The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1879-06-05
The Third Veto Message.

The third veto message OF the President
will be found in full with this issue of the
VIRGINIAN. 1t should be carefully read,
as it presents, in connection with the two
previous vetoes and the legislation which
called them forth, a question Of paramount
Importance to the American people, involv-
ing the character of our institutions and the
government of this country.
Stripped Of all extraneous considera-
tions, Invested of all mere partizan effects,
and boiled down to the substance of the is
sue, we have presented the question wheth-
er the United States constitute Nation, or
a confederation of State Sovereignties. 1t
seems strange to rejecting people who are
familiar with the history of this coun-
try for the past twenty years, that such an
issue should be raised and famed before the
people. 1t is that upon which the late war
was fought and determined, and the result
OF which was formally accepted by all the
States of the South. 1t is not necessary
here to go into a discussion of the history
OF this issue, or the causes which constitute
its groundwork. Suffice it to say that the
destruction of slavery removed the primary
cause for its maintenance, and with that
destroyed, there has been no rational rea-
son assigned for its advocacy, consistent
with national authority and integrity. We
must recognize the right of the Nation to
enforce its own laws, to maintain its own
authority, and yindicate its sovereignty, or
I,,,; hat -
government is a failure.
Singular enough, at the very time the
Democratic party is denying the right
Of the government to protect the bal
lot in the election of Congressman and
President, and preserve from pollution the
fountain source of our laws and legislation
upon the theory that State autonomy would
be thus impaired, they urge the passage of a
national quarantine law and a national
transportation act for the protection of cat
tie, asserting in most conspicuous manner
the right and duty of the government to
provide against the spread of epidemics in
the States and for the protection of cattle
in transitu from one section of the country
to the other. The principle of national au-
thority, as contended for by the Republicans
in the election laws, is recognized in these
acts, and the doctrine of State Rights COM
pletely exploded. The inference is natural,
therefore, that it is not so much the theory
and principle involved which are opposed,
as the partizan advantage that might be Sc
cured by the absence of national restraint
and the agencies to prevent frauds, at the
ballot-boxes in some of the Substantially
New York.
The whole country is committed to the
theory that this is a Nation, competent to
maintain Its authority at home and abroad,
and to enforce its laws in every part OF the
United States and the maintenance OF the
opposite idea of State Sovereignty by the
Democratic party, is simply and purely po-
litical perfdy, which finds justification alone
in the desperate purpose of partizan aglta-
tors to attain power, though the object be
through the destruction of all
the guards to an impartial and fair bal
lot, and the purity of national elections. 1t
is whether law and order, or the mob, shall
determine the result of political contests in |
this country. The President has interposed
his constitutional authority to secure the |
former, and the country will sustain him |
in the patriotic purpose to preserve the |
character of orr institutions in their pu-
rity, and. the majesty of law in every de-
partment of Government.