The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-02-24
The union Party OF west virginia and
fits Principles.

its Principles.
The meeting held on Thursday night
represented the Union voters of every
county of the State. If a convention
had been expressly called, we doubt If
the Representations could have been SO
general or fair. The men composing
the meeting neither did nor proposed
anything in the way Of bluster. They
appreciated the fact that an organized
and 1nsidious foe is atwork diligently
undermining the public integrity, and
that earnest work is needed TO meet II.
The principles enunciated by this meet
ing may fairly be taken 10 embody the
views OF the loyal people of the State.
As such we accept and endorse them.
They will be found in the report of the
Committee as printed below. They
embody no new profession of faith for
the 1STRLLIoBScER or the loyal men
of the State with whom It has always
been and is now in accord. They are
straightforward, simple but compre-
hensiye and sufficient. They compre-
bend the only real issues now before
our people.
We stand. first, ON the firm resolve
that this State, by the formation of
which we were delivered FROM the
oppressive and repressiye domin-
acton. Of tio- Is.stJ- shall newer ne
extinguished in the common ruin
which treason has brought down
upon It's yotaries in East Virginia.
We will live with Virginia us neigh
49,, III ,,.syI .,agtI,1,- AZ. nos ,.,fSb bor
any wrong; but we cannot commit the
suicide of returning to the same house
hold. We believe there is not n loyal
man in the State who would not, IL the
worst ever came, resist their reclama-
ton by Virginia with every weapon Of
law first, and II that did not suffice, by
every weapon OF war: 30 general and
profound is the conviction that a yolun-
tary return would be suicide and a for
chile reclamation, destruction.
While we stand by West Virginia
forever, II must be West Virginia in the
Union. We can never recognize the
right OF secession. 1t would be for all
the States simply national immolation.
We have an interest In maintaining the
Union peculiar to no other State. 1t Is
tho sworn purpose of the rebels South
and North, IL they ever get the power,
torestore to Virginia her ancient bound
aries. Whenever the Union Is mined
and shivered to ruins, our little State
falls into the hands OF the South. We
cannot choose our position as other
States may do, for from that moment
We are nothing. The Union then is
peculiarly the "palladium" of our Glib
critics." II is the preserver of our life.
We shall not argue Mt any length
the position that the Immediate pur-
pose of the organization which steals the
livery OF an ancient and once honora-
bio, party is to extinguish this State.
We assert IL TO be true, and every intel
lisent man knows 1t. We believe also
that the same men contemplate as an
Interior purpose theascendency ofsuch
n marty and policy in the country as
will accomplish or permit dissolution
of the Union. In the success OF either
purpose, our fate is sealed. Ifonly the
immediate purpose should succeed, We
would 20 back TO the flesh pots of Old
Virginia. 1.-THE ulterior purpose be ac-
complished, we would also beturned
over to a foreign and detested govern
ment. The one would be social, politi-
cal and material death; the other social.
political and material damnation.
That these are the real issues involved
in the coming contest, stripped of hol-
low professions and pledges, is our pro-
found conviction. Believing this, we
say the measures now proposed by the
Union party, ofwhich the constitution
nj amendment is the most Important
and efficient, are not only prudent aud
iudicious but absolutely vital. For the
Union people OF West Virginia, the
stake involved in this contest is no less
tremendous than the stake Of the nation
that trembled in the scale at Gettys-
burg.
The naked issue on which our people
have to vote this summer Is presented
by the proposed amendment TO the
state constitution, and that question Is
simply. shall those who abetted the re-
bellion exercise in this State political
privileges which belong only to the
citizen who feels and acknowledges an
obligation of loyalty to the Govern
ment? No technicalities cover mp this
issue. No man can dodge it II he would.
The amendment to the organic law, by
those who made the law itself, Is con-
stitutional OF course. The only ques-
ton for every man to face is, Do you
desire TINT the men who allotted the re-
belIion shall vote in the present condi-
ton of the country For ourselves, we
answer, we do not. We are free to say
that IL the public safety permitted-if
these men gave evidence Of returning
feaity to the Government, we would
gladly see them restoredto all the priv
ileses OF American citizenship, and all
the wounds inflicted by them speedily
healed. But blindness to the truth in
this case would be more than folly: it
would be a crime. These men have not
repented. They have merely been dis
armed. Their treason rankles as
bitter as ever; their purposes are the
same, though they are now compelled to
adopt different means; and they form
the groundwork and are the motive
power of the party which now attacks
The Union party OF the State, and pro-
poses to overthrow it and undo all its
work.
shall we, then, fellow-citizens, obey
the instinct OF nature, the warning OF
reason, the promptings of duty, and
defend ourselves by peaceful measures
against this enemy, as we defended our