Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1869-02-16
COMMUNICATED
Ehe ss(Ommitfee of Nine,''

and iuvectiye scarcasm and ridicule hurled
against them in strains of imprisoned indlg-
nation. Writers, newspaper editors and poll
ticians have misemployed their time and per-
vertcd their talents 10 efforts to arouse the
feelings and enlist the passions by appeals 10
| our sense of honor which soonest moves II
einians heart. Let US briefly examine the sub
Of and see if facts and reason warrant TINS
nnmeasured condemnation. That the condl-
ton Of our country is one OF gloom and dan
Ger. is truth too potent to be denied 1nat
nerhaps Clover deep of woe awaits US, Is
at least matter OF probability, II by some
means the tide OF misfortune Is not arrested or
turned aside. The magnitude OF the perlls
which environ Us, stands forth IN such terrible
distinctness as to require no flowers OF style,
portraiture. The picture with its sombre hues
is familiar to each one, and to say that the
midnight darkness Of ensavement, beggary
and want confronts us, is not extravaganza,
but painful, sober fact. At such times those
who come forward to advise their countrymen
assume an undertaking of hazard and respon-
sibIity, and arc at least entitled to a lair aud
IMPARTIAL hearing. Those who advise faith
fully, are not always those who receive the
highest laudali0n, and those who address them
| selves to our passions are more accountable
| than those who address our reason. Under
which class does the committee come?
The committee, recognizing the election CT
| Grant and Coliax as an intallible Indication OF
popular sentiment on negro suffrage, and as its
emphatic endorsement, without directing their
efforts to- the attainment Of the exclusion OF
the negro from political rights, labor as fruit
less as that of the tabled Danades, bent their
energies towards the accomplishment of a less
| desirable, but more feasible end-the eraslon
or the proscriptive features of the Underwood
| Constitution before its submission to the peo-
pie. Ii by this We do not avoid the lnvestl-
we are saved from the probability OF other
more djreful ills. To us who look back upon
. glorious past, when we see Virginia the
brightest star in the galaxy, leading the coun
ellis of the government in the person OF her
Washington, her Madison, her Monroe, it is
but natural that we should reflect and be sure
that we transmit to future generations, the
precious legacy OF our ancestors, the honor
and history OF our State, III the purity IN
which it descended to US. But do we diShonor
our past, can we degrade ourselves, by accept
ing the inevitable? If it were otherwise than
as it is, this suggestion to change the features
Of our organic law, and to incorporate into it
provisions unwlSe nay almost revolving, II 1t
were otherwise, | say, we would respond with
the ulanimity, and in the words OF the Eng
fish peers at the Parliament Of Merton not
unluS teges Anglice mut01l." But there Is
wide gull between the thirteenth century and
| the nineteenth, and mourntul discrepancy
between the condition of the English peers
and our own There is courage and wis
dom, which it is difficult for humanity to learn,
but a courage and wisdom of the highest char
II l. bo I'd to no
Of honorably adapting ourselves to the require
ments OF the age, and the courage to dare to do it
10 be Conservative and progressive is, as has
beens aid, the grand social problem. Whether or
not history furnishes the solution, or whether
its solution may be read in the action of the
Virginia Committee. let others determine
There is logic as memorable as the sword OF the
victor. 1t is the logic of events. There is
power with which it is neither safe nor wise to
grappIe. 1t is the spirit OF the age. 1t may
be guided, directed, and 10 measure CON
trolled, but open resistance only increases its
power and sggravates its animosity. The
writer of this by no means intends as uphold
ing the Democratic dogma coo pOpuH zoe del
in his opinion the vest of political heresies.
But whether night or wrong the spirit of the
age is an irresistible power. History unquaston-
ably teaches US that the connection between
and effect, and that sooner or later those ideas
which generally permeate the country, will be-
come embodied in some external features
Why was it in the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries we find kings thwarted and batfled in
their designs by the nobility? Because of the
power Of ieu1alisnl, then upheld by the ideas
Of the ag" Why is it that in the sixteenth
century we see three mighty potentates Henry
Viii, Ct ngiand, Charles v, OF Germany,
and Francis, l., Of France, dividing, We may
say, the European world between them success
fully combating the power of the nobility, and
reigning with supreme and unquestioned au-
thorty? Because ideas have enthroned abso
utism on the ruins of feudalsm. Later still
we see in England Stuart opposed, rebelled
against, dethroned and slaughtered, for exer-
cising his kingIy prerogatlve, though IN man
ner less arbitrary than his predecessors, the
Tudors, the impetuOus Henry, the blsoted
Mary, or the impcrious Elizabeth. Ideas had
changed meanwhile.
This is a revolution 70 think of stopping
at former bounds. while its wheels are bearing
us rapidly along, is mere folly. In 1882 by an
Eruption OF the sea, considerable part OF the
lOwIands Of Holland was submerged. As well
might Tie Ilollandors sit and sigh and hope
to recover the fields which the mad waters had
engulfed, as for US to hope to see again the
old land marks which the angry storm of revo.
luton has obGterated. We may think of the
beauty of these institutions, and regret they
are ours no longer, but other considerations
should also claim our attention.
VIII such men as Baldwin and Stuart do
aught in dcrogation of the dignity of our Old
Commonwealth Will not their past record
entitle them to some confidence and trust?-
Virginia riicta Ct Ujlua is to them no DOUBT as
to Us all, as dear age dearer than Virginia
rictrLc While we remember our duty to the
past and the dead let US not forget our duty
to the present and the living. The stagnation
OF commerce, our silent marts and fields lying
in waste, too plainly tells the evils of our con-
dtion as military district unsettled as to our
political future. The scenes now enacted in
Arkansas, adumbrate our fate if the Under |
wood Constitution is adopted in all its hideous.
ness. Shall the scenes be reacted here? Shall
we learn nothing from past, nothing from con-
temporaneous history? The opponents of the
committee appeal to the chivalrc sense of
honor of the people. Let those who favor it