The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-02-09
Our Young Men.


N, population Of New York city since the
close IL the war.
We regret that 50 many of our young men
should deem il necessary 10 leave their native
section, which stands 80 much in need now of
,ne aid Of all her children We have nodoubt
that the desire OF employment. the necessity
II il IN many cases. has compelled this large
emigration from the South But where il is
~ essential 10 life itself ii is the duty of all
who love their native soil 10 stand by ii in its
diversity rs i'll its prosperity. The pride
which they feel IN the spot of their birth, the
Obligations Of gratitude and affection, sym
p-thv with its sorrows and aspirations for
~ failure happiness, unite 10 invoke them not
Ia desert their old mother in the hour of her
adversely.
Tie young men OF the South are its Jewels
Ill 81 its treasure that 4 desolating war has
left. Much of this treasure has gone forever,
buried beneath the soil which ii once adorned,
and making that soil dearer than ever before
10 is possesSors Hundreds OF thousands of
the>r Young men have gone 10 a land from
which there j. no return. VIII those who
remain leave the family hearthstonc, shrouded
- IL i IN he weeds Of mourning, utterly soil
r4rv aud dr>olatcg They would have deemed
il an lguomniouS thing 10 desert their colors
81. ID" hour Of battle. aud would have pre-
srrrri death 10 such deed OF shame. l. II
.n>> rtunous 10 torsake now the land for which
hey have made such struggles? Can they
not exercise. IN The peaceful efforts she is
making for restoration OF her former pros
parIty, The same self-dculal, patience, perse-
Neraucr, and energy, which they exhibited in
war Al q time when We ara cndcayoring to
invite immlgra ton from all the world, and
when our great necessity is labor, shall the
emigration from the South far surpass that
which is entering her borders Is the land
that was once the garden of the earth TO BE-.
come a solitary and d"solate place, abandoned
~ the flower o: its enterprise and energy, and
left 10 relapse into u wilderness?
A. southern men, We care not 90 much for
III" dcCliu" in material greatness which must
b" involved in the abandonment Of the South
~ any considerable number of its young men.
uQr people have never been ambitious of great
wealth. They have borne with heroic ioru-
rude the loss Of their worldly possessions.
They look without tear upon the havoc
which the war has made III their personal for
tunes The natural emotions which such
losses might arouse ar" swallowed mp in tn"
deeper grief over the los, of their best and
hrlye,t in the battle. But if to these is 10 be
added the loss by emigration of those who sur
yIyr. the South may we'll be iuConsolahle. Then,
indeed. may She take up the plaintive lam"nta-
iluu Of the patriarch JACOB when, III the famine
Of Canaan. NJ refused 10 permit his youngest
son 10 70 down 10 Egypt " Ne have We bcreaycd
..of my children; Jo-rrH i not and SIMEON i,
mot. and '" will take BENJAMIN away all
these things are against me. II l b"
hrreaysd OF my children, / am ber"aved."
H. indeed, the southern people, like the
Jewish patriarch, could move the whole
southern household, with their women and
LITTLE ones, 10 I land OF peace and plenty. We
aI-ht look with more Composure upon such
aG exodus. But these must remain. The old
Esan and III" children, the mothers and SIS.
tvrs Of the South must be left behind 10 share
IL fortunes for veal OF woe. Every generous,
,iIyIIrIc, and manly sentiment demands that
those who are their protectors, and the mann
stay of the future Of Southern society, should
remain. IT. indeed, this grand old fabric OF
Southern social life j. threatened with dlsso-
luton, II the ship that has sailed 50 proudly
81. the seas j. going down, if the storm that
howls through the rigging and the waves that
ylamor for her destruction must prove Nicto-
T.UuS. let the crew still remember that there
ar" women and children on board, and that II
- A0UlrT ana more ADioIdD.t ~ ~ uonIi WIN
the sinking wreck than 10 crowd into launches
aud NIc- boats and abandon the helpless ones
10 q horrible fate.
Bur the Southern vessel is not going down.
The tempest i sent, not for our ruin but to
Try our manhood. The land that gave birth to
WA~uINvro<, that displays in its brief annals
galaxy Of genius and public virtue such rs
the world has rarely seen, that il 50 evidently
a f,p
destiny. is not 10 bc given over 10 anarchy and
harnari>m. We boast in cSouth OF the mum
Der Of ourchurches and of the pervading intu-
"Hce OF religion on the mtss Of our popuiatoh
what j. our religion worth If il does not teach
a. the virtues of faith and hope; II 1t gives
way before the blasts OF misfortune, and leaves
IS 10 act practically rs If there were behind
the storm no Divine Intelligence and Beng
ui,y directing the affairs Of mem 1t does not
follow because We have lost the cause IN when
we lately embarked that we are forsakcn OF
Heaven If it had not been best for us that
such should be the result, We would have lrl-
ttmuhrd We have lost our slaves, but we are
still LETT on III equality with the rest OF man
kind We have our strong right arms we nave
energy and will of our own, or ought 10 nave
the same genial heavens smile upon us from
above, and the same productive earth po"rs
forth its treasures 1T our feet. Here are the
graves o. our fathers and Of our friends, ana
here an atmosphere irradiated by the halo oil
their illustrious example. If we VIII only
stand 10 our posts, and have faith IN Heaven,
and show our faith by works OF every hihd,
and chief of all, by self-denying, patient, ana
Aopeful industry, the South has yet before IL
future brighter and more glorious than IL mas
ever seen.
Nothing, in our mind, is more certain thah
that this Southern land, producing the great
.iaplea upon which the commerce ana manu-
features of the world are dependent, embra'
cling the productions OF both the tropic ana
the trmperata zones having mild and health
ful climate, great rivers and harbors, ana
iucalculable mineral wealth, viii not DC leli
10 return 10 a wilderness, but Will, ON the con-
trarv, become one day the chief seat oil aileri-
can population and power. IL her own sons
abandon her, their places viii ere long he hiieu
hX men Of another racp The crowded polh-