Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1878-06-21
MIR. BROOKE's ANSWER.

| candidate for the seat 10 Congress now occupied
| by General Hutton; and kindly rendering me
| the support of your journal, should such be my
purpose. | acknowledge your right to pro.
pound the question and my obligation to re-
spond to it. And experimentation mo to ten
| der to you my thanks for the kindly interest
you have taken in my behalf, which has been
| the moro grateful because unsolicited, and be-
| cause 10 the expression Of it you have been
subjected to some petty a0noyances, as might
have been expected. | presume you will sur
viVe them, as others have done before. The
good people Of the county, although many
| beaded" are generally level headed" aud
can distinguish readily between sophisry and
sense.
From time to time communications have ap.
peared 10 the public journals Of the district
suggesting my humble name as ono which
Office to which you refer. do not know any
but they have seemed to have been 80 regarded
bv some. It is consistent with the the DRY Of
our government that the humbIest citizen m y
freely express his preference under such cir
cumstances without subjectDg himself to the
charge of misprision Of treason. IL other words
the idea sought to be inculcatel, that the ex.
ercise of such right is an invasion OF the
right Of anybody else, is but the tWaddle OF the
partisan. Avacsnt Office is the property OF 90
man until the "Vox p5pull' has uttered its
edct and designated the occupant. Till then
the field is free to all, even the humblest. who
may aspire to fill it.
! To these published communications have
been added the personal solicitation and gencr'
Gus assurance Of aid Of mauy, whose friendship,
while it may lead them to 80 undue estimate
Of my fitness for the position 10 question, has
| at least the elements OF sincerity, stability and
readiness to carry sentiment into actlon-ele.
ments not too often met with in world so tull
of "shoddy' and Of SHAM as that 10 which
we live. 10 them | give hearty tha0k5 Tor
their kindness.
Aud yet, at no time, nor to any one, have |
announced myself as candidate or authorized
| such announcement to be made by another.
Therefore not having entered the field | retire
from 90 contest. My position seemed to me to
| Justify suspension OF any declaration OF pur'
pose 90 my part. either privately or publicly,
until my own judgment should determine my
course If had not reached a conclusion en-
lirely satisfactory to my Own mlnd your query
would DOW 90 unanswered. | am glad, bow
ever, that am able to reply to your question
and thus relieve all friends of any cmbarrass
!
silence.
| am rot a candidate for the nomination to
Congress from this district My reasons are
my ow0, aud do not conoern the public. And
yet | may suggest one, that Of itself would be
| sufficient Several gentlemen besides the pres
ent incumbent (Gen. HuutoD) have for some
| time been occupied in an active canvass. ln
your issue Of yesterday you give tho names OF
others who will swell the list. OF course 10
suoh contest mastery Inactivity could not
win. The district is q large 0ue Were L
candidate | should feel boupd to see the PEG
! pic Of the various counties at their court
houses, it not at their homes. have neither
the time nor the money required 10 be cxpend
cd 10 such an enterprise. Contemplated absence
10 the legislature during the next winter will de.
man6 constant attention to business affairs 10
the meanwhile. Four dollars per diem in Rich
! mond furnishes a barrow margin tor ln-
| diligence of luxuries, if an excited aud pro-
| tracted canvass can so be termed. While
| it is not necessary to assgn other reasons
for my determination, | wish 1t to be
| distinctly understood that 40 distrust whatever
of the good people of this county has entered
into or formed any part OF them
Invested already by the confidence Of my fell
low. citizens of the Twenty first Senatorial Dis
riot with the exalted trust Of representing
| them 10 the General Assembly Of Virginia, l
| shall therefore, unless unforeseen circumstances
| occur, content myself with an honest and earu-
est effort to serve them faithfully in that sta
ton. | shall still seek, by unremitting efforts,
to aid 10 evokiIlg from the "oontu>lon worse
confounded" of our fioanclsl condition, some
plan of adjustment, which, while it will leave
| the honor of the State uHtarIished, will not
! Al do onu bur of hn
You do me tho further honor to request
my views upon the issues now agitatiDg the
public mind aud especially upon the recent
attempts to reopen the electoral fraud.
AS am not in the field as a candidate. my
compliance With your request to a limited ex
tent will have no further Significance than that
of an expression by an Individual citizen Of
his private cieWs.
With the lights before me, the views which
your paper has expressed with regard to this
matter of fraud Investigation have seemed
sound and conservative. 10 view Of The avowed
purpose of its originator, the nearly evenly
divided democratic vote upon the Harrison re.
solution, the action of the Democratic National
Committee the;neXt day, and the utterances of
the public PRESS, the natural Inference was that
the Interior object of the proceeding was an
effort to attack the title Of MIR. Hayes to the
Presidency
So strongly had this idea impressed itself
upon the public mind, and so plainly was the
popular dsapproval of any such measure fore
shsdowed, that the House of Representatives On
yesterday found it necessary to declare by res
rlution adopted by vote of2lG to q tina: the
joint meeting Of the two Houses of Congress by
which Hayes and Wheeler were declared elected,
was pursuant to Ia and the Constitntion,~ and
That no subsequent Congress or either House
has jurisdiction TO reverse the action of such
joint meeting, and any attempt by either House
to amend or disregard such action, or the title
10 Office ensuing therefrom, would berevoluion-
sry, and is dsapproved by the House,"
II this action were binding on the noxt Con-
gress, the country might we'll congratulate itself
upon it's escape from serious trouble 1t is 10
be hoped that so emphatic an utterance will at
least be treated with respect. But as matter of
legal obligation this "rosolvo' has no more Gu
pacity 10 bind and control the succeeding Con-
gre:s than had the green withes" to fetter the
limbs of Samson The future must be lief: to
decide how far tbis long postponed expedition