Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1836-12-21
Governors .Mess0ge.
Fellow-CitiZens of the Senate
and House of Delegates

the General Assembly, a letter address
sed to me on the 30th of April last. bv
Littleton Waller Tazewell, Esq. re-
signing the Office of Governor of this
Commonwealth. Having completed
almost the circle of his country's hon
ors, that distinguished gentleman ex-
ercised at length the privilege of long
service to retire from the turmoil OF
public affairs, to the quiet and repose
of private life.
From the period of Nj. Tazewelrs
retirement, it devolved on me-, under
the Constitution, to assume, as Lieu
tenant Governor, the performance of
the high and responsible duties of the
office OF 1.-THE Governor. The weight
of so important a trust, | have felt most
senslbly, and am conscious how made
quately have discharged myself ofits
obligations. Yet, so far as any sue
cess may have attended my ~endeavors
to discharge them, l feel bound to as
cribe it to the prompt and valuable CO.
operation received, generally, from the
public officers Of the Commonwealth,
and more especially, from those with
whom | have been most Immediately.
associated.
In discharge ofthe duty enjoined on
me, by the Constitution, to exhibit to
you, on your annual meeting, the con-
dltion of the Commonwealth, and rec
ommend to your consideration such
measures as may seem to me expedi-
ent | proceed, in the first place, to in
vite your attention to such external
concerns as appear most materially to
effect that condition, &c most strongly to
demand your attentive consideration.
The most prominent of these, is that
most extraordinary spectacle which
modern times have witnessed, and
which still is exhibited, as for some
years past it has been, in the Northern
States, Of bands of organized conspira.
tors, gravely, IN broad day, sitting in
judgment On the domestic and peculiar
institutions Of the Southern members of
this confederacy-holding up their ci-
Tiers as objects of execration to all
the earth-denouncing their constitu.
tons and laws as iniquitous, impious,
ard of no force, and ~insolently resol-
wing never to %relinquish their efforts
till these institutions and laws be over
turned-to that end, employing money,
appointing agents, disseminating false
and inflamatory publications, and invi-
ting the whole world to join them on
their mad and mischievous crusade
And we see this, not in a hostile, or even
neutral land, but under the eye and pro.
lection of States, bound up with US. in
many respects, as one people, IN a
league the closest and most fraternal
in its spirit and provisions, and in its
sanctions the most sacred, that ever
yet united sovereign powers.
wish, for the preservation of this
interesting and invaluable bond, for
the sake of peace and true humanity,
that it were in my power to announce
to you the subsistence of this i'll. boding
fanaticism ; but | regret to say, neither
such information as | have been able
to obtain, nor the occurrences Of the
year, authorize such an assurance
Deaf to entreaty, despising admonition,
impenetrable to all appeals, urabashed
by rebuke, and unawed by the dcnun-
citation of all wise and good men through
out the Union, these incendiaries con-
tinue, regardless, as they avow Them
selves, of consequences, %zealously 10
promote their design, and constantly
to increase their numbers. The "hand-
full of fanatics" as they were justly
described but a few years ago, now
boast their five or six hundred afilia-
ted societies, numbering not less than
fifty thousand members. Still, for
themselves, were they too insignificant
to challenge notice, yet the fact can
neither be disguised or denied, that
through their secret assassin-li ennis
~saries, and the noiseless circulation of
their incendiary publications, they have
1t in their power, unless arrested by
just anG necessary laws, to scatter
through the South, seed that must ripen
sooner or later, into a harvest of blood
and desolation. =
Already we begin to experience q
foretaste of the bitter calamities which
are to follow in the train of this most
unwarrantable and u%nprovoked inter.
ference with our exclusive concerns.
That free and cordial intercourse in
strengthening the ties which bind us
together, is already threatened with
serious interruption by reason Of the
notorious and too often successful at,
tempts of abolitionists, spread every
where along the principle routes, tc
deprive by seduction or force, the citi
zens of the Southern States, OF theil
travelling domestics, their property, by
as high sanctions as any they hold
having often a moral value, independ
ent of. and far beyond any thew MAJ