Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1859-08-23
GOV. WIsE's LETTER-paETENDED FRIENDS
PARTY CONSPIRACY, &c.
ALEXANDRIA, VA, August II, leJJ.

$50
MeSsrs. Ed,tors-The present hue and cry
against Gov. Wise, because his confidence has
been most shalnelully betrayed by pretended
friends, is to me a cause for melancholy reiiec-
ton. 1t presents to the view a degree Of vi
c~iousness in the public mind which forebodcS
ANYTHING but good for our institutions.
Such a course, towards such n man, does
convey the thought, that when men high in
the peoples confidence can, for tho most un-
holy and selfish purposes alone, undertake the
| destruction Of the purcst patriot in the land,
how soon may they not attempt to sacrifice the
! very charter Of our liberties upon the same
| SacrilegiouS altar:
But this is not the first time, by several, that
the demon Of party and personal envy have
conspired TO destroy him. We have only to
look back a few months 10 the time Of the
I Tammany letter, Of %L.ecoinpton memory, for
! ono instance, and then see how ~joyously they
! sounded his death knell. Wise is politically
! dead" was heard from the mouth Of every
hircliug about the capitol, and echoed back
from every point where Government patronage
was to be reached.
But the wish was father to the thought, and
tho voice Of the people had just drowned their
punv cries, when We are again Startled by the
howl Of n fresh pack, drunk with the hopes Of
public plumber, 10 he secured by killing of the
honest Virginia statesman whom they knew
could never be used for their bad purposes
| And, my word for it, if the spirit of true pa
| triotism still survives, this present cry oil stop
| thief" will not succeed in shielding the guilty
by directing their purSucrS towards the limo
cent.
would ask unv fair and candid man, with
defiance, what he can see in this Donnely let
c rinvolvimg any want Of principle: What tha
enemy pretendS to is simply that a split Is re-
| commended in the ranks of the ha'nion'o"'
.Nep York Democracy; and any one who
takes the trouble TO read the correspondence
will be forced to admit that each proposition Of
Gov. Wise is based upon the premises laid
| down By his correspondent. with whom he
differs in opinion as to the objects sought. but
says to him, if were in your place, and be.
lieved as YOU do, | would do so and so. And
who would not advise the same course, If he
believed that n few men were about to throttle
the will Of any portion of the people, any
where?
But enough Of this nonsense about Virginia
dishonesty. The Old Dominion, | hope, will
never prove recreant to her son for any Judge
ment pronounced by such movalists rs the Al
bany Regency. 49,
II the great ruler Of our d~estinies ever did
interpose for our country's good, as l devoutly
believe nE has often done, since It's foundation,
I am firmly convinced that Henry A. Wise is
. under Providence to be her d~eliverer i'll the
crisis which is a, hand; and all this treachcry,
knavery, and every species Of villainy. 10
which he has been subjected, arc intended to
prepare him more thoroughly for the work
which lies before him.
Elevated, as he will be, by the single voice
of true patriotism to the chief Magistracy Of
the nation, he will know that voice above all
others, and always be able to detect the false
notes of that band Of timc-serving spoils men
and trickSterS, to hurl them from place, thwart
their designs, and thus sesurc his countrys
welfare, glory and honor. Yours. &C.,
one OF TIE PEopLE.