Martinsburg gazette and public advertiser. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1826-1833, 1828-05-08

my IS pressing upon US. We are fighting
over the last ditch. Those who hold back,
forfeit every claim to patriotism future times
viii denounee themas men who are content %
eat, and feed and be insulted and ,raupled unon
as the brutes OF the Earth--careless of those
blessings which alone can render life an object
TO be priced by FREEMEN.
10 fhs Friends Of Constitutional Reform:
IN Middle and Western Virginia.
The prophetic fears Of the more ardent
friends OF reform have been in part realized.-
ne spring elections are over, and the majority
10 favor OF convention falls far short of what
il fought to have been and might have BEEN
The friends OF reform, it is too clear to be dis.
puted, have not exhibited their real strength in
Middle and Western Virginia.
1t IS true that the weather has been tempes.
.uous, thas tue streams have been swollen by
cop'ous rains, and that the election DAYS them.
serves have been wet and unfavorable. Many
aged persons, and many persons of infirm
health, have, doubtless, in the existence of
these obstacles, legitimate excuse for their
non.attendance at the April elections But
these causes are not sufficient to accoun, for the
Notifying fact, that willis all the electors in the
state are supposed not to exceed the number
OF forty Thousand. .fvs hundred have remained
at home in single county. where nine weight
IN every hundred are known to be the friends
OF constitutional reform. This, it is true, is the
strongest case known; bat others could be
named which approach it but too nearly.
Whether this result has been produced by
inexcusable apathy, or overweenne confidence
ofvictory. it is still a result most inauspicious
TO ouT hopes of final success, in the struggle
we ere making to assert our equal rights, as eli.
tizens of Virginia.
Those who have been detained al home nv
presumptnous confidence that the good cause
would prevail without their aid. should reflect
That bare majority in favor of a convention
will not effect QUE purpose. Revolutions in the
governments ofstates are not effected but bv
great movements Of The PEOPLE. Deep-rooted a.
buses are not torn up by mighty efforts on the
part OF those who suffer. An usurpstion, sane.
toned by fiftyyears of acquiescence, is no, ca.
silly overthrow,
10 those friends of reform who were de.
tanned at home by the badness of the weather
aione--"ho "coud have been well conten,ca
10 De mere, IN respect of the love they bean
me cause but were deferred by April Show.
ers, what shall sayi--s'The weather was in
clement" What then,--ouv fathers encoun.
tered not meFely storms. and tempests and
otter trosts, aud consuming hunger, but dan.
rand death in the field of battle. TO assert
and maintain those fights which their deseen.
dan's are now trifsing away by crimina, ana.
thy. They were no fair.weather pot,cia,s
You might track their progress, through ice
ahd frost, to the field of victory, by the blood
winch flowed from their lacerated feet. Their
descendants, when called on fos solemn ex.
preston of an opinion, for med on deliberate
reflection tina, the government Under which
they live is domination Of The fen ouer The ma.
ny, violating, in as theory, the mos. sacred rights
and pfos'rafine, in its Practice, The moss ua,abke
interests Of the great body Of tie people, are de
tered, forsooth, from attending the polls, BY
miry roads and vernal showers--How can thew
justify to themselves och apathy on a subject
involving all that is dear to freemenl
Are not we, OF Middle and Western Virginia.
in the same political situation that our fathers
were, when they rose up in arms against Bri
fanfare we not governed and taxed by men
who are not the representative of the people,
And may they not misgevern and overtax US at
pleasure, in spite of all the opposition which
we can make Under the erissing consntufioa2---.
And have they not, in fact, misgoverned us,
and thai most grossly?-ls il not q conceded
point that under the tide water government, the
prosperity of Virginia has gradually, and. OF
late, rapidly, declined, so that she il. 10 all
appearance, on the high road to ruin2-Is il
not clear. 10 every intelligent observer. tina,
our government hss fallen far 10 the rear Of
the energy. spirit. ane intelligence of the age1
Is it not government that viii neither EN-.
ploy the resources Of the state in works essen.
tial TO its weIlbeing, nor permit Capitalists from
another commonwealth to execute those works
at their own eYpenSe-ea povernmept ,yh;.h