The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1864-10-15

The desire OF Secretary Fioyu 10 en-
gage the country in a great foreign war
was a very natural desire on the part oil
a man who believed that foreign war
alone could prevent the dissolution Of the
Union. Yet we think it fortunate for
the South, at least, that he did not sue
coed 1t could only have postponed the
separation, without rendering it impos.
sble The day was destined to arrive !;
and sooner or later ii would have brought
in its train all the evils and inconvcn'-
encies that belong to it. Postponemcnt,
we are disposed to think, would only
have added to our difficulties
We should have been victorousin any
war which we should have waged with
any European Power. The enormous
armies which the two sections have
brought into the field, and the unparal
lelea obstinacy with which they have
fought, leave no doubt whatever Of that
fact No European Power could have
stood before the combined strength of the
whole country once known as the United
States. The navy was, it is true, con
fined to few ships; but in the course
of two years war it would probably
have reached the number of thousand.
1t would have swept that of either
France or England from the ocean.
1t is probable that, in the beginning
of the war, France or England might
have landed an army upon our
shores. But events have clearly shown
that it could not have sustained it
self here week, let its size have been
what it might The navy having be-
come irresistible, million of men, if
necessary, could have been thrown on
the shores of either France or Great
Britain and neither France nor Great
Britain, let them vapor as they may,
could have withstood the onset of such
an army. OF course, Canada would have
gone overheard at the very first rush, for
Great Britain, so far from defending her,
is anxious, ever now, to give her away
to the Yankee That we are not draw
ing upon our imagination, we think the
gigantic proportions Of the present war
Sufficiently indicate. What might not
the whole country united have done
The United States would have come
out of such war with a high reputa-
ton, mighty army, and an invincible
navy. AS was the case in the Mexican
war, the South would have done all the
fighting, and the Yankees would have
taken all the profit and claimed all the |
glory. They would have taken all the
navy and as much of the army as they
could have induced to join them. Their |
resources would have been multiplied
beyond measure, and their arrogance
would have grown far beyond even their
actual acquisition of wealth and power.
They would not have failed t. assert,
more Extensively than ever, their mission |
to settle the affairs of the whole earth, |
and more especially those of the South
ern States. The Black Republican party |
would still have been predominant-l
would still have insisted upon their mis-
sion-would still have perseycred in
their determination to ignore the rights |
Of the States, and to make them all bend
to their will. Separation and war would |
still have been inevitable. We should
still have been compelled to meet the
Yankee hosts in the fields, and that, too,
under far greater disadvantages than we
actually encountered when the war be
gan. Suppose they had had in the be-
ginning such an army and such fleet
as they now have. There is hardly
possibility that we could have resisted
them, utterly unprepared as we then
were for war Such an army and such a |
fleet they would have had, had there
been a war with Great britain in 1868,
as there was very near heing. We re
gard it as providential that it did not
,,lo