The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-09-15
What We Have Learned.


1t may have beer incomprehensible to
MS before the late civil war in this country
why the men Of certain little Carthage
Man town, rather than surrender it to the
Romans, burned all their icwclry and
other valuables, killed all the women and
children, and then, sallying forth to meet
their enemies, fought till the last man Of
their number was killed. When we reflect
upon the humiliations to which the Radi-
Gals are now anxious TO subject the south
ern people, We naturally suspect that the
brave Carthagenians had reason to know
that death was preferable to the mercy of
their enemies.
We understand now, without accepting
as true De QrINcEY's exaggerated estimate
of the number Of the population of Rome,
how that famous republic armed and
equipped such vast bodies Of men, and
ovcr-rnn the neighboring countries. Be-
fore our own war We attributed the extra
ordinary evidences of patriotism, the self
sacrificing devotion TO country, and the
untiagging zeal, which characterized the
Romans to some feature of their religion
the history Of which had not been trans
mittcd to poStcrity. We may now take it
for granted that they worshipped their flag,
and were ready to sacrifice home, friends,
personal liberty, mercy, and everything
else in their desire to punish every
heathenish iconoclast who fought against it.
We understand now why it was neces-
sary for the Barons of England, time after
time, under King after King, and some
times more than once under the same
King, to rc;issert the rights and privileges
of their order and to have their favorite
laws and customs periodically declared to
be still in force. 1t was because the Kings
constantly violated their coronation oaths,
and treated charters and customs as NULL
ties. No respect was paid to what the
English call their constitution An un-
written constitution, it is true, but none
the worse for that. The Philadelphia Con-
seryatiye Convention was an assemblage OF
our "barons," convened for the purpose
of causing the powers that be to return to
their allegiance to the Constitution, TO re-
spect the teachings of the fathers, to bring
our ancient customs again into use, and to
pledge their faith to one another that the
Congress there the dominant powe) should
be strictly watched, and if possible pre-
vented from harassing the people.
II ,,,l1 lao. hot IN
clergy in England, after the restoration Of
CHARLES H., preached three times as many
sermons about the "blessed martyr"
CHARLES l., as they did about the Saviour.
This is stated by MAcArLEY to have been
fact. and il was so incredible that he
thought il necessary to cite his authority
in note. we are not sure that the pro-
portion is here stated in MACAULEY'S
words.) We who remember the chief sta
pie Of the sermons preached in the North
year ago, can have no difficulty in credit
ing the statement. Political parsons in
every previous age were like those of the
present day. They thought no subject so
worthy of their attention and calculation
as the political questions of the hour.
And the deplorable feature Is that they
preach on such subjects to excite rancor-
ons prejudice against an unprotected class.
We understand now how it was that the
people of England became restless under
the Commonwealth, and hailed the restora-
ton of CHARLES II. with such extravagant
L
demonstrations of satisfaction and delight
that he expressed his establishment, and
inquired what could have become of his
enemies. The Radical Roundheads had
disguised all the conservative classes by
their follies and wickcdness.
And, finally, We understand that the
atrocities committed by HENRY WILL, the
horrors of the inquisition, the massacre of
ST. bartholomew day, the execution Of
Lady JANE GREY, were not only justified
in the eyes of the guilty authors by the
plea that the life of the nation was in dam
ger, but that the mass of the people in
England, France, and Spain conceded in
the opinion of their rulers. The heart of
man is indeed desperately wicked. Whe-
Their the people ofthc present "enlightcned"
age are in any respect better than those of
the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth Gen.
turtles, is a question which admits of de-
bate. And whether the people Of the
South are to meet with any better treat
ment than the Republicans did under
CHARLES l., the dissenting Professionals and
Catholics under HENRY VIII, the Pro-
testants in Spain and France in the seven
teenth century, and the nobility in France
at the close Of the eighteenth, is qucs-
tion which a year ago we thought could
not possibly arise, but which the tone and
temper of the Radicals Of the North now
tell us is Of tremendous practical import.
How can we Pro tect Ourselves?
In view of the probable success of the