The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1864-05-10
then reigning monarch was moved 70 COM
m,seration At the change Of fortune In one

then rcigning monarch was move0 70 co"'
miseration At the change Of fortune IN one
whose b,asrhcmy against God aud ma'gni's
against his people deserved the most eAe'h
plafy punishment. Yielding to sen'i'neh.
which, under Ordinary circumstances, wou'a
have been commendah,e, he replied to the
ambassadors: SIS he yet aliycg lie Is my
h,o,hern Catching at the word. the keen
amt,asa,,ors replied "fhy brother Benha-
| ,aJ tiye.b.o On this The King OF leraci de-
! aired him to be called, took him up iuto
his ehaiiot, and. restored him to iib-
er,y on his own terms, thus flying
| in the face Of the Diviue Beneiactov
who had appointed Benhalad to ''uttcr dc
| struction," and who had placed in the hands
Of Israel the means Of accomplishing that
end And what was the result? A few years
after the King OF Israel met his own death
in battle with the very King lac had saved,
and "undcr the express orders OF Benhadad
to his soldiers to aim their weapons cXciu-
sively against the life CT the man who had
spared his own"
suppose" says theological writer CT
that England whose humane sentiments We
fear to offend by retaliating for the dreadful
barbasities OF the enemy-''suppose that at
ter the battle Of Waterloo, when the great
trouble Of Europe was brought prisoner
to our shores, the Regent had behaved like
! the King Of Israel to Bcnhadad, in setting
Napoleon free No doubt, some sentimcn-
ta'ist would have applauded his 'magnan-
unity towards the greatest enemy his coun
try had ever known. Bat Europe would
have mouYncd his weakness and his peo-
pie would have execrated it, il, as Is likely,
instead of the longest peace known i'll their
history, the subsequent years OF Napoleon's
life had been marked with trouble, contu-
sion, distress, warfare, rapine and blood; and
the Regent would doubtless have expert
enccd from Bonaparte gratitude Of the same
quality as that which the King of Israel re-
cciyed from the hands of the King of Syria. !"
At this age OF the world no man would
visit captive enemy with the punishment
of death But at this and every other age Of
the world, savages, who violate all the laws
of war, must be paid in their OWE coin, CT
there is an end to public security Humani
~ is noble creature, hut il we abate one
hairs breadth of the treatment to our enc
mics which they visit upon our friends. oui
humanity to our enemies becomes the worst
kind of inhunanity to ourselves. Gcd has
given us great victories, but whilst we spare
the lives of captives We should hold them to
the strictCst accountability for The usage
melted out by their Government to our
friends. Thus far the clemency they have
received has only emboldened them, like
Denhadad, to fresh acts Of crime. Fear is
the only motive by which they can be re-
strained. If o-morrcw they could capture
our heroic and Noble President they would
Put him to death at once. They would
slaughter his whole Cabinet 10y his side, rs
indeed Dahl9ren carried positive instructions
tor doing. What consideration, what COM
mon courtesy even, do We ovse to such say
ages? If we had carried On ths war from
tic beginning upon the most rigid principle
Of retaliation, the Yankee barbarians would
long siuce have SUNK back to their dens and
caves. 1t is not too late now to learn les
son from history, and from cur own exp
rience.