The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1879-07-17
Misrepresentation.


A correspondent of the Washington Re
publican, over the signature Of ssF,'' seeks
to make a great deal over a flag that was
floated in Harrisonburg on the 4th, repre-
senting the Stars and Bars, the Confederate
emblem. We were in Harrisonburg on the
occasion referred to, and heard of such a
flag, and also heard but one sentiment in
reference to it, and that was of severe con-
demnation. We did not ask, and did not
learn who raised it, for it seemed to be a
source of so much annoyance to large
number Of the people who--spoke of it, and
was regarded as so utterly inappropriate,
that it did not deserve serious notice.
United States flags hoated from every pub
lie place and almost every private resi-
dence, and there was nothing that trans
pred to indicate anything else than a gen.
uine sentiment of 4th Of July patriotism.
The reference to the portraits of s'Wash-
ington, Lee and Jackson which were sus-
pended before the property of a gentleman,
who came to Virginia many years ago from
Pennsylvania, had no other significance
than to give expression to the reverence
the people of the South feel for the exalted
virtues and high moral character of tn ose
christian men and soldiers. Whatever now
may be thought OF the policy of secession
and no rational thinker will not con-
denim it as a great blunder, aye, po-
litieal crime, with the present lights before
hint will be a long time before the
people of the South will arraign the mo-
tives and question the honesty of Lee and
jackson. Their moral heroism was emf
nently illustrated in their lives, and while
they may have erred in Judgment, as we
now think the entire South did, such Bit
ter and coarse criticisms as the correspon-
dent of the Republican INDUCES will receive
nothing but the disdainful contempt of
men of all classes and political persuasions,
North and South.
The writer of this article is a Republi-
can, because he believes the principles OF the
party to be right, and that it is the repre-
sentative and embodiment of the conserva-
tive influences of the country, and-operat-
ing to the advancement of the material
interests of the people, but he is at the
same time Virginian, and processes to
know the people among whom he was
born and raised, and does not feel dispo sed
to allow such unfair and false impressi ons
as are conveyed by the correspondent F, :"
to pass unrebuked. The great mass OF the
people Of the Valley are now as loyalto the
flag of our country as those of any other
section, and would do and dare as much to
vindicate its honor and maintain its integrity
as many who make louder professions and
more high-sounding pretensions. We are
no less Virginians for being Republicans,
and we sustain the principles of the Repub-
iican party because we believe not only
Virginia but the entire South would be
greatly benefited by their adoption. But
we do not conceive it to be our duty to
arraign the motives and denounce the as
ISOLATION OF those who do not take the same
view of political necessities which we en-
terrain, nor can we see the justice of hold
ing whole people responsible for the
thoughtless expressions or petulant acts of
one OF two thoughtless individuals. If
2. had desired to do justice to the peo-
pie of the Valley, he would have men
tioned,with the single Confederate flag that
was said to have been raised in some out of
the way place, the thousands of United
States flags which foated from almost every
housetop and spanned every street and h,r-
way in The town of Harrisonburg, ON the
occasion referred to. The communication in
question does great injustice to the people
Of the Valley, and we deem it proper to
treat it as we have, as an act of fairness and
right
We do not know nor do we care to know
who penned the article signed ''F." If he
is a-native of the State and resident of
the Valley, he gives evidence of very
perverted mind, and an amount of preju-
dice to be accounted for by no rational
methods. His distorted reason is incapa-
BILE of dealing fairly with any political fact
or issue, and renders him totally unsuited
to the task Of just criticism. To misrepresent
the incidents of the occasion of which he
treats, and to assign the existence of
spirit which was entirely foreign to that
which prevailed, is a serious reflection upon
the motives which controlled in the author
ship of the article, and reveals prejudice
incapable ofdoing the fair thing, let it be as
ISOLATED with whatever it may.