The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1861-03-14
RICHMOND, VA. THURSDAY, MARCH ID, 1876

principle, and on the same principle gun can
never be fired or a sword drawn for the
covery of them, or either of them, by the Fed
eral Government Say we not righ tly, then,
that if Fort Sumter is to be given up, the
whole question is virtually settled and the
American Union irrecoverab1y destroyed for
lack of power to maintain 1t
The New York Evening Post places the
blame on Mr.. Buchanan, and calls the eyacu-
ton the last fruits of treason:
We do not know that it is yet wholly i'm
possible to save the honor of the nation--the
military advisers OF the Cabinet, who are
competent to form an opinion Will decide
upon that point but we do know that if Mai.
Anderson is ordered to beat an ignominious
retreat, the act will produce general howl of
indignation. No real American, we care not
what his polite will consent to see his
ton degraded and dishonored, without We
hement protest. True, it is said that the
withdrawal of the garrison from Fort Sum
ter will have good effect IN the Border
States that it will deprive the Secessionists
there of their principal means of inflaIning
the popular passions but such pleas are
both useless and cowardly. The Border
States do not mean to leave the Union: their
people have given evidence enough Of that
fact and it is but a poor compliment to their
patriotism or their honor to say that their ad-
herence can only be purchased by sacrifices
which involve the lasting disgrace of the
Union. Let it be once understood that the
Union can only be saved by yaca ting the Gen
eral Government of all its functions, and the
question will arise whether it is worth saving
at all,
| The Times, on the other hand, approves of
the abandonment of the fort:
In these circums tances, what is the duty of
the Government at Washington? =? Shall it
persist in an attempt to retain position, the
untenablcness of which is demons ira ted by
every military adviser, by every fact within
its knowledge, and by the unwilling testimony
txft hal ,i,r c.lF IN,
hopeless enterprise, shall it precipitate civil
conflict, the deplorable results of which will
| be not only the industrial and social ruin of
this generation, but an Inheritance of feud
| and bioodshed to its successors? When the
| Border States, with patriotic moderation,
| have withdrawn all other conditions of their
| abiding loyalty to the Union, save abstinence
| from coercion shall we ALLEVIATE them forever
| by this wanton and criminal pursuit of an
| impracticable point of honor, the offspring of
| sectional or partisan pride? These are the
| ques tions which engage the anxious atten ton
| of the new Cabinet, and engross its Gelibera-
| tions. Upon the determination, the imme-
| diate and remote future of the people are de-
pendent.
| The World also accepts. the determination
| of the Administration as necessity:
The AdmiDis tration cannot reasonably be
| blamed for not undertaking to accomplish i'm
possibilities. It is not to blame for the faults,
| failures, and imbecile mismanagement of its
| predecessor in power nor for the shortcom-
| ings of Congress. Mr.. Lincolns administra-
| tion is not TO be blamed because it cannot turn
| back the hands on the dial plate, and deal
| with this question as it might and ought tC
| have been dealt with four months ago. The
late Administration failed to reinforce the
| forts of Charleston harbor, in disregard of the
| advice of General Scott, and the urgent en-.
| treaties of Gen. Wool at time when rein.
| forcement was both easy and would have been
a powerful check on the progress of secession
Renforcements have been rendered more
difficult and less valuable by every day delay
since. till at length the holding of Fort Sum
ter has ceased to be of much value, except fo
its moral effect on the country. Not, by any
| means, that it is light thing for the country
| to be disgraced and humiliated, and made tt
blush for the imbecility of it's Government
| But if Buchanan had streng thened the Charles
| ton forts when tIen. Scott first advised it, h
would not only have saved the national honor
but have retained strongholds of great strate
| gic value. But we fear all is now lost, be
bause Mr.. Lincoln's administration did no
| commence till the 4th of March. May Go
avert the disgrace, if it be possible; and if moi
enable the country to profit by the disciplin
of humiliation.