The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1859-11-16
CERT, smith. Insanity


accounts Of q sEnfr SMITHS madness are true
ar net--for 20 universal 10 the vice OF men
oaci,y among aboiitionists, that II would re-
quire great stretch Of charity to oehe'e any
~ .hsro an oath where their own interests or
the interests Of their party are eoneeF h'a
AN aasi,v conceive tha, one OF the statements
respecting him, lin the Uaea CORRESPONDENCE
NJ the New York Hsrald,) is true, viz: that
n. IA. hs.n ever since the capture of BRowN
ana hi, Hsrpers Ferry followers, haunted
v,,h the ides tina, he was culpably RESPONSE
HE for all the lives that have been and that
viii he sacrificed"
snch An idea might well have haunted his
nind, for his insurrectiou speech, published =
f,w weeks before the Harper's Ferry outbreak,
And TO some significant threats OF which we
called The particular attention of our readers
ut the time, presents programme OF the pro-
cesaings Of BRows, which, If the execution
hsd ben equal TO the conception. would have
inflicted far ereater mischief than followed
that abortive attempt. At the same time,
whilst q sRarr SMITH has been the most out
spoken and demen,ed of all the aboiitionisis.
he II beyond all doubt the only leader they
have, who 10 NOT, politically and personally,
corrupt and hypocritical william. We say this,
because his past history, from the start, Is 'hat
Of q fanatic. He was al one time monoma-
MAC on the subject Of Temperance, and IT Sl--
very had not diverted his attention, it Is IS
likely - not that he might have gone 10 as
great ex tremes Of lawlessness on the tempe
rance subject as on that OF abolition, hiring
men. perhaps, to burn down groceries and dis
ttiieries and lynch their proprietors. When =
man, ia his excessive religious zeal, attempts
% Be- better than the Founder of the Christian
Religion, he generally ends by falling below
the level of even ordinary morality. Thai
GxnRIr SIXTH was at one time virtuous and
upright man. we have no doubt; that he has
been honest In his fanaticism, he has proved BY
piankirg down his money; that he has ended
In becoming an insurrectionist and murderer
stained with the blood of his fellow men, and
responsible for all the blood that will yet be
shed from that outbreak. he feels in his own
conscience, the conscience OF a once religious
msa which has been suddenly awakened by q
sight OF the abyss TO which he has been tend.
Ing aud leading others, and which has convert.
Cd, IL reports be true, the monomaniac into
the madman.
We wish, however. we could believe tha'
the conscience OF GgRRIT SMITH would have
bsen equally active If the Kansas horse THE
and his gang had been successful. He couit
sit In his comfortable mansion and prepare in
eandtary orations against the South, withou
any evidences Of remorse aud misgiving; h.
scnld coolly and composedly lay plots for thu
midnight buschery of an unorending people
and for consignins their families toa fate wor.
than death; hut the moment that a shadow O
injury TO his own precious person crosses hi
horizon, his nervous system is so shocked that
according TO the accounts OF his own friends
he becomes q lunatic! The nero inaginatio,
that the Governor of Virginia intends TO maxi
req uisition for him, drives him mad Tn
possibility that he may be called upon even a
witness, and sworn upon that volume which
he has profe..ed TO make the rule of his life, I,
tell the truth, the whole truth. and nothin:
but the truth, may also have had its influence
in aiding to produce real or feigned lunacy
Such Is the stntf of which the best materials o
aboiitionism are composed. Their martyrs ar,
horss- thieves, and their saints lunatics.