The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1880-09-16

the books of the treasury and other depart
ments of the government, and expose republi
can frauds He seemed to have overlooked
the fact that thirty three democratic commit
tees had already been managing every pigeon
hole scanning every book and inspecting
every entry without being able to detect sin
gle irregularity, and that the intelligent mem
bers of those respective committees had return
ed after their arduous labors, completely
cresttallen and discouraged. Mr.. Richie ac-
cused the republican party of excessive stupid
ity as well as gross fraud, and cited as an evil
dence of republican want OF sagacity, the
fact that the South remained solidly democrat
ic In closing he appealed for harmony in the
ranks of the Virginia democracy, recognizing
The 10Th of May ticket as the only regular or
ganization.
Mr. Richie was followed by
HON. E. JOHN ELLIS.
of Louisiana, one of the most attractive speak
ers we have ever heard. His splendid delivery
uninterrupted flow of language, the beauty OF
his SMILES and the purity of his diction consti-
tute an almost ideal orator, so far as mere
word painting goes. But when that is said
all that was good in his speech is told From
beginning to end il was series of groundless
accusations charges without one scntllla
of truth to support them. He commenced by
arragning the republican party for all magma
BILE crimes. That party, said he, was the as
sassin of the constitution, and history will
paint it as the arch traitor that fingered about
the capital, stabbing to its heart the sacred
guardian OF Il nations liberty. The republi-
can party, he declared, began its infamous Ca
reer by plunging the country into civil war.
1t contracted an immense debt to carry out its
purposes and mortgaged the property of the
people to meet its obligations. 1t finally sue
ceeded in overpowering its opponents, and no
sooner was that result accomplished than an
assault was commenced on the rights of the
States. By the unconstitutional reconstruc
ton measures it thrust the seeding States
| from the Union, and thus by an act of legisla
ton accomplished what the south had fought
| in vain to secure. 1t had desolated the South
prescribed the virtue and intelligence of that
section, and made it wilderness and a waste.
| In this distressed condition the Southern peo-
pie grasped at the democratic party as the
only cable of their hope. Democracy was the
author and finsher of their political saliva
| ton, and if the dream of the fathers is ever to
be realized, it will be through the agency of
the democratic party. That party is the rep
resentative of peace, of progress and of consti-
tutional liberty, whilst its opponent is the en-
bodment of hate, corruption, fraud and every
species of sin and crime. Garfield, said the
speaker, is the type of his party-a hypocrite,
| thief, perurer, bribe-taker and scoun-
drel. He was miserable petty thief, for he
only stole 1929 while he might have gotten
hundreds OF thousands. Garfield protested to
be free-trader, and yet was always aligned
in favor of the tariff, taxing the people upon
almost everything they eat and wear. He was
sent as one of the visiting statesmen to Louisi-
ana and by system of fraud fixed up the re-
turns from that State &c. &c.
In pretty much this strain Mr. Ellis contin-
ued for over an hour, depressing at times to
bring in his state sovereignty and free trade
Ideas, and delivering himself of one of the
most bitter, malignant and untruthful speeches
ever addressed to an intelligent audience By
the time he was bringing his TRADE to con,
clusion, he had gotten SO accustomed to the
use of unmeasured denunciation, that he COM
menced to abuse the readjusters declaring
that their convention was mongrel concern
unworthy of democratic support, and that the
18th of May ticket was the only regular one.
| So bitter did the speaker become, that prom
inent readjuster in the audience got up and
left his seat. As he did SO the funders began
to boot and huzza, and bad blood between the
two factions commenced to arise.
Mr.. Ellis was frequently applauded, and
when he sat down, Hon. Jno. 7. Harris proposed
three cheers, which were responded to but not
very heartily.
GOV. HAMILTON
of Maryland, followed Mr.. Ellis in plain
common sense presentation of the democratic
cause. He described the republican party as
a compact, disciplined organization, the prin-
cipal elements of which were the capitalists
the bankers and manufacturers, 100000 office
holders, the army and the navy. The demo-
cratic party was miscellaneous multitude,
| without trained or experienced leaders, but
animated by conviction and determined to sue
coed. His appeal for harmony in the Virginia
| democracy almost repaired half the damage
occasioned by Mr.. Ellis intemperance, and as
| he finished, the audience cheered Justify,
GOV. VANCE, of NJ C.
| then spoke. In his opinion the old battle of
Federalist and ant-F ederalist was again Joined.
He himself had been Wing, but he now re-
| canted the Hamiltonian doctrines. The CEN
tralizing tendency of the republican party had
| deprived the States of all their rights That
| party had infringed upon the constitution, and
when necessity required ruthlessIy trampled it
| under foot. The force bills under which the
klu kluX of North Carolina were convicted.
were decided to be unconstitutional but before
| that decision was made some of his compatriots
| were convicted and sentenced. The Governor
| drew distressing picture of the effects of the
| climate upon the klu klux who had been found
guilty and sent to Albany penitentiary, regard
ing them as martyrs, but he said not one word
of the victims of their iendish outrages who
were butchered in cold blood without offence
ana without judge or jury.
Like Mr.. Ellis, Coy. Vance denounced the
republican party for all manaer of crime, but
its chief offence was its hostility to state soy
ereignty and tendency to centralzation Gen.
GARFIELD was also denounced in unmeasured
terms ms and no epithet was too coarse for the
speakers use. In urging coalition Of the
warning democratic faction, GOV. Vance stated
that ne wanted to hear re-adjuster speak SO
that ne might learn what argument could be
advanced In support OF the position now oc-
cupied by the re-adjuster party He had been
told by re-adjuster that he (Gov. Vance,