The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1865-02-01


ton.
WEDNESDAY, MORNING FEBRUARY /. sess.
No nation ever gained it's freedom
without suffering; and had we time to
refer to the facts of history, We could
easi1eelox4 how trus 4 i. that Others
have suffered more and struggled longer .
"Let us confess it, there has been no
nation which has started upon her @,
reer Of freedom with such boastf1lness,
and looked upon her struggles as so
transient, her victory as SO easily
achieved, as ours. Shall we be found
boasters; indeed, vain boasters ?'-Dr.
Minnegerode's New- Years Sermon.
Something more is involved in the is
sue Of this conflict than the question Of
independence. It is to settle our rank
in the human race; to show whether it
be really true, as asserted by some phi
losophers, that the European stamina
degenerates in America, and that Anne
ricans are inferior in profoundness Of
passion, tenacity Of purpose, and strength
Of endurance, to the people Of the Old
World.
1t is common, in some parts Of this
continent, to look down upon the inhabi
tants OF Europe as inferior to this free,
intelligent and virtuous American peo-
pie. And no portion of the European
populations was held in more sublime
contempt than "the Dutch" q name ap.
piled to all inhabitants of Germany, a
race which, however it may have been
corrupted Of late by inlidelity and Red
Republicanism, is one Of the most manly.
hcroical and conquering races of the
earth. Surely, We are not going to al
low our contest to be thrown into
the shade by those Dutchiest OF
Dutchmen, the people of the New
Netherlands. Have we forgotten the
long years Of their. protracted and
desperate struggle? How they contendcd
against immensely greater odds than We
are compelled to encounter in this con-
test; how, pressing them from post to
post, was that wonderful military genius,
the Prince of Parma, man born to CON-
mand; greatest among the great cap
tains whom the military schools of Italy
had given to the world, with an eagles
face, and moving with an eagles wings
Do we remember those patriots reduced
to such an extremity that they offered to
give their country to France If she
would save them from Spain, and that
France refused the offered gift; and that
while their ENJOYS were absent, soliciting
foreign intervention, and refreshing
themselves, after the manner Of ambas-
sadorA with Hastings and frolicings, the
people at home were eating rats, and
cats, and dogs, and the weeds from the
pavements, and the grass from the
chuchyards And have we forgotten
that in. defiance 6f al this, they held
out to the bitter end. and that, at last,
God having tried their faith and manhood
in the fiery furnace seven times heated,
rewarded them finally with liberty and
independence
Nor are these the only examples which
the same race have afforded of achieve
ments that we would do we'll to equal
before we settle down in the pleasing
conviction that Americans are the great
est of mankind. Do We not remember
how Frederick Of Prussia, with popu
iation Of scarcely Eve millions Of inhabi-
tanta, carried on assven years. war, from
1766 70 l763, against the combined forces
Of Austria Ru1aia, France, Sweden and
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