The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1883-08-16
Bourbon Principles.

Bourbon Principles.
In the formulation of its principles, the
Lynchburg Convention did nothing that
endorses the history Of the party it repre-
sented. 1t accepted all that the Coalition
has done for the State and paraded it be-
fore the country as its own platform,
without naming single proposition the
Bourbons had supported. Its action was
a bold and open declaration that it has no
principles with which to go before the
people. 1t failed to enumerate, however,
the principles which no one is disposed to
deny it. They are seven in number-"the
five loaves and two fishes These are the
great underlying tenets of Bourbon faith
They are the electric power which gives 1t
life and activity and spurs it on to con-
test for supremacy, that they may be put
into practical operation. Give them the
offices and the purse strings and all things
else may go to the winds. 1t is greed for
spoils that is the moving cause OF the ex
istence of that faction. The public debt,
the public schools, taxation and revenue,
the public charities and educational insti-
buttons, may all go to naught SO Tar us they
are concerned, if only the Bourbons are
permitted to revel in place and power as
were their wont from 1870 to 1885, Let
them pass again into the enjoyment OF
their principles five loayes and two fish
es-and they will speedily demonstrate that
they care for nothing else. Give the 'best
people"-the courthouse rings-the effete
and decayed pinch-becks-another clutch
upon the State Treasury, and they will
make any bargain, any coalition, whether
with black spirits or grey, Bliful OF Black
George, the Puritan or Black-leg, to re-
tain it. The five loaves and two fishes are
but a plain Interpretation of the Lynch
burg string of resolutions.
The able editor of the Lynchburg Vir-
qiniaia should take q summer outing
His righteous liver is evidently deranged,
or else the dog days are telling on him
sadly. He raves in his issue Of the 18th
against the VALLEY VIRGINIAN's sug-
gestions us to what the recent democratic
convention might have done, and asks If
the Coalition party has ever declared III
favor of the measures proposed. 1t is I'M
necessary to say that up to Saturday they
had made no such public declaration, other
wise it would have been incorporated in
the Lynchburg platform, as that delectable
document is but a wholesale endorsement
of their past actions. When the dominant
party in Virginia gained control OF the
State they found its every interest so pros
trate and every department so stepped in
corruption, that the process OF cleaning
the Aegean stables was no child's play
They went bravely to work to correct the
most glaring evils first. and bravely was
the work done. They settled the debt
abolished the whipping post +; made the
ballot free placed the public schools on
their feet restored the public charities to
efficiency changed the penitentiary from
| tax to source of revenue redeemed
the obligations of the State and gave tC
the people new life and hope. And all this
was done in the face of the most bitter OPP
position OF the party which the Lynchburg
| Vayinian represents. The surprise is moi
that there were measures demanding at
tention which were not reached, but thai
so much was accomplished in so short 6
time.
We don't intend to follow the Virgiaaiaa
through it's long TRADE, but there is one
branch of the subject upon which. it specl
tally comments, which we shall notice
Our amiable contemporary declares, in re
gard to county roads, that a number Of
''beneficent road laws were throttled il
the committee rooms of the last legisla
ture," because the majority of the com
mittee were of the Coalition party. Come
right up like little man now, and tell Us
| how the committees were constituted fol
ten long years prior to 1880. This gross
injustice in the system Of keeping up thu
public roads is not of a days OF a year.:
duration. 1t dates backs to the time Whel
the democratic measures were first en-
| forced; when democratic stupidity an(
reckless disregard of the interests OF the
poor man repealed the equitable and Ell
ficient system inaugurated by Republicans
and substituted it by the present law,-f
law that shifts the burthen from the
shoulders of those who reap the benefit, tC
| the shoulders of those least able to bear it
and who practically received little if any
return for their labor. 1t comes with {
good grace now. for the party that perpe
trated this injustice and perpetuated il
for decade, to come forward and say that
after it had lost the power to correct the
wrong, it was anxious to do so. Truly the
uses of adversely are sweet.
The Vrginian may rest assured that the
next Legislature will carry into effect, SC
far as possible. the measures have here,
tofore indicated and others besides-meas
ures that will rebound to the good of all
the people, and the upbuilding of the Com
monwealth.
Inthe meantime our contemporary should
guard against going off in passion or else
buy muzzle.