Lynchburg Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1829-185?, 1851-11-20
BEDFORD, Nov. u. 1871.

BEDFORD, Nov. IL, 1851.
GENTLEMEN: Your letter Of the 2Sth
ult.. announcing my unanimous selection,
by meeting Of portion of the Wing
party Of Bedford, as one Of the candidates
to represent the county in the first Legisla.
turc, which shall convene under the New
Constitution. was duly received.
feel profoundly sensible Of the honor
thus conferred upon me, by portion Of my
fellow-citizens. | should have accepted
the nomination Immediately on the receipt
Of your letter, and chcerfully done battle
in our cause, If could have haitercd my
self that rthc differences and discussions
which unfortunately threatened the Wing
party" could have thereby been alaycd.
But believing that the purpose which ac-
tuafcd the meeting, Of which you are the
organ, was solely desire to harmonisc and
unite our party, have Withheld an an
swer to your communication, until the pre-
sent time,the better TO enable me to nscer
tain whether or not my acceptance would
accord with this object, and produce that
concert Of action, so much to be disircd by
every true Wing in the county. find how
ever that it will not The unfortunate dis
sensions to which you alludc still Continue.
Under such circumstances, evidently tend
ing to impair the strength oftbc Wing vote
on the State ticket, and to endanger the
selection of one, if not both members of
the House Of Delegales,l beg leavc.as lam
unwilling TO be instrumental directly or in
directly in producing such results. respect
fully to decline the nomination rendered
me. am therefore not candidate.
agree with you, gentlemen, that the
contest in which we are about to engage is
one of the first importance. 1t is not only
important as calculated to decide in its
issue, whether for or against us, the future
political character of our county, but for
other and higher considerations Under
long continued democratic rule the encr-
gies of the State have lain dormant and are
now buried beneath the weight ola debt ac-
tual and contingent Of near twenty millions
of dollars. Education has been neglected,
and our commerce left to languish. Ag-
ricuture in despite Of the efforts Of indivi-
duals, has only been stimulated by the
voice of the assessor and the tax-gatherer,
and the means ofthe State mostly frittcrci
away in local schemes Of State improve
ment and personal popularity, while her
politics have been transferred to Washing.
ton, and merged into all the isms Of federal
abstraction, for the federal spoils. And
shall this state of things continued The
people Of Bedford and Of Virginia will be
called on in December, to decide, and in
deciding, to say whether or not the present
democratic rule shall continue.
They will also be called on at that time,
to express their conceptions Of the lcvia-
than Of modern distractions, the consiitu.
tional right Of secession. They must then
say whether or not they are prepared to
endorse. by the election Of Col. johnson
as Governor, the right of South Carolina.
of Rhode Island, or Of California to seeedc
from the Union, or, in effect, the right Of
either of them, or ofany one Of the thirty
one States Of this confederaey, for cause
satisfactory only to itself. to dissolve the
Union-and further. as consequence Of
such an eadorremen',whcthe Virginia shall