Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1867-01-04
WHAT OF THE NIGHT

the South. having never had any adequate
"oonst,tutioral power Of defence" in the
Union. is yet required to 'abridge what was
accorded her, BY sdopting the pending Con
s,itntional Amendment. We have shown
rat our duty lies in the opposite direction
an. that SO far from consenting to any weak
,a;ny of our defenccs, VIC should maintain
them with vigilance and zeal. TO yield them,
would be folly beyond estimation. If torn
from us BY revolutionary violence, that would
he the act and the shame Of Others. And
independent of the reasons referred to, which
forbid our compliance with the proposed re-
Turement, the history Of tyrannies the world
through, will be searched in vain for a pre-
ccdent in which conquerors, the least re-
strained by reason and aeceny, haveever before
sought in like manner, to make the vanquish-
ed, however guilty, their own executioners,-
10 make them vote their own sentence,-to
make them pass the edictofproscription against
their own leaders. When such punishmcnts
and disabilities must needs be imposed, the
conaueror must issue his own edicts, and fur
nish his own Jack ketches. If, in the darker
days gilmore than three thousand years ago, it
was forbidden to seethe kid in its mothers
,niik, surely it is not to be required or tolcr-
ated in this enlightened and Christian age
!shers of their own brethren and leaders !!
he judgment and the heart, alike utterly
revolt against the endorsement Of the Consti-
,u;ional Amendment by the Southern States.
What are our duties for the future
What is its best promise, and the policy to
attain it? Represented or unrcprcsented, in
the Union or out Of the union is much the
same to Us, if the North remain united and
rntricndly. In Congress we should be voted
Gown, and governed hostilely,-out of Con-
gress it could be no worse. Uurepresented
we should not be heard,-represented, we
should rot be needed, or listened to only for
occasion Of offence. Unrepressnted, we should
be considered as morally protesting against
all that was done to our injury,-representcd,
we should be held as morally bound and
quieted by the decision Of the majority. Ire
land represented in Parliament, and Ireland
unavailably represented, who will say that
tic latter is the bctter2
Represented or not, with hostile and uni
red North we shall be without protection,
and victims of continual wrong and injustice.
Legislation will continue to discriminate
against us. All our social and industrial pc
,uliaritics will be made matter Of invdious
interference and taxation, to indulge the pre-
!udces or promote the interests of the North.
The course of legislation which Mr.. Benton
declared had ruined the South for the benefit
Of the North, will be persisted in. 1t is vain
t. expect otherwise.
Our first aim, then, must be to undermine
that organized hostility Of superior numbers,
which, while it exists, will render alike vain,
Al arDcals to reason and to covenanted faith.
10 preach to passion is to preach to boreas-
and never were people so wholly under the
influence of passion as is the dominant party
oG the North to-day. We must therefore
avoid as far as possible all direct collisions
with Northern sentiment. We must refuse to
accept sectional issues. The effort will be to
draw US into these, for then our ruin IS as
sured. We must beware such stratasems.-
We must avoid giving tie evil-dlsposed,
material whercwith to irritate the Northern
mind there is nothing which those who
,oost hate us at the North, so desiringly look
:or and so eagerly publish, as taunts and sar-
cssms uttered here. 1t is hard indeed to en-
.lure in silence the rolleys Of vituperation so
ccaselessly poured upon us; but we must
learn the virtue of endurance. 1t is no mark
,f cowardicc in a soldier-it is rather the
highest test of his courage and discipline, to
receiye in silence fire which he may not
cffectually return. 1t is hard to bear insults
aud arropanccs such rs the coarsest andmost
brutal Shareholder would have been ashamed
to utter to his meanest slave; but the dis
grace is not ours.
While refusing to scold and quarrel, and to
give an overpowcring multitude excuse for
nussion.-we must carefully watch and main
rain all our existing constitutional defences,
ard make them as available as possible. we
must test in the courts how far this is indeed
Government of constitution and laws whe'
tier the obedience demanded of us docs not
inply protection; whether taxation does not
;,n,,ly representation; whether the duties o.
States do not imply the rights Of States.
Not only must we disarm passion BY mode
ration. and restrain aggression within thu
narrowest practicable bounds, but we must
seek to avert hostile determinations by re
moving the opportunities for them so long
as our social composition differs from that 0
the North, we shall be doggcd by fanatics an'
harasscd by hostile legislation. TO obvlat'
this we must diguse the negroes. 1t Will d
fatal to keep them all here. Send as many q
r,ssible North Scatter them over the who'll
country, and they will no longer disturb it
nolitics. Concentrated here, we shall mere
iare peace.
Again: We must conform our industry t
that of the North. So long as we produc
cotton and New England spins it all, til
cotton-grower will be taxed for the benefit
the cotton-spinner. So long az We plant an