Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1862-07-09

war, the whole appearance of things in
Fredericksburg and Virginia will be com
pletely changed from what it was when the
war begnu. A new era will dawn upon the
Old Dominion. We may not live to SEQ it.
Others will.
Every reverse which befalls the Federal
Army and every success gained by the Con-
federute army reduces Virginia TO IL still
more ruinous condition. Tue longer the
war is continued in the State, the greater
will be the facilities for the escape of the
slave population. The more of her terrific
ry will be laid waste-the more of her cit
les, towns and villages will be laid in ru
fus-the more of her sons will be sacrificed
the more and more the whole State will
become impoverished.
Suppose JEFF. Davis should, as he says
he eau, keep up tue war and carry it on
twenty years longer in Virginia, even if he
should be driven out of Richmond, what
would Virginia be within the space of
twenty years2 in teuyears, or in five years
STAMPEDE OF CoNrRABANDs.
Early on Friday morning the 27th ulti.
mo, thirty-three contrnbnnds came into
town, and brought with them two yokes of
oxen and two carts, and Que splendid horse,
all of which, was the property of their
masters. Laterin the morning of the same
day woman with five small children, the
youngest an infant only four weeks old, rs
the mother herself told us, came into town,
having walked during the previous night
aud that morning, upwards of twenty-five
miles, bringing in her arms, her infant
child. She stated that she aud her chill
dren had walked the whole distance en-
tirely unaccompanied by any one. She
seemed more determined to make her es.
cape to the land of freedom than any one
we have yet seen. Truly, secession has
produced negro erOdus.
On Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday last,
we suppose that hundreds came into town
seeking the land of freedom. Curiosity
induced us to ask some of them, from
what section they came, to whom they be-
longed, for what cause they had left their
masters, whore they purposed going, and
what they intended to do. Some had
come from Caroline, some from Spottsyl-
! Vania, others from Louisa counties, &c !,
( &c. Some had bad masters, others wanted
to be free, and one woman said she had
left her master "to get shet of trouble.
Some were going to the "Norf, "nnd others
wanted to get work any where they could.
And here they are strolling through the
town aud country unprotected, unCared for,
homeless, penniless and friendless, not
knowing where to go, what to do, nor
what's to become of them.
Before Virginia seeded and for some-
time afterwards the impression seemed to
be general among secessionists, that the
negroes would all prove loyal-that they
would take up arms, and if necessary die
for their masters-that the slave Popula-
ton of the South was one great element
by which the Southern COnfederacy was to
prove successful.
We never had any confidence in the 10y
atty of negroes to their masters as gem
eral thing; there may be few isolated ex-
ceptions, but in the winding up of this
matter, it will be found that these exeep-
! tions are few and far between. We faith
fully and constantly Warned our fellow
citizens of the danger aqd certainty of
bringing Canada to our doors, and in our
very midst, but they laughed Mt our admo-
nttions and reproached US as Que of the
crazy ones of the Lincolnite submtssionists,
who left their "slime behind them MS they
walk the streets of Fredericksburg" They
fooIishly talked of the law of retaliation,
that "if the Yankees take our negroes, we'll
take their horses, COWS, hogs,p &C., &c.
Such were the absurd ideas of 0rdtoricdk,
logical, philosophical secesSioHists.
We went further still, and warned our
fellow-citizens, that if matters were carried
TO extremes the black man would lift his
arm against the white man, and that the
time would come when the further white
men could get from the negroes the safer
and better they would feel. We warned
secessionists of all these and many other
evils which would necessarily result from
their course of action, for all which we re-
ceived nothing in return from them but
their continual reproaches. And now we
warn our fellow -citizens of greater evils
than any that hive yet befallen US, and
would implore them for their own sakes,
and for the sake of helpless women aud
children, whom many cases, and especially
in the country, are entirely unprotected, to
act with all the wisdom, prudence, and dis
cretion of which they are possibly capable.
Will they do so, or will they not? Stub
bornness. rashness, and madness can effect
nothing now, but one common slaughter.
Facts which occur every hour in our midst
convince all of the utter disloyalty of the
slave population of our country. Let us,
therefore, beware as to the future. A
word to the wise is sufficient, but fools can
never be profted but by tue bitterest ex-
perience. The loss of negroes is nothing
in comparison to the horrible evils that
may yet yisitour distressed countrymen.-
Belgdre! Bet0Gre!
The Celebrated Letter of Gen. Hunter
About His Regiment OF Contra.