Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1863-03-11
An Extract from a Speech OF Judge
Summers.

/ US a copy OF the Richmond Enquirer sup
plement of April 18th, 1851, containing
the proceedings of the Constitutional Con-
yention of that year. Among the proceed
ings we find the great speech of Hon. Geo.
W. Summers of Kanawha, on the "mized
basis" 1t is truly great speech and GER
tainly one that, as West Virgiuiau, re-
fleets infinite credit upon the strength of
mind and heart of its author, As we read
it over we are ats loss TO reconcile the ir--
resolution and timidity of Judge Summers
present position with that which he took
aud strongly held il that convention. he
there sacrificed his election to the COVER
nOrship by reason of the strong Western
ground which he took, and by reason of
the plain and eloquent way 10 which he
pictured to the Eastern Virginians the
wrongs aud expressions which they had
SO long inflicted upon Western vir-
giuia.
In the speech before US Judge Summers
gives striking review of the decay and
decline that bad been for SO long and was
then going on throughout the State. he
asked these questions and accompanied
them with the following remarks:
Mr.. Chairman, am not here 10 indulge
in elimination or -crimination. | have
no railing accusations to bring in behalf of
one section of the State against another
section. Nor am |, on the other hand, as
some gentlemen seem to aVow, unwilling
TO see anything out of Virginia worthy Of
possession. The wish of my heart is, that
our own Stale was the foremost and most
prosperous of all, as she might be, and
ought to be. 1 caunot follow tie example
Of those who seem 10 erect themselves
amid the arches of the temple, as did the
self-satisfed Pharisec, and looking down
upon Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois. and the
other growing States of the West, thank
God that they are not as those poor publi-
cans. Remember that the publican went
| down justified, rather than the other.
But, sir, in this family council, convened
for the very purpose of examining our house
hold atfairs-of prOftiug by our past err
rors, aud SO ordering our action as to avoid
them in future, it is Duh duty to speak
frankly to each other. Can we disguise it
from ourselves that We have not done our
whole duty to this old Commonwealth.
What was her condition aud rank among
the States of this cOnfederacy in the be-
ginning, and what is it now2 What have
we done to improve the talent committed
to our keeping2 We have had entrusted
10 our care, one of the fairest and best por-
tons of earthly heritage which has ever
been vouchsafed by "a benificent Providence
| TO erring mHn. Washed for two hundred
and fifty miles on her western border bv
that great inland highway of associated
States, the Ohio river-her eastern frontier
resting upon the Chesapeake Astounding in
safe and commOdious harbors, and whose
bosom should be whitened with the csm
merce of every nation, penetrated by navi
gable rivers atfOrding water power to al
most any imaginable extent-possessed of
a kindly soil, salubrious climate, having
ores and minerals ofeYcry variety, and pos.
sessed Of every material of wealth-tbere
lies Virginia in the very center of the con-
tederacy aud with territory large enough
for an empire.
With all these capabilities and resources
what have we made of herr Look at her
as she is, aud oh think what she might
have been Her bay city shorn of its
commerce. Her Capital-situated at a
water power sufficient to have made it the
manufacturing city for the Uuion-present-
ing, after lapse of one hundred years-a
white population of fifteen thousand Our
Eastern tields, in many counties grown uD
in pine, and large portions of The West
standing in primeval forest. Her moro nd .
venturOus sons have been driven to other
States in quest of that which they were nm
able TO find at home, while many of those
who have remained. are content to live upon
recollecuons of the past-to chaunt the
praises OF a by-goue generation and to
boast Of the mighty dead who lie buried
beneath our soil, without the energy to
profit by their precept or to follow their
example.
What have We done for the common
mind how have we provided for the edu-
cation of our people2 In what way are
We to answer, in an age like this, for the
humiliating fact that eighty three thousand
of our ndultw population cannot even
read that book (which is the history of
ton ?"
Yet, we are here to-day resisting an
equal distribution of the powers Of the
government among the people from a fear
that she will be embarked in the work of
developing her own resources.
In SO small space as the above there
could scarcely be more suggestive out.
liue of the stagnatiou, decline, and retro
grcssiOn which has marked the policy of
Virginia for so many years back. Judge
Summers, as statesman. saw its cause.
He knew very we'll what was ailiug the
State. He did not say so. He merely sta.
ted the complaint. That was unpopular
enough, and costly enough to him. But he
retTained from stating either the cause or
the remedy. He knew that it was slavery
eating out the vitals of the State. The
Eastern Virginiaus felt that he had sug-
gested that idea to the people of the s.ute.
aud especially to the people of the West,
aud consequently they taboOed him in
j 100 a..-:.a - - ~.