The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1865-09-04
West Virginia. Abroad.

A statement prepared for fhe british
Public as 10 Iicr Past, Present and
Future.
We have before us the eLondon "Ai'
ming Journal and RdiEWay aatl CONNER
cial Gazette" OF August 5th-tlle leading
journal of the kind in the world-and
inltYe find fromlthc pom OF c. S. Rioh-
ardson, of New York, the following
statement in reference to West Virginia;
Although It hns been long known
that tho western pnFt Of the "Old Do
mini6n" contained mineral wealth fur
superior To the eastern portion, yet
there has always been want OF contl-
dence among capitalists to laFgely IN
vest IN its lands; not that they enter
taiaedany d0ubts on lie mineral values
tlihy contained, for fllisghns been het n
rlst beyond MI p0ntrotp pfsy fcI MANY
9lats pas Dbl ltdlii iIne9 9pal Of unjust
.iltlmiRistrdi ion .ol Nc i1wS and extreme
political ditteheilee N llile taxation was
uniform throughout the State, or sup.
posed Ia. be, although the '1negro stock, .
was never fgirly taxed; yet the hteEnal
Improvements were almost exclusively
confined to the eastern part or the
country. There can be no bettor proof
Of ftlils than the total absence Of central
lines OF communication, for with the
exception Of two short branches Of the
Baltimore and Ohio Railway, which
cross n narrow portion of the State at
ltA northern end, there Is not n railway
in oheratIou from th6 Allegheny Noun
tains 10 the Ohio River; while in tho
East the country Is intersected with
roads In every direction. The same
disparity exists in Its lines OF water
communication The great james Riv-
er and Kanawha Canal, as projected by
and commenced under the auspices OF
George Washington, and intended to
connect the fertile valley Of the Ohio
with that Of the James and Atlantic
seaboard, was never carried into the
western counties, for atter reaching the
Blue Ridge, somewhere near Chris
tiansburg, In Montgomery county, there
It stopped, although It's continuance
promised a greater amount Of wealth
and rapid extension Of trade and com
merce than all the other improvements
Of that day put together Many per-
sons holding rigid South side views
may say How was II possible all these
things Could have been done In one
generation ofmen2 The answer could
Be Riven-in the same way 1t was done
in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Yes, but
those were free States. Ah, there's the
hitehI On this hangs the secret. Now,
the apathy or indifference which the
eastern mol liticIans " bp feally sheld the
rnins of Governmental In their own hands,
treated the landed interests ofthe west.
ern counties wns long considered un-
lust, and sometimes considered tyFnn-
meal. for the westarn men, being N
the minority, were powerless and could
not help themselves; II was, therefore,
butnatnral d Contenti0 feeling should
arise amonIst them. Thus matters stood
five are correctly informed, about the
wear 1915. when a desire became preVn.
! lent for a separation OF the Slntp, ma
king a Iisghany range the line Of dlvi-
sion; the project, however, mot with no
suppoFt outside the western counties,
and, moreover, was violently opposed
by the ;slnvGhOlding portion OF those
who lived within them, IL Is but,reA.
sonahle to suppose that tho libeEnl
mihlei men of tho country, men whose
views were for progress aud eiYiliZil-
tiot, mon who watched and saw, yenraf'
ter year, the adjoining free State of Ohio
growing lnwealthandO Opnlence, ,wlthnO!l
half ths natural resources TINT they hQd
at command, should fret and chnte un'
dor tho bondage they were held in Dy
their. felloW.citiEens In powCrj hut SC
It was, and the only eonsSolation they