Valley Virginian

Four stormy years we saw it gleam,
A people's hope--and then refurled,
Even while it's glory was the theme
Of half the world.

The beacon that, with streaming ray,
Dazzled a struggling nation's sight--
Seeming a pillar of cloud by day,
Of fire by night.

They jeer, who trembled as it hung,
Comet-like, blazoning the sky--
And heroes, such as Homer sung,
Followed it--to die.

It fell--but stainless as it rose,
Martyred, like Stephen, in the strife;
Passing like him, girdled with foes,
From death to life.

Fame's trophy, sanctified by tears!
Planted forever, at her portal;
Folded, true--what then? Four short years
Made it immortal.

In the Richmond Examiner, of Wednesday last, we find the following. We have received a voluminous communication from General Imboden, in reference to the National Express Company and his connection therewith which he requests us to publish in full. While we are very ready to do all justice to General Imboden, whom we highly regard, the crowded state of our columns forbids that we should give his letter in its whole extent. We cheerfully insert such of his remarks as set him right before the public, especially as he seems to think that a recent article of ours created a wrong impression in regard to him. General Imboden writes:

When the Company was formed in November last, the courts had not been organized in this State, and I was wholly out of employment. The Board of Directors tendered me the Superintendency of the Company. I accepted the position with the distinct understanding that either party might terminate our relations at any time, it being my desire to return to the bar as soon as practicable. In January I resigned, for reasons not necessary to be mentioned here, but wholly different from that you assign. At the respect of the Board, I continued to act until my successor entered upon his duties, on the 3d of February.

Though no longer an officer of the company--our relations being simply those of an attorney and client--I am pretty well informed of its condition and prospects, and do not hesitate to express the opinion with entire confidence that at no time has the company ever been on a sounder footing than it is today.

So much we feel due to General Imboden, and we publish it notwithstanding the press of matter upon us. The rest of his letter has no bearing upon the personal question which he desires to place in a proper light, and we are compelled to omit it.

The National Intelligencer, of the 2nd, contains a card from our representative elect, in reply to the statements, heretofore published, made by Mr. Trumbull, in regard to "that petition." Mr. Stuart thinks that Mr. Trumbull has been imposed upon by some designing knave, and emphatically denies the statements made. After stating that he had applied to Mr. Howard for a copy of the petition, believing it to be a fraud practiced on the Senate, and Mr. Howard's writing to him that the Military Committee declined furnishing it, Mr. Stuart concludes:

"The sequel would seem to show that my original suspicions were well-founded. A copy of the petition and of the names of the alleged signers have been procured and published, but not through any agency of mine. Thereupon a large number of the supposed petitioners have published cards, some denying that they had ever signed, or authorized any one else to sign, their names to any such paper. Others declare that the nature and object of the petition were misrepresented to them. It further appears from the cards, that while Dews, who seems to have been the active agent in getting up the petition, as well as the acting notary public, swears that all the petitioners are citizens of Augusta, in fact, many of them reside in Rockbridge, and others in Pendleton, West Virginia.

One of the petitioners, a baker by trade, has had the candor to acknowledge that he signed it, and that he did so because he had found the United States troops profitable customers when they were here before, and he thought if they were sent back they would endanger his market for bread. Probably others were influenced by motives equally patriotic and disinterested.

On behalf of the community which has been aspersed, I challenge investigation. I confidently affirm that no credible testimony can be produced to prove that, in any case, justice has been denied, or any one put in peril, in consequence of his Union principles. On the contrary, Augusta was the first county, in all the Southern States, which held a public meeting in favor of reconstruction, and from that hour to the present her people have yielded ready obedience to the authority of the United States. A sitting investigation of the facts connected with this petition would lead to some useful disclosures.

I have no wish or purpose to impugn the motives of Mr. Trumbull in withdrawing the paper which is alleged to have been forged from the custody of the Senate and restoring it to the custody of the man who wrote it, but it requires no great sagacity to perceive that the effect must be to stifle inquiry into the authenticity of the signatures, and to enable the author, if guilty, to shield himself from punishment.

Alex. H. H. Stuart
Staunton, Va., May 29, 1866.

The most forcible argument that can be presented to the consideration of the capitalists of the eastern cities to induce investments in the stocks of the Railroad schemes now chartered through the great Valley, from one extremity to the other, is to lay before them the rich harvest of staple production annually gathered in the counties through which the road will pass and those adjacent. Taking it as a matter of fact, for the convenience of our purpose, that Bill Arp is right in the opinion that the people of the South had no existence, as such during the past five years, and consequently know nothing of the publication of the census of 1860, we will have to gather our figures from the returns of 1850. We give below the annual products of the staple articles in the counties named. There are a number of other counties from which more or less transportation would be received, viz: Hardy, Pendleton, Highland, Pocahontas, Bath and Craig. Much if not all the trade of Pendleton and Hardy would seek the Manassas Road as an outlet.

Table Compiled From the Census of 1850,

Showing the Population, amount of Wheat, Rye, Oats, Corn and Value of Lands in the Counties of Augusta, Botetourt, Clarke, Frederick, Roanoke, Rockbridge, Rockingham, Shenandoah, Page and Warren.

It will be seen from this table that at least four millions of dollars worth of Wheat, Rye, Oats and Corn are annually produced in ten counties in the Valley interested in the construction of the Manassas Gap and Valley Roads. Add to this amount about two million pounds Butter and Cheese, worth at least six hundred thousand dollars. Include the counties of Pendleton, Highland and Hardy, and we find these thirteen counties have 119,949 [unclear] cattle, 129,376 sheep, and 162,269 hogs--which, at a moderate estimate, would be worth about $14,000,000--presenting an aggregate of $24,600,000 of produce. This is exclusive of many articles, such as wool, tobacco, potatoes, &c. which we have not deemed important to enumerate.

The value of the lands in the counties of Augusta, Botetourt, Clarke, Frederick, Roanoke, Rockbridge, Rockingham, Shenandoah, Page and Warren is put down in the census of 1850, at $34,395,580. The increase in the price of lands in the Valley since 1850 cannot be less than 25 per cent which would give us about $42,993,973 as the value of the lands.

The impetus given to agricultural pursuits by Railroad facilities of transportation cannot fail to greatly increase the returns of the farmers, and induce the cultivation of many acres of land now lying idle. New enterprises will spring up, and sources of wealth and profit will be opened heretofore unthought of. The vast beds of minerals which exist throughout the entire Valley, will be opened, and in less than five years, if these railroad schemes are prosecuted, with ordinary energy, the Valley of Virginia will furnish a commerce worth $100,000,000 annually! The completion of the Covington and Ohio Road will command an immense transportation from the middle West. The Valley Road will tap the main connecting stem at Staunton, and running South, will connect with the Virginia and Tennessee Road at Salem, where it will compete for the overflowing trade of the productive Southwest. There is not a Railroad scheme either in contemplation or completed, within the limits of the United States, that presents such immense advantages. The business men of the Eastern cities can see at a glance the importance of these Railroad lines, in concentrating the trade of the Valley of Virginia, and that of the great middle and Southwestern States, at their own marts.--Rockingham Register.

A lady of the green-spectacled and strong minded persuasion, from down East, near the hub of the universe, was in conversation with a female friend, and was enlarging on the dear little African pupils she had been teaching, and was about to leave perhaps forever (about one hundred,) when one of them came in. The kind instructress leaned to the "sable tenement of an immortal soul," and said, with an angelic kindness beaming through her emerald glasses, "Dear Disley, I am soon to leave you, and may never return. You must be a good girl, and how I love you and all my dear colored pupils. Tell all of them you meet I have had my photograph taken, and have one for each of them. They must each bring a dollar and get one."

For the Valley Virginian

MR. EDITOR:--Through the columns of the Virginian, we wish to call the attention of the citizens of Staunton, to the fact relative to the card, from the colored people of Staunton, published in your last issue. We are pained, that we are compelled, to write an article in contradiction to what a christian Minister may have said with an intention to make an impression, that was not, nor is not, true. We do not cherish any unkind feeling to our Rev. Brother Lawson, but we must say with the best of feelings that, that part of his article which has reference to Mrs. Rodney, as acting under false representation, is a mistake. Mrs. Rodney, has not, nor never did, assume any authority that was not vested in all members of the Church. She has no control of the Church. As for our people wishing to draw out from among the whites, in Church as well as business matters, and forming a new sect, as stated in their article, we beg to ask a few questions. Have our people ever declined working for the whites when called upon? Have they ever exhibited any action or feeling, indicating that they wished to be independent of the whites? We have never seen nothing of the kind; and would beg to know the foundation upon which you arrive at such a decision. The doctrine we teach, wherever we go, is that we keep as close to the whites as possible. As regards the subscription, we are at a loss to know how the mistake occurred, as our paper, soliciting subscription, was signed by the Rev. Woodhouse, and the other, we believe, by the Rev. Mr. Lawson.

Ladies and Gentlemen we ask you to please aid us in building our Church, and may God bless you all and repay you four fold for what you may give us in this matter.

Very respectfully yours,
A. Woodhouse, Pastor; Benj. Bragg, John Jackson, George Washington and others.