The national Republican., 1861-04-27
THE pRIcKINn OF A BUBBLE.

1t has been the Declaration, ana dOuDtIess
the belief, for months past, Of the conspiratots,
that if only Virginia could be brought into
their schemes, they would be crowned with q
complete and peaceful success. Virginia was
said to be, by position and other circumstance,
the leader of the border slave States. 1t was
in her power, to use the language Of her ora
tors, to " command The peace" If she declared
against the Government, nothing remained but
to agree upon the terms of separation of the
American Union. These ideas, and similar
ones, have been as familiar to the country du.
ring the whole Of last winter, as household
words. At the South, they were received as
selfevidsnt truths, and hence the transports Of
triumphant joy with which the secession of Vir.
ginia was hailed by the conspirators from the
Roanoke to the Rio Grande.
The simple fact is, that this strength Of Vir.
ginia was bubble, which only needed prick.
ing, and her secession has performed that very
desirable job. The whole difficulty is in East.
ern, tide water Virginia, and now that men
look at it, they see that this region, 50 noisy
with demagogues and resolutions, only has some
three or four hundred thousand white people in
it, and with less capacity for war than the same
number of white people in any part of the
globe. Their especial weakness results from
the two circumstances Of the number Of their
negro slaves, and Of their utter inability to res.
cue the control of their outlets from the hands
of others. Not a shallop can approach, or de.
part from, Norfolk, Petersburg, or Richmond,
without the consent Of the masters Of Fortress
Monroe, and those masters, being equally the
masters of Chesapeake Bay, hold the entire Of
tde-water Virginia in their hands, so far as its
capacity to act externally is concerned. It Is
completely shut up, without firing gun. Mr..
Bolts forewarned the virginians of this humil.
iation which awaited them, and of their utter
want of power to escape it, but they would not
listen to him. And they are now reapiug the
early fruits of their folly, in the occupation of
Fortress Monroe by two Massachusetts, regi.
ments, in just three days after they passed their
mad ordinance Of secession.
Montgomery was in ecstacies when Virginia
seeded. But what relief does or can Virginia
bring to Montgomery? Not one of the blows,
designed by this Government for the conspir.
ators on the Gulf can be warded off by Vir.
ginia. The ocean is open, and it was only by
the ocean, that those Gulf conspirators we're
ever intended to be reached, on this side Of
the Aleghanies. Virginia can do nothing but
pass resolutions. She has no ships, no money,
no credit. She has men to spare, although
not many, but it is not m:n that the JEFF.
Davis dynasty are in need Of. .,-.
1t is true, that BY threatening Washington,
Virginia may compel more soldiers to be kept
here than would otherwise have been neces.
sary. But that is more than Offset, by the
arousing Of the spirit of the free States, which
has resulted from this menacing of their capi.
tai.
Instead Of being strengthened, secession
was weakened BY the addition Of Virginia to
its ragged ranks. Now that it has come, it is
no longer q vague terror to one party, or q
vague encouragement to another. 1t is seen
in its true proportions, as thing Of no sort
of consequence to anybody but the tide-water
Virginaus themselves, who are ruined by it at
| u
anything but bubble and myth, and all
that has happened, is, that, whereas it en-.
! joyed u certain kind of consequence, SO long
as it confined itself to threatening, it has be.
come of no Importance whatever, by attempt
ing to put its threats into execution. A bub-
BILE is thing to be preserved from rough
handling. The incision Of even a needle is
fatal to it. Ifthese tide-water Virginians had
been wise, they might have vapored in safety
for long years to come, as they have for long
years past. But their vocation of vaporing is
now gone forever.
IL is quite evident that large portions of
Western Virginia, mean to cut themselves
clear from the fortunes of the worn.out poll.
ticians and demagogues of the nigger.breed.
ing region to the south of US, known as the
"Old Dominion" And in that region itself,
there are thousands Of men, now silenced, who
will rejoice with an exceeding joy, at the dis.
com6ture and humiliation of those who have
so long ruled it with rod of iron.
MoRE TRooPs THAN PRovIsIoNs.-In proc.
lamation issued on the 25th, Gov. Letcher
says:
"Whereas volunteers are simultaneously ten
dering their services, in person, from all parts
Of the State, without waiting for orders, as they
were required to do by a former proclamation,
and are repairing to Richmond, without pre-.
| vious notice, at great expense to the Common
wealth, and before suitable provision has been