Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1862-02-08

point should not be overlooked. who1
this rebellion is crushed out cotton viii
hardly remain the king that he has h hereto
fore so proudly boasted himself to be-
Four7neW State will contain large tracts o
unoec ppied land with light taxes thereon
Is It -at all improbSble that a certain spe.
ctes OF property in the region east of MS
that has hitherto migrated mostly south.
ward, VIII after tho lapse of d short time
come this way thus continuing aud
strengthenlngt its poWor among US, indef.
nllely. But however this may be, the ques.
tiou still recurs us that which viii he
pressed by thousands Of practically inter-
ested lnquirers, what is to be tho status
OF labor IN tho nov t9tdEe Z / InsfsE sir,
tdat inc QUESTION IS t1ndamental and vital.
| iiNNttnout 1aboF Il u1RtteFs out llittle what
KIND OF 2 constitution you make here; or
indeed whether you make any at all or not.
VII son not speak tlIeword that shall en-
oble II VIII you moi, t,-n6W. thaF you may
forever wipe from tho brow of your own
totllug white fellow citizens; the brand this
system has placed there viii you while
you enact clearly defined principle touch
ing every other interest, pronounce no poll
ICY IN regard 70 that which lies at the bot
tom OF them all I? Will yoR under the I'M
hand, or attraction on tho other, fix yonr
attention chiefly on s0me remote, and mi.
mute and immatcrial appendag6 to the
building, quite Indifferent as to how secure
or how talso the foundation may be
But II is said that even ifthe new Con.
stttutlou is silent upon this question, the
Legislature will have full control over ii.
They certainly will have such control If
tho Constitution, in terms, gives it to them.
But w1iying tho inquiry whether a atles-
tton otdoubt as TO this power might here
4atsefsar sh0IId It not Be formally in-
feEted in the Constitution, Why 56oItd The
Legtstature-wIse aud bhtFi6fG though
that body is aud will be-6c expected TO
act In the direction in which we decline to
move! There is not the shadow Of a
doubt touching tfis entire Competency Of
tnis body In reference to this question
Why devolve upon others responsible
ties which we decline to meet2
But granting that our systom Of labor
may at some time in the distant future be
changed, by y'whateyer agency, Whv@post.
Pone TO an indefinite future, that which we
may secure for our own stimes2 l have
very great regard for those Imaginary, and
! hope highly respectable personages, my
great grandchildren, md very high re-
spect for distant generations with the
liyelicst interest in their welfare, wish
theml with5nll my heart, good time geu-
orally But must be excused in saying
that have u still warmer feeling for my
own children, aud for the people OF the
present times. But why not do for the
present that which will so surely enhanco
tue happiness of both the present and the
!qture! {! Why require our yoElG State,
Just entering upon the race for prosperity,
10 hear one moment Longer tII6Tt is iieces.
sary, q burden that has enfecbled older aud
Otherwise powerful communities
But 1t IS said that the present is a very
lnausplcionsI time TO move in this matter.
by the way, there has seldom been right
time for doing anything on one side of this
labor question, in this State there was
always an abundance of time for doing
moro than was asked for on the other. In
SO far as this suggestion of delay is
prompted by Difference to the supposed
wishes of the rebel States, IL will excite,
judge, in the people of West Virginia, any
other feeling rather than that of acquieS-
cence. Tho doings of those States have
forced US to assume our present attitude
for our selE-preseryation. sit not asking
gooa deal too much, that that very inter-
est as II elsewhere exists, having plunged
us and our people into this sea Of troubles,
we shall not now be permitted TO save our
selves IN our own way, without still com
aulttng it Do the people of West Vir-
gina really helong to the State Of South
Carolina, or do they belong only to God,
their country and themselves?
!, But o6jeE4ion is made to anynction here
onRnothGr, and | frankly say, much more
plausible ground. If understand it, it
is this that our Union brethren of the
border States VIII @6e embarrassed and
hinuered m tGeit heroic strugg glesgwith re-
belltuu, BY any such action by this body
as is now proposeds Tho coincidence is
not little curious, that precisely the
same objection, and almost in the very
words in which we now hear, lit, was
urged in the Legislature Of Penn
sylvanl3, more than eighty years ago,
during the passage of her famous act
of of3cmaucipation, drawn up, believe, by
DR.. franklin; but the objection was urged
then, as hope it will be now, without eff
feet. Letit be observed that tthisoccurrence
took place in 1880, right in the midst of
our revolutionary struggle. This is the
historians statement Of the matter -
.MOderAte as it was,n-let me say in pass
ing that what is here proposed is much
more modetnte-ssthis act did not pass
without good deal of opposition. Sew
eral members of Assembly entered a pro-
TEST agelnht 1t ACKNOWLEDGING indeed the
humanity and justice of mRnumitting slaves
in time of peace, but denouncing the pres-
ent act as 'imprudent' and premature and
tlikely to have, by way of example, a most
dangerous effect on the Southern States,
whittier the seat of war seemed about to
be transferred p But as already stated,
the objection was overruled and while we
all know something of the beneficial re-
suits of that not, IhaYe yet to hear that il
worked any injury to the Southern States
or any body else. s. s.
Sir. from my soul 1 honor the Union men
of Kentpcky, Tennessee, and of any other
section similarly circumstanced; and living