The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1855-08-16
nm, uurY TOWARDS TIE CITIZENS VI
PORTSMOUTH AND NORFOLK.

may oessfc --
-. rurY TOWARDS TIE CITIZENS or
PORTSMOUTH AND NORFOLK.
The conduct of the commandant OF o'e
Point. In forbidding citizens OF Porfsmou,n
aud Norfolk to land there. has drawn lo, ~.
a ID natural, indignant comments i,oni -.
Norfolk papers. We have no douD. 'n.s
f,,rct;ou.rv believed himself to be DONG ms
d,,,v but Il strikes us that it is both imprsc'
,;..hle and inhuman to deprive people N IN
s.csed town, of the means of escape. sucn
attempts have been repeatedly made and IN
vain, In the Northern cities. The people VIZ
get away. II they cannot travel in the
steamboats, they will land privately IN SAIL
boats if they cannot come in railroad cars
they will employ carriages. and if they can.
not get carriages, they will walk. Il wouia
require Notifications rs powerful as those Oh
Sebastopol to prevent the entrance OF men
who thing that Death is on their track
Moreover, it would be cruel and unfeehng
in the extreme, even if practicable. II self
preservation required it, then 1t wouio DC
right; but we have not seen single argu-
ment or fact to sustain that proposition. IL
Il true that in Norfolk the disease com
msnced with vilaotion of the quarantine
BY q sick man, who came to Barry's 70"
from the infected district in Porfsnoutn'-
But Norfolk has been before subject 70 !ei'
low fever, and Barry's row was just sucn =
receptacle Of filth and corruption a. Wouio
ensure the propagation of the disease nu'
this is not the case with other Virginia ci'ies
and towns. The majority of medical men
are of opinion that the disease will not spreao
in such, aHclimate, IforEe example. as .ns' y.
Richmond The probabilities are all agains'
it. Even if there were some risk in 1t, ougnt
We not to hazard something IN the cause Oh
humanity In the late war, soldiers from
the mountains went down cheerfully to NOR
folk, and encountered the miasmatic indu-
enaes, in order to defend the seaboard and
its people from foreign invasion. They e1
posed their lives, and many of them perish
ed in the patriotic and selfsacriicing enter
prise. Ought not Virginians now to show
sufficient courage and sympatby-not to 60
to Norfolk and nurse the sick-but to faciii'
tate the escape from sickness of those who
are we'll
The hospitality and the heroism of Viz
GINA have passed into proverbs, but why
should the one be confined to the hours OF
health and the other to the battle field! The
highest degree Of courage is that which
drawing no inspiration from the hope of fame
or from the stirring music Of the fight, acts
always from principle, and faces danger
firmly and calmly, whenever duty requires it.
1t is of course an imperative obligation upon
every man to provide for the safety of his
own family, but has he not also some obliga-
ton to the great family of man, which should
prevent him from yielding to blind terror
which may prompt him, in seeking safety
for himself, to trample on all the laws of hui
manity and benevolence Were every one
to act upon such principle, the poor vic
Tins of pestilence would have neither nurse
for the body nor minister for the soul,
whilst the living might possibly avoid for a
time the inevitable monster, who, in one form
or another, is sure to overtake US at last,
only to ensure their condemnation at that
tribunal which has made charity and kind
ness to the sick essential to escape from Sc
eond and more fearful Death.
What are our brethren in Portsmouth and
Norfolk to do, if they are unable to find re.
fuge in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Bal
timore, Richmond, Petersburg, Old Point
in short, if every possible place of refuge in
the United States is placed beyond their
reach /? Were they great criminals, we could |
not condemn them to fate more horrible than |
to be shut up in pest-house, with no chance
to escape. Yet they are our fellow-c citizens,
our friends, our brethren they are them
selves among the most hospitable, the bes.
aud noblest of the people of Virginis.