The true Democrat., 1855-03-28
Sunday Reading.
Extracts from the Speech of Hon. Henry
 A. Wise, at Alexandria.

i"outt iHS. Oh OheSapedke Day, rom the mouth of the Rappahannock to the Capes ot - the Chesapeake, you have roadsteads and har. bors sufficient to float the navies of the world from the rver of Swans, on whose margin we are, down to the line of North Carolina. you have the Potomac the Rappahannock, the Pe- nan katank, from Blob Jack Bay to James river ana the Elizabeth rlver-all meeting in the most beautiful sheet of water Of all the seas of the earth You have the bowels of your wes- tern mountains richin iron, in copper, in coal, Tn salt i'll gypsom, and the very earlh is rich Tn oil which makes the very rivers in1lame.- You nave the line of the Alleghany, that beautiful blue ridge which stands placed there oy the Almighty, not to obstruct the way of the people to market, but placed there in the very bounty of providence to milk the clouds, to make the sweet springs which are sources of your rivers. (Great applause.) And at the head of every stream is the waterfall murmur- ing the very music of your power (Applause.) And yet commerce has long ago spread her sails and sailed away from you; you have not as yet dug moe than coal enough to warm yourselves at your own hearths; you have set no tilt hammer of Vulcan to strike blows wor- thy Of gods in the iron foundres. You have not yet spun more than coarse cotton enough, | slaves. You have no commerce, no mining, no manufactures. You have relied alone on the single power of agriculture; and such agri. culture! (GrAat laughter.) Your ledge patch es outshine the sun. Your inattenton to your only source of wealth has scared the very bo- som of mother earth. (Laughter) Instead cf having to feed cattle on thousand hills, you have had to chase the stumped- tailed deer through the ledge patches to procure tough beefsteak. Laughter) And yet while your trust has been in the hands of the old negroes of the plantation; while the master knows as little ao the slave about the science-the applied science of agriculture; while commerce and manufactures and mining have been hardly known, and agriculture has been neglected- notwithstanding all that, and notwithstanding the effect O. this has been that you have part ed with as much population as you have re- tainel: notwithstanding all this, say, old Virginia sCll has @ million and q half of popu- laton left within her limits. She still has her iron, her coal, her gypsum, her salt, her copper. She still has her har6ors and rivers, ani her water power, and every source of wealth which thinking men. active men, enterprisins men, need apply to.
 What boast like that can be made for any other State in the earth? What, then, ia our 3uE&s Nir5iniaus, pat.iots, a, m -u worthy ot our iathers-Worthy to b3 the husbands of our wives? Whatis our 5duty? Come to the polls aal vote against me and welcome. am no5hiu-. Record gour votes under the intlu ence -. any blind prejldice thaU you please.--
 ,econi your Eotcs against me. YoU strike down hUtan humbe man when yoH strike me down, and ghou,l you strike down man a 10 j. tOo proud to beg you to vote for nlm, yet he would R4eti a5 little child ana inn Ilote you to come to the polls to do something topu. forth your ,-raugth to raise up this blessed o.I Com moaweaI,A (Grear checting.) Her head is ia the dust With all this pleuttuje o' pow CT, she has been dwartsd im the Union but, by her gods. l say that she has the power, noN, the energy, the rosOurces-may say the men? to be pu, upon the line of progress to the emi. hence of prosperity, to pass New York yet faster in the Union than ever New York has passed her. (Cheers.) You have been called the Old Dominion.' Letus as Vir5iIilus, 1 implore you, this night reAolye that new era shall dawn and that hcncetorth she shall be called the New Domiuion"
 *
 As to the subject of internal improvements, that, too, is alive and kicking. That part of "the American srstem'' is not dead issue Congress ha: been passing harbor and river bills. l. ia part of the system of the light houses of the skies of 1928 It is a ,,art of the American system," and thank Gol that not only has there been a Hickory and ''yler bu. tha, 1oW there IS found perto ,o thunder his veto against such measures. [GreaJ ciaar- iDg.)
 You are -oIJ hat the tar1 s a dead issue That, too, $ alive Such are the energies and resources ot this country, that We have paid tAe de5t of the War of the revolution, we have paid the debt of the second war of indepeu dence, and we have paid the debt of the war with NeSico, a"d now there is proposition for the reduction of the revenue. \ question arises, shall tina. reduction De made upon the protected or the unprotected class of articles? O. that subject, l stand where have ever Stood
 -a free trade man. Cloud cheers)
 Speaking of Know Nottingham he sa;L
 What is 1t? Where did t come from? What eau it be? Did t fail from the sky? Did it rise from the sea?
 I tell you that there is 10 wonder about it. | tell you that 1 know it from 4 to z. | know where it came from. l know where t was cn gcnlcrcd. know what # has done and call exchange with you, my friend, every sisn, every grip, every pass word. Oaughter) 1 know its white trianglcs and its red triages, it, reI arrowtops and its white arrowtops. Know your odd numerals and your even nu. neraE. know your odds from 4 to NJ iu- elusive, and l know your eyens from N to inclusive. Qaughter)
 Now, where did it come? It is no new thing. Iti8 no strange thing Although it is a wonder here, it has been operating for wears and years in old England. You that will % to a book store and buy Dicken's novel of Hard Times" will see a portraitrrc ofthe thing and how it has operated III a country with an aristo. cracy and Queen, with lord proprietors of fac. tories and of lands, which they rent to middle men, who grind down the operatives. There in England, the secret association of the opera- tives against grinding capital, I grant you. has done much good. There, there is some ne- cessty for it; there, where mems noses are held to the grindstone by oppression; there whele all the luxuries are free, and all the ne. cessares of life are taxed there, where the operatives is made to bear all the burdens Of society; there where there is crowned head and an arstocracy-there, dark lantern. secret associations test oaths have brought forth some