Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1865-1869, 1865-05-09

| elOds strike the coiiin-lid with their dull,
heavy sound. April IL, 1861, the Virginia
convention passed an ordinance of secession.
That day dawned upon no State with fairer
prospects. True, her advancement had not
been so rapid as that of some of the manu-
featuring and commercial States. She was
to great extent agricultural. In the pre-
cediDg decade her white population had in
creased one hundred and fifty three thou
sand. She had two hundred and ten miles
/ of canals, and in the same period had added
| thirteen hundred miles to her railroads.
| Her slaves were bringing higher prices than
ever before. The influence she had welded
| from the earliest history OF the Government
had not waned. The prestige she had &C
| uuired through q Lee, n Patrick Henry,
/ Madison, a Jefferson, and Washington, was
/ still operative. In all the slave and many
/ of Il q free States, she was the "Old Do
/ minion" still. Her agricultural, manufac-
/ turing, and mineral capabilities were unsur.
passed and If, in the American sense OF the
| term, they were slowly, they were still
/ surely being developed. Modest as is
my colleague, (Mr. SEGAR,) l must here
saw no one had more to do with that
| development than did he. From her extreme
| eastern bounds that were Tipped by the
oceans waves, to her furthest western peaks
/ that kindled into bushes under the amorous
| glances of the setting sun, she was full of
/ material prosperity, full of glorious promise.
| Moses, when from the Mount Of Nebo, the
| top of Pisgah, the Lord showed him all the
| land of Judah unto the utmost sea, and the
south, and the plain Of the valley of Jericho,
the city Of palm trees unto Zoar, saw no
fairer sight. When one contrasts her con-
dition then, with what it is now, sadness is
succeeded by indignation. DesolatiOn is
running riot in her borders. Gaunt famine
stares her in the face. Her sons have been
more than decimated by kissing shot and
| pickering steel. Her soil has been wet with
| tears, drenched with blood, made billowy
with graves. A miSerere in one wide vail of
woe has gone up from agonized hearts, such
as rarely ever reverberated through the blue
| empyrean.
What was done in that por u Of the
State that remained unSeducey Did its
citizens blenchi Did they quail Did they
tcrook the pregnant hinges of the knee that
thrift NAV follow fawningW No, Mr.. Speak
er, no. They knew whence their blessings
had flowed. They knew that the Union to
them and TO the country at large had been,
not Mount Ebal Of curses, but Mount
Gerizim OF blessings; that it had been as
which shine on barren sands till they breed
Jewels" They remained firm, true to the
memories Of tue mighty dead, true to them
selves, true to their posterity, true to their
country, true u their God.
Three days after the passage Of the ordi-
nance, John Letcher telegraphed the mayor
of Wheeling. Tread the telegram of Letch-
err, and the answer;
RICHMOND, April 20, 1891.
To An1re,g S,5eeney, Mayor of Wheeling
Take possession of the custom house, post
office, all public buildings and public docu-
ments in the name Of Virginia Virginia
has seeded.
JOHN LETcHER, Governor.
WHEELING, April 81, 1861.
To John Letcher, Governor Of Virginia:
have taken possession Of the custom |
house, post office, and all public buildings |
and pubic documents in the name of Abra- |
ham Lincoln, President of the United States, |
whose property they are.
ANDREW SWEENEY, Mayor of Wheeling.
This same spirit pervaded all classes in
that northwestern section Of the State
Ten days before the question of the accept |
ance or rejection Of the ordinance was to be |
voted on, the 18th day of May, 1861, a mass
convention met at Wheeling. From the ir- |
regular manner in which this convention |
was called, and its unwieldly size, it was
not calculated for the despatch of business.
Its action, however, resulted in the call of |
another convention, which met at Wheel |
ing June IL, 1861. | ask the clerk to read |
the declaration addressed by that body to |
the people of Virginia.
The clerk read as follows
"a declaration of the people of Virginia, |
represented in Convention at Wheeling |
Thur day, June Is, 1861.
ssThe true purpose of ali government is to
promote the welfare and provide for the /
protection and security OF the governed |
and when any form OF government proves
Inadequate for, or subversive of this pur-
pose, 1t is the right it is the duty of the
latter to alter or abolish it. The Bill of
Rights of Virginia, framed in l776, reafirm-
ed in 1880, and again in 1851, expressly re-
serves this right TO a majority OF her peO-
pie. The act of the General Assembly |
calling the convention which assembled in !
Richmond in February last, without the
previously expressed consent Of such ma
jority, was therefore usurpation and the
convention thus called has not only abused !
the power nOminally entrusted 10 il, but
with the conniyance and active aid Of the
Executive, has usurped and exercised other
powers, to the manifest injury of the peo-
pie, which, if permitted, will inevitably
subject them to a military despotism.
"The convention, by its pretended ordi-
nances, has required the people OF Virgil
mia to separate from, and wage war against
the Government of the United States, and
against the citizens OF neighbOring States,
with whom they nave heretofore maintain
ed friendly, social and business relations.
alt has attempted TO subyert the Union
founded by Washington and his copatriotS,
i'll the purer days of the Republic, which
has conferred unexampled prosperity upon
every class of citizens, and upon every sec
tion of the country. 1t has attempted to
transfer the allegiance of the people to al
illegal confederacy of rebellious States, and |
reguired their submission to its pretended |
edicts and DEGREES.
at has attempted to place the whole mill
tary force and military operations of the |
Commonwealth under the control and di-
rection of such confederacy, for offensive |
as we'll as defensive purposes.
sit has, in conjunction with the State Ex-
ecutive, instituted, wherever their usurped |
power extend, a reign Of terror intended |
to suppress the free expression of the will of |
the people, making elections a mOckery and |
a fraud.
"The same combination, even before the |
passage Of the pretended ordinance of seces.
sion, instituted war by the seizure and ap- |
preparation of the property of the Federal |
Government, and by organizing and mobi-
lizing armies, with the avOwed p1rpose of |
capturing or destroying the capital OF the
Union.
"They have attempted to bring the ale
glance of the people OF the United States
into direct conHict vii their snhordinata