The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-07-16

consISbeQ OF MeSSrS. Robert Y. Conrad,
A. n. a. Stuart. Henry A. Wise, Rob.
ert y. Scott, w. Ballard Preston, Lewis
U. Harvie, Sherrard Clemens, w. II.
Mcfarland, William McComas. Robert
Il. Montague, Samuel Price, Valentine
". Seuthall, Waitman T. Wiley, Jas.
Q. Bruce, William w. Boyd, James
Barbour, Samn C. Williams, William
Q; Rives, Samuel Mod. Moore, George
Blow, Jr., and Peter Q. Johnston. Two
OF those appointed, Messrs. Stuart and
Clemens, asked to be, and were, ex-
eused from serving. s.ses[ d
The business of the convention was
now fairly begun, and resolutions were
poured upon the convention with great
rapidity. They were expressive of
divers sentiments and conflicting opin-
ions. But by far the greatest number
came from those who had been elected
as seeessionists. Their cause was me-
cessarilY progressive; it admitted of no
heSltatlon, RESOLUTIONS were offered
and referred to the committee on Feder-
al relations, that in view of force bill,
as IT was termed, being passed by Con
gress, to coerce any of the seeded
States, that it would be regarded in
conflict with the fundamental princi-
pies of republican institutions, and
that due regard for the rights of the
Southern sisters of Virginia, would i'm
pei her to resist such an attempt with
all the means in her power. That the
Governor be requested to furnish the
number of enrolled militia and the
number and character of arms distrib-
uted to volunteer companies; that the
commissioners of the Peace Congress,
then in session at Washington, from
Virginia, be requested to report wheth-
er any result acceptable to the com
monwealthI was to be expected from
their deliberations That select
committee of five be appointed
to report speedily whether any
movement of arms or men had been
made by the Federal Government to
any fort or arsenal in or bordering on
Virginia indicating preparation for
attack or coercion. These showed the
spirit that animated the secessionists,
and gave the opposite party to under
stand what might be expected from,
them, and what 1t would ultimately be
called upon to resist. As yet they were
not sufficiently strong in numbers to
forward materially their desperate pro-
iects.
BY a we'll timed arrangement on the
part of the conspirators, the 18th day of
Eebruary was set apart for the recep-
tton of certain commissioners appointed
oy the States of South Carolina, Geor-
gla ana Mississippi to the convention,
to ask the cooperation of Virginia in
establishing and maintaining a govern
ment in the seeded States.
The first speaker introduced was the
Hon. Fulton Anderson, the commits
sioner from Mississippi. He began his
remarks by a graceful adulation of
Virginia, in attributing to her the hon
or of leadership in the struggle for in
dependence with the crown of Great
Britain. He passed into a rehearsal of
the action of his State in her secession
from the Union, and assigned as a
cause the election of II President by one
inn ~ tNnT Lii
was an enemy to the institution of
slavery. He charged that the Northern
people had forced the conflict upon the
South byinculoating in the school room,
from the forum and the pulpit, the idea
of an inferior morality among the
Southern people on account of slavery,
which they, relying upon the teachings
of sacred and profane history, believed
to be the surest foundation of their So
cial and political fabric. he concluded
by alleging that, destiny pointed to a
southern Union composed of States in
habited by homogeneous population,
with common sympathies, common in
terestS and common hopes; that Vir-
glnta held that destiny in her hands
and that by uniting with her Southern
sisters, revolution would be accom-
plished, bloodless and peaceful in its
character, and no more threats of coer-
cion would be heard.
Hon. Henry l.. Benning, from Geor-
gia, was next introduced. His remarks
indicated, perhaps, more mind and
practical craftsmanship than either OF
The others, and appealed to the avarice
of the Virginians. He said that the
cause which had induced his State to
secede from the Union, was settled
conviction that a separation from the
North was the only thing that could
prevent the abolition of slavery. In
proof that the conviction was we'll
founded he alleged that the North hated
slavery, that the President elect had
declared so in a speech made by him
in 1858; that the Republican party, then
in unlimited control at the North, was
the North, by virtue of having the ma
jority of the popular voice with it; that,
neven it were possible to overcome il
in few years, the ascendency would
be but temporary; that il hated slavery
there could be no doubt, and that It
would in the future, as in the past, ex-
ert all its power against it. He argued
that the North was in the course OF ac-
qutring the power that would eYentu-
ally sweep slavery from every State;
That new States, formed out of the ter
ritOrieS, would be free; that such was
the intensity ofthe anIi-slavery senti-
ment in the border free States, that
there was an actual decrease of slave
population in the border slave States:
I'll slavery would only exist in the cot
ton States, and then there would be
sufficient power to abolish il there. He
next discussed the remedies, and held
that there were but two; one to eraCi-
cate the hate of the North, the other TO
prevent the North from acquiring DOW
er. The latter could only be accom-
plished by establishing a geographical
line, and combining both parties to its
hmttsi but.this was impossible, for the
North held slavery to be sin and a
crime, and any stipulation in relation
thereto was not binding. The hate
could not be eradicated.
The only remedy was in separation,
and this would be effectual. The will
of the North would then be changed
for they would no longer regard them
selves responsible for slavery, bv BEING
in the Union. Once out ofIthe Union
slavery would no longer be in politics,
1t would be out ofthe power of its ene-
mics, and in thelhands of its friends.
But there were reasons why Virginia
should join in the formation OF the
Southern Confederacy. What should
influence nation to enter into a treaty
with another nation2 It was interest
interest.
The speaker declared that Southern
civilization could not exist without Az
rlcan slavery, and that the social or
ganlsms OF the two sections were so an
tagonistic, that firm political relations
could never be maintained. The free
States were governed by the principle
OF pure Democracy, which had its
controlling idea in numerical prepon-
derance. The rule! of numbers was
modified in the Southern States by the
recognition of specific property essen
tlat to the vitalizatton of the social and
political ORGANISM. 1II.-f. ~ E-1T :