The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1853-12-26

small chicken in her hasket, few vegeta.
bles and little parcel Of toys. She entered
an humble dwelling and .Mas greeted. ut the
| door BY two OF three children with shout
as gay and happy as ever echoed from the
golden portals of wealth. As we passed on,
we thought of Bob Cratchitts goose, A
great deal of happiness can be bound up in
| small parcels. Did you ever read the Christ,
mas Carol of Dickens If not read it and,
wise, good and happy as you may be, it will
make you wiser, better and happier.
"a, -. INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. t-.-
TRUE POLICY OF vTRGrSIA. 5s s.
1t is not many years since Virginia appear
Ell to be irreconcilably opposed to the inter-
nali,nprovement policy. sheseemed resolved
to fold her hands in drowsy sluinber and to
indulge in soothing dreams of ancient great.
ness. 1t was enough for her sons that she
had seen better days, that she was the mother
of States and Statesmen and also Of the first
families. All around her was the roar and
stir of busy world but in the great battle of
modern enterprise she took no part, and in
the midst Of fiercely contested field, she
lay like warrior taking his rest, with
his martial cloak around him." N. York Mas
saehusetts, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio,
were alive with locomotives. steamboats, rail-
roads and canals but Nirgiaia looked with
calm indifference, upon the stirring scene
The flower of her population left her for
cimes more congenialto energy and ambition,
and there seemed a fair prospect that she
would in time be depopulated or left to be
reclaimed and restored by foreign hands,
But at last she woke from her stupor, put
forth her latent powers, and entered thelists of
enterprise and Improvement, with spirit and
courage worthy her best days. A glorious
prospect opened before her. Already endow-
ed by Nature with signal advantages for be-
coming a great commercial and manufactu.
ring as well as agricultural State, she only
needed q liberal system of improvements to
develop her resources, and upon this she was
now fully resolved to. enter. The hopes Of
her friends were revived, the tide of ennigra-
ton from her borders was checked, and the
sun of her fortune which had set amid MUIR
ky vapors, rose again in a sky of unclouded
splendor.
But, in the very outset Of this career of
Improvement, and st every step of its ad-
vance, down to the present moment, dan
ger has sprung up, which threatens to check
and retard, If not completely paralyze the
progress Of the State This danger is found
in that spirit Of sectional and local jealousy
which is incapable of looking beyond its
own narrow and contracted horizon, and
| which regards not only with distrust but
aversion every scheme which does not prove
| a benefit to its own particular locality
The prosperity and glory of the State, which
ought to be the first consideration with every
Virginia mind, are considered of inferior
| Importance to the advancement of sectional
interests. The consequence is, that instead
| OF patriotic and comprehensive plans, to aid
| the State in her competition with other Com
| monwealths, TO enable her to command the
| vast trade of the West, and to restore to her
| brow the diadem of empire, which she once
wore-she is torn to pieces by internal
discords, and her people make war upon each
| other, instead Of making war upon a common
enemy. The money of the Commonwealth,
which, if judiciously expended and concen-
trated upon a few leading lines, would ere
this have put her in connection with the great
storehouse of the West, is lavished upon a
variety OF improvements, many of them OF
minor Importance, and none of them finish
edand productive. Almost every county ex-
I 10 HOY
OF some kind, at State expense; and if its
representatives cannot obtain that boon, they
| VIII resist to the death every great measure
OF State Importance, and compel all Virginia
to suffer in common with their own locality.
We need not say how utterly opposed is such
spirit to every sentiment of State pride and
patriotism. Not only are railroads demand
ed in regions which need them, but which
could afford to wait q few years, till works Of
a State character are completed, but sections
which are already in the neighborhocd of
public works, require to be placed still near,
err and to accommodate them and advance
this Or that city, which IS afraid Of being Left
behind in the race Of Improvement, new rail-
roads must be built, tapping old ones, and
rendering them Improbable. A more suici-
| dal course for the State and its improvements
| could not we'll be devised, even by the wit
and malice Of their worst enemies. s
1t is obvious that this ruinous policy must
be abandoned, or all the great expectations,
founded upon the awakening spirit of i'm
proyement in Virginia, viii be worse than
| disappointed. The State will lose the advan-
tages of the immense sums she has already
expended in public works and become hope
lessly bankrupt in purse and credit. The
remedy is in the hands of her people, but it
| is q remedy which demands patriotism and
self,sacrifice Appropriations should be con.
fined to the leading lines, and all her energies
| should be used, by completing them at the
earliest day, to make them productive and
profitable. When this is done, and the vast
trade OF the West and Southwest is secured
to Virginia, she will be able to extend aid to
| works which are of merely sectional imppr-
lance; and, till that period, sections and loca-
| Iities which have one spark of Virginia feel
| ing in their boso,ns, must be willing to defer