Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1872-07-23
GoVHRNoR JAeoB.


on Monday evening. che 18Th inst. 10 s.1.eel
H.lI"-qnite. crowd having turned ont to
hear what hi. e xcellsncy and hi. friend. Maj.
Fi'zhugb. knew abou. boltinR We do not
know how better 20 EXPRESS ourselves regard
log their ability as stump speakers. than BY
saying that they left Us under che impression
that upon any other occasion, when thrice
armed with aju.t quarrel. they would be cap
able of making very effective speeches. The
Governor led of. and having nothing very
especial TO say. said Il ezcsedinsly we'll. We
are sure.ve are noe Influenced BY any feeling
Of prejudice towards his Exeelleney, when
we say that. although We expected at the time
70 commentsupon his speech. We have in vain.
from that time to this. endeavored to recall
one single substantial reason given BY him for
nee submitting to the action Of the Parkers>
burg Convention. He spoke, although with
beco'pine modestv, of tile exemplary manner
in which he had performed the duties Of the
high position to which the constituency Of
that Convention had called him. There were
also unsustaiued charges brought with becom
Ing modesty, of the Convention having been
''pscked," and of consequent unfairness on
its part in having nominated Mr.. Camden. in
stead of his Excellency. In abiding to the
charge that he was opposed, to tile new Com
etisntion. instead Of ex pressing himself warmly
in favor of It's adoption: he was content t. say,
simply, that the charge was not trne. After
the Governor had finished, Mnj Fitzhugh
followed in speech which, It seemed to u.s.
gave evidence of speaking tslert; but the
whole speech was taken up with unsupported
assertions that the Parkcrsburg Convention
uas.packed for Mr.. Camden. and, not repre-
aentins the sentiments of the party Governor
Jacob was not bound by IT, action. Consider.
ing the fac. that Maj. Fi'zhugh is said to be
lawyer of ability, We were particularly
struck with his loose method of reasoning -
For instance. he asserted, without a shadow
of proof, that at the time Of the assembling
of the Convention at Parkersburg, nine GU. of
every ten Of the Democrat; c.C Conservative
party were in favor of the reelection Of Gov
erner Jacob. hut J"ur out Of every Ave of the
delegates in the Petersburg Convention were
vention did MT represen. the sentiments of
the party; hence it was packed" aud hence
Governor Jacob was not bound by it- acti"n.
How it happened that in four cases out Of
every five, one man in every ten in the nomi>
mating conventions which sent delegates to
Parkersburg. was enabled 20 completely t,
hoodwink the remaining mine az to be able to
send delegates who would Totally misrepresens
the nine, the learned Major forgot entirely to
explain
After these gentlemen had finished, there
were vnciferous calls for Mr. Daur B. Lucas.
one of the candidates for Congress from This
district. Mr. Lucas showed the uusubstantial
nature of the charges brought against the
Convention which had nominated MIR. Cam
den, alluded t. the fact that Governor JucDb
had announced himself as candidate through
the columns Of the Wheeling 1nteN;gencer,
the organ of the Radical party. and that he
Gov. j having come out at the urgent call
of the Radical party, expected its solid vote
After showing that this conte<t between his
Excellency and Mr. Camden was one in which
was involved the vital principle of. preserve
ing intact the only organization that had re-
deemed us from Radical thralldop, Mr. Lucas
commented sharply upon the lukewarm man
ner In which his Excellency had denied the
charge Of being opposed to the new Consti,u.
ton. 1t was q marvellous proper" time, we
thought, for the Governor to have interrupted
MIR. j.. for just two seconds and half, by
stating that he had been greatly misuuder.
stood that he HAD no intention of expressing
himself in an equivocs manner upon SO vital
point. His Democratic friends in the audi
ence nnxiously expected him to do so. But
his Excelency was as dumb az lamb befnre
bis shearers. Possibly, if the Governor HAD
not refused to avow himself warmly in favor
of the new ConSttrt on when challenged by
Mr.. Lucas to d" SO in the presence of the au.
dience, his denial of the truth of the charge
that he was opposed to that ns,rumen Mt nigh.
have been sufficient But the only EXPLAINS
tion which can be given for his failure to
place himself properly before the party when
so serious a charge was brought against him.
il, that he was afraid that, by so doing, he
might ALLEVIATE some of his Radical friends, nv
whose right arms he expects to be lifted for
another term into the Gubernatorial chair.
We went in to hear the speaking. disposed
to vote for Mr.. Camden because a regularly
constituted party Convention, against which
not the slightest charge of corruption had ever
been proved. had decided that he was our best
man; we came out from the speaking, deter.
mined to vote against Governor jacob, not
only because he had not been nominated, bu,
because We were Convinced that he was afraid
to avow himself in favor of the new Cops,i,u-