The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1864-10-19
" 9 must decline to engage in con

Ne uu,st decline to engage IN n con
tlovtr,,> with the Wig upon a natt'r
40 delicate auI SO well calculated to STIR
up party animosti,s at a time like the
present, when it is Of the last itnpor
tan,f thnt diSscn~ions should be avoided.
Ii can see no difference between the let
ter II Mir johnson AMI those OF MeSsrS.
Brown, Stephens aud Boycc. We see 4
very crcat difference difference which
i via! to the point In question. MI
johnson distinctly declares that tbs" Is
not 4 tisue to make pro?osit'"nS, "hch
t:r enemy scorntuliy refuse [" receive
even. \ ,,c....ag. rom Ia, ana when nc Is
L.iai,,., Ike sword oyrr heads Offering
u, The alternative Of ahIcCt submission
~. ,nI,I cxtirrat.on He thinks, more
over. that iuasmuch rs VIC are the patty
assaulted, the proposal for settlement Of
difficulties should not come from us. --
We do not understand the other gentle
men in question to have presented any
such view Of the case as tins, and their
not having done so, creates very great
distinction, with very wide difference.
We are free to say, however, that we
have left an inference to be drawn from
our language which We did not intend,
and which We overlooked in the
haste Of writing. We did not mean, nor
do VIZ think, that Messrs Brown, Ste
phcns ana Boyce deliberately aim at re
construction. What we designed to i'm
press was, that the policy they recon-
mend must inevitably lead to that issue
nor do we see how it can, if successful,
result in anything else, TO the objection
of the Wiz that such remarks as ours
give the enemy encouragement, &C., We
can only reply that, in our Judgment,
the course of these gentlemen is far better
calculated to produce that mischief than
anything we have said. To prove that
we are not mistaken, it is only necessary
10 point to the proposal made by Sherman
to one Of them, and that one the Governor
OF Sovereign State. What prompted
Sherman to offer this insult-the most
cross and deadly ever offered to public
upon the continent Of Ama-
lica, as we verify believer What bat
the impression, derived from his previous
language, that he was ready to cut his
State loose from the Confederacy, and
that the State was ready to go with him
That Sherman was mistaken, we are flee
to admit but what can he said TO the
lmprudence which caused him to enter
tam sgch an opinion And farther, what
can be more deplorahlo than the spec
tlcle Of a Governor, instead of treating
such Il proposal with silent contempt,
taking the occasion to make a speech, and
Inthat speech arragning the conduct Of the
Confederate administration and di,atIng
upon the wrongs OF his own State? And
before what tribunal is this arraignment
made > Before u Yankee general, in the
heart of his State, at the head Of an
army fifty thousand strong Really, if
our paragraphs encourage the enemy, We
are at loss to say what sort Of feeling
a proceeding like this creates. 1t must
be that Of cXultation, bordering upon
triumph. TO the best Of our recOllec.
ton, he even went SO far as to intimate
very strongly, if he did not directly say,
that matters could not be settled until
We and the Yankees had gotten rid of
'eh Davis and Abe Lincoln! And this
to a Yankee general The rule of the
law is, We believe, that he who consents
70 plead in court acknowledges its iul IS
,iction, Brown, in pleading his case
before Sherman, makes no objection to
the jurisdiction We wish he had done
SO
We have already intimated that We
acqIit Mcssra Brown, Boyce and Ste
phcns OF the design TO encourage recon,
,truction. But they are politicians, and
opposed to the Administration. They
ought to reflect, in times so dangerous as
these, how easy it is to give the public
enemy perilous advantage by pursuing
too closely their own schemes of ambi-
lion. In unseating a President, they
might chance to destroy their country.
The present is no time for faction; and
no pretence of public spirit can Justify
it in such times.