The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1880-09-09

now. We should never be beaten until
| every man who counts, or represents those
who count. in the enumeration to give rep
resentation in the electoral college can cast
his vote just as he pleases and can have il
counted Just as he casts it.
| Yours truly, Z. S. GRANT.
Gov HamptOn's Political Record.
| In view of the denials and explanations
which have been offered the public to break
the force of Gov. Hampton's speech delivered
in this place on the goth Of July, the New
York Tribune has been investigating its ole
| files, to learn the sentiments Gov Hampton
expressed a few years ago Gov. Hampton
was delegate from South Carolina to the
National Democratic Convention which met
in New York City July A, 1868, and nominated
Seymour and Blair for President and Vice
| President. He was member OF the
committee on resolutions, and prominent ac
tor in the Convention. He returned to South
Carolina after the nominations were made and
reached Charleston July "A, 1868, where a
magnificent reception awaited him. He de
| ligered speech on the occasion, which was
made up almost entirely of d graphic account
of his experience as a member of the Com
mittee on Resolutions. He said that the first
thing he demanded was a declaration that the
right of suffrage was purely matter of State
legislation, and belonged to the State Govern
mcnts that existed up to 1865. The adoption
of that proposition he thus describes
Some doubts, however, were expressed OF
the policy OF such declaration Gentlemen
from the North, South, East and West all
showed the greatest disposition to act in har-
mony. am free to confess that they met us
everywhere with cordiality and good will. In
fact they declared their Willingness to give us
everything we could desire, but they begged
us to remember that they had a great fight TO
make at the North and they therefore besought
us not to load the platform with a weight that
they could not carry against the prejudices
which they had to encounter. Help them once
to gain the power, and they would do their ut
most to relieve the Southern States, and re-
| store to us the Union and Constitution as it
had existed previous to the war.
| This declaration is certainly stronger than
any Interpretation we gave to the Senator's
address in Staunton.
| He continued
! | could not fail to reciprocate their kindness
and felt that | represented my people in SO
doing. L therefore, Withdrew my resolution
consented to that offered by the distinguished
| Bayard of Delaware, that suffrage was mat
ter for State legislation, provided they would
| allow me to add three words. They agreed to
this, and | then added the clause which you
will find embodied in the platform: And we
declare that the reconstruction acts are uncon-
| stltutonal, revolutionary and void" That is
my plank in the platform. The great Demo-
cratic party being pledged to that declaration,
| wanted nothing else. [ could wait in pa
tience for their triumph, to show us how it was
to be worked out in their own good time.
That the right of suffrage belongs to the States
is policy that suits us. When | presented
that proposition, every member ofthe commit
| tee land the Warmest men in it were from the
North) came forward and pledged themselves
to carry it out to the end.
'And it was this same proposition" says the
Tribune, that Gen. Hancock pledged himself
to carry out to the end in his famous letter to
S. 7. Glover July II, 1863"
| What we have stated as fairly inferrable
from the sentences which composed the entire
speech of Gov Hampton delivered in Staun-
| ton last July, is more than sustained by these
expressions made in 1868. It was simply a
re assertion of the doctrine of State sover-
eighty, a practical denial of the intendment of
the amended Constitution and return to the
fatal heresies which precipitated secession in
1861. While we do not believe it was in the
mind Of Gov. Hampton that such results
would again follow, nor have we ever stated
that it was, nor that this portion of the South
| contemplated such results, yet we asserted, in
commenting on the doctrine enuncated and
now assert, that the adoption of the sentiment
in the election of Hancock, may at some fil-
ture time lead to disasters of like or similar
import. The danger is in the doctrine, and
not because Gen. Hampton, or any one else
at this time declares in favor it, without logi-
cally following up the theory of government
it proclaims to the inevitable conclusion, if
acceptedl,y the people of the United States
The fuss and Juror of the Hancock and
English Club about the VIRGINIAN was gotten
up by few small fry politicians, and good
men were lead into it, upon the impulse of the
moment, without really examining what we had
WIltIcll, OF aStllg I0f u fe-Stalelment OF what
had been said. We do not arraign the motives
of these, nor do we harbor any unkind feel
ings towards them. But for the instigators
and plotters we have a perfect contempt
Without capacity to discuss questions of party
policy or of public interest calmly and dis
passionatey, to attain a little notoriety they
awaited themselves of the expressions of cor
respondent Of Northern paper for which we
were and are in no way responsible, to open
crusade against the VIRGINIAN in the hope
of impairing its influence and injuring its bu-
slness. We are able to stand all the damage
that we will be likely to experience, by reason of
this sensation, and will continue to declare our
opinions and convictions on all questions and
at all times, just as we have heretofore done
We.can neither be bull-dozed nor frightened
nor shaken from our purpose to publish the
truth as we understand it, by South Carolina
methods, nor those adopted by the Hancock
and English Club of Stanton