Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1890-08-19
misunderstood.
GOVERNOR GORDON ON HIS HERALD
BOYCOTT TELEGRAM.
An Open Letter to tho New York Paper
The Governor Says His Spirit Was
Misinterpreted.

/ colt" (abOut wblch hhfe nau no inter
views as you charge has evoked degree
| az feelinS and provoked an amount of adj
verse criticism which i think unmerited
/ and unreasonable | have waited for a
more TRANQUIL audience before making my
reply. -, o ho. hoo,
/ wholly misunderstood, but II public
/ attention has been arrested, pubic
! interest increased. and public demon
| STATIONS in any degree developed IN refer
ence to the Lodge bill, then my telegram
/ and the much-needed agitation have
served their purpose, and the result album
! dainty commentaries for the quadruple
wrong done me by the Herald and other
| leading journals.
Isubmit absolute proof Of the obvious
Injustice done me In three particulars. Is
il not probable therefore that II Ike in
! Justice has been done also IN the fourth
and far more serious natter
Here are the proofs:
my telegram you have placed me in the at
ttude Of voluntarily obtruding my .opin-
| ions on the country: whereas that intro
! ductorv sentence showed that | wrote at
| the HerdPs request. Your representative
| here stated that the Herald asked for my
opinion Of the proposed boycott ! could
not well refuse compliance; and II an
| swered at all | felt, and still feel, that inc
/ gravity of the situation and justice 10 our
northern countrymen demanded that l
should frankly tell them that the tendency
| of such needless, One-sided. and hostile le-
| gislation would be to disturb the growing
| and essential oordiality between the sec
| tions and TO raise unnatural barriers 10
| friendly and needful commercial inter
course. If | should denounce the force
bill and yet deny that its passage would
! tend TO disturb commercial relations ana
| impel the South in the direction of COM
mercial Independence. | should have de-
MED q proposition which every thought
| ful and candid man IN this Union must adj
nit TO be true; and my reply would have
| tended so far as it could have any lntiu-
ence) TO dwarf the dangers and discourage
B iRiR{." demonstrations "N'.D'' '"' .S'
| Secondly. in the haste and heat Of your
criticisms, among other extraordinary
statements, you charge that / had gone
over TO the Farmers Alliance movement
and sought 10 rekindle sectional passion at
| the South, in order to secure an elQciion
| TO the United States Senate. Such charges
are not consistent with the usual fair deal
ing of your great journal. They are always
easily made and often difficult to refute.
ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE FARMERS ALLIANCE.
The absolute proof, however, that you
| have been wholly msnformed as to my
attitude towards the Farmers Alliance
| movement is found in the undeniable TACT
| that have not in very many years, nor IN
! tho least particular, changed nv views or
position on any of the leading principles IN
which the alliance is interested. l hold
now and express now the identical opinions
on these subjects that | have steadfastly,
uniformly, and everywhere. held and eX-
pressed for twelve or fifteen years. FOR
| fifteen years or more | have perslstently
urged the farmers 70 q compact, selt-delen-
| siye organization. The united and earnest
support given me by the Farmers Alliance
| in Georgia is not due to any new and sud
| den conversion on my part TO the great
principles of governmental reform which
| they advocate: but due 10 the unceaslng
war have endeavored 70 make upon the
| wrongs from which they have 50 long and
uncomplainingly suffered. l invite the
| Herald and | defy any man 10 ind one
nO1lqu or one sentence an any recent WTdnce
of mine on these subjects ioh,ch hare not her
cou1lferp0rfs in speeches, leters, and published
arguments made bV me bcf0re tie alliance 'ros
born. How palpably unjust, then IS this
charge
The twin charge that for my personal
political purposes | had sought to excite
| southern passion and prejudice Is so en-
| tirely foreign to my whole course since the
war that every intelligent man and woman
| in the South, and ] supposed many at the
| North. know it 10 be both unjust and
| untrue. Appeals 10 passion and prejudice
| have never been, even amidst the bitter
experiences of reconstruction, the lnstru-
mentalities by which have sought politl-
| cal preferment. Precisely the reverse IS
| true, and in this assertion | would be sus-
| tanned by the overwhelming testimony or
| the truth-loving men of both parties and
| both races in this State. Nor did | need
any such appeals 10 passion or any other
appeals TO increase the already too gene
rous trust and Partially OF this people.
MISUNDERSTOOD.
But that your usually Just paper and
other Journals have wholly misinterpreted
the spirit in which wrote my telegram TO
the Herald is evidenced by the concluding
paragraphs of my dispatch, IN which eX-
pressed the faith, which l still hold, in the
patriotism of the Senate and IN the demon;
| STATIONS of disapproyal OF the Lodge bill
which expected from the conservative
masses at the North.
Besides, the unbroken current OF my
| political thought and action during my
| whole public life is in precisely the oppo-
| site direction from the one III which you
seem To think am drifting. The guns at
| Appomattox had scarcely ceased their roar
when upon the very field where our dead
| had fallen. sitting on my horse, with th9
! distressed remnants OF my command
| around me, | sought to sustain them
bv two suggestions. First, that I'M
martial history and their own pos
| terity would take care of their honor.
and their own heroism would secure for
| them a place in the front ranks OF the
worlds soldery. Secondly, that the brave
men of the Union army who had Just TIL
umphed over them were our own country
men and would recognize the fact that tins
| great American republic and Its Liberties
were established by southern as. well as
| northern proves and craftsmanship, and
| that these brave soldiers of the North
| would see TO il that this common govern
ment of ours should be administered IN
| the shirt of its founders. No man can
noint TO word or act of mine from that
| dav TO this inconsistent with that effort
| then made on the bloody field of Apo
! mattOX.
is this charge also that have engaged III
| the puerile effort to threaten the North or
| inflame the South
| am disposed. with your permission. TO
press this analysis of my uniform course
| since the war. because in dong me grave
| Injustice (Which is very small matter you
are undertaking the dangers which threat
| en- the business Of the country (Which Is a
very great matter).
FORMER UTTERANcEs.
have before me the full text of a speech
made by me only few months ago 10 a
| southern audience while the Lodge bill
was pending IN the House OF Representa-
| tiyes. This speech was made in the city
! of Albany III Southwest Georgia, where
| the negroes largely outnumber the whites
and where the enforcement of the IN
| iauitous election law will be most disas-
| trous. Surely, if my purpose were to
arouse passion for selfish considerations
that occasion would have invited the effort.
My text was:
Sectional harmony essential TO the per-
manence of our civil freedom"
sought TO enforce that proposition. |
said, among other things:
1T is true that We have emerged from a
| long period of political confusion, of angry
controversy and bloody strife with a
national life more robust, a national peace
more real, and national union more CON-
piete: but If the fraternal counsels and
concessions which made the Union possible
IN the beginning. are 10 give place to the
passionate will of party maioritles IN the
/ fut,ra tho Ifpiop will last m mama hut n