Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1858-12-08
a CARD.

He claims to have personal causes of grief, /
although | am not conscious ofhaving done any
thing towards him, except what was prompted, |
towards one, by sense of duty to a public /
body of men, who have right to command
my impartial Judgment and my disinterested
action; and towards the other, by my obligations |
to my party and by considerations of public
usefulness The denunciations are the prompt.
lngs OF his own peculiar nature and his efforts i
to assail my reputation has but exposed the |
bitterness and malignity Of his own heart
IT | have heretofore had cause of private
quarrel with Mr.. Clemens, have at least shown
that am capable of the virtue of forgiveness
while he prostitutes public occasion 20 acts off
private malice and personal revenge. If here
tofore withheld my confidence from our mem
Der of Congress, it may have been from the
errors and impetuosties of his youth, and when
he was inexperienced and untried. Mr.. Rus
sell was then his ardent supporter with all those
objections against him, and now, since he has
been tried, has been found faithful to his prin-
ciPles, has redeemed his public pledges, has
| maintained his private honor, and now, when
confined to his sick room, unable to defend him
self, absent from the field Of action, Mr.. Russell
is his assallant, his declared enemy, and for a
private cause, quarrel uses his public position
as editor OF the party paper, to execute his pr
vate malice.
opposed the appointment of ]. r. Russell as
Postmaster in the city of Wheeling, aud sup
ported Gen'l Feeny. II this is u crime then
am guilty did oppose Mr.. Russell, because
believe him unfit, unqualified and not entitled
to 1t by service or character in the Democratic
party. did support Gen'l Fecny because he
was fitted by the manners OF n gentleman, aud
his accommodating disposition; because he was
qualified for the duties by nearly twenty years
OF service in the Office in subordinate position,
and by lifetime devoted to the cause and the
principles OF the party which appointed him,
and this surely should not be cause of offence
in me, for Mr.. Russell says ''he (Gen'I Fecny)
is gentleman fit to be appointed" am charg-
ed with prosecuting him (Mr. RusselD privately.
l know him as the editor of the Wheeling Ar.
gus and as man, only so far as he has exhib-
ited hImseltln conducting that paper, and l may
nave frequently expressed my convictions, for
they were clear and decided, that he possessed
neither the head nor the heart for the place
into which he was hoisted. The articles of abil-
lty which appeared in that paper, have been
generally, and as believe truly, attributed to
another pens while mere filthy filings and I'M
| warrantable movements, to gain private ends
for himself, and to indulge in private malevo-
Ience were truly and properly attributable to
hlmseit have always thought he was not
qualified to conduct public newspaper for pub
lie or party advantage.
lie charges me with selGshnesS. This is
vague and meaningless. Perhaps no living man
is entirely free from it, and he makes no specific
charge from which it can DC inferred that pos
sess 1t in any unworthy criminal degree
But the man who has skulked from the specific
charge made by the Enquirer, contained how
| ever in general language, but which Mr.. Russell
could not misunderstood, that he had offered to
make Vcnal and corrupt prostitution of the
press under his control to subSerye his private
ends, should make no imputation on honorable
men until he had vindicated himself The
charge that have ever on any occasion attempt
ed to defeat candidate Of the democratic par
ty is without foundation, save in the ealouScs
and Inisconstruction of Mr. Russell and perhaps
a few who see through his jaundiccd vision
The last time was candidate, it was well
known to Mr. RUSSELL that it was at the
instance ct gentlemen who had the interest of
at heart; that after it was so determined that
should run and which should have been respect
FULLY yielded to by the editor of their Dancr
that he with held the nomination so made and
SO lar designedly contributed to that defeat
which overwhelmed for the time his party in
the county and Senatorial elections may be
permitted to refer TO that vote rs do with
pride, under the circumstances, for the sentiment
OF the people Of my native county and the gene
raj confidence reposcd in nae.
am private citizen Mr.. Russell has as
sailed me. His discourse on harmony means if
1t means anything, that the democratic party
shall submit to his dictation and snbscrvc his
private ends. The imputation that am an old
wire worker, if it means anything but n just
of my party, is untrue and without founda-
ton have ever been democrat That cause
enlisted the impulses Of my youth; it possessed
the convictions of my manhood, and no man who
truly knows me truthfully say that have
in any degree been guilty of treachcry or dis
loyalty toit.
AS to the future have no hopes, and Ger
talnly no ambition. Rising from a bed Of dis
case, which for years has chung to me, as all
who saw me believe, with fatal tenacitv, en-
gagged in the late meeting at the City Hail at the
earnest solicitation Of many, very many gentle
men, to prevent undetermined misuse Of the
meeting and perverted expression OF the pub.
lie sentiment Of the people, which was believed
to DC intended. discharged my duty there
For that an denounced with bitterness and
malevoencc; for that expression of opinion the
great body of the democratic party Of the CITY Of
Wheeling, and those who participated in the pro
ccedinss, are maligncd, misrcpresented and ira
traduced, and held up to scorn and ridiculc bv
the. editor who should have defended them
against any attack and all Misrepresentation
did say Mr.. Russell was unfit to edit the
organ Of the party. His general conduct here
totore, and his course on the present occasion,
are my complete Justification l repeat it.
LEWIS STEENROD.