The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1880-01-08

A Lesson to be Learned
What the people Of the South. and esne.
cially of Virginia, most need, is d severe
lesson in forgetfulness. They must school
themselves to the living present, and cease
to perpetually recur to the past, however
halcyon it may have been. They must
abandon this mourning over the changes
time has wrought, and address themselves to
the demands of the present and probabili.
ties of the future. At the close OF the war.
had the people Of the South gathered about
them the wreck OF their former fortunes.
and undertaken to carry out in good faith
the pledges they had given, bending their
energies to the work before them, and striv-
ing to repair the losses they had sustained,
the condition OF that section would be far
different from what we now behold. Fiji
teen years have passed since that day, and
almost new generation has been called
into action, but the old story Of their de-
parted glory is renewed year after year, and
the young men growing up have been
taught to rehearse it DER and DER again.
They are continually going back to what
might have been, instead Of endeavoring to
press forward to the accomplishment of
that which lies before. These reflections
come to US with peculiar force when we
contemplate the recent history of Virginia.
At shutdown on the 4th of November last,
the political party in this state claiming to
embrace within its fold those who represent.
ed the past glory of the old Dominion, was
disastrously beaten at the polls. When the
full measure Of their defeat dawned upon
them, it would have been the part of wis.,
dom and common sense, to have accepted
the inevitable as gracefully as possible, and
made the best Of the unfortunate situation
in which they found themselves. Instead
Of doing this, however, for months, the lead
ers continued to gnash their teeth in impo-
tent rage. The victorious party was de-
nounced, villified and abused. Its leaders
we're held up to public gaze as corrupt,
dishonest and incompetent. and the vocabu.
larry OF Billingsgate was exhausted for
epithets to express the Indignation OF those
who had been defeated. There were no
overtnres OF peace whatever, no graceful
surrender Of the conquered sword. The
power and spoils which passed over TO the
new party as the reward OF their victory,
had to be wrenched by violence from the
hand of their former possessors. At every
turn, the course Of the victors was impeded,
and every possible obstacle thrown in their
way. Those who thus acted must have
known that they could not change the cur
rent, and to thus obstruct it was to provoke
ill feeling and invite excess. Invidious dis.
tinctions were drawn, calculated to produce
no other effect than to excite discomfort
and arouse passion. For weeks during
the lection Of officers, every possible oc-
casion was used to heap repreach upon
the Re-aCjusters, and nomination to the
pettiest Office served as the text of endless
and senseless TRADES. Sensible men would
get up in the legislative halls, and prefacing
their remarks by saying that they knew
their speeches would have not the slightest
possible effect, proceed to deliver lengthen-
ed harangues upon the virtues of the outgoing
and the depravity of the incoming officials.
They knew, and so announced, that all Of such
efforts were utterly futile. They might as well
have been singing psalms to dead mule,
but they preferred this useless and childish
whining over that which could not be cured,
to coming forward like men and shaping their
action to meet the demands OF the future.
The excuse they gave, was that they wanted
to make a record, and show the people what
manner of men they had sent there to rep
resent them. We venture to say, although
we voted against those who opposed the
McCulloch bill and did all in our power to
defeat them by fair means, that il an cleo
ton was to be held tomorrow the present
majority would be more likely to be increas-
ed than diminished, and that the recor d,
except in few cases, wouldn't amount to
q row of pins.
We do hope that, from now on to the
close Of the session, there will be no more
such proceedings as marked the first part.
The re-adJusters have been placed in power
by the sovereign will OF the Virginia people,
and let them accept with the power the
full responsibility that attaches to it. Let
them understand that they alone are to be
accountable for the manner in which they
administer the trust confided to them. To
seek to battle and impede is simply to coz
tend against the inevitable, and will result
in no good. Certainly there are interests OF
the state, material interests. outside of those
involved in the late contest, to which our
legislators can devote their attention. Let
them learn to forget, or at least cease to
pirate over, past renown, and act like men
who have future before them, whose devel-
opment will furnish ample employment for
busy brains and hands.