The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1836-1851, 1840-07-11
POLITICAL.
From the Edgefed Advertiser.
W,11rrr1E1n BROOKS. ESQ

Hammond, puDllSned III the last Au'o.
tiser, contains charges exceedingly inlurl-
Gus to the characters of those to whom
you allude and, until they are named, ap-
plying indiscriminately to all 'ln TINS DIS
trict' who are opposed to that gentleman
in the coming contest for Governor. fou
inform Col. II. as matter Of fact, and not
of inference, that his "opponents in tins
District" are engaged in systematic et-
fort" to excite apublic prejudice and op-
position" to him by I" false and ungenerous
insinuation," Fabricated and circulated
for party effect" As gentlemen are not
in a habit of fabricating and circulating
falsehoods "for party effect" or any other
purpose, ard as some of those who cannot
support Col. II. happen to be gentlemen,
and many of them his personal friends, l
call upon you, in justice to them, to name
the individuals to whom you alludc. You
have, of your own accord, publicly made
the charges, and we now demand the sPc-
cifcations and the proof AS you were
the advocate of Jud ge Johnson, when you
last "defned your position" and conse-
quently one Of Col. HIS. "opponents IN
this District" | shall not dispute your
right to speak for those of his opponents"
who support "that eminently virtuous citi-
zen and faithful public servant" whom it
appears you have now abandoned, though
but a short time since, you would have
been "erceedmgly gratyfed' to see him
transferred to the gubernatorial chair
Knowing your great tact in defining posi-
tons leave the judges friends in your
hands, hoping that you may succeed in
showing that all of them have been as in
nocent of fabricating falsehoods for par
ty effect" as know the friends of Col.
Richardson are.
Seeing that you have entirely mis-con-
ceived the objections, which Col. Richard
sons friends have made 10 Col. H., and
consequently your explanations cannot re-
move the "public prejudice" which is
against him, Twill briefly state the only
grounds upon which, they have ever op.
posed him either through the public press,
or otherwise. They have said that Col.
r. was the candidate of the Democratic
Sub Treasury party-a party formed IN
1887, when Mr.. Van Buren, took ground
for the South, from the scattered elements
of the Democratic State Rights Party of
1927, and composed of Union men and
Nullifers without reference to those old
party distinctions-the support of the Sub
Treasury and opposition to National
Bank, the Tariff and Internal improve
ments being the basis of its organization.
They claim him as the candidate of the
Sub-Treasury party, because he was nomi-
mated as such by every leading Sub-Irea-
surv paper in the State. 1t is the pro-
vince of newspaper Editors to propose the
measures and nominate the candidates that
are to be sustained by their party:-how
else can it be done? The press has, there
fore, been always considered an index to
the opinions of its party, and certain
criterion of its sentiments-it being well
known that the Editors of leading public
journals are in habit of continually con-
sulting with, and being consulted by the
leaders of the party. Have you yourself
not acknowledged this, and did you not
consider Col. R, the Sub Treasury candi-
date when you nominated Judge Johnson,
a Bank and Preston man, against him? If
not, what did you mean by saying that,
from the manner of his nomination, you
were "warranted in the conclusion that
Col. R. was to be the candidate of that
portion of the State Rights party, of which
the Editor (of the Mercury "is the re-
ported and recognised organ?"-
Col. Preston and his followers have rat
ted off from the Old State Rights party,
and are herding with the Bank men, Ia
riff men, the Federalists and AboEtionists
of the North-they may stilfbe considered
by you as portion of the State Rights
party; but they call themselves Wings.
Be that as it may, there is certainly but
one other party in the State-the Sub
Treasury, and of that the Mercury ever
has been and still is ''the reputed and re-
cognised organ!" !"
Soon after this formal nomination of
Col. r. by the "recognised organs" of our
party, Judge Johnson and Col. Hammond
were brought out by nobody knows who,