TWO CONVENTIONS.
During the sitting of the Virginia Republican Convention at Staunton, the members were as free from molestation as they would have been at Worcester, Mass., and the hotels were open for their entertainment, white and black alike. For three days, colored men took their meals in common with white men and women in the public dining-rooms of houses kept by life-long democrats. One day, at the principal hotel, a black man was seen dining with representatives of some of the oldest families of the State; other colored men sat at different tables around the room; while a large number of staunch democrats, men and women, went on with their meals as if the scene was not an unusual one. Whether this is due to a change of sentiment, or to policy induced by fear of the re-adjusters, may be open to doubt, but the fact is significant. No less so is the fact that not a single colored man had a seat in the Convention at Cincinnati. If the unusual treatment of the negro voter in Virginia is due to a change of sentiment, this change is not so observably great in the Union at large. If due to fear, this fear is not so great in other States as in this where the colored line has been broken. This would seem to indicate that a solid front will be maintained longer on national than on State issues. We have discharged our duty in regard to these facts when we have simply stated them. Their cause and significance we leave to others; while we take the opportunity for saying, that not until the negro voter, by his intelligence and virtue, commands the respect of his fellow-citizens, can he be other than an object of contempt and abuse when weak, and of fear when strong; and a source of danger, whether weak or strong.