The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1882-02-02
Have Patience.

Have Patience
There is nothing like a streak of adver- |
sity and the absence OF power to bring |
the quick apprehension TO realization |
OF the logic of facts. and to invite to
calm survey of actual surroundings. Our
Bourbon friends have been SO long accus-
toned 10 the exercise of authority and dis
regard of the rights and opinions OF those
politically opposed to them, that they have,
until recently, thought of nothing except
that which would perpetuate their author
ity and augment their influence. Bloated
with success and its attendant advantages,
they were in no frame OF mind to calmly
and impartially consider the right, only as
they discovered it through perverted and
distorted vision, or to approach any public
question to learn its merits, except as they
might favor parJizan ends. There are many
fair men in the Bourbon ranks, who, were
it not that they were carried along in The
whirl of excited contests, and winning,
considered only the benefits of success, are
capable of according justice to opponents,
and nationally considering the rights OF
their ueighbors. These. however. are rare
ly asked into council, when party ends are
to be encompassed and partizan means
employed to reach them. 1t is when defeat
comes and disasters hover over the once im-
perieus victor, chat such minds are looked
to for advice and comfort. The impetuous,
impulsive and proscriptive leaders cover
before adversely. for they realize that they
nave lacked magnanimity, have been unjust,
and condemned by their own conscious
ness, they cannot summon courage to meet
the emergencies which confront chem.
They sulk into retirement. nursing their
wrath, and conjuring up all kinds OF gor-
CONS dire to fright their souls and plague
their neighbors. They can see no merit,
no virtue in their successful opponents, nor
recognize the fact that good motives and
| honest intentions may be found outside OF
the circle in which they move, and have
| their influence. They cannot believe that
intelligence and moral worth are pretty
evenly distributed in society, and that
where there is a prepOnderance in one class
over another. it is found in the unpreten
tious, unassuming, laboring elements, who
are content with quietly doing the work
before them and leaving other peoples bu-
siness alone. Bourb0nism hugs old
methods. adheres to the influence which
gave it power. and condemns everything
that challenges It's right to rule and control.
IL yaunts itself upon its blood, its pedi-
grees. its learn ing, its honor and its intel
lgence. In these it tolerates no rival. 1t
scouts the thought of virtue outside OF the
range of its influence. and the sacred circle
of its motion. In religion. IN politics ard
in society it is the same. II lives in an at
mosphere of supercli0us eXclusiveness, and
demands abeisance from ali who do not adj
nit its super iorty, or who question it as a
divine institution.
1t is this spirit that is now rampant in
Virginia. There is no concession of merit.
or any of the attributes which go to make
up the good citizen, to the party which has
succeeded to power. Evil is predicted, and
|
Every assault upon old methods. by which
it was entrenched In power, is classed with
vandalism. and although the successful par
~ numbers many of the most conscien-
tious and circumspect and successful of the
citizens of the State, it is denounced rs the
sum of all villianies. and the nursery of all
the sins condemned by the decalogue.
1t is well enough that such party,
breathing nothing but spite and malignity,
should be thrust out of power. and the les
son taught that 1t is not the embodiment Of
all that is good in humanity. We venture
the assertion that year will not pass, be-
fore the general judgment will be that the
change has been vastly for the better, and
gence and morality, outside OF the limits
of the unjust, malignant and proscriptive
organization. which has been properly des-
ignated Bourbon. A little patience, a little
common sense and the exercise of modi
cum of charity will bring about healthier
frame of mind, and as the results of thu
. change are tested by the crucible of time
it may be found that the State has not beer
worsted, nor the functions OF government
perverted to the vile purposes Bourbon
ism has so terribly forecaste. The discov
cry will be made that few ringsters art
not the State. and that the great mass O
the people have at least some conception
of what the mission of political organ
ization is. Let the new party have s
fair trial and if it works do not justify The
, confidence the people have placed in it. il
will be time enough then to bring it to the
block for the punishment infidelity to public
trusts will invoke.