Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1862-05-07
TOTHE PEOPLE OF VIRGINIA..


A large portion of the Stateis now dis
tracted by q rebellion, that is consuming
all your material interests. ask your
candid attention to some facts which /
deem worthy of consideration. tits with
you to arrest the rebellion. and save, of
life and property, what is left, or to con-
tinue the strife until all is lost.
Since 1881, South Carolina politicians
have been plotting the overthrow of the
Constitution, of the United States: First
on the pretext of the tariff; next, by the
false assumption that the institution of
slavery was in danger from some sup.
posed hostile Legislation that might be
made ut some time by Congress-. Her
leading statesmen, Mt the head of one of
the great political parties of the country,
gradually poisoned the public mind, and
at length fired the Southern heart, and
lPrecipitatcd tho Southern States into re-
belliOn.
Those largely interested in slave prop
erty in Virginia never believed the insti-
tuition was in danger by hostile legisla-
ton in Congress The party which had
always been in favor of the Constitution,
the Union, and the enforcement of the
laws-and opposed to those who claimed
to be the peculiar protectors of the insti-
tution,-had its greatest strength in the
large slave holding districts of the State.
The three Presidential candidates in 1860,
We'd with each other in professions of at
tHchment to the Constitution and the
Union.
At the election for members Of the State
Convention in February, 1861, it was
claimed that there was a majority of sixty
thousand votes cast for the Union candi-
dates. One hundred and ten of the one
hundred and fifty members elected to that
Convention claimed to be Union men,
They had to CLAIM. to be such, to secure the
votes of the people. That was the last
untrammelled expressionn by the people of
their attachment to the Constitution and
the Union in Virginia.
The people of VirginiH were never dis
satisfied with the Union and Constitution
of the United States. In no decade, in
the history of our beloved Commonwealth,
had the people made such rapid progress
i'll all mHterinl prosperity as in the last ten
years. The cOnspirators, who had plan
ned the destruction of constitutional lib
erty in the United States, saw their cause
was hopeless, unless they could "dragD
the people of Virginia into the rebellion.
On the 18th day of April, 1861, there
was peace in all the broad limits of the
State. On the 10Th, lawless mob assem-
bled at Richmond, to inaugurate rebel
lion, which was consummated on the nth
by the passage of the ordinance of seces-
sion, at the bidding of the mob on the out
side of the capitol.
On the passage of the ordinance in Vir-
ginia, the conspirators in the cotton States
told the people of those States, "that they
could plant their broad acres of corn and
cotton in peace-that the war was transfers.
ed to the Potomac and the Ohio" In Vir-
ginia, the people were told that secession
was peace. They knew it was war. In
three days after the ordinance of secession
was passed, regiments of troops from
South Carolina and Georgia were in Vir--
ginia. Thus this devastating war was
transferred from the homes o: those who
inaugurated it, to the peaceful and happy
homes OF Virginiaus. 1t is we'll known
that it was not a Southern Confederacy of
slave States alone, nor was it the protec-
tfOn of property in slaves. thnt the conspi-
rators desired to procure. 1t was empire
not only of the South, but of the North
also; to break down the constitutional bar
rters, erected by our fathers, which stood
between them and perpetual power; and to
inaugurate a military despoLism on the
ruins of the best government ever enjoyed
by civilized man. To this end, a reign of
terror was inaugurated all over the State;
mob of soldiers, in part from other
States, suppressed the voice of the people
east of the Allegheny Mountains. it was
tried in the West, but the fearless spirit of
liberty in the people could not be intimi-
dated; more than three-fourths of the pop
ular vote Of the section was cast at the
spring election against secession.
The loyal men of fWesteFn Virginia knew
their rights, and they dared to maintain
them. 1t was time in the history of the
State to reCur to first principles. The
great framework of our freedom and of
Constitutional liberty rests on the princi-
| pie, ''thnt all power is vested in, and con-
sequently derived from the people; that
magistrates are their trustees and servants,
audat all times amenable to them"
1t was notorious that the executive of
the State, who had been elected by the
people aud who had taken the oath of tidel-
| ity to the Constitution of the United
States, had gone into rebellion, with
all the other officers, who under the
Constitution of the State, could take
his place. They had, as far as their
acts could go, annexed the State to
what they call Il foreign nation, aud had
taken an oath of allegiance to that pre-.
tended foreign nation, the officers ofwhich,
by armed force, had seized the Capt.
tol of tue State-that the Executive of
the State had surrounded himself with an
army, which prevented the delegates of the
loyal people from meeting at the Capitol
that hehad usurped power, by ordering the
people to take up arms against the govern
ment OF the United States, aud was seiz-
ing their property to support the rebel. ar
my. 5 d sif oa
The Constitution of the United States
guarantees to the people of each State a
Republican formiOf government. And the
President the United States is anthoriz-
ed to use the whole power of the govern
meut to suppress iusurrection or rebellion
in the State. The Constitution of the
United States is the supreme law ofthe
lend. The Constitution and laws of Yir.
gtnia recognize itas such.
Theloyalpeople of the State are entitled
L IN tho nrnfnRtfAn Of EthRip Tarznuo and ir