Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1862-12-18

aud they took the only course left them,
which was TO resume an orderly political
4 existence by reinV g0tatfug the dormant fac
fdlties of the State A body offiye bunlfed
tdelegates lawfully selected byhlI the people
who OWere disposed to jointIu the moVeInenr,
was assembled in May OF 1861 That body
deelaring theiict Of secession nalIity, in
viied the people Of all the Stateto vote it
$50 on a given day; Il also recommended tue
y election Of members to the State Legisla,
ture and to Congress, at the usual times
add places required by thezIdWs; and i,
t6nally provided for the appOintment OF DEL
t egates to general Convention TO meet on
tthe ilth OF June, and HtO take such notion
as the safety aud welfare of the people rep
Presented might demand p The whole State
\ of fVirginia Was asked to participate under
more than "A months notice. No citizen
\ was debarred the use OF any right he was
disposed to use, aud no district or part Of
the State was excluded from its franchise
Members Of the Legislature and Of Con-.
gress were regularly chosen, and delegates
to the Convection appointed. 1q
% IL is true that bully ffty-tWO or three
tconuties out Of the hundred aud thirty
seven Availed themselves Ofthe opportunity:
the others preferred 20 link their destiny.
With that of the Southern Goufederacy
/ but their tiiIure to act was their own fault
They refused to hold the elections, md
could not, therefore, complain that the re-
suits were partial. "A few connties
disposed to vote might have been restrained
by the duress Of arms, but the majority
were simply contumaciOus Their inhab-
itauts had iuaugurated rebellion and ad-,
hsred to their plans They had ceased to
be citizens pf the Uniou, 8 Z ShnuiiT1g its
LAYS aud taking up arms against IL and
h,-s1 .hav, all 81
the residue of the people remaining true
and loyal. 1t
Now, the General Convention, thus en-
powered by the loyal part of the State, 4
came together at Wheeling on the lIth of
June, aud proceeded at once to reinetate
the mRchinery Of government for the whole
State. II passed an ordinance on the lgtb,
entitled can ordinance for the reorgauiza-
tion Of the State" and made in the name
of abe people of the State Of Yirginia."-
That ordinance provided for the reiustitu-
tion OF a Governor, Lieut.. Governor, At
torney General, council State Legista-
ture and all the other functiouaries OF a
State organization. An the other laws ere
Continued in force, and all local magis-
trAtes, clerks, sheriffs, ETC., were retained
on the condition of taking the oath OF al
legiance to the federal constitution. Tho
officers thus created, legislative and execu-
tive, were recognized as those Of the State
OF Virginia by the President and each
member Of the cabinet, by the Senate in
receiving its Senator's; and by the House in
receiving its members OF Congress. DEM
ocrats and Republicans united in that re-
c0gnition. The judiciary OF neighboriug
State acknowledged the new Organization.
No one. indeed, anywhere, as far as We re-
call the facts, protested agaiust the pro-
ceediugs or denied the complete legality Of
the existence of the State of Virginia ii
The Legislature Of Wheeling, then, was
the Legislature of the COnimonweaith of
Virginia-the only Que that existed, the
only one that could exist, the only one
known to the laws and general government
and that Legislature, ia giving its con-
sent to division Of the State INFO Eastern
and Western Virginia, complied with and
1 fulfilled the clause Of the FEDERAL Oonstitu-
tion relating to the division Of States. -
Otherwise, or if tie proceedings we have
described are not legal, the actual Cover
nor and legislature OF Virginia are usurp-
7 'ers, their sixteen regiments in the army
raised aud commissioned by the Governor
are brigands or guerrillas; the President
has been dealing solemnly with authorities
4 that are not authorities tue Secretary of
the Treasury has paid them money ont Of
tue Treasury, and the people of Virginia
are without government and without laws.
| What magazine of complications, coufu-
sions and troubles the theory garuers up
I for the future! -l ~ 7i2i
We have dwelt upon this subject because
\ it has vital relation to the possible meth.
DDS of reconstructiug the Union, now tenn
1 porarilY dtslocated by the violence Of civil
\ war. It seems to US that there are but
three aspects in which secession and Its
efforts cen be regarded. Either, 1st, the
act OF secession valid. and draws with il
/ all the people of the State in which Il is
enacted, which is south rn view; or Sd It
4 destroys entirely the existence OF the State
and resolves il into territory, which is
the view of Mr.. Sumner, Mr. Conway and
| others; OF Sd, It Is the act Of Individuals
without legal validity. and lelying the
State intact and vital in the hands Of its
tremafuing logal inhabTauts. The last is
the view which We hsTe adopted and which,
We confess, seems TO us the only one consis-
| tent with sound constitutional principles,
and the ouly one offering apractieal mode of
| securing the iusurgent states to the Union
\ as rapidly az the rebellion shall De sub
I 'lned, or as the people now in revolt shall
be uviuced of their duty 70 returu to the
obedience of the laws. On the southern
theory the Union is hopelessly shattered,
land can only be renewed by totally new
organic constitution; on that Of Mr. Snm-
ner you virtually admit the validity Of Sc
eession, and put the people OF the seeded
stares not only odt OF the Union, bat out
sttle OF the federal laws ; while, according
TO the, view we defend, you may receive the
1foyai populations everywhere, as fast as
they choose to come in, under the old ma
chiuery, without violent changes, without
I ipiustiee, without theassumptiOn Of Doubt
f1t powers, and without exciting dangerous
party divisions.
A AStFikIng Trnth that every Man has
Observed.
T Slavery the rebels tell the world, is
the cornerstone Of their empire, For
j that they aver .thaY fght. md for that