Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1861-04-06

eighth resolution was passed by, and the
ninth resolntion was under consideration
wheu the Convention adlourned.
VIRGINIA LEcIsLAruRE.-Th Legislature
transacted no business of Importance on
Thursday At night resolution, offered IN
the House by Mr.. Seldom, of Stafford, AT
thorizing the Governor to employ the con
victs in the State Penitentiary for enlarglng
and improving that institution, passed both
branches The usual votes Of thanks were
given 70 Speakers, Sergeant.at Arms, and
Clerks of the two Houses, after which, the
Legislature adjourned sine de.
The speech of the Hon. WV. &. RlyES, on
the Peace Conference and the state OF the
Union, delivered in Richmond, on the 6tt OF
March last, has just been published. 1t is u
very able one, and deserves 10 be extensively
circulated and read by the rejecting people
of our State. Its length prevents It's re-pub
lication in our columns: but we make room
Tor the concluding remarks, which are as
Just as they are eloquent, and which make
q strong appeal to the feelings, AS we'll as the
judgment Of our citizens:
1.-The great question for US now. is what
Virginia is to do? Shall she, too, secede,
and renouncing all hope or wish for the pre-
servation of the Union, become the tail Of
Southern Confederacy? Or shall she place
herself at the head OF the serried Macedo
Ill, nF hor Y ..p3ar 81 ~,
States, and with their concert and co-opera.
ton open the way to the redintegratlon o!
the Union
This ancient Commonwealth Of ours has
plaved Il great rois in history. She has yet
a great ,1le to play. If we rever, to her
past We shall STE lat she has been the
proud and acknow ged leader i'll all those
lnarked and characteristic movements which,
ut various periods Of our history, have look
I'd to the Union Of America, for American
liberty and greatness. lu l174, she was the
trst to propose Congress of Deputies from
all the Colonies, to deliberate upon the uni
ted interests of America" In l1I6, she
Was the first to move the declaration Of
American Independence hy the united act
Of the assembled States. la Iii, she was
the first to sign those articles OF C0atcdeft-
ton which pledged the States to "a firm and
perpetual association with each other for
their common defence, the security q! their
liberties, and their mutual and general vel
fare" Ia 1885 when those articles were
found inadequate for their object, II was she
who proposed the Convention at ! ouapolls.
Il strengthen and enlarge theta; and, Ill
t. Sc she again led the way IN the appoint
Inent Of deputies 10 The Convention at ph ia
delphia, for the purpose OF forming new
Constitution, more ''adcquute TO the eXlgeu-
cies of the Union" and it was she IN that
Convention, more than any or ali others.
who, BY the wisdom and influence vi her
sons formed the Constitution under which
,qe now live and have hitherto lived, In un-
paralleled prosperity and happiness, tor
more than three.q quarters OF q century.
watchtul and even Ieulous guardian, at all
times, OF the rights Of the States, she has
never failed to rally to the support ut the
Union whenever it has been shrcatened by
disutf;nct:un 10 any quarter, whether a. the
North Or the South, a. well aga nst New
England in 1903 and 1911, us against South
Carolina IN 1888 and 1850.
She cannot, then, without blotting Out all
her past history. now joln in the unnatura!
work If subverting those glorious lnstltu
tons which she has had so large and noble
part in building mp aud strengthening.
Her heart, her mind he; best efforts III the
council and the field. have ever been devoted
T. the great cause Of American Liberty and
Union no pent-up Utica" has narrowed
and confined her powers. Her Washington,
her Jefferson, her Madison, her Pendleton,
her Wythe, her Marshall, and a long list OF
her illustrious sons have spent the prime OF
their days in laboling for the development
&C high national destiny, one and lndivlSi,
be, and their last prayers have been breath
ed tor the perpetuity OF the American Union.
You must not only trampic in the dust the
Stars and Stripes, the consecrateG symbol
of our national power ana renown,as some
have already done in the sacrilegious mad
ness Of the hour-hut Virginia must first
strike froi; he: calendar al those Immortal
names | have mentioned, with their conpa-
triot worthless; she must raAe 70 the ground
the proul2st monument Of her glory, hetuIe
she can enter upon the dreary and untro1-
den paths TO which she is beckoned. Let
her not obey the inluspciouS Summons.-
Let her perSavere 10 the paths which car
fathers trod, uader the guidance OF patriots
and sages aud heroes whom they reverencad,
as they trusted 1t is hers to preserve this
glorious Union, which she 50 largely cor,r'-
buted 10 form. She has moral powe r to do
it which other State possesses.
But if in an ill-omcned hour she shall i'll
cline 10 other counseis, let her remenher
that the process OF dissolution and division
oucs commenced has 10 assignable limits
that new ard separate Cnntederacy sprung
irom secession must soon fall ~ pieces under
The operation Of the same disintegrating
principle--hat endless lcuds and >trlies Will
folow-anl that we have no warrant Tor he-
Gsvng that the laws of history. as we read
them il the throes and commissions OF revo-
lutionary France, or in the anarchy ana 'ur-
bulence Of our Mexican and South Amrrl-
can ncighhors, will be suddenly reversed N
our favor"
The Augusta (Ga.( Chronicle and Sentl-
mel. a journal which zealously sustains the
secession movement, administers a Just re
buks to those, who, in the name of that
movement, assume to trammel the freedom
Of the press, or to make that freedom the
occasion OF injurious imputations. The
cause which resorts to such expedien!s comics