The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1885-10-08
Wise IN Augusta.

] THE LARGEST POLITICAL MEETING HELD
IN sTAuNToN FOR YEARS. AN ABLE
SPEECH AND A wELL-PLEAsED AUDI
ENCE.
Saturday last was day long to be re-
membered by the Republicans OF Augusta.
1t witnessed the largest Republican meet
ing ever held in the county, and the largest
political meeting of any kind held here for
years. No building other than the Skat-
ing Rink. an immense structure. would
have held the audience. Ordinarily pub
lie speaking takes place in the Court
House, where Lee and Daniel spoke, or
until recently in the Opera House. The
crowd that assembled on Saturday would
have filled both of these buildings, and
when it is remembered that it was an off
day and those who attended were attracted
solely by the desire to hear Wise speak,
some idea may be formed of the interest
felt in this canvass, and of the spirit of the
Republicans. After some excellent music
by the Readjuster Band, of Mt. Sidney,
and at 1890 O'Clock, the Republican can
didate for Governor stepped upon the
stand which had been erected at the north
end of the Rink. A sea Of upturned faces
greeted him. Seats had been provided for
l 800 people, and these were filled, whilst
| the aisles were packed with men standing,
and in rear of the seats men crowded each
other and craned their necks in the effort
to hear and see. Good judges estimated
the crowd at between 700 and 2,0c0, over
nineteen-twentieths of whom were voters,
there being from IS to 100 ladies and boys.
OF the men, over two-thirds were white,
many Democrats being among them. No
speaker ever addressed an audience more
attentive, or one which seemed to more
| thoroughly appreciate the points made.
The applause was frequent and came with
y ringing readiness that proved its gem
uineness. There was but single inter-
ruption and that not at all indecorous.
Some seeker after knowledge asked the
speaker question which was responded
10 with alscrity. The answer seemed per-
freely satisfactory to the interrogation,
wo was not heard from afterwards
JNo. S. WISE
WAS introduced by J. Yost, and as he ad-
v,nced to the front OF the platform, the
yr.y building shook with the wild huzzas
OF his friends and supporters. The speak
er seemed in his happiest mood and in ex-
4 ,,,ii,,,t wilma Jo non, ~, orooa lx, ctafspo
int he came to address the reason and
the judgment of his hearers !; to present to
them plain truths and simple facts from
the record. He would gladly have OBJ
s~reed the time -honored custom in Vir-
giria of meeting his opponent i'll debate,
rnl that privilege had been denied him.
he had sought every opportunity..for a
free open aud manly discussion of the is
sues involved i'll the canvass with General
Lee. At Luray on the Monday before,
where both had appointments. his friends
had made three distinct offers to the rep
resehtatives of the Democratic party, but
all TO no avail. They dared not stand be-
fore he people Whose suffrages they asked,
and attempt to justify their acts. Their
only hope OF success in this campaign is a
resort to evasion and Misrepresentation
ana for this reason they shrink from an
encounter which would lay bare their tao
ties aud cause the voters whose trust they
have betrayed to- turn in scorn upon them.
Tie speaker then proceeded to inform
his audience why he was National Re-
/ publican from the crown of his head to
the sole of his foot. He was Republican,
not for the same reason that acolored man
was-for the negro owed his freedom and
his franchise to that party. He was Re-
greatness of his State and the prosperity
of its people depended in no small degree
upon the maintenance of Republican
principles, and the enforcement of Repub-
lican policy. 1t was to the Republican
party that the people of this nation owe
their splendid monetary system the pub
lie free schools the national banks the
protective tariff and the other great meas
ures that have contributed to the up
building of the nation and the prosperity
of the masses. Ithad been charged against
him that he had changed. So he had.
Every man should change when he sees he
is wrong. Only fools never change. And
has the so-called Democratic party been
so Interchangeable that it can afford to
charge inconsistency upon others Was
it consistent when it voted for Horace
Greeley and consorted with Henry Ward
Beecher to secure the election Of Cleye-
land and is it consistent to- day when it
follows in the lead of Massey, upon whom
it has exhausted the vocabulary of abuse
What reason do they give now for being a
Democrat ? Is it because of any princi-
pie? No they have long since abandoned
every claim to principle. What then
They say they were born Democrats and
must therefore continue such. They
were born babies, without hair or teeth,
but they don't want to remain in that
state. Their fathers were Democrats,
they say. So was mine, said Wise, but he
lived long enough to say that latter-day
Democrats out-scallawaged the scalawag
and out-carpet- bagged the carpet-bagger.
Their last claim was that they were
white men, and belonged to the white
mans" party. The speaker read statistics
to prove that in the white counties of the
Southwest the Republican majorities were
heaviest, whilst in the black counties of
Charlotte, Halifax and others, the Demo
Gratis elected their candidates. He also
read the mixed school law of New York,
signed by Grover Cleveland, and extracts
from the messages of Hoadley, Demo
cratic Governor of Ohio, recommending
: the abolition of the color line in schools,
adding that it was amusing to hear these
Democrats in white counties appealing to
the whites against the negro, whilst in the
black counties they would tell the colored
men that they should not vote with the
Republicans because they were really for
the whites.
The speaker discussed at length the
tariff, showing how the Democrats under
the lead of Morrison in the last Congress
had sought to enforce their free-trade
; ideas, and referred to the bill now being