The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-11-22

Of that district about Has he been bought up
by the directors of the Central RailroadY
The Panic In virginis.
The people of Virginia appear to be the
easy victims Of some practical jokers in their
midst, who, if once discovered, should receive
no more consideration than If they were the
most truculent abolitionists. The CharlestOwn
aid-de-camp Of the Commander-in- Chief Of the
naval and military forces Of Virginia appears
to have been selected by these malignant
jokers as the butt of their illtimed pleasantries
All sorts of ridiculous stories are palmed of
upon this unfortunate Colonel Davis, and
through him upon the Executive authorities at
Richmond and upon the people Ut large, until,
as our Richmond correspondent asserts, the
citizens have been worked up to state Of
alarm that passes all comprehension, and are
az bewildefed a. II they were under the inau-
ence Of q professor Of the black art.
This bewilderment assumes q variety Of
shapes At one time 1t is q hostile encamp-
ment on the mountains. The colors Of the In
vaders can almost be discovered in the dis
lance. The alarm drums are beaten, and soon
the military are under arms prepared to meet
the foe. Some one brings telescope; and
10, the delusion is dispelled. The motion
that is seen, and which suggested the
idea of rifemen on march, proceeds
from the waving branches of a few sombre
pine trees. All present feel the righteousness
Df Int ~, LAM oh
openly; for such an offence would be construed
into an act bordering on treason.
AT another time joker rides into Charlestown
at foaming speed, announcing that a band of
several thousand abolitionists have crossed the
Ohio at Wheeling, and are marching to the res
cue of Old Brown. A trooper is instantly de-
spatched to Harper's Ferry, with telegraphic
dispatches to Richmond, Washington and Bal
timore, imploring immediate achievements to
repel invasion, and the troops are actually on
their way before the joke is discovered.
Other equally hughable though very impro-
per jokes are perpetrated. The burning of q
corn stack is magnifed into the laying waste Of
the Old Dominion with fire and sword, and
portentous are the preparations made by the
military under Col. Davis command to emulate
the three hundred Spartans under Leonidas, and
make one of the passes of the Blue Ridge a
new Thermopyla. Doubtless they would do
1t; but their patriotism and valor are not put
to the test. The spark from nigger's pipe or
freeman's segar caused all the trouble.
And then comes that cruelest of all jokers,
Smith Crane, Esq, who tells the Leonidas Of
Charlestown that he had overheard a converse
ton about "band Of FIVE hundred" preparing
to ride
Into the midst of death,
Into the mouth Of hell,
for the rescue of Old Brown. If Smith
Crane, Esq, has not been appropriately
punished for the last sssell," no time should
be lost in giving him his deserts He is
one of the practical jokers of Virginia, and he
ought to be taught that there is more cruelty in
such jokes than there was even in the Harper's
Ferry invasion. They keep up needless
and very deplorable alarm and excite
ment throughout the State, and under that
excitement very inexcusable things are DONE
A Richmond militia man, for instance, is
threatened with Imprisonment and prosecution
for treason because he ventures to have an
opinion of his own on the subject of the ire
pressible conflict and to be manly enough to
express it. A Norfolk dry goods man. who, in
the confidence of his business, happens to
say something which his customer cOnstrues
into a want of admiration of the peculiar insti-
tuition, is brought to summary settlement and
banished from the State. And Virginia gen.
tleman, whose fidelity to slavery is unques-
toned, comes very near being mobbed because
he has the imprudence to present Massachu-
sets bank note in payment for drinks at a
tavern. v The passport system is established in
its most repulsive form throughout the State.
Strangers are logged and scrutinized, and
menaced wherever they turn. The censorship
of the press is more rigid and intolerable than
was ever dreamt Of by a Napoleon or Bour.
bon. Governor Wise has a project for getting
up q Landwher on the plan Of Russia or Hano-
yer; and, lastly, all residents who are known
to be in favor of free, as opposed to slave inst-
tutions, are notified by resolutions of county
meetings to depart in peace within sixty
days, or abide the consequences. When
it is recollected how close the contest was on
the question Of emancipation at the last Consti-
tutional Convention Of Virginia ten years ago,
this last movement will be seen to be fraught
with immense mischief to the interests of the
State.
While making every allowance for the natu-
raj evaporation Of the people Of Virginia at
seeing their State invaded by band of crazy
desperadoes, we cannot but regret that their
excitement and alarm should have carried them
so far as to subject them to ridicule. We be-
lieve that since the capture of Brown and his
party, not an abolitionist has crossed the Poto-
mac or the Ohio with hostile intentions, or is
likely to do SO; and that fact is one of the
strongest evidences of the little sympathy felt