Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1883-11-27
Speech of Capt. James Barron Hope.
THE POET, EDITOR, AND STATESMAN.

THE POET, EDITOR, AND STATESMAN.
We publish the speech delivered at the
celebration i'll Richmond last Tuesday
night week by our friend James
Barron Hope, the Editor of the Norfolk
Landmark, aud good poet and wise
statesman not because he is brother
Editor, but because he expresses our
views more clearly and forcibly than we
could do, and we wish our readers to
have the pleasure and benefit of reading
them. After being introduced by Hon.
John S. Barbour, he spoke as follows
"NIr. Chairman and Fellow Citizens of
Richmond and of Virginia,-It has been
my lot more than once to stand face to
face with multitudes and in the presence of
august assemblies but never before have 1
felt the emotion which agitates me this
evening. speak to you, my countrymen
from heart full of gratitude to God for
great deliverance out of the hands of our
enemies. [Applause.] This feeling, COM
mon to us all, raises the exultation of the
hour above mere partisan rejoicing, and
gives it the dignity and grandeur of Te
victory won in the interests of law and Or
der, justice and moderation, good govern
ment, and the welfare cf society. Here.
in our beautiful capital, more than one vic
tory was celebrated in the days when your
sons encompassed Richmond with zone of
fire, and your wives and daughters lit up
the hospitals with an almost superhuman
tenderness and self-devotion. Cheering.
But no victory then achieved was so great
in its promises, or so valuable in its results.
as that over which we now rejoice. Deep
calleth unto deepi The heart of the Valley
answers the heart of Tidewater. The heart
of the Southwest responds to the heart of
Northern Virginia. The heart of the Shen-
andoah region speaks to the glad heart of
the Southside, and the heart of Richmond
throbs as the heart of the Commonwealth
ought to throb ON such night, and over
such a victory. In the name of Norfolk.
and with all my heart, and all my mind,
and all my soul, 1 congratulate you, my
countrymen, upon that victory 1t is deep
er than well, wider than a church. door,
and more than enough to redeem and reha-
bilitate the State. The scenes and Incl
dents OF this evening might fire the imagi-
nation OF poet or painter; but beneath
the glow and color of the picture there is
that to give shape to the meditations of a
sage or the musings of a philosopher. The
very exuberance of the joy which makes
this city blaze of light tells that a great
public danger has been met and averted.
But we should still remember that we have
been committed to perilous experiment in
ences have imposed upon us sinister ana
extraordinary conditions Changes in the
organic law of any people should grow out
of their necessities; but our present State
Constitution was made eXperimentally;
made with little wisdom, but much audaci-
ty; and many of it's promises are failures in
sight of all men. Ours is the melancholy
distinction of being able to say that we oc-
cupy a position never held before by any
State lou side the South in ancient or
modern times. 1t has been said that all gov
ernments perish by the excessive develop
ment of their essential principles; and the
student who feads TIE current history Of
the republic cannot fail to recall the dictum.
The atmosphere of this country is over
charged with political oxygen and there is
fever in the body polite. The equation
before us has its unknown quantity, which,
for good or i'll, has to be found by the peo-
pie of Virginia. 1t behooves us, then, to
realize this fact-to look beyond the pres
ent, and to make provision foE the future.
Holding this opinion, beg leave to sub
nit that a constitutional convention, in
the interests of all classes, would ameli-
crate our condition and simplify the
work which lies before us. Applause.
The exercise of wisdom, patience, modera-
tion, goodwill, justice. and fearlessness in
doing justice, should be at once our pleas
ure and our policy. And in providing for
future improvement, beg leave to remind
you that organization is power-the power
which enables people to bring forth good
works according to the faith that is in
them; and our faith should make the safety
and welfare of the State the supreme and
sacred business of our lives Let US keep
up and perfect our organization, in town
and country, as jealously as the shepherd
keeps up around his sheepfold the walls
which shut out the ravening wolves. Let
us realize once for all, that organization is
the instrument of victory [applauseJ, and
that by means of this we may reasonably
hope to perpetuate the rule of law and Or
der. Let us show the negroes that, while
we disdain to fiatter or cajole them, we are
too just to oppress them, too upright to
break promise, and too honest to disap-
point any well-founded hope our Lynch
burg platform may have excited i'll their
minds. Let us make sound education and
unpurchasable justice free to all; and last,
not least, let US scorn to do, by agents or in
our own persons, any of the things we de-
nounced in others. Once more, my coun-
tTymen, l congratulate you. We have es-
capped out of the hands of the Philistines,
and the locks of Samson are to-day un-
shorn; and so long as we keep the head of
the Virginia Democracy out of the lap of
profigate Administration we shall be able
on occasion to smite our enemies hip and
thigh, and to maintain a government of
justice and economy and law and order for
the good of thankful, contented, and pro-
gressive people. [Great applause.]