The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1863-03-12

ue9u' huO MAS aus NeItu "ub SVINSu NLSsV
questions.
In speech, delivered a, Lexington,
Va, Sept. l847, the Rev. H, Ruf'ner. D.
D., said: We glory in Wheeling, be.
cause she only, in Virginia, deserves to
be called manufacturing town, Fur
this her citizens deserve 10 be rrowped-
not withGlauel, bu, win the solid gold
Of prosperity. But how comes il Vince.
ling and next to her, Welsburg of all
tho towns ia Virginia should become
manufacturing towns! Answer; They
breathe the atmosphere of free STATES, al.
most touching them on both siies. But
again. seeing that Wheeling, as a manu-
featuring seat is equal to Pitsburg, and
inferior TO no town in America, excep.
Richmond, and thas she has almost no
slaves--why. is Wheeling so far behind
Piltsburg, aud comparatively 50 slow ia
hes growth? answer: STE Is in a c0ua
t,y IL ,gbjch Starry is established Ly lalo,
will add another paragraph Of the
Doctors speech; he saij; THUS it ap.
pears fellow citizens, byinfailiblo proofs,
that West Virginia in all her parts, in
all her interests, has suffered immensely
from he institution Of dacay. These
are the words Of christian statesmen
and patriot, who was not afraid to speak
out and tell the truth, aud that too in the
yoy center Of tho STATE, and at a line
whom slavery was NJ the zenith Of its
glory. Ho was a stakeholder himself.
but that did not prevent him from seeing
the evil, and procIaiming it on tho
housetops--tha! he was rightip his con
illusions and assertions, is evident from
The great amount of statistical facts pre-
sen'ed in his speech. Statistical facts
are stubborn things; they ore unanswer'
able.
When We look at Virginia MS she once
was, and as she now is, We are lost in
wonder and establishment at the blind,
wild, mad, inIa'uatou Of her rulers; re.
minding us of tho prodGal son, in Holy
writ with tho exception that there is no
sign of repentance in the former.
She seemed to hold her own among.
the States, so long as the Revolutionary
patriots held the rule and reigns Of The
Government, but when the grave had
covered these worthless, new lords and
new laNs prevailed. An institution re-
garted by the former, as full OF deadly
poison, and which they hoped and fully
expected wonld pass away and become
extinct, was by the latter brought into
life and power, endowed with attributes
both human and divine.
To this institution. was every other
great interest ofihe State sacrificed; trade
'ccI1retsc, lnaa6iaGturefs, he aris, sci
ence, literature, oil must fall and kiss
the dust before the great Molooh. 1t
was hedged all round by statue laws,
making tia penal offence for any one to
speak, or wri'e against it, for It were
statute lava made, prohibiting the Bible
to every third man in the State, aud for
putting mnFon in a felou's cell for
teaching a black women TO read.
All men may, itthoy sill, see clearly
the rock upon which the Old Domin.
ion has split, AMI rerkod all her once
proud hopes and glorious prospects of
future greatness among the States Of TIE
Union communities ofthe world. Bat
where and what is she nowl her great
luminaries have long since gone out, and
instead of wise statesmen and pure pa.
triots, pegured traitors rule her coun
els, and who have for this great IDOL
false Allah, laid waste by war aud dren.
ched her land in brolhafs blood, nearly
every house 4 house Of mourning, fam
Inc prices for the very necosssries of life
with little CT no money to bug them; in
yo!yed IN 100 millions Of debt, a debt
bor children's cilinn will not see paid
her future prospects shrouded in i'm
reneuable gloom
Alas alas orlho old Dominion! she
who IN her youth, was a giant, now in
her manhood lies PROSTATE, bleeding at
every pore, She who in her youth had
'urniShed such grea! men for the field,
and for the public forum; she whose star
shone with 50 much btilliancy in the
galaxy of the 10 young States, and who
started out, as the empire aud leader Of
them all with gfar. nl superior adyan
tages, is now engaged in irsLicijal and
suicidal war for the pr ,ryation of her
lido, an institution hat had Frustrated
all her energies, eale,l out her very vi.
tails, aud dragged her from the pinnacle
Of fame. How sad and mournlul the
contemplation!
SEE.