Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1860-01-05
mrnm the -. post.l
a Few Plain Questions to the. south

"A
/. Do the southern states seriously con-
template non-intercourse with the North,
or a secession from the Union or neither?
2. In the former case, how long can they
do without the necessaries, the iuxuries
and the amenities of the North or, to
speak iguratively, when a child from re-
sentiment refuses his dinner, how many
meals does he usually omit?
g. In the case of secession from the
Union, in what part of Christendom would
be found more feeble nation than the sep
arated South, without ships, without sail
ers, without manufactures, without white
labor or industry, without much money,
and with the volcano of the black popula-
ton under their feet?
a. In case of a disruption of the Union,
to which side will the frontier states of
Maryland, Delaware, Missouri, &C., think it
most prudent to attach themselves?
5. What will be the first fruit of y sepa-
ration of the states, unless it be SIAM
pede of slaves, reCapture, rescue,
fight, civil war?
s. How long can the South carry on
such war with the disabilities already
mentioned. and with white population
which is now less than third of that of
the Union, and will soon be but fourth,
sixth, and eventually still smaller
fraction?
Z. How much courage is there in a
f:chiyalry" which selects for its assault an
rnarmcd and unsusPecting victim, like
Sumner, and which is unable to suppress a
a paltry instruction of few fanatics till
it is done for them by the United States
marines?
8. If it took Virginia two days to cap
ture John Brown and his twenty untrained
:.yagabonds," as they are called at the
South, how long will it take to conquer
the state of New York
.. If it cost the Emperor of Austria
some hundred millions, and part OF his
dominions, to carry on few months war
with France, how long will South Carolina
be able to wage war with her appropriation
of 100000?
10. Is the alliance of foreign power pre-
ferable to the more natural alliance ofcoun-
trymen. kindred and friends Is colonial
dependence ON Great Britain, like that
which our fathers split their blood to sever,
more desirable than Il constitutional gov
eminent of majority OF the people? Or
would Marshal Pelissier make more ac-
ceptable Governor of the South than a
legally elected Republican President?
IL Is not the buster and bravndo about
southern secession growing rather stale
topic, peculiar to noisypoliticians and hair
Drained journalists, which the sensible
and conservative portion of southern peo-
pie know to be foolish and would prefer to
have ceasc2
II. Do not the people of the North, a
few eccentric abolitionists executed, re-
spcct the constitutional rights ofthc South
are they not bound to them by ties of
consanguinity and of intercst-do they
not feel and admit that slavery, as it now
exists within the southern states, is no
concern of theirs-that present emancipa-
ton is not to be expected, and that the
South must work out the problem of siaYc-
ry for themselves?
49, Thirty or fifty years hence, what
safety will there be to the South, except in
the protection of strong government like
that of the United States?