Last week Virginia's General Assembly did something it had not done since a British force under Colonel Tarleton threatened Richmond in 1781. With Governor Peery and the State Supreme Court, the Legislature evacuated Richmond. In a special train the dignitaries traveled 45 miles south to Williamsburg where the Legislature officially reconvened.
Occasion was the dedication of a copy of Virginia's ancient provincial Capitol, destroyed by fire in 1747, part of John D. Rockefeller Jr.'s $12,000,000 scheme to restore Williamsburg to its 18th Century glory. At a joint session in the austere room of...