Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1861-04-25
.rprom 81 n. =. World.l I.
what that Meant, and What this


Not longer than fortnight ago all this
country north of Tue line OF South Caro-
liua was quiet. Anxiety perVaded the
public miudi but it seemed adult, immO-
j bile anxiety, spiritless, aimleSs, fruitless;'
an anxiety that concerned itself about in-
dividual interests, about trade, and rents,
aud stocks. The great political question
was the absorbing topic Of the day; but II
was dealt With as il il came home rather
10 mems business than TO their b0soms.-
! They hoped it might be settled one way
oS the other peaceably. that they might go
again to their farms and to their merchant
disc.
But that political question vas really
the gravest that ever had to be considered
lby nation. and its real attitude is not
! changed. What, then, did that apathy
/ mcan2 It meant simply that the loyal,
! patriotic citizens of this Republic did not
! then really appreciate the crisis that had
j arrived ia our history; TINT they had not
been made TO feel what the effect Of the
secession conspiracy would be. The In
suits of the Northern consPirutors had not
yet been sharp enough to touch the ma
tionsl spirit 70 the quick, and we all
hoped that the occasion for us to rouse
ourselves might yet be avoided. For dim
| ~, yet surely, re saw that if the usiional
feeling were once stirred It would shake
the body polite to its lowermost tounda-
lions Fighting We shrink from, unless
impelied to it upon the last necessity; for
with us Sighting is serious business. We
10 not burn certain quantity of gunpow-
der, and then apologize. We go out 20
the death, And so, in our love of peace.
III our love OF ease, in our confidence in
the great destiny Of the republic, which
we felt in our innermost souls must be
accomplished by the inevitable march of
events, without our disturbing ourselves
much about it, NE were supine, eXpectant,
alternating between gloon and hope.
But now the nation has been touched,as
with lthurieps spear, aud has sprdng at
single bound from slumber into action.
The bombarding of ~ national fortress, be-
cause the Government attempted TO send
provisions to less than hundred starving
men within it; the demand at the canmOn's
mouth that the nations flag must be low
cred; the issue of "A call for privateers to
prey on the commerce of the loyal ports of
the United States; the vaunt, as false as
foolish perhaps, hut in either case indica-
ting purpose-that the rebel flag should
float over tue Capitol and Fnneuil Hall,
and finally the attack upon troops, some
of them unnrmed, passing through Balti-
more by orders of the President, and the
palliation, If not Justification, of this mon
Strous outrage by the hitherto loyal Gov
ernOr of Maryland, on the ground that the
soil of that State had been g invaded ~
these occurrences have at last opened the
eyes of the people to the gulf of national
perdition that yawned before them. Hence
the blaze of fiery feeling that FIRST flushed
through the land, and then the deep, stern,
settled resolution that has succeeded it.
a nd 1nk =
learn that this resolution means just this:
That traitors, calling themselves seccs-
sionists, shall not be permitted to destroy
this government, and blot this nation from
existence. 1t means that hereafter tue
Constitution shall be i'll reality, as well as
in maine, "the supreme law Of the land"
the whole laad, from the Bay OF Fnndy to
the Rio Granie, from the Atlantic to the
Pacific. II means that the authority of
the national government shall be para
mount in national affairs, heucefortlI and
forever II means that the constitutional
rights Of citizens. of the United States shalt
be religionsly respected in all the States.
II means that the officers, the agents, the
troops Of the national government shall
pass unquesticncd and unoppnsed over the
soil of any State which forms an integral
part of this Union. II means that if these
points are disputed, the dispute is to be
settled at tue point of the 6ayonet and the
mouth of tho cannon, Ut once, now aud
forever.
And first, it means that any city. town,
or hamlet, in which this is disputed, shall
be laid as fiat MS the palm of mans
hand that the national forces may march,
not only through, but over it, salutiug the
national standard as they 90. 1t mems
that this immunity of all American citi-
ZeuS in nil parts of the country this r CHIT