Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1861-10-08

i K4AG - 9LALGs
Editor. LateIigMeey who hasheard
the complaints Of Western Yirgiuians. on
account Of unequal and exorbiiant taxa
tiou and on account Of not only the implied
but intended degradation beaPed upon
Il them. especially since the constitution of
1850, in the uGjus, discrimination in taxa
ton made IN favor of one species of pro-
perty, owned almost exclusively by East
eru virginia, would most assuredly not
hesitate long in coming to the conclusion
that western Yirgiuiaus should embrace
the present suspicious opportunity of free
ing themselves from the yoke of the OPP
pressor, add should unanimously vote for
the ordinance OF Division, passed BY the
iConTentiOn which recently assembled in
the city Of Wheeling. Il must be aPpa-
rent 10 every intelligent man who has =ead
the history and learned the geography Of
the State, that Eastern and Western Yir-
giniA are separate and distinct in all their
interests. God has reared the everlasting
mountain barriers, which have not been
hewn down or pierced by auy State inn
provement while more than four score years
OF our history are passed, and more than an.
equal number OF millions of dollars have
been expended. The same Almighty Power
has formed the channels Of the waters con-
Meeting Western Virginia with the rich
aud extended Valley of the Mississippi.
The fertile soil from our hills forms the al
luYial delta ofthat mighty..river The cap
itaI and esterprise of u neigh boring State
has opened & channel for our trade TO the
city OF Baltimore. Richmond City, the
former Capital Of the State, although less
than three hundred miles from our doors,
is in fact farther Of then the cities of New
York and Boston. The revenues of Wes-
tern Virginia, and the credit, which the
State has realized from the promise which
its prosperity gave Ofthe future, in IA debt
of forty-iYe millions of dollars, have
been expended in constructing parallel
lines of railroad (not one of which
yields dollar of revenue TO the trea-
sury) all over Western Virginia,
while not a single foot Of rsiilroad has
been constructed by the State in that part
OF Virginia lying west of the Allegheny
mountaius, The west has received the
benefit ola few thousand dollars expended
in the construction Of mud inrnpikes, two
ifths OF the cost of which the people have
paid out OF their own pockets. In r few
instances, small appropriations have been
made for specific purposes, which have
4 utGu pau Oy tue s0LfALE ln OIAlE UOuuSt
now held by the citizens Of Western Yir:
ginia, aud which they would now be gla
to sell for twenty cents on the dollar, al
though they were taken from the State,
before secession, at par. That portion of
the State embraced by the ordinance of
division now pays into the State Treasury
about half u million dollars annually
| If we continue in the fatal embrace of
Eastern Virgins; II we consent stiIl 70 he
tied 10 her body 81 delt isili i3t only
have to continue 10 pay the hat million we
now pay. but &c she g able % carry us into
Jeff. Davis Cotton COnfederaey we will
have to aid in paying yirginia's full share
of whatever successful treason may cost;
or perhaps even worse than that our lives
will pay the forfeit of our loyalty to the
government of our fathers, and our estates
be coniscated to liquidate the debts Of the
destroyers OF that government.
But not only is Western Virginia discon-
nected from the Eastern part of the Site
by insurmountable natural barriers, and
BY diversity of interests, but the charac-
ter, pursuits, habits and modes of thought
of her people are very different. Free
labor predominates in the West
slave labor in the east. Industry, enter
prize, intelligence and progress, even when
robbed Of the means of Improvement hy
/ UNJUST huu lGHlsluNlOus are
characteristics of the people west of the
AlleghAnies. While east Of the mountains
all the accumulated revenues of the whole
State for years, and all the forty-tive mil
lion debt, vested in extended thorOughfares
| for trade and travel, have failed to make
the former capital of the State, at which
they NIL concentrate, more than tenth
rate city, while Norfolk, "the Neso York of
tie CheSGpedke,'' where all these roads and
Improvements seek an outlet, is nothing
more than n vegetable garden for the sup
ply of that great city whose commercial
Importance she asPires 70.
But what will be the expenditures Of
new State Government within the limits
embraced in the ordinance for division,
when the loyalty and patriotism of West
err Virginia shall have been constitution
ally rewarded by Congress, by the adding
of another bright star to our glorious gal
axy2 II will be less than one hundred
thousand dollars annually in times of
] peace and even one hundred thousand
dollars is nearly twice as much as it need
/ cost Il economically administered If the
people Of Northwest Virginia can save, in
the way of taxation, four hundred thons-
and dollars annually, is it not burden
they should struggle to be free from -
Have the people OF the Northwest been 30
long grooming nuuer oppressive and un-
equal taxation, aud when the day OF their
deliyerance1 dtaWeth nigh, will they still
cling to the dead carcass Of Eastern vir-
giuiA, for the gracious privilege of paying
into her Golfers half million, not one
cent Of which they will ever see again?
Il is said men are influenced, at least to
some extent, by interest. When, when
| will Western Virginia learn 10 attend
TO their own interests When will
they luit buying their agricultural imple-
ments-their rakes, and forks, and cradles.
and snathes-manufaetured out Of the
dwarf oaks of New England, and for
(which they pay fifty per cent profit 10 the
ingenious and skilfll Yankees, when the
| glorious oaks OF our own native hills tow
i or n hnndreh FEY Intrard hnnr.nr ~, ti,,.i..