He demonstrated most con-
clusively the propriety OF the McCulIoch
bill, and compared it with tue Barbour bill,
which Blair had advocated so loudly, show
ing beyond question that under it more in
terest was paid to the creditor than under
the McCulloch bill. 1t is impossible here to
give in detail Mr. fuckers splendid
speech. Suffice it to say he not only met
and completely overthrow all OF the obiec-
tons that have been urged against the pay
ment Of the debt, but he clearly pointed out
the dishonesty and reputation that turks
behind the arguments used by the Agita-
tors. He closed with beautiful appeal to
the people to stand by the right, and took
his seat amidst tremendous applause.
CAPTAIN BLAIR
again for fifteen minutes afflicted the audi
ence with frst-class specimen Of his
bouncing, founcing, -denouncing,
sbrieking, squeaking, sneaking Speaking.
He said Mr.. Tucker had been living in lux
ury in Washington rs a congressman and
also In his home in the eastern part Of the
State, and therefore knew nothing of these
dear people and their poverty. All Of
which fell quite fiat, as did all of his re-
ioinder; so much 80 that he felt called upon
to say that this was picked crowd, all Off
GERS and no priYates; that had it been
county-court day it would have been dii-
ferent; that then the one gallows-copperas-
breecbes fellows from the mountains would
have been present, and the crowd for read
justment. THIS was clear admission that
the crowd was largely against him.
= t@'..s an 1+st Mr.. TUCKER 2'@ +
again came TO the front. Said he. "My