The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1861-02-22
A State of Things TO be Deprecated.

mat the Union Is already divided and that
the question for Virginia TO decide is whether
she Will go with the North or the South, may
not be evident 10 the perceptions of some Of
her citizens, but it is sufficiently SO to many
others, net few of whom bear large por-
ZION OF he taxpaying burthens of the State,
TO determine their own course. Legislatures
or Conventions may decide as they please,
bat property the most sensitive of all things
will also decide for itself, and we have heard
Of many instances in which ii is already pre-
pairing 10 take unto itself wings and fly away.
TIE millions which Virginia has already lost
from fugitive slaves, are but rs drop
In the bucket to the exodus South
ward which will follow the adhesion Of
this State to Northern Confederacy.-
The kind of property which bears so heavily
the burthen of State support is not fixed and
stationary, it has legs and Iocomotion, and
those who own il are not denied the right and
power of placing ii in safety. If murrain
prevailed extensively among the cattle of
Ohio and Pennsylvania, it is probable that
the owners of Virginia herds npon the borders
would remove their fiocks as speedily as pos
sihle to some spot where there is no danger OF
CoDtagion, and the like instinct Will stimulate
many Virginia Shareholders to like course
should their property be exposed TO the more
pesi,.ent plague of abolitionism, by making
this State the rump of a Northern Confederacy.
Such state of things is deeply to be de-
plor1d but, not a day passes over our heads
that we do not meet gentlemen Of both parties
who announce with profound sadness, but
equally profound determination, their inten-
tioa to leave Virginia If she is left at the
mercy Of tho abolition States. With the gates
Of the Southern Confederacy shut down
again st impor tation of slaves from the border
Sta tes, and with free-soi maiorities in the
Northern Confederacy sufficient al any time to
alter or abolish the institution in Virginia, it
cannot be matter of surprise that large slave
proprletors should be looking TO their safety,
and preparing TO entrench their property and
themselves in n less accessible and more secure
position. We trust In Heaven this result will
not he forced upon any large portion of the
slay eholdng community, not only because we
woBid save these noble and patriotic sons of
Virginia from the unhappiness of a lifelong
exile from their native land, but the State
from that effectual Gripping of her resources,
which must follow the withdrawal of con-
siderable u portion of her tax-paying proper
ty. In every aspect in which it can be viewed,
the in terest of Virginia is profoundly iden-
titled with our Southern brethren. Now
tent Of their ability, the purchasers Of our
manufactures, and the only purchasers; they
are anxious, with the increased means which
a new Government will throw into their
hands. to build up our commerce ard manu-
features; they have always frequented our wa
tering- places in the mountains, which would,
indeed, be lonely and dismal without them
But brethren estranged are the most bitter of
a q N n hpy tn nrp-
dict that if Virginia deserts the Southern
family circle, every mem Der of that circle will
deserI Virginia, and they would sooner, a
thousand times, as is evident from the reply
OF Gov. ELLIS, of North Carolina, TO the Bal
timore overtrres trade with the noble city of
New York or even with open enemies in Mas
eachusetts itself, than with any border commu-
nifty which deserts them in the hour of trial.
They will spend their money at Northern
Springs or In European tours instead of wish
ing it like water in the mountains of Western
Virginia. There never was q more important
crisis than the present, so far rs Virginia is
concerned. As for the South, the indepen-
dence Of the Gulf States is accomplished
fact; they hold their destiny in their own
hands no corrupt Federal place hunter can
befool Or debauch them to their ruin: recon-
struction, possible some time ago, is now with
them am ong antedilu Wan fossils that no pow
cr under Heaven can stimulate to life. But
whether anything is to be left of VIRGINIA,
but the name, depends upon whether she
avails herself, even at this late hour of the
prophets monitions of PATRICK HgSRY, or
whether she chains herself to the car of a
consolidated despotism. mo man can serve
two mat CHOOSE ye this day whom
20 Will servo. If the Lord be God, serve
him ; but If BAAL, then serve him"