The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1859-06-15
rur nLHssINas WE ENJOY.

n, he dissatisfied with his lot, let II DC NJ
enyiable ss il may, seems natural 10 man.
The parents of the race were not consensea
even with their situation in Eden, and they
@em TO havo impaired TO their descendants
something more than double portion OF
their restless spirit. Their history, indeed,i 10
commentary upon the history Of mankind.
Show us a man perfectly contcnted, and we
will show YOU a monster, the like Of which
hath never existed before.
What is true of the individual is true Of
communities, and what is true of communi-
ties is true Of those large assemblages of
communities which constitute nations. No
nation ever was, or ever will be, con,ented
with its condition. Nay, it is a striking
fact, that those which are best Oft, arc, in
general, the least satisfied. The naked AZ
rican is happier man than the pampered
Englishman, the half savage Arab, is bet
ter coutented with his lot than the French
man who usurps his patrimony. But of
all nations that ever existed, we in these
United States have most cause TO be thank.
full for the blessings We enjoy, and are the
most given TO complaint. We live under
laws so mild that we can scarcely feel their
pressure more than we can the wholesome
restraint of the clothes that hide our naked
ness-we make those laws ourselves, or,
rather, we elect the men who do make them
we 90 where We please, come when we
please, work when We please, idle when we
please, have every thing We make, are our
own masters in every respect, have soun-
try Of almost unlimited extent, fields OF
enterprise bounded only by the laws of
possibility, are all equal by the law, have
no Kings, Lords, or aristocracy, have all
the same chance for success in life, and yet
we quarrel eternally, from one years end,to
another, with our bread and butter. We
seem to be absolutely tired Of happiness,
and 90 in quest Of misery as an agreeable
| variety. We talk Of breaking up this great
Union, with as much GOODNESS, as We talk of
asking the Council for change in the dog
law, or the law regulating hacks. Remote
consequences are what We never think Of.
We never weigh the consequences of divi-
ding this country into four separate king
doms or republics, which We are prone to
| think would be the inevitable consequence
| Of dissolution Of the Union. We never
| think of the additional burthens that such
| a condition would inevitably entail. We
| think nothing OF the wars that would he
constantly progressing, because we know
nothing Of war or its accompaniments,, but
what we have gathered from books. We
hayehad no experience Of conscriptions, and
we do not, therefore, reflect upon the terrors
Of that remorseless system, which drains off
the whole youthful population to feed the
unappeasible appetite Of war. We have
never seen our sons, and our brothers
dragged from their peaceful pursuits, from
tao counting-room, from the mandatory,
from the mechanics shop from the law
yers office, from the printers case, from
The harvest field, from all the scenes Of use
full and industrious occupation, to glut the
Aoloch Of private ambition, or even to de-
fend our firesides from invasion. We have
never been doomed to hear the loud cry of
female anguish, going up from the women
of a whole nation-like the "voice OF la
mentaton," which was heard in Ramah,
fwhen Rachael mourned for her children
because they were not-over the offspring OF
their love, dragged forth to offer up their
lives upon the field of battle. They have
never known the horrors of battle or a
siege, or an invasion, with their accom-.
paniments Of murder, rape, incendiarism,
and all the worst crimes that it is possible
for the limited strength Of mortals to perpe-
trate. Fathers and mothers have not felt
the despair that must wiring the parental
heart, when they see their sons, the
pride Of their hearts, returning from the
wars MANNED and dishgured, with constitu-
tons shattered in the prime OF life, and
with morals 30 irretrievably ruined by the
| . hat tho o,,th ~
their being are fain to wish that they had
fallen upon the field of battle. They have
never seen these things, but these things
and others to which they are mere trfling
incidents they will see, whenever this
Union shall have been broken up, into Sc
parate and distinct States.
The people Of this country do not know
the blessings they enjoy; we have heard in
teligent foreigners make the remark q
thousand times. They are the freest on
earth, they have the most ample opportu-
mites of improving their individual condi-
tions Ifthey want to realise the fact, let
them compare themselves with the continent
of Europe. There, four millions Of men
are under arms, and ready to rush into
conflict at any moment. A man may 20
to sleep at night, and wake in the morning
to find his country involved in war, the
end Of which he cannot foresee, the objects
of which are entirely foreign to any inte-
rest OF his own, in the kindling of which
he had no part, the result of which, be it
what it may, can he Of no personal benefit
to himself, and to the support of which he
is nevertheless expected to contribute bis
substance and his personal services, il they
be required Atany moment, the farm on
which he resides may be made The battle
field OF contending hosts, the city in which
his lot is cast may be burned to the ground,
the labor Of his whole life may be destroy
ed, he may be turEed . beggar from his
ruined homestead, his family may be MUIR
dered or subjected to destiny worse even
than death. A more wrstched, because q
more anxious state Of existence it would be
impossible to imagine; and such a state OF
existence must become that Of every Anne
rican, as soon as We are broken up into sep
arste nations, all jealous of each other, all
cursed with standing armies, all liable to
be attacked at any moment, and without
even the warning Of . moment. What
must be the condition Of that people, who
live under government 20 harrassed by
eternal fears, that it dare not trust the most
insignificant individual to pass through
the country without q passport? That
fills every private house, every tavern, every
drinking shop, every place Of public resort,
every railway train, every public convey
ance, every private carriage, every road,
every street, every spot, corner or Granny
of vast kingdom, with spies and inform
ers? That places the property, the liberty,
the very lives of all its subjects at the mer-
cy of wretches who become fit for their en-
ployment only BY the sacrifice OF every
virtue that can make man respectable?
II our readers desire to form in their own
minds faint picture of what has happened
in Europe thousand times, and what will
/ Ypnaf aacnrnIlv he II