Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1864-10-14
Tor tho IntSiligsncer.l
Southern Piety and Patriotism.


Pick upa Richmond paper and you will
see declarations that the South is fighting
for her liberty, her homes, her affairs, her
honor, her ali. They appeal to just and
merciful' God. 0n His almighty arm they
rely, His aid will enable them to drive
back the Vandal hosts Of invadersIl o, II
this is not blasphemyS never did blasphe-
my proceed from human lips. The South
is not fighting for liberty, or homes, or
honor, or affairs. The cotton States dis
solyed the Union and commenced the war
on account of pretenled loss of fugitive
slaves. And old Virginia followed their
example and Joined their league, for fear
of threatened loss Of her Southern slave
trade. For the sake4ofthis sordid traffic
in human flesh and blood Ard bones, she
dissolved the sacred ties OF nationality,
aud made war upon q great people, Hwho
had loved her not wisely but too we'll"
This traffic, never enough 70 be Rbhorred,
STes the lever emf pl6y Cd BY the bottom States
to hoist the Old Dominion out OF the Union.
And in an evil hour "she sold the mighty
mead Of her large henors for as much trash
as could be'grasped thus.H The Richmond
papers are fond Of calling Us ESBMlEs.-
How did we become the enemies of Old
Virginia? Until she levied war upon
us, we never injured or wished to in
jure the ancient State. If we are ene-
mics now, we are most reluctant ene-
mics. Until very recent period the OBJ.
sequiousness of the Northern people to
Southern diCtation was something truly
marvellous. We bought empires larger
than all France and Germany united, and
added them to the domain of slavery. Af-
ter buying Florida, We cheerfully paid
hundred millions of dollars to expel the
Seminoles. We voted in Texas and then
spent two or three hundred millions in the
war with Mexico, which annexation had
rendered inevitable. We subjected the
United States mails TO the will of igoorant
and incompetent officials, to be rifled aud
destroyed, Withoutjudgs or jury. We en-
acted fugitive slave laws Of teutold horror,
and bound ourselves TO return to the house
of bondage, miserable Wretches who had
fed from torture, uuder the impulse of
craven fear. We tsmely surrendered the
national powers of peace and war to ruff
fan fllibusters from the Southern cities,
who repeatedly invaded the Central Amer
icsn States, and who acquired an intamy
for the American name, which still grows
green in the eyes of Europe. To crafty
the South We enacted the Missouri Com
promise, and for the same purpose, we re-
peAled the Missouri Compromise. In the
same spirit we adopted the principle of
popular Sovereignty in the Territories. And
in the same spirit we virtually repudiated
that principle, when in the Douglas wing
Of the Baltimore Conventiob,j We en-
dorsed the infamous Dred Scott de-
cision. Our loWly spirit of COM
pIiance aud conciliation did not for
sake US even after secession had ac
tually taken place, not even after open war
had been commenced by firing on the Car
oline, and seiZing forts, artenals and dock
yards. OoS ctanch-to-a-RaPtuEe, npiS.
taken as it was by the Suuthern leaders,
for abject humility, added fuel to the fame
of Southern arrogance. The subscriber
does not stand alone in this opinion. The
old modest and moderate NoTtk American
ReUiet5, for the present month says: "In
the few months between Mr.. Lincoln's cleo
ton and the attack on Fort Sumter, we
tried conciliation in every form, carrying 1t
almost to the verge OF ignominy." See
page K66. The reviewer might have said
ease of Hour Southern Brethren" was the
"Luss tyrannieG," !" disease that is not cured
by lowIy submissions and compliances.-
The very essence of the pro slavery spirit,
is found in the maxim "Give no right, take
no wrong" Aud the operations Of this
spirit are easily transferred from the untor-
tunate slave to the unfortunate neighbor.-
Raised asieur southern nabobs are, amidst
the cringing servility and low debasement
OF slaves, their Arrogance becomes excess
sive. Theoretically it may be different, but
practically and in their heartfelt senti-
ments, these men can scarcely conceive that
non slaveho holders, whether residing amongst
themselves or in separate communities
"h6Se any rights which they are bound to
respect" q Hence the formula, which we
heard from southern stumpers in 1860,
until It became as familiar as household
words: 'tIf the slave states and the free
states are TO ride in the same crowd, the
slave states must ride before and the free
states must ride behind" language which
these gentlemen were not entitled to use,
either by their numbers, their wealth. or
their qualities, corporate or mental. The
slavery of the cotton states could not last.
1t was Q system or atrocious wrong, OF
organized crime, offensive to God and intol-
erable TO man.
God, who is all wise and all-powerful,
has made It a law OF nature, that the tyraut
and the oppressor, whether he wears
crown amongst cringing courtiers, or hat
amongst sooty slaves, shall be inflated
with arrogance. And in the case of the
Southern Nabob, whose power to trample
on human nature is absolute and unlimited
their arrogance increases till it borders on
insanity. Reader, remember that in the
Presidential election, just twelve brief
years ago, ninety. Eve per cent. of the peo-
ple of the United States voted on the sla-
very question, in exact accordance with
the wishes and the dictation of these
naughty men; for in that respect Pierce
and Scott stood Oh the same platform. Yet
in their caprice, in their pertidy, in their
utter contempt of all moral obliga-
ltiop, the Southern demagogues, immedi-
ately afterwards, contriyed to. fasten a
quarrel upon US about llle SHOWS and frosts
of Kansas and Nebraska. They sought
for onr ennity "as for hidden treasurer
they dug for it as for fine gold" or il never
could have been obtained. Gould the
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