The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1880-08-26
Senator Hampton's Speech.
WAS IT THE FORGERY OF AN OBSCURE NEWS
PAPER WRFTER?"


alleged "extract' from Senator Hampton's stauh
ton speech is forgery. For it produces the extrac
at the very end of the speech and as an addition
the stenographic report which senator Hampton
accepts. The ''extract Is clearly out of keeping
with the context and follows what Is proper eli
max of the peroration. Senator Hampton had al
ready denied the charge In letter to a correspon
dent in Washington-a letter which the Springfield
Republican alone of all the Republican papers ha'
the fairness to print. In that letter Senator Hanp
ton said:
SIS my whole record since the close of the wal
and all my efforts for a better understanding be
tween the sections-a broad and down reaching fol
the Unionto be frttered away by the orgeres of q!
obscure newspaper writer? Ineither used the words
attributed to me nor anything approaching them In
meaning
The Tribune processes to have taken the extract
from the Staunton VALLEY VIRGINIAN, which pub
lshed 1t four days after Senator Hampton's speech
was delivered. The extract did not appear in the
Staunton Specdt0r-now in the fiftyf1fth year OF an
honored existence-on the morning following the
delivery of Senator Hampton's speech. Neither dll
1t appear In the Staunton VtndicGtOr- another re
putable paper. The paper which the Tribune pro
fesses to quote Is a carpetbag Republican organ
| with circulation placed in Hubbards Newspaper
Directory at 1000. Four days would give ample
time for the connection of such forgery between
Northern committeeman and Southern carpet-bag-
gers. The TriGuRe yesterday inquired, with SWEEP
simplicity, GLOW did the sentences get into the
speech If Senator Hampton did not utter themt
There is magisterial gravity about this conun-
drum which recalls the judge in 'Pickwick VINO De
manded of the dazed Wrinkle, who had denied that
| he called himself Daniel ''Iiow could have put ii
down in my notes II you had not said SOP"
We take the above from the New York
| World of the 10Th. 1t contains more misstate-
ments to the square inch than any production
that has been before the public for many a
day. The efforts being made to counteract
the effect of Senator Hampton's declaration
must be desperate indeed to have thus brought
into requisition the V0rgds wonderful resource
ofmendacity.
The only thing, however, that surprises US,
is the extract purporting to be from Senator
Hamptons own hand. fit be true that Sen
ator Hampton has written such letter, we
can only say we pity him. As yet we are
loath to believe that he has denied using the
language attributed to him in his Staunton
| speech, and the testimony of the World and
Washington Post, is by no means confirmation
strong as proof of holy writ.
For once, however, we accept their state
ment as true. Senator Hampton makes the
| issue personal one with the editors Of this
paper and they are prepared to meet it,
1t will be remembered that few days ago,
| Senator Hampton sent to the New York Her.
aid Il report of his Staunton speech, which he
personally endorsed. That report had appear
ed in the World of the goth or Both of July. 1t
was written by the same hand that made the
report for the VIRGTNIAN published on the
Goth. and the originals were identical. How
these reports were made is explained by the
following
! STATEMENT OF MIR. A. C. GORDON.
| As soon as it was announced that Governor
| Hampton and Governor Vance would address
a mass meeting in Staunton, | wrote to the
editor of the World, asking if he wished a re-
| port of the speeches, and in case he did,
whether should send it by mail or telegraph.
received telegram from Mr.. Hubert saying
Send report by mail"
| A meeting of the readuster faction was adj
vertised for the same day and hour, and had
been requested to make report of it for a
| Richmond, Va, daily. AS | could not attend
both meetings, | agreed with Jacob Yost Esq,
the Junior editor of the VALLEY VIRGINIAN
at lis suggestion, oalloW him to use my notes
of the Hampton and Vance meeting, if he
would return the favor in regard to the read
ulster meeting. l attended the meeting in the
| Opera House, and heard and made notes of the
speeches of both governors. My report was
not stenographic one, and was not literal
and full After had written it out in accord
| ance with my agreement, | carried it around
to Mr. Yost, and read it to him. When [ had
finished reading it, he said in effect: 81 seeyou
have omitted what Hampton said about fight
ing for the same principles fol which the war
was fought"
l replied: 81 have. 1 do not propose to
send that North for misconstruction." He
| said "Well I'll see that it gets North"
| The paragraph which the Tribune has been
| keeping at the head of its editorial columns
may be or may not be the exact utterance of
| General Hampton. My impression is that it
| is not, so well as | can recollect. | can not
undertake to affirm, after the interval of time
that has elapsed, what General Hampton did
say The impression left upon my mind by
| this remark of which no verbatim report has
| ever been made as far as | know, was thaGthe
conflict now waging is one between local self
government and strong Capitalization. And
| vet | must admit that at the time the remark
| struck me as being of such character as to
invite misconstruction.
The report Of the VIRGINIAN and that of
the V51,d5cat0r believe to be both in the main
correct
So far as I have been able to ascertain, there
was no stenographic report made of General
Hampton's speech. My report to the New
York World, as published by the World, is,
think, the one which General Hampton fur
nished to the Herald as the only one which
received his personal Endorsement. have no
copy of the World, however, containing the
report, and hence cannot verify this belief My
report Of both speeches was materially abbre-
waited by the World in publication
This statement is furnished by me at the
request of Mr.. Yost, for whom entertain
kind personal regard, although differ with
him politically. A. G. GORDON.
Staunton, Virginia, 21st, Aug. 1880.
Whilst the junior editor of the VIRG1NIAN,
in accordance with the agreement stated above,
was at the readjuster meeting, the senior edi-
tor went to the Opera House, and there heard
Senator Hampton's extraordinary declaration
that the principles at issue in the pending CON
test were the same for which the war was
fought. The words and the connection in
which they were used, made an indelible i'm
preston upon his mind, and upon his return
to the Office were commented upon.
Mr.. Gordon's notes were written out, and
the report was handed to the junior editor of
the VIRGINIAN with permission to copy and
insert in full if he so desired. 1t being longer
than space could be spared Tor, the unimpor-
tant parts and Pathological sentences were
eliminated, but the substance of the speech in
every particular was retained. At the close
of the report and in the exact connection in
which it was used, Senator Hampton's refer
ence to the issues of the day was inserted
And just here it may be proper to state that
the editor of The VIRGINIAN differs with Mr.
Gordon in his recollection of the language
used when his (G'sl attention was called TO the
| omission.
So far as he can now recall the language
the response to Mr.. G's assertion, 81 do not
intend to send that North for msconstruction,r
was as follows: Hampton made use of those
words, and | intend to let him have the full
benefit of them. / will neither take from nor
add to, but propose to give thoroughly impair
tial report"
The very fact that we entrusted the report
ing OF the speech to warm political friend
and admirer of Senator Hampton, whilst the
paper he reported fog IS opposed politically to