The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-07-06
The Proposition of a Renegade.

The Proposition Of q Renegade.
As in respect to religion 1t is true that
"onc apostatc is worse than ten Turks"
50 in reference to political affairs it is true
that one apostate from the true faith is
worse than ten who were brought up in
ignorance Of the truth. The Wheeling
Intelligence has the ctirontcry TO call upon
the authorities Of West Virginia TO inter
pose the arm of the law-no, not OF the
law, for no law is concerned in the mat
ter-but the arm Of power to prevent the
organization of Confederate Memorial As
sociations in that State. No other paper
in. the Uuitcd States, so far as we are al
viscd, has ever dared thus to outrage the
sentiment Of humanity which is supposed
to pcrvade not only every community, put
every heart. II was reserved for journal
published in what was once part of this
honored Commonwealth to make propo-
s;tion which the fanatical GREELEY and
the corrupt and slander-loving FoRNEY
have never had the unblushing impudence
TO hint at.
In years gone by, the people of this
country used to read Of the tyrannical
deeds Of HAYNAu, the brutalties Of 4
King BoNBA, and the prosecutions laid
with heavy hand upon the Huugarians,
and wonder that human nature could SUBJ
init to such atrocities. When We con-
trasted the condition of the people of the
tyrant-riddcn countries Of Europe with
our own happy state, We were apt to lay
all the sins of the rulers upon the form of
government, and to congratulate ourselves,
not because no such crimes were commit
ted in this country, but that they were not
possible under a free, republican govern
ment. But we are wiser now. We know
now what PoPE meant in saying:
For forms Of governmen mt let fools contest.
That which IS best administered i best
There seems to be no feature OF mo-
narchcal or despotic government which
cannot be initiated in this republic. We
have seen ladies arrested in Baltimore for
wearing particular colors in their bonncts,
as they once were in Hungary for the same
offence: we have seen men arrested else
where in this free country for wearing
brass buttons, as in Scotland they once
were for wearing the kilt and now we
see proposition made, and of course not
without some sort of public opinion to back
it, to arrest the widows and orphans Of de-
ceased Confederate soldiers for the unpar-
donablc crime OF taking steps to decorate
their graves and honor their memory.
We are told that long after the death Of
the tyrant NERO it was discovered that
some unknown hand had strcwn flowers
upon his grave. And the voice Of man
kind has pronounced this fact to be one of
the most pleasing mentioned in history.
Even the worst OF men, it was argued,
have some traits which awaken the admi-
ration of their kind-Somc redecming fca-
lures in their character. Has the editor
of the MteNgencer any Of the feelings
which belong to human nature. Docs he
wish To make himself notorious by his bru-
tali,y by outraging the feelings OF our
sollltilpu iuVSh
against the world Of civilization and re-
linemcnt
1T is lamcntable that this country should
ever have been reduced to such II depth
of degradation as that the people of any
part of it should listen in silence to such
proposal. How lost to all just notions OF
civil liberty, to all appreciation of per-
sonal rights, to the blessings of free 60
vcrnmcnt, to the traditions of the fathers
Of our republic, to the teachings Of Magma
Oarta and Of our own Bills OF Rights, must
be the men who make and the men who
tolerate the proposal to prosecute survi-
wing relatives and friends for paying honor
10 their dead.