Star of the Kanawha Valley. [volume] (Buffalo, Va. [W. Va.]) 1855-1856, 1855-03-07
From The "Riehmona Examiner i III
Letter from INK. Lsakle. E||s.
MAn1sos O. II. Feb. 9, l855.l

/ ness engagements WouluHdNe UceH ISPiiS'
TO by return mail. EH8EH N
| Nothing would afford me more pleasur
than to complywith the wishesof my friend
/ In the vicinity Of Lynchburg that / shoult
! address them sometime during the presen
gubernatorial canvass; and We're il i'll hi
power 10 do SO, ! assure YOU would no
/ hesitate a siugle moment, lam 50 situa
I'D, however, that cannot. Indeed, Y
shall not bsable 70 enter actively intothi
contest any father than my efforts III Inny
immediate neighborhood will go. Ihav'
I young hclpless. and growning family
| who, arc entirely dependent upon my owl
personal exertiops for their support.ant
education. / have too much neglected
heretofore, the sHcfed obligations whicl
they impose upon me, by giving that tine
I'd political objects which ought to haye
been devoted to my professional pursuits
in so much that now, when Lam approx
mating middle age i have to begin 70 '"makt
my fortune HI y 81 H.i.FHH III
n can safely appeal 70 my friends in aud
around Lynchburg to say that have
never, heretofore, made my exertions ii
the Democratic cause wait upon my for-
tunes. Whateyer those exertions Have
been worth, | chin no credit f9r them .---
They have been freely and voluntarily len-
dered as d tribute to those principles and
that cause, which have always been, | ii
they still are, dear 10 me, because tlley
are thoroughly interviewer with the tFue
glory aud highest interests Of tlie country.
But, now, | think can ask to be placed
on the retired list" To enter actively
into this canyss would be to subject.myseii
to- all the excitements, vexatioils and 'har-
assments Of public life, while l could
rcap none Of It's advantages; and at the
same time, Involve sacrifices that the ill.,
ter|st> Of my family, i care but little for
myself forbid me to make. / have HE
ceiyed pressing letters from various see-
tons Of the State, calling on ME 10 Whit
and addre4 tie people in their respective
localities; and. If ! once begin, DO hit
see where ! could we'll stop. \ #HIE
Still, my dear sir, / feel none the less
Interest in tie result of the pending con-
test. ! presume thai i was as much op-
posed to the nomination at Staunton as
any body could well be; and yet do HUI
hesitate tosay, that IL il the aatyEof every
good and true Democrat to give 10 Thu
tickets cordial support. I SHOULD regard
the loss of NirginH at this onilIous coin-
juncture Of our Federal relations, is in the
highest degree disastrous not alone To the
Democratic party Of the Union, but to tbe
Union itself. The portentuous fusion III
Whigism,. Abolitionism and Know Moth
ingism, which has swept, with resistless
fury, over the Northern and Northwestern
States, isnow concentrating all its strength
under the walls Of the hitherto .impregna-
bic fortress of Virginia Democrary. I'LL
this organizations the 8 Know Nothings,''t
is you aPtly say, act the part oftiSappers
and Miners, = and are pushing their mn
foreground railroads in every conceivable
direction. 1t is.yaih to deny, orattenlpt
to conceal, however, that the principal ele-
ment upon which these allies Hrely for
success, is the dissensions which theyI
suppose to (and,<I fear, dol exist IN The
bosom Of the Democratic party ITSELF III
Many Of us 'rere dissatisfied with the ~
suit Of the stauntop Convention { /, among
Others and Msy suppose that ,ce are pre.
pared 70 saerifce the cause to the names
Of the manf and they have therefore, pre.
spmptuadsly concluded that we would
unite with our own worst enemies in order
to wreak our vengeance upon-o urselpes;'
for, let il be remembered, that We cannot
defeat those who defeated us in tha Saun-
ton Convention, without, involving our
Sc Ives in the common disaster, and bring
ing upon our party and onr country conse-
quences that the youngestof us would not
live lorg enough to repent Of. Let US,
therefore be true to ourselves, .tand II
must needs 70 low that we can be false I'd
no mar" \ To be thus true it is essential.
in my opinion that we should rally, one
and all, and az one, to the support Of Mr..
Wise-not because be Is Mr.. Wise, but bel
cause he is the selected standard -bearerofl
Virginia Democracy. S4I
And DO not let US stop to enquire whe-I
the r he was rishtfully orwrongfully selerI
ted. That were not bootless merely
were madness situated rs we now are
He Is the standard bearer, and it cannot
be doubted by any that know him, That lie
will carry that standard right worthily, I
not only through the contest; but through
his term, as Governor Of Virginia. This
is not contest for Henry A Wise. per-
son ally he is no more to the Democratic
par ty Of Virginia than Hecuba was to the
poor player; although all parties entertain
the highest respect for the man and the
politician. Its acontest for the time hon
ofed principles Of Virginia, and for the
continued sccndancy q Virginia Demo
cracy, 30 essential to tile success Of those
principles. Let the portentious combina-
ton, ofSwhich have before spoken, sue
coed in carrying the Old Dominion, and
the last barrier against Northern agpres-
sion-the last bulwark Of Southern fights
the last ~struggle Of State Rights Repub-
licanism- will have been swept away. and
the whole Union laid open to the incur
sions Of spirit that would either rend XII
into fragments, Of fuse it into despo-
tisr1.
IL: Let me not be misunderstood: / do Hi
mean 70 say that the Wing and Know
Nothing parties Of Virgins 1if Il 81 pro-