The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1859-08-27
Ner~leen M. ~ rhs,sss - - -

Hon. DANL Z. SfcKLEs a member Of Congress
and man Of mark among hts party friends
having trcomc satisfied that he had received
the most deadly injury which can be inflicted
upon man, at the hands of an individual
scarcely less noted than himself, took the law
into his own hands, rushed furiously into the
street ard slew the invader of his family circle
Us he would have slain dog. The public APP
planded the deed, and made Of the actor some
thing only a little less than demi.god. II
here were persons who thought in their
hearts. that inasmuch as criminal laws are
made for the express purpose Of preventing
individuals from taking vengeance for their
own wrongs, this method of proceeding was,
to say the least of it, little irregular, they
either kept their opinions to themselves, OF
had the satisfaction of finding their voices
drowned by the roar of applause which greet
ed the homicide, from all quarters Of the com
pass. is true,@a court SAT, and jury was
empanneied; deeency required so much, IN
society protesting to be strictly and peculiar
~ obedient to the acquisitions of the law
But the one and the other seem to have es-
;eemed II the object of their assembling, TO
endorse the deed, and do homage to the hero
Eloquent speeches were made, in which II
was proved that killing is no murder, and
that vengeance, for wrongs done 20 him, by
mans own hand, is obedience q the requisi-
tons of Holy writ. Highly wrought eulogies
were passed upon the prisoner, in which it
was proved, TO the conviction of those who
had no doubt before, that it is yirtuous to SET
the law at Defiance and amiabe to shoot an
unarmed man in the street A jury o. twelve
men not only acquitted the accused of all
ola h{YY1n m fh.a
back, and told him that he had done well.
grand procession was formed 10 do honor to
the hero, and jury and witnesses mingled
with the crowd. All this was well enough
No man has n right to dispute the taste of an
other But when the dsnoRefnent came-when
the wife who had been the tsfeyrima OF
the tragedy, and the husband by whose
hand it had been enacted, were found,
few months after, lovingly reposing il
each others arms forgivins and forgetfuI OF
the EAST. the same public could not refrain
from asking, whether, after all, IN offence
which could be so easily forgiven and forgot
ten, was, in the eyes of the offended party, so
heinous as the deed which avenged it might
have seemed to imply; whether, since one OF
the guilty parties had found pardon and
Cancellation to follow so swiftly on the heels
extend portion, at least, of the same forgiv-
ing spirit to the other; whether, in word, it
might not have been rs well to settle differ
ences and come together again, without send
ing guilty man out of the world with all his
sins npon his head.
The counterpart to this tragedy has been
enacted on a large scale, since that time, in
Europe, with this difference, however, that
the bel i serent par es, and not that one which
was the main cause of the war. have struck
hands, and are the best friends i'll the world
The philanthropist may ask, why this was not
done in the first nstance For any good that
has been accomplished by the death of so many
brave men, it might well have been done in
the beginning as now. Then, why sacrifice
these men to no purpose Why raise the
hopes of the Italians, by telling them that It.
aly must be free from the Alps to the Adriatic!
Why call upon Italy 10 prove herself worthy
of her destiny by sending forth her sons, To
fight her battles Why give Austria pre-
text for putting in greater activity than ever
before the scourge, the rack, and the gibbet
We are told Austria has promised to amend.
When did Austria ever keep her promise to her
own subjects or to foreign powers Besides,
she cannot amend if she would. To her, re-
for her to reform, unless by encouraging the
progress of the various nations collected I'M
der her dominion, and that she cannot do
without subjecting the empire to disruption.
She has only been enabled to keep them to-
gether thus far, by system of Capitalization,
the tendency Of which is to crush the senti-
ment of nationality and substitute uniform
absolutism.
Much as has been said on the subject we see
no disposition on her part TO abandon this
system, or to attempt any kind of reform
whatever, except in the army, for the purpose
of rendering that instrument OF despotism
more formidable in her hands. At this very
moment, Tuscany, and the Duchics, are in
arms to oppose the return of their rulers
Who is to prevent Austria from restoring
them by forcel France will not do it; for, if it
be attempted most assuredly Prussia and
Germany will take part with Austria, and
NAPOLEON III. will make peace and LEAVE
them to their fate.
lis amusing TO see the course which GER
tain journals have pursued with regard TO
NApoI EoN Ill since the late war. At the be-
ginning, they made the land ring with their
| prophecies. He would free all Italy-he
would make it q united nation from the Alps
| to Reggio--he would crush the power of Aus
| tria in the peninsula forever. If any one
| dared to hint a doubt of all this he was set
down as something little better than traitor
for daring TO doubt for an instant. The war
is now over. and he has not done one of these
things He has taken Lombardy from Aus
tria and there he halts. Now, any body who
hints belief that he has fallen short of his
promises is overwhelmed with vitupera-
ton, for expecting what they taught every
body to expect and feeling disappointed be-
cause it is not done.
The result of this war has convinced us that
NAPOLEON is a man of far inferior parts, to
what we and the rest of the world We're in
elined to believe. He seems to have engaged
in it without forethought, and abandoned it
without cause. He calculated neither the OBJ.
stacles he would encounter, nor the force he
should be able to WELD. He had reason to be.
lieve, before it broke out, that he should come
in contact not only with Germany and Prus-
sic, but even with England; for the DERBY
ministry was still in power, and its Austrian
proclivities were secret to no man. All the
world believed he had calculated these chances
before he allowed matters to proceed to the
last extremity, and that he was prepared to
face them all. 1t now appears that he miscal.
culated, everywhere "Nanl ct prius4aa,n an
eipias eonsuto, ct Hti eoasulneris, mature faeto
opus est" is a maxim of which he seems never
to have heard. A taciturn habit has acquired
a reputation for wisdom, as it always does,
even in the weakest subjects. But, to our
thinking, it is a reputation which he does not
deserve. He is supposed to do nothing with
out a design it is our opinion that most of
his enterprises have been begun without an
OBJECT, and ended without attaining any desi-