Gov. O’Ferrall’s Inaugural
January 6, 1894
Summary
A cautious analysis and endorsement of Gov. O’Ferrall’s inauguration address.
Transcription
The inauguration of Hon. Charles T O’Ferrall as Governor of Virginia took place last Monday/ His address was scholarly and able. He gave expression to views which would seem to indicate that prejudice will not predominate in the administration of the duties of his office. He said:
“In the performance of the functions of my high office I shall endeavor to be just at all times, knowing no section, but only the whole State, no class, nut only the whole people. I shall take care that no discrimination is made in public favors, and so far as I can in matters of legislation. Equal and exact justice to all, special privileges or immunities to none, is the doctrine of the political school in which I was taught, and I shall be true to it.”
The above is well stated. It reads like the sentiments of President Grover Cleveland. And again:
“I shall see that the laws are rigidly enforced in all respects and that good order prevail throughout our limits. I hope most earnestly that if there be any turbulent tendency anywhere it will be subdues, that passion will always be subordinated to reason, and that there will be no occasion to resort to harsh means to insure the public peace; but if riot or disorder should occur, whether in the crowded city of rural district, and the local authorities are unequal to the task of quickly suppressing it, no time will be lost by me, as the executive officer in using the power of the Commonwealth to restore the supremacy of the law, let it cost what it may, in [unintelligible]”
This is a notice to lynchers that their days of bloodshed and revelry are at an end. The majesty of the law will be maintained.
He does not seem to believe that those who have engaged in lynching are composed of native Virginians, if we are not to judge from the following utterances:
“So far as I am informed the State was never more quiet and peaceful, but in any country that is developing rapidly adventurers, livers by their wits, and even fugitives from the law’s vengeance elsewhere, will gather, and it is well for all such classes to understand that there will be no temporizing here with law breakers or law-defiers.”
The following is virtually a reply to Gov. McKinney’s pernicious doctrine that the white people educate the Negroes, conveying the impression that it is an act of charity, yielding no commensurate benefit:
“Our educational interests will have my fostering care. It has been said that ‘education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army,’ and ‘school houses ate our country’s line of fortifications.” I would emphasize these declarations so full of wisdom. I believe in universal taxation for universal education.
‘Tis education forms the common mind; Just as the twig is the bent the tree's inclined.’
The sure foundation of a State is laid in knowledge, not in ignorance, and when there is a universal suffrage there should be universal education, for the more general the diffusion of knowledge the more general does public virtue prevail, and in a republican government, where the people govern, the hand that casts a ballot should have behind it a mind power of intelligence. Besides, this is a land with without kings, princes, potentates or sovereigns, without hereditary offices of honor, and where energy, talent, and virtue can rise from the humblest to the highest station. But how difficult it is when the hard hand of poverty is bearing down the struggling, aspiring climber, unless he can receive the mental training necessary to strengthen him for the arduous ascent, and how many noble and promising spirits have fallen on the wayside for the want of support.”
His references to the volunteer soldiery will be read with interest and colored militiamen will realize their importance while the citizens at large will have a just appreciation of the service they stand ready to render:
“I would be false to my feelings, false to the dictates of justice and false to the welfare of the State. If I did not speak on Virginia’s volunteer soldiery. There battalions before me are the mainstay of the law in times of turmoil and trouble. They are the mighty peacemakers, the potential factors in maintaining order and suppressing mob violence. They should receive at the hands of our legislator such support as will make their organization a credit to the State-an ornament to the Commonwealth.”
The inaugural address is that of a statesman. Gov. O’Ferrall has declared great principles, and if he be guided by their teachings the close of his administration will shed lustre around his name, and leave to his children a heritage resplendent with great achievements.
“In the performance of the functions of my high office I shall endeavor to be just at all times, knowing no section, but only the whole State, no class, nut only the whole people. I shall take care that no discrimination is made in public favors, and so far as I can in matters of legislation. Equal and exact justice to all, special privileges or immunities to none, is the doctrine of the political school in which I was taught, and I shall be true to it.”
The above is well stated. It reads like the sentiments of President Grover Cleveland. And again:
“I shall see that the laws are rigidly enforced in all respects and that good order prevail throughout our limits. I hope most earnestly that if there be any turbulent tendency anywhere it will be subdues, that passion will always be subordinated to reason, and that there will be no occasion to resort to harsh means to insure the public peace; but if riot or disorder should occur, whether in the crowded city of rural district, and the local authorities are unequal to the task of quickly suppressing it, no time will be lost by me, as the executive officer in using the power of the Commonwealth to restore the supremacy of the law, let it cost what it may, in [unintelligible]”
This is a notice to lynchers that their days of bloodshed and revelry are at an end. The majesty of the law will be maintained.
He does not seem to believe that those who have engaged in lynching are composed of native Virginians, if we are not to judge from the following utterances:
“So far as I am informed the State was never more quiet and peaceful, but in any country that is developing rapidly adventurers, livers by their wits, and even fugitives from the law’s vengeance elsewhere, will gather, and it is well for all such classes to understand that there will be no temporizing here with law breakers or law-defiers.”
The following is virtually a reply to Gov. McKinney’s pernicious doctrine that the white people educate the Negroes, conveying the impression that it is an act of charity, yielding no commensurate benefit:
“Our educational interests will have my fostering care. It has been said that ‘education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army,’ and ‘school houses ate our country’s line of fortifications.” I would emphasize these declarations so full of wisdom. I believe in universal taxation for universal education.
‘Tis education forms the common mind; Just as the twig is the bent the tree's inclined.’
The sure foundation of a State is laid in knowledge, not in ignorance, and when there is a universal suffrage there should be universal education, for the more general the diffusion of knowledge the more general does public virtue prevail, and in a republican government, where the people govern, the hand that casts a ballot should have behind it a mind power of intelligence. Besides, this is a land with without kings, princes, potentates or sovereigns, without hereditary offices of honor, and where energy, talent, and virtue can rise from the humblest to the highest station. But how difficult it is when the hard hand of poverty is bearing down the struggling, aspiring climber, unless he can receive the mental training necessary to strengthen him for the arduous ascent, and how many noble and promising spirits have fallen on the wayside for the want of support.”
His references to the volunteer soldiery will be read with interest and colored militiamen will realize their importance while the citizens at large will have a just appreciation of the service they stand ready to render:
“I would be false to my feelings, false to the dictates of justice and false to the welfare of the State. If I did not speak on Virginia’s volunteer soldiery. There battalions before me are the mainstay of the law in times of turmoil and trouble. They are the mighty peacemakers, the potential factors in maintaining order and suppressing mob violence. They should receive at the hands of our legislator such support as will make their organization a credit to the State-an ornament to the Commonwealth.”
The inaugural address is that of a statesman. Gov. O’Ferrall has declared great principles, and if he be guided by their teachings the close of his administration will shed lustre around his name, and leave to his children a heritage resplendent with great achievements.
About this article
Source
Location on Page
Upper Left Quadrant
Topic
Contributed By
Carlos Serrano
Citation
“Gov. O’Ferrall’s Inaugural,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed April 24, 2025, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/70.