The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1854-11-23
TIE DAILY DISPATCH.
THupsp ~ MORNING. NOVEMBER . 1854

gious paper Of the North, and one which has,
until late period. abstained from interior
ence with slavery and sectional disputes IN
recent article on "The growing reckless
ness OF human life" thus speaks
"In these Northern States we had hopea 70 "m ,o
become comparatively free from so tefr,oe .aS
raj and social evil seeing that we arc .. ,,nhsppiv
10 the came murderous Influences % ,..p,.S
.nrev.;i a. The southern States, whose oisspsueu
Sne institution 10 90 baneui IN i's ope. :; r,ba
ehe vslue and security OF human nte, ssse IN Va.
go. ,.rcen.rv or the most bestial point OF we"
~ ~ ~ he degeueracy of the times on which we
fallen the character Of our society Is iearmiiy
de,erIorating; and II the evil be NOT cneckeoIn
something decisive be not done, ana Done promptly
= we shaii soon be reduced In that respec1 10 the
Southern level"
This il about as fair specimen of compla-
sent and pharisaicsl selfrighteousness as we
nave ever SEEN Reduced to the Southern
.evel. Why, man, you might be proud and
happy if you were capable of reaching the
southern level We should as soon think OF
An oyster in the bottom of the sea, labo-
ring under an apprehension that another de-
luge might "reduce it to the level of the
shells cast by the first deluge on the tops of
the mountains, as for New York editor in
= city whose very police is under the infiu-
ence of blood-thirsty rufians, trembling lest
New York should sink to the level of South
ern society!
p The man knows no more of what he is talk
ing about than the man in the moon. There
is no country in the world in which life and
property are more secure than In the South
ern States Throughout the greater part OF
the South, the people never think of fasten-
ing their doors or their windows when they
go to bed. Take that solitary fact and recon
cile it, if you can, with the alleged insecurity
of life in the Southern States, and with the
constant appr ehensions ofservile disturbance
which you suppose to be hanging forever,
like night mare over the minds of the peo-
pie. Contrast it with the locks and bolts and
bars with which the Northerners are compel
led to fortify themselves at night. We admit
and deplore the recklessness of human life
which prevails throughout the whole United
States. We see something of it in the South,
in the occasional resort to the street fight or
the duel, now however going out of vogue,
and rarely resorted to until every possible
effort for participation has been avoided
But we see infinitely more of it at the
North, where to save time and money,
railroad and steamboat companies noto-
riously omit precautions which are essen
tial to the security of travellers, and con-
sequently offer up every week smoking
sacrifices of human beings upon the al
tar of public Impotence and Cupidity.-
What but this same recklessness of human
life, in running steamers at full speed through
dense fogs, as has been the invariable Gus
tom with the Collins line, led to the most me-
lancholy catastrophe of the Arctic? More
men, women and children are slain every
month by this "recklessness of human life"
in the North, than perish by violence in the
South in year.
Then as to the shedding of mans blood by
man. Rencontres, it is true, occur in the
South. and sometimes horrid murders are per-
petrated from revenge. But we venture to
affirm that they are few in number compared
with the bloodshed in the Northern States
The characteristic of Southern killing is this,
that it is done under notion, which we grant
10 Dc u IaiS6 Outy VI WOuuuCu uOHOl, UuI ~
is done in broad daylight, man to man and
face to face. We rarely hear of murder
in the South perpetrated in the night, or for
the purpose of obtaining money. Now, this
is about the only killing that prevails in the
section which this Pharisee fears will sink to
the Southern level" The papers of his own
city declare that the streets of New York can
not be walked in safety at night, and the jails
are constantly filled with murderers, who,
under the shadows of darkness, have slaugh-
tered helpless or sleeping victims, for the
sake Of a little miserable pelf There are at
least twenty cases of this kind in the North
to one in the South. In the very paper
which expresses the fear that the North will
soon sink to the Southern level in reck
lessness and bloodguiltiness, is paragraph,
reading thus Terrible Explosion at Earls
Hotel Another Internal Machine Diabolical
Outrage; Murder in Broadway; Coroners In
quest; Verdict of the Jury; Supposed Muir
der of Sailor; Stabbed his Wife; Desperate
Attempt at Murder and Highway Robbery;
A Man Stabbed, and another Shot in Brook
Al this has been the work of little more than
twenty four hours; and the list of crimes has
been almost daily added to. Within tbs last
few days, as many more cases have occurred.
cases of stabbing, desperate fighting, and
one of desperate murder, as given below
Within the last day or two. another horrible
murderous case has occurred in this CITY,
A woman, out of revenge against the in
mates of the house where she boarded lin
Church street, put package of arsenic in
tothe kettle of coffee preparing for breakfast. |
Five or six persons partook of it, all OF whom
were seriously affected, and two have since
died"
Well, we should think you were getting |
downto the Southern velpretty fast. Pos.
sibly you may be already little below i'll
All Virginia, for whole year, could not
match the crimes of week recorded in thu,
one paragraph. We advise the theologian
of the New York Journal to copfine HIS dis
cussisns to matters ecclesiastical and spiritu
al. let him deliver discourse next Sundov