Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1862-04-11
I.seon.lraetlon IIn VIrglnls.
[Fro M the NY. Times.I


ReeonstruotIon ! n virginia. d h
[Prom the N. Y. Times.I
Tno reduction of Virginia to the Ma
tiOnal rule, which now bids fair speedily
to}happen, will bea most important step,
not only in the progress of our arms, but
in disclosing! the degree of resistance we
are to encounter in restoring the status
ante bellttnt. Eastern Virginia is as an
tagonistical to the spirit Of our institu-
tions, and to II true nationality, rs South
Carolina; while her commanding geo.
graphical position, her vast resources in
spite of their negligent culture, the inn
portant part she played in the drama of
the Government, had secured to her such
au hereditary prestige that she exerted
more influence in National affairs than n
half dozen States of equal population.
All this had pampered a pride that brook
cd no restraint, while she funcied that she
possessed power commensurate with
her natural gifts. In these Virginia,
moro than any other member Of the Con-
tedcracy, is un imperium nI impcrio-
The fertile imaginations of her people
were never weary in looking forward to
end IN cxpatiatlng upon the wealth num-
bers, commercial and manufacturing
greatness, that were to be realized in Il
future, in which Norfolk was to supplant
New York, and the James River and
kanawha, the Eric Canal In South
Carolina we had to contend with caste,
which Slavery creates in its most perfect
form. a few families had come to mo-
nopollze both the soil and labor of fthe
State. Their ambition stopped Mt tho
ostentadOns display of u long roll of serfs
and of wide domain. They had tho quiet
dcmeanor that belongs to persons CON
scious of their wealth, and Of the secure
tenure by which it is held. The State
had no harbors-no coal or iron-no Gle
ments to which tho inductive spirit of
modern progress could attach itself, and
plant, as in Massachusetts, populous and
thriving communities upon sterile plains.
Its people were not aVaricous of political
power, because they had few objects to
which it could be directed, and were
modest in their demands, for the very
good reason of a conscious inability to
enforce them.
Not so Virginia. We find concentrated
here every refractory element that aided to
bring on the rebellion. Yirginians have
always taken the lead in all the speoula-
tons and theories of the South, not only
in reference to the Government, but to the
peculiar institution. OF all Southerners
they are most opinionated and fanatical.-
Their hatred to the North is heightened by
immediate contact Of territory, which, of
course, threatens violent interference with
their industries and institutions, in case of
defeat. We are soon, consequently, to
take the bull by the very horns. In
week more the sacred soil of Richmond
will be desecrated. Northern Gar6arians
with their proyerbial curiosity and iuquis-
itiveness will, wi ith covetous eyes, force
themselves into every nook aud corner of
the land, will violate all the proprieties of
caste, and rudely demand of the ceremonies
aud naughty planter the price of his estate,
and cheaper, perhaps, the very horse upon
which he sriding What sacrilegeI For
the first time in his life will the conscious
ness of the instability of all human things
fash over him. For generations, land and
negroes had descended in an unbroken rou.
tine, with as little change in tue general
surroundings, and in the mode of culture
of the soil, as among the fixed types of
Asia. For the future, the law of uses and
progress is to assume control, leaving no
alternative but abject submission to the
will of the stronger, or retirement from the
presence of the lunwelcome invader, to
secsusion so long cherished, but now so
rude1y broken.
In Virginia, consequently, will the work
of reconstruction be found more difficult
and ,arduops than anywhere else. The
people of the Eastern portion Of the State
are as autaRonfstic to the North as in any
State in the South. But they have greater
consequences involved in defeat. In common
with all the other rebels. they will be com
PEELED to make the terrible exhibition of
impotence before those who have never
before donbted the supreme power of their
masters, and which cannot be questioned
or doubted without destroying the value
of slavery. No anguish or modification
can exceed this. Butin Virginia tradi-
tiouary influence which bad consolidated
itself iutoia power, and which had enabled
the aristocracy of the State to WELD the
patronage and destinies of q great nation,
has all passed away, like a dream, Jetfer-
son, the apostle of freedom, and Washing
ton, its brightest exemplaF, had to be sure,
long ceased to be the canonized saints in
their calendar; bntthe resolutions of 1898
were still the test of the democracy of the
whole nation--a dembtracy whose domi-
nant course kept exact pace with that of
slavery, and which enabled Virginia to
reign supreme in National Conventions,
and guide corrupt and serviIe party,
which had but Two instincts-poiiticai
plunder and the maintenance and extern
sion of human bondage. All this power
has been ruthlessly thrown away. Vir-
ginia politics and principles, as expounded
by her present leaders, will forever after
be a by-word aud Rbomination. To regain
her influence, she mustlreturn 70 the doc
trine of the fathers, which were but sy1-
onyms of freedom. This is1he work of
re9eneration she must Cundergo. 1ITha Ma
tional GOVernmentuw will supply the condi-
tions in. perfect protection Of the rightsiof
all, the most important of which will be