The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1884-04-03
Gen. Wickham's Letter.

We publish to-day a letter from Ten.
WINS. G. Wickham, criticising a state
ment in the last issue Of the VIRGINIAN,
in reference to the two Conventions at
Lynchburg i'm 1881. In discussing the rela-
tive claims of the two bodies from time to
time, since 1881, we have always referred
to the Holcombe Hall Convention as the
one assembled under the legitimate au-
thority of the party. The call which con-
vened it was regular and its organization
represented, according to our opinion, all
that was left of the regular Republican
party of Virginia. The paragraph referred
to by Gen. Wickham touches solely on the
State Central Committee appointed by
that Convention, and the reasons for de-
clining the nominations by the gentlemen
composing the ticket recommended by a
committee appointed for that purpose.
1t is well known by all who are acquainted
with the facts of the case, that there wsS
not a majority of the regularly accredited
delegates present in Holcombe Hall and
participating in its. proceedings. This
| fact. in connection with others, was dis
cussed by Gen. Wickham and the writer OF
these lines. Having been informed that
the committee would report ticket, COM
posed of Gen. Wickham for Governor,
the senior editor Of the VIRGINIAN for
Lieut.. Governor and Judge Willoughby
for Attorney-G General, a consultation took
place between the proposed candidates Tor
Governor and Lieutenant Governor. In
| that conversation one of the reasons as
signed for not accepting, was that we
would have to go before the people and de-
fend trump Convention" which would
place the candidates on the defensive and
at disadvantage. With this difficulty to
contend. and to have to engage the
Coalition and the Democrats and to antag-
onize the influence of the administration,
would make the canvass hopeless and not
i Justify the expenditure of the time and
money necessary for it.
After this conversation the writer OF
this article walked to Holcombe Hal
and as he reached the door the report ct
the Committee on Nominations was be.
/ ing announced. 1t was received with the
I most extravagant demonstrations of ap-
proyal and there was an earnestness and
determination manifested that we had
never seen surpassed in any Convention
we had ever attended. The writer re-
turned to the Hotel, where in short time
committee waited on Gen. Wickham
and himself, to notify them of the action
of the committee appointed to select a
ticket. On our way to the Convention,
Gen. Wickham asked the writer what he
| thought about the matter. We responded
that we did not see how we could go back
on that body-that it was the most earnest
assemblage of delegates we had ever wit
messed, and that notwithstanding the diff.
culties to be encountered and the sacri.
flee to be made, if he would accept we
would. To this no response was given,
and not until the closing sentence of Gen.
Wickham's remarks before the Conven-
tion did we know whether he would ac-
cept OF decline. When his final determi-
nation not to accept was announced, an
enthusiastic. conscientious. earnest body
of men, was converted into one of deep
disappointment, conspicuously manifested
in the sullen silence which followed. The
writer had no other course to pursue after
this, but to decline also, although impor-
| tuned to allow his name to be used for the
first place on the ticket. Whether Gen.
Wickham's remembrance of the circum-
stances attending the action Of the Hol-
combe Hall Convention is in accord with
ours or not, the factremains that the Con-
yention did not contain a majority Of the
regularly accredited delegates to the State
1gConvention, and consequently there was
lirregularity in the appointment of the State
Committee which that Convention created.
We have designed, in nothing we have
written, to reflect unfavorably on that
body. Although it did not contain ma
jority of the accredited delegates, we be-
lieyed then and believe now, that it, re-
fected the sentiment, the conviction and
the spirit of the great mass of the party
| in the State, and that if Gen. Wickham
had accepted the nomination-which
would have been followed by the accep-
lance of the nominees for Lieut.. Govern
OF and Attorney GENERATE would have
commanded the support of the great mass
of the party and compelled the withdrawal
of the Cameron ticket or it's overwhelm-
ing defeat.
AS to the Opera Hall Convention. it had
no legitimacy or regularity about it.. 1t
was the creature of revolutionary action.
Proxies were manufactured for the occa-
sion and on the spot, and thus claiming to
have majority of the regular State Com
mittee, it proceeded to elect a new Chair
man, Capt. j. HI. Rives, and a new COM
mittee. With this consummated, without
a particle of party law or precedent to
Justify OF sustain it, pretended delegates
were admitted, and by fanciful arith-
metlcal process, what was called Con-
vention, was organized. 1t was a wrong and
an outrage in it's inception, proceedings
and conclusions. :,
After the two Conventions had adj
journed, and the canvass opened, we were
presented with the following condition of
things The Democrats on one side, headed
by Maj. Daniel for Governor, antagonizing
the Republicans on every proposition they
had declared for. The Coalition on the
other side, with Col. Cameron as the can
didate for Governor, announcing for every
proposition the Republicans had adopted
in their platform except their position on
the debt question. We were left to choose
between them. We determined to sup
port Cameron and Gen. Wickham an
nounced, in a public communication, that
he intended to support Daniel This de-
termination was reached by us. without
regard to the regularity of organization,
or any of the circumstances connected with
the two Conventions.
With this brief review of the circum-
stances and events. attending the two
Conventions at Lynchburg in 1881, we
are justified in the statement that
neither of the Committees created
by those bodies is, strictly speaking, the
legitimate authority of the party. We
concede that all the regularity that ex-
listed was with the Holcombe Hall body,