Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1858-10-20
IFst ne madagascar
GOV. WISE AND ms yNIsDOaI.
BEnar's FEanr, Clark 60. Va

BERRY's FERRY, Clark CO., Va,
Oct. l6, 1855
ter Of Gov Wise, We have another exhibition Of
the authors undoubted zeal for the prosperity
of the State Had he travelled in more ems
lighteneds and hoprishiDg countries than poor
benighted Brazil, and acquired information
equal to his zeal, he would have made most
excellent Governor. But he makes an egregious
blunder in supposing that the prosperity of Yir.
ttiginfa Is to be mainly promoted by commercial
enterprise OF all the great departments of
human industry, none are 30 lily adapted to the
tla6oF=R hichS be f0nnd in Eastern Virginia
as this. Should the effort be made3to convert
our rude and involuntary laboreFs into sailors,
they VIII be found to want the necessary skill;
and besides there would be great danger of their
getting some inconvenient ideas into their
heads in visiting other States and countries; and
If they should happen to make a free port, it
would be surprising If some of then5should
occasionally be so pervers0 and ungrateful MS to
take something like French leave of their ship,
masters and country, thus snhjecting the cap
tain and the service to no small embarrassment.
Mining, manufacturing and the coarse arts
would be much better fitted to the capacity and
ignorance of our Eastern Virginia slave labor.
ers. But evenin these they will-never succeed,
and must still be confined as heretofore to that
system of agriculture so happily described by
our worthy Governor, as 'chasing the stump
tailed steer through sedge patches outshining
the sun, to get poor beefStake for breakfast"
What Virginia wants first, and principally, is
capital and skillinl labor todevelop her immense
and unequalled mineral and manufacturing re-
sources, and to establish work shops along side
Of our firms and plantations, so as to make
home marketfor our agricultural products, and
thus we could begin to create that variety of
fabrics out of which alone successful com.
merce can ever be established Commerce is
not to be born in day, but is the outgrowth of
time and varied industry, and more requires
providence and skill found only in connection
with perfect freedom, than any other common
pursuit of men. This the5Governor will GER
tainly learn when he shall find time to investi-
gate the subject He gives too much scope to
his winged Imagination. He must creep before
he would run. He should begin at the begin.
ming, and not be so much like the old woman
who said she did not mind having nothing to
cook, if she only had something to cook it in.
In 1856 certain conventions hereabouts and
the opinion of friends, made me think this
climate not the most healthy for me, andI there
fore spent few monthsin New York and New
England, where 1 picked up a little information,
which | most respectfully commend to the con-
slderation of our Governor and of all who de.
sire the growth and development of our Ancient
Dominion. found Almost wonderful degree of
improvement, nOt-in commerce merely, but in
all the arts, and aperfection agriculture which
cannot be seen5in any portion of our Slate
Lands naturally inferior to those of EasternsVa.,
were producing Immense crops and bringing
almost fabulous prices. On inquiry I learned
that they had been constantly increasing inpro
ductive power, while Iknew ours had as con-
stantly been diminishing. But the reason was
obvious We were there surrounded with work
shops and manufacturing: towns within every
few miles. filed with men and animals, thus
becoming reservoirs of manure from the con-
sumption of all home products, not only, but,of
vast quantities imported from other States and
especially from this. Thus had the farmers
enriched their lands without cost, while our
farmers, by constantly exporting their grain, in
exchange for thenotions of New England, had
lost the manures which home consumption
would have furnished, until their lands, in many
cases, were reduced to absolute stcrility. "A COM
parison of Spain, with its purely agricultural
population and expectation of coarse products,
with Great Britain, manufacturing the the pro-
ducts of Spain and creating a home consumption,
will teach US the same lesson. Arts and manu-.
features must recede commerce, and are, in fact,
the very foundation, of it, and necessary also to
keep up the agriculture of the country. No
country can endure long continued robbery of
its soil without Impeachment
But how, it may be asked, are these arts and,
manufactures to beintroduced.- Thisis. indeed,
the great yet indispensable task which we have
before US il we would create the prosperity we
all desire. First, labor is to be considered, as
| it should be, respectable, and as such not be.
meath the attention of the highest in position.
Letour Governor set the example; and TO en-.
courage him, [ will tell an anecdote of another
Governor. lady told me that on dining at
the house of Silas Wright she admired the
vegetables on his table, and he in reply told her
they were the product of his own hands; and
General Worth used to give an account Of his
visit to the same great man and genuine Demo.
Graf, and of finding him in his shirt sleeves
wheeling manure into his garden. What would
not such an example from Gov. Wise effectf--s
Abbott Lawrence, just before he laid the toun-
dation of the great manufacturing tuwn in,
Massachusetts which bears his name, paid a
visit to our good city of Richmond, admired
its superior NATURAL advantages, and was often
heard to say that he would have built there in.
stead of ut Lawrence, but for the. contempt of
labor which he observed in the auristocratfc
circles of Richmond. Begin at the beginning,
Governor. Encouraged anufactures and thearts
Let our workshops stand by our farms. Hon
lor labor by your example and you shall be
honored by thousands and especially by your
friend, JOHN @. UEDERwooD. s
Rry. SAMUEL o. PARkRR of Hinckley, Ohio,
met with terrible death Sunday morning. the.
10th inst ,He.was seen. to go. into aaa Geld in
which he kept a bull. with a ,pitehfork in his