Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1845-11-13


welded by miaority7 Is ii not Of the very ma
ture q a minority TO look themselves before the
common weal-to prefer their sectional and Pe-
cuar interests before those Of the Commonwealth
at Target Why should minority so streneously
covet power. If il was not TO advance views pecn-
liar to themselves in opposition to the State at
lsrgel For half a century the energies Of Virgins
have been chained, locked up, parayzed BY this
minority Power. Aad such minority PoDer
as ais!
He loved Virginia aud he loved every part Of il,
but il was due to the Of truth. and he must
here declare bis deliberate opinion. that the State
never could prosper long the power to control
il. Legislation resided in the population East Of the
| Blue Ridge Mountains. He had some knowledge
| Of them--they were people Of many noble and
generous traits of character; they had amongst
them many gifted men, Of most shining and bril-
! Ian, parts, but as a mass. they welded TO a
sat of Obsolete Anticipated notions, utterly iHconsis
tent With the advancement Of this great State in
1 her proper caSeer ofpower and improvement. They
were annually retrograding 10 wealth and Popra'
/ 'N"'~'g
opinions which we're proof against all the lights
which experience was daily shedding around
them. They entertained a holy horror of every
new idea, and regarded the habitudes and opinions
OF their forefathers hundred years ago, no matter
how absurd, as more worthy of their imitation than
all the improvements which age, fruitful of light
and discovery. was casting the affairs and GO
vernment of mankind. Throughout large portion
of that region, the mechanical arts utterly I'M
practissd. love Of leisure. of the adolent charms
Of social life, and aversion labor ia character
istic of the people. Of Commerce, they have
scarcely any. Agricultural improvement is at its
lowest point conceivable in country ofits ancient
settlement and facilities to market God knows
be felt no disposition to exaggerate the picture,
and he did not exaggerate when he stated that there
large districts of country in az Infinitely infs
rior condition to what they were fifty years ago.
large portions reverting to their original barbarsm
and desolation-where the wolf and the wild deer
now fad a ready and secure asylum from the thrf-
ty and growing settlements Of the Mountains. As
people, they were more imsginetive--less prac-
LtShi III hHdHs VI tEci ~
enterprise, self.reauce expansion of views, acces
sibility to improvement than their brethren West
of the Mountain. In the Western population was
to be much of that love Ct toil-thal sleepless
energy-that unconquerabe perseverance, which
distinguished Northern States, with due pro-
portion of the chivalry, daring and generous quail
ties Of the South. The energies Of this rising and
undeveloped country had too long been kept in
subsection to tho unhappy influences which have
governed the State. She has been long enough in
tutilags to Eastern Virginia. Ills time that she
should aow wake up to her own destny--sssume her
proper position in the affairs of this Commonwealth,
and wrench the helm of State from the feeble and
in6rm hands that now hold it.
| Mr.. F here went into statistical state ments
to shew the deerease ofthe white population in the
country lying East of the Blue Ridge, between
! 1880 and lS40-the increase of the white Popula-
ton West Of the Ridge;-the decrease in the num-
Der of their Slaves during the same time East OF
the Ridge; the increase of tn Slaves West of the
Ridge; the vast depreciatios of real estate in the
Eastern portion of the State, amounting to near
i
and the vast appreciation, amounting to tWsn-
| ty.fge millions of dollars during The same time
West of the Ridge. He exhibited those statistics,
melancholy as they certainly were, as it concerned
the Eastern division Of this State-with no purpo-
ses of INJECTING q round with no yiews OF section.
oil triumph, but to deduce the very natural conclu
sion from the facts, that country thus dwindhng
in its populations thus retrogrsding in all of its
essential interests, thus presenting all the visible
evidences of a want of energy, industry and pros
perity, could not be expected to impart proper
impulse to the advancement of the State at large.
II their numbers entitled them the control Of the
State, he would submit without a murmer. But
be nothing to justify him in surrendering the
general welfare of the Commonwealth to a ininori-
ty, exhibiting, as the Eastern minority did in their
own condition and rapid decline, little to vndcate
their title to the exercise fhs illegitima;e author
ity. He adverted TO the Road System, the jury
System, the Primary School System, the County
Court System, and the Judicial System generally
as many evidences of the inert and defective
legislation of the State; institutions nominally
pressive, and which no rational man could ever ex-
pee; to see remedied whilst the legislative power
of the State resided in men so obstnately welded
to the veteres api@-of an antiquated and obsolete
system of thought, opinion and action.
He combatted the narrow and selfish idea. that
the Valley Counties, because they might no, re-
ceive any increased Representations in the Legisla-
ture. were not therefore deeply interested in the
just distribution of political power in the State
He maintained that there never a more
sound fallacy imposed upon intelligent minds. than
that whch led some members of the las: Conven.
ton from this division Of the State, for the
present Constitution under the delusive idea that
the Valley under the present arrangement was des-
tined to exercise balancing controlling power
in the affairs of the State. Experience had dem
onsrated that the Valley possessed such weight.
Transfer, however, the power West of the Blue
Ridge Mountain here the white population de-
mands that il shall be Northumberland then will
the true position and influence of the Va Hey eoun-
Try in the public councils of the State, be fully
cognised and felt In oil just and salutary reforms
in legislation. 8 he will go hand in hand with the
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