Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1871-08-31
cOAf1fUNEo4z7oMs.
THE uLIfORTdL WEYER.


= THE LlLIfORTAL WEYER.
Socrates, that other great man of an
|tiquity, having failed to leave behind
him history OF his life, even the mas
terly hands of Plato and Xenophon
could not do him Justice This neglect
has been matter of profound regret
the world over and through ages.
Such, however, was not the case with
the immortal Weyer. He saw and re-
cognized the claims of posterity, and
nobly has he met them. He thus lives
not to himself and the present age
alone, but to the eternity of the future.
Well may he say, after the manner of
Horace. ST have reared a monument
more enduring than brass" 7sf..s
But it is to be remembered that the
words of great men are fraught with
unusual significance, and are often far
richer in their hidden than apparent
wealth of meaning. Especially is this
the case with the Doctors Biography,
since he has comprised it all in SO few
words. Superficial scholarship may
fail to comprehend him; or in the in
numerable flight Of years the classic
admirers of his story calling tradition
to their aid may assign him a place
among the characters Of heathen myth
ology. His boosted immutability, trea-
son to his country, advocacy of slavery,
land undying hatred of his African
brethren, together with the traditions
which are to go tripping along the line
tof centuries, may appear SO strange to
the remote reader as to excite doubts IN
his mind whether such mortal as the
Doctor claims to have really ever ex-
isted. The world may be fended into
wrangling schools, each claiming him
for its fraternity, and the above, his
highest political virtues, be construed
most strongly against him. A few
more touches of the Doctors pen would
render the work its efVn best comment
larry, and settle all sseculatioas of this
character forever Eif ~ 1s
For instance, it may be asked, How
can it be that the Doctor never changed
his politics, when it appears that he
1Once joined the KnOW-N Nothings, and
afterwards boited from the convention
land the party, too, because his man
wasn't noininated?i The question is
lelearly answered. His immutability
like the infallibility of the pope is by nc
means dependent upon circumstances.
lift be wondered at, that he expressed
the wish that q considerable number. oi
his neighbers would succeed in getting
their heads blown off by cannon balls,
the reason of the wish is easily ex.
lplained. He regarded them, to use his
own language, as !" Lincoln's hounds y
land didn't like their bark upon the
I.battlefeld, because it betokened disaster
to his rebel friends. In an ioutburst Of
1self-admiration he was once heard tC
lexciaiia "Just look at me; / am liy.
ling, moving seceSh, and glory in itI''
1t is only on the Negro question
however, that the convictions of this
great tand noble mind are manifested in
their full intensity and power. II
would be interesting to trace from an
early period his emotional and intel
Iectual development upon this subject
but want of space forbids. Suffice it tC
4 say that at an early stage of his mora
land mental grewth In this direction, he
i discovered that his conscience would
not long permit him to remain in {
lcommunity where the teachings of the
I Bible were defied, on every hand, by
lsacriIigious efforts to bring into disre
Ipute the divinely ordained institution
4 of slavery, and its advocates. Hi
friends urged him to stay, telling hin
I that in the land whittier he was going
Il he would have to consent, for. years a
lleast, to be numbered with the abom
Unable "white trash, y and be compelled
: Ito rank even below the detestible ne
groes themselves, and he could not ex
3 Epect to be a heavy slave holder from
| 1.-THE start. But his conscience troubled
him, and he gave utterance to thes'
lwords-words worthy to be written il
letters of mud upon his political tomb
: lstone-No! ! I an determined no 5onge
Ito endure the disgrace OF HUiRg f7s O. fre
laSyote. And so he pitched his tent to
4 ward the land of slavery, and bidding
la dramatic farewell to freedoms soil
was on the way TO his Missouri home
< Z But, alas his stay was short
-fThe predictions of his friends proyef
, true; he was nowhere. He had hast
/ ened to the aid of the Border Ruff
4 fans' against Kansas; but his own re
: lceived him not. AT this crisis it i
4 thought he might he'd rendered valuabl,
siservice. He could not have mingled il
the battle, of course, since he delightetl
4 to hear the thunder of war only Wher
tafar off. But, as Victor Hugo hurlet
ONCl DllC W d111O VI d1lo q O1lOWCl VI ODl
!, thetS at the advancing Germans, So ou
i hero, first working himself up into
/ fury by whipping few negroes, Nigh
Fl have dismayed Kansas by a verba
. demonstration of his power. Butt wa
: mot to be thus; and so, blaming the poo
I negro for it all, he planted hisreturninl
: footsteps. Came he then to Powhatan
and there, for the time, made his hom,
II where he could look over with longiny
) eyes upon the Canaan of the slavehold
ID ers, with erect ears listen for the dis
! tant music of the bloodhounds, ant
! snuff inspiration in its purity and fresh
} ness from the north-bound breezes. )
ID But, alas! again. War came; anC
! the mountains of West Va. were de
f Iciared free. The might of right err
i long prevailed throughout the land
) The heathenraged and imagined avail
= thing; slavery was gone forever. Th,
j Doctor is he? Still raging ant
81 praying against Negro freedom.n HI
5 is running for Office now, perhap
t under the old constitution, the repre-
5 eisentative of great principles, and is no
3 ashamed to avow these principles. III,
: says-I ask no Niger to Uote for me-, h
a a00stld 6eG fooI..it he should do so. Plat
) forms may resolve that they win, bu
r lfor his part he is determined not to b,
: an accessory alter the fact to the re
suits of the abominable war. ..-.,.i. t5
The Democracy sits mourning, anS
lrefuses to be comforted, because it i
tout of meat" and the woodchuck il
gone; and some of the brethren is hearC
: lfeebly to sigh, o, that the party has
hearkened to the Doctors counsel.
.E3-g IA. - rsf1 REVIEWER.
LOUISVILLE, o., Aug. 21st II.
Il Editor Chronicle We desire to an
, lswer, through your columns, some O
= the questions asked by the ''Pease TIP
! Prohibitionist, ;" whose article appeared