Washington sentinel., 1856-07-17
Society in virginia-Jadge Thomas IL
BayIy.

4
BayIy.
Society in Virginia is peculiar. Nowhere
does it exhibit more compactness and perma-
nence. Nowhere is the family tie stronger or
more enduring, or the influence OF ancestral
memories and associations more marked in its
effects. Nowhere are the Lares and Penates
Of Home held in more sacred regard.
Political life in Virginia is analogous to the
social and family characteristics to which we
alude. There member of Congress is sell
dom superseded unless he wishes to be; and,
not unfrequently,, after holding a seat for nearly
lifetime, he is succeeded by son, who, in
political opinions, tastes and habits, is pretty
much duplication and continuation of the
paternal predecessor. There, more than any
where else, it is likely, men are influenced by
family traditions, and peculiar qualification,
| or virtue or even idiosyncrasy, may descend
as an heirloom from generation to genera
tion.
These remarks are suggested by the speeches
in Congress recently made on the announce
ment of Judge Bayly's death, all Of which show
him to have been distinguished illustration
of the social and political peculiarities to which
we REFER In the House Mr.. Millson, of Vir-
ginia, said:
"Judge Bayly was born in the county of Ac
comac, on the l lth December, 1910. He was
not, as were many of the statesmen Of America.
reared amid priyation and difficulty. If, with
our imperfect perception of the dependence Of
human events, we can ever be warranted in
pronouncing such judgments, he may, in all
the circumstances of his life, be said to have
been very fortunate. The confidence of his
constituents, to which his own merits gave him
a personal title, was strengthened by a sort of
i I'LL for of al orap Hot har
Gen. John Cropper, was a distinguished officer
in the continental army, and his father, Colonel
Thomas M. Bayly, was, with little intermis-
sion, for nearly forty years continued by the
people in high important trusts, both in the
councils of the State and Of the Union He
represented in this House portion Of the
same district that was lately represented by his
/ son.
"In $780, after having completed his course Of
legal studies at the University of Virginia, Judge
Bayly commenced the practice of the law. 1t
was not long before his distinction at the bar
challenged the notice of the people of his native
county; and, as soon as he had attained the
| age required by the constitution of the State,
he was elected to represent them in the general
assembly. OF this body he remained promi-
nent and conspicuous member, displaying, on
frequent occasions, to the people of Virginia,
those abilities which have been since so gen
orally acknowledged throughoutthe Union, until
he was transferred by the Legislature to the
bench of the general court, to fill vacancy
by the appointment of the late Judge Upshur
as Secretary Of the Navy. He continued but
two years upon the bench, though the employ
ment of his judicial Office were so grateful to
his personal tastes that they were only reluc.
tantly abandoned. The appointment of Mr..
| Wise as minister to Brazil left vacant the dis.
trict he had represented in Congress. and the
call upon Judge Bayly, by the members of his
political party, was so emphatic, and even per.
emptory, that though they we're deemed to be
in an almost hopeless minority, he resigned his
judicial Office, and commenced an active can
vass for seat on this floor. He was chosen by
large majority; and the six successive eec-
tons by which he has been since returned to
this House, and sometimes in the face of oppo-
sition that seemed to be formidable, have
evinced the continuance of that confidence in
his ability, integrity, and patriotism, which
induced the first selection.
From the Speech of Mr.. Mason, Of Virginia,
on the-same occasion, in the Senate, we make
the following brief extract:
"Thus Of the twenty years of his continuous
public service it was the fortune and merit
Of my distinguished friend and colleague to
preserve unimpaired the confidence of his va.
ried constituency-at first Of his native country,
then at the Legislature Of his native State, and
again of large and enlightened congressional
district.
/ at has been strongly remarked Of the section
/ Of which the deceased a representative,
that its public men are seldom changed from
caprice or other insufficient cause by the con-
sttuent body. The remark is just and to
whatever cause it should be ascribed it marks
stability of purpose in the popular mind.
From the nature of their pursuits and their
Institutions society assumes there more Of the
character of a patriarchal state than in the
recurring collisions of life which attend more
dense populations. Children pursue the paths
worn by the tread Of parental feet, and friend
ships and alliances become hereditary. Society
thus superadds obligations to those of law and
judicature, and contributes much to form the
character of the citizen.
ain this school my deceased colleague was
bred. He lived and died on the same spot
where his ancestors from England landed in
1866 and where they established the family
home He commanded the brigade which his
grandfather had commanded, and be held the
seat in the General Assembly of his State and
in the House of Representatives which his
father had occupied before him. Thus, with
all the incentives of an honorable mind, he
came into public life, under responsibilities at
home which to betray would make that home
no more.
Up with the Negro-Down with the
i White Man.
In the Wisconsin State Senate, lately bill
was passed extending the right Of suffrage to
the negroes Of that State-yeas l6, nays 6.
While this process Of elevating the negro to
political privileges is going on with Black Re-
publicanism, the same faction, in its Know
nothing shape, is combating for laws which
will degrade white men who are born without
the country, or those Of Catholic faith, born in,
or out of it, to the condition of helots. Mas
sachusetts, the headquarters Of Black Repub
licanism, has moved first in prosecuting the
foreign-born white man to position beneath
her negroes.
Abolition "shreks for freedom" are not made
for men Of white blood, The negro, only, is