The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1855-10-08
rrLe Next LEGISLATURE.

An yirpinians who feel the slightest degree OF
,...os, in tho future progress of the State must
look forward with intense soicitude to the next
,o;u,a,,ve session There il a tide in the affairs
ofn States as of men, (which taken at the Hood
leads ON to fortune" We are now approaching the
critical and decisive period of that tide. VIII the
mort legislature retrieve the shortcomings of the
l,st9 Will it give impetus to the various lead
;rc improvements of the State which will ensure
,ho;r consummationa Or, will it frtter away time,
,onev and patience in sectional wrangles, and then
lava tho Old Mother of States TO hobble along on
cr,tcbes for two wears more, while other States
are dasbing by and around her in an npetuous
current of energy aud enterprise.
Cha has before her golden prospect, if her sons
have the courage to secure it Canaan, which
will amply reward her for her long journeyings in
.b. desert if she will but turn deaf ear to the
.i,nid counscls which bcset her path with gigantic
shadows If she will but pluck up courage, she viii
cross the Jordan dry shod and all dangers win
vanish and all enemies flee before her. But past
e,nerience warns not to be too sanguine of such
:. olorious result Two formidable obstacles still
threaten the advance Of Virginia the fear of in
volyiny tho State in a heavy load of debt and the
spr;t of sectionalism are still the great enemies of
our progress.
TO the former has been often opposed the argll.
ment that tho only way to escape debt is to adj
vance. and to make the public works of Virginia
productive by finishing them. But what argument
can combat the spirit of sectionalisml What spell
can exercise that demon. 1t is impcrrious to rea
SON. 1t does not desire to be convinced; it has no
rule of action but selfshness. If it cannot carry
its own petty schemes, it will toll with malignant
industry for the disappointment of others. Instead
of the patriotic and comprehensive soul which looks
10 tho glory of all Virginia, it would compensate
itself for the loss of local. by the destruction of
State Improvement 1t would derive more plea
sure in reducing the whole State to dead level of
uniform lttleness than it could possibly receive
from the elevation of Virginia TO the pinnacle of
power and prosperity, unless at the same time it
could sit the top of the pinnacle, chatterns like
an ape over its petty triumph.
There is no reasoning with men whose patriot
ism Ia bounded by the horizon Of their villages
There is no hope for Virginia until her various sec
tions are prepared to offer up all local and sectional
prejudices upon the altar of the common good
1t was self-sacrificing patriotism that achieved
for Virginia her former proud pre-eminence among
States; it is elf-sacriicing patriotism which can
alone restore the faded glOries of the Old Dominion
So long section rules her counsels, so long she
will be province, dependent upon and paying tri-
butte to the Northern States until at length her pro-
perry and her institutions will be left completely at
their mercy. Sefpreservation itself demands that
her local controversies shall cease, and her sons
stand together upon the common ground of supreme
love to Virginia and generous emulation in behalf
of the interests and glory of the whole State If
ever she falls before the tide of aggression it will
be because her defenders have undermined her
strength by internal discord. We hear great deal
of the pride of Virginians in their State. Let it
show itself in useful and harmonious labor instead
of boastful words and contentious spirit Let il
come forth from the tombs of the illustrious dead
and decorate their shrincs with the fresh laurels of
living energy. Let the State be no longer a mag.
nifcent mausoleum of departed greatness. We shall
best honor the mighty founders of Virginia by imi
tsting their heroic enterprise, and permitting the
rising sun of Progress to illumne and illustrate the
glorious Past