The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1859-12-06
MESSAGE
OF the
GovERNOR OF VIRGINIA
RICHMOND, DECEMBER s, 1859.

GENTLtNEN; Up to A late period had fond.
" hoped 10 close my official term and part
from nv executive labors with naught but
cause Of cengra'nla;ion on the condition Of
the Common wealth. Bat the appermost
theme in this nay last regular message must
be- that our peace has been Disturbed; cur cit.
izcns have been imprisoned, robbed and mar-
deFcd; the sanctity of their dwellings have
hren violated, their personS have beer out
ragged; their property has been seized by force
Of arms; strong hold in their midst with
iis arms and munitions of war, has been cap
tured, and the Inhabitants cut of from the
n1eSas of defence; y national highway through
our limits, and its locomotive trains and iele.
graphic wires have been stopped; the State
ana National soNereignties have been insulted
and assaiiec; and State and Federal troops
have been called out and been compelled 10
light, at the loss OF several killed ana wound
Ell, 10 sabdue rebellion and treason. at Har-
pers Ferry, IN the county of Jefferson, within
oar jurisdiction.
This was no result of ordinary crimes, how
ever high-handed ard telonious. Ii was no
conspiracy OF bandits against society in gem
erai, with the motives which usually actuate
criminals, confined TO the individual perpetra-
tors, ana TO be crushed by their arrest and
punishment. BIO III was an extraordinary
aud actual iavasion, by a sectional organiza-
ton, specially upon siavehol iers aud upon
their property In negro slaves. The home 10
be invaded was the home of domestic slavery;
the persons 10 be seized were the persons oi
Shareholders; the property to be- confiscated
was the property IN slaves and The other
property Of fslayehoiders alone such as money
plate, j. wells, aud other of like kind, which
was 10 pe taken 10 compensate the robbers for
the trouble and risk of robbing the masters
of their slaves, the slaves were not TO be
taken 10 be carried away, but they we re to be
made 10 stand by The side OF the robbers and
10 De forced 20 light 10 liberate themselves by
massacreing their masters; the Arsenal was
taken 10 supply arms seryiie insurgent ts;
aud provisional government was attempted
III Briiish province, by our own country
men, united 10 us ia the faith of confpderacy
combining with Canadians, to- invade the.
slaveholding States of the United Slarrs: and
thus the night of the 10th OF October last was
surprised, anu the day of the Eth of October
last was startled, by the signal guns of rapiue
murder, robbery, and treason, begun al Har.
pers Ferry, for the purpose of stirring up
universal lnsurrection OF slaves throughout
the whole South.
Sudden, surprising. shocking as This iuya-
sion has been, tits not more so than the ra-
pIuity and rahcor of the causes which have
prompted and put ii in motion. 1t is hot con-
nneo 20 lne parues who were the present par
ticipaturs in It's outrages. Causes and influ-
ences lie behind ii more potent far than the
little band OF desperadoes who were sent
ahead TO kindie the sparks of a general confla-
grafton; ana the event. sad as il is would de-
serve but little comment, if the condign pun
ishment of the immediate perpetrators of the
feionies committed would for the futu re seen re
the peace which has been disturbed, and guar
eQ.
If the miserable eonYicts were the only con-
spirators against our peace and safety we
might have forgiven their offences nd con.
strained them only by the grace of PARDON
But an entire social and sectional sympathy
has incited their crimes, and now rises in re-
eeliion and insurrection to the height of sus.
tanning and justify ing their enorlnity
IL would be pusilianimous TO shut onr eyes
and Affect not 10 see certain facts of fearful
import which stare us in the face and of which
L must speak plainly 10 YOU with the firm
and manly purpose of meeting danger and
with no weak and wicked design of exciting
agitation. That danger exists, of serious mag
nitude, there can be no doubt in the minds of
the most calm and rejecting and the way to
avert IL in ali cases is to march Nd to it and
meet it front TO front. Ii it has NOT grown
too great already. it will retire from collision:
and If il has grown strong enough already for
the encounter. ii had better be met at once for
il will not diminish by delay. 1 believe in
truth, that the very policy of the prime pro-
moters OF thls apparently mad movement is
purely tentative: 10 try whether we will face
the danger which rs nov sealed in blood Ii
We take the dare the aggression will become
more and more insolent and if we do not
tnat it Will either truckIe or meet us in open
conflict TO be subdred, and in either event
our safety and the national peace will be best
secured by d direct settlement at onee-the
sooner the better.
For series of years social and sectional diff
ferences have been growing up, unhappily, be-
tween the States OF our Union and their peo-
pie. An evil spirit Of fanaticism has seized
upon negro slavery as the one subject of So
ciai reform, and the one idea of its abolition
has seemed 10 madden Whole masses OF one
entire section of the country. 1t enters into
their religion, iuto their cducati into their
politics and prayers, into their courts of JUS
1ice, into their business, into their Legisla-
lures, into ali classes OF their people, the most
respectable aud most lawless, into their pull
pits and into their presses and sehool-hvuses,
into their men, women and children of ali
ages, eyerywnere II has trained three gene
rations, from chiidhRod up, in moral and So
ciai habits of hatred TO masters of African
slaves in the United States. 1t turns not upon
slavery elsewhere, or against shareholders in
any other country, but Is especially malignant
aud vindictive towards its own countrymen,
for the very reason that 1t is bound to them
by the faith and sanction OF con nfederate law.
To set up that law 10 it, Is TO enrage 1t by The
sight of the law. because il is bound by il. II
has heAa taught by the Atheism OF higher
law" than that of re ,uiar government bound
by CONSTITUTIONS and statutes. Ii has been
made 10 believe in the doctrine OF absolute in
dividuai rights, independent of all relations OF
man to man III a onventional and social form;
and that each man for himself has the prerog-
ative to set mp his conscience, his will and his
judgment over aud above all legal enactments
aud social institutions. 1t has been infiumed
bv prostitu ted teachers and preachers and
presses to do and dare any crime and its con-
Sequences which may set upits individual su
Premacy over law and order. 1t has been
the fatality OF an 'srrepressftte con fic:,'' into
which il Is bound to plunge. It's anti-Christ
pulpit has breathed nanght but insurrection
Ary wrath in TO servants against their masters
and has deapuneed our national Union as a
covenant with death for recognizing property
in slaves, and gnaran teeing toit the protection
Of law. lthas raised contributions in churches
to furnish arms and money to such criminals
as these, 10 make war for empire OF settle
ment ia our new Territories. II has trained
them on the frontier, and there taught them
the skill or the Indian in savage warfare, and
then turned them back upon the oldest and
largest slayeholding State, to surprise one OF
its strongest holds. II has organized in Cana
da and traversed and corresponded thence to
New Orleans and from Boston to Iowa. 1t
has established spies every " here, and has se-
cret agents in the heart OF every slave State.
and has secret associations and sundcrground
raiiroadsss In every free State. II enlisfs in
fuenee and money at home and abroad 1t has
sent comsorters and counsellors apd sympa-
thy aud ocld have sent rescue to these as
sassins robbers, mnrdereisa and traitors, whom
il sent to- feivns' graves. 1t has openly aud
secretly threatened vengeance on the execu-
lion of our laws. Arid since their violation it
has defiantly proclaimed aloud, that fHsnr-
rsesion is the lesson Of the honr"-not Of slaves
only, but all are 10 be free 10 rise up against
fixed government, and no government is 10 be
allowed except ''shs acreage common sense Of
the masses" sud ne protection is to be permit
ted against that power.
This is but an epitome, plain and unyar-
Rished, without exaggeraiion. What is this
but anarchy! What does it mean but sconf fil.
sion worse confcunded, p and the overthrow of
all rights, OF all property, Of all government,
Of all religion, Of all rule among men Moth.
ing but mad riot can rule and misrule with
such sentiments as these There can be no
compromise with them, no liberation Of them
in safety or with self-respect. They must be
me. sad crushed, or they will crush us. or our
union with non-slayeholdirg States cannot
confinue.
The strongest argument against this unnat-
prai war upon negro slavery in one section by
another OF the same common country, In that