The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-04-04

,vlyan,a Central or the Nee York Central.
a vast commercial highway over. which the
PRODUCTS of the milions ef the Great Val
iev will find their way 20 the ocean.
Standing here on this mountain top ..
Western Virginia, for we are now Jus. oast
the border, one gets some tdea OF tne san'
natural resources OF this va Unasnthn
Here we are on what geoioels.s 'en ~ hroodar
great coal-fcid of this continent, taf pio"uoi
and better than that which has so enrlcheu
and huilt up the n%eighboring State OF Penn
sylynnia. In the passes OF the mounIalhs,
,.here the rivers in a course OF ages nave
w.nrn their way through successive strata OF
roct' the cliffs on either hand are ribbed
with huge black seams which show the vast
denosit OF that which, fora nations wealth,
70 more precious than mines Of silver and
gold.
ing of the future Of their State. They tell
me Virginia Is ruined. ! answer "You
have not begun to scratch the surface which
covers her hid treasures" 1t Is o goodly
land as ever the sun shone upon. l have
traverSed It from east to west, and every
where l see its valleys springing with corn,
and the cattle on q thousand hills. Do not
the Blue Ridge and the A~lleghanies lift
their SUBMITS In the air? Do not the rivers
run rejoicing to the sea? DO not the bills
bring forth coal ? and are net the mountains
full Of Iron? 1t is not q flourish Of rhetoric,
but q fact ascertained by the careful sur
| veys of scientific men, that Virginia con-
| tains far greater deposits Of coal and iron
than the whole Of Great Britain, which
| have made that the richest country on the
face Of the globe.
| | believe, then, In the future Of Virginia,
q future far greater than the past. Its chief
| obstacle is in its political condition as left
by the war-a kind Of apathy produced by
| defeat, a sort of paralysis of despair. This
must be shaken of. If lts present popula.
ton are ever to rise out Of their detected
and hopeless condition.
know indeed the bitterness that fingers
from the recent struggle; how many a Eir-
ginia matron Weeps, like Rachel, for her
children, and will not be comforted, be.
cause they are not. God forbid that l
is nv sympathy at all restrained by think
ing how many northern homes also have
been made desolate, how many fathers and
mothers still weep for the unreturning
brave" But sorrows and reproaches are
alike idle. They cannot bring back the
dead. Let these s~utlerings rather-even
though inflicted by each others hand|-
bind us together. Virginia is now indeed
.sacred SOIL" 1t has drunk the blood OF
our brayest and best, anu must ever pe W
us consecrated ground.
America, like England, has had its great
rebellion, of which some future Clarendon
may write the history. But though the ira
ditions may linger for generations, there is
no reason why they should divide us for
ever any more than that the tales of the
border wars between England and Scot
land, revived by Walter Scott, should pro-
duce lasting hatred between those W d.
visions Of the United Kingdom. Let them
fade away in the past. What Virginia now
needs is to follow the rule Of the Apostle, to
"forget the things that are behind, and
press forward to those that are before"
That way her glory lies. The Old Dominion
is dead and gone. Let her be buried with
all the honors. But as she passes into his
tory 4 New Dominion rises in the distance,
a Commonwealth of such population and
power rs the former never knew. A better
| aav is coming. Already / see its dawn like
morning spread upon the mountains.
HENRY NJ. FIELD.