Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1859-10-04

lay character and attributes OF tnclr ies"''
Gods and the veneration in which they were
held is beautifully, graphically and feeIlngiy
advcrted to by Virgil in describing the sacRlns
and burning of Troy. Weshould be acccsS"ryto
pathological murder, were we to substitute Inc
abominablc version Of Dryden for the inim''a"le
words of Virgil Amid the haste, hurry, RI,
pine murder and conhagraton of that awiu'
night, Eneas does not forget the household
deities, which yet he dare not desecrate WIN
blood.staincd hands He tells his aged ana
feeble parents, whom he is about TO belr OF on
his shoulders:
"Tu venitor cape sacra manu. patrosqGe feh''e''
Me- beilo tanto digressum ct ciede recent
A,,rectare ncfas; donee me tumlne NiNo.
Ahluero."-[ 4meidI l-Aae'iI.
The charms and attractions Of home. anu
the love Of home, have been the nob!cst and
conmoncst themes of poetry throughout all
ages, and We might indulge in endless quota
ton. 1t is time to attempt to give practical
application TO these universally admitted
truths.
What have We Of Virginia been doing to In
crease the attractions of home WHAT Tor
the State? What for individual homesteads
and ancestral fields: Nothing Would that
we could say so. Virginia, when first trodden
by the white man, presented scenes OF ha'nra
beauty rarely surpassed in other regions. Her
many noble rivers; her grand, picturesque
beautiful mountain ranges; her fertile soil, ana
her luxuriant and magnificent forests, emorol-
derinr the shores of her bays and her rivers;
and clothing in beauty her fields and her hills,
and her mountains presented spectacle tral
filed the beholder with joy and sIadneSs, ard
lifted his soul in alteration and gratitude to
God, who had prepared this residence Tor man.
But his gratitude was short-lSed, or at best
exhibited itself in acts Of wanton waste and
spoliation. The fine forests were soon iel!cd;
frail and temporary dwellings and enclosures
erected, and the land subjected TO unsktul anu
eyhausting culture. Soon, very soon, the over
fertile soil was exhausted, the dwellings and
the enclosures dilapidated and dccaycd, and the
roads impossible from neglect, Man had mar
red and destroyed all he beauties of nature,
and erected no useful or ornamental works oil
art Home lost its charms, for it had become
hideous to contemplate. Emigration tended
from tidc-water to the mountain region That
eyhausted,it pursued its course further W est
to the Ohio, to the Mississippi, to the far est
crn prairies, and finally to the Paciic-iuh'
proving nothing in its course but moving con-
suning and exhausting everything before 1t,
like an army Of locnstS.
A migratory people may mistake the love OF
CONQUEST, and the thirst for the acquisition OF
territory for patriotism; but patriotism means
love OF country, and they who have little at
tachments to home have less to country, Tor the
former is the stronger feeling and bese's the
latter. -.----------,-----
Southerncrs were begotten by two causes. The
one the cheapncss and abundance ofnew lands;
the other, and far the more potent cause, a false
philosophy in politics and in social and po!iii
cal economy, whose leading and distinctive max
inns are TO Let alone" Every man for him
! self" The world is too mitch governed NO
| interference with, control, direction or rroicc-
ton Of private pursuits of industry by the
State" This philosophy having well nigh ruin
ed the South, within the last thirty years a
new school in politics under the lead OF new
philosophy, has arisen. We call 1t political
school, because it belongs especially to neither
political party, but is composed Of much the
LARGER portions of either. The Do-NothingS, the
\ u ,+n ntfrt,ts pf
ODD are now so few in number, that they are
seriously proposing 20 throw &o"taer" States
Rights and distractions TO the winds. wide
protection Of slave property
They had almost so impoverished the South
as to have LEI, her no rights worth fighting for,
and so enfeSbled her, as 10 have left her no
strength with which to carry on the contest.
But nil that is now changed, for the new
school of politics, under the lead Of Governor
Wise, and thousands with like opinions. have
been successfully urging forward the cause OF
internal Improvement, and Of Southern de-
vo.opmcrt physical and intellectual for the
last twenty years. Individuals and State Gov
ernments have We'd with each other in the va
rious new directions given 10 skill, industry
and enterprise. The worn out fields arc re.
stored to their primitive fertility, durable en-.
closures ard fine dwellings adorn the country,
whilst our many growing towns and villages
resound with the busy hum of industry, as
suminr daily new and varied forms. At the
same time the State Government is powerfully
helping to make home attractive b. check
| ing her domain all over with roads or canals
No wonder that the Old Fogy Do-NothnsS, sec
ing their POKER for mischief gone, should pro-
pose to surrender at discretion, and give up ab-
stractionS altogether.
New converts arc apt 20 rush into extremes.
distractions must not be given up altogether
Only. those which are false mast be Topped off,
They constitute political philosophy, and no
practice is safe wi,hou; a philosophy to guide
it. Rights. public and private, State and ndi-
viduaiS, and the means of enforcing Them must
be defined, and these definitions constitute alb
stractonS. We will TO, throw away State
Rights distractions bu; only abjure your do
nothing po.icy--and add works to faith, prac-
tce to mere distractions, and fnrtify State
Rights by increasing State Strength. All this
is proposed to be effected by State Legislation
and individual enterprise unaided and unintcr.
fered with by the National Government State
protection 10 State interests is rightful, expo
dent and necessary. Federal protection, I'M
constitutional, inexpedient and inadequate.
The lazy Italians, draw half their subsistence
from strangers attracted by the natural
beauties OF the country, its genial climate, its
historical associations, and its thousands works
of art Italians and Frenchmen seldom emf