Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1852-03-10
The vice Presidency.
To tho Editors of the E,,quifrer

| L y "o CUUUS " "6 enquirer
While several of the States are urging,
with laudablc zeal upon the Democratic
party, the claims of their favorite states
men for the Presidency, the honor of pre-
senting the candidate for the Vice Presi-
dency seems to be conceded to Virginia.
The day fixed upon for the meeting of
the Baltimore Convention is approaching +;
and the limited time left for deliberation,
upon question of such Importance to the
party, the State, and the Union, admon-
ishes that we should now seriously and
practically take hold of the subject. AL
ready several distinguished citizens ofour
State have been mentioned in connection
with this honorable position, through the
medium of our city papers and in placing
the name of another in this form before
the public, do not seek to compromise
the position of neutrality which your truly
Democratic paper has very properly as
sumed on this question.
Capacity, fidelity to the Constitution
and the Union, and availability in the
canvass, is the standard by which the
claims of those who aspire to this distin-
! guished post, must be measured. All
will agree that those attributes are indis-
pensable in making up the character OF
! Virginia's candidate before the Baltimore
| Convention. And who, let me ask, pos
sesses these virtues in more eminent de-
gree than our worthy Chief Magistrate
Measure him by any proper standard,
weigh him in any balance, and it will be
found that Joseph Johnson is the man for
the occasion and the times.
| ha, ff,,ll
prominent incident connected with it,
proclaims him the possessor of talents Of
the highest order. He has at ell times,
during long political career, been found
equal to the task assigned him never, in
any situation, falling below, and fire.
quently rising high above the e1pccta-
tons of his most confident friends. He is
modest and retiring in his habits yet
firm and immovable in his purposes. His
private life has no stain upon it, and his
public, no blot, Having passed through
the ordeal himself, he is the friend of the
poor, and the patron of genius, he has
risen from obscurity, to the highest hon
ors of the Commonwealth. AS poll
tician, he is above reproach. His fidelity
to the constitution, and constitutional
Union, is attested by upwards of thirty
years of public life. He has ever been
the friend. advocate and defender of the
constitution, as it was written, and un-
derstood, and expounded by the patriots
and sages who formed it; and he never
will know or recognize any other law.
But the great question with us to be
| settled at this time is availability. No
doubt others whose names have been
mentioned for this Office would discharge
its duties faithfully and creditably: but
would their names give strength to the
ticket? Or the question should rather
be, what name would give most strength
to our national ticket? The popularity
of other distinguished gentlemen with the
people of Virginia is an unsolved problem
not so with Governor Johnson. He re-
Gently carried the State by fattering
majority against the strongest opponent
that the Wing party had in their ranks,
against one to whom train of circum-
stances, existing at the time, gave a pop
ularlty with the masses which he does
not now nor never will again possess.
While the strength of the one has dimin-
lshed, that of the other has increased.
His recent message has not only pleased
his friends, but has disarmed his enemies.
If any importance is to be attached to.the
tone of the public press of the State, Gov.
johnson is at this moment the most pom
nlar Governor Virginia has ever had.
With his name upon it, the Democratic
ticket would carry the State by not less
than fifteen thousand votes majority. But
while his name would be host with the
Democracy of Virginia, it win add
strength to the ticket in other States. He
was born in New York and has lived in
New Jersey. New York, with her thirty
SIX electoral votes, would look with favor
upon her distinguished son, and New Jer-
sey would not treat him as a stranger.
I dis devotion 10 fhn cnn.4it,,tsr... 81 III :