Year: 1870

master, Governor Stevenson, that car


deter me for one moment from express


ing my convictions concerning the cor


ruptions and the eoppressions with which
they have cursed and are now cursin!


this State Loud and continued ap
plause. Sir, the tools OF your tyranny
may vex us, obeying your bidding youl
registers may disfranchise us, youl
courts and your legislatures may com.
bine to deny US fedress, the negro mobs
which youragents are now organizing
in secret Throughout this State may in
suit us, but Of free speech YOU cannot
deprive us. Applause While that
remains We viii use it to proclaim
your enormities b the world; use it to
invoke the ballots OF which white meu
in behalf of white men, their kindred in
blood and their brothers in destiny,
Cloud cheers use it to drive from
power to well merited oblivion,
the wicked men whose As
ascendancy is in constant violation OF
law, and whose rule is the source alike
OF oppression to the people and Of dis
aster to the State (Great applause }


Mr. Walker then discussed at length
the character and operations of the re-
gistration law, showing that under i the
registrars have no responsibility and
the voters no security; that rebels who
will be Radicals can be registered, and
that Union men who are Democrats
have been disfranchised under it. The
workings OF the law were fnlly illus
trated 10y cases, selected from different
parts of the State After proving be-
yond question that the Governor him
self will not remedy wrongs committed
under the law, Mr.. Walker retired from
thesstand, his hour having expired.


Governor Stevenson then rose to re-
ply


GOVERNOR STEVENSON 5 SPEECH.


In opening Governor Stevenson said
that in the brief space Of time allotted
to him, he would not be able to discuss
the various questions of public policy
which had been alluded to by the pre-
vious speakers, in the manner he de-
sired He would therefore say moth
ing about them but proceed at once to
consider the arraignment of his own
official conduct which had been made by
Mr.. Walker. That gentleman's speech
had abounded in assertions ot official
dereliction, but he had failed
to bring forward srintilla Of
proof. In reference to the in
ternal improvements Of which so
much had been said, he repeated that
the government of Virginia had made
no internal improvements OF any value
in what is now called West Virginia.
While under Democratic control this
portion of Virginia was destitute of i'm
provemcnts, and the Baltimore * Ohio
railroad was compelled to beg upon its
knees to the Democratic Legislature Of
Virginia for the right of way through
the State. The school system and school
houses in West Virginia were to be
credited to the Republican party. The
Chesapeake Il Ohio railroad was the in
spiration of the Republican party,
although he admitted that not all the
men concerned in its management were
Republicans, nor did all the money to
construct the road come from RcpuhIi-
can sources.


The Governor pointed with pride
to the fact that the schools in the State
cost a quarter of n million dollars an;
nualIy; that there is now in the treas
urv school fund OF 100000 the in
tcreat on which will in a few years pay
half the costs OF the public schools
that there il thus in the. State about
$4,000 devoted to school purposes


lie then referred to the land grants
which had bt ten made by the Demo
cratic party to various Western States,
and to the increase in population in
West Virginia which he said was tar
greater than could be attributed to
natural causes.


He charged that Captain Pipes, Sec
retarv of State. one-armed Union sol
der, had been assailed by Mr. Walker
as incompetent for the proper discharge
of the duties of his position, and strove
to excite some Indignation against Mr..
W. on that account. Mr.. Walker
had only said that Colonel Milton Wells,
of Brooke county, had pronounced
Captain Pipes incompetent. He re-
ferred to General Harris as brave and
honest man and repeated his assertion
that if Mr. Walkers denunciation OF
Harris were made in the latters pres
cnce he would smash Walkers mug.
The assertion that negro mOhs were
organized in the lower part OF this State
wa- untrue He had no doubt that the
negroes had societies of their own for
mutual projection.


The Governor spoke of the cIamor
that has been raised about the eXecu-
ton of the registration law and referred
asain to the interview he had with
prominent Democrats in relation to this
matter in the winter Of 1869. Mr.
Lamb said that if he were Governor
he would see that the laws were ex-
ecuted. This was what he had tried to
do He knew Craven Berry to be an
upright and honest man and had never
before heard any doubts cast upon his
LOYALTY. He knew judge +. b. Hall
to be a loyal man and had never before
heard that he at any time had any sym
pathv with rebellion. He was indig,
nant that Judge Chapline should be
called Joe. lie made an elaborate
defense of his action in issuing blank
commission for a Board Of Registration
in jefferson county and tried to make II
appear that this was upon the eve o
an election; that he knew not whom tc
trust; that no names had been present
ed. and he was therefore compelled u
issue his commission in blank to b


filed bv his agent with the names o


trustv men. The Grand Jury in ,Jeffer


son county had every facility for rnqnir


ing into the facts and could find no in


dictment. They had been given 10 un
. l-...-l I IL -. - h,y ipdic.aI anVhni'