Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1851-04-29
S sno f. pon a1lsn s.S Editors Proprleto

jealousies, and discords.
And can any gentleman upon this floor
II repeat it--can any gentleman upon
this floor, who knows the race from which
this western people are descended, and
that naughty spirit Of equality which has
always been characteristic of that race, for
one moment believe that this element Of
agitation can ever be quieted but by the
full recognition Of the right of every free.
man upon our soil to an equal partic:pa.
ton in the privileges Of government
Does he believe that there can be any
other termination to this contest2 II he
does, he must be blind 10 the progress Of
events in the State for the last seventy.
five years of our history. He must be
blind TO the influence Of that spirit which
is everywhere moving upon the continent,
Graduating every remnant Of political in
equality between man and man, and
moulding our institutions to the standard
Of the popular will Sir, gentlemen may
continue to invoke harmony bat was bar
mony ever vel known to dwell in the same
tabernacle with sense Of wrong and op
preston? They may depricate agitation,
but agitation you will have so long as your
people are denied the common privileges
Of freemen. You may say 10 the periulb-
ed spirit that will haun. your peace,
"Avauntl begone!''
But i! will not go until il has performed its
sacred mission, and restored the sceptre
TO those hands from whch--il the subs,i.
tute Of the gentleman from FauquieI Mr..
ScoTT) shall succeed--it will have been
most fouly and unjustly wrenched
Sir, this contest for an equal participa-
lion in the government OF this State COM
menced very shortly after the termination
OF our war OF independence. aud was the
natural sequence OF the principles Involved
in that great revolutionary struggle. The
early settlements OF this colony were upon
its eastern navigable waters. The divi-
sion Of the State into small counties in the
east and the distribution of representation
according TO counties. secured the gov
ernmental power to the Tidewate district.
As population advanced towards the
mountains, these inequalities were appa-
rent and become the subject Of complaint.
The first assaults made upon the unequal
representation off the old constitution came
from the Piedm6a,ese country. The war
commenced here, and il has shifted from
an eastern to western question only with
the progress OF the free white population
westward. You have been our pioneers
in thus conles, for principle. You have
supplied us with arguments and given US
The force OF your high example. We
should indeed be the degenerate sons of a
vr,uous ancestry If we did not carry out
the principles which you have SO nobly
taught US.
The question has already, upon more &C.
casions than one in this Common wealth,
assumed threatening and dangerous as.
pect; and when none OF these fearful ele-
ments were mingled up in it which are
now so plainly visible TO the eye of every
statesman, and which have been so dis
iinctly alluded to in this debate. Twenty
wears ago this same struggle filled even
the intrepid soul Of Watkins Leigh with
apprehension and dismay, and cansed him
to submit proposition Of compromise
which, when compared in lis principle
with that now before us, might well he
termed liberal. And yet how feeble were
all the circumstances attending that srug-
gle, compared to those which now sur
round the present. and which are every
day giving increased violence and in,en.
sity TO the question. In 1890, when the
existing government was framed, a consi-
derable majority OF The free white popua
ton resided east OF the Blue Ridge noun.
tain. Now there is near one hundred
thousand majority west Of that dividing
line. AT tia, time, upon every principle
yours as we'll as our own-you were
entitled TO the government of The State
II you assume II now, upon what prInci.
pie can you assume il Certainly upon
none recognized by the existing eonsiltu-
ton OF this State, nor upon any principle
which has ever yet been recognized and
sanctioned in the organic law OF this Com
monwealh. Ii you get it. II must be by
the incorporation into our organic law Of
some new element OF power heretofore
unknown TO our constitutional system. and
to be borrowed from the example of gov
ernments. other than Virginia. You can
only get i: by .reroluiionisiag the princi-
pies of your government, and minglng IN
its political organism an element hereto
fore foreign TO IT. Against an innovation
SO alarming you perceive an united and
concentrated population OF hall million
of free white inhabitants residing west of
the Blue Ridge mountains, embracing
large majority OF the white inhabitants Of
this State, raising an imprisoned cry oil
remonstrance and resistance. You find
the east itself divided, and wherever the
light of free discussion has reached the
people on this question, the earth every
where caving IN under your feet. You
have noted the intensity OF feellng-call
il fanaticism if you please-whlch has
marked The advocacy by the west of the
principles for which they are contending.
And you find the grea, physical majority
Of the State demanding an equal govern
ment as right, and proclaimng It's de.
NAL as wrong too intolerab!e 10 be borne.
Sir, it became US as prudent statesmen to
look at this subject in all its gravity and
importance--to see if there be not some
mode in which these conflicting opinions
Of The people of the two great divisions OF
this Common wealth. may be harmonlzed
and adjusted mode in which those
claims for the protection of property may