Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1861-05-01
: The- deographleai PositIoiln O the
tFrUm a. EdtorfsIfn ne Wheeling IntsIiSepeer n
tie 9tth January last

ths 3tth January last;l
That Ihere should exist diversity of
sentiment about the Union, among Peo-
pie sitnated as We are here in Wheeling,
really seems incredible, Il seems really
20 be fghtinR men Of straw, this thing of
fighting suPpostious disunionists in our
midst. II seems ridiculous in one view of
it, and shameful, suicidal and alarming in
1.-THE other. Why should there be diSun-
iontst in or midstl Can any one telll Is
III because South Caroltna has Precipitated
q dtsupion movement upon the Southern
Staten Would any Of us have been secs
stonlstS, or even qualified Union men, If
South Carolina had kept her place and
I never said word or raised a hand against
the Government Does any man say that,
but for her, anY Of US wonld have been
other than We have ever been, attach
Ted to the Uuion-jealOns Of its entire
aud unqualified integrity We say uoti-
We say more; we say the reason why We
this day, aud In this city, dGNp Thought
lot secession, Is owing Altogether % the
lPeraicious example, of South Carolina
We feel no different, in fact, poS than We
ever did. no wrongs, no oppression, no
danger, no Infringement Is upon us, or
sthreatens rs. We hAIe,uotan iutereSt in
/ all the wide world that Is IN jeopardy
Oar trade lies uheresit always did, We
buy and sellto the same people. They are
lin all respects The same 70 as. They res
lPeet all that We value just the same as
i ever. They come among as, they greetus,
and sustain rs just the same as ever
What then, IN the name of all that Is rea-
soua6le, Is ailfug 1s2 Who has made rs
i uneasy Who haBydone na19n injury, und
10 what hairs breadth have we suffered
more than the peopls on eleh side of us7
AS we said before, We feel.humiliated 10
asking these questions-ih attempting Sc
riopsly to. argue the foolish, the foreign, the
unnatural question Of secession, as prac-
teal matter to as. Il Is question that
ought to be as remote to us-as visionary
as the hallncinatiOns of Utopia. IL has
no more natural congenidlity to US. Not
4 bit. And are We to force dream, a sem
timentalism, mythical and morbid and
miserable idealism into our minds, and
brood it into an iDcarnated shape aud fol-
low it and worship 1t as goddess Israel did
a cAlf-the device o their own heads aud
hands. In one of Mrs. Ehelley's novels
there is sketch of a weAFied student who
in the recesses of a lAbfatOry sat pour
ing, day by day, over scheme to create
artificial life. He mixediRnd compounded,
inflated and vataliZed diligently and mono
manicalIy for years, untilnt last one dag
he breathed into monster that he had
shaped, and it suddenly took life. It was
then horror to him. 1t took hold of
him. 1t crushed his bones in its grasp,
and With its glaring, mauiacal, death.
breeding stare watched out his miserable
existence. he, poor wretch, had raised "a
monster be could not control. he was its
Hrst victim. He had invoked the demon
of evil-had iusulted God-had broken in
upon the arcana of nature-yiolated the
necessities of existence, and as his ambi-
tim eliminated In Ra-ali0Ug- his 41a aaN
in death.
Here is a moral for as, in Mrs. Shelly's
character. 1t is this: We cAnuot break
our heaven decreed affiliations-our ma
turaluess as a Pe0ple-all the necessities
of our geographical condition, and escape
the consequences any more than that stu
dent could create a demon and live after
wards. The Almighty made US of one
blood-ol Que Interest and destiny with
the people on either side of us. We can't
pass beyond his decree. Holy Writ tells
us that no man by taking Thought can add
one Cubit to his stature. He may wish 10
4 be as tall as the sqnS Of Anak, but IL a
less stature was natures impress on him
he must retain that stature. The same
book tells rs that If the tree falls towards
the North or the South, there, in the place
where it falls, it shall remain. It is easy
to apply so beautiful and forcibIe a saying
TO our condition. We need not make the
application.
1t seems strange, 1t seems incredible, and
1t seems. too, so wicked, because it seems
SO suicidal and so very residential, that
there should be treason to the Union
among ~. We are here on the banks of
the Ohio. at the upper end of the Ohio
valley, far north of tue Southern bounda-
ries Of the States of Ohio, Indiana and
illinois, and they'in the north, too, and
they free Ill in their votes, too. because
that is their interest. Aud not only this,
but we are north of many of our Pennsyl
vania neighbors, and more than all we are
north of Mason and DixOu's line, above
which certAinly no man can be Southern.
We are here atthis upper end of the Ohio
valley, part and parcel Of that valley
Can We by taking thought change our
physical condition? Are South Carolina
and Alabama, aflr of, our natural afilia.
ttons, or Ohio and Pennsylvania, close by?
Are the swamps, the marshes, tho swales,
tue sandy loan of the former States, or
tue bills, the green valleys, the mineral
strata ofthc latter our familiArS. Gertaiu-
~ by taking thought we could never Gre
ate the climate of the former, nor even
climatic their deadly tnalarias. Whether
we secede orremain as We ARE, yet, never
lhelessa IN the place where the tree fell at
the hegiRning there will, it remain. We
can do this, however. We can take ON a
new obligation Of things, We can make an
edict OF Nantes, we can foreiguize and
ALLEVIATE ourselves to those within bow shot
of US. Butwhen we have done all this,
let MS be well assured that we never can
strike bands with the baueful charmer that
beguiles US. Reach we toward her ever so
Wistfully, yet the gulf that separated Lag
urus and Dirss viii always remain be-
tween us.
There was once \ quaint little girl
known as Sally Brass mysterious Abigail,
who fancjed2 herself a Narchioness. and
she used 70 eomssout Of nights and feel
Iabunt In The haFlr for h;ts oF I;,a,,;t ~.