Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1829-03-06

eral. We wish to obtain your services as repre.
sentative Of the District, Of which our county is
part. in the approaching Convention ssi
We are inuucod to make this appliration to you,
for the following reasons-Becauss we believe YOU
are, ike ourselves attached to the present Con-
stitution- and Iron, your talents and general in.
formation, we believe you will be able to resist
the many encroachments which will be attempt.
ed we are sanguine in this belief, from the a.
bilty displayed in the publication commonly call.
ed" Leigh's Substitute containing as il did the
ablest defence OF that much venersted instru- |
ment, which we fear is about to be sacrificed on
the altar ofWiId Theory.
We have strong reasons to hone that /, ,arc.
majority Of tho District will CONCUR in our request
We are persuaded that ysur non RI sdence in the
District Will operate on but few. if any, 30 far as
TO cause mem 10 vote against your We consider |
sou a. one OF us-You are u Freebooter IN this |
County You were born and raised in this Dis !
trict: You Practised law for many wears. in most
olthe counties and the Town composing our Dis. |
trict. Thus you have possessed the best opportu-
mites Oh becoming acquainted with the people; and
they OF knowing and valuing as we'll YOUR private
worth as public character.
We have now to request you will give your
consent TO be announced as candidate. IL this |
request be granted, we beg leave to SUGGEST IN
you the propriety of attending the next March or
April Courts (the first if conveniently Of the diff |
ferent counties Of the District, that your old |
friends and acquaintances, as we'll as the people |
generally may Wl have an Opportunity ofseeine you
With great respect and esteem, we |
are your friends, &c.
(t1ere follow the "a names)
B. W. LEIGH Esq.
Richmond. March 4, 1929.
have received the letter you have addressed 10 |
me. under date of the 18th ut.
am battered with your favorable estimate of |
Rfnar IrrNc IN, kk
atheart, and with the confidence YOU express in
my capacity to render good service in the Conyen.
ton; and feel, yet more sensibly, the sentiment
OF personal Kindness and good will towards me
which dictated your letter.
Ihave already said to several gentlemen of TIN, |
district, and to many of yours, that if the people of
your district think me worthy of seat in the Con.
vention, hold myself bound TO their service. If
! am to De honored with place in that body, il |
is natural should wish to represent the people a. |
Inong whom was born and bred, with whom I |
have been throughout life the most closely con.
nected, and 10 whom ] am bound by every tie of
interest affection and gratitude, that can attach
the heart of man. Add to which, have the han
Piness to believe, that my feelings, opinions and
principles, upon every subject that can engage |
the deliberations of the convention are in exsct
accordance With those ofthe great body of the dis
trict. My opinions were given to the public. ear.
ly in the contest, in the publication to which Won
have alluded. said then that was willing to |
stass mysclfon the purity of the principles there
IN avowed and 1 repeat II now.
i am, gentlemen, most respectfully
our friend and servant
:, b. w. LEIGH.
To Messrs. John Booker, John T. Leigh,
&c. &c. freeholders of Amelia.
To the FreehoIde,s Of pirginia.
thas been said that s'if is better to 6orrow |
than to buy experience" This, fellow citizens
Is emPhatically true of political experience, which
has been generally bought by the people with |
nd FRI IN Ia,
tai for the use of which no interest is demanded |
and no return Of the principal ever expected. In
the present crisis, when are are about to form
anew constitution OF Government for ourselves |
AMI our posteriy. il will be wise in to JorrOty
the experience of past ages and of the present. all
the lights OF history, to guide and to enlighten our
course These are not the days of political inspira
ton. None but enthusiasts dreamers and deceiv- |
ers, pretend to any knowledge of the operation of
political principles the happiness Of men, which
knowledge is not derived from prior events and |
rational indication from them % BY their fruits,
We shall know them, is not less true of political |
principles than of men.
Authentic history is the chart which reason the |
pilot must consult to avoid the dangers oil a stormy
ocean and TO conduct us safely into port. II |
this chart be disregarded, any other pilot than
reason be permitted TO take the helm, all will be |
lost. We shall be overwhelmed by the waves or |
wrecked upon the rocks.
When we look back upon the condition of nations,
at one time voluntarily submitting to patriarchal
authority, then oppressed by the weight Of sateless
avarice and cruel and caprcious despotsm, then
suffering the fortunes inflicted resistance, then
seeking relief in the agonizng efforts of revolu-
ton and finding faint and weary and temporary |
Iepose beneath the shield of some hero of their
revolution, now their military master, who in his
turn is hurled from his "bad eminence'' by a bold
and rebellious aristocracy falls by the sword of
some liberty.loving Brutus, transmits his au-
thority but not his power, through few legitimate
orillegitimate successors, whose-weakness or wick
tdness gives rise to some change convulsve and
direct or gentle and circuitous, followed by the
same routine of events that preceded his eleva-
ton, both curiosity and interest promp 10 ascer
tato the causes OF changes apparently many, 70
various and all 80 unproptous If, in the dissenons
which accompany these changes, we disregard
accidental sand fortuitous circumstances, which
although concomitant, are inessential, we discover
one and the same cause of alt. The "ev spirit
oicontention and hostility, between the rights and
liberties Of the majority of pc opie, and that
power which wealth and knowledge and acquired
authority, ever have produced. These elinents
OF power, from the nature of things, ever have
been in the hands of one, or comparative few. A.
mother element OF power always superior when
fully ererted, but difficult to be brought into that
state Of action from the nature OF things, ever has
been and ever will be in the hands Of the ma
Jouty-physical force. All attempts to de-
ssiroy either Of these powers vain. One,
hke the tabled PhGnix, springs with renovat-
principle Of life in the Polypus Muloplus by
wounds, and, instead of DEATH finds from them
greater diffusion. Unfortunately for mankind, their
Efforts have been directed to the destruction in |
stead OF the reconciliation of these powers The
one, or the few have relied on the invasion of the
rights and liberties Of the many, for the coniinu-
snce and augmentation Of their power; and the