Republican vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1857, 1849-08-20


minority to look to themselves before the com.
mon weal-to prefer their sectional and peculiar
interests before those of the Commonwealth If
large? Why should minority so strenuouslv
covet power, II It was not to advance views pe-
cullar 70 themselves In opposition to the State at
large. FOR halt century the energies Of Viz
gina have been chained, locked up, paralyzed
by this minority power.
:. ne loved Virginia, and he loved every part of
II, out 1t was due TO the cause Of truth and he
must here declare his deliberate opinion, that the
State never could prosper SO long as the power
to control its legislation resided in population
east OF the Blue Ridge He had some knowledge
OF them-they were people of many noble and
generous traits OF character; they had AMONG
them many gifted men, OF most shining and brill
liant parts, but as mass they were welded to a
set OF obsolete antiquated notions, utterly incon
elsteut With the advancement of the interests of
!hs great State In her proper career of power and
Improvement; They We're annually retrogra-
ding IN wealth and population, and stationary
only In set of dogmas and opinions which were
proof against all the lights which experience was
daily shedding around them. They entertained
molly horror OF every new idea, and reuarded
all the habitudes and opinions of their forelathers
s hundred years ago, no matter how absurd. as
more worthy OF their imitation than all the i'm
Provements which an age fruitful of LIGHT and
discovery, was casting over the affairs and gov
eminent OF manklnd.-Throughou large por-
ZION OF that region, the mechanical arts are inter-
~ unpracticed. love of leisure, of the indo-
lent charms OF social life, and an aversion to
labor IS characteristic of the people, Of COM
!nerce, they have scarcely any. Agricultural
improvement is at its lowest point conceivable
~ country OF its ancient settlements and faeili
Ties TO market. God knows he felt no anxiety TO
thn I.
when he stated that there We're large districts of
country In an infinitely inferior condition to what
!ney We're fltty years ago-large portions revert
ing to their original barbarsm and desolation-
where the wolf and the wild deer now find
ready and secure asylum from the thrifty and
growing settlements of the mountains AS a
people, they were more immigratve-less prac-
teal In the affairs of life-more deficient in en-
ergy enterprise, selt-reianoe expansion of views
accessibility to improvement, than their breth-
rem west OF the mountain. In the HesteY7s pop,l-
laton was to be seen much of that love of foil
mat sleepless energy-that uncomfortable perse-
verance which distinguished our Northern States,
with due proportion of the chivalry, daring.
and generous qualities of the South The ener-
gles of this rising aud undeveloped country had
100 long been kept in subsection to the unhappy
influences that have governed the State She
mas been long enough in tutilage to Eastern Vir-
10 her own destiny, assume her proper position
IN the affairs OF the Commonwealth, and wrench
the helm OF State from the feeble and infrm
hands that now hold it.
MIR. +. here went into some statistical state
ments to show the decrease of the white popula.
tlon in the country lying east of the Blue RIDGE,
between 1880 and 1S4O-the increase of the
white population West of the Ridge the de.
crease In the number of their slaves during the
q lima ca of = Il
slaves west OF the Ridge the vast depreciation
of real estate in the eastern portion of the State.
amounting to near tacenty millions ofdollars, be-
tween 1919 and 1S40-and the vast appreciation
amounting to near Twenty-Five millions of dollars,
curing the same time west of the Ridge He ex-
hlblted those statistics, melancholy as they GER
1alnly We're, as it concerned the Eastern division
OF the State-with no purpose of inflicting a
wound-Wlth no views of sectional triumph, but
TO deduce the very natural conclusion from the
facts, that country thus dwindline in its popu
latlon; thus retrograding in all its essential in
teIests thus presenting all the visible evidences
OF want OF energy, industry, and prosperity,
could not be expected to lmpart a proper impulse
10 the advancement of the State at large IF
their numbers entitled them to the control of the
State he would submit without murmur, But
he saw nothing to justify him in surreneerno
the general welfare of the State, to minority,
own condition and rapid decline, SO little to vim
dictate their title to the exercise OF this illegiti-
mate authority. He advered to the Road system,
the Jury system, the Primary School system, the
County Court, and the Judicial systems, gene
rally, as 50 many evidences Of the inert and de-
fective legislation of the State institutions nom
analty cheap, but substantially most expensive and
Oppressive, and which no rational man could ever
expect to see renedied whilst the legislative
power of the State resided in men so obstinatelv
welded to the vetayes uih-of an antiuuated
and obsolete system of thought, opinion, and &C
aion."
I have INDUCED in quite copious extract a.
Dove but the reader will be well repaid for its
careful perusal The statistics are valuable and
anteresting-thea argument and deduction from it
clear and anmistakeable. Our government in
form may be called democracy, but III point
OF fact It is an arissocracy Or oligarehy, which
Knocks the many with a power, whilst the sub
stance is in the hands of the few.
Very Respectfully; your ob't serv't,
July 25, 1919. POTOMAC.