American union. [volume] (Morgantown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1855-1859, 1857-02-21
From the Staunton True American.
STATE INTERESTS.

ginia to Federal politics to the almost
total exclusion of practical State poll
cy, has been curse to this State
Whilst Virginians have been attending
to Federal politics, the citizens of the
Northern and Western States have
been looking to the interests of their
respective States. Their policy has
been to take care of their own interests
first, and then of the interests of the
Federal Government, ours has been to
take care Of the latter, whilst we al
most totally neglected our own inter-
ests. The leading men of the govern
ing and dominant party in this State,
have been contending for abstract prin-
cIples which they could not prevail up
on their party to observe, and which
would have been of no practical benc-
tit if they could, the effect of which has
been to prevent any appreciable ad-
vance of Virginia, whilst those States
which have been governed by a more
sensible and practical policy, have dis
tanced her in the race of progressive
Improvement. 1t is time that differ
ent policy be adopted. Virginians
must begin to look to the interests of
Virginia. Their attention should be
withdrawn from the National Capitol
to the interests of their own State
We believe with the Lynchburg Vir-
ginlan, that ''too much, far too much,
of the time and talent of Virginia have
been occupied in the exciting and un-
profitable contest of parties. An inf
mite amount of mind & zeal and ambi-
ton has been expended in political po-
lemlcs, which if employed in the cult
vatlon OF science, literature and art
in improvements, discoveries and in
vcntlons, would have made us wiser &,
greater, more powerful and more pros
porous. 1t is an error to suppose that
the existence Of the government and
the development of our resources, as a
nation, depend solely upon the practi-
cal establishment of one or the other
credible ascendancy and sway of
one or the other party. The might
that slumbers in yeoman's arm, is
worth more than the dogmas that fall
from the lips of the politician. The
skill that guides the plough and the
strength that yields the axe are of more
practical avail than the distractions of
government theorists. Give Virginia
school houses and factories, rail roads
and acknowledgement and guano, Il
she will become great commonwealth
the greatest Of the whole sisterhood.
Refuse these to her and all the consti-
tutionnl and juridical PHILOSOPHERS her
subtlIest intellects may excogitate will
not make her more than she is, or hold
her to her present position. Labor is
the lot of life and the condition of pros
perity and contentment. Benign
as is our sytcm of government, it is
upon our eXertions as men, that we
are to depend for the great dcsiderata
of life-hcalth, subsistence, comfort &
understanding. 70 improve tho soil
and increase its products, is lesson
better worth learning than the princi-
pie OF advalorem--to furnish market
by opening new avenues of trade, is
higher achievement than the charter
ing or destruction of u Bank. 1t is
time these things should be known and
practiced upon; it is time that our Lee
gislature should be taught that there
are subjects of more Importance to the
people Of this State than the filling of
Federal Offices. 1t is time that the
people should understand that there arc
things Of greater interest to them and
their children than cross road meetings
and county resolves. Shall the barren
fields and quilted hills of our beloved
old Commonwealth forever eat like Ill
GERS into her fair bosom? Shall our
waters always waste the strength which
could move the machinery of the world?
Shall the coal, which might warm eve
ry hearth in the Union, lie, to all time,
in its hcaped hills? Shall the IRON
which could girdlc the globe with rail
roads, never ring to the stroke of the
hammer? Shall our children grow up
in ignorancc--bc men and die, without
having learned toread the inscriptions
upon their mothers grave stoncs?-
Shall these things be--and we, in the
ridiculous pride and imbccility of pco-
pie grown vain too soon, and superan-
nuatcd in youth, pirate of the glories of
the Old Dominion and the great deeds
-four ancestors? We trust not, for we
believe that a new and brighter era
has dawned upon our Statc--an era of
public spirit, Of enlarged enterprise,
of associated energy, Of practical pub
lie good. We bow before the genius
ofsuch time, and bid it all hail.
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CONGRESS.
The death of Preston S. Brooks in