The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1854-10-19
THE DAILY DISPATCH
THURSDAY MORNING, OCTOBER y. lss4.

The DAlJ 4 DlSTAl0ns
THURSDAY MORNING, OCTOBER V. lss4.
BiRrH.DAr OF THE DisfArcH,--It does
NOT diminish our patriotic enjoyment of the
anniversary of the siege Of Yorktown, when
we remember that It Is also the anniversary
Of the DispdtcA. Four years ago this day.
the Dispatck was born, the lucky star OF tne
18th Of October being the first light II saw
With such an suspicious influence at the out
set, il is not surprising that the DsspateA nas
established for itself place among tue
power, of the press, and has gone on nom
victory to victory Every year has added 20
its strength and prosperity, and at no previ-
Gus period of its history Was It moving on
ward nj such . pace as on this 10th Of Octo-
Der, 1854.
II il not then to be wondered at, that we
look upon the 10th day of October as lucky
day in our calendar-that we consider it
day which should be regarded with universal
honor and veneration, and which ace should
feel bound to celebrate, were all other Anne
ricans to prove recreant totheir duty. Each
succeeding anniversary brings new reasons
why we should hold the 10th of October in
peculiar esteem and affection. Other ami
versaries have their merits, no doubt; the 4th
of July and the 2ed Of February are worthy
and respectable festivals, but they cannot
claim the blended glories OF the 18th OF NC
tober, which shines at once with the reflected
lustres of Yorktown and the Dispatch. We
might enlarge upon this topic, but modesty
viii not permit, and patriotism and magnan-
unity both forbid that we should direct the
public attention from the victory over Corn
wallis. Suffice it to say, that while we give
our victorious banner to the breeze, we shall
receive with becoming diffidence and mode
ration our share of the military salutes and
other honors which grateful people VIII
this day award to the 10th of October.
NINETEENTH OF OCToBER.-A stranger
witnessing the parade of to-day, might pos
sibly suppose it an exhibition OF Ameri-
can sympathy with the great victory OF
the allies at Sevastopol. 1t is in honor OF
q battle on far smaller scale, but in which
mightier beings figured. and which was fol-
lowed by results such as throw into utter in
significance the consequences of all the great
battles which have since rent the face OF Eu-
rope From the death struggle of British
power on this continent, nation was born,
q nation Graded in battle and baptised in
blood, now the greatest and the noblest nation
on the face of the earth. The victories of the
Crimea are but the vulgar victories of a war
of kings against kings, in which the masses
81 their people have no interest, and which
are followed by no beneficial results to the
world at large. The siege of Yorktown in
volved the whole soul of all America, the
fate of Anglo-Saxon liberty on a continent,
the highest interests Of world.
1t was beautifully said by Daniel Webster,
in illustrating the extent of British power and
territory, that the morning gun of Britain, be-
ginning with the sun, and travelling with the
hours, echoes around the globe. 1t Isl truth
as high above that truth in moral sublimity
and significance, as the heaven is above the
earth, that the victorious guns of Yorktown,
beginning with the rising sun of American
liberty, proclsiming everywhere the march
of human progress, and travelling with the
centuries, will be echoed from age to age,
over the bOundless tract of Time.
What a contrast between the leading per-
sonages in that great contest, and the pigmy
warriors who are strutting their brief hour Of
triumph at Sevastopol! Compare st. Armand
with Lafayette, or Raglan with Hamilton, or
all the soldiers of Sevsstopol, and of every
country and of every age, with Geo. Wash
ington! The intellectual and moral excellen-
ciss Of all combined would not make one
like him,
"The worlds one Washington"
Scarcely had Washington departed from
the earth, and while the horizon was yet ra-
dent with his descended sun, when the fiery
orb OF Napoleon arose. the greatest conque-
ror, and the greatest military genius, except
perhaps Julius Caesar, whom the world has
ever seen. But the lustre of a name which
set the earth on fire, could not cause the glo
~ of Washington for an instant to become
dim. The Corsican could equal the Ameri.
can hero, perhaps surpass him, in the quail
ties OF soldier, but never could he approach
nor dared he even aspire to approach the
dimensions of that mighty soul. Napoleon
lived for himself Washington for the world;
and the world, grateful for the benefaction.
has given him the first place in her heart and
the first rank among her immortals.
We look in vain, even in our own country,
for such man as Washington; aye, in vain
among all our public characters, for one who
strives to make Washington his model There
may be, in the shades of private life, Wash.
ington, unknown to his countrymen and to
the world, but were he launched from his re-
tirement upon the capricious waters of the
political sea, making Conscience his chart
and Principle his polar star, the inconstant
wayeswould clamor for his destruction before
his voyage had been fairly begun. Thank
God, we have had one Washington, and
that to him, and to his memory, we have
been true! Let the guns fire TO-DAY in honor