The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1859-10-25
Rirhmunn pispatfh,
TUESDAY MORNING. OCT 'eel'- 20 'os'


4nnrn aversion ~ %"S |
.,.,erxt in Congress, on the io''o"'"s
.They 1.-THE Shareholders ave =" "'e -.
49, most fearful rerls that can haunt
-, .>.,ai life of any community. lhey ars
a, ,he mower of the slaves who surround them.
ra.x, live IA constant and abiding dread OF
r. c,nsniraay and instruction among them.
r,nsv know that ii any such movement should |
,o mad, the lives of their wives and children |
,v,nld he AZ the mercy of an ignorant and de- |
Graded race What wonder, then, that they |
should be keeaiy sensitive to every hint OF
danger and even irrationally suspicious OF
every thing that indicates the approach Of the
peril they fear J II is easy 10 denounce them |
as false TO the principles Of republicanism, as
discaraing all the rights which belong 10 men |
in free governments, and as trampiiog "po" |
the guarantees OF freedom OF speech ana Oh |
action, contained in our fundamental INV
Bat il is only fair 10 remember the 10 tense a'io
overwhelming motive when impeis '"e'H ~
this conduct and TO bear in NINA 'ha' theories
and abstract principles have niue power
when weighed against the awl"i hangers
which an instruction of southern slaves
must always involve"
The pea.ant CosrAR told Sir WALTER SCOTT,
.hat RoS.PAxTE said, while the battle of Wa
terloo was in progress, "these English DO not
know when ihey whipped" The South il
even more stolid than this imaginary excia-
nation represents The English to have been
was afterwards brought face TO face with a
Hdoes not know when tits frightened. CosTAs
blacksmith, whose companion in hiding he
had Been during The whole day Of the battle,
ten miles from the field, and was compelled 10
acknowledge that he had never seen the great
Emperor. Ii may be doubted whether the
IN
near the Potomac as CosTAE was TO Water
loo, on he day in question. Nevertheless, the
Southern community is much indebted to him
for Information which IL is very doubtful
whether il would ever have obtained, but for
his kindly assistance. II is the more valuable
from the fact of its coming from n quarter in
which it may be presumed men know, from
constant experience what sudden panics, and
Iongnurtured fears actually are; from the land
namely in which hired servants murder
whole families; where women murder single
gentlemen and then lay claim 70 their prop
ertv as their widows; where doctors occasion
ally chop their creditors up, and throw them
down the sinks; where ingenious mechanic"
sometimes display their skill by cutting Their
enemies TO pieces and boxing them up for Il for
eicn market: where n whole population, every
now and then rises in rebellion against the law,
and is only put down by grape and canister;
whsre thirty or forty thousand half-s:arved
men, at times, demand support at the hands OF
the authorities and offer blood as the alterna-
tive; where a squabble between two play
tors results in 81 riot only put down by plen-
tilul etfusion of blood. Surely man situated
in such Il community ought to understand the
nature both Of sudden panic and settled fear.
For tie Southern people-possessing none OF
4, Il MI nHf mel
uorl-if they are frightened they do not know
il. if hey are in danger they learn the fact for
the first time That they are at the mercy OF
their slaves is true in far rs tse life of every
man, in every community, Is at the mercy OF
every other mau i'll the same community, who
A. villain enough To take it, or reckless enough
TO throw aside all fear of the law. More than
this: it is true in SO far the life of the COM
mandcr is at the mercy of the army, or the
life OF the President at the mercy of Wash
ington mob. But the General never thinks
his life in danger from his own men, and Mr..
BUCHANAN sleeps soundly, without guard
around the palace. So, from the Potomac to
the Rio Grande, men are accustomed To eat
and sleep in peace without the slightest APP
preheusOn Of danger, and upon precisely the
same principle that the General and the
President feel themselves not called upon
10 any particular precautions for the
security Of their lives. The carelessness
of Southern people in this respect is indeed
without parallel anywhere in the world.
Throughout the States of Alabama, Mssis-
sppi. Louisiana, Tennessee, Florida, Ken
lucky, and Texas, it is the most common thing
in the world for planters to sleep in houses
that have no locks TO the doors, and in sum-
Ter, with the doors and windows wide open
hat tlnra iS al
ing and that there are no craftsmen. thieye I,
and cui-throats, to rob, murder, and burn, il
there were. These gentry are denizens of a more
congenial soil. They graduate in the great
Northern cities, where they keep the inhab-
tants perpetually in fear, and when they emf
crate to the South, with the Canadian goose
and the Yankee school master, they contine
their operations 10 such places Richmond
Charleston, Savannah II obile. and New Or
leans The farmer and the planter have
nothing to apprehend from anybody save
their own negroes and from these, very just
ly. they ap.rehend Iothing. Far from being
that Ignorant and degraded race" which they
are described as being by the writer Of the
TIMES, their intelligence would compare IA
yorably with that of any iaboring population
in the world. Especially do they know all
about Northern abolitionism, and those who
profess and practice it in the North. They
know that Of all conditions which il is posi-
bic 10 imagine, that of the free man of color
in the Northern States is the most deplorable
With very rare exceptions, they infinitely
prefer their state as slaves TO that which
would inevitably be their lot as freemen-
In addition TO all this. they know that there
are laws 10 punish murder, robbery and in
surrection, and they are sufficiently acquaint-
ed with the relative strength of the two races
10 know that crimes of this description can
have no other result than TO draw down de-
struction upon the heads of those who perpe-
trate them.
The picture which the Times presents. then
OF Southern society," is altogether n fancy pic,
lure. Ii lives in a community where crime
eternaily runs riot, and where life and proper-
~ find 10 protection from law The impres-
zion produced upon an imagination kept upon
The stretch by scenes of unutterable atrocity
daily occurring around him, the writer trans
1ers TO his canvas, and calls it q picture of
Southern society. The fears are his own
They do not exist here because there is moth
lag 10 create them. II the Southern people
resent the discussion of slavery in Congress
and the dissemination of tracts intended to
stir up the slave population to rebellion. il i,
because they conceive the first TO be an inner
Hheat interference with matters which con-
Germ them, and them only, and discover in the
latter a maleyolent disposition which it is
hardly natural that they should observe with
patience. They believe that the Congress OF
the whole Union has other duties than that of
discussing the tenure by which they hold The
property guaranteed 10 them by the Constitn-
iIav l.gp