#%3 ATTORNEY GENERAL, OF THE STATE OF VIRGINIA, I I \ THURSDAY, THE 2STH DAY OF MAY, 1863 'ft n. STATE TICKET FOR GOVERNO GEORGE WYTHE MUNFORD, OF IHE CITY OF RICHMOND. FOR LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR, SAMUEL PRICE, OF GREENBRIER. FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL, JOHN RANDOLPH TUCKER, OE FREDERICK. CORRESPONDENCE. Richmond, Feb. 28th, 186^. Col. George Wythe Munford, Dear Sir : — The day rapidly approaches when the people of Vir- ginia will be called on to select a successor to tho Chief Executive office of this Commonwealth. Tho times demand a Governor of no ordinary qualifications. We are engaged in a war of independence which may be prolonged for yearh. The part which Virginia has taken in that war has been worthy of her greatness and her patriot- ism in the past, and the duties she mast yet perform will call for all the energy that her brave sons can put forth. At so troublous, an epoch in our history, the man who should uphold the sovereignty and protect the interests of the State should possess a deep and abiding affection for Virginia, an inflexible resolution never to see her integrity impaired, a thorough acquaintance with ber resomv and the genius and temper of her people, a large knowledge of the science, and a ready familiarity with the poetical details of govern- ment, and a character above reproach. Believing that you combine these qualities in an eminent degree, and recognizing the invaluable and distinguished services you have rendered the State in many posts of usefulness through a long series of years, we ask authority to place your name before the people of Virginia for their suffrages as the next Governor of the State. These are no days for party nominations or party conventions, and we flatter ourselves with the hope that your name brought forward in this way will secure the vote of a decisive majority of your fellow-citizens. With great respect, Your friends and obedient servants, Win. F. Ritchie, Thos. B. Bigger, Horace L. Kent, J. Davenoort, Jr., C. W. Purcell, • Thos. D. Quarles, Wm. C. Allen, J. B. Stegall, J. C. Rutherfoord, Wm. W. Dunn avail t, R. S. Redford, A. M. Bailey, Wm. Y. Sheppard, J. W. Randolph, Alex. H. Rutherfoord Walter D. Blair, A. Bargamin, Jr., W. Goddin, Chas. A. Rose, J. B. Macmurdo, Mann S. Valentine, E. II. Gill, A.Morris, Jas. H. Gardner, J. Pitfield George, Charles S. Mills, E.L. Chinn, A. J. Bower*, Asa Snyder, II. Bosher Tompkins, Wm. Rutherfoord, C. K. Cbapin, Charles B. llabli ton Wm. Breeden, R. M. Nimirso, Andrew P'zzini, Geo. H. Tompkins J no. Jones, S. P. Mitchell, F. H. Habliston, Geo. W. Jones, Wm. Beers, T ""R A. Pleasants, II. P. Edmond, . * r • * "■ • J. B. Danfortb, P. T. Sutton, John J. Fry, John W. Ferguson, r ^ L. W. Glazebrook, Wm. F. Watson, .' Q I f"X John Rutherfoord, E. G-. Eggeling, J. B. Watkins, A. Antoni, W. L. Cowardin, V. A. Favier, Ko. L. Lancaster, C. D. Yale. Richmond, March 2d, 1S63. To Messrs Wm. F. Ritchie, Thomas B. Bigger, Horace L. Kent, and others : Gentlemen — Your flattering invitation to permit my name to be used as a candidate for the office of Governor, has been received. — Similar requests have been presented to me by friends in different portions of the State. I yield, 'therefore, to your wishes, without undue affectation of modesty, or vain professions of ability, expe- rience or zeal. You are pleased to allude to the various positions I have occu- pied iu the State. If I have succeeded in deserving the commenda- tion you bestow for tfie discharge of my duties heretofore, it is the best pledge I can give of the course I shall pursue hereafter. It is proper that you should be in possession of some of my views upon public affairs. I give them concisely : Proud of Virginia's ancient renown, zealous that her present should equal her tormer fame, recognizing but one Virginia, and that containing all her people and her whole territory, I givo my heart and mind to maintain and perpetuate her integrity unim- paired. I anl a strict constructionist, with the Constitution as my com- pass and chart; believing it to be the duty of the Executive^ faith- fully to execute, not to make, laws, not to usurp the prerogative of the Legislature, nor to interfere with the just action of the Judiciary .^ I am an advocate of State rights ; opposed to consolidation ot powers in the federative system. I would, if I could, restrain the Confederate Government within its appropriate functions. It has enough to do to secure our independence without violating personal rights. It has enough to do to attend to its external relations; to smooth the way for intercourse with foreign nations ; to care for and provide adequate supplies for our patriotic and glorious armies. It has enough to do to provide an adequate revenue, and to curtail its redundant curreno*, leaving the Slates to attend to their internal affairs, ample for their noblest exertions ; leaving individuals free to regulate their own pursuits, unstimulated by governmental aids, unseduced by governmental bribes, unawed by the exercise ot mi warrantable power. I will give to the President a zealous co-operation, confiding iu his talents, fidelity, patriotism, firmness, and Christianity. To the United States Government as administered, and to its Con- stitution as construed, I am utterly and irreconcilably hostile. I would scatter every material for reconstruction of the old Union to the winds. The blood of tens of thousands of the brightest aud best of Southern sons cries aloud against a re-union. The two sys- tems, in my opinion, have different attractions and mutual repul- sions. They must in future revolve in different spheres. "Blessed are the Peacemakers," but peace must be based upon the recognition of our separate national independence, ana upon the restoration of the entire territory of every State in the Confed- eracy. With these principles briefly stated, if I can obtain the vote and confidence of the State I shall be grateful. If not, I shall bow with composure to the majesty of the people. Very respectfully, J GEORGE W. MUNFORD. From the Richmond Whig. Col. George Wythe Munford is here presented as a candidate for the office of Governor. At a time when Virginia needs the best talents and the experience, skill and counsel of her truest and most devoted sons, such a nomination, it is hoped, will be generally ac- ceptable. His claims for promotion are the best foundation for the State's claim to his services. He has been intimately connected with the public affairs of Virginia for nearly forty years. He has, at his fin- gers' ends, the rolls of her legislation ; he has been the keeper of the journal of the reforms of her organic law; he has, as commis- sioner of the Sinking Fund, been officially obliged to scan her fisc with the accuracy of a calculator and a critic ; he has practiced her whole system of militia organization ; he has had to state the ac- counts and pay-rolls of her claims and pensions, and the catalogue of her library, and to conduct her international exchanges ; he has had to supervise the audits and settlements of her literary and mon- ument funds ; he has lately revised all her statutes ; and he has been her Secretary of State, intimately counselling her Executive admin- istration, for a long series of years. In offices with very moderate if not inadequate pay, he has waited assiduously, and often extra- officially on her people ; he is universally known and greatly ap- proved in all the places he has filled and yet fills ; he is thoroughly acquainted with tbe capabilities of/ the Commonwealth, and with the genius and wishes and instincts, imd even prejudices of her peo- ple ; and he is intus et in cute, a Virginian, beloved of Virginians, imbued with their genius, their wishes, their instincts, their prejudi- ces, their pride, their passions, their grace and their glory ! He is unambitious, except to serve and be useful, and has served and been useful a long time in subordinate places. He is now in the full ma- turity of his talents. Though time has silvered his head, his ener- gies are yet vigorous as ever, and now, as they have been for many years, are incessantly exerted to do his part well, in the brightest of sunny days as in the night and gloom of the storm which palsies some and appalls almost all. He is an old public servant, to moderate means, and a favorite of heaven, in having a large and most interesting family; but, ah ! he has tbem not all ! God gave him, and this unrighteous war has taken from him one of his bright- est jewels — that noble boy, who fell gallantlv fighting at Malvern Hill. Colonel Munford is a gentleman, in the true sense — urbane, even- tempered, calm, patient, honest, just, firm, manly and liberal. He is a scholar of classical education^ and amidst all his practical life has cultivated, not unsuccessfully, the field of polite literature. He is an alumnus of the venerable college of William and Marv, with her degree of Bachelor of Law. At the beginning of the ses ion of the General Assembly in 1825, he was elected clerk of tl office he was re-elected at each s\ e House of Delegates — to which cceedinsf session for twentv-seveu years, by unanimous votes. And in December 1852, he was elect- ed by the General Assembly, Secretary of the Commonwealth. Oo the last day of his service as clerk, the House of Delegates un:i mously adopted a resolution, tendering to him their thanks for the prompt, able and impartial manner in which, for twenty -seven years, he had discharged the. important and responsible duties of that office. During this time, too, he was not neglectful of other duties. Iu 1829, he was elected Captain of the Richmond Light Infan Blues — the oldest volunteer company in the State — baptised by the blood of its Captain, O. Jennings Wise, of gallant memory, in the lamentable affair of Roanoke Island. Afterwards he was promoted to the Lieutenant Colonelcy of the 19th Regiment; but in 1 - was re-elected Captain of the Blues, and served with eclat for m . ly eight years. At the breaking out of the present war, the hono- rary and ex-members of the Blues formed themselves into a served cocps, to the command of which they again called their old Captain. He was appointed by Governor. McDowell, a Visitor of' the Virginia Military Institute, and served as such fonr years. For twelve years he served as a member of the City Council of Rich- mond, during the latter part of that period being its President. 1 1 was elected aud served one year as a member of the Hustings Court. Originally appointed by the Board of Public Works, and afterwards elected by the Stockholders, he has served continuou-lv for twenty-five years as a Director of the Richmond, Fredericks- burg and Potomac Railroad ; nnvf was for several years a Director of the Richmond and Danville Railroad. On the 5th of October, 1829, he was elected Secretary of the State Convention, called to revise the Constitution. Of this C tention, Mr. Ritchie, in his preface to the Report of their Proceed- ings and Debates, says : " Much of what was venerable for years " and long service ; many of those who were most respected for " their wisdom and their eloquence, two of the Ex- 1 'residents of the "United States, the Chief Justice of the United States, several of "those vrho had been moat distinguished in Congress or the State " Legislature, on the Bench or at the Bar, were brought together " for the momentous purpose of laving anew the fundamental law 11 of the land/' This office he I 1, after a service of two months, having been then for the fifth time, Clerk of the House of ] In his lotto of resignation, he stated that, so long as the sessions of the C >n and the House would not hare conflicted, he would, with p easure, hive served hath without ring double compensati ■ Bur brief as was h Convention of 1820*30, it brought him into contact whh some of the foremost men of their time, and their es taught him lessons of juris- prudence and law-- . and helcfibcfore his eyes examples of wis- dom am I of gov filing, the like of which we may >r again. ! it be inspired by their spirit ; ho could not but be enlightene he illumination of such minds ; he could not but be made more wisely patriotic by the dignified de- liberationa of such fathers and foui '• il liberty, of social or- and of itional guarante Since he enten ion the duties of Secretary of the Common- wealth, he has filled, either exofficfo or by special appointment, va- rious other offices, ;uch Commissioner of the Col ?, Commissioner of the i:ing Fund, Commissioner to audit and settle accounts and ex- penditures of the John Brown raid v Commissioner (by ordinance of the Convention of Virginia,) to audit and settle all claims for expen- ditures for the organization, equipment, &c, of the land and naval forces called or to be ci defence of the Commonwealth in the present war. In March, 1860, the duty of revising the Code of Virginia was solved on him b :ad he haB executed his task to the entire satisfaction of the Bench and the Bar, at an expense of but $2,000, whilst the of 1819 cost M0,000, and that of 1849 .cost 127,000. Thus, he has been required many important but still subor- iliocs. All of them, and most of them together, he has filled with ability, assiduity, punctuality, accuracy and dignity. And when Icok at the nature of the offices, they are all such exactly as traiu a man for the comprehensive views-And various details required in the Executive office, which superinifltods them all. Col. Munford, as lOr, WOllld not havo to go to ^.f; Attoraaoy Q-euand fv>r tl 8 Stfl tutes. He would not have to ru very clerk for the forms of Ids department. He would not ha\e to over burthen the offices by is for reports on every claim. .With the legislation, with the forms, with the history of accounts and claims, he is more familial' than any other man. And with thft larger subjects he has had to labor still harder and more constantly. The siuking fund has tested his fiscal capacity, and his reports ?how how well he has mastered r, and he know I w t la of claim others who w> \1[ p] the fiscal concerns of ihc < !ommi bilities, all our resources, all our lion of State honor, and he know ^hangers and the fr; jealously watched or extravagance. There iq n t which George Wythe Munford which he has not been j What man living car justly lay prehensive and yet so minute, theu, is there to be found for tb Is there any personal i exemplary and commendable £ stock, and a good old V ]«rin«*]til' all those more intimate and ily, friends, kindred and servant or affection claim, or humanity ealth. He knows all our >edients for punctual preserva w to detect the tricks of money Himself economical, he under, either by corruption Slate's poliey with ot habitually familiar, and with fa uiliar, for twenty-five y ,1 to so large and lono;, so cora- cnc€ i What better man, se of Governor ? iim ? His private is even more •ablie lift. lie is of an old tock. In manners, morals and lucation, he is a gentleman. In ions which biud him to fam- p is all that friendship could indness en;, Is he agreeable in his officefjPGo and asl Wise and Letcher what a valua* d invaluable friend in office he was and is ! < ro and as! the .urcs of his time, tl. ■abcrs and committees, of wh \ ever has been. . how he b;t.5 volunteered to serve Ivm with counsel and labor! to the four winds of the State i ry poor pensioner a claimant and petitioner for pardq , how many calls of theirs he : answered with much laboi Go to tne Treasurer, Au- ditors, and the whole personnel' >f the Executive service, and in- ■ juire how much aid he has id them I And ask^ever- whether he has an enemy ? If i e has none, is^he a sycophant to all ? Not one can be found to si / so. All wiil s,ay he is no time- server— he is a State-server. Wl ', then, should he, who has been till and faithful in i^w and <& uparatively small^things^not made ruler in many and great thij gs ? Henri* From the Hid* ond Enquirer. LIEUTENAr* GOVERNOR. The last Lieutenant Governor* vine: been elected from the East' in accordance with usage which '$ ' almost grown into law, it is pro] that the next Lieut - Governor should be a Western "'nn'. TfW^UAii j ... ^_... better representative of 1 • interests of the entire State, of Greenbiier. We second his i at this time. .uenched in such a crisis as this ; annot be revived. The situation te Confederate Constitution, the U est, aud^who is more dev Samuel Price, of the ccun . i nation as one peculiarly pr Party *phit is and ought the old party issues are dead an of the country, the change mutations in the currency, in n>J Pictures, in commercial relations. in all the great and prominent Lions ol the State, contribute to render old party ties and improper. It becomes all men, then, to select jhose for linentlj >rthy, who are best qualified fo B8 they ar« to Till, who gentlemen in character, in ton; who are experienced in the form ; who have the intelle firmness to execute a wise purj W> • in all flft erf ' > * high sdiown ! * srtnal interest, by motives « the pure and strict line of dul e to promote the welfare of th \-e that Samuel frice is sit 1 '. respects equ the people. Mr. Price is a lawyer, wel! mate with the statutes of Yiiv member of the General Assi vrntion, and was recently warm! 1 ' office of Confederate State- 8 attentive to the interests of the Sti wants, and pos jing the manhood and liberals lated, in his judgment, to aggrandi h and sustain Virginia. He m a leader in Western Virgini; internal improvement system, and to the develop- ment of the great lines of comraun] at 1 bind the i . and Wesi together with more dura! forged, and at the same time lay if ;eh to trade and commerce the resources of the magnificent regit! i in which J [c is practically acquainted with parliaa -ntary law, and tl a suita- ble presiding officer of the State, l! tan pleasant in social and business intercourse, of nsulfi r and deep de- votion to the State. lie has been ia prisoner irJ the hands Yankees. . He refused to succumb : impris- onment rather than sully his honoi oy ta' h of all to the Lincoln Government or denj Dg tl of the CVmmonwealth. j Such a man is eminently worthy!.-* the hich bp is named. We announce him for u. q office of L • tor, • -•.. in full confidence of his success. Water. From the JEticl ATTORNI : \ .,.*,',.■ It is time that it should be