Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1833-01-15
Richmond, tuesday, Jam. 10.
DOCTRINE OF S ECESSION.
10 rIir EnIrnRs


doubt So @ Of State 'n ee lew @ s hs G s a
defined The enquirer a month. decaI.
cy received from the Enquirer every limo subject
bua doubtful support iom Journal principle
by so many conditions that he could scarcely recognize he noe
DO not attempt give MI Gs anggnse bu, that the above
constant pe5aa Of your paper formed the conclusion with Mt
men correct and whether opinions the subject have
Saturday, ErsSinS. '"'"S'' ~
From the National Intellgencer.l
Mcssrs parties
Ing S ASss" ri h " be well the opinions
you extract the Enquirer the ist Novcm-
Enquirer obtained by Congress FROM Mr. Jeadr
January IL, 1885,
ErtrGeJro~ the Richmond Enquirer, November l. 1914.
% withdraw itself from Vh U ono ofi sSs OF Ss SS
formed the links OF the Union dissolve it, The %
dawa branch Until been obtain
laws 10 ali @ten a SI%9y S ~
CONFESSIONS.
When James Hamilton of Charleston was charged
with writing the Preface to Mr.. McDuflie's /" One of
the People," he nobly came forward, confessed the
work and recanted his errors When John G. Cal
houn catechised by Mr. Reynolds about the
Tariff of 1916, he shrnnk and equivocated We adj
mre the cGndou of Mr. Hamilton, far more than the
attempted consistency of Mr. Calhoun. Truth is the
most precious of all things. Ii is the greatest orna-
Inent of private liie And let Machaivcl say what
cnarac-
ter Ola politician Let others say ofus what they may
that we are weak men-ignorant OF the word-ar-
dent IN their Observation-Disclosures -misled by
their enthusiasm, in the most arduous of all profess
sions in the hurry of compositions in the narrow
ness of their views into inconsistent propositions
but, at least let them say of us "These men were
never ashamed TO tell the truth"
In this spirit, we come forward to-day lay all
the views we have expressed before our readers,
upon the question of secession-to confess that the
correspondent of the n Inelligencer is right that
we did lay down n broad and unqualified PROPOSE
ton in 1914, which contradicts the opinions we en-
terrain in 1S33-but at the same time, to set Mr..
Ghoson right as to those opinions. We must apo
logise 10 our readers for taking up so much of our
upon this subject-but we owe the ane,,de no.
nOrabte to them-and we owe it to ourselves.
In 1914.
Whatever errors may have expressed, during
the late war, they were of the head and of the
heart. Our aims our country's good We
fnd no cause to blush for the want of public spirit
IN those columns OF the Enquirer. For months be-
fore the declaration of war, insisted upon the ne
cessity of maintaining Free Trade and Sailors
Right by force of arms. We did not content our
selves with writing in the newspapers But for
some weeks before the question was taken up i'm
Congress, we assisted in calling together the citi-
zcns of Richmond for the purpose of making an
energetic appeal TO the constituted authorities
We penned the resolutions that were adopted-
supported them ~ i !oHS speech, aud opposed the
milk and water substitute of an able orator-now
nc more. No wonder then that we hailed the
declaration of war with enthusiasm We applied
TO the Mayor of the CITY for his official sane
ton to general illumination of the CITY, We en-
tered into the war in this sprit-and TO the moment
OF It's termination, we did all within the scope of
our humble abilities to speed ii glorious ISSUE
Was 1t then surprising that, with our feelings thus
deeply enlisted, should have watched every
movement of our own counrymen and of the enc
my with the greatest in all ours
cesses!-mourned over every reverse of our arms?-
lis wonderful, that like every patriot we should have
O i,Ji
nation at the insulting terms which were first offer
ed IT'S at Client? Is strange, that whilst the enemy
were lowering upon our coast, and landing their ma
r0uders upon the soil of Virginia, we Should ave
felt shame, and resentment, towards the cold and
selfish policy of Massachusetts? We have glanced
over our columns of those eventiul DAYS and we
find them Astounding with indignant appeals to the
citizens OF that quarter. We find among others
the following passages; showing, by the bye what
we have uniformly commended was the course of
Virginia in 9S'99-that her resolutions did not pur-
port force or any thing like this new-fanged doc
trine of 5. G.. Modification:
"When did we like them? VAST in '0s and 'og2-
Is it at This moment We draw our COMPARISONS
from these two for these very obvious
that in 90 and 80, then Hey are noLo in the
0Pposn.on--and 3D. that at this moment, situation
much like theirs that is invaded our o,cn
militia are called out, money is applied by our
selves TO the of the u s. And so are decisive
say al neither OF these has Virginia acted as ia az the
wreched Junto who rule the destuies OF
L. In 9S and 99-n those dark days, rs we conceived
them to be, Virginia in the Minory-In other
words the People and her Legislature were in opposition
10 the measures of the Administrations They believed
that the Constitution deeply violated that troops were
raising and money expended without any necesy and
that war was wantonly provoking with the Republic of
Fraace Did she do then Massachusetts is doing no2
faF from IL Our Legislature contenqd themselves with
reasoning against the Alien and Sedion Laws: and ex.
pressing their sentiments the state Of the nation in
terms OF respect But they further No threats
escaped their lips. There talk of (IIO Conven-
ton whisper Of resistance 10 the acts of eminent
They behed the law Of the land and they bowed before
It, The Federal tax gaherer uninterrupted on his
way And 1t is worthy Of remark that resistance though
hOt less lawless then than at this moment mig lat still have
been more harmless for had no enemy on our COASTS
40 general threatening invasion with 900 roops. no de-
cTed enemy, whose hopes and whose efforts could he in
vgoratcd by show Of resistance. But we neither re-
sisted, threatened We trusted TO the cause Of Tr,
We said, she great, and would prevail And she did
Pevall-Why do not the Junto OF Massachusetts, then
do as we did why do they 10 the same peare
ui weapons OF reason and surely must
Pc because they despair Of the goodness Of their cause
aoa IS therefore they address themselves to our passions
ne'f menaces, however, will prove unaysing. They
VIII bnt expose them to contempt"
"IIerc might stop but justice 10 an injured State
compels us TO add few words furiher-The pcopIe Of
massachusetts should knew something Of the sacrifices os
nave male 100 the present contest.
hey ought 10 be informed that nearly the whole Of
our militia (om 80 10 90 O0O) have served their four r
The wdr-and tiata few weeks ago we had At leas,
10000 men in the field
~ This menent have from 6 10 900 troops in tle
nelghDoih hood Of Washington and Bauiore-how many
thousands we have at Norfolk Petersburg and Richmond
1t would be improper 10 disclose
N.aAar gfH ID.