The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1873-06-16
MONDAY EVENING. JUNE 1e, 1873
Eet US save virginia. Z"


Since the anxious agony of the exciting canvass
that eliminated in the eventfui election which
gave us a Joyous Conservative victory in 1869,
Virginia has been buoyed up with hope. That
great triumph of TRUTH reason and right impart-
ed new life to her people 1t assured them that
all was not lost, Notwithstanding the great
strength and the alarming policy of the party
then, and now, holding the reins of the general
government. 1t encouraged them in their heroic
efforts to repair their broken fortunes 1t light
ened their hearts in the heavy work of resusefta-
ting the languid industries of their state
Enquirer
In the exuberance if not abundance oil
our good nature, we wish Virginia could
be saved, and that with as little anxious
agony on the part of our neighbors as
possible. We feel distressed that it was
not saved four years ago, when everybody
congratulated himself that it acas saved.
Why it slipped up on 'political salvation'
at that time, or what malgn influences
have since been at work to destroy the
impulse of Saving grace" then impaired to
it, we have failed, after diligent search and
inquiry, TO learn. We would gladly
tighten the hearts Of our Conservative
friends in the heavy work of resuscitating
the languid fortunes Of their party and to
this end, we will agree, with their permits
sion, to print and gratuitously circulate
ten thousand copies of the following speech
in THE STATE JOURNAL, as an antidote
to the many political sins we are daily
committing by our connection with this
paper
Fellow-ctizens the palladium of our
liberties is again ieopardized, and every
patriotic son of Virginia is summoned to the
rescue. The anxious agony of another excl
ting canvass is upon us, and that Briarrian
monster, I" Radicalism," is again lifting his
hundred arms, if not his hundred heads ct
totidem liaguas, and threatening to reduce
us to the abject slavery Of the Carolinas,
the degrading serldom Of Louisiana, the
iatolcrable scalawaggism Of Florida, if not
to driye-we know not how many fiery
bodkins-into the Conservative soul of
Virginia, in the shape of other and
more degrading conditions. Is there
any one so shamefully supine, as not
to rouse himself to the spirit-stirring ap.
peal to "save Virginia." IN the hour that
everything is imperiled and all but honor
is lost? Remember the eventful election
of 1s69,when the times were so sadly out
OF Joint that we had to call in another and
mighter than 1Gsculapius-o titus
Wa1kerius Achates-to reduce the shocking
dislocaton! Then, everybody thought
Virginia aoas saved-that the 'howling
deryishes" which threatened to come up
out of the gum-tree, gourd-vine, sumac, and
persimmon wildernesses Of the state had
been driven back to their lair, never more
to show their distressing ivory in restoring
the languid sumac industries of Nanse.
mond ; in reviving the gourdy splendors of
Sussex in pursuing the oleagenous 'pos-
sum to the highest tops OF the gum-trees in
Essex, and in knocking, with the longest
pole the law allows, the peerless per-
simmon in historic Fluvanna
Then it was-in lS69-that Virginia was
first saved then it was, that, encouraged
by the horoic effort of her sons to secure
the negro vote by running her fdas 1''-
cl,ateS on a Republican ticket, Virginia
threw off her degrading thraldom
and came to the forefront of re-
repairing her broken fortunes. But, alas
marry fortuneh has been repaired political
salvation did not come in like flood, with
our .fdus Archates at the helm the flood
gates of scaawaggery and Wall-street
capet-baggei were opened upon US; the
noblest of Conservative purposes were
frustrated the .fdus JValkerats projects
were nipped in the bud; the dynasty was
played out; and-the salvation of the state
went "glmmering' into the haults Of the
dryads and wood-nymphs Of the unhappy
localities we have named
We are sorry fortit. We had looked
forward with no small hope and satisfaction
to the time when Virginia's salvation would
BE- an accomplished fact; when none Of her
sons would have to cry out again, as in the
.'anxious agony" Of 1869 "Men and
brethren, what shall we do to be saved (?
The c0pet-bdggei are upon us! The
palladium Of our liberties is jeopardized!
Let us save Virginia y"
How gloriously the state was then
saved, may be inferred from the lusty but
despairlng cry for its salvation now. We
wish she could be permanently
saved, for once. 1t is not in our heart to
throw a single obstacle in the way of
accomplishing such desirable result.
We would save her from all sorts of fsms
-scalawaggism, carpet-baggism, Wall
street shylockism, railroad-monopolyism,
and every other ISM, even to the worst
and malignest Of all Conservatism. But
we don't want to be humbugged
into another such salvation as
that of 1869. Let the heroic effort to
repair our broken fortunes take any other
shape than that. We want to place a
sterling old Virginian, without isnas but
Of advanced ideas, in the executive chair.
We want to see every crushed industry
revived. We want to see new life infused
into every branch of labor, manufactures,
and trade. We want to see the sons of the
stalwart men of the past, rise up in their
more vigorous manhood, and assert their
ancestral worth in the future. Progging