Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1862-05-03
How can the New State be savedY

Of sermons, 50 cents Zach. noSviEH'sp
How can the New State be Saved?
Conditional Consent by the LegIs-
- , : 49, 1ature Proposed.
Editors LntsHigeHetr: AfaHe 5r
Il had supposed no friend of the new
State could or would question the right Of
the Legislature to give its consent c0ndi-
tioRdLty, however he might view the erer-
else OF that right at this time, until read
the remarks in your paper of Monday
That the foRy leaders would covertly start
all sorts of objections, hobgoblins, and
"chimeras Dire" to frIghten weak-kneed
Legislators. as they had done weak -kneed
delegates to the Convention, none of US
doubted. But tWhen paper as respectable
and influential as yours intimates a doubt,
1t demands seasonable and candid reply.
propose to consider, lst, the question
of right, and I'd, the eEpediency of the
Legislature ezeTcising that right at this
time, .-5s57
Section Sd, article of the Constitution
of the United States, reads thus: VNew
States may be admitted by the Congress
into this Union; but no new State shall
be formed by the junction Of one OF more
States or parts of States, without the con-
sent of the Legislatures of the States con-
cerned, as well as of the Congress" The
ordinance passed tile goth of August, by
the people of the lVh0le State, assembled
in their sovereign capacity in Convention
at Wheeling, by their delegates made the
division aud fixed the boundaries, which
the people of the proposed new State rati-
fed, the Gath day of October, by vote of
ls,408 for, and 781 against. This Ordi-
nance presented no prerequisites, supple
mental to the before mentioned clause of
the Federal Constitution, except that the
new Constitution and the vote of the peo-
pie thereon, should be laid before the Legis-
lature at the time its consent was asked,
in conformity to the Federal Constitution.
The before quoted clause of this COnsti-
tuition is all we have to look to. What
then is the meaning of this clause in rela-
tion to erecting new states out of old ones?
AT the time the Federal Constitution was
| formed, the Union consisted of thirteen
states, Virginia being the oldest. Each of
these states bad its stAte-government, its
boundaries defined, aud each to be entitled
to two Senators In tie u. S. Senate; and
Congress was clothed with the power of
districting each state for representatives
to the United States House of Representa-
tives, and apPortioniug the same. It was
manifest that the rights of the Federal
Government require that no more new
states should be erected out Of the original
thirteen without the consent of Congress.
Hence to this body, as the faithful guardian
of the rights of all the states, was contided
the power to give or Withhold its consent to
the formation of any new state out OF old
ones. 1t has the perfect right to give or
Withhold its consent; 10 give it absolutely or
cOnditionally as the peculiar circumstances
or merits of each case, and what in its
Judgment the best interests of all who are
under its guardian care, should require
To deny this body the rightto annex a con-
| ditiOn to its consent which the true inter-
ests of all require, would be Inconsistent
with the general terms used in the clause
and the duties devolved thereby on that
body. liI] @ go "a q ~
The same is true in regard to the State
Legislature, within the boundaries Of the
State proposed to be changed. The same
word ''consent, in the clause, is applied to
both the State and Federal Legislatures -
The State Legislature is the guardian ofthe
entire State. It should give, withhold or
modify its consent, just as the best inter-
ests Of the whole State should seem in each
case torequire. To restrict The State Leg
islature In the exercise of its discretion to
simple absolute giving OF. Withholding Of
it's consent, would therefore do violence to
hegeneral terms used, and be incompatt-
BILE with the faithful exercise of the powers
granted and the high duties to be perform
ed. ~, "a
This brings US to the 2nd question
Will the case West Virginia presents to the
Legislature, justify its giving the eoIdi-
tiohql consent as proposed3 Il seemsito
me very clear that it does; because survey
60
it must come to the conclusion that the new
State merits, and, is justly entitled TO. all
she asks, and that the East has no claim
whatever to drag her down into the gulf Of
bankruptcy and ruin, its own treason and
wickedness has voluntarily and against ev-
cry warning voluntarily dug for itself To
DENY it would surpass the iphpmAuity oi
that custom which binds indissolubly the
living Hindoo widow 70 the loathsome and
putrfd corpse OF her deceased husband, q
languish and die. The figure is not to- toe
strong. ,i55..i,,-. ,..ls5r,s
formal and better looking course to pur-
sue, which will as wen or better secure the
new State" I deny i, and defy any one
to point out any other course, that can
or looks, these all sensible men disregard
lin times like the present, If the subStGHee
can BE secured. That substance with the
people of West Virginia is the new State
and with Congress Il will be a mathematical
certainty that slavery shall at some future
day become extinct in West Virginia. Con.
gress, surrounded as it has been during
the past year with startling facts and
stern realities, viii not heed The form o.
mode in which the nathema ttcal certainty
lis produced, whether inserted absolutely