The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-05-08

IN The dnIkpst hour o. RnationS history,
when faction runs riot through the land,
when the bravest and truest are disheart-
ened and Departing, when the minds Of
the people are depressed and saddcncd,
there Is still for those who seek il, the
grand consolation that, with proper con-
duct and patience on the part Of those who
wait and suffer, the future must and VIII
relieve the individual from his misfortune
and the country from its condition OF chaos
and Reorganization. Such consimma-
ton as this, however, is not born OF 'indo-
lence and inaction! All that Is truly and
really worth having must be the fruits OF
work and labor; and when the time comes
for peace and prosperity to take once more
the place of demagoguism and sectional
ruin, there is the qualification OF knowing
that the minority in the State, have by
patient waiting, combined with unostenta-
tious labor, insured the much-desired
result.
Such reasoning as this should now more
than ever be impressed by the force OF
circumstances upon the people of the
South! The States of the late Southern
Confederacy are desolate and waste nearly
all the signs Of general good fortune have
been swept away and, worse than all, the
fate Of war has oppressed and saddened
the hearts of every Southern man. For
this sadness and depression, GoD knows
there is reason enough. Prepared and
anxious to honor our plighted words, de-
termincd to be as faithful in defeat as
modest in victory, we have been per-
sistcntly distrusted and persistently mis-
understood. Nor was this the express
sion Of the will of the majority of the
people of the Northern States. The country
has been controlled by party which must
have some cry or grievance, and they are
to be thanked for the restrictions which
have fcttered the words and actions of
the South.
There has been reason then for gloomy
and Respondent feeling; and when the
LAPSE of month after month showed no i'm
provcment, no expression Of confidence
or forbearance, it was dreaded that the
Southern people would sink into condi-
ton of careless apathy from which even
the fiercest and least provoked attacks
would not be able to arouse them. This,
however, must not be and when the South
crn people think that the future of the
South, and perhaps the future of this en-
tire country, depends upon their conduct
i'm this season of trial and temptation, they
will not and cannot hesitate to sacrifice
once again their personal prejudices upon
the altar of the national good. No pam
dering or time-serving is required, and
none here would dare to ask it from us ;
but we must be hopeful and strong, calm
and self-reliant, awaiting in silence that
retributive hour which will one day most
tsuredly come.
tAireme parties never enjoy aprotracted
.ssssnnSe. They are exhausted by the
violence of their own passion. Their etcr-
nal agony and vituperation ALLEVIATE at last
their warmest supporters ; and that which
has ever been the case with fanatical agi-
tators will most certainly be SO with the
Radical party of the North. No man can
tell the year or month when the ruling fac
ton will fall from their pride of place, but
that time ,cal come, and until then we must
act so as to prove that while we cannot
jump at one bound from the confident hope
Of independence to an obsequious and
criminal submission, we can still be earnest
and true in our duty to the laws and that
Constitution under which we are presumed
to live.
For the Southern people the motto must
be WORK AND WAIT. They must discipline
their minds and make them strong in ad-
versity, that they may never be overcome
by the rude buffetings of ill-fortune or de-
PRAYED by future periods Of luxury and
affluence. They must think over the his
tory of the past five years and draw les
Ions from them to guide their course in the
future! They must learn again and again
the necessity of self-denial, fortitude, and
purity; and when all these things have
been impressed for all time upon their
minds, when they have recovered from
the humiliation of defeat, and cast aside
the useless vanities of the days before the
war, they will be ready for that change in
the National Councils which will break
and shatter the furious leaders of the mo-
ment, and place the control of the country
in the hands of those moderate and con-
sentative men who will only exercise their
power and influence for the general good,
and for the well-being and comfort of this
entire people.
The Changes in the Discipline of the