The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-02-03
Unreasonable Reninlngs.

Unreasonable Repinlngs.
Its an old adage that "misery loves COM
pany" If this he true, there is very large
amount of consolation for our people IN their
troubles, which they can draw upon al thelr
pleasure without any fear OF "Xhaustlng the
fountain. If our fields have been desolated
by war, and the flower Of our youth wlthered
in the furnace of battle, such has been the
fate of all mankind from the beginning OF the
world. We had enjoyed such long exemption
from those common curses Of humanity that We
began 10 think ourselves entitled 10 millen-
ium. When, 1T last, this agreeable decision
was rudcly disspatcd, we considered ourselves
a most ill-used and unfortunate generation.
This was not the world we took ii tor. We
were intensely disguise that We alone, OF all
the nations of the earth, had not escaped alto
gcther 4 universal woe. In the anguish OF
the sad discovery, we forget altogether the
long period of happiness, and immunity from
most of the evils of mankind, which we had
enjoyed and We're in anything but the mood
of the patriarch jon when he exclaimed: :
"The Lord gave; the Lord hath taken away ;
blessed be the name Of the Lord
The war has now ended, but there are evils
remaining which ill some among us with dis
quietude which we regard rs peculiar TO our
own country, and which therefore seem
hardship and grievance difficult TO bear
Prominent among these is the existence of
fauaticism, and the influence which it some.
times eXcrts in public affairs. But there is no
new thing, and certainly no new evil, under the
sun. Fanaticism i no more peculiar 10 any
one country thau any other form Of insanity.
/ ;U mn - -
government, which has been able TO keep on
those moral cpidemics which, sometimes III
one form sometimes in another. sweep over
the globe. They can no more be escaped thah
visitations Of cholera and plague. They must
run their course, aud we can only submit 10
them, as we do to the vsitations Of pestilcncer
with such faith and forutudo rs we can com
mand. \ few centuries ago, witchcratt was
the prevailing moral epidemic, disorderhG the
wits Of the most learned and influential
members OF society in til" Old World and the
New. ami burning, drowning, land hanging
thousands of miserable victims. Nould we
he willing 10 exchange any OF the Callmliles
which we are likely 10 suffer from the eNcesses
Of fanaticism now for the wretchedness ana
desolation, the mortal fear, horror, andappre-
beneion, which then filled every town and
household in Christendom'
Even in the lifetime ofmcn now living, there
has been exhibited. in the most scientific, the
most courteous, the most gay and cheerful OF
the nations, such appalling sway and atrocltT
of fanaticsm as cannot be contemplated by
the stoutest heart. even now, without shud-
der The Roundheads Of England were Cava.
Iiers in comparison with those Puritans OF
Intidelity who, i'll the name Of Liberty, COM
united such horrors in the French Revolution.
Ii was not alone in France, but III orr own
hemis sphere, that their rcmorsclesS tanatIcism
overthrow The monuments Of civilization and
exhibited the hideous spectacle OF men, Ell.
dowed with reason, converted into british
beasts, turning upon aud rending all that is
venerable, valuable, and beautiful St.sBo-
mingo, the brightest of the colonial pearls of
France, was deliberately cast from her hand
10 appcase the swinish Noraclty OF the mad
worshippers of the Goddess OF Liberty. Have
we any evidence yet OF the existence OF such
madmen in America rs those enlightened
Freuchmen who deitied Human Reason, and
who were represented in the councils of the
Haytien chief ToussAINT, by the French
Secretary who was his counsellor and guide
in all the atrocities that he committed upon
both the white and black population There
may not be much that is inspiring III these
recollections, but they may, al all events,
teach us that no tribulation has yet overtaken
us which is not common 10 man, that humanity
is the same III all ages and countries, and that
therefore we have no peculiar cause OF COM
plant because the cholera or plague OF tanau-
cism breaks out here, rs elsewhere, and makes
human life somewhat precarious and uncom-
Portable.
The true philosophy is that which acts upon
the inspired sentiment, that "suilicient unto
the day is the evil thereof" Fauaticism may
obtain ascendancy i'll America, and work as
terrible havoc ~ it did i'll France; but then,
again, it may not. We prefer TO hope, rs we
believe, that it Will not. We are confident
that the sober, practical sense of our country
men, and an intelligent appreciation Of the
common interests, viii successfully assert
itself in every section of our country, and that
we shall yet be happy and prosperous peo-
pie In the mean time, let the apprchensive
and disconnected apply themselves to the
duties of the day; TO the pursuits OF industry
and the development of the material wealth of
the country the morrow will take care for
q, he fhIupE of itself