The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1881-07-07

Cor. JAMES III. SKINNER


earnest and impressive manner. He said III
esteemed it privilege to respond to the cal
made on him. Only a short while before HI
had heard of this meeting, and had come herr
because he regarded 1t the duty OF every goot
citizen to give expression to his feelings, il
view of the dreadful calamity that had faller
on the President of the United States, ant
through him on his greatly afflicted family.
Mr.. jefferson, on memorable occasion, haC
said, "We are all Republicans, we are all Fed
eralists." He could not, in imitation, say WI
are all Democrats, we are all Republicans, fo
such was not the case; but we are all mel
with human hearts in our bosoms, and thes'
hearts are touched TO the core, are moved t.
their lowest depths by the distressful condi
tion of the President and the sorrows of hi
family.
He deeply sympathised with what he knew
must be the grief of that venerable mother
who, with overlooking affection and will
just pride, had so recently seen her son exalted
to the first position in the Republic. He fell
even more for that tender wife, who was now
agonized with the dreadful uncertainty of {
loved husbands condition, whose life seemed
hanging by brittle thread. He sympathize6
not less with the President himself, who JUS
four months ago this day had assumed the
foremost office in the world, pledging himsel
to discharge its duties to the best of his abili
ty-a promise which the speaker believed be
had endeavored faithfully to fulfil-and who
was now PROSTATE under so sudden and dire
full calamity.
If it should please God that Mr.. Garfield
should recover-and he was sure there was moi
a Christian man in the audience who did moi
fervently pray that such might be the case
he believed that this present great affection
would be productive of the most blessed re-
suits, through the universal and boundless ex
pressions of good will which it had called
forth. If the lately alienated sections shall be
drawn together and cemented by Mr.. Gar
fields blood; if the wounds of his country
shall be healed through his wounds-then in
deed he will not have suffered in vain, and he
(the speaker) believed that Mr.. Garfield was
sufficiently patriot to look back with un
mixed pleasure on sufferings which should
yield such peaceable fruits.
Mr.. Garfield was not our choice for the
Presidency but the choice of the men of the
North-now our brethren-with whom moi
many years since we engaged in bitter strife
and fierce battle, and yet he felt sure that he
only echoed the sentiment of every heart be-
fore him when ne declared that had Winfield
Scott Hancock been elected President, and had
he been stricken down by the hand of a would
be assassin, the event could not have aroused
greater horror or deeper or more genuine sym
pathy than now stirs our hearts over the
lamentable case of James A. Garfield. Loud
applause. The speaker thanked them fol
their spontaneous and hearty endorsation Of
his sentiment, and continued The fact is, we
and those with whom in the past we have diff
fered and striven are citizens of common
country, and we acknowledge all the obliga-
tions that flow from that relation. We have a
common history, the same hopes and aspira-
tons for the future, the same destiny, the
same interest in all that affects the govern
ment for veal or woe, the same duties-which
we on our part stand ready to perform; and
whatever shall create and give currency to
this conviction, and fasten it upon the mind of
the North, even the appalling event we this
evening have met to deplore, cannot be said
to have happened in vain.
At the close of Col SINNERS remarks, and
in response to repeated calls,
MEADE F. WHITE, ESQ.,,
came forward and addressed the audience in
that happy style peculiar to himself. He said
that the upturned faces about him spoke more
eloquently of the sympathy for the fallen chief
than words of his could express. The great
sorrow was present with ALL However much
men may have differed in times gone by, he
felt that there was many one in the South
tonight who would have interposed his own
person to ward off the blow that struck down
James A. Garfield
Mr. White spoke with beauty of thought
and language and we regret exceedingly that
an accident to our notes prevents our giving a
ruler Synopsis OF MS remarks.
JUDGE j. h. McCUE
followed Mr.. White in a brief address. Judge
McCue had just gotten off the train and
was on his way home when he was called to
the meeting. In his travels throughout the
eastern part of the State, both on the cars and
in the country he had heard but one sentiment
A feeling of the deepest sympa-
thy with the President, coupled with bitter
denunciation of the crime, was everywhere
manifest. The whole body of the people Was
regarded this blow ain ed at
their chosen leader, as an assault upon them
selves. They look with direst apprehension
upon the possible consequences, should the
Presidents life be not spared. One of the
darkest days the Nation, and especially the
South, has ever known, was when an assas-
sins bullet laid low that great and good man,
Abraham Lincoln. This second great calam-
lty, should it prove fatal, is even more
and from hearts and lips through
out the whole limit of the land, earnest, heart
felt prayers are being sent up for the life of
the President. Judge McCue spoke very
briefly, he being physically worn out by travel
His voice was tremulous with the emotion and
his manner betoken the earnestness OF his
feelings.
Calls were made for
J. YosT.
who commenced by saying if he were allowed
to paraphrase familiar quotation he would
say: Zone touch of sorrow makes the world
akin" The electric current which bore to the
farthermost parts of the world the shocking
intelligence of this terrible blow, spoke not on=
ly to the understanding OF men, but penetrated
to the inner heart and touched the chords OF
kindlier sympathy that, swift as thought itself,
spoke to heart again, and drew men together
in the common bond of sorrow. It mattered
not what differences may have existed, there
is no division of sentiment now, but from the
universal heart of humanity wells up the over
flow OF feeling which fiEds expression in the
deepest solicitude and concern for the Chief
Magistrate of the Nation stricken down by the
hand of a cowardly assassin.
Never was the promise of henefcent and
prosperous reign been more clearly observable
to the signs of the times, than were the out
pivinUs for the immediate fi1turo IF thic