The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1861-01-28
Rirhmonn pispatrh.
Dclay Futile and Fatal.

Delay Futile and Fatal.
We have new proofs every hoar that the
Tnion is already lost. Our best and ab.es,
men declare thai dissolution is an event of the
past, a thing OF history. Our own convictions
force us to confess and accept the fact; unweI-
como and lanientabc rs IL may be,
The Churches have been split asunder; all
the national organizations Of parties have
been wrecked, one BY one the Federal Gov
eTnment itself is sectionalized, and six soFe-
reign States have Withdrawn their delegated
powers and disowned it's authority. These
are but evidences of the great fact. infk-
ing under and behind them all, fh''t our
one people have become two peop"s"~
The universal tone of the alinost unanimous
Northern press is OF intense hesuii'y 10 Tue
Sorth. Newspapers become ihe i""Ie Po'ehf
tial in their SWAY over the Mort bern mind the
moro they grow in raneor towards the South.
Novels are published 10 libel rs through the
world a. monsters incarnate and these nov
els-snch IL the avidiiy of the Northern taste
fo- their scanfial--lnake the fortunes of their
nuthors Tho greater the libel the greater
the fortune Statistical essays. designed 10
prove us poor, weak, indolent and divided
ri home-pTcductionS too stupid and false
10 find market excep; amid atmos-
phere OF hatred and intolerance, run rap
idly through editions Of many thousands,
demonstrating 10 vast army % merccnary
writers, that he who most grossly hbels the
South geaps most largely oi the reward of
JrDAs. 1Ae South is invaded by armed
band, largely supplied with arms 10 hf put
n 20 tie hands of the seryilC race who are in
cited TO Instruction, ana oar citizens arc Shot
down in cold blood. i few good men Of the
North frown upon the act Dut the people APP
plaud and protect the murCerers from the pro
cess Of law. Thus the proofs are oNcrw holm
ing that the Northern and Southern peoples
are alienated.
For forty years has haired tor slavery
which is only another phrase for hatred 10 the
South-been taught systematically IN the
orthern schools, from hooks eTnbeilished with
pictures of negro women undergoing the lash,
and negro men in the agonios of unheardot
torture and il is the generations thus school
Ell who now vote at the Northern polls, and
revel in this dcfamatory literature. These
are the generations that have just assumed
The prerogative of electing President with
out the aid of the South ana OF managing
the affairs of the Confederacy By n see
tional government controlled by party
uncontalainated by Southern support
How many compromises profercd by the South
have this party rejected with cool disdain
within the last two mcnths ? The manufac-
Iure of schemes of compromise has grown 10 !
be trade with n class of Southern men of |
late: but the article is rejected by the North /
ern market. The rejection of them is as con- /
temptuous as the repeated proffer OF them has /
been humiiiating. The last eXpedient Of Eir- /
ginia-that of the five Commissioners to Wash !
no better result. The hope
for its success seems as forlorn the doting /
hope of the widow for spraton after /
Death has laid his memorable hand upon the !
corpse
The only question now left is whether Nir-
ginIa shall recognize the fact Of dissolution,
and take her measures accordingly. Whether |
she look to a recons truction OF the old Union,
or to becoming part of new one al the |
South the policy of delay is equally fatal
To hesitate much longer, is TO identify herself
with the North in the sectional antagonism /
and to draw upon herself the distrust and eX-
ecrations of the Southern States. Without |
securing one particle of the respect of the |
North, or of the world, she would utterly for
felt the afrec ton and confidence of the States |
identified with her by every tic that can bind |
Commonwealths together. The mother of
States, she would be inviting the bitter |
curses of her offspring 4 mother OF states
men, she would be longer. Her Al |
liance with the North would be As hollow |
and unenduTing il would De ruinous |
and disgraceful. She would be made an ac- |
complice in the armed coercion of the South. !
Her soil would become the camping ground |
of armies, not merely the point n oppui |
of assault upon the seeding South but, being |
the largest slayeholdng State in the Union, /
as State deserving to be suspected and over
awed. But the spirit of the proud and chival- |
ric portion of her people would not brook this
CALLING humiliation and their evaporation
against her own submission would he more
intense than their hos tlity against the invader.
Civil war would light its iurd flames over her .
surface, and interlecine havoc and destruction |
would reign throughout her borders. A war
with the North would partake of the character /
Of conflict between foreigners and the Gulf |
States would not taste the horrors of civil |
war. 1t would be reserved for Virginia and
the border States, who should follow her IL
noble example, TO drink TO the dregs this bit
ter cup. Some of her public men can be elo-
4Aent in depicting'fh pecuniary cost of dis
solution but who will estimate the reInorse |
and miseries OF State that allowed herself
10 be invaded by an enemy in the name of
ally, while torn 10 pGes by internecine
strife. In the policy OF an honorable and cor
dial afhliation with the South, for veal or
woe, we can sec, and shall attempt 10 ror-
tray, pros perous future for Virginia. In the
policy OF delay and an ignomlnous amliation
with the North, We can see nothing but dark
picture Of ruin and shame