The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-03-11

both houses of the Richmond leSlslh-
go ord the call for the convention Is
60 ordered. It is "iron in their
.or,lsn ~ course. Judge ould, as heis
~ tbe same who was the rebel
commissioner ofexchange ofprisoners
dnripx the war, made two speeches
against the bill, but they were like SO
many drops of water on an oiled sur
ace. They made no impression, so the
Richmond papers tell us. All his nice
talk about VirginIa's honor counted
for nothing with the overwhelming
majority of the two houses. They re-
allied with Sir John Falstaff that honor
is good thing in its place but it twill
never mend a broken leg" The Rich
mond editors are inclined to be severe
on those who talk about honor these
days. They regard it as the Language
OF "bomb proofs" rather than of those
who bore the heat and burden of the
day during the war. The Wing, for in
stance, discourses as follows on this
head:
1.-THE fervid defamation we hear
| about honor would better become the
first stages of a revolution, when ar
dent young men, emulous OF fame, are
rallying to the virgin and unfurled
banner-before the battle has been
fought and lost. Such defamation at
a period like the present is ill-timed
| and out of place. It suits not the grave
and gray-headed fathers of the Com
monwealth, who are responsible to God
and to posterity for the wise and faith
full execution of the trust committed to
them.
These gentlemen may put on a dra-
matte aspect and talk eloquently about
death before degradation, and all that.
Some OF them are lawyers They have
cultivated oratory, and know all the
starts, articles and intonations of the
orator. They please the ear, and ex-
cite in their hearers sort of sympa-
short-lived enthusiasm. But their words
carry no conviction with them. They
sit down, and the effect ceases. Honor
| Is not thing of the intellect to be
made the sport OF artful oratory- It is
a subtle thing OF sentiment, feeling,
character. Bacon, the great intellect
ual prodigy of his age, had no honor.
He who knew SO many things did not
know the meaning OF that word. His
interiors in intellect were his superiors
| in honor.
Are we dissatisfied with what we
have done that we should be so uneasy
about our honor2 Surely not. II any
people can afford to make terms with
out mourning reproach we can, for the
whole earth will bear US witness that
we resisted, struggled, fought, up to the
point of utter exhaustion. We did all
that moral men could do or dare.
| "Who does the best his circumstance allows
Does well-acts nobly; angels can do no
more"
Who would ever have expected to
read such "come down" language in a
Richmond newspaper of the orthodox
school. We remember when that
immortal braggart, Pryor, made his
speech at the Atheneum here, he des-
cautsd largely on what Virginia would
never submit to on account of the ten
derness and general immaculateness of
her honor, which to her and to every true
son OF hers, WAS immensely dearer
than life itself. A vulgar Yankee who
was born insensible to honor, was the
only person who, in Pryor's opinion,
could dismiss from his eyes
the bedazzling supremacy of honor
above any other human consideration.
Alas, that the first families should be
proving to the world, out of their own
mouths, that after all they and the
Yankees are made out of the same hu-
man nature. After such "come
down" we may look for most any new
depreciation" as some of their orators
term submission to the Sherman bill,
for "fdcilis descenStIs GVeTni," &c, Is an
old aud well established apothegm. st
-
more prominently than everything else
to enter the souls of some of these lofty
Virginians, is the doubt whether even
the Military bill and its accompanying
programme of reconstruction, mon
strous as they are, are to be finalities.
In other words, to quote az follows
from tho Wing, will submission Ia
the Military Reconstruction act, and
compliance with its conditions reinstate
Virginia a1d be finality? We very
much doubt, and without hesitation
| confess it. But upon another point we
have no doubt: the refusal of the Legis-
lature to call u convention will be the
surrender of the power heretofore wield-
ed by the governing class into the
hands of apostates and adventurous and
the incapable mass of new voters
whom, in that event, they would con
troll, and that will be finality. The
| powers lost will never be recovered.
Those who have governed Virginia
| from the foundation of the Common
| wealth-her real people-will be dis
tranchised, prescribed and degraded
forever. 1t is such a finality as this
that we seek to avert by chilling a con-
vention. The subordinate question OF
\ representation in Congress, we are will
ing to adjourn without reference to
time, If only we can escape the imme-
diate and immeasurably greater evil OF
the supremacy among ourselves here
at home of an inferior race"
The woes of Virginia are not one but
many. In addition to the other ca
lamities that now press upon her, the
town and vicinity of Alexandria are to
be re-annexed to the District of Column
bia. West Virginia, it is claimed, was
taken out of the Old Dominion by II sort
of Cesarian operation, and not by the
regular process. The counties OF
Berkeley and Jefferson were taken by
still greater disregard of regularity
and rights, and now Alexandria is also
to be taken. As Jacob said to his sons
after their return from Egypt, ''Me
have ye bereaved of my children. Jo-
seph is not. and Simeon is not, and ye
will take Benjamin away. All these
things are against me-"
The darkies meanwhile take a very
different view of things. This is the
identical "year of iubilo". that they
have been singing about so much.
They had another immense meeting at
the African Church. on Thursday night