The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1885-07-30

We publish elsewhere brief interview
of Hon. John s. Wise with reporter of
the New York Tribune. One suggestion
in it is worthy of the consideration of the
Northern people, especially Of Northern
Republicans. IF the Republicans of the
North win cease treating us like poor re-
lations, fit only to eat at the second table,
and give us that moral and earnest sup
port which we deserve there will be no
trouble about making Virginia a Repub-
lican State permanently" 1t has been the
Indifference of the Northern Republicans
to the Republicans Of the South which has
arrested the progress of Republlcanlsm
in the Southern States. 1t has been the
habit to treat us with some consideration
once every four years, when the National
Conventions have convened. On such oc-
casions Southern Republicans have been
courted and battered and petted, and
lavish assurance given of what would be
done when the tug Of war came, to enable
us to meet our opponents with equal ad-
vantages. But when the nominations have
been completed. and the use OF Southern
votes in Convention effected the object de-
signed, then we have been left to shift for
ourselves and make the best of our linn
tied opportunities and means. Virginia
would have cast her electoral vote for Gar
field in 1880 had there been a just concep-
ton of the situation and liberal support
extended in an unequal struggle. Blaine
would have received the twelve votes OF
Virginia in 1884, had we not been practi-
cally deserted at the crucial period, and
three more Republican members of Con-
gress would have taken their seats in the
next session of that body, Allthe appliances
which Northern aid from Democrats
could invent were arrayed against us, sup
plemented by the most desperate strain
and resorts Of the party here, and yet the
Republicans only lost the State by few
thousand. The Republicans have a ma
| jority of the legal voters of the State, and
with effective organization and well sus-
| tanned support, can win the fight this fall.
The courage, the devotion to great cause.
the love of State and country, we have,
but we lack the wealth-the means to So
lldify our forces and counterfeit the mer-
cenary and corrupt agencies employed by
our opponents, They have had the brokers,
| the stockgamblers, the banks, and now the
election machinery, to sustain them in
their desperate resolves and INSCRIPTIONS
devices to command majority of the
qualified voters Of the Commonwealth.
Place the Republicans on an equality with
them and the issue will be relieved Of
doubt. Our cause is that Of the people.
Two-thirds of the whites sympathize with
and believe in the principles and policies
which the Republicans proclaim and main
tain. but the moral courage is absent with
many of them to face and defy the denun-
citation and prescription which are re-
sorted to to brighten men from their duty.
We want the moral and material support of
the party elsewhere in our unequal strug-
gle, and with this assured the victory will
be ours.
1t has been prevalent impression in
the North, that the Republican party in the
South consisted of the white office-holders
and the colored voters, and that the for
mer were Republicans because the power
that dispensed the offices was Republican.
1t may be fortunate that this charge can
not now be made, for the occasion will be
afforded to demonstrate to the world that
the Republicans of Virginia are controlled
by as high sense of duty-have as sensi-
tive a regard for the rights of citizenship
and are as courageous and manly in the
assertion and support of their political
convictions as are any people on the face of
i the globe. 1t is an easy matter to be iden-
tined with the Republican party where
the currents are all one way-where the
influences are propitious and favorable
for that cause But it is an entirely diff
ferent thing here i'll the South. We have
to encounter the enginery of persecution
in all of it's formS-tO face prejudice
which is so strong that it causes men to
vote against their convictions and their
interests to save themselves from
mendacious taunts and sneers and ostra-
cism in their social relations. This can
vass will show that official power has very
little to do with the mineral strength of
the Republican party of Virginia. Wise
will receive larger vote than did Blaine
if the spirit and composition Of the Con-
vention which nominated him and the in
dications since are to he taken as basi
of estimate. The whole contest will be
stubborn and fierce, but with the aid the
Republicans should command, to give them
equal advantages, they will win.
They have cause worthy of all COM
mendation. 1t comprehends all the essen
tial conditions of Republican government.
The equal rights of the citizen; the purity
of::the masses the material progress of the
State herl emancipation from the clutch
of brokers and spectators her SOW
ereignty, and her very existence as free,
independent, prosperous Commonwealth.
Republican success in Virginia this fall
would, in short, be a new declaration of
| ependence-freedom from the wrongs
| inflicted by an insolent and wicked pc
litical power, whose ends are only selfish /;
whose methods are despicable and
whose rule has been disastrous. 1t would
not only be political freedom for Virginia,
but it would give assurance that the Ma
tional Government would not again fall
under the control of party that gained
its ascendancy through the suppression
of the ballot and the violation of the laws
and constitution of the country-a pledge
that the people would again rule and that
equal justice and equal rights would be
melted out to all. While, as Mr.. Wise
says, the issues to be passed upon are more
local than national,y yet the effect of Repub-
lican success in Virginia will reach to the
whole Union and comprehend almost every
interest that relates to national progress
and prosperity.