The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1882-05-18
Gen. Mahone.s Vote.

mond Whtg for the recent vote of Gen. Ma
hone in the United States Senate against
the repeal OF a statute inhibting any person
whohad held Office in the Confederate service
from service in the Federal army or navy,
is commented on by the Richmond State In
a rather extravagant manner. The Wings
view was that the statute had been enacted
in obedience to northern sentiment, imme-
diately after the war-that it was express
sive of what the North believed to be the
right policy, and that the proposition for
its repeal should come from the source that
deemed it wise to place it there. and not
from Southern Senators, identified with
the party that is recognized as the repre-
sentative of the South, and opposed to the
dominant party in the North. The resolu-
ton to repeal, the Wing assumed, com ing
from Southern source, was calculated to
arouse the feelings and resentments of the
war. and that the true policy Of the South
was to leave to the Judgment Of the Sec
ton that placed the restrictive law upon
the statute book the time and manner of its
rescindment.
We agree with this view of the matter.
While we believe the Southern people are
as loyal to the Union now as the citizens
of any other portion of the country, and
would respond as readily to call from the
government for the defense Of its flag as they
did in the war of 1912 and the Mexican
fha Loo
question from the same standpo int. They
have fresh in their minds the fundamental
enactments of every Southern State that
the amendments to the Constitution and
the reconstruction acts would be accepted
in good faith and without reservation, and
at the same time the ingenius legislative
devices adopted to circumvent those very
amendments and laws, and practically pro-
hibit their enforcement in spirit and let
ter. They have before them the reiterated
statements of Jefferson Davis that the war
had settled no principle-that the s'lost
cause" is not lost and the declarations of
such representative men as Hon. j. Ran
dolph Tucker that the State Rights theory
ment-which precipitated secess ion-is the
true theory of the Constitution. Mr.. Davis
nor Mr.. Tucker represents the sentiment of
the great mass of the Southern people,
and especially the Southern soldiers, yet
their sayings go uncontrOverted from South
ern sources, and are accepted by the
North as the prevailing sentiment where
they are uttered.
The North holds to different views of the
results of the war and of the Constitution.
They believe that great principle was de-
termined-that the State Rights theory of
government was a specious, mischievous
and dangerous doctrine, and that to adhere
to it to the extent of assaulting the integ-
rity of the Union, was great national
crime. They believe that in the late war
the North was right and the South wrong,
and this belief finds expression in the statute
sought to be repealed. The proposition to
repeal, coming from the South, therefore,
revived the remembrance of the war,
aroused the latent feelings, to which the
war gave birth. and was considered by the
representatives in the Senate of that section
the motives of the enactment. 1t ranged
parties on either side, the Republicans
against repeal and the Democrats in favor
of it, and Gen. Malone voted with the Re-
publicans to give a quietus to the agita-
ton, for that was the effect practically OF
the defeat of the motion. Had he voted for
repeal, with the Republicans massed on one
side and the Democrats on the other, it
would have been proclaimed as triumph
of the Confederate influence in the Senate
of the United States-would have passed
to the House to iniame sectional feeling
and passion there, and would have stirred
the resentments of the people Of the North,
without bringing any compromising good,
but a great deal of harm to tbe South,
for the House would have rejected it.
There was nothing practical in the prop
osition, except to have given DR.. Tebbs a
position in the army. Probably there was
not another similar case that would have
been presented for consideration. But the
result would have been the same-the old
war prejudices and resentments-which are
fast dying out-would have been revived,
and the South made to feel the effects not
only in her political, but material re-
lations. 1t is these foolish abstract no.
lions and silly nothings which have
been the bane of the South. We have
been fighting for them ever since the war,
and been defeated in every contest. Instead
of accepting the situation and living up to
it-looking to the present and future in
stead of the past, and adjusting cur views
and policies to the inevitable, We have ad-
hered to the obsolete notions which went
down in the shock of battle. And it is be-
cause the VIRGINIAN has maintained that
it was the true policy of the South-that it
was her interest as we'll as her duty to re-
cognize the results Of the war and conform
her laws and administration to them, and
educate public sentiment up to their accep-
lance, that it has been denounced and villified
as an enemy of the South, and we as trait
pursued the even tenor of our way, press
ing upon the public mind, as best we could,
the wisdom of our course, until now the
great mass of the people, if they would
express their honest opinions, believe we
have been the true friends of our State and
section, and advocated that policy best cal
culated to promote their prosperity.
The assumption of the State that the re-
tention of the statute, the proposition for
the repeal of which has Occasioned this dis
cussion.is brand upon the Southern youth
and an inhibition upon their entrance into
the service of the government in either the
army or navy, is not founded in fact. The
case of DIR. Tebbs was exceptional. He
had served in some capacity or other un-
der the Confederate government, and
therefore came under the operation of the |
law. But here in the Valley we can point
to number of young men. of Southern
families and sympathies, who now hold po-
sitions in both these arms of the public SER
vice. From Augusta county. DIR. Craw-
ford, son of Col. S. D. Crawford. is an As
sistant Surgeon in the navy; Carter P.
johnson, graduate Of the Virginia Mill
tary Institute, who enlisted as private
soldier four or five years ago, has recently
been promoted to the rank of second lieu.