The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1862-01-30
Uai0niS Il In she South.

The Lincoln journals hbor with untring
sssiduity to maintain the long ago exploded
talsehood Of a Union party in the South as if
it were the most manifest and undeniab!e
truth. They say there is apowerful Union
feeling even in the heart Of Secessi u, and
That all that is necessary to develope it is the
presence OF Federal troops. They undertake
TO draw distinction between the Sout hern
Government and the Southern people, and pro-
tess to believe that a large Union element
| exists among the masses, but is kept down
under II reign of terror. Whether they be-
lieve what they say we do not pretend to decide.
1t is safe, as u gen eral rule, to conclude that
| they employ language only to de ceive, but
there is such thing among babitual story
tellers as repeating falls ehood so often tn at
they actually believe it themselves.
1t may be SO with the oft-repeated assertion
that the old Union is still dear to the heart q
of large number of the Southern people.
But there never was more palpable and IL
bellous falsehood. That, up to the period of
| Lincoln's proclamation, a majority Of the peo-
pie of Virginia and of the other border States
| was in favor of the Union, and determined
to stand by it as long az they could with
honor, no one denies. But, when that despot
drew the sword, the Union party in tho whole
South ceased to exist and the Internal mali gnty
with which this war has been waged, has put
the resurrection of Unionism beyond the reach
of possibility. That party which stood by the
old Union to the last has cont ributed as
promptly and as largely to fill the ranks of our
armies as the original advocates of secession
they have been foremost in the fight for indie
pendence, and they will be the last to surren-
der
If ever there was war of the people, q
war in which the Government is but mere
agent and instrument of the peoples will, it
is the war of self defence now waged by the
Southern States. The people, in fact, have
been ahead of their Government in perse-
verance and energy; the people have raised
the armies, furnished the means, and made
the sacrifices, which have thus far been follow
ed by such extraordinary results. What evil
dence of deep devotion to the cause could they
give which they have not given! The North
ern journals constantly pretend that the South
outnumbers them upon every battlefield, SO
that whilst the Federal armies number six
hundred thousand men, they have feared
for six months to make an advance in any
direction. If this be true, how can they pre-
tend that the great heart Of the Southern peo-
pie ia not in this war? Our armies are made
up of volunteers, and of volunteers who
rushed with the Hottest enthusiasm to arms.
There has been no compulsion, no con.
ssription. Mothers have gladly given their
sons, wives their husbands, and if there were
weapons enough, the whole population would
be in arms. A vast amount of the clothing
and supplies of the army have been the free
will offerings Of the Southern people. Wo.
men have given the very blankets from their
beds to shelter our brave soldiers; the needles
Of the women have been as busy as the
bsyonsts Of our troops. There is not 4
church nor family altar in the South which
has not every day and every night sent up
earnest prayers for the success of our cause
Nor is it our own Government which has
shown by the suspension of the habeas corpus,
and the violation of every political and civil
right of the citizen, that it had reason
to doubt the loyalty of the people. That
has been left to the despotism ut Wash
ington, which can only retain its power by
converting the citizens Of the free States into
slaves, and by keeping up large standing AZ
mics in those slave States which are still
bound to the Union by the compulsion of cold
steel. That is the only Union now lea, and
the only Union which can ever exist again
between North and South. Subjugstion, and
not Union, is all that the Lincoln despotism
itself expects. And in eternal resistance to
that despotism the South viii battle, till there
10 NJ longer man within her borders capable
of defending his country and his liberty.