Staunton vindicator and general advertiser. (Staunton, Augusta County, Va.) 1858-1860, 1859-08-05
RlcnAoND, Va, July 18th. 80.

.., o. JENNINGS Wlsr.
RlcnMoND, Va, July 18th, 80.
To P. II. :AYLE7r. Esq. Sir During
my late correspondence with you, restrict
ed myself to q general reference to the mer-
its of the issue between us. Upon the ID
vice Of friend, and after hav,ng possessed
myself Of the necessary papers, have de-
termined that it is due to myself, in the e.
vent Of future publication Of cur cores
pondence, to recite more infinitely and ex-
plicihy the state Of the facts which has O
riginated this correspondence.
This may be irregular, At this time; but
it is due to truth and justice.
You cannot question the authenticity Of
the enclosed copies Of correspondence be-
tween my father aud yourself, dating from
July till December, 1854. In the FIRST in
stance refer you particularly to your let
ter Of July 18th, 1854.
With the avowals Of your letter you
sought and obtained his aid and confidence
and at the very time Of accepting this
confidence, you were engaged in preparing
for publication, in the Richmond ''Exami-
ncr," series Of anonymous articles, mis-
representing his political course, abusive Of
his claims to popular confidence, and alto
gether antagonistic to his nomination by
the Staunton Convention At the moment
you voluntarily assured him that you were
acting .tfrom no unkind or unfriendly mo-
tive, : you were preparing and intending to
assail him in the most ''unkind and I'M
friendly" manner. After avowing to him
your willingness to support him, in GER
tain contingency, and expressing mere
preference. for some others, instead Of advo-
eating the claims Of those others, you main
ly, if not entirely, devoted your anonymous
publications to the wilfnlly erroneous de-
probation Of my fathers political charac-
ter. f- e
Moreover. this correspondence with my
father bound you BY an obligation which
you could not honorably escape, to apprize
him Of the authorship Of any publication of
yours concerning him especially where
such publication should be unfavorable to
him. Instead Of this you carefully con-
cealed from him the fact that the very hand
in which you induced him to place inateri-
ais for fair and truthful exposition OF his
politicol record, was using all its efforts and
all the materials it could collect to torture
facts into tissue Of misrepresentation most
injurious to him. And that hand was your
own hand, sir
Even when your anonymous misrepre-
sensations were publicly explained and ex-
posed, you abstained from even an anony-
nous reply, from pure dread Of exposure.
When my. father discovered, notwith-
standing your attempts at concealment, this
double game which you had been playing,
and when he demanded the return Of his
correspondence with you (of which he had
retained no copy) you piteously begged that
he would abstain from publication which
would have exposed your conduct.
His demand was made nearly two weeks
previous to the meeting Of the Stanton
Convention. Under excuses palpably feign-
ed, you Withheld the letter from him until
after the adjournment of that Convention,
obviously for the purpose of preventing that
influence on the Convention, in his favor,
which would have resulted from previous
full, public exposure Of the authorship aud
insincerity Of the anonymous assaults to
which he was subjected through the columns
of the Examiner"
I Notwithstanding all these instances 81
aggravated treachery on your part, for the
sake of your family, and because Of the pit
liable entreaty Of your letter Of November
Goth, my father determined to spare you .
ruinous exposure. He did spare and for
give you. You afterwards pretended !
friendship, political and personal, towards
him. You went 80 far as to solicit md &C.
cept personal favors at his band.
Il You next made an effort to Dust his friend
from an Office under the General Govern.
ment, and to obtain it for yourself. He
made no effort to injure you, but merely ,
successful employment'of bis recommends.
ton and influences to retain in Office tried
and valued friend, 80
Since then, yon have. renewed your cf-
forts to injure my father. arsa
More than three months ago Yen received
sufficient warning to the effect that did
not consider our relations such as to permit
Of your attempts to Tidicule me through the
editorial columns Of the Examiner" II
your correspondence with me, Of November
last, you apologised for the liberty yen had
taken, alleging shst you had really directed
your bantering, offensive to me, against one
Of my associates with whom you pretended L
maintain much more intimate and unre-
strained acquaintance than with myself.
With all these facts in your memory. you
have again. az the anonymous editor Of the
Examiner, yentured to banter me in 3
style altogether inconsistent with our rela-
tive POSITIONS employing, too,a manner Of,
and subjects for your ridicnle, which de-
| monstrate that while intended to mortify
me, its main feature was palpabse indica-
| ton of personal malice hoxards nv father.