Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1861-02-04
voters, Read This |!

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Voters, Read This!
., Calm ana ELOQUENT stAtement to
tho People OF she Panhandle.
From the wellsburg Herald.
AS was anticipated, every man Who ds-
pired TO seat in the Convention processes
Himself nm union n1au. We hnve no can
didates among MS who are avowehIy seces-
sionists per Sc, but we have some among
us who are more dangerous, because more
insidiOns-UniOn mep, pTOUiled The Union
can be saved according to their plans. some
of which plaus are Impossible, and others
If insisted upon, can result in nothing else
than the happening of the very alternative
they profess to deplore. Brooke County
.requiresno such man to properly represent
her. This Convention purports to be n
representation OF the people in their inter-
ests and their sentiments, and iFHny Conn
ty in any State in the Union has its inter
ests bound mp In the main;ainance OF the
present Union, Brooke County, from her
geographical location, is emphatiGHlly that
County. What interest have the people Of
Panhandle in the slaves Of Henrico, when
the question is narrowed down to tile 0co-
pie of particular localities voting unon
what thev conceive to be their piIicuIar To-
c0l-iOterest2f We have 7actually no more
real interest IN The institution ofsIuYery in
my part OF Virginia than We have with sIa-
very in Brazil, hnrdIy as much, for South
American slavery does not intrule its
claims upol us, nor does it ask US TO make
traitors Of ourselves, and imueril all we
hold dear in civil war, Whatever reason
other Counties in the State may llave for
sending secession delegates, let not Liie
intelligent people of Brooke stnltiCy them
selves by any such folly. Il secession is
to be dccreed, Or il extreme ulslsutes are,
lO he adopted, there will be enough there
from 9Ihsr l9qrgsrs iq DC sise feeIiEEi EiFhngt
and son ser lt9e E0tl se fe q 1teF F6fl
aud disunton is to be froWned dbfvn, let
ms send hennD who can, heart and soul,
go into surh measures; and mt nre who
will mar the ltonor Oi'the conservative old
Commonwealth, by protesting that, AZ
though from the free County OF Brooke.
he has jet some lingering doubts as to the
prOpriety o. sath II course, lingering
feeling in his Heart for hitchtng her on to
n Cotton Conlederacy. II there is any
compromise OF feeling to he, made in the
premises, much rathershoulI tie Sacrifice
be in favor oS Union and peace, than of
secession and war.
The question, the naked, unadorned,
abrupt question then is, shall, or shall not
Virginia sevedc from the American u Union?
On one side is arrnyed tile giories oS the
past, tie graves Of her statesmen, ncrr rev.
olutiOnNry renown, the proud associations
that cluster around the name Of the Old
Dominion, the grandurc Of the United
States, eighty years of peace aud prosper
ity in the past: aud many wears of like
peaceful development 10 .:ouIc, under the
Union banner; on tue other is paraded the
dazzliug spectacle OF Southern ConFed-
cracy, tic deusion that we shall be
safe from Northern interference, the
false hope that agitation will cease, the IL
usOTy dream Of Southern com ucrce and
sectional development such Us The world
has not seen,' and looming mp, high above
and beyond all such material Considera-
tlons, the seductive deception that South
crn honor demands an acknowledgment.
and that all sacrifices must be submitted
to- before Disgrace In the background
are seen the namelcss horrors of servile
tnsurrection and fraternal strife, blood
carnage and rapine, 6eggary, distress, am
tarcty andrntn. People, in the exNltation
of the tEUnient, may blind their ewes to
this sotnhte picture, hut when night draws
her -curttins, and the mind.Ialls back upon
itself, it is impossible to drive back the
hideous Image Of wives ana children in
Distress naked aud starving, homcstcads
in nshes;A fathers, brothers aud sons welter.
ing in blood shed in unholy war, and the
corPses Of neighbors Nhd friends encum-
bering nameiess battle-fields. Then comes
up sthelqpestiOp, shall iwe,risk NIL this to
crafty sentiment of honor which after a n.
may be false. Shall wc'fuce inevitable war
fF15f
which, after ali, is untried md may Ae fair'
lnciousR Better,. say we, to Negotiate.
until doom's day, than incur snchiR curse,
better consider aud reconsider and tame
our proud hearts CdoW6st6 5rsept an ;nevit-
able necessity rather than 'ObstiiatPly ner.
sist in dragging down ruin upon our own
heads, on no other prOvncation than a mis-
called sense of honor Is the danger not
fast pressing upon us2 Just thinkl Who,
last July 4th, would have thought thai. in
any portion osi our Union that holiday
would ever have been annullei by legislG.
tive enactment that we, should so soon
have been compelled to takeltbacl: the
proud gimme, to recall the tiugIing thrill
that shot through our Veins as our eyes
rested upon the glorious banner of the re-
public, then nntarnished, fiauuting the sum
mer breeze over halfa continent, and dis
porting its st6tryfOlds 0Tet 4 SShble holiday
uation7 Yets6it Is. What aetangeRlready
have these few months effeSteti Fhe
symbol of our national unity has been
lowered, dragged in the dust. insulted by
traitor hands, and We Of Virginia are
called upon sdlemnly to endorse d. to edti-
demn the act. Which shall We do p
Shall we listen to the voice OF. the temp,
ter, who tells Us that our honor lis nj
stake, that proud old Virginia Is dis
graced, that the Union is to her a burden
and . shamet aud that. with her sister