Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-09-12
VIRGINIA. LEADERS.
Graphic Pen Pictures OF the Gu-
bernaiOrlaI Candidates.


Stanton Va.l cor. Philadelphia Prsss.l
The fight in Virginia is ostensibly
over the debt question. II is in real
ity the old fight that has been going
on since 1865. Responsibility and
property fight on one side. Rag tag
and bob tail on the other. The Read
juster is the indigenous c~arpetbagger.
There is no rubbing this out. But
both sides talk about the debt, and
though the style Of talk is heated it is
at the same time discreet. The two
candidates for Governor have devel-
oped a remarkable taste for soft
sawder. Daniel says from the hust-
ings: IF John Daniel hears William
Il. Cameron belle he will denounee
the liar" Cameron gets off the same
sort of taffy about Daniel. Both are
men of ability; both are refined and
elegant gentlemen, and both are good
speakers. John w. Daniel, the Dem
ocratic nominee, is a second
edition Of Edwin Booth on a
crutcls He has made public speaking
a study since carly boyhood. As a
college student he was noted for his
powers of word painting, and he has
preserved in his faVorite pursuit until
he has fairly mastered it. Like Rufus
Choate, he reads books in order to
make speeches. But he is unlike
Choate in that he likes any great orig
inality of mind. Making oratory his
study, he understands it in all its
phases, and he possesses in an emil
nent degree the action which the an
cient orator SO much commended.
His features are d~elicately marked; he
has the clear-cut nostril Of eloquence,
and his eyes are deep and unclouded.
His complexion is a tallow white,
and its almost death like pallor is en-
HANGED by the long black hair of
his head His presence is digniied
by a wound, received during the war,
in one leg, and he goes on a crutch.
He Las written several law books
which have been well received by the
profession. He is an indomitahle
worker aud intensely ambitious. He
seconded Hancock's nomination at
Cincinnati last summer in a fine
speech.
THE READJUsTER CANDIDATE.
Colonel William L. Cameron.
Daniels Readjuster opponent, is one
OF the fourth estate. He was for a
long time editor of the Democratic
Index-Appeal, Of Petersburg, aud it
was to the columns Of this journal that
he contributed some years ago the
Dittorest editorials which have eyer
been penned in Virginia against the
party whose standard bearer he now
is. HIS pen is full of venom and
force. As Democratic Funder editor
he denounced readjustment with the
consent of the creditors as petty
larceny and forcible readjustment as
highway robbery. He pleads the
statute Of limitations by reason OF
infancy to these earlier political per-
formances of his. There is a Spanish
proverb which reads: He who never
changes his mind is a fool. Colonel
Cameron is a man of prepossessiUg
presence and of genial and afable
manners and wins friends wherever he
goes. He has a mild blue eye, a silky
blonde moustaehe and long imperial,
and bushes like a school girl when
John Daniel pokes him under the
fifth rib with a mellow editorial from
the Index Appeal. The present IAN
vass is Cameron's first experience as a
speaker, but he shows himself master
full even in his novitiate. He runs on
his muscle in a quiet, dignifed way,
and wears on his body the C a of a
pistol wound received in a duel six or
seven years ago with Robert w.
Hughes, now United States District
Judge of the Eastern District of
Virginia. Doubtless this little mark
and Daniels shortened leg are the
magic talismans which cause each to
respect the other and their audiences
to respect both. They travel around
over the State together, as Lincoln
aud Douglas did in Illinois in 1858,
and address the same audiences,
dividing time" as they call it. Cam
eron is thirty-nine years old; Daniel
is of the same age.