Valley Virginian

Referring to the projects now afoot for completing the great Virginia canal and for constructing the Covington and Ohio railroad, the Philadelphia Inquirer says:

If those enterprises are carried out in the extent which is designed they will make Virginia a rival in the transportation of freight and travel with Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York. The Virginia Canal will be able to compete with the Pennsylvania and New York and Erie Canals. The railroad will contest with the Baltimore and Ohio, Pennsylvania Central and New York and Erie for the trade of the West. It is claimed that by these means a shorter route will be furnished from the Ohio river to the mouth of the James than can be had by any other route north of it; that it will be shorter from St. Louis to Newport News, by railroad, than from St. Louis to New Orleans. If these plans are carried out, the consequences will be of advantage to Virginia in more ways than one. Her sources of industry will be opened; a vast emigration of laborers and business men will fill up the desert places, and under the stimulus of commerce and manufactures, the State will assert her claims to greatness which nature gave her, and which, by the supineness of her people were long since overshadowed and almost forgotten, by the advance in prosperity of more energetic and enterprising communities.

Writing upon the same topic, the Petersburg Express says:

In our present depressed and mutilated condition, there is at least some satisfaction in contemplating the prospective greatness of the State, in this ANCIENT DOMINION we should say, for it is now reduced to its original limits, since the violent segregation of one third of our rightful territory.

The geographical position and mineral riches of Virginia have long attracted the notice of intelligent men, even from the time of Washington; and efforts, feeble and almost futile, indeed, have from time to time been made by the State government to develop her resources. But the want of capital has hitherto interposed an insurmountable barrier.

At last, however, our great lines of improvement have been placed in the hands of companies who can command any amount of resources; and the James River Canal, and Covington and Ohio Railroad, are to be pressed forward to speedy completion.

It is confidently believed that by the opening of these lines, a greater amount of trade will be secured to the eastern cities of Virginia than ever was borne on the bosom of the Erie Canal. The great west will be brought nearer to Richmond and Norfolk than it is to New York, with the advantage that trade will not be interrupted during the winter months as in the case of the northern lines. And wherever trade centres, there will capital centre, and population congregate.

The companies which have undertaken the completion of these works have contracted to finish them in a few years. A new era will then dawn upon our beloved State and a career of unexampled prosperity will be opened to her; and we confidently believe she will yet vindicate her title to be in material as she is in intellectual wealth the first State of the Union.

The report of Dr. Geo. E. Cooper, Surgeon U. S. Army, the physician who was appointed by the President to examine into the state of the health of Mr. Davis, officially confirms the worst reports, which have reached the country, of the dangerous condition of the illustrious prisoner. It discloses a deliberate system of vindictive cruelty, made up of petty and irritating annoyances, which have at last culminated in the complete prostration of the feeble frame of the victim.

Christendom has been called upon frequently in past ages, and sometimes in more modern times, to visit with its scorn and reprobation, such national outrages--but never one so brutal, so mean as this; no, not even among the perfidious Greek, or the stern, vindictive Roman. Not even in the dark annals of the reign of terror can a parallel be found to the treatment of Mr. Davis; combining all its elements of fraud, cruelty, cowardly and ineffable meanness. Great Britain still labors and sinks under the odium of the confinement of Napoleon to the rock of St. Helena, tho' the fearful effects of his presence in France were fresh in the minds of all men, and the pressing necessity of excluding him from participation in the politics of Europe, was apparent to the least observant. Charles the First is to this day revered as a martyr by two thirds of the English people, and his execution has left a stain, never to be effaced, upon the fair fame of the Government of Cromwell. Yet Charles is conceded, on all hands, to have been one of the most tyrannical and perfidious of Princes, and the stern old Puritan scorned to work his destruction, by petty annoyances and prison assassination, but brought him to trial and execution in the broad light of day before the face of the world. Neither of these are parallel cases, the United States Government or the creatures who have brought this foul disgrace upon the country, have neither the justification of extreme necessity of the one, or the palliation of boldness and hardihood in crime of the other.

Arrested originally upon the suspicion of complicity in assassination, which its authors know to be a foul and baseless slander, when they preferred the accusation, he has been continued in lingering confinement upon the charge of treason in the cause of rebellion--a cause for which Washington struggled, and which has made him ever "first in the hearts of his countrymen." The sickening details of this cruel imprisonment are given in the official report of an United States Surgeon, appointed for the purpose; the ceaseless trampings of the numerous guards; the agony of the feeble and illustrious victim in his living grave, are pictured in concise and truthful language, and must inevitably hand down, through endless ages, the names of the authors of this horrible and atrocious national crime, to the scorn and hissing of outraged humanity. The English language utterly fails to describe the disgust and loathing, which the sickening recital of the outrage and barbarity which have been perpetuated upon this distinguished and unfortunate gentleman, by his brutal jailors, excites in the breast of every humane man. It becomes President Johnson, if he wishes to wash his hands of this great crime and escape the boundless contempt of future ages, to have this dark and atrocious transaction sifted to the bottom; let the blood-hounds who have cast this ineffaceable blot upon the fair fame of the country, be disclosed and visited with the punishment due their infamous conduct. At least, in difference to outraged humanity, let the brutal Miles be brought before the appropriate tribunal, to answer for the murder of which he stands guilty in the eyes of God and man.

A journal in the South, established in the interests of the freedmen and sustained by their subscriptions, gives them in a recent issue these words of wholesome advice:

Cultivate by every means in your power the good opinion of your former masters. Remember that they have suffered much and been severely tried the last five years. Bear in mind, too, that they have their prejudices and the traditions of their fathers to contend against; and that, besides, they cannot, from their very circumstances, be expected to regard innovations in their midst in the same light that Northern Utopians do. But be patient. Recollect, when the time does come, that whatever claims or privileges are granted to you by them will, in their practical bearing, be worth to you far more than all the recognitions of the North.

But anything suddenly forced upon the whites by any party hostile to the South, that you can never enjoy? In the North itself the black man's steps have been but of gradual measurement. We have heard some of your so-called friends say that nothing short of another revolution could save the cause; and you may be told by interested parties, vampires who feed on the "cause," that, in the event of a collision between ourselves and the whites, the North would stand by you. They would insinuate that, now that you know how to use the cartridge-box, you should insist immediately on the ballot-box.

Yes, the red man dared to assert his claim to the fair country the Great Spirit had given him, and these men's fathers speedily "improved him off the face of the earth;" and their descendants to this day ignore the claims of the colored man, as in Connecticut and other States! Out on the canting hypocrites! Be not deceived by these men. If a collision ever occurs, the government would, of course, be compelled to see order preserved; but should a war of races ever ensue, the whites would join the whites, and the blacks join the blacks. Your most implacable enemies are to be found among the white soldiers. Their hatred toward your race seems to have grown in intensity from the very moment they entered the service.

The Ladies' Cemetery Committee, acknowledge a handsome contribution from Madame Pozzoni's Concert, and $10 50 through Mr. M. Pilson, from Bethel Congregation. Col. M. G. Harman furnished a wagon and team for two days. The ladies have received, from Baltimore, the lawn seed, and it is now being sown over the graves. They wish our patriotic farmers to haul all the rich earth they can, as three inches of earth is required to be placed over seed. Let all lend a helping hand, and the untiring energies of the Committee will complete this great work. In honoring the dead you honor yourselves. Let none be so mean as to hold back now. They gave all for you and yours, and all they ask of you is a little earth. Is it too much?

John Shank, Z. F. Galbreath, G. W. Fauber, W. Armstrong and Martin Roher published statements in the last Vindicator denying signing "that petition" or saying they signed it under a misapprehension of its true meaning. "That petition" has been returned, and W. J. Dews says that all who say they have not signed it can prove it by coming forward and seeing if their signatures are attached. He sends us a letter signed Wm. Herndon, Secretary of the Commonwealth, which says "appended to the (Dew's) application (for appointment as Notary Public) is the following, signed by A. T. Maupin, P. M., alone, "we the undersigned cordially endorse the application of W. J. Dews." That petition is withdrawn, Dews says, for ten days only, and can be seen at his house by all. One J. H. Stover Jr., states, in the American Union, at Harrisonburg, that he deserted the Confederate service and after he came back signed "that petition" and has nothing to regret. It is believed that Stover, being an ignorant man, never wrote this statement, but was used by others. We understand that Todd swears he will prosecute all who say they never signed the petition, and it remains with them to settle the question. It will be interesting to see where the "lie" is.

For the "Valley Virginian."

SIR:--The members of the colored M. E. Church, through the columns of the Virginian, would take occasion to thank the white citizens, of Staunton, for their valuable aid at a Fair recently held by them.

We would take occasion to inform the citizens of Staunton, that we have in our midst, one Emila Rodney, of Pennsylvania, of the Bethel Church, soliciting subscriptions under a false misrepresentation of facts, and would say, that if the white citizens feel disposed to further aid us in paying for our Church, they will please be careful who they pay money to, as we have been informed several gentlemen have contributed, thinking it was for the benefit of the M. E. Church, Colored, when it was intended for the Bethel Church.

They regret to learn that an impression seems to exist among the citizens, that the colored people wish to "draw out from among the whites," and in church and business matters, become independent of them; thus acknowledging little obligation to them. We are sorry to hear that this doctrine is taught by some of our color from the North, who are endeavoring to form a sect, new to us, here, but so far as that is concerned we have no sympathy with them. We do not desire this foolish independence, but are very thankful for sympathy and aid from the whites, and respectfully acknowledge our obligations.

Rev. E. Lawson, Pastor; James Scott, Local Preacher; Phillip Rosshell, Exhorter; Henry Davenport, Aaron Shoveler, Frances Overton, Phillip Ransome, Oscar Morris, Adison King, F. Parris, Thos. Campbell, William Denny, James Carter, John Harris, John Napper, Nelson Shelton and David Devenport.

To Major A. M. Garber, Jr.,
Editor of the "Valley Virginian."

Ye may furl that gleaming star-cross
That lit a hundred fields;
And sing your triumphs o'er its loss;
'Tis all your power yields;
Aye, tear the buttons from the gray,
"Confederate" from our scroll;
The heart will scar its own decay
Ere ye can chain the soul!

Furl the red banner!-scribe its tale,
And shroud with regal pall! Thrill the requiem's surging wail
While ye sound our thrall.
A dauntless race has owned its sway,
That cross baptized in flame,
That shone on Jackson's deathless ray,
That valley-march of fame!

Aye, live the years that hailed thy light
Flash immortality!
Laburnum waving for the Right,
Claim yet our fealty!
Cruci dum spiro, fido,
Echoes each fiery soul--
The dead yet crown their thousand hills,
And point their hero-roll

"Subdued!" ye whisper; catch the gleam
That flashes from the West;
From the staunch heart of Donelson,
From Shiloh's gory breast!
Mansfield, Belmont, mem'ries bring--
Olustee and her glades--
And boldly Cleburne's echoes ring
From the kingly realms of shades;

And Charleston, prouder in her pride,
More haughty in her fall,
Than when upon the stormy tide
She rang the evangel call!
And last, those faces gaunt and grim
That caught that April light;
Mark! 'neath that gray, with war-smoke dim
Smouldered heart-fires of might.

Then furl our banner'd glory
That first that flamed in fight;
Ye cannot tomb the story
Burned on its stainless white!
From Sumpter's battlements it calls,
When Elliott guarded there,
And each proud fold a hero palls
Whose life nerves our despair!

"Say, Pomp, you nigger, where you get dat new hat?"

"Why at de shop ob course."

"What is de price of such an artikle as dat?"

"I don't know, nigger--I don't know--de shop keeper wasn't dar."