The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1860-01-06
(oerced Cuiou.

debate in the House OF Representatives, en-.
deavored TO explain his former remark that
eighteen millions Of freemen could easily van
quish nine millions of Shareholders without
auxiiiaries, by saying that he meant ali, AT
any future period Of time, the South shall de-
tcrmiHe to destroy the Union, for any cause
which now exists, the North are resolved to
prevent it. If war, then, should be the con-
sequence, on The South will rest the RESPONSE
bili,y.' The plain English OF which is, that if
the South should take her des;inies into her
own hands, the North will interfere 10 pre-
vent il.
The frs; idea suggested by this threat, after
the natural indignation that ali threats arouse
in the mind. is astonishment that the North,
or at least that part TO which Mr.. HICKMAN
belongs, who. headed by Mr.. SEWARD. have
endorsed the HELPER book, should desire TO
compel the South 10 remain in the Union. If
the South lie u dead weight on the public pros
peritv. As HELPEE eudeavors 10 demonstrate;
If, as W ENDELL PHILLIPS says OF South Caro-
lima. the South bears the same relation 10 the
free States that the town poor bear 10 those
who pay the poor rates II. as The Black Re-
publican organs and orators daily enGeavor
to demonstrate, the Southern States are a per-
petual clog upon the progress, civilization,
and good name of the Republic if, as all the
abolition preachers and presses with one voice
declare. slavery is not only an incubus upon
The wealth and energies, but 4 frighttul cancer
upon The morals and piety OF the land, =" the
sum Of all viliainies,'' a crime that cries 10
Heaven and summons over the devoted head
OF the Republic the black thunderbolts Of
Almighty vengeance, then, in Heavens name,
why not cast If this nightmare, this drawback
~. -,x. -,~..
ton, this stain on your conscience. instead OF
swearing by the Eternal that yon will never
give il up II you have M Willingly made an
agreement with Death and a covenant with
He'll. and Death and Hell make Il proposition
to retire from The partnership, yOn cannot be
too quick in accepting the proposition. Ii the
ship of State is vexed by fierce tempests, and
beset by giant pillows that every moment
threaten TO engulf her, and You have discover
cd the political Jonah whose iniquities have
provoked the storm, why not throw him over
board, or if he is willing himself to jump over
board, why not let him go, with a parting kick,
to hasten his disappearance Instead OF al!
this, you hug Poverty 10 your bosom, you insist
upon encumbering your strength into weak
ness, You viii not give up ithe sum of all VIII
lainics." even when ii offers to escape from
your embrace.
This. we say, in politicians Of such superior
virtue, piety and practical sense as the en-
dorsers of HELPERS book, is the most amazing
wonder under the sun. There is no explana-
ton of it, except ia the hypothesis that they do
not believe what they say when they report
the South as impoverished and unproductivc;
that they know as well as any body that it is
the staples of the South which support the
American Union, pay its expenses, support lis
commerce and manufactures, and made New
York, Boston, Philadelphia, and a hundred
other Northern towns what they are, besides
building up Liverpool aud Manchester in Eng
land, and enabling Great Britain to retain her
s Ipremacy as a first rate Power. All this the
enemies of the South know, and this is one
reason Why they love the Union SO dearly, and
will never permit the South 10 leave it, at the
very moment they pretend to regard her rs a
dra wback npon the prosperity and power Of
the United States.
But what sort of a Union will it be when
the South wishes to leave, and the North I'M
dertakes, like Mr.. HICKMAN, TO force her to
remain : Why, the great corner-stones of the
Union are the mutual friendship and confi-
dence of the people. 1t was not q Union Of
force: it was not produced and cannot be pre-
served by force. There is no large standing
army to compel the submission of any large
section OF the Union that desires TO secfde,
and no generous American heart would desire
to see any such section forced back to its place
in the Confederacy at the point Of the bayonet,
and trampied down, a conquered province. by
military despotism. In considering this an
dacious threat of Mr.. HICKMAN, it ought also
to be remembered that the South occupies p
purely defensive position that she makes no
war upon the property. labor and institutions
of the North; that she loses every year mil
lions upon millions through abolition dcpre-
dations: that she is now standing mp, with
blood stains on her garments, where she has
been wounded in her sleep by pixies in the
hands Of Northern abolitionists; and that
emissaries are at this moment At work in her
borders, circulating that insurrectionary book
Of HELPERS, which Gov. MORGAN, CT New
York, sixty-seven members of the Black Re-
publican party in Congress, and its prominent
candidate for the Speakership have endorsed.
At such a time as this she is told that, if she
undertakes 10 leave the Union, she will be
ehastised ard forced back TO her place; and
she is TINS threatened with the lash before she
has announced her intention to leave the
Union before, perhaps, she has entertained
any such intention, as if to taun: and goad her
into some act which shall give a pre'ext for
inhugurating that invasion Of the South, and
that reign of force, which are the favorite
ideas of politicianstiikesMr.
1t is impossible to exaggerate the horrors
and sufferings which for years would follow
a dissolution of the Union. For ourselves,
we have no idea of such a thing as 4 peacea-
bic dissolution. As we have said before, it
would be war from the start, war TO the knife
and knife to the hilt. Mr.. HICKMA himself
does not more clearly comprehend This fact
than it is evident to our own mind. The wide
~ extended border between the North and
South would be a line Of fire and blood. Eve
ry accessible bay and inlet OF every river
would be entered, and, ever and anon, large
masses Of men hurled upon the capitals and
important points OF Southern States. But the
horrors OF ordinary warfare would be far
transcribed by the barbarities of this cruel
strife. The atrocities which marked the con-
tests In the American Revolution between
Wings and Tories would be renewed. The uni
form threat Of the HtcKMANs to hang South
ern men, in the event of disunion, would be
carried cut. Or course, hanging being a game
At which two eau play, and hemp being in
point OF facts Southern production, 1t is rea-
sonable to suppose that the South could show
equal energy with the North in the new APP
plication of this Southern staple. Years
would pass before peace would revisit an at
Aicted land, and then, the result of the expert
ment by force would not be that which Mr..
HICKMAN anticipates. History gives no ex-
simple Of q country Ike the South being over
run ard subdued by twice or three times its
numbers, and, even ii the Sonth were de-
generate and pnsillanimous beyond alfother
countries, ihe invader wonld soon see new