The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1861-04-18
Their Presex,s for ~ " ~.

The fable Of the wolf and the lamb has had
another repetition. It was the south that
mnddied the water; and 20 the North, with
It's armies and navietsats scycnty.fve regi-
meats, and Its beiligeront proclamations, are
goiAg to punish the South by eating It up. a.
the wolf ate mp the lamb. The North is all
aiive with the din and stir Of prepar ations
for var, TO avenge and punish the aggression
~ Chariesfon upon Fort Sumter2 ANDERSON.
the commander, violated the presideni's parol
Of honor, broke up the status of peace, stole
Fort Sumter, and has been allowed, for near
ly four months, 10 remain In that position of
menace and insult, poin ting his guns, Haunt
ing his flag, and shaking his fist, in the face Of
Charleston. All this was endured, for the
sake of peace.
Finally, the North ,throughits man LINCOLN,
fitted and sent out an armament Of ships, and
several thousand men, for the reinforcement
Of ANDERSON in his insulting position. The
fleet arrived, and presented themselves In the
ofling ready TO steam in under the guns of
Sumter, at the FIRST moment Of opportunity.
his rifle cooked, and pointed at your heart,
ready to pull the trigger. These were the
circumstances of the aggression and the as
gun. II she were an indi vidual under indict-
ment for manslaughter, she would be acquit-
ted by any jury in the land, as setting in strict
self-defence. She is acquitted, before the bar
Of public opinion, of this assault. 1t came
from the other side, aud after long, patient
and unreciprocated forbearance, she resented
the aggression, and took her otcn fort
And this 10 the outrage which the Northern
T1,is
wrong and the insult that offended Puritan
ism is determined to resent. This the South
ern aggression for which hundreds of
thousands of volunteer Yankees, and mer-
cenary soldiers, are to be marshalied in battle
array, and preciptated upon the offending
South, to teach her that Northern forbear-
ance has been pushed to r point where it has
ceased to be virtue.
These are the false and fraudulent pretexts
under which the hue and cry is raised all
through the North, invoking them to grand
crusade against the South; these the trans
parent falsehoods upon which their Legisla-
lures are voting men and money with such
reckless and wanton profuson, for an uncon.
stitutional invasion, and for a brutal war Of
hatred and cong uest against the South.
If we 20 back behind tho things of the
present hour, aud consider the occurrences
that had preceded and led to them, the case is
even worse against the aggressive section
What right of the North has the South ever
violated? What interest or institution of the
North has the South ever attempted to i'm
pair or impeach' What act of aggression
against the North has the South ever COM
mitted, or sought to commits On the con-
trary. when has the North ever ceased in
some form to trench upon the constitutional
rights of the South to assail her purposes
and character, and to indict her before the
world for the heaviest crimes against God
and nature? The whole history Of the
Union for forty years has been his
tory Of one continued war of defamation and
Islander by the North upon the South
Finally, the South, wearied with insult;
loathng herself for the long -su fering tole-
rance with which she has borne this incessant
yituperation; crushed with the conviction
that her own gallant and chiyalrous citizens
are ceasing to respect her for infidelity to her
name and character, and for insensibilty to
wrongs inflicted with every circumstance OF
aggravation-desire simply to withdraw from
an association which she has reason to infer
is al irksome to her associate as to herself
She endeavors to effect this separation peace
fully and amicabIy. She appeals to the inter-
ests and the good sense of the North in behalf
Of such a mode of dissolution. In the Ian.
guage of the patriarehal shepherd. she i'm
plores her confederate to go to the right that
she may go to the left, and to let strife arise
between the one people and the other. All
her overtures are rejec ted, with epithets of
rebel, traitor, insurgent.
Finally aefual war is lavjad and haca n c..
she recognizes the fact of war and acts upon
the fact, she is pronounced the aggressor; and
the whole North rise as one manic do what !?
Is it to save the Union No; for war des troys
it hopelessly. 1t is to conquer the South. 1t
is to reduce her to the condition of Il subject
province. 1t is to establish over her, not
government of will and choice, but an arbi-
trary government of force. Thus is to be in
angurated the principle Of coercion on the
North American continent. Thus is to be
overthrown the principle of consent, for which
so much blood was she'd so many years OF
struggle were spent, and much glory won,
in the war Of Revolution. Thus is the corner
stone of American institutions 10 be thrust
aside and thus the fairest fabric Of liberty
that ever lifted it's lofty proportions for the
admiration of nations, to be leveled in the
oust. W men the prlhclpie OF consen 1e over
thrown, then the Revolution of 177o is repu-
dated, and all the brilliant pages of our
American history-a history of national lib.
erty and prosperity unexampled-to be obiit-
Grated in blood. 1t is for this fell work that
the North is mastering it's legions. The in toll
Grant, despotic Puritan arms himself TO crush
ont this principle of consent to undo the
whole work of 1776, using even the very shouts
Of the minions of GEORGE the Third, "Down
with the rebels-Death to the Traitors
England, France and the North.
The New York Herald, referring to the
possibility that the Federal Gnyernnant Wi Ill