Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1839-06-20
From lie Richmond wing.
A GLANCE AT THE LATE CANVASS IN
VIRGINIA.

ice Party have been rebukeu, and lhelr
confident predictions of triumph have
been disappointed. They ARE BEATEN
badly beaten, any way they can fix it.
Backed by the whole weight Of Execu.
tive patronage, unscrupulously emf 10y
cd, and a powerful and active machinery
Of Bank Presidents, Judges and Vigilance
Committees in every county, they have
yet failed to carry a majority Of the
House Of Delegates, and even with the
aid Of their old majority in the check
mating Department, are in q conceded
minority on joint ballot. The virtue and
intelligence Of the Virginia people have
bafied all their appliances and blandish.
ments. The Government Party stand
condemned upon the issues of their own
choosing. The voice Of the People,
which they have, by solemn resolutions.
declared TO be the voice of God, is array
ed against them, and has pronounced
their doom.
The contest over md the grand result
ascertained, it may not be amiss to adj
vert TO a few ofthe more striking features
Of the campaign those especially which
may be regarded as augaries Of the future.
The Opposition in the late struggle la
bored under many disadvantages. In
many counties, some dissatisfaction and
distraction existed in the Wing ranks
In some cases, this dissatisfaction .produ-
ced neutrality, and in others even defec-
ton. But the cause which gave it birth
having ceased, it will cease also, and in the
next contest, the Wings throughout the
Commonwealth will present a united front
tho earnest Of a decided and lasting
victory. In consequence of this dissat.
isfaction and the clamor Of the Admins
%tratlon %partlzans, the public mind could
not be brought TO bear fully upon the
abuses Of the Administration. Many Of
its innumerable sins of omission and com.
mission in the distractions of the public
mind escaped notice and a~nimadvefsicn,
and none OF them received the full mea-
sure of apprehension which they merited.
This good luck, which saved The " sink
or swim" adherents of the President in
more counties than one, will, in all pro-
liability, never be theirs again.
But one of the most striking features
OF the canvass throughout the State, and
one which the result indicates as of much
consequence, was the bitter, vehement
and universal denunciation Of Mr.. Clay
by the pertizans of the Administration.
Falsehoods and misrepresentation in re.
gard to varlous other questions, were in.
dustrlously employed-here and there 10.
cal questions were seized upon and turn.
ed to the benefit Of the party-and in
Lower Virginia, the Wings were char
ged with a design 10 embark in a wild
and extravagant scheme Of Internal I'M.
provement, and TO increase tie taxes of
the State. But every where in every
nook and corner, from the Sea. board to
the OHIO, there was one universal out
pouring OF defamation on the head Of
Henry Clay. From the Hard-money
Bank Presidents and Political Judges
down to the dirtiest pot. house dcmagogue
in the Commonwealth, "Clay and the
Bank" was proclaimed the " true issue"
and that great and distinguished man
was held up as a monster in human form.
In every county that we have heard
from, the sink or swim" partizans Of
Martin Van Buren, charged Henry Clay
with all manner Of political and moral
depravlty, and his imputed vices consti-
tuted the constant theme oftheir eloquent
lnvectIves. They rung the changes up
on every act of his life, which they dis.
torted and travestied to suit their diaboli.
cal ends. He was represented as a "Fe-
derallst," an "Abolilionist," a black.
leg" a hoary ;niquity," and the most
iflghtlul pictures Of national ruin and
disgrace were presented as the inevitable
consequences of the bare possibility of
his elevation to the Presidency. With
hIdeous grimaces, and all the shiyerinp
and affected fury of a Pythoness, a Van
buren, candidate, not q hundred miles
from this city, declared that he would ra.
Their see the land laid waste with fire and
sword than see Henry Clay President,
whom. with his hand upon his heart. he
pronounced to be the basest public man
ever known in this country-a reproach
to the age-a disgrace to his species.-
lie wished to God he had the capacity TO
deplcture his s%tupendous vices as they
deserved. They would startle every
man, woman and child in The Confedera-
cy, particularly when borne in mind,
that he is now the Wing Candidate for
the Presidency and if the Wings succeed
he will be President.
h is a specimen Of the whole. AZ
ter this fashion has Henry Clay, the man,
who Hills the largest space ia the eyes OF
his country and the world, whose mighty
talents have ever been at the service o.
his country, who has borne a prominent
ana llluStrIous part in the history of the
Government for the last thirty years,
whose eloquent voice cheered his coun-
trymen IN the darkest hour of war. and
whose sage counsels promoted tho rot;on