Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1863-11-06

II
| cess-a very rock of adamaut on which we
eau lean and meet all this wild chaos with CAIN
ness imperturbablc. Now,what is the princlPiec
\ we have ut stake? Is it not that Keystone VI
Icmocracy-.State sovereignty? Is II ':oI una
ground work of Republican Union inc "Hoo,
| creed mtU of the governed? ,. nnS rs We
know these points, in the nature OF things. must
| stand or fall with the South. how can we De
];scour,ced Our losses aiilict us; Trey are
| I.,n ;sreparable, never to be forgotten we
| mohe no boast like our enemies, "thas we can
Trd these thin that resources are 40 vast
and men 80 many, we can laugh ut i&i ares;
md find in war good drainage to society
Ne frankly oxn we feel this barbarouS "af
through every fibre of cur body-sociai' po-
iitical, religious Its pressure is cTeryWhefc-
UPWARDS, downwards, lateral, sideways
'ris our boast that we Do feel it-cruciiy y 'h>
teaselv not heart, not. :: hearth nut an
swcrs in mournul echoes Every soldier
with us cnunts one on the roll OF MANHOOD
and soldicrship. Every dolarwe eXpend is
drawn from the luxurics CT the necessities o.
devoted people. Csc Jackson was worth
more in the scale Of humanity than who"
regiments of wild Irish and uubroken Ger>
mans. We know all this, and are proud to
confess it. War is TO choice with Us, 10 cxS
pertinent of strength or game OF diversions
lis a dire, n fearful necessity; and We want
all the world to know what i. cost US; that
our foes NAV SAT-. from honest conviction, as
tho British officer did when lie was an eyc-wIt-.
ness to Cen. Marion's supper of saltieSs pota-'
toes: 'Ts impossible to conquer . people
who will endure such hardships for the sake
of liberty" But our comfort is. though cur
| Losses are irreparahlc>to as, nationally and in.
dividually. They do nofand cannot ultimately
Lcffect results. No, not though another jackson
were to die, another Vickshurgand Ncw' Or.
leans to fall; or, further still though Richmond
| and Charleston were ogo down, and our grand
| armies to be swept from the fel!. Never,
while tho heart Of the rebellion ism the breast
of every Southern man, they 10 not reach it,
| though they take everything else; and that
! heart they can never ret, while the sun shines
| or God lives, unless we give it to them. AL
the South has to do is to stand up 70 its opFo-
sision-ctizens, voters, State by State, to b."
invincible on the question o: roIaatGrY sub
mission, and then, though they hal crushed
US beneath their heel. slough they had bound
us hand and foo. to their chariot wheels, what
have they got? a triamrhal procession over
the death of Democracy heap Of ruins.
but no Union All well enough, und full of
pomp and mastery, while The cannon has the say
aud the bavonct points the moral Bat take
these things hence: restore orr oil "rqime.
and now where are we? Can they make us
send our representatives, orray orr taxes IN,
less they get their bnyGnrts ous again? And
would that he restoring the glorious old
Union? Could they call that n representative
Government? All it may be hard for the
North row to acknowledge our independence,
hard to fix the lines Of agreement, hard TO
confess themselves in the wrong, Int harder
still will they find it to build the old house out
of the new rubbish: to pin States together h
the bayonet, to erect Democracy on Il gun
powder plot: in word. to make United
States out ofGsunitcd people. Tho one they
can do by . sacrifice of pride and purse Tia
other, never by any rule eytant in the ,,Hi
verse of free governments. Mcnarch;es ran
fight and despots can conquer, he. republics
alone stand by the support OF n willing r"orle
There are many questions involved in tbs
great conflict, about which our puny minds
cannot so much rs hazard a guess. For i'll
stance, we cannot tell-all things considered =
if Democracy DO the best form os government
We think it is We once bclieTnd it good
enough for the celestial empire. Twas grn'
enough for our fathers, and, restored to r.
pristine purity, we war nothing better. And
surely if we cannot govern ourselves no power
on this continent can govern us. Brtwn canro'
tell ifthc great Ruler is 20 vouchsafc u the
blessings oft any longer. We trust and hclic7c
He is but know not whether We have
been weighed in the balance ard 'CHuni want
ing" nor can we tell whether African slavery
| is 60 survive this great uuh"nving Of social
order We believe it will: we thirk it is q
1 II lot
Butwe cannot be unerring in our decision.
About these questions we have our opinion,
orr hone onr faith, but cannot pretend to see
the end thereof.
| Only of one result can we De. positive
only about one thing have we q mathematical
certainty, and that is, if Democracy, az cstab.
lished by our fathers, is to live in this ccua-
try, the South must conquer, and for thc SIM
pie reason that, turn the game which way yGr
will, VIC have it in our hands. Victory to
our foes would be ssnot only our defeat, but
| theirs also. So Inevitable is this result that
! if the last outpost Of this Confcderacy should
| be demolished, and the last wing Of cur nr-
| ganized army driven from the arena, yc;
| would the Democracy Of the North have to
come to tho rescue, or else see the whole fabric
of Republican, government RACED to tie
ground. Back Of all this smoke and blood
conquest sits secure. Wo hare n necessity IN
our case that admits Of no defeat; s.rongholds
that are invulnerahle to attack. and p'w"r
commanding US that. in q constitutional De-
mocracy. can neither be outnunbc-cd nor out
generated.
Had the contest been exclusively between
the merits of the free and slave labor systems,
and had slavery been g mere wbim of the
South, reSorted to after she cutcred the Union,
and unendorsed NY any recognition CT tho
Constitution, no doubt the North, hy TIKI:
time, and on the principle that gain is god:i
ness" might have been quite satisfied with
the progress of abduction and comfortably
iuhilaut ut the idea Of having more cotton
raised, and better per cent. Of revenue brought
into the treasury rs the efhc cnt "white la5nr"
was introduced into the place Of the ''lazg
negro" On this subject We were always
willing to have the North think rs they chose.
We never tried to persecutc nor legisIatc them
into adopting our system although We did
consider it of prime importance, in q govern
ment of universal suffrage, to have q lahoring
class who could keep to their own field, and
have no hand in the hocus pocus of lsg sla>
ton, though we have long seen that this uni
versal and heterogeneous rushing inn and
rushing together of labor end legislation
must, sooner or later, put q greater strain
upon Equality" than it had strength to bear;
still wc held our peace. We were perfectly
willing for them to have their way, so we
could have ours We never blamed them for
not holding slaves, for we knew. it was not an
investment that paid best; still we considered
it. in many respects, capital institution
We. had fancy for it-quitc b;.rbarcus
taste, probably; still it was our taste aud our
VT. 1a,,o5 s1,o Iii - r., ,,-.