The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1882-06-08
Read il1StRr A 6draSs

The Wing OF the 9th contains the address pre-
pared by the Readjuster State Central Commit
tee and endorsed by the members of the last
General Assembly acting with it. 1t occupies
over five columns of that journal and is an
able and connected statement of the history
OF the party, its conflicts and triumphs, and
the purposes which it yet has in view. 1t
reviews the political history of the State since
1869; recounts the measures adopted affecting
the State debt; details the acts passed INTO
law at the last session OF the Legislature and
those defeated by the detection of several
OF its members; pledges the support of the
party to the administration of President Ar
thur; declares for protective tariff and pro-
claims for policy of Liberalism and Nation
alism as that only through which Virginia
can ever regain her lost prestige as one of the
sisterhood of the States of the Union.
1t is a perspicuous, vigorous, and nervous
document and will be read with interest by all
classes of citizens. 1t dwells with evident
satisfaction upon the fact that the Readjus-
tiers have been true to their pledges to the peo-
pie, and even comprehended more in the leg
islation proposed than was promised, but
some of which was not adopted because. of the
detection of four of its Senators-alI look
ing to the welfare of the Commonwealth and
the interests of the constituent body.
The general tenor and argument of the ad
dress will be accepted by the members of the
party as in harmony with its pledges and
announced aims, and it is important in
the accomplished facts it groups, and
even more SO in the bold and aggressive
position it declares, affecting our national re-
lations and the future political tendencies of
the organization.
Its length and the late hour at which it was
received prevent its insertion in this issue
of the VIRGINIAN, but we will endeavor to in
sert it in our next.
There is something refreshing in these times
of sectional animosities and sectional pol
announcement of sentiments SO in con-
sonance with the progressive forces which
are shaping the destiny of the country
and revolutionizing the political methods
which have welded the South to the fossilized
notions of the past. We could not do less
than admire the general thought of the paper,
without denying the views we have advanced
through these columns for the past ten years,
and confessing the wrong of our repeated
appeals and invocations to a more national ana
enlightened policy for our people. Indeed we
may congratulate ourselves that many of those
to whom we have been antagonized in State
and National contests, have advanced to the
position we have held and supported, and are
now in full accord with the national views we
have so earnestly pressed through these col
umns The courage and frankness ofthe address
must be accepted as an earnest of the sincerity
of those who have formulated 1t, and by
whatever name they may chose to be known,
for all practical purposes they are distinctly
arrayed against the spirit of narrow section
alism and retrogression which has bound the
old Commonwealth to the idols of the past.
II is formidable arraignment of the Demo-
cratic party of the State-its methods, its inf
delities and its false pretenses, and a cogent
appeal for a broader comprehension OF
the duty and obligation of the hour, as
well as to the approval of all those who
believe the future hope of Virginia and the
South is in different path to that trod by the
Bourbon Democratic party.