Martinsburgh gazette. [volume] (Martinsburgh, Va. [W. Va.]) 1810-1825, 1811-03-29

Berketey, Jefferson, Hampshire q Hardy.
THE friends of Mr.. WOLFE, had INDUCED
q hope, that the present Electioneering Cam
paign would have been marked by a degree
of candor and liberality, which should distin-
guish the conduct of HONORABLE MEN, en-
gagged in a political contest. In this, they
have, however been egregiously disappoint-
ed.
A hand-hill is industriously circulating by
the enemies of Mr.. Wolfe, signed !" ONE OF
THE People, in which a very uncandid
and insidious attempt is made to excite the
public prejudice against that gentleman, for
a vote given in the Senate of Virginia, in the
session of 1909, against a motion to strike out
the section of the Militia Law, which exempts
from the performance OF militia duty, the
Professors and Students of William and TIA
ry College, and other Seminaries 0 fLearning
within this CeInmonweaith.n-Had "One of
the People" been actuated byjust and honor
able motives, no would have yielded to the
impulse of duty, and have given the public a
correct view of the zrhoJe ground. There
would not then have existed a necessity for
the friends Of Mr.. Wolfe (who is now absent1
to have descended to a vindication of his CON
duct on the subject in question the public
would have been enabled, without the aid OF
my feeble penn correctly to estimate the vote,
which is now, (for reasons too obvious to es-
cape the most superficial observer.) denounc.
ed as aristocratic, and "odiously oppressive
to the poorer class of citizens
am not disposed to deny, that the eek
tract from The Journals of the Senate is cor
rect, as far as it goes but One of the Peo-
pleD has studiously avoided, from the, most
SipIsteTs rnafivo-i ctattno Tho ,.IoY 1T
The address to the voters of the district.
(waseh IS circulating with a degree of zeal.
but little honorable to the parties engaged in
it, is evidently calculated to impress on those
at a distance who have not an opportunity Of
access to cnry'sct information, a belief, that
the subject of exempting from Militia DUTY
the Students OF William and Mary College
had been primarily and originally introduced
in the session of l803-9, and that it never. at
any previous period, constituted a part of cur
Militia code. That the hand-bill in question.
has produced this impression, and that Mr..
Brent and a few ofhis too Jealous friends have
taken pains to cheat the public into this be-
let, by withholding proper explanations can
not be denied. How great, fellow citizens.
viii be your astonishment, to learn, that so
far from this being the case, that the obnoxi-
Gus section alluded to, has formed a promi-
nent feature in our Militia Code, for the last
HALF CENTURY, and at least FORTY
FIVE YEARS previous to Mr.. Wolfes oc-
cupying a seat in the Senate! I have traced
the existence of this law as far back as the
year 1857, and beg to refer those who NAV
pc disposed to prosecute the enquiry, to the
revisal OF 1869, page 1874, sec. 8, by which it
will appear, that the professors and students
of IN1iiia ~ s,l NI,yy Go1Io~o
empt from Militia Duty. True. this law orr
ginated in the reign of George ii. but imme-
diately on the close ofthe revolution, Isee acts
of Assembly OF 1851 the Militia laws under
went a complete revision, and the section
which is denounced as " aristocratic and obi
ously oppressive to the poorer class of citi
zens," was incorporated into our Militia sys-
TEN, and amended SO as to extend to ALL.
Public Seminaries of Learning so that not
only are the students of William and Mary
exempt, but those also ofthe Academy in this
place and at Batttetown for both are incor-
porated by act of Assembly, and therefore
have become what the law c~onte1nplatss
=" Public Summaries" The section las res
poets Students) has remained unimpaired to
the present day; and will any but an idiot
contend, that q body of men, (such as formed
the Assembly of 1889 amongst whom may
be ranked a Madison, a Henry, a Wythe, a
Pendleton, a Randolph, &c. &c. who had
themselves but just emerged from a state of
political slavery, would have countenanced a
law at variance with the Constitution, 1.-THE
provisions of which, it is presumed, they I'M
derstood full as well as Mr.. Brent or his Sc
cretary,l or have cherished principles, which
as {" One of the People" says would tend to
tho final ruin and downfall of our Republic ?
| ask, can the human mind be so debased as
to imagine that these men would so far for
get the duty they owed themselves and their
country, as to forge chains for their poorer
class of fellow citizens?
fMr. w. has erred in voting against the