Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1862-12-08
West virginia.
From The Cincinnati Commercial.

1AOhly uEllbAlk kAS ANoot-
lion broke ont and preciPitated a sepAra-
ton. II was only a question Of time
There was no. community of interest be-
tween the East and West, that could hold
together. In the East slavoholdiug
aud slave producing population, devoted to
agriculture; in the West, a population
whose energies were directed mainly to the
development of manufacturing and com
meFcial interests by free labor. The psople
of the two sections differed as much in their
social customs and economic habits as Ia
their pursuits. Intercourse between them
was as limited as between the SaVoyards
and Piedmontese Massive mountains, with
few and miserable roads over their rugged
sides or through the passes, rose up be-
tween them, wall so difficult to scale that
only the most urgent public or private
business, or the closest afinities of blood,
induced the people of either section to at.
tempt their passage. Before railroads had
penetrated the Interior, trip from Park
ersburg to Richmond by way of Weston and
Stanton, or from Charleston, by way of
Lewisburg and Lyuchburg, was equal, all
its difficulties considered, to a journey from
New York City to the plains of Kansas.
A system of Railroad intercommunication
would have remedied this to some extent,
but very little had been done toward the
development of such system when the
war broke out. Eastern Virginia, with
Rristocratic Incidence crushing the spirit
of enterprise, did nothing to encourage it.
Northwestern Virginia owes its connection
with the seaboard to the liherality and
enterprise of Baltimore, not of Richmond.
The East Tennessee Road which skirts the
southern boundary of Western Virginia,
was completed by capital and appliances
drawn from outside sources. The Central
line. which was designated to open COM
munication with the very heart OF the
State, and which was peculiarly Virginia
enterprise, lauguished and failed before it
had reached the Greenbrier.
While, therefore, the physical and indus
| trial ties uniting the two sections were
weak political antagonisms were strong.
| The East, solicitous for protection to its
slnyeholding interests, aud unwilling to
equalize the burdens of taxation upon all
classes of properly, taxed manufAluriug
and commercial investments and revenues
Unfortunately. This the people OF the West
PRESENTED. They could not, or did not, un-
derstaud the fairness ola policy which tax
\ ed them for the supportand protection of an
Industrial system ia which they had no
interest, aud of which they had little SYM
patty. The burden of formidable pub
lie debt hung heavily upon them; and the
consciousness that it was contracted in be-
halfof enterprises which conferred little or
no benefit on them, did not increase their
heartiness to assist in its liquidation.
They asked for appropriations to aid them
in developing their Internal resources; they
wanted facilities for shipping their indus
trial producte to the seabord, and particu-
larly into the interior of the State. Salt
from the Khnawha Valley, then, as now,
had to be wagoned across the mountains,
aud over roads none of the best. I'm
measurable mineral wealth in tue region
stretching from the head-waters of the
Potomac to the Gauley waited the magic
touch of enterprise and capital, intelligent
~ directed. But the selfish policy of the
East gingerly doled out assistance or re-
fnsed the applicants altogether. The West
was in the condition Of tue ass that com
plained to his master OF an unequal d.
vision Of his burdens. The load was up
on one side, with precious few benefits up
on the other.
The prepondcrance Of free labor in the
West WAS uot regarded with favor by the
East. The rich planters, the slave breed.
ers, the slave-traderS-a powerful interest
saw in its progress the extirpdtiOn of
slavery west of The mountains, and the
growth of an anlaeonism which would
have disastrous etfectuPon the institution.
1t was bruited about that the Panhandle
counties were becoming abolitionized, and
that emancipation was regarded with favor
by the people Of the other North western
Virginia counties The teachings OF RUIZ.
ner, and other Virginia "aboiitiouists, !"
from Washington down, had taken root in
the hearts of the nountaineers, aud were
Iproduciug fruit. In all ages Liberty has
found her surest refuge, her most heroic
defenders, her most devoted worshipers
among the mountains. She nests With the
eagle near the sun, not With the owl in the
valley and the darkness. The mountaineers
of Western Virginia were regarded with
suspicion, aud their representatives at Rich
mond exerted but feeble influence.
In such state Of affairs only an oppor
tuuity was needed to make the separation
between the sections complete. The rebel.
lion provided IL. An attempt was made to
forestall the people by aending armed for
ces West of the mountains, to occupy the
country and hold IL under military rule
1t was believed that the people would rail-
" to them, and that State pride, If no other
Influence, would impel them to 90 with the
State. The people were, however, deaf to
the appeals of Letcher, the eloquence OF
Wise, aud the promises and persuasions of
military commanders. Their first act was
to form Provisional Government, aud af-
IseiMaIu communion Iot ADMISSION as a
new State of the Union. They desired a
free State aud therefore insisted upon
plan ofemaucipation which should rid them
of the evil, which was only sufficiently de-
veloped in the Western counties to show
what an unmitigated curse 1t is.
The history of the Convention ofEtbe
Summer Of 1861 is familiar. TIE people
fully anticipated admission, as State,
into the Union, and were prepared for il.
A bill to that end was presented. and
passed one branch of Congress. 1t is al
legged that it would have, passed the other
but for the influence of Carlile, who ought
to be indicted for influencing an election
to the United States Senate on false pre-
fences. This bin Is among the unfinished
/ hnsinesE of IhasHnnaa Ii Coma, -. -. 4. :.