Lynchburg Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1829-185?, 1839-09-19

MIR. CLAY & GEN. HARRISON.


A Convention recently assembled at Harrisburg,
Penqaylsapj0, ostcnsibly for the purpose of produ-
cling harmony and Cancellation in tho Wing ranks,
both IN the nomination and support OF a PresiJeu
tial candidate, in opposition 10 Mr.. Van buren,
Without attaching much importance to the proceed
ings OF this body which embraced delegates from not
much more than hall the State. a few remarks on its
proceedings may not be altogether inappropriate
particularly as certain "sly'' and " insjdious' infer
cnces have been drawn from It's proceedings by the
Machiavel Of The Editorial corps ip Richmond. who,
making these proceedings his text, declaresahat Mr..
Clay has been showed from the stool.'' Tina,
may be done, hereafter, by another Harrisburg Con
venton-and, for one, we are willing. as Mr.. Clay
himself is, that. it shall be done. if that Convention,
composed OF Delegates from all the States which
shat! think proper 10 depute them. shall, after II fair
and candid estimate ofthe con parative strength Of The
candidates, be satisfied that Gen. Harrison is stronger
with the Whic party than himself. We have no aver
sion to Gen. Harrison. Our support of him, upon
previous occasion, demonstrates that fact. Necan
have none, against the galia.t colder OF the last " NJ,
who breasted the shock Gifts early ~c,scsters, and con
trbutad so efiectually to turn the scale OF victory and
to retrieve the disgrace with which the imbeciuiI OF
previous commanders had stained our flag. We
eau have none, against the intrepid legislator, who.
when Van Buren, volunteered his services to the
Abe, ,,ionists in l620, ~ make war upon Southern
rights and .'sresis, threw himself into the breach,
in our defence. alt's.augh representing an Anti Slave
ry district. and was so.t"slileed lor his devotion
10 constitutional guarantees. we pleief MI
Clay, il is true. We prefer him, p,.9ause' pos
sessing every claim to The confidence aud SD
mort of The Who's which IL 10 nose,hle Ia, il,o f,t,n,J,
OF Gen. Harrison to urge in his behalf, there are
considerations peculiar to himself which render
those claims, in GU, estimation, overshaiowiug and
imperative. 1t is not worth while, however, even to
glance at these. They stand out, in bold belief, on
every page OF the history OF the country, with every
prominent event of which his name stands conspic-
u1usly and glorionsly Identified, as the Patriot
StateSn9an, "wltliout fear aud without reploaeli"-
the American Cnttius. ever ready 10 plunge
into the yawn,:q vortex OF party hate, II lac may
thereby avert evil I'm his country-that country
which he has loved SO WI, aud served so faithfully,
IN despite OF calumny, persecution and defeat.
But TO return TO the llarrisbu,ss' Convention
This body, whose field Of vision is evidr. lily citcun-
sc;ibed to the narrow limits Of its own State, .Splea-
sed to assume that Mr.. Clay cannot, aud that G.H.
Harrison can, combine all the elements Of opposl-
ton to Mr.. Van Bufsa and we presume that it
bases this assumption, taltlIGu9h ii does not say SOL
as the New York American, Boston Atlas, Cincin-
nati Wing, and other papets friendly 10 zen. llartl-
Sun do, upon the results ~ufthelue elections. There
IS, indeed, no other possible ground upon which II
can rest. But that this is lnanilestly unjust to Mr..
Clay, as in our opinion it is ridiculously absurd, must
be appa. ent TO the most superficial observer. What
night have they to assume thai the late elections
have turned upon the popularity or uppopularity of
Mr.. Clay What right have they to assume, fai-
ther, if they did turn upon that narrow and couIac-
ted pivot, that another name would have slrength-
cned the Wings and weakened the Administration
party ! We ask them TO look al the facts as they
are, and not through lhe obscure MEDIUM Of their
personal predictions. Come. then, and let us rca-
son together, and see whether there be not two sides
to he picture.
Would Gen. IIarrison's name have been more
popular than Mr.. Ciay's, in North Carolina -
Those best acquainted with public sen,jmepi IN that
State say that Mr.. Clay's is the only name which
can draw out the full strength Of The Wings. If
there be some Csllouniles there, who formerly ac-
ted with us, and who have now sold themselves to
The Dutch, Harrison's name could have no power to
detach them from their new allies, to whom they
are cemented by the strong ties, not Of principle, but
ofin,erest.
IN Tennessee, would Gen. Harrison's name have
carried a mightier influence than that Of Mr.. Clay :
The unanimous voice Of The Wing papers IN that
State affirm that no other name, in the WING ranks,
can rally SO stronga party in Tennessee, as the name
of Clay.
In %lndinna, however, we are told that Harrison's
name would be in%yincihle, while CIay's will insure
defeat. II may be so, but we do no, believe II. We
do not believe it, for two reasons-The first of these
is, because Gen. Hanrison's name toas the iallving
point in that State. Every Wing paper. from the
Ohio border to Michigan, had the name OF the Hero
of North Bend at the head of It's editorial COLUMN,
absurd, therefore, to attribute the Wing loss in that
State to the influence of Mr.. CIay's name. But our
second reason for disbelieving the assertion is that
the Wing papers in that State, (eveG some Of those
which unite in this clatuOr against Mr.. Clay) as
sign other and very sufficient reasons FOR the disas-
trous result this fall. The Internal improvement
system Of that Stale has, il is said. been conducted
on a plan offensive TO a large body Of its citizens,-
heavy taxes are anticipated, or at least they are pre-
dicted, as the consequence Of the policy pursued by
the Wing party fortwo or two or three years past
The defeat of the Cumberland Rad bill il Congress
last yeaf,-all were made TO operate against The
Wings. and led 10 their defeat. We very much
doubt whether 500 votes in the entire State we're 60