Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1862-12-17

Nice Little scheme.
little motion made in the House Of
Delegates yesterday had something more il
i. than was afpaFeat to the mere superb
einl observer. Il was The motion of Mr-
Miner of iAlexandria, for The Speaker 70 is
sue writs for elections in the northern
haifof Eastern Virginia TO fill the yacsn-
cies that, of course, exist ia the House from
those counties. No one could fail TO be
Immensely captivated by the wonderful
caudor displayed by &r. Smith of Marion,
during his advocacy of the motion, in NOV
ing TO strike out SpottsylvHnia lin which
Fredericksburg is situate) for the reason
that he did not think that county was in a
condition TO hold an election. Really. NE
should think so too. But did it not occur
TO the gentleman that hardly one of the
counties named In the resolution is in any
better condition thAu spottsylvania. Not
so good because within the lines of our
army the forms of elections might be gone
through, willie in TIE most OF them even the
forms of,electious could not be achieved
Wesaresurprissd that any gentlemen who
have arrived at years of.discretion (maturity
perhaps would be better) should either Of
fer or advocate such proposition as at
tempting to hold elections in territory held
by the rebel forces, where the voting pop
ulariOu is all in the army, and where no
messenger. could go With IN order for an
electiou, without going to Richmond or
DAvy Jones' locker, or double quick, Any
school boy can see that the talk of elections
under such circumstances, is bald farce,
ifit is deemed an essential part of cleo.
tiops that voting shall be done by people
entitled 10 vote.
Bpt,this iss only a part of the programme
aud there is more of it TO which we pro-
pose to allude, and which becomes obvious
when We take all the circumstances into
consideration. The object appears TO be,
first 10 get the Legislature moved over to
Alexandria, in which event we presume
mauy members would be expected 10 resign.
This accomplished, it would be, second, to
get elections ordered in the Eastern Coun-
ties drained of their voting population
aud fnlposssssion of the rebel=, as they
nte)the only result of which could be to
have men applying for seats, claiming
admission as members from those couu-
ties, when they probably had not beer
within their bounds for a year or eigh-
teen uonths aud dare not 80 to them
orIfrom, some of them men coming claim
ing admission ts seats upon patched NJ
certificates signed by halfa dozen of thcir
neighbors who had met by stealth in SOME
barn or 10 the woods by night, or that of q
feW,refngess within tho lines ,ofour army
By such meIeCtions" ms these representa-
tivesl could be obtained from almost every
county, in the East, for the honor is some
thing and the pay reasonably good, aud
there would be no difficulty in getting gen
tlemen driven away from home to accept
both. With such representatives, as these
the object would be to gain prepouder-
ance in the Legislature. This being Sc
cured, third, it would be easy to refuse all
legislation friendly 10 the new State-to
refuse the appropriation now contemplated
to enable the new State 70 Organize--to
refuse 10 allow aus treasury Tue onlsAnu-
ing taxes within its limits, besides many
other little bits of legislation the want oil
which would be very embarrassing.
To be sure 1t cannot be asserted positive
Iy that this is the design of those gentle-
men in the Legislature who are hostile to
ths new, State, but the things that do
sem6labiy' cohere make it look that
way. We arc not surprised at east
ern members engaging in, such schemes
bot 1t is hardly to be expected than any
Western member should lend himself to
than. eafg b,l-e-ry ...E..5.,t ~.