The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1861-08-15
Yong Oxford on the War.

The Saturday Review, the representative
Of Young Oxford, and by far the sleverest, AS
II IL one OF he most influential Of the Eng
lish journals, in its number of JAY goth
contains an article ON the "Civil War Ia
America J." from which we mako the folle ~
ing extracts
"Having per formed the cons II tional duty
of providing The supplies, the Lagislature will
perhaps proceed 70 transcend the limits OF its
authority by passing an act OF irdern nifty In
faVor OF the Executive. Mr. Lincoln may
have been morally right in all meas res W h ich
he has adopted, bat he has tcWnd 1t necessary
to violate at every turn a CONSTITUTE ton which
was never calculated tor the cortiGgencies Of
civil war. He has enforced martial la " in Bal
umore without ever proc inning il, and he h as
held intercourse with the revolutionary or DO.
gus virginia Government which has been cri-
ginated by the Wheeling Convention In his
HTst proclamation altar the capture of Fort
Sumter, the President paid the customary
tribute TO propriety In his odd warning to the
so-CalIed nsuigcnts TO retire to the homes
which they had never quilted. As soon as
the North began to arm IN earnest, the aff-c-
tation Of reading the Riot Act To niRe or len
sovereign States became too iiagrantly absurd
From that time the President has carried on
the war IN the capacity of q dictator with 4
high handed disregard for legal scruples and
or 'ctt"ns. In England, Parliament would re-
trCspec lively authorize aay measure which
was proYei to have been essential to the
safety OF the Commonwealth. The Senate
and the House of Representatives. If thev af-
feet 10 indemnity the President and his Min.
lSterS, WIZ III the eye of The law only share
his = clinical guilt. The judges of the Su-
preme Court, IL they are allowed 20 exercise
their junction In safety, will treat an act of
Ctngtess in matter beyond lis competence
as scrap or waste paper. All branches OF
the Government, however, are at liberty TO
appeal TO some possible clause of indemnify
la a future leviSiOn of the copstitu tiOnal pact;
nor, with the people at their back Is 1t nsccs-
sary 10 reflect that the revival OF the Union,
If IL were possible, woud leave the most xsil.
Gus advocates OF the war once nore In mi
LOri'y.
ument which was ever issued by the Govern
mant OF Il great nation. Mr.. Lincoln's admir-.
ers bo1st that the Chief Magistrate Of the
Union once navigateda q timber ioat; ard 1t is
satisfactory 10 observe that an august barss-
man from the Mississippi is, in style and
rhetoric, precisely on = level with ar uncrovn-
ed bargeman on the Thames 'Ths little dis
guise,' says Mr.. Lincoln, that the sspposed
right is 10 be exercised only for Just cause.
themselves to be the sole Judges of its justice,
is too yhin TO merit any notice. Thus sugar
coated they have been drugging the public
mind OF their section tor more than
thirty years and until at length they
have brought many good men 10 4 willing.
ness TO take MP arms against the Govern
ment The day after some asssmblags OF men
nave enacted the farci2a II pretence of taking
their State out of the Union, v no could have
heen brought to no such thing the day before."
The honest Pra.dant sasms, III his process of
self education, to have learned to writs i'm
perfectly, and IL IS strange that an educated
country should be governed by an utterly IL
llterate ruler. But in substance the psopla
and the Government understad q one another
anu the sugar coated druggists, though they
may smile at the pngram teal denunciat ton
OF their taTcical pretences, will not the less
understand that they have 10 deal with an In
exhaustible store OF money and of soldiers -
The comic effect Of the Presidents Message
Will only he fully appreciated by those who
are safe from the conseq uenoes OF his curious
lN r cnncIusicns