The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1884-01-10
Bourbon WAYS.

tIldG The people OIL Illo cOuln were lnQOleuI
from habit. The remark was made in a
comparative sense, as was evidenced by
the reference to the need of Northern &C
tivity and energy in the. Southern States.
We stated that what Gen. Malone had
said was true. and not SANDER, as was
charged by his political enemies. The
Waynesboro Messenger takes up the sub
ject and deals out a discourteous lecture to
the VIRGrNIAN for endorsing the alleged
SANDER.
We are at all times disposed to treat
fairly and courteously our contemporaries
and discuss any proposition raised or
suggested in these columns, when the
proper amenities of journalism are OBJ
served. But we are not willing to obtrude
upon our readers epithet and denuncia-
ton, simply because others happen to diff
fer with us ON given proposition, nor
are we willing to engage in disputation
when such language is used towards us. In
this instance we shall depart from this gen.
eral rule and avail Of the occasion to offer
some appropriate reflections.
We stated what we believed and knew
to be true. In doing so we charged no
moral delinquency or criminal offense. The
habit of Incidence. which too much pre-
walls throughout the South, is the inheri-
lance from the slave system, and prevails
in greater or less degree where slaves were
in larger or smaller numbers. 1t is con-
dition that has been acknowledged and de-
plored by Southern journals and writers
ever since slavery was abolished. In the
Valley Of Virginia, where slaves were
comparatively few, the sons of slave own
ers, we know, worked in the field with the
slaves, and hence were the better prepared
| to take care of themselves when enamel
patton became fixed fact. In portions
of Eastern Virginia, and further South,
where slavery was more dense and there
was no necessity for white labor, the sons
of slave owners were raised to Incidence,
and in many instances they have not grown
out of the habit. No reasonable man can
dispute this, and because Gen. Malone re-
| ferred to it as one of the misfortunes OF
the South, he was arraigned by his personal
and political enemies for ''slandering the
South. " And for the reason that we stated
| it was not a SANDER. but that the remark
was sustained by the actual conditions in
| the South, it suits the Messenger to impute
| to the VIRGINIAN bad motive and un-
friendly feeling for the Southern people.
Had the incidental remark of Gen. Ma
hone been made by any one else, and it has
been substantially often and over again.
nothing would have been thought of it,
But because he made it, and it served as a
pretext for a volume of slime and Islander
to be heaped upon him, it was taken up
| by hostile journals and contorted into a
vile calumny upon the Southern people
| That is the extent of his and our offending
and no more.
In our own way, and from considerate
view of the wants Of Virginia and the
South, we have been laboring earnestly for
Southern interests. We believe it is to
the interest of the South that free thought.
free speech and free press should prevail
everywhere within her borders, and that
every one should have the unmolested
and unquestioned right to entertain and ex-
press his opinions and vote his convic-
lions on public questions, without let OF
hindrance from any one. We have sought
to break down prejudice, to inculcate a
sentiment of reverence for law, to respect
and protect the rights Of all citizens-to
live up squarely to the demands OF the new
conditions in which we were placed after
the war, and to show to the world that the
Southern people were brave enough, and
loyal enough to the pledges they gave, to
observe in all their amplitude and in
their most liberal construction. every
enactment, respecting citizens rights.
which Congress imposed. and to conform in
every particular to the laws and constitu-
tion of the country without evasion or
reservation. We plainly saw that without
this spirit being practically recognized in
the South, it would work to her disadvan-
tage-that the capital and skilled enter
prise we need, would not invade us. This
proposition we have stubbornly main
tanned, and for so doing we have been de-
nounced as enemies of the South and false
to our people and State-not by the
thoughtful and considerable and really con-
sentative, for this class has encouraged
us, by word and deed, although differing
with us in political association-but by the
political managers and machine manipula-
tors, who discerned danger to their ascen-
dancy in the propagation of such senti-
ments. For years, the VIRGINIAN, singly
and alone, fought the battle in Virginia
against prejudice, against wicked and
harmful sectionalism, in the face Of the
vilest ISLANDERS, the bitterest ostracism and
the most malignant persecution, in our
business and social relations, that ever a
paper or man had to encounter. And to-
day we have the satisfaction Of knowing
that every proposition which we have ad-
vocated, that legislation could effect, con-
corning citizens rights, is the law of the
land, endorsed by both parties, and so en-
trenched that no political force will ever
again dare to assail them. Not in anger,
not from hostile feeling towards our native
State and section, have we done this, but
from firm conviction that duty to both,
as well as to the government whose pro-
lection we all invoke, demand it. We
believe the intelligence and courage of the
South can better afford to be liberal in the
Interpretation of all laws and the recogni-
ton Of all rights, than it can to either
obstruct their enjoyment and exercise or
circumvent their operation. And this
fact is becoming more generally recognized
every day and regret expressed that 1t had
not been practically observed years ago,
for had it been we would to-day be far ad-
vanced i'll material development and politi-
cal influence to what we are, and more
literally commanding the cooperation,
aid and sympathy of the outside world.
The truth will vindicate itself in time,
nor is it SANDER to state it at any and all
times. No political opponent can state
proposition that would seem to reflect on
Bourbon intelligence and Bourbon liberal
ity or justice, or that in any way could be
construed into questioning Bourbon infalli-
bility, that would not be denounced as a
SANDER. With this quixotic disposition