Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1860-05-18
lBY REQUEST:
From the Spectator

seen such canvass as that now Waglng Tor
the judicial election in this circuit or rather
in Augusta county, for it would be unjust
to the other counties of the Circuit to impli-
cate them in the outrages Of this canvass. :
Letters and other communications from all
the other counties. express unmingled as
constituent at the state of things here, and
give undoubted assurance that here alone, If
any where, is stand to pe made by the un.
sparifig and INSCRIPTIONS Villifiers Of an old
and faithful public servant. Amherst, Nell
son, Roak bridge and Bath wash their hands
of the iniquity. and stand in solid columns
on the side Of him, against whom in ardu-
GUS public service of man thirty years, they
had heared no breath CT blame, until the
stress and necessity of desperate and sell
fish opposition have, ON the eve of strug-
gle for his office, attempted to impale him.:
Will Augusta stand alone on the side of this
sudden, this trumpet up effort to destroy an
honest, faithful and pure officer? Win
even the numerous family connections of
Mr.. Fultz in this county, sustain him in
such course? I think not will ven
ture to vouch it, | think know the peo-
pie of Augusta to be magnanlmous, gener-
Gus and just. Proud of tLeir own charac-
ter, they know how to appreciate its value to
others, and will not suffer one who labored
among them and for them, blameless, for
more than quarter Of a century, to be
overwhelmed with SANDER sprung Upon him
for the first time-not by the people, but
by Office hunters, backed by anonymous and
| IL T AZ
highly respectable and Influential connec-
ton of Mr.. Fultz sufficiently to say of them,
that viii e as a body. they would feel
great kindness and charity for their kins-
man. they are not the men who, in serV-
ing him, would be guilty oe gross injustice
and cruelty to others. These worthy men
will also, think, be prompted by their del
icacy to the conclusion that even in con-
test where no character was involved, no
bitter accusation threatening to crush a
long tried and long honored gentleman, it
would hardly be fair to force upon their fell
low citizens, as Judge, their own kinsman,
if endowed with natural feelings, could not
avoid that Partially for them, which would
endanger justice in controversies between
them and outsiders. | am wei persuaded,
therefore, that those who calculate on this
element of power to crnsh out good man,
and have their worthles ISLANDERS circulated
to his prejudice or rendered current, reckon
grievously without their host. Let the IN
terminable ''Junius," and the mud-splash-
ing ghost of dead "Couhtryman" write on
AS the election draws nearer, and as their
charges are refuted, they pour in new ac-
cusations, until the man III the moon, if he
were to visit the earth for the first time land
light in cold Augusta" would be aston
1shed how wisdom aud puri " aud truth and
dignity" could have slept till .'Juuius
was born; and "Countryman' died-how
the representatives of an intelligent and free
people ever dared to elect so idle and un-
faithful man as Judge Thompson to the
Beuch-how, long afterwards, they ven
tured, by unanimous resolutions of The Lee
gislature, to bestow upon him the highest
compliment that any Judge of the State has
ever reaeived-how the people themselves,
Immediately after the birth of perfected free
dom, under the new constitution of 1852,
which the inimitable ''Junius'' looks upon
as affording the first and only taste of lib
erty and true dignity in America, how such
a people, under such circumstances, could
have stultifed themselves by electing him
without opposition for the FIRST term, though
there was Mr.. Fultz modestly peeping out
from behind his fan. waiting to be gracious,
fresh from the great ocean of liberty, the
Constitutional Convention, and no doubt
just as "ready to dance as he is now, if
only anybody had AGED him. This was
surely a portentous cloud over the sun of
newly risen freedom; great would be the
establishment of this moonite visitor, after
wading through Mr.. Fultz's cards, and the
elaborater productions of "Junius" and "A
Countryman' ghost, that all tie lawyers
of the circuit should be so corrupt, aud so
ignorant and infatuated, too, so unmindful
of their duty to their clients. and of their
own interest, as, with the single exception
Of Mr.. Fultz, to urge the re election of an
incompetent and unfaithful drone, under
whose auspices their clients. whose interests
they are sworn to protect, wonld suffer, and
the business by which they live and feed
their families would languish and fall away.
while MIR. Fultz is ''crying in the market
place." "Ho my brethren /! the success at
tended upon laborious practice for the last
thirty years enables me, without presump-
zion, to Aatter myself that I am not wholly
destitute of abilty-here is my large and
lucrative practice-elect me Judge, and [
leave it to be divided among you'll will
clear the dockets-I will discharge my du-
ties with promptness and inpartiality-I
will wake up the sleeping docket, and sit
all the year round-I will make the wheels
of justice, now SO greatly retarded, roll on.
Oh that were Judge in Israel for your
sakes-I will make it luxury for every
man, woman and child to come into court,
and thus quadruple your business" The
man ofthe moon could only exclaim, "won-
derful, most wonderful -if true-surely
mans nature must be turned inside out, and
upside down, if what Messrs. Fultz and
''Junius" and "Countryman" allcge is so,
and these lawyers are opposed to Fultz'
election. If they were virtuous men, they
could not hesitate for the sake Of their coun-
try, their clients, and the cause of Justice.
But then again, if they were ever so vicious
and selfish. the harvest of Mr.. Fultz's prac-
tice. and the stirring up of the business
which would follow, on the substitution Of
prompt, energetic and able Judge in place of
drone, would make them the more eager to
espouse bis cause. But here comes the