Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1855-02-13
LYNCHBURG IIRGINIAN.
TUESDAY MORNING .FEB'Y IL. 1855.
The Coming Legislature


temporaries of the state, articles calling atten
ton to The approaching elections to the Legisla
ture and invoking more careful scrutiny, thai
usual, into the qualifications of candidates.
BY unanimous agreement, the last Legislature
taken as whole, determined one of the mos
inefficient and incompetent Bodies, for the dutie
with which it was charged, ever assembled in th,
captol-while at no period in the history of tn,
state has there been conjunction of affairs de
mandng greater political sagacity, caution. in
formation aud devotion to the public good. Tha
Legislature, eonfessing its ncompetency for the
demands of the times by adiourning without
providing for an extra session, its work nm
finished AMI returned TO the people their uneNe-
cuted trusts. Ii is for them 10 repair the errors
of the last election BY calling into their service
from ench city. county and district, the wisest
and best men in their midst admitting excuse
and taking no refusal. In times Of moment and
of peril the state has right to require the aid
of her truest and ablest sons, aud no private sa.
orfce should be weighed against the public
good,
Not to refer to other matters, the immense in.
terest of Internal Improvement stands in tho
mos, critical attitude. 1t is 10 be determined by
the next Legislature well whether the great
works now in progress shall be pressed on, with
out interruption, To their oompcton-and by
what means-as well as the system, when com
pleted, shall enure TO the ACKNOWLEDGEMENT of our
own. or some other state
Schemes were under agitation. nj the last ses-
sion. supported by powerful local and combined
interest, which. if successful would in the judy
ment Of our men of largest comprehension, in
fict wide spread and irrcparabe mischief upon
the present and coming interest, of the common
wealth. We feel pride in believing that it was
ma;nly to the untirine energy and commanding
intellect of the delegate from this city, that the
state was indebted last winter, for the prevention
of the evils that then menaced her.
The public works are believed 10 occupy, now,
that precise condition. in which combinations aud
directions may be given them that will make them
either sources of untold wealth 10 our people, or
currents through which the strength and fairness
of the land may be drained off 10 enrich and build
up others. Narrow, selfish and ignorant leg sla-
ton, instead of securing 10 the state Il just
turn for the heavy expenditures of capital and
labor already made, may not only sink the money
thus inyested-hut mny perver into an active
ana continuing agent " 1"pleltoh ana dcSlfuc-
ton.
If there were no other reason, therefore. (wble,
in fact they are innumcrable why the people
should look more closely than usual into the pre-
tensions and merits of those who aspire TO rep
resent them in the coming Legislature, that 10
which We have ndyerted is sufficient.
1t is for them to consider, also, how FAR tho
possibility of the election Ia the GoYernnrship of
one who proclams himself IAN infinite rndcal,"
and avows himself in favor of gigantic school
system, to be sustained at the public expense,
should constitute AN additional reason for filling
the Legislative Department with calm. thinking,
conservative men, who may stand as II barrier
against whatever wild aud impraeticabe schemes
the fertile and i'll balanced intellect Of such
Governor might conceive. Ii we are to have an
infinite radical for Governor, for the snke Of
all that is worth preserving in our institutions let
us have a conservative Legislature to hold him in
check.
There was time when the General Assembly
of Virginia was body of grave, digni6cd cdu
Gated and intelligent gentlemen. The wsest
and most honored mon of the commonwealth
deemed it no derrngntion from their merits 10 oc-
cupy seat there, and employ themselves with
the concerns of the stnte. May not such an era
be recalled For this time at least can we not
have Legislature equal to the high aud momen.
tous demands of the crisis, and worthy the an
cient fame of the mother of statesmen
A Startling Case in Wisconsin
The telegraph advises ~, says the Baltimore
Patriot, that decision has been given, by the