Search the Newspapers Browse Newspapers by Date Articles Indexed by Topic About the Newspapers Valley of the Shadow Home

Staunton Spectator: September 8, 1868 Go To Page : 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

Teachers and Teaching--No. 1
(Column 05)

Summary: "W. T. P." from Sweet Briar Manse writes to the Spectator to inform readers that an association is being formed aimed at professionalizing teaching as a career.

Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad Company
(Column 01)

Summary: Discusses the creation of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and the appointment of their Board of Directors.

Full Text of Article:

All hail to this great Company, which has just come into existence from the chrysalis state of the old Va. Central Rail Road Company, which has already so greatly enriched this whole region. The earnest wishes of the people of Virginia seem about to be realized. -- Col. Fontaine, with an energy and perseverance which must make his name forever honorable in the history of his State, has gone forward, over seemingly insurmountable difficulties, and succeeded in taking steps which must soon obtain for us the connection between the Western and Eastern waters over this route which presents advantages over any other in country, a consummation most devoutly prayed for by all the great men of Virginia from Washington to this time.

We are glad to know that Col. F. will hereafter be aided by Hon. Samuel Price as one of his directors. Mr. Price was elected a member of the Board of Directors upon the unanimous recommendation of the Commissioners of the State of West Va., who knew him well, and who knew, from his long and valuable services in public life heretofore, and from his well known integrity and business capacity, that he would be a most efficient coadjutor for Col.. Fontaine and a most reliable agent for the interests of the States of Va. and West Va.

Contract Consumated
(Column 01)

Summary: The commissioners of Virginia and West Virginia have contracted with the Virginia Central Railroad Company for constructing the Covington and Ohio Railroad that will extend the Virginia Central to the Ohio River. Capt. C. R. Mason played a role by subscribing large amounts of stock.
(Names in announcement: Capt. C. R. Mason)

Mr. Pendleton
(Column 01)

Summary: John S. Pendleton has declared his support for Horatio Seymour. "He says that not one decent white man in a thousand in Virginia will support Grant. In fact, Mr. P. knows of but three Radicals in the State who are 'worthy of the notice of any gentleman.' He adds that that 'diminutive and contemptible faction' styled scalawags are 'in all respects immeasurably meaner and more degraded than either the emancipated slaves or their inferiors the 'carpet-baggers.'"
(Names in announcement: John S. Pendleton)

Gen. Rosecrans and Gen. R. E. Lee
(Column 02)

Summary: A letter, signed by a number of former Confederate leaders, including Gen. R. E. Lee, expressing the South's desire for reunification and restoration. Acknowledges the South's opposition to black suffrage, but claims this is similar to sentiments in the North and West.

Full Text of Article:

The conference of Gen. Rosecrans with Gen. R. E. Lee and other distinguished Southern men at the White Sulphur Springs has excited interest in all parts of the country, and the public have manifested a feverish anxiety to learn the character of the correspondence which took place between the parties. The letter of Gen. Rosecrans is long, and we have not the space to publish it in this issue, but we give below the reply of Gen. Lee and others which will enable the reader to learn the substance of it. The whole people of the South, with possibly the exception of mangy scallawags diseased with the leprosy of Radicalism, will heartily endorse the able and patriotic letter of Gen. Lee and the other distinguished men whose signatures are attached thereto. The National Intelligencer denominates it a "masterly letter," and says "it is a calm, judicious, pacific, earnest and eminently paper." Here it is:

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS

WEST VA., August 26, 1868.

GENERAL -- I have had the honor to receive your letter of this date, and in accordance with your suggestions I have conferred with a number of gentlemen from the South in whose judgment I have confided, and who are well acquainted with the public sentiment of their respective States. They have kindly consented to unite with me in replying to your communication, and their names will be found with my own appended to this answer. With this explanation, we proceed to give you a candid statement of what we believe to be the sentiment of the Southern people in regard to the subject to which you refer.

Whatever opinions may have prevailed in the past in regard to African slavery, or the right of a State to secede from the Union, we believe we express the almost unanimous judgment of the Southern people when we declare that they consider that those questions were decided by the war, and that it is their intention in good faith to abide by that decision. At the close of the war, the Southern people laid down their arms and sought to resume their former relations with the United States Government.-- Through their State Conventions they abolished slavery and annulled their ordinances of secession, and they returned to their peaceful pursuits with a sincere purpose to fulfill all their duties under the Constitution of the United States, which they had sworn to protect. If their action in these particulars had been met in a spirit of frankness and cordiality, we believe that ere this old irritations would have passed away, and the wounds inflicted by the war would have been in a great measure healed. As far as we are advised, the people of the South entertain no unfriendly feeling towards the government of the United States, but they complain that their rights under the Constitution are withheld from them in the administration thereof.

The idea that the Southern people are hostile to the negroes, and would oppress them if it were in their power to do so, is entirely unfounded. They have grown up in our midst, and we have been accustomed from childhood to look upon them with kindness. The change in the relations of the two races has brought no change in our feeling towards them. They still constitute the important part of our laboring population. Without their labor, the lands of the South would be comparatively unproductive. Without the employment which Southern agriculture provides they would be destitute of the means of subsistence, and become paupers, dependent on public bounty. Self-interest, even if there were no higher motive, would therefore prompt the whites of the South to extend to the negroes care and protection.

The important fact that the two races are, under existing circumstances, necessary to each other is gradually becoming apparent to both, and we believe that but for the influences exerted to stir up the passions of the negroes that the two races would soon adjust themselves on a basis of mutual kindness and advantage.

It is true that the people of the South, together with the people of the North and West, are, for obvious reasons, opposed to any system of laws which will place the political power of the country in the hands of the negro race. But this opposition springs from no feelings of enmity, but from a deep seated conviction that at present the negroes have neither the intelligence nor other qualifications which are necessary to make them safe depositories of political power. They would inevitably become the victims of demagogues, who for selfish purposes would mislead them, to the serious injury of the public.

The great want of the South is peace. The people earnestly desire tranquility and the restoration of the Union. They deprecate disorder and excitement as the most serious obstacle to their prosperity. They ask a restoration of their rights under the Constitution. They desire relief from oppressive misrule. Above all, they would appeal to their countrymen for the re-establishment in the Southern States of that which has justly been the right of every American -- the right of self-government. Establish these on a firm basis, and we can safely promise on behalf of the Southern people that they will faithfully obey the Constitution and laws of the United States, treat the negro with kindness and humanity, and fulfill every duty incumbent on peaceful citizens loyal to the Constitution of the country.

We believe the above contains a succinct reply to the general topics embraced in your letter, and we venture to say on behalf of the Southern people and of the officers and soldiers of the late Confederate army, that they will concur in all the sentiments which we have expressed.

Appreciating the patriotic motives which have prompted your letter, and reciprocating your expressions of kind regard, we have the honor to be,

Very respectfully and truly,

R. E. Lee, of Va.,
W. J. Green, N.C.,
G. T. Beauregard, La.,
Lewis E. Harvie, Va.
Alex. H. Stephens, Ga.,
P. V. Daniel Jr., Va.
C. M. Conrad, La.,
W.T. Sutherlin, Va.
Linton Stephens, Ga.,
A. B. James, La.,
A. T. Caperton, W. Va.,
T. Beauregard, Texas,
John Echols, Va.,
M. O. H. Norton, La.,
F. S. Stockdale, Texas,
T. P. Branch, Ga.,
Jos. R. Anderson, Va.,
Jeremiah Morton, Va.
W. T. Turner, W. Va.,
John B. Baldwin, Va.
C. H. Suber, S. C., Geo. W. Bolling, Va.
E. Fontaine, Va.,
Theo. Flourney, Va.,
John Letcher, V.,
James Lyons, Va.
B. C. Adams, Miss.,

To Gen. W. S. Rosecrans, Minister to Mexiao.

White Springs, Va.

[No Title]
(Column 01)

Summary: Hon. A. H. H. Stuart and Thomas D. Ransom have formed a partnership to practice law in Augusta County.
(Names in announcement: A. H. H. Stuart, Thomas D. Ransom)

The Child Pianist
(Column 01)

Summary: Little Willie Coffman, a blind boy only 33 months old, played piano at White Sulphur Springs and will perform in Staunton on Thursday.
(Names in announcement: Willie Coffman)

Bryan's Menagerie and Circus
(Column 01)

Summary: Bryan's Circus and Menagerie is coming to Staunton. The show has 20 cages of "wild beasts" and has received great reviews.

[No Title]
(Column 01)

Summary: The members of the Board of Directors of the Western Lunatic Asylum mourned the loss of their colleague John Newton.
(Names in announcement: John Newton)

Vote on the R. R. Subscription
(Column 01)

Summary: Account of the Vote On the Railroad subscription, divided by county and race.

Full Text of Article:

The following is a full and correct statement of the vote of Augusta county, taken on the 27th ult. on the question of subscribing $300,000 to the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad:

White For Negro For Total For W Against N Against T Against Court House, 38 147 536 65 00 65 Union Hall, 79 4 83 24 00 24 Middlebrook, 29 3 32 43 00 43 Craigsville, 59 38 97 23 00 23 Newport, 5 00 5 32 00 32 Greenville, 44 22 66 89 1 90 Stuart's Draft No Poll Opened Midway, 00 00 00 19 00 19 Waynesboro', 106 37 143 137 00 137 Fisherville, 31 15 46 20 00 20 New Hope, 7 2 9 150 15 16 Mt. Meridian 0 0 0 52 4 58 Mt. Sidney, 18 5 23 180 4 184 Spring Hill, 44 3 47 46 00 46 Parnassus, 21 0 21 2 00 2 Churchville, 22 0 22 34 0 34 Deerfield, 9 1 10 00 00 00 Total, 925 284 1209 1077 24 1101

Majority of whole vote for subscription, 108.

Majority of white vote against subscription, 152.