Richmond daily Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1842-1861, 1860-12-11

tv s1asurfs Of tie stars that have heretofore shone
,susut uror IA How will the heart Of tie American
ia Euroue siuk wi,ba him, Hbea he hears OF these de-
rlorable and disastrous eSerlsg How will he reply to
the taunts Of the mouarchists and absoutists OF that
continent when thew exu. over doSnfA and instance
IL "A another Of the many Illustrations that the peo
ME are incapable Of sefgovernment, and that Republics
cannot endure Who viii be able to peruse, without
the deepest melancholy, the comments OF European
journals upon this last sad chapter in our history How
rapidy do events march on to their termination It's
opy about seventeen years ago that an iustrous and
venerable member Of Congress- who had been President
of the Uuited States was formally oensured by the
House of Representatives forever presenting petition
10 that body signed by few fanatics praying for dis
solution Of the Union.
The public mind at that not distant day was unani-
nous in condemnation Of any one who should even hint
or brelihe Disunon. Who could then have supposed
that in less than two decades of years. We should wit
mes. such drama as is to be played before Us! IL
was then almost as improbable that this Union would be
dsmembered as that the stars should drop from their
p.ees in the armament Charleston, Savannah, Mobile,
New Orleans as foreign ports What thought The
mind yo, at the very idea with horror and dismay-
Gan i, be pc be that any State Without last desperate
,sg,e 70 preserve ne precious heritage Of Tie Fathers
ofhs Rspabc will give up its Inheritance in the glorious
mast in which her sons have shared-that it will yield its
prospects in the still brighter and more brilliant future
tb,t lies before us 1T We continue together as nation
Can Il be possible that the descendants OF those who
fought at Trenton Yorktown, Monmouth, New Orleans
aud a hundred other battle fields, where they stood
boulser 10 shoulder in a common cause will become al
ns and enemies to each other. Alas il is not improba-
n, nov that such will be the case and hat within few
bo,t weeks or months at iArbest And yet at this very
momept we are one OF the most powerful and certainly
the most prosperous aud the most happy people upon
the globe Divided, dizmembered, and broken up into
hostile States aud Conederaeies, we shall be perhaps
among the most weak and helpless naiions-our hles
will be iusulted and spurnsd in foreign lands-our eit-
ps will be mAltrea,ed and despised-and We shall have
nj, nationality CAPABLE Of resisting it. We shall soon sink
into miserable dependence upon England, France or
some other Of the great powers OF Europe, and all former
,ores will render the contrast between our present con-
iop too painful for reflection Indeed, it is an obvious
and liked fact that when this Union is broken up, all the
rties 10 the new organizations will be in the same PHI
able state Of political impotency and ruin.
Then. shsn too lais-Nhen our heads are bowed IN
admission 10 some infamous tyrant at home, or We are
hncuishng under European proieoiOrate-Wo shall re-
ret in saekcoth and ashes, the shorsghted partisan
poey that wrecked the most splendid country the world
ever behed whose future once ilmitable in glory
What a disastrous blow TO mankind will that be which
strikes even one State out CT this COnfederaey Who
can estimate its effects upon the future If our Repub-
lie goes down in the darkness Of CONFUSION and civil
war who will be bold enough TO try again the experiment
OF representative government? The shock it will give
10 that system will be irreparabefor who can expect to
have as fine opportunities of success we will then have
w.ntony thrown away There is scarcely an evil we can
conceive of that will be aggravated by the breaking
up of the Union tor light and transient causes.
Anl hence as Vrginian- Southerners, and as low
ers Of the Uuon, zone and indyisibe" think it is
the solemn and imperative duty Of US all to resort to eve
nv honorable expedieut for securing our rights IN the
aiou before precpalug ourselves into revolution and
al is attendant aud intermnabe calamtes. Let US,
then, make Que more united and determined aud despe
rate effort to exort Justice from the North, aud five
Gail in this ass eio-. that end, then let 90 in for
peseeable separation accompanied with fair division Of
an the public property Of the United States