Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1850-08-13
The Culpeper Outrage.

Whatever degree of condemnation we
may attach to the high-handed outrage re-
Gently enacted inthe County of Culpeper,
we must be allowed 10 enter our protest
against the spirit in which the subject has
been regarded by many Of the Northern
Press. Instead Of combining themselves
to a mere condemnation of the affair, and
pointing out the dangers which the repe-
tition CT such scenes may entail upon any
community acknowledging the supremacy
of the Laws, they allow their minds to be
attracted from the crime itself, to the TO-
cality in which it was committed. This
is indeed very small thing, but we can
not resist the temptation to notice it, par
ticularly as the character and standing of
some of the newspapers, and the influence
which they exert, may have the effect Of
furnishing the honor Of Virginia, and her
reputation as aw-abiding community.
Such scenes are Of rare occurrence in
our commonwealth; we do not remember
another instance like it, and this is the ve-
ry reason why the affair has been so gen.
orally spoken of throughout the country.
Our Northern brethren should have re-
membered the instructive admonition of
the beam and the mote, before abiding 10
the affair in the manner in which they
have. Were we actuated by spirit of
retaliation, we might array before our
readers a catalogue of crime, which would
even horrify the "demi-ciuiHzed peo-
pie of Virginia, as paper ofhigh standing
in the city Of New York, has been pleas
ed to term us. We might refer to the
Opera House Riots, in which the blood OF
innocent men was shed by mob, suffi-
GENTLY strong to defy for days the power
of city containing nearly half million
souls. We might refer TO the antl'rcnt
disturbances, in which officers Of the law
have been murdered in the discharge Of
their duties; those engaged in them con-
stituting all organization spreading through
many Of the greatest counties in the heart
of the State, and possessing a controlling
influence in the elections. We might 90
TO Massachusetts, and bring before you
the burning of the Ursuline Convent at
CharIestown, at the dead hour of night,
The lives of innocent wOmer.
And this too within full view of the Athens
of America; of Faneuil Hall, dear only
from It's revolutionary associations, but
now become the scene Of every vile asso-
citation who choose TO pollJte the sacred
ness of lis walls by giving utterance to
their hellish doctrines. Yes, lin FaneuIl
Hall, the name of the Saviour Of mankind
has been denounced, and the denuncIalion
greeted with approving plaudits. Wash
ington himself has been proclaimed an
imposter, and by whom, think you! By
Frederick Douglass, runaway slave from
the South. And why the burning of the
Convent at Charlestown Merely be-
cause its inmates chose to exercise the
freedom Of conscience guaranteed TO them
bv the institutions under which they lived;
a principle for which the blood of patriots
the very ground upon which
this disgraceful affair was enacted. For
the same cause.-the exercise of religious
freedom--a city bearing the name Of the
Cify of Brotherly Lore has beer lighted
up by The torch Of the incendiary, applied
to churches consecrated TO the service OF
the Living God. And in the same State,
in town dedicated to the cause Of learn
ing, a citizen of Maryland, engaged in the
lawful recovery Of his property, in the
broad light Of day, is inhumanly murdered
by mob Of negroes, aid white men who
are worse than negroes, all urged on by a.
Professor of their College, wearing the
mantle of religion, and from the pulpit
teaching the people morality; and these
men are turned loose upon society IN
whip, Of Justice.