Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1881-10-28
MIR. KELLEY IN sTAUNT0N.
he MAKES A GREAT SPEECH.


ception. Not person was disappointed,
which is saving great deal for so large
and critical an audience, and when we say
that Mr.. Kelley made a grand speech and
| indicated his reputation as one Of the
frst orators of the State, we express the
unanimous opinion of every one who heard
one of the very best speeches ever made
in Staunton.
His arguments were close, his conclu-
sions irresistible and his flights of elo-
quence sublime, and the applause that Of
| ten burst forth at the conclusions Of his
splendid periods, shook the house and could
be heard for squares. No report could do
his speech Justice. We will only attempt
running sketch of the main points made.
Being introduced by Hon. Marshall
Hanger in few we'll chosen words. Mr..
Kelley who is a gentleman rather below
| the medium height, of slight and graceful
| figure and attractive general appearance,
stepped to the front of the stage amidst a
| storm of applause and commenced by say
| ing that he was there as a simple citizen
Of Virginia, holding no office, seeking no
| political place, animated by the same pur-
pose and standing upon the same plane
| with his audience.
He was glad he said to come to Staun-
ton. AS the Christian in going over the
paths that Christ had trod found encour-
agement and strength for his faith, so he
| tonight had come to such spot ana at
the tomb of John Baldwin, would drink
inspiration to his courage and strength for
| his political faith Here he knew he would
| find something to renew his energy and
stimulate his resolves. He spoke with re-
gret of the party divisions among people
quick to determine the paths of right who
had bargained for their honor such mess
of pottage and asked which of the two par
| ties were worthy of support? both young
parties. the oldest born in the last twelve
years, younger than any person in the
house. At the birth of the Conservative
party all had FORGOTTEN that they were
| Wings or Democrats and had locked arms
| to raise out of the mire the State they had
| loved and for which on many battle field
| they had risked the life current of their
| hearts. The high objects of that party
were to build up the waste places of the
State and to get the ship of State once
more on her course. Did you succeed?
| Compare the condition of Virginia now
| with what she was twelve years ago and
| the question need not be asked.
He then drew the dark picture that Vir-
GINA presented twelve years ago when
bound down under military rule and load
ed with weight of debt that statesmen
hardly dared contemplate, as abject a spec
tacle as India was under Give or poor Ire
land under her landlords. Since this part
ty had assumed control of the helm she
had dotted the State with schools, had
filed the land with smoking furnaces and
| buzzing factories and had built more rail-
roads than all the six States of New Eng
land and this while public plumber was the
| rule in the other States of the South. The
speaker then with sorrow referred to the
division that had of late years come to
this Conservative party and asked which
was the better of the two that had sprung
from it? That of course which had the
best men in it and that was the Conserva-
tive Democratic party and he challenged
all contradiction. 1t included in its ranks
here the men who stood at the head of all
| your great enterprises and manufacturing
interests, the men who stood at the head
of your professions, your institutions of
learning. Nine tenths, yes nineteen TWEEN
tieths of such men, are they not in the
ranks of this party here? II not 50, then
Stanton was city unlike any other in
the State.
He then showed up the record of the
other party, the younger one, so young
| that it's standard bearer, Cameron, mad to
plead the baby act for what he had said
when he was too young to know the
difference between minks and monkeys,
and ne yroes.
lie would not attempt to 60 into the
debt question, but spoke Of the only finan-
cial act of the Readjuster party, that of
procuring an extra session of the legisla-
ture in 1879, getting their hands into the
public crib and taking out 41.00O for the
expense of the session, and their only pc
litical act the effort last fall with bogus
Hancock ticket to secure the vote Of old
| Virginia and lay it down in the hands of
the Republican party. That was the
| whole financial and POLITICAL record of
| the party. Among It's purposes it aimed
to control the judiciary of the State in its
| own interest. and by means of the Riddle
| berger bill, reduce that high court of APP
| peals to the level of county court, if not
| lower.
They could not agree among themselves
upon the amount of the PUBLIC debt They
| had started with $50 100000. then had it
down to $40 OOO, 600, then to fifteen. and
Wy 's2 we might expect them to work it
to two, and finally, to end the matter by
presenting every citizen of the common
| wealth with a chrome.
They talked loudly of a free vote and
! fair count, the speaker thought if Colonel
| Cameron and Billy Malone could get to-
| gether in a private room in their own
| town of Petersburg and read over together
J that plank in their platform they would
die of mutual laughter. Their free vote
| was farce. They taxed Office holders 2
per cent of their salaries or they must give
| up their places. They turned out Auditor
| Taylor who had grown grey in the service
| of the State; the venerable Treasurer. r.
M. T. Hunter, and kicked the MANNED SOL
| der, Sullivan, down the granite steps of
the Capitol, and these were the people who
talked of free vote and fair connt.
Turning to the candidates of this party
he would not speak of Blair. He had been
early taught to speak no i'll of the dead,
but proceeded to show up the record of