National Republican., 1884-06-19

Tho chapter of Mr.. Blaines Twenty
creation of tho state of West Virginia and
Of the Virginia debt question, which grew
out Of tho forcibe dismembormont Of the
"Old Dominion" Is herewith reproduced as
bearing upon live issue and vindicating
tho position assumed by the readjusters of old
Virginia:
The great importance attached by Mr..
Lincoln to the preservation Of loyalty in the
line of slave states which bordered upon tho
free states was everywhere recognized. As
Delaware, Maryland. Kentucky, and Missouri
had been promptly placed under the control
of governments friendly to the union, there
remained of tho states in rebellion only
Virginia with territory adjacent to the loyal
states Virginia bordered on tho Ohio river
for $50 miles, she was adjacent to Pennsylva-
mia for q distance of 100 miles, half on the
southern, half on tho western, line of that
state. Her extreme point stretched to the
northward of Pittsburg, and was within
twenty-five miles of the par
allel of latitude that marks the
southern boundary of New Eng
land The continued exercise of even NOM
inal Jurisdiction 80 far north, by the state
which contained the capital of the rebel con-
federacy, would be serious impeachment of
the power of the national government and
would detract from its respect at homo and
its prestige abroad. But the national gov
ernment was of itself capable only of enforcing
military occupation and proclaiming the
jurisdiction of tho sword. What the presi-
dent desired was the establishment of civil
government by q loyal people, with the reign
of law and order everywhere recognized.
Happily the disposition of the inhabitants
Nyas in harmony with tho wisheq nf the nd
ministration and the necessities Of the union,
After the adoption of the secession ordi-
nance by the Virginia convention of the
seventeenth of April, the loyal people of the
western section Of the state were prompt to
act. As early as the thirteenth of May, o
fortnight before the day appointed for tho
popular vote on the secession ordinance in
Virginia, five hundred staunch union men
came together in convention at Wheeling,
denounced the ordinance of secession and
pledged their loyalty to tho national govern
ment and their obedience to its laws. If the
ordinance should be approved by the popular
vote of Virginia, this preliminary con-
ference requested the people in
all the counties represented to
appoint delegates on tho 4th day of Juno to
q general convention to assemble in Wheel
ing on the 11th of the same month. These
union-loving men were energetic and jealous.
They realized that with the secession of Vir-
Rlhiu COmplobOu anu pIOClhlhtu, tuby IuubU
do one of two things-ether proceed at once
to organize state government which would
be faithful to the national constitution, or
drift helplessly into anarchy, and thus con-
tribute to the success of the rebellion. Their
prompt and intelligent action is q remarka-
BILE illustration of tho trained and disciplined
ability of Americans for the duties of self
government.
The members of the convention which was
organized on the 11th of June were even
more determined than those who had assem-
bled the preceding month. Without delay,
they declared the state offices of Virginia
vacant because of the treason and disloyalty
of those who had been elected to hold them,
and they proceeded to fill them and to form
a regular state organization, of which Francis
ii. Pierpont was appointed the executive
head, They did not assume to represent q
mere section Of the state, but in the belief
that the loyal people were entitled to speak
for the whole state they declared that their
government was the government OF Virginia.
This western movement was subsequently
strengthened by the accession Of delegates
from Alexandria and Fairfax counties, in
middle Virginia, and from Accomac and
Northampton counties, on the Eastern Shore
Thus organized, the government of the state
was acknowledged by congress as the govern
ment of Virginia and her senators aud rep
resentatives were admitted to seats.
Notwithstanding the compliance with all
the outward forms and requirements. not
wthstanding the recognition by congress Of
the new government it was seen to be essen
TALLY and really the government OF West
Virginia. 1t was only nominally and by
construction the government of the state Of
Virginia. 1t did not represent the political
power or the majority of the people of the
entire state. That power was welded in aid
of the rebellion. The senators and represent
atlves of Virginia wete in the confederate
congress. The strength of her people was in
the confederate army of which distin-
guished Nirginian was the commander. The
situation was anomalous, though the friends
of the union justified tho irregularity of
recognizing the framework of government in
the hands of loyal men as the actual admin
istration of the state of Virginia.
The people of the western section of Vir-
ginia realized that the position was unnatu-
raj, one which they could not sustain by
popular power within the limits of the state
they assumed to govern, except for the pro-
lection afforded by tho military power of the
national government. Between the two
sections of the state there had long been
serious antagonism. Indeed from the very
origin of the settlement of West Virginia.
which had made but little progress when the
federal constitution was adopted, its citizens
were in large degree alienated from tho east
ern and older section of the state. The men
OF the were hardy frontiersmen, majority
oJ them soldiers of the revolution aud their
immediate descendants, without estates,
with little but the houorble record
of patriotic service and their own strong
arms, for their fortunes. They had few slavol.
They had their land patents, which were
certificates of patriotic service IN the revolu-
tionary war and they depended upon the T
own labor for n new home in the wilderness.
A population thus originating, a community
thus founded, were naturally uncongenial to
the aristocratic element of the Old Dominion.
They had no trade relations, no social inter-
course, with the tide-water section of tho
state. Formidable mountain ranges separated
the two sections and the inhabitants saw
little of each other The business interests
the western region led the people to the val
Icy of tho Ohio and not to the shores of the
Chesapeake. Tho waters OF the MOnon-
gahela connected them with Penn
sylvania and carried them to Pittsburg.
All the rivers of tho western slope
flowed into tho Ohio and gave to tho people
the markets of Cincinnati and Louisville.
Their commercial intercourse depended on
the navigation of western waters, and far
larger number had visited st. Louis and New
Orleans than had ever seen Richmond or
Norfolk. The West Vlrginians were aware
OF the splendid resources of their section and
were constantly irritated by the neglect of
the parent state to aid in their development.
They enjoyed climate as genial as that OF
the Italians who dwell on the slopes of the
Appenines; they had forests more valuable
than those that skirt the upper
Rhine; they had mineral wealth
as great as that which has