Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1875-11-30
''SOme Considerations for Virgin.
ianS'' Considered.

10 the editor of the Aleuondllu Gazette.
We are among the number of those who
cordially welcome to virginia, and to the South,
emlgrants who come among US to assist in de-
veoplng our resources, and at The same time
to better their own condition. For We take it
Tor granted that all such settlers have the latter
sensible object in view, and do not Join US
solely, in what Mr.. Nlicawber would depict,
as burst" OF love aud Confidence. But
while we thus greet them warmly, we will be
pardoned for expressing the. wish that they
would bring along with them all of their uatur
| al good s-nse, aud some Of their modesty. We
are panied TO have to say that it does occur t.
Us that the communication oil plain Farm
er, lu the Gazet, of the 9th lust, is slight.
| y wanting III those particulars.
ln Opening, we hardly thluk he does Justice
to he people OF the North if he means to tell
Us that 10 all their communities utfse seeking
Is as disrepu!aDlc as III the Que in which he
was educated" For if this be so, as we have
never heard that there, all political processes
are reversed, and the Offices seek the men, then
it logically follows that their office holders, ip
general, must be, more or less, "disreputable. ,"
We are unwilling t, think so Of the many
good men FROM the North who sit in the Ma
uonal Congress, who throng their Legislatures,
and administer justice in their Courts But let
this pass. He then writes, that having settled
within the Inviting border Of Virginia before
the war; that event compelled him 10 choose
o'tWcen taking up arms against the govern
ment founded by Washington, Jefferson, &C.,
NC, aud fleeing from the home he had adopt
eu. tie does not explain quite satisfactorily,
however, why the war forced him to flee into
the Unlted States army, aud made him fight
during the four long years OF that unfortunate
coudict against his former neighbors and
friends.
Since the war he has ever abstained in his
Intercourse with native Vrginians from aDy
expressions calculated TO arouse the preiudlccs,
&c., &c. This is certainly comluendable, but
ln the .lticIe before US has be so strictly ad-
nered to the concat0ry course he has mapped
for himself? Let us see Is it peculiarly
gratifying u Vlrginlaus 10 be told in the fay
eud OF sentence that they have around them
the dead weights of iudoleuce, Intolerance,
silly pride. foolish prejudices and uuwlse legis.
laton. 80 much for the general charges; now
as to the truth of them in general aud par
tcular
We hold that it is uuqaestiouably not true
|
the South is due to the ''lutoeraucc, Incidence
silly prde, prejudices and uuwise Iegisla,ion''
OF their people. That coudition i. i'm mediuteIv
due to the unprecedented destruction Of capttaI
wrought by The War; III which our PLAIN Far
mer did his tull share, as he tells us, letting
up only during his temporary seclusoo ''iu five
different prisons lu the South" Since the war,
from the want OF the captll so DESTROYED, aud
not from want OF energy or Industry has pros
perty departed from the South for time
Gully, as we hope. The recuperatiye energy of
the South, on the contrary, has been marvel
to the nations of the earth, the crops of manv
OF the States being almost equal to the ante
bellum period, and Ibis too, when their whole
system OF labor was destroyed by cut of the
sword. As far as agriculture is concerned the
products OF this Stat, at this very moment,
are drug III the market aud hardly pay the
Cost OF production. How would it be il they
Were Increased dehut :Iy or Indefinitely? From
lam Farmer, let Us have pain answer,
but let 1t be plaln scDse
We agree with your correspondent th,t Vir.
gnla wants miners and manufacturers to dig
out her great mineral treasures and prepare
them for market. She watts skilled artisans
to build machinery, construct her engines,
looms aud mills, her wagons mowers, reapers,
shovelS and all the various implements and tools
within her borders, in every department of
labor without beng Compelled As she now is,
aud has been, to buy them from abroad at a
| vast and lmpoverlShlug outlay OF money that
should be kcrt-every dollar of il--at home"
IS, verify, she wants all these; and today
would have much ~ ire Of hem than she has
were 1t not first, for the war and secondly.
| Tor Radical legislation since the war, which has
mad; Virginia, the Stat $ of the South; nav.
The very COVERT ment founded by Washington,
jefferson, and their wise compatriuts" the
thing that it is. What government can pros
| per when we see whole communities, great
CONFERENCE.-The BOWED down, like SO mauy
n!uc.plns, as Louisiana Arkansas, Mississippi,
Georgia, aud other States OF the South have
| repeatedly been by the Administration al
Washington? What agricultural people can
fluurlsh When they have to sell cheap aud buy
dear, and when, at every ctfort they make to
rise, the lnternal tariff that the Radical Reuub.
llcan majority lays upon them presses them
| again to the earth? Will large, heathfu
emigration seek such stricken laud as this,
and SO goverucd-unless it were the very tabled
giant OF old--oan it rise in Increased strength
from such repeated falls? Ouce more We call
upon the 'Plalu Farmer for the plain, scpsi-
Die answer to our Questions; not given, We will
tell obliged surrowluly to rccgate him to the
cultivation of his fields
Nor is he more fortunate when he under
kes to cavl at the procivtics, real or as
suued, of the Virgrians. Every people has
its pecuiarites. Certainly none have moro
marked ones than the people OF the North.
He tells US, with amazing torg tfulucss of his
Own record, that the authors of all Virginia s
woes have been of her own household. All
her classes have been too much affected by
hereditary Incidence and dependence. There
has been too much of that silly hcresy-the |
pride OF pedigree aud family too much of the
tomfooery of tournaments &c" We under
take to say that people SO afflicted by hered |
itary Incidence and dependence would hardly |
have made the mark they did 10 the late pro- |
loDged struggle of arms. As to the other pe |
cullarltles mentioned, they are not shared ex |
tetslvely BY our people. With regard to tour
nameDts, We venture to observe that they are |
as hardy, as manly, as elevatDg as 'clam |
bakes, or as the annual gorge of the Tat |