The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1861-03-26
Rirhmnnn Dispatrh.
Secessten an Affair or she Ballot.box, and
NOS or the IA yeuet.

~ ,-..>--. 49,.
TUESDAY MoRNING.>..M MARCH 20, 1854.
Secsssi an Affair or fhe Ba1lot.box, and
not or the Bsycuet
Itmuss certainly have become appa ron + 70
the dullest comprehension. that the Federal
Government, at Washington, has proved an
inter failure. II derived all tho sigor IL ever
had from two sources alone, TO wit from the
loyal support Of the States and sections, and
from the system OF revenue which enabled IL
10 levy immense contributions upon the peo-
pie, in a manner impereeptible TO the popular
senses. A Government, however intrinsicaily
weak, could always manifest an imposing
front and an apparent yigor, while enjoying
revenue of sixty millions of dollars. So also
could n Government, however feeble and frail
in its organization, depcrt itself with the dig
nifty OF imperial majesty. and the authority of
imperial power while sustained by the loyal
devotion of thirty Sovereign States. But the
moment one half of these States began to dis
trust and oppose the Government at Wash
fngton, that moment did IL lose one-half of its
vitality, Nothing was then required 10 com.
pieie it's paralysis. but the loss OF its reve-
MUGS and these have been lost irrevocably
Not only would the secession Of the exporting
States of the Union, which furnished the sta
piles of foreign commerce, have gradually
overthrown a. system of Federal revenues
foundedexclusivelyo on iInpost din ties, but, as
if 10 hasten this result and render it's occur
reace douhiy sure, the Congress at Washing
ton enacted a bill raising the duties TO the
highest protective point, and thus has driven
the import trade of the country into the
Southern ports, where it is allowed to enter
under avery low revenue tariff. Such is the
condition in which we find the Federal Gov
ernmcnt at Washington. With the good will
of half the States lost, actually abandoned
and defied by seven of them, and fallen into
the hands of in.beciles, simpietons and fana-
tics, II presents melancholy spectacle of fee
bieness, dlspidatio and decay.
On the other hand, we see a new Confedera-
Cy springng up at the South, strong in the
very elements the loss of which has dis
troyed the elder one; strong in the loyal de-
yotion of the people and States which are its
constituents: strong in the unlimited re-
sources of revenue and credit which it has at
command, The sinews of vigor and power
being lost to the old Government, it has
nothing left but the forms of a defective Con-
stitution TO exert in its last struggles for ex-
istence, and the very exercise of these formal
powers tends to hasten and complete its ruin
that the putting forth its physical powers
would vastly strengthen its popularity and
bring the affairs of its rival to a crisis. Its
new Constitution, moreover, gives it infinite
ly the advantage of its adversary, amended,
renewed and in yigorated, as that instrument
is, expressly TO obviate the very defects which
have Slapped the foundations of the old struc-
ture. The difference between the two Govern
ments is the difference between January and
May between tho infirYnity and decrepitude
Of age, and the growing power and buoyant
vitality of youth.
One would think that great and wise COM
munity like Virginia, traduced, reviled, and
insulted AS she has been for thirty years by
the Northern section, would, with eager alac-
rity, make common cause with her sisters of
the South; that she would do this even il the
measure threatened grievous privations and
heavy material losses, such as she cheerfully
encountered in the Revolution. But when it
- plain that the losses and material injury
would result from adhering TO her present
hateful association, and that the highest pecu-
mary and commercial advantages would fol-
low from her forming proper, natural, and
congsnial alliance with the Southern Con-
federacy, her delay to take the step seems as
inexplicable as il Is injurious to her fortunes
and her fame.
The block and chain which confines her In
LIscoLN's yard, is the Convention now in
session in this city and this body was elected
before the people were fully alive to the real
nature of the crisis that was upon the coun-
try. They were restrained from ting for
secession from the natural aversion felt by all
conservative communities to sudden and rad
ieal political change. The great mass of yo-
tsrs naturally shrank from the horrors of civil
war, then thought to be the necessary attend
ant OF secession. The secession movement,
moreover, was then I'm chaos and had not vet
developed itself, rs it has done since, in reg
ularly and peacefully organized Government,
amply provided with arms and surrounded
with the full equipments of complete political
organization. Never before, in the history Of
the world, did Government spring so sud-
denly into existence, and possess itself with
the means Of indepen ience, at SO little cost of
blood, and of public debt and treasure, az did
that of the Southern Confederacy 1t has
demonstrated to tho doubling and fearing
Border States that secession is not thing
or wars and death struggles, but is a
mere affair of pen, ink, and paper
Government on this continent is founded
alone upon the consent of the governed, and
ID treated as a necessary evil, from |
which the governed may withdraw whenever
the evil counterbalances the good attending it, |
and whenever change of government pro. |
mises diminution of the necessary evil 1t
would be contrary to the genius of American |
politics to hold unwilling States by force TO |
an obnoxious alliance. Virginia, therefore,
has but to ,ciU her separa ton from the North, !
and the separation is accomplished, without |
the firing of a gun or the cost of dollar II |
is mere matter of taste and choice, and not
- matter of physical ability and power, with |
a raw head and bloody bones in the way, to
frighten her from her propriety. 1t is a mere
question of the ballot box, the mere casting of
vote, in which the opposing candidates are
the North, advocating a system of politics
which she has spent her lifetime in opposing,
and tho South who have established a sys-
TEN Of politics for which she has spent a
lifetime In contending. Can she hesitate or
falter much longer on such questions
The Legislature.
The Senate yesterday passed, among num-
Der of other bills, one amending the charter
of the Bank of Richmond. The Tax bill was
debated, amended and laid on the table. The
bill suspending APPROPRIATION to works of