The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1852-11-20
[CoMhUNICATIoN.l
JOHN S. FLEMING.

1t will devolve upon the present Legislature,
before its final adjournment, to make provi-
sions, in pursuance ofthe consultation, for the
election, by popular vote, of three Commission
ers of the Board of Public Works. The PEG.
pie of the State will be required to fill no Of
Zee of higher importance. Upon the intelli-
gent and faithful discharge, by the Commits
| sioners, of the high trust reposed in them, will
| depend, to great extent the future progress
and prosperity of our beloved Commonwealth.
Our most able men should be sought for, when
such offices are to be filed, and it is time that
the public mind should be occupied in consid-
| ering who are the men best qualified worthly
| to FIJI these honorable posts. We beg leave to
suggest John s. Fleming. ofGoochland, to be
voted for in one Of three districts into which
the State will be divided. Mr.. Fleming is, per-
haps, not so generally known throughout Vir-
| ginia as other gentlemen, who are greatly his
| interiors in intellect and information, for no
restless ambition has ever impelled him to quit
the sphere ofhis professional and private du-
| ties, in search ofnewspaper reputation. But,
| in the counties where he is personally known,
| and where he has successfully practised law
| for the last thirty years, it is not reputation
merely for talent and ability-it is reputation
| for surprising genius that he enjoys. This re-
putation has followed and remained behind
| him, wherever distant clients have summoned
cult. On late occasion, in the well-known
| Rag land w ill case, which was removed from
| Louisa 10 Richmond, his powers as an advO-
| cate were fully tested in forensic contest up
on the same arena with some of the most dis.
| linguished men in Eastern Neutrality-suspicious.,
the ablest and most brilliant array of counsel
| that have, for many years back, met together
| in our State, in common struggle before a
common trisunal. When such men, as Wise
Of Gnrjsn IF A Is
Culpeper, Patton of Richmond, and others,
| known to fame, displayed, under the most sti-
| mulating incentives, the highest powers of
thei intellects, it is net too much to says that
the speech of John S. Fleming before the Ju-
| ny, if, indeed, it was equalled by any other,
was, by general acknowledgment, surpassed
by none. But, in the opinion of those who
have had opportunities to know the full force
of his genius, he is not only unrivalled as an
advocate before a Jury. but is equally re-
narkable for a far-reaching sagacity and COM
prehensive grasp of thought, that admirably fit
him to be q counsellor and director in the
highest and gravest public concerns. That
| almost intuitive clearness of perception the
habit Of logical deduction, and that wonderful
power of nervous and condensed expression,
| which have given him such unlimited sway
over the minds of the most intelligent and re.
hecting juries, are known to be united with an
enlargement of views, and a depth and origi.
nallty of reflection, competent to comprehend
and take in, at one and the same time, our
whole system ofinternal improvements, in their
various and complicated mutual bearings and
relations, aud all their probable influences up
on the public interests, whe ther general or sec
tional. For the Board of Public Works, it is
such mind as John s. Jennings that is
wanted and, with this conviction, we propose
his name for the consideration of the public as
candidate for the office of Commissioner in
that district of which Goochland, the county
ofhis residence, shall form part.
Many Citizens of Goochlana g. Louisa.
Nov 10, 1852,