The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-10-09
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1859.
TEN YEARS IN VIRGINIA.

Ten years ago to-day, Virginia was pursuing
the even tenor of her way, according to the
custom of half q century. BY false and
short-sighted system of agriculture, her soil
had been impoverished, and her inhabitants
reduced to such desperate straits that they
found the breeding of human chattels not
only the most profitable, but almost the only
profitable employment at their command.
The entire State was given over practically
to the slave-breeders; and the nation, in its
turn, was given over to the sway of their re-
representatives. in the Cabinet and Congress.
Henry A. Wise was Governor, John b. Floyd
was Secretary of War, Hunter and Mason sat
in the Senate, and Roger A. Pryor and
extra Billy" Smith in the House.
The public sentiment of the State
was extremely patriotic and excessively con-
sttiutional, but subordinate in all things and
under all circumstances to the behests of the
slave power, and the public sentiment of Vir-
ginia was still the unsavory leaven which tenn
pered and controlled that of the entire coun-
try. Peace reigned throughout the land,
except in ''bleeding Kansas" But there were
mutterings all around of the coming storm.
Mr.. Douglas Kansas-N ebraska bill had aroused
the people of the North in 1854, and the re-
suit was general upheaval in the political
world and the establishment of the great Re-
publican party. The first noticeable triumph
of the latter was the election of Nathaniel P.
Banks, of Massachusetts, to the Speakership,
in 1855. At the Presidential election of
1856 the Fremont and Dayton ticket
polled 1,342, 164 votes, and their
warning voice nerved the slave oligarchy to
fresh exertions in the effort to maintain and
consolidate their threatened power. Then,
in 1858, came the great speech at Rochester
on the conditions and issues of the 'Hirrepres-
sible conflict" by MIR. Seward and, as the
Presidential contest of 1860 approached, it
was felt on both sides that the final struggle
was at hand.
But in the early part of the month of Octo-
ber, 1852 small band of reckless and
fanatical spirits were quietly preparing for a
movement which was to result in the precipi-
tation of this final struggle, to render its
postponement no longer possible. John
Brown, of Osawotamie, was their leader, and
they numbered twenty-five men, white and
black. Their hearts were as barren of fear
as of prudence, their souls were fred with
universal freedom and impartial justice, was
the dream of their crazy brains; and to carve
this new and true republic out of the old and
false one, they raised their puny arms and
faced Virginia and the nation. On
the night of Sunday, October 16,
they fell like thunderbolt upon the vii
lage of Harpers Ferry. Two men were killed
by them, they maintained their position until
the following Tuesday, and when the rem
nants of the band were captured, thirteen
of them were already dead, and old John
Brown, their leader, was covered with sabre
and bayonet scars and fainting from loss of
blood. The patriotic and constitutional Wise
and his subordinates made short work with
such of the fanatical crew as fell into their
hands Treason against the State of Virginia
overshadowed the charge of murder in the
Indictment upon which they were tried, and
for these joint offenses they suffered death
upon the scaffold before the close of the year.
Ten years. lacking few days only, have
passed since the solemn quiet of that Sabbath
evening in October was disturbed by the
clamor of John Browns band, and into this
decade has been crowded grand historical
pageant, so momentous and imposing that
each year seems like decade within itself.
The attempt at securing the stronghold of
slavery by disrupting the Union has been
made and failed, and the infamous and blight
ing curse has been utterly and thoroughly
eradicated The nation has undergone the
terrible ordeal of publication and rehabilita-
tion by the sword, has emerged from the
ordeal the true Republic which was the bright
and glorious vision by which John Brown and
his followers were lured into the very jaws of
death. And most noticeable of all the events
which have marked this wondrous decade is
the solemn assent given yesterday, just on
the eve of the tenth anniversary of John
Browns raid, by the Legislature of Virginia
to the amendments to the Federal Constitu-
ton which confirm the verdict of the war
and declare in effect that universal freedom
and impartial justice are the groundwork of
our system, the cornerstone of the fabric
which the founders cast aside.
NrITH mHAFDHD NOE TTnRET