The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1872-11-18
MONDAY EyE'G. NOV. is, 1872.
WHO BILLED CONSERVATISM IN vIR
GINYA. $500

ouF llleuuS vi tue oPpooi.ioh eAS SHii
busy trying to account for their great dis
aster. They still plead the most improba-
BILE causes, unable or unwilling to see the
truth which is very clear to other eyes.
All of us have o little conceit and pride of
opinion, and we are slow to see an error
which we have long and warmly defended.
But we are all in error on many points
every moment Of our lives, and the great
value of experience is that it tends to dimin-
ish their number. We volunteer little
help to explain the lesson of the late can
yass for the benefit of our Conservative
friends. The facts of the case are simple.
The leaders of the Conservative party in
Virginia have been for the most part ex-
hausted politicians, who belong to another
era. They have no faith in progress, and
no sympathy with the active life around
them. The strong hand of revolution has
overturned their accustomed seats, land they
grope in the darkness of the past to find
the old ways. But the masses unlearned
in politics respond to material needs and
activities, and press on under the stress Of
of progressive instincts.
The Old Hunkers are being crowded out
of the way. Their idiotc opposition to
new ideas, and their narrow-minded and
barbarous jealousy of outside influences
finds no sympathy with The people, who
need help from without to supply their
own insuificiency. The revolt in the Con.
sentative ranks comes from the outrageous
conduct of these leaders, who, to secure
some petty election, appeal to the passions
of the mob, and excite prejudices against
the only class whose coming into Virginia
would bring prosperity to her people.
"Wo to the land 1chose yoaag men are Con-
seyUdtipe," says Macauley. Tne young
men of Virginia are taking the warning
home to themselves, and deserving party
whose policy is to drive every man who
seeks employment out Of the State. The
land-holders who wish to sell their wasting
surplus acres, and see the only men who
have money to buy, turning their backs
upon Virginia, are beginning to learn why
lands are unsaleable here.
The Conservative leaders want no men
to come here who cannot be made their
slaves. They hate personal independence,
and fear the competition of such capable
and vigorous minds, as are bred in commu-
mites where education is general, and dis
cusson is free, through the press and on
the rostrum. They are willing that North
ern men should come here and spend
money for their benefit, but they must make
no criticism upon any old ideas or prac-
tees. They must take no part in politics
except to vote the Conservative ticket, and
never run for office except when made
stool-pigeon for the party Of long pedi-
gree and eminent respectabilay. Northern
men who come here are expected to leave
conscience and manhood behind them, and
sink into the condition of intellectual serf-
dom to the hereditary rulers of the
Old Dominion. 1t is sadly true that We
have some conspicuous examples OF
this sordd and worthless class of men,
who come to Virginia and sell
their manhood for a lille trade. or a
ssmblance of social recognition, core,fng
profound contempt.
But the men that Virginia wants and
who can be of use to her are not such.
They are that bold and hardy race who
have peopled the great Valleys. of the
West, and, crossing the mountains, are
to-day building an empire on the Pacific.
These men would come here and do for
this noble old State what they are doing
there, if not driven away by the Conserva-
tive leaders who block all progress and
labor to excite the prejudices Of the igno-
rant against every man who comes here
and exercises his privilege as q citizen
by voting against them. The people of the
State are fast learning how hostile to their
interests is this old dominant party, and
they have risen inytheir might to over
throw it.
This is only the beginning of the work.
There will be a union of all progressive
and earnest men now ranging under differ
ent banners, to carry it out to grand
completion and redeem Virginia from the
ruinous rule of Hunkerism and Daddyisn.
OF course, these old hard-heads can't see
it. They have never seen any of the great
changes till they were overwhelmed. Like
the foolish ostrich, who thinks he is safe
because his head is hidden, and only learns
his mistake when the hunters arrow
pierces his exposed body, they will die as
they have liged--faithless in the law Of pro-
gress and blind to the logic of events.
Happily their rule is pear its end. On
the walls of their council chamber the finger
writes visibly the sentence, which seals the
doom of that old dynasty. 1t will perish
utterly from the earth, which has no use for
droRes, eUa' to maintain the royal blood. A
great State which it blasted and cursed for
half a century, will rise and rejoice when it
departs. A new brood Of men, fresh, free,
dauntless, with larger views and broader
sympathies, adope the mean aarToaness of
ilaztvtsna, are coming Up from valley