Pomeroy weekly telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio) 1860-1866, 1861-06-07


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GEoRGE W. SCNMEZss.
This gentleman has acquired wide
reputation as an able and conservative
Statesman. We confess we have looked
TO him for wise counsels and patriotic
action III this l0ur Of our country $
peril As Western Eirginian, it was
natural to assume that he would sus-
tain the National Government in its
earnest efforts to preserve the Union
.And, taking his antccedents as an Old
Line Wing, and professed "conscrvl-
tive the friends OF the Union had !,
right to, and did expect much from him.
But it is with profound regret that we
are compelled to sec that expectation
disappointed. 1t is with sorrow aud
not bitterness that We are obliged to
class GEORGE W. SuMMERs, whom We
have long admired. and would have
trusted in any position, among the
enemies of his country. We do not
suppose that he would be willing SO
elassed. But public men must, in these
times, be judged by their self chosen po-
sition, and not by their past professions.
We have received copy of the Kan
awha PePu5lirsn, Of the 2Sth ul, with
an. address of Judge Summers to the
people OF Kanawha County, marked
for our special attention. The address
is longer than we care to publish, and
will send thrill Of regret through every
patriotic heart.
Judge Summers was member of the
Convention which voted Virginia out of
the Union, and into the ''Cotton Con-
federacy.' As such, he says he op-
posed the Ordinance Of Secession The
Convention is soon to reassemble, to ad-
just the State to the new order of things.
Judge Summers regrets, in this address,
that sickness in his family renders his
attendance at the, adjourned session i'm
possible, and he therefore resigns. In
this connection he says:
Il was especially desirous to have
participated in the amendments aud
notifications of the State Constitution,
which it viii become necessary for the
Couvtntion to prepare and submit to the
people; sere,ulof' uhich, in addition to
those that will be applicable to inherent
defects in the Constitution itself, Aare
become essential, IN consequence Of the
change rhich has occarred III our political
relations.
~ have had no agency in bringing
about that change. In obedience to the
fixed convictions Of my own judgment,
Us also what we'll knew to be the opin-
ions and wishes Of an Overwhelming ma
jority Of TIE people | represented, I
opposed and voted against the Qrdi-
nance of Secession, and repeated that
vote at the polls. That measure cos,
ho,cerer, adapted Jy tie Conrcntion, end,
haze NO 6oabt, hos been ratified by u
mcjori.y Of the people Of Virginia.
This is not the time to discuss the ex-
! ediency or inexpediency of what has
teen done. The Ship of State is in the
whirlpool and on the breakers. We
cannot stop now to inquire how she got
there, but all hands must first assist In
getting her off,
From this it would seem that while
Judge Summers voted against Secession,
yet, because a majority voted for it, he
willacquiesce in what he calls ''the change
which has occurred in the political re-
lation of the State" Surely, JEFF.
Davis cannot find many more serviceable
allies. 1t is here quietly assumed that
the people Of Virginia, os e mere major
.ity of them, however obtained, can re-
lease even Judge Summers from his
oath Of allegiance to his Government,
and, against his convictions, place him
in the position of an enemy to the Union,
where he will be bound to work, and
will work willingly for its utter over
throw! The verisst notification fanatic
never uttered a sentiment that stabbed
more directly at the heart Of the Con-
stitution than the position here assumed
by Judge Summers. That We have not
mistaken the position of the Judge, Will
be clear from the following extract.
which we find further along in the ad-
dress. He says:
',trhe idea suggested by some excl
table persons, that any portion Of the
people Of this region of Virginia desires
Federal troops to be sent to our soil, for
their own protection, apart from the
imputation which it conveys, is simply
ridiculous. Or people hare recorded
their opinions at the polls: as ,treeme,.-
Vie, called upon to act, they aoiV act as
becomes them. They neither ash, or need
such protection, and any attempt to afford
1t, eeould be regarded in the light Of an IN
gasion, and arould most likely unite all
classes IN its repulsion. all ICE ask is to
be let alone
Here it will be seen the Judge has
adopted the pet phrases Of the Secession
lists. Any attempt by the United States
Government to render protection te the
Union men of Western Virginia, would,
he says, be considered an ''INvAsIoN; =
that it would "unite all classes in its
REPULslea"-that all they want is to
be "LET ALONE, &c. Such terms would
be legitimate in the mouth of Yancy,
or Ehett, or Toombs, or Davis, but,
coming from thopen of Judge Summers,
s like receiving in the heart the steel