Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1851-08-05

AHeSc SbppunSu uiSefsiticS IN interest anC
condition between the different sections Of the
State, are deemed BY our friends on the 9th.
er side, essential to maintain their claims Il
superiority Of political power, and hence
are pressed by nearly all of them with the
utmost yigor. Sir deny that there is any
thing in the argument. Virginia il my Judge
ment was designed by the Creator, to form d
commonwealth one and indivisible. The very
diversities referred to, when properly regard
cd, strengthen rather than impair the idea Of
unity between its different parts The tide
water East with its beautiful champaign coun-
try, and noble estuaries stretching to the
ocean, woes the commerce not only of this
State, but Of a vast region Of country beyond
It's borders. Piedmont Astounding ia rich and
productive soils. yet richer in illustrious men
rolls proudly off to the mountains, as an ap-
propriate link between the East proper and
the West. Then comes our noble Valley,
rcposing SO magniicently between the bles-
sed blue mountains-the blue mountains -
May heaven forbid that ever again my eyes
shall be debarred for nearly four long months
the pleasure of looking upon them And
last, though far from being least in import
ance. appears the undulating Western slope
Of the Alleghanies, dipping to the Ohio river,
with its surface, rugged but rich, Astounding
IN untold wealth, agricultural and mineral,
which awaits only the hand of industry and
enterprise to bring it forth The East offer
ing its rich and rare products aud CONNER
cial facilities to the West-the West in re :.
turn presenting that back country, without
which commerce can never flourish, and ready
whenever the channels of intercourse are
opened, to unlock its store house of wealth
and pour it with golden profusion into the
lap of the East. And yet We are told of adj
versitics Of interest which render US not a
homogeneous people, the meaning Of which,
if it has any meaning at all, can only be that
we are not all descendants of the Cavaliers.
The time was when the idea was enter
tanned that
sAlountains nterposed made enemies Of men,
but it is an exploded fancy. The improve
ments OF the age--thc progress of ciyiliza-
ton, the enlarged and increased catholicism
of state views, have united in rerudiating
this doctrine. On the contrary man in the
development Of his nature and his resources,
have found that diversity of geographical po-
sition, diversity of employment, diversity in
the products OF the soil, and diversity in va
rious other respects, tend only by showing
the mutual dependence Of one upon the other
TO bud all interests together in one harmo
NOUS, homogeneous whole. Why then do
gentlemen SO necessarily and urgently ring
the changes upon this iancied diversity OF in-
terest between the different portions of the
Why will they attempt to
divorce, and estrange those whom so mani
testify the hand OF the great Creator has join
cd together! | have thus shown that as to
the physical relations Of the different parts Of
the state no such diversity exists The prop
osition Is equally true as to the men who in-
habit it. w belong to single family, are
children of a common mother; whether ori
giually sprung from Cavaliers or Houndheads,
we have, or ought long since to have lost
every yestage OF these distinctive features
We, the children Of the mists, if you choose
50 TO term us, come down among these noble
hearted, generous, and chivalilc sons Of the
Cavaliers, we mingle in counsel, we warm up
to them to such an extent, often, that it re-
quires constant ciscumspection and all our
efforts to avoid being seduced off from allegi-
ance to the interest, and rights of our own
people. True, when we perceive,
as we too often have in the course OF this de-
bate, the exhibition of a sense Of superiority
on the part of our Eastern friends the blood
quickens It's motion in the viens, the bristles
rise, and an emphatic growl Of Indignation is
uttered, but this under ordinary circumstances
does not often occur. Again when the heats
of summer come npon them, they fly to the
there to leinvigorate exhausted
nature from the fountains OF health, which 1t
has been the pleasure of the Creator to bestow
on US or to fan their heated brows, with those
breezes, which are only known to a
mountain country. Is our welcome less cor
dial? Is it less appreciated? L think not
Then let us away with this whole doctrine Of
diyersities. If our mixed basis opponents
have no better foundation, on which to rest
their pretentions, they ought to abondon
them.
! remarked the language of an eloquent di-
vine, (Mr Reid when engaged sometime
since in opening our morning sitting with
prayer (and why this observance has been
discontinued, | cannot tell, unless the clergy
have given us up as past praying for)--
I Laughter He prayed that our aims might
be higher and more expanded. | noted it
down at the time as proper to be remem-
bered, and as not unsuitable to be introduced
into this debate, under the strong conviction
that above every thing else we most needed
enlargement of views and aims, in consider
ing the important and exciting subject now
before us.
Are we as members of this body, to wrap
ourselves up in that state Of cAclusiyeness,
inculculated by the distinguished gentleman
from Halifax, (Mr. Edmunds,) which forbids
us to know any one, or to consider anything,
save aud except our immediate constituents
and their exclusive interests and wishesY--
Is this the true doctrine; the full measure Of
our duty! That gentleman, if understood
him rightly, declared that in framing the or
ganic law for the whole commonwealth of yir-
GINA. be would know nobody but his own
constituents, and be governed exclusively by
their wishes With great Difference, mus,
be permitted to say that my sense Of duty ms
a member of this Convention leads me far
beoond this point cannot fail to remem.-
Der that while my first duty is to my imme-
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