Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1862-02-11

es its control d flae site Government de-
elinss by the ineyitable growth Of pop1la.
don in the West, ineFeases its hostiIfty,
mas used its poW6fto exempt slaYs prop!
tsrty from its jpst proportion Of tRxStion.
Though from profits Of slavs breeding.
as Well as Of slave labor, the n6St profitable
Kind OF property ID The State, the taxation
upon = was npnlpql compared With that
i on othsr properly -. n -.
4 In the meantime, great burden has
4 9een pee sinlp 9sed upon the State Ily system
/ OF internal Improvements, undertaken TO
avert the evident decay OF the Eastern
section Of the State, aud 70 restore her
1 progress, which so p2lpAbly Jagged In
e9mpAEison with the free States which.
i star Tar behind her. These improve.
Nents Wltcb were chiefly for the benefit
4 OF the East, have created q great State
4 debt. Most of The works are unnrudncs
lYs, and some 81 them unfinished. al
large increase OF the debt would be reoui-,
red 70 complete, thiip1, aud eYen before the
/ te6el lion the 8 lVas ddinS to fie debt
I ~ sel ing bonds at. saeri &c 10 pay idtsr-
est 0ndtr thesmoSt pros ~ 80
stances and with the wisest admfnistrR-
tlopI load OF taxation has BEEN placed
| upon the people for generations by these
improvements; and, without come radical
reform in the State Government, which
could hardly be expected of anything short
OF q revolution, must perpetuate the pres,
ent bankruptcy and repudiation.
Under such circumstances it will easily
be seen that system Of taxation which al
most exempts the most profitable property
OF that section of the State for whose ben
eht these improvements Werc chiefly made,
must be regarded as oppressive by the peo-
pie OF the western section; and it is not
strange that this financial necessity should
nave been strong motive in the West for
a division, with the idea Of getting rid Of
tue greater part of the State burdens, by
an apportionment OF the debt according to
the benefits of the public works.
There are other evilsWhich Western Yir.
gtnia has suffered from the East, which Il
Is unnecessary to recapitulate. They are
the same that are inevitable from The dom.
tnation of slavery over free labor. Slavery
is at the bottom of them all, aud If there Is
any good aud sufficient reason Tor the di-
vision OF the State, il is TO emancipate the
great free popuiation of the PROPOSED State
oil hanaWha from the interests and autag-
/ onism of slavery. We say ssgood and SUI
I hcient rensou,n for however desirable it
/ may be to the Inhabitants to shuttle of the
financial burdens of the State, this will not
| be regarded by the world at large as i'm
possible. Unfortunately the whole State
must be held to the liabilities to which il
was subjected when intact. The creditors
must Of course be party to any division
Of the liability, and It can be of no effect
without the consent of the old Virginia,
Should the old State assent to the an
Porttonment and partition of the debt, and
pay her quota, the partition would be
eueetve, but the whole State must con-
tinue liable for any failure to pny any part
Of the dedt. = Therefore we say that the
\ hnnnstal necessity, growing out Ofthe State
debt cannot be regarded by the nation AS
n good and sufficient reason for the parti-
non' Of the State. AudHs there is bnt ono
evil which can be alleged rs a sufficient
cause, 1t is surprising that in the Constitu-
-tional Convention now in session there
should be disposition in considerable
portion ofthe delegates to fasten this evil
upon the new State of Knnnwha. a part
desire to leave Slavery untouched, while
another part desire to provide in the Con-
stltution for the gradual liberation of the
slaves within ten or; fifteen years, or some
sPecifetime.
Should the new State organization pre-
sent itself before Congress with Consti-
tntton which would leave the people sub
Ject to tue very evil from which they de-
sire to semancipate themselves by the sepa-
ration,it would so palpably impGach the
sincerity of their motives as to make q re-
cognizAtion of their separation more than
doubtful in Congress- The inhabitants
OF Western Virginia have seen enough of
Slavery to know that If they leave it any
permanent foothold-thnt is, il they let Il !
alone-it will inevitably come to exercise
the same domination in the new State that
1t now does in the old. All our compro-
misses with Slavery have Increased its pow
er. The Virginia fathers and the found.
ers OF the national Government, who left
on record utterances against Slavery which
are not exceeded in vehemence of condem-
tnation by anything from Garrison or Wen
dell PhtliPPs. supposed it WAS Temporal
| ~ evil, which would sood die out by the
growth Of civilization and by the Weight
Of its own iniquity and wrong; but their
children saw the same evil overthrow the
GoVernment which their fathers supposed
they had made for perpetuity. Their sue
cessors aud descendants in Virginia will
show but poor inheritance of the wisdom
OF their fathers, IL, after their experiences
of the fatal effects of this evil in their own
community and in the nation, they allow
II to be fastened upon the new State, mere
y for the small slavery interest there is
nowln Western Virginia.
But the time when the Nation is torn
asunder by this Slavery. interest, which
has plainly laid down its terms that It
must rule this Government or RUN It.
when the country is devastated by civil
war and humiliated abroad, and when for.
eiga intervention, invited by our own trai.
tors, threatens to seal the ruin ofthe coun-
tryl is an inappropriate time to propose 70
increase this power of destruction in the
National Government, by the addition Of
tano,her slave State. II makes but little
difference how small the Slavery interest
is, compared with the prosperity Of State,
Wherever IL exists nt all, Il creates fana-
tietsm stronger than allegiance to the Ma
ttiona Government Itlis hardly 10 be ar
pected that Congress while leYying bur-
dens upon the country which wiIlIlsst for
future generations. and while the lives of