The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1872-03-18

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SOWING DRAGONS TEETH.
1t is related of the early Greeks that they
refused their consent to the second sowing
Of the dragons teeth Of Cadmus. One
crop Of men from that vile broadsasting Of
seed was enough. Almost every scholar
knows the origin Of the fable, and that
those who scatter prejudices or seek to keep
alive the sectional hates and animosities of
people, are so,0ing the dragons teeth.
In identifying ourselves and all our inter-
ests with the people Of Virginia, we have
kept one uniform rule of action in view,
which has been, neither to scatter the
dragons teeth ourselves, nor suffer others
to scatter them without quick and sharp
rebuke where we could administer it. We
felt that the people Of Virginia were reluc-
family forced into the war resulting from
secession, and did everything in their power
to avert the calamitous consequences up to
the time that the first shock Of battle en-
sued. And, as they had suffered more
than the people Of any other state, our
sympathies were more warmly enlisted in
their behalf, and we came here to help in
building up the waste places, and repairing
SO much Of the desolation as it might be in
our power to effect, with the limited means
at our command. So far we have given
our best energies in this direction, and we
do not intend to abate them in any par
ticular hereafter. We have promptly
taken Northern persons and presses
to task where we have seen q
disposition on their part to fan the old
hates and animosties into life, and have
been equally prompt in taking up Southern
journals for any similar display of sectional
rancor. We have said that brave
people always sheathe their enmities
with their swords. And how true
have we found this to be since we
came to this State. For none have extend
ed to US a more cordial and friendly greet
ing than ''the bravest of the Virginia
brave" Those Confederate officers who
were uniformly at the front when North
ern army threatened any part of the State,
and who laid down their swords as brayely
as they had taken them up, we have inva-
riably found to be the most ready and
earnest to cooperate with us in Graduating
every vestige Of past grievance and COM
plant, and in building up in peace what
devastation had laid waste in war. This
was no more than what we expected. A
good fighter is always the best of peace
makers, and no man knows better how to
appreciate the blessings of peace than he
who has been reluctantly forced to make
war.
But there are persons, and we regret to
find many of them at the head of inauen-
tial journals in the South, who let no OPP
portunity slip to sow the "second crop of
dragons teeth" Whatever is calculated
to revive the old rancor they keep alive,
and whatever is calculated to allay it they
keep out of sight. If any old beetle-head-
ed editor in the South still persists in roll
ing big ball of secession excrement, the
fact is noted as one of marked significance,
if not made the text of two-coiumn edi-
torial by dozen other Southern Journal
lists, and perhaps as many Northern ones
and should a young boarding-school Miss
get off any little tit-bit OF rancor in hel
graduating composition, especially one as
sprightly as it is spiteful, it goes the rounds
of Southern journalism, if it does not give
rise to almost any amount Of political and
religious homiletics, both North and
South. This thing is getting to be alto
gether too chronic. The disease does not
yield to ordinary remedies. Those who
are afflicted with it seem to get no relief
except in hugging to their malady. 1t is
like that species of circumstances in which
the curative tendencies of medicine are all
turned against the patients recovery. In
these circumstances, therefore, it may
seem almost as idle to complain of what /.
as Of what is not the real condition of thc
patient. We may desire his recovery, anc
be willing to prescribe the best remedie.
we know Of to effect a cure, but if the dis.
ease is so bred in the bone that it will no
be out of the flesh, it is wasting solicitudt
in vain to trouble ourselves any further
about the absolute condition Of the patient
But when we see a state so full of ma
terial wealth and grandeur as the sold Do
minion )" possessing within itselfGn all bu
mem the elements of an empire being