Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1903-10-09
THE KENTUCKY CAMPAIGN.


noticing an editorial IN recent issue
of the SPECTATOR on the present Ken
tncky campaign, in which the SPEC
TAToR referring to the Republican
candidate, Col. RelkDap, in part said:
Col Morris b Belknap. the RepubIl-
can candidate. is not q native Ken
tuckian. but wss imported into lhat
State ostensibly from Iowa, but really
from Washington City. where his
father, who was the, We will say, no
torious-because bis conduct made
him SO at the time-W. W. Belknap,
one of the Secretaries Of War under
Gen. Grant at that time resided, cor
reefs us. and says:
We assure our esteemed contempo-
rary that Col. Morris j. Belknap was
imported neither from Iowa. nor wash
iugton Civ: but is d Kentuckian born
and bred, the scion of a most excel
lent fsnilv. and no kin whatever to
Gen. " w. Belknap, Gen. Grant 8
hapiess Secretary of War.
We apologize very humbly to Col.
Belknap for mixing his pedigree. We
know pedigree is everything in Ken
lucky, and that those who are bread
there, would not submit to being
"beans'' even in Boston. We met Col.
Belknap at N ewport News during the
Spanish war when his regiment was
quartered there prior to embarklng
for Cuba. It was there we were mis-
informed of bis lineage and birth place.
We hope on this point he may forgive
us. Again the Journal referring to
our article says:
But the SPECTATOR AND VINDIcA
TOR is equally wide OF the mark in the
following:
''Col. Belknap has a speech which
rumor says has been prepared for him
by Col. w. G. P. Breckenridge. How
this may be we know not, bat be Ia
declaming this speech in schoolboyish
fashion about the Bluegrass State, a
State where, if the people delight In
anything more than the beverage
which has made the State famous, it is
oratory. This is another handicap"
THIS is the worst on Col. Breckin.
ridge yet. But. the Colonel can prove
"a abby" He is supporting the Dem
ocratic, not the Republican, ticket. II
the speech referred to did not itself
furnish internal and conclusive evidence
that the Silvertongued Orator had no
hand in it's preparation, the circum
stances of the case would be sufficient
ly exculpatorY.
There is possibly no necessity in
apologizing to Col. Breckenridge for
what rumor jocularly attributed to
him, since the Courier Journal proves
"a allby'' and supports the ''alihy''
with its own testimony to the effect
that the speech referred to furnishes
internal and conclusive evidence
that the silyer-tongued Orator had no
hand in its preparation"
Again the SPECTATOR said:
Sol. Belknap is otherwise hapdi-
capped. He is the son ia law Of Gen.
Simon Bolivar Buckner, who dis
gracefully surrendered Fort Donelson
during the Civil War"
To this the Courier journal replies:
No act in the long and brilliant ca.
reer of Gen. Buckner was more hon.
Orable and creditabie than his conduct
at Fort Donelson.
This is a mere question of opinion,
and does not disturb the SPECTATOR
at all. That episode of the war has
been criticised ever since it occurred.
We believe the nee essity for surrender
never had occurred when it was made.
Gen. Forrest did not surrender and
and the same road over which he re-
treated was open to all the Confeder-
ates under Gen. Buckner. We are
not, hover, going to fight over the
war. That Gen. Buckner has proven
himself fully capable of surrendering
to political enemy is patent, that be
did surrender TO- real one is history,
and whether that was an Memorable
or creditable" thing to do, can just as
easily be driven into our minds now, az
that it was an honorable and credi-
table, thing to act as ''stool pigeon"
to the Republican party in 1896.
Prove the latter and we will "surren-
der'' the former.