Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1860-03-13
For the Spectator.
Judicial Election.

per OI LIE ZOIu Vi EeUTudry, III relatlOQ TO the
candidates for the Judicial Office of this Circuit,
it is with great reluctance yield to the necsssi-
ty of diverging from the plan therein proposed.
The character of the communications, as pub
lished in your paper during the past few weeks,
has created that necessity. Since the appear
ance of the card of Mr.. Fultz, announcing him
candidate, there has been published in the Spec
tator, number of peices; some with profess
sion of fairnes, but all plainly manifesting de-
sign to disparage him for the Office to which he
aspires la addition, they disclose a malignity
in the writer's, which for the sake of poor human
nature, / rejoice in being able to say, l have
rarely Known equaled. Then to be silent, while
beholding high toned and honorable man thus
assailed and tortured, would be asserting to his
injury-a lnonstrous injustice. This | could
never do; but, anxiously seeking to conform my
conduct to the requisition of the beautiful max
i'm !: ''To do unto others as | would have them,
under similar circumstances, to do unto me-"
have resolved to defend Mr.. Futz to the ut
most ofmy ability against these assaults upon his
good name, end his fitness for the office for which
he is candidate. ''Fiat justitia ruat c@lum."
One OF the most brszen and reckless of these
communications, is lie piece signed II, !" IN your
paper of the 28th of February. This writer's
nalignacy to MIR. Fultz is hardly pretended to
be concealed, while his object is fully avowed.-
Unless he has changed his name, this is not the
first etfusiOn of this writer. In the Spectator OF
the 31st January he favored the community with
a specimen of his skill as q writer, and his abil-
ity-or rather want of ability-to enlighten the
public mind on the Judiciary of the 18th Judi
cal Circuit; and thus most graciously offered
himself as public instructor on that subject
If the people had have been as ignorant as he
appeared to suppose, even he ought to have
known that they were not blind, or that their
mental vision was not so Obscured by stupid ig-
norance as not to enable them to see a ray OF
light. Light, when it exists, will dispel the
darkness. The reading of this piece not only
disclosed its absurdities, but clearly proved the
ignorance of the writer, and his utter want of
ability to enlighten the public mind on the sub
ject proposed. They looked for light but saw
not ray, and tbenceforth positively refused to
follow this blind guide. Has he not been in
formed of the decision of the people not to have
him as their instructor in this matter3 Ii not,
some of his contSdents should speedily inform
him, and thus prevent him from publicly expos
ing himself in future. If they bad promptly
advised their friend to be silent, Immediately af
ter his effuson of the 31st January, the public
would hardly have had that OF 28th February.
The improvident way in which his friends have
managed the matter, however, has, no donbt,
been the means of bringing this second etfuslon
before the public.
The last communication l now propose to ex-
anime. The style is good, considering the great
faults of the piece Ii all its characteristics be
taken together, however, they most clearly es-
tablish the fact that the writer is too consequen-
tal to be agreeable even to his most intimate
friends; has large stock of vanity; not much
common sense high opinion of his own intel
ligence, but a contempt for that OF the people;
is fond of writing for the newspapers, and de-
lighted at seeing his piece in print. They fur
ther most conclusively prove the writer to be
very partial to Judge Thompson, but to have an
intense hatred for Mr. Fultz. To express the
idea in few words, they appear to prove him
to be one of those remarkable men found in al
most every community, always known by the
peculiar manifestations of their self-impOrtance,
such as their talking loudly; their looking wise;
their smiling significantly their showing rest
less impatience and dissatisfaction at having the
correctness of their opinions questioned; when
walking, their rearing back and strutting man
ner; their never failing appreciation of the o.
pinions of distinguished characters, right or
wrong; their willingness to serve that class in
almost any capacity; their naughty, lnperious
manner to interiors; and are commonly called
"Seneca Jims" 1t would be presuming too
much for me to say, from the evidence before
me, that this writer is a Seneca jim" but l
y,
his own dear brother.
IF this be the impression which this writer's
communications have made on the public mind,
will be still expect the people to condemn Mr..
FulIz as unworthy of their confidence and unfit
tor the office to which he aspires, for no other
reason than to crafty his own malignant feelings?
But II" says he is lawyer. | am glad he
has favored the public with this important in
formation: for surely no one would have even
suspected it from reading his pieces. l cannot
but think, vet, there must be some mistake a.
bout it. lie may have read law little, but
surely not enough to justify his pretensions of
being really lawyer. | must insist that such
lawyer could never command the confidence
of the public, even in the smallest case; and l
venture to assert that this lawyer hardly ever
had case Hs writes more like scrub par
ty politician; and without knowing, | will ven
ture to guess that he is politician of that char
acter, having some small pension for his services.
He attacks Mr.. Fulzs card with great fury;
because, as he says, Mr.. Fultz, in his card, has
done Judge Thompson great injustice. After
reading this writer's wonderful philippe against
Mr.. Fultz and his card, got the card and read
it carefully, and ''mirabile dictu !" could not
find Judge Thompsons name even in the whole
card. He says ''Mr Fultz has ventured to
charge his opponent with ineffciency and ne
gleot of duty, such as, if continued, the wheels
of Justice, already retarded in their movement,
must soon cease to roll on" On looking for
this charge in Mr.. Fultz's card, | found this
wonderful writer had split and taken part of
one of the sentences of the card, and so arranged
it with his own language as to make it appear,
to the unobserving reader, real charge by Mr..
Fultz. Over this ingeniousy arranged and al
legged charge of his own manufacture, he argues,
foams and RACES at Mr.. Futz with great indg
nation; and, after having exhausted his fury, he
turns to Mr.. Fultz in the kindest and most per-
suasive manner, and asks him to be magnani-
NOUS AID withdraw the charge. Then he goes
on to quarrel with another part of a sentence in
Mr.. Fultz's card. Does this look like lawyer2
He then captains the sleeping Docket"-and
such an explanation! May it not disturb the
shades of the illustrious Marshall! Does not
this writer know that there should be, properly,
three dockets of the Chancery Court ?-the Rule
Docket, the Motion Docket, and the Issue Dock
ct. Does he not further know that there is anoth
er docket, called the sleeping Docket" in the
Chancery Court of Augusta? Does he not know
that this sleeping Docket" embraces a large
number of cases, and that it has not been called
for about thirty years? Does be not know that
this docket is unnecessary, and was created by
the arbitrary will of the Clerk, without any or
der of the Court on the subject2 This useless
arbitrary 'Sleeping Docket" never called, is
manifestly the one which Mr.. Fultz, in his card
promises to wake up from its long sleep, and
have the cases composing it placed on the issue
docket, so as to arouse them from their sleep at