Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1861-04-09

you will find men now, "a af0retime, to de-
Tend YOUR institutions and Your firesidcs.
wish to know whether Eastern gentlemen
require usto submit NIL of our property 10
taxation, and 6ght the OSItles of the coun-
I try toe, white your property, which we ARE
defending, is to be exempt from taxation Z?
How is it again, sir? Yoa are conteud-
ing here for the right to carry your slaves
INTO distant territories two thousand miles
aSay--territories SO inhospiu,ble that the
very rain and !ews refuse to fall upon
them. They would be practically as bar
rem OF any benefits to the Shareholder as
the soil is of vegetation. We arc appro.
/ priaiing millions upon millions for the vim
dicHtion OF this naked right. while we hive,
without any figure of speech, within our
own Commonwealth, what may he properly
termed terra tReoyaiiid, rich in all the rl-
ementary resources of national wealth and
prosperity--0boun in rivers aud water
falls and "wild cascades with echo uude-
hnedi' with power sufficient to drive all
the sptndles aud machinery of a thousand
Lowells.-abonnding in forests equal in
value and beauty TO those which crowned
tue submits, adorned the sides ofLebanon
-a6ounding in minerals, in ilIimrtSbls
lields OF coal, Capable of employing all tue
slave labor in Virginia for centuries, with
All N+luGSt elements OF
eWeulth, MI these elements of State power
sand prosperity. are within 200 and $50
miles of tue capital Of yonr State. Aud
yet you exempt your slave property from
taxation, and thus suffer this great source
| Of Internal wealth to.live undcveloped and
unaVaIling, because wC have not the means
to complete our works OF internal improye-
mcnt now PARTIALLY accomplished, leading
tEitherwurd, which would make available
ititthese sources of State wealth and State
power.
BY our policy we arc not only grinding
the people down with the burdens of heR:
Ivy taxation, in carrying on, in laggard
way, onr State improvements; we are not
only doing that, sir, but we are allowiag
these Improvements to be stopped short
of completion, in consequence of the want
OF the means to complete thcm. The ever
decreasing tide of Western wealth and
travel and tralic is coming down against
our Western mountains like the waves of
the sea against the shore, seeking the
shortest way TO tue ocean and EuroDe.
Sir, this tide of travel, this tide of tratTic
and wealth, from the rich valleys and
pratries and rivers of the West, thus boar
| ing down against our Western mountain
barriers, for the want of the means of d..
rect outlet to its nnturat,pIaccs of deposit
Mt Richmond, Alexandria, Norfolk, and on
the banks Of'thc Chesapeake, is diverted
from its natural channel aud is turned
away through the Northern ice and snows
to New York, or down through the swnmps
aud ninsmH of the South; thus securing
Black Republican powtf by tho diver
sion of capital from outSsSiatc, concen-
trating it in the North, increasing North
crn population and power, and increasing
the ratio of representation against us, de-
cnde after decade, while we stilud here with
This immense amount of property uutaxed,
which, If taxed, would be sufficient to OBJ
viate all these evils. The roar Of this
great tide of Western wealth, rolling down
against our Western mountains, is falling
npon our ears daily and yenrly, demanding
| q pasSRgo to our Eastern sIor, cities n
seapOrts, while we stand here folding our
arms and saying, .'let no profIne com
missioner of the re.enue lay his impious
hands upon our slaves. They shall not be
taxed" submit, therefore, Mr. Presi-
dent, whether under these circumstances
| It is not the true policy of our Eastern
friends to come ut once to the rescue OF
I their own interest.
I did not intend, Mr.. President, TO dis
! cuss this subject. have now said more
I than intended to say. wish, in couclu-
! sion, simply to add, why delay this meas
nre of redress? Why delay the removal
OF this obnoxious oppression2 Upon what
principle of political expedicncy, or pcrso-
nal right, or public law, or public Justice.
J can this discrimination be made in favor of
the large Shareholders against tile many
on-slHvelIOlders in the Commonwealth .
hope the question will he taken, und l
give way for thc purpose of allowing ii to
be done.
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