The native Virginian. [volume] (Orange Court House, Va.) 1867-187?, 1868-07-31
(FoR THE NATIVE vIRGINIAN.)
A GLANCE AT YIRGINIAN SOCIETY :
Past and Future.

Time and chance happeneth to all,
saith the roya sage.
How sadly is this sentiment echoed 1t
every Virginian's breast, as from the
confused, uncertain, mutable present
he glances regretfully backward, and
compares Virginia of to-day, with the
Virginia of ten years ago.
Within that interval, changes which
might well have marked the protracted
length of several centuries, have been
compressed into a few short years, be-
wildering the observer as much with the
| rapidity OF their succession as the mag
nltude of their character.
Every great political revolution must
infallibly produce effects more or less
marked and permanent upon the socie-
ty of the county which is its theatre,
sometimes like lightning purifying and
ameliorating, then again, like a West
Indian tornado, breaking down, and
tearing up much that can never be
eaualIed or replaced. Nor is the late
convulsioii, from the throes of which
both sections of this country have so re-
Gently been released, an exception to
Che general rule. Eut
1t leaves marks upon both Northern
and Southern society which, neither
will ever lose, and has started Il fermen-
tation as it were in tine body social
which will continue to work long after
the generations which witnessed its uY-
heaval have returned to the dust from
which they sprung.
. A thoughtful student ofhuman socie-
ty, will find no more interesting study
than is now afforded by the several COM
munities peopling the United States :;
ot fha lan 81 nj nfx x,.liol. on,
= we purpose now to consider, is Virgin
ian society. as it has been, to which will
be appended few speclllations as to
what Is likely to be the last OF lis future
character. ~
Owing to the institution of African
slavery, and the agricultural pursuits of
its Inhabitants, large portion of this
State is we all know, inhabited by u
dense negro population mixed with a
thin white sprinkling, once the owners
and now the employers of the former
class. ~ 1al4h fs7tryp
I A large area of territory is in conse-
quencc owned by comparatively few in
dividuals, whose residences are scatter
ed along intervals OF considerable eX-
tent. IL, ns-Frss.. -,ss.-, rec
The character of society under such
circumstances is apt to be of, a homely,
unprogressive type; the body social
presenting but two grades, an upper
and a lower. The members of the first
separated (as we have sald) from each
other by distances more or less trouble :.
some to surmount, visit little and either
live within themselves, or stoop to as
sociation with the class beneath and i'm
mediately around them. I
CO. l.nt l,I I,
clusion froI.a Ihe outer world, combine
in the formation of race ofchilrls. mar
rowminded aud ignorant. prejudiced
and proud. rA p dt
Such however has not been the case
in Virginia. The governing class here
has never descended to companionship
with the governed, and we behold in a
vastly extended country, sparsely set
tied as regards its ruling element, a
white community eminently sociable in
its instincts and practice. which has
originated and maintained phase of
social intercourse exhibiting conven-
tional ceremonial without chilling for
mality, and freedom from irksome re-
straInt, wi ich rarely If ever degener-
ates into vulgar license. A communi-
~, too, which, all circumstances con-
sidered, is singulurly exempt from the
preiudices, and other Objectionable Pc
culiaIities ever prone to disfgure So
ciety, where those few are separated
one from another by broad baroniIl
tracts of field and forest.
That there was an untitled aristocra-
cy inVirginia.we are not disposed to dis
pute, but contend that though odious
in name it was mild and benevolent in
nature. that it greatly benefited the ba-
sis upon which it was upreared, and that
it owed its continued prominence to IN
telIigcnce. morality and usefulness as
well as to wealth and political privilege.
sWhence then, stranger naturally
asks. "did this slave-owning, soil-till-
ing community derive that refinement
and culture by which it was unquestion-
ably distinguished
The reasons are evident, and the solu-
ton of the problem easy.
Ifthe source be pure. the stream flow
ing from it is naturally of correspond
ing character e.e ,.s
Virginian society owesits salient fea-
lures to the fact that this State was col
onized Ivy gentlemen. Nor is the cir
cumstance so frequently adverted to in
print and otherwise that these gentry
were men who had dissiDated their for