Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1862-1865, 1864-03-16
Yankee Liberty.

VI.
United States House Of Representatives, reminded bis
hearers Of fac. which history has demonstrated but
which appeArs to be always forgotten at the very mo-
ueut when it ought yield the most impressive lessons
BE said that "Lbery lost has never, in the his
tory Of Ghe world been reganed by the same people
L is useless to attempt to account for tSRphsnomenon,
with any view Of removing is cauies. The fact re-
mains indsputAble. From the days of Philip to the
days of NApOeoa, history in this respect, presents
act Identical at least consmAr features The death Of
public ibery has never been followed by its resurrec
tion. The fallen temple of freedom has never been
reconstructed Alter ages wonder at itS grandeur AID
mourn its overthrow Just the traveller looks with sad
del gbs on the broken columns of the PArthenOn or the
majestic ruins Of Palmyra Bat the goddess deserts the
fallen temple and Gbandons her WorshiperS to the fate
they have invited With rAsions Liberty appears
to have been an era Of transition with others, of eu
miuatiou. Some have enjoyed Il for ages; with etAerS
il hAs been no sooner won than los. But none thai
have suffered it to slip from their grasp have ever sue
ceedsd id regainOg it.
IT, hsu history teaches any lesson at all it Is that
no people a. to erjoy liberty, has ever lost it, When
Mr. Voorhees, sid that his countymen exhibit the spec
sacle Of dying people, he left NJ the inference that
they are people not 81 to Ve-thAt If they have lost
their liberty, they longer worthy to enjoy it,
capable Of winning It back. Mr. Voorhees, is right
Hs speech reiteates all hA. the Southern people have
asserted Of the conversion Of the North into oOnso
dated despetsm; of the SuoVsrsiou Of the Constitution
Of the humiliation CT the rights Of the States Of the
destruction Of all the principles which their repub
can system vas supposed to be Ouuded Nor was this
result At al surprising The Of events in the
United States has many parallels in history. Blu! has
Notwithstanding, its new aud remarkable features
features which represent deeper degsneracy,
sudden lapse into despotiSm thAa have character
lied any nation 1t required generations Of corruption
70 bend the Roman people 70 the odiOuS yoke Of Tbe-
RUS or TIE despicAble tyranny Of Vellius bus the
Yankees plunge headlOnE from the height of democratic
license into the proEoundest AbysSss of tyranny. His
torans have deporsd tie fall Of the Athenian Common
wealth bat the AtheniAn Commonwealth was Sab.
Verted By the ability Of Phiip and the genius Of Alex
ander. The admirers Of freedom have mouFned over
the fAI Of the Roman Republic bus the Roman RspuS-
lie yielded to the greatest statesman and the greatest
captain OF his age In short, whenever in preceding
ages, Republics have been overthrow, or Common
Wsahs subVertsd they have surrendered to the ability
Of the sa'esmAn or the sword Of the hero-to Peri
cles, Gear, . Cromwell or . Napoleon. But the
Yankees sink a. into the depths Of sAVish snbnis
sion, and gladly yield their rights and their Liberties to
fourth rate lawyers and thirdrats soldiers to Lincoln
and Burnside, ana schsnck aud Grant,
II any justification we're needed for the course OF
the South in separating from the North, It would be
furnished by the contemporAnsous history Of the United
States The causes which led TO secession we're strong
enough to constitute Anpls reason bat toe causes
which forbid reconstruction inaaitsly stronger
II the Yankees before the var had shown themselves
Un6t be associates the traits they have developed
since the war prove that they far mora unit to be
our masera If We were unwilling to live in Union
with the Yankees when they still claimed to be free
people il NUT be absolutely impossible for US 10 re-
turn to them Uhen they have become the voluntary
subj ets Of = contemplate but = relentless Depot
We refused to be their felloW-eitEsns we can never
consent TO become their feoW.slave
Yet Mr. VOORHEES,, representing those who claim to
be the peace party" Of the Month the old Democracy,
the peculiar friends Of the South, warns US, with de-
hghtful simplicity, not to look forward to separation
and independence. he commences by saying that
nation which once loses s liberty, never regainsit He
proves that the Yankees have lost their liberty and
then says that the Pres dental election viii pu an
cad to and deAih, aud bring constitutional Union
Of the States" He says that the Constitution Is over
thrown that justice is hlaed that the guarantees
Of public liberty diregArded that the Government
Is ruined and bankrvp its civil agents corrupt and
wicked and its military agents brutal and nfAmou'.-
And he amasy invites the South pIrticpAts in these
unequAed and unparalleled blessings. He beckonSu s
to this delightful Entertainment assuring that In the
cooperation Of the Conservative Of the North
have basis Of perfect security for our rights and in
z.itutions II wsuld really to be time that these
conservative men" had abandoned all such puerie de-
usoas and admitted the indsputable fact the South is
fighting for Independence ont of the Yankee Union,
and that what they call rights in the Union are pre-
csey what We do not want Il Is time they understood
that we have waged three years Of bitter warfare that
W have fought hundred battles, given up our
and cur brothers the slaughter and submitted to the
desolaton Of our homes the devastation Of cur ieds
and the bombardment Of Oes not BY any that
the end Of all should be new alliance with the North
ern Democracy recurrence 70 the intriguss and cor
rupdons Of the old Union. lis time that they saw
clearly thai wish neither repetition Of the humii-
atng partizan alliances and coaActs Of the past nor
participation il the Yankee slavery Of the present
We have got happily rid Of tse one and We are deter
mined never to submit to the other. f-i,st
t