Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1862-05-03
Then aud Now IN Western virginia.

Then aud n o,y In westsrn virginia.
In furtherance of the remarks made in
this column a few MORNINGS since in ref
erence To Virginia as ii was, is, aud will
be, it might not be inappropriate to al
Jude in brief terms more particularly to
Western Virginia and the changes wrought
here by the events of the past year. They
have not been material changes alone, such
Hs war always makes; but the very mar
row of our body social aud political has
been pierced, and the tenement is ting
ing in all its nerves with a new sensation.
Old ideas that used to rule us as with a
rod Of iron have suddcnly become obso-
lrte, and prejudices fortified by centuries
Gre disappearing before the light of intel
ligence and common sense. People who
never presumed to do such a thing under
the Richmond regime, now do their own
thinking about subjects, domestic and
foreign, with a freedom that is very graft
fyiug. People who used to wouldn't touch
the LnteikysRerr for the reason that their
leaders told them it was "AtoIition,p now
read it regularly with both pleasure and
profit. and wouldn't do without it on any
consideration. In many communities Of
Western Virginia where We have large
clubs, eighteen months ago it.would have
been deemed an offence against good order
to take and read single copy. The
change is not in US, but in the public SEN
timent.
Revolutions never go backward it is
said. 1t is equally true that they rarely
go straight forward in the direction they
are aimed. There is always some unex-
pected. providenIial turn that eYOkes some
great and unlocked for result-just as
discovery in science is sure to lead to 9TH
ers more important. IL has been so with
US here in Western Virginia, perhaps more
than In any other community. It is "the
engineer by his own pcturd hoist" truly
The conspiracy, begun here as elsewhere, in
tue interest of arisIocracy and social caste,
has done more for their destruction than
any event Of the past century. The rebel
leaders of Western Virginia, who were
going To drive US all beyond the Northern
lakes, or compel submission to their DOM
ination, have themselves been driven be-
yOnd the mountains, compelled to take
refuge in shinplaster offices at Richmond,
under the spurious confederacy of jeff
Davis and some of them are begging to
come back and be permitted to swear al
legiAnce. Did ever men so deceive them
selves, or so deceive others2 Was there
ever a more righteous rstribution?
Perhaps no section along the border was
more thoroughly invested by the artillery
of conspiracy than Western Virginia; for
none was felt to be more essential TO its
success. AS far back as our memory Of
public events extends, we can recall facts
that, in the light of subsequent revelations,
clearly indicate that the work Of preparing
Western Virginia fer revolution was begun
years ago-as it was throughout the State
aud Throughout the South. From the time
the conspirators, with Mr.. Calhoun at their
head, united their waning fortunes with the
Democratic party, and changed and con-
trOlled its whole policy, systematic e1er-
tiOns were made to organize that party
in Western Virginia as elsewhere, and
the sPeciOus doctrine iusidiously taught
was that the States were sovereign
This doctrine, estate rights" started so
long ago that We cannot accurately date
its advent, was to be the foreruuuer of Sc.
cessiOn. Between the two the partition is
very thin, aud when the people were once
committed to the one, their own oonsisten.
cy required them to support the other
Tue idea was easily popularized among
people more ignorant OF the science of
government than it is desirable free peo-
pie should be, and the conspiracy went on
swimmingly. 1t controlled the govern
ment aud used all its machinery 10 the
infected states and robbed it at the capital
The rninutis of organization was every
where reposed in vigilaRt hands. Here in
Western Virginia every official of any inn
Portance was cOnspirator-fullye enlisted
in the cause, aud embarked in the enter
Prise-agCnts and instruments in tie un.
holy work of destroying the government
from which they derived their daily sus-
teuauce. Here in Wheeling some of our
smartest politicians were engaged in the
work Of indOCtrination. 1t was SO land
more SOY all through the West. Every
county had its cOterie of the same school
OF politicians (or leaders rather. for the
science of politics formed a very small |
part OF their tsaching,) and most of them |
a democratic newspaper-boIh educating
the feeling and and prejudice of their peO-
pie up to the desired point. The whole
process was gradual. We had the Argue
here, to prepare the way for the Union;
and lie LE.:a.. lii tA. I.a.A.- e L