Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-08-23
REPLY TO MIR. BLACK.
Another "Open LeEter''-W why MajOr
Ryais Advised Mr.. Blacks With
draWai-HIs Action Inspired by
Purely DlsInterested FrIendshlp.


RYais Advised Mr.. Blacks With
draWal-HIs Action Inspired by
Purely DIsInterested FrIendshlp,
SAVANNAH, Ga, August 2i. 1sS2-HOn. Geo.
r. Back: DEAR SAVIOUR 'sopen letter. to
me in the MORNING News Of the 18th inst,
necessitates reply through the same channel
Had you seen fit to have published with it my
letter to which you allude. and which intend
ed and expected you to regard and sacredly
respect as a strictly private one, the motives Of
my communication would have been sufficient
" manifested to the voters Of the First Con-
gressional district without further cores
pondence.
My letter to you was prepared after mature
consideration in the Kindest spirit. and from
the purest motives. In the late Congressional
contest / was your warm and trusted friend
and earnest supporter, and enjoyed during the
campaign the honor OF your appreciation
as a confidential adviser and correspondent.
These antecedents induced me to believe that
it would not be. presumptuous in me-nay,
more, that it was my duty to come conf1den-
TALLY to you, with my advice and counsel, at a
time when the expediency OF your renomina-
ton was a subject of discussion among your
constituents under circumstances OF peculiar
delicacy to YOU and your friends, and opined
that from YOU Of all others, l need not have
apprehended misinterpretation OF my motives
in thus commune ating with you
Favored with opportunities Wnlcn enabled
me to ascertain the sentiments or your consti-
tuents on the subject OF your denomination,
found that your Warmest ana truesG friends
throuphOut the district-patrlotlc, Sagacl0us
and loyal leaders of the Democracy in their re-
speative sections-deemed your candidacy for
denomination, in view OF the sad aftilction
which had befallen you, ana OF the urgent ne
cessity of having IN the approaching cam
paign an active and vigorous standard bearer,
Motives of delicacy hindered and restrained
publicity of their views, IN the nope mat yon
would either through your own appreciation
of the situation or through the advice of your
friends announce your decllnatlon, and relieve
your friends and the party OF the em0arrass-
ments incident to the situation What, under
such circumstances, became the duty or your
personal friends, upon whom you cohhuen-
TALLY relied in the past for ADVICE ana counsels
Was it not to ADVISE you privacy %
the sentiments Of your constituents, ana Inere-
by obviate public discussion OF the delcate
reasons which influenced them, and spare you
the modification of having them canVbsseu
through the newspapers. This purpose alone
actuatei me, and it seems to me that my letter |
to you bears innately such evidence Oh IL as 70
have forbidden its use otherwise than as tnag
of a confidential communication from Irlend
having at heart your welfare and patrlotlc
regard for the interests of the Democratic par
The late action Of Congress in unseating |
Democratic Congressman leaves no doubt but |
that the same tactics will be resorted TO IN the
next Congress, and it behooveS the Democratlc |
party to put forth for the next Congress lCs |
very strongest men-men capaclUaCeu AoI
making an energetic and vigorous personal |
canvass of their respective dlstrlcJS IN oruer 10 |
arouse and induce to the polls every. voter IN |
them, and thereby roll up maJorlties IN the elec-
tiOns so prepOnderatlng as 10 leaVe no PFeEeAC /
for contest The Democracy OF the tlrst Con
gressional district realize this. Aware OF the |
strength of the Republican party IN TINS als,
m q
into false sense of security. and imagine that /
the report OF the Comptroller General OF the |
poll tax returns is of any significance IN |
Congressional election, in view OF |
which the Republican leaders have always |
been at the polls with money to pay the pol
tax of its adherents and quality them Ior VOI-
ing, and of their declaration that Jney Woulu
put a candidate in the field who could poll Jhe
full vote of their party in order to give ground
for contest before Congress. The Democracy
feel that they should not Jeopardlze the inter-
est of the district by committing their stand
ard to a bearer physically inadequate to the
eXigency of a vigorous ana active campaign
Early in the year the sad Intelligence Was
brought to your constituents that you We're
stricken with paralysis, and they know that
from then until the end of the session that you
were not able to take your seat In the halls of
Congress. They know, also, that you have
ever since remained prostrated, an object of |
sOlicituds to your friends, and profound |
sympathy to your constituents They had
been fiattered by newspaper reports to the be-
lief that you were rapidly convalescing,
and they were buOyed up with the hops that |
an early restoration Of you TO health and &C
tivity would enable them to again bestoW Con-
gTessiOnal honors upon you.
But many of them who attended the late
GubernatoTial Convention, and who avaied |
themselves Of the opportunity to visit you, be-
came sadly and profoundly convinced that the |
hope was in vain. They found YOU after
months of the most skilful treatment and every
appliance of medical science in your behalf,
in an extremely enteebed condition, unable to
walk and utterly disqualified for the perform |
ance Of the ordinary vacations of private life, |
with not the shadow OF an indication that you |
would for q long time be adequate for public |
service so arduous and taxing to both body |
and mind as that of a Congressional Repre-
sentative. 1 was among your visitors on
the occasion referred TO- and left
YOU with the sorrowful conviction |
that owing to this Providential visitation, your
constituents would have to abandon all hope of |
you to Congress. Profoundly as
was convinced of this however, hesitated to |
give utterance to it, but others who then saw
you, thinking that your condition was as ap-
parent to you as to them, returned to their
respective sections of the district and reported |
not merely surmises or unfOunded statements,
but the facts OF your condition as seen with
their own eyes.
AS consequences, majority of your con-
whist still entertaining the highest
regard for you, have felt constrained to choose
delegates to the convention who, from a sense
of public duty, do not feel that they should
I
pied with my own conviction, induced me to
proffer advice and suggestions as to your
course. You have seen fit, however, to
reject them. Your "open letter. announces |
you a candidate for denomination,
but with a significant absence of any definite
in it, to either myself or the voters
of the district as to your present physical con-
dition. Taking the opinions of those who have
seen you within few days. and report you as
still Frustrated, that Of medical experts in the
treatment of such cases, the hardness of re-
frEso or rf~f,Du aIs..-
favorable circumstances, and the long |
time that must necessarily elapse |
before you could prudently tax your
energies and nervous system in the per-
Torrance of public service, cannot escape the
conviction that your candidacy for renomina-
ton can only result in injury and dis3ppoint-
ment to you, and modification and embarrass-
ment to your friends. The dispensation of
Providence which has laid you low has not
only been a trying one to you,
but also a grievous one to your friends
they must bide your time, and with prayerful
hearts await your ultimate restoration to
health and the public service.
l deeply regret that you have not seen fl to
observe the privacy which l, through
motives of delicacy towards you.
desired in this correspondence. But l
enjoy the consolation of the reflection that the
for its publicity rests not upon
me.
With heartfelt desire for your restoration
to health. vigor, and to the service of your
country, and the honors hich we stand ready
to bestow when you shall become sufficiently |
restored to be their recip ent l remain most
and truly yours, g. NJ RIVALS.