Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1873-09-09
VIRGINIA. AND MASSACHUSETTS,,

which used to'be classic Csays the Baltimore
tGdseae) -the three great communities which
mainly sustained the Revolutionary Confea-
eracy were Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Mas.
sachusetts-the Cavalier, the Quaker, with a
strong dash of the Scotch-Irish Presbyterian,
without. which, as an element of revolution,
Quakerdom would not have amountedto much
and the Puritan. We of Maryland were'n
one of the great Commonwealth then, and
New York, with herscapital all the time in the
hands of the enemy, exercised little influence
For the purpose,of the contrast which the
present forces upon our attention we elimi-
nate Pennsylvania, and think only of Massa>
echuse'ts aud Virginia. Their relative condi-
tion during the actual war of the Revolution
was not dissimilar. One saw only the begin
niug-the other only the end After the
spring of re no hostile foot ever trod the soil
of Massachusetts,. Her only stodk in trade
wasI,exington and Bunker Hill, and, Heaven
knows, she has made the most of i'll So
with Virginia. From the time Lord Dun>
more fed until Arnold landed in 1880, Vir>
ginia knew no hostile presence. The CAM
paign of 1871 was brief one, without any of
the ordinary trials of war, and ended in
gread and relatively easy victory. All this
time Virginia and Massachusetts, were friends.
No. colony spoke out more boldly against the
Boston Port bill than did the Old Dominion.
1t was Massachusetts, that named Washington
Gommander-in>Chief. John Adams, typical
Ysnkee, if ever there was one, was Jefferson's
fright bower" in the matter of Independence.
When the war was over, and the Constitution
framed, there was Virginian President and
Secretary of State; New England Vice
President and Secretary of War. No fanat-
icism stood between them then. Tho great
bug>bear of later times-negro slavery-ter>
rified and excited no one. New England was
glad to make rum out of slavc>grown molas>
ses, and if the South wanted occasionally to
increase her laboring population by little in
voluntary immigration, New England was
only too ready to furnish tho bottoms and to
earn the freights. At last the change came.
Virginia, easy in her agricultural resources,
and maintaining her ancient social institu-
tions of all kinds, was hardly conscious OF
proudly Indifferent to the ehsnge which was
going Oh and it is not too much to say that
until John Brown and his mercenary ruffians
raised the standard at Harper's Ferry-mur-
dering Virginia gentlemen on Virginia soil
and it was discovered that this bloody raid was
fomented and actually paid for by Massachu-
sets, the Ancient Commonwealth did not
realize tho change of feeling which had taken
place. Then was it that the ancient cliffs
were forever rent asunder, and the dreary sea
flowed fercely between. Such was the con-
dition of things Immediately before the civil
war. It came, aud, of course, wider became
the rift Massachusetts, in that war, all pros
perity; Virginia, all misery. From Sumter
to Appomattox no adverso-presence disturbed
the serenity, the money making tranquility of
the ebay State except, perhaps, that of
few Maryland gentlemen incarcerated in her
harbor prisons She sent very few soldiers
"a good many Generals, such as they werc) to
the war, find it cheaper to hire them, as of
yore Great Britain did, when she had re-
bellion on hand, in Hesse Cassci and Bruns-
witch. On Virginia the weight of agony fell.
In great circle, from Roanoke Island to
Winchester, Virginia saw the close array,
headed by such soldiers as Burnside and But.
Ter and Banks. The last battle in Virginia
was when Malone whipped the Massachusetts,
Miles at Farmvillc. The story is too fresh
and familiar to need to be repeated Then
loo
tion to material prosperity, and for the South,
and Virginia as part of it, Demonstration,
Eight years of this have been going on, and
now We ask reflective men to note tho con-
trast of the actual present. The discipline oe
trial and adversely which Virginia bore has
only developed the great traits of character.
She has reconstructed herself and now, when
Virginians have to decide to what public func-
tionaries they shall trust their destinies, they
select tho purest and most distinguished of
their felow-citizens. Such are the men of tho
old heroic mould which Virginia still honors;
and when the Federal Administration threat
ems to interpose, with dignity and emphasis it
is warned away. And what of Massachusetts
Puritan Massachusetts-tha boasts itself
to be the head of American civilization Is
the sight there one on which the eye rests
pleasantly? The most reckless and unscru>
pulous of American public men, in defiance
of what seems to be respectable popular sem
timent, claims as his right, and it would seem
with some chance of success, to be Governor
of Massachusetts. and urges his claim boldly
and defiantly. The vaunted responsibility of
New England hangs its head in shame. Vir>
ginia chooses as her standard bearer brave
soldier who fought her battles nobly, on whose
sword there is no stain of ravage, from whose
lips no ribald word ever fell, who never in
wansouncss hanged civilian or insulted a
woman Massachusetts puts BENJAMIN +.