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Letter to Editor
May 27, 1817
Richmond Enquirer
Richmond, Richmond County, Virginia
What is this article about?
A constituent writes to the Enquirer correcting Hugh Nelson's election majority to 544 votes in Virginia's congressional district and defending his victory against sudden opposition, arguing for fair examination of candidates' records in elections.
Merged-components note: The table of election poll results is appended to and supports the letter to the editor regarding Hugh Nelson's election victory.
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RICHMOND, MAY 27.
[FOR THE ENQUIRER.
MR. EDITOR,
In the publication of the extract of a letter from Albemarle county, you state that on questions of elections you thought the press ought to be open, I suppose you meant for either, when a question presented two sides. In your paper of some days ago it was stated that Mr. Hugh Nelson was elected by a majority of upwards of 400 votes, without stating what that majority was. You will be so obliging as to state it to be a majority of at least 544. Out of more than 1100 votes given in the district, Mr. Nelson obtained 871. The efforts made to exclude him, and the manner in which the attempt was made, require that the voice of his constituents should be distinctly heard: especially as his political conduct was announced by the extract published in the outset of the election, to be disapproved by his constituents—How far his political course was disapproved and in what it deserved this public insinuation and censure contained in the extract: or how far it was the disapprobation of the writer, or the people who compose the district of Mr. Nelson, let the will of the people lately and deliberately expressed, now proclaim. Mr. Nelson was not apprised of discontent, or of any intended opposition, until some time after the polls were opened in his own county, it being the first county that voted in the district, nor had he any opportunity of knowing the ground, or controverting the allegations of the opposition until after the close of the election for his county. In the other three counties composing the district, the candidates and their pretensions to public confidence, together with the character of Mr. Nelson's political course, was fairly and fully before the public.—I am one of his constituents, who, upon principle, am not averse to competition in our popular elections; an open, manly, virtuous opposition, where an examination of public men and public measures may enlighten the road to public confidence, and whence the rude elements of our republican institutions may be shapen into better form, or may be shielded from the deadly influence of apathy and corruption.—When a more able and virtuous representative can be offered to the people, I am one of those always ready to receive him—but let him not be seated on the real or supposed aberrations of his predecessor in office, without giving time to the people to examine the fitness of the first, or hear the defence of the last. I was not willing to crucify the real or supposed offender in the first instance, and to examine into the justice of the punishment afterwards. I feel, in this case, no other interest but that which deeply concerns every freeholder in my district, ready and willing to select the most enlightened and most honest man we can obtain, to represent our rights and maintain our claims in the general government.
Had as full and free examination into Mr. Nelson's course during his last two years of service, been afforded to the people of Albemarle previous to the election in that county as was in the other counties of the district, I am satisfied the same justice would have been done him in the first, as has been so amply bestowed on him in the last counties of his district. Thus it is that agitation which a sudden opposition creates when set up at the commencement of an election, has been to me a subject of regret and suspicion, better calculated to arouse the honest fears of the people than to awaken them to a just sense of the political fitness of the men they are about to select for public employment; and thus it is, also, that our most valuable privileges insensibly become entangled with personal and selfish considerations, and we are apt to exercise with passion, and stain with prejudice, the most sacred and precious rights of
A CONSTITUENT.
I annex a statement of the polls at the late elections in the counties composing the Congressional District:
For Nelson 871 For Maury 327
Difference in favor of Nelson 544.
Total number of votes given 1198.
[FOR THE ENQUIRER.
MR. EDITOR,
In the publication of the extract of a letter from Albemarle county, you state that on questions of elections you thought the press ought to be open, I suppose you meant for either, when a question presented two sides. In your paper of some days ago it was stated that Mr. Hugh Nelson was elected by a majority of upwards of 400 votes, without stating what that majority was. You will be so obliging as to state it to be a majority of at least 544. Out of more than 1100 votes given in the district, Mr. Nelson obtained 871. The efforts made to exclude him, and the manner in which the attempt was made, require that the voice of his constituents should be distinctly heard: especially as his political conduct was announced by the extract published in the outset of the election, to be disapproved by his constituents—How far his political course was disapproved and in what it deserved this public insinuation and censure contained in the extract: or how far it was the disapprobation of the writer, or the people who compose the district of Mr. Nelson, let the will of the people lately and deliberately expressed, now proclaim. Mr. Nelson was not apprised of discontent, or of any intended opposition, until some time after the polls were opened in his own county, it being the first county that voted in the district, nor had he any opportunity of knowing the ground, or controverting the allegations of the opposition until after the close of the election for his county. In the other three counties composing the district, the candidates and their pretensions to public confidence, together with the character of Mr. Nelson's political course, was fairly and fully before the public.—I am one of his constituents, who, upon principle, am not averse to competition in our popular elections; an open, manly, virtuous opposition, where an examination of public men and public measures may enlighten the road to public confidence, and whence the rude elements of our republican institutions may be shapen into better form, or may be shielded from the deadly influence of apathy and corruption.—When a more able and virtuous representative can be offered to the people, I am one of those always ready to receive him—but let him not be seated on the real or supposed aberrations of his predecessor in office, without giving time to the people to examine the fitness of the first, or hear the defence of the last. I was not willing to crucify the real or supposed offender in the first instance, and to examine into the justice of the punishment afterwards. I feel, in this case, no other interest but that which deeply concerns every freeholder in my district, ready and willing to select the most enlightened and most honest man we can obtain, to represent our rights and maintain our claims in the general government.
Had as full and free examination into Mr. Nelson's course during his last two years of service, been afforded to the people of Albemarle previous to the election in that county as was in the other counties of the district, I am satisfied the same justice would have been done him in the first, as has been so amply bestowed on him in the last counties of his district. Thus it is that agitation which a sudden opposition creates when set up at the commencement of an election, has been to me a subject of regret and suspicion, better calculated to arouse the honest fears of the people than to awaken them to a just sense of the political fitness of the men they are about to select for public employment; and thus it is, also, that our most valuable privileges insensibly become entangled with personal and selfish considerations, and we are apt to exercise with passion, and stain with prejudice, the most sacred and precious rights of
A CONSTITUENT.
I annex a statement of the polls at the late elections in the counties composing the Congressional District:
For Nelson 871 For Maury 327
Difference in favor of Nelson 544.
Total number of votes given 1198.
| Albemarle, | 217 | 167 |
| Amherst, | 283 | 23 |
| Nelson, | 199 | 48 |
| Fluvanna, | 172 | 89 |
What sub-type of article is it?
Persuasive
Political
Informative
What themes does it cover?
Politics
What keywords are associated?
Hugh Nelson
Election Majority
Congressional District
Albemarle County
Political Opposition
Vote Polls
Constituent Defense
What entities or persons were involved?
A Constituent.
Mr. Editor
Letter to Editor Details
Author
A Constituent.
Recipient
Mr. Editor
Main Argument
defends hugh nelson's election victory by a majority of 544 votes out of 1198 in the congressional district, argues that the opposition was sudden and unfair, lacking time for nelson to respond in albemarle, and asserts that full examination of his record in all counties would have led to the same result.
Notable Details
Corrects Earlier Report Of Majority From Over 400 To At Least 544
Mentions Extract From Albemarle Disapproving Nelson's Political Conduct
Emphasizes Value Of Open, Manly Opposition In Elections
Annexes Poll Statement Showing Nelson's Votes Per County