Lynchburg Virginian

We are not terrified by their threats, or abashed by their sneers. The authors of all the articles we have published in relation to all the Candidates are "responsible" men, and from the consequences of their acts. The Editors have not exhibited any disposition to shrink from the consequences of their acts. The Editors are "responsible" for what they say—and when they shall pluck any aristocrat by the beard, they are perfectly willing that he should wrap himself up in his fancied importance, and talk of "responsibility," and all that sort of thing. It has been a convenient wall, from time immemorial, for those whose notions of their own consequence are much more exalted than the opinions of their neighbors justify.

But, we have already written more than we intended when we commenced this article. We could not, however, in relation to the latter part of it, say less, without injustice to our feelings; having heard that we, who had shown favoritism to no party, as Editors, had been coarsely assailed, in that character, by some of the Candidates at Bedford court-house, when we were not present to defend ourselves; and while, too, (strange to tell,) the real authors of their grievances, who were present, and who were known to them, were passed over, sub silentio! We have afforded facilities to every individual of them, whether in favor of his election or opposed to it, to communicate his opinions to the people of the District, and, if attacked, to defend himself. We adhered rigidly to the maxim, "Audi alteram partem." We published every communication that was offered, on both sides, without fee or reward—and yet that did not content the gentlemen. We had been guilty of publishing what others wrote; and, reversing the rule by which just men should be guided, one of the gentlemen boastfully tells what he would have done to us if he had been in the place of another of the Candidates, about whom some "stubborn facts" had been told by one of our correspondents, and a second talks about "responsibility!" We have no desire to wrangle with these gentlemen; but, we would thank them, when they choose to bluster and sneer at our course, to do so in our presence.