Year: 1871

81 ehe Fresadont1al Campaign Sounded


frsu vlrsisia.


Two years ago Gilbert @. Walker was
elected Governor Of Virginia over H. H.
Wells. Although the former was couserva-
tive and the latter q radical, both were
republicans prominently identified with the
war against secession, and of the
two, Walker was regarded as the
especial supporter of General Grant,
who. If we remember correctly, wrote letter
endorsing the principles upon which the con-
servative candidate conducted the campaign


Nevertheless, Governor Walker now opens the


war against the national administration


with force and vigor, and in his


annual Message to the Legislature Of
the State of Virginia, published in the
HERALD to-day, sounds the keynote Of the
coming Presidential campaign. As General
Lee, of Virginia, marshalled and led the forces
of the Southern sscessionists against the gov
ernment of the United States In 1861, so
Governor Walker, of ofvirginia, essays to marshal
and lead the forces Of the secessionists from
republicanism against the federal administra-
tion in 1871, the difference between the two
being that, while Lee was a born and bred
virginian, Walker belongs to the tribe of
carpet-baggers who were thrown into
political prominence in the Southern
States through the instrumentality Of
the war. It is evident that Governor
Walker has been studying the portents in
the political sky, and foreseeiag the approach
of grand revolutionary movement In the
ranks of his own party and believing that he
discovers tue promise of union of all oppo-
stiop elements, including the leaderless and
objectless democracy, against General Grant
in the campaign Of next year, he has boldly
determined to take the initiative, and 10 give
10 Congress the cue upon which to start the
ball from the elevation of the national Capitol.


The Governors Message is a lengthy and
elaborate document, and, so far as it
refers to Stats matters, appears to be
unusually interesting, if we may judge from
the synopsis which reached us at an early
hour this morning. He declares that
the novel experiment of universal
law, first voluntarily inauguraied in Virginia
and faithfully and impartaly tried has proved
a success; or, rather, that if left to work itself
out under favorable circumstances and without
undue interference, it would emnently con-
duce to good and stable rebuilding of
the government ''The great need of Virginia
to-day" says The Governor, sis capital
and population;" and these he evidently
believes would flow hberally into the State
under the attractions Of equalization of taxa
ton and a thorough system of free education,
if the State government could only be left
to itself without the intermeddling Of federal
authority. After reviewing the financial policy
adopted by the General Assembly, which the
Governor heartily endorses, the Message pro-
ceeds to arraign the administration of General
Grant in a scathing manner The interference
CT the federal government with State affairs,
the suspension of The habeas corpus, the mar
shalling of United States bayonets
around the polls, the assignment of
a federal gunboat to point it's
loaded cannon on city during an election in
order to intimidate voters; the arbitrary arrest
of citizens in time of peace-all these acts he
charges upon the administration aud brands
them as wanton attacks upon the liberties Of
the people and the free Institutions of
the country. He declares that the absorption
of the powers and functions of States by the
federal government was as foreign to the de-
sign of the founders of the republic as was
the notification or reputation Of federal
authority by the individual action Of the
States, for the triumph of either usurpation in
wolves the destruction of the Union.
Nor does he regard the war of
secession from which the nation hap
PLY came ont victorious, if not un.
wounded, as any more fraught with danger
to the life Of the republic than is the alleged
attempt of the federal administration to strip
the States of their liberty and independence,
under the pretended necessity Of enforcing
the national laws and protecting the
rights of the people under them.
''We have passed the ordeal of
secession" says Governor Walker, shut the
recoil has carried us to the other extreme
the danger Of Capitalization; and the perils
that menaced the Union In 1861 are finding q
parallel in 1871"


Whatever may be thought of the indictment
thus brought against the administration of
General Grant, there is no doubt good


ground for complaint at the polit-


cal tinkering in the Southern States,


which has been going on ever since
the cessation of the war, and in
which both political parties have had an
equal hand. The great game Of the aspirants
for continuance of Office, or for the success
sion to power, has been the control Of the
reconstructed States. and to this probably the
virgnans owe their present Chief Executive.
If the South had been left to itself, free
alike from the intrigues Of the carpet


baggers and the undue intermeddlng