Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1863-03-04
them except upon their men.

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This article is already too long consider
ling thesubject matter of it. 1t seems to
Jus very much like trifing With our readers
to accompany the letter of Ar. McMechen
with any extended or serious comments-
But still, irrespective of the man, it is pos
lslbly necessary that his principles should
be touched upon at some length, and to
shoW, therefore, how inconsistent such
man must become when he turns his back
upon fair professions and goes into sympa-
thy with disloyatY, we have only to puttwo
or three straightforward questions to Mr..
McMechen. In whatrespect then, sir, is the
Wheeling LntelEigeneer a better or worse
paper than when yOu were 80 long its cor
respondent2 Why do you cite in your ar
ticle its opposition to the extension Of
slavery into the territories when such op-
position was always proclaimed from the
very frst2 Why did you not send your
communications to the old Wheeling Union
instead Of the Iatektigeneer, when, as near
as may be, you knew thattt held the opin-
ions of itP successor, the present Wheeling
ISs's to which you now send communities
tions2 Do you remember any articles
ever written by you or any suggestions at
any time made by you very grossly at vari-
ance with your present professions and
practices. For instance, do you remember
to have ever advocated the doctrine that
large assessment of money should be lev
led upon the secessionists of this city
and county, and that those WHO would
not pay it should have only so many
hours to pack their trunks and leave
and retire beyond the lines? Do you
remember ever sending an article to this
paper complaining of an editorial which
had appeared in it denouncing some mob
manifestations against the houses of some
secessionists in Centre WheelingP Did
you not think that the Intelligsncer was full
conservative enough then2 Did you not
think it full conservative enough when its
editors disapproved of your revolutionary
, suggestions for arresting and expatriating
the rebels of the city Didn't you think
1t was conservative enough when it did
not agree with the radical ideas Of your.
self and Carlile, in May, 1851, at the time
of the Convention here2 Give us your
ideas upon these points now, Mr.. McMe-
chen. We propose to hold the mirror up
to your face little, and 4et you take a
! look at your former self. We want you,
for instance, to go back and examine the
: resolutions which you offered in the grand
: jury room of the Court House GA the oath
E day of April, 1861. Read them over
and give US your mind upon them. Tell
us anew your ideas of expurgating Ger.
tain church ofthe city. Give US copy of
certain Robespirerean. document drawn up
by Garlic and endorsed by yourself. In
short, and to sum up an endless category,
give US your record just previous to and
for months following the outbreak of the
rebellion. Then ask yourself how you got
away over there from away over yonder.
We sincerely think that you could, were
i you to try, astonish yourself more than any
man we ever knew. But radical change is
: a law OF your being. You are as much a
II born fanatic as Wendell Phillips, and are
g only less dangerous because of less cana.
! city. Had you been raised where he was
n you would have been the hottest of the red
g hot abolitionists ofhis school. You might
!, not have been so long at time, but you
! would have been SO at times most assured
: ly. You have been everything by turns
t even in this conservative latitude
How many different avocations of life
o you have already engaged in we dc
not pretend to know. But they have
g been many and certainly some of them very
b autagonistic. 1t would be no use for us
e to try to keep up or keep back with you
E You would lirt with this party or this poll
E icy to-day, md that party and that princi-
= pie tomorrow and the next day you would
# renounce them both just as some vaerant
i fancy might take possession of you. This
community can bear witness that the In.
8 teiiigeneer is the same paper that it was
when you correspOnded with it, and yet
you are going off into spasms about its
course. Did you suppose that it had to
follow yOu2 The suppression and the
emasculatiou of so many of your sugges-
tions in times past, ought to have taught
you very imPressively that as you could
not coerce an editorial endorsement of
your radical aud faustical notions even on
the side of the Union, so neither could
you influence an endorsement when you
changed over to the enemy. a paper that
would after such mind as yours wouldnot
run long 10 any one place. 1t would need
to travel round like show for livelihood.
All these things Mr.. McMeehen you know
to be simply so many facts plainly told
They are not told from any feeling against
you of spiteful kind. We hope that We
could never be spitsful in the least degree
towards you. We don't ,bint we oonls