The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-03-16
What WIN They Dop

who are very illogically ana uh'a"!
riding the Senate for Its action upon ''e
Convention. are themselves in STRAIT
which i, will require good deal OF adfon-
ness 10 bring them out of. We caiied AZ
,an,;ou TO this the other day; and since
.,or continue railing at the Senate, we
ssa;n invite them to consider tue s''u"-
,snn. Those gentlemen opposed any &c,
ton by the Legislature on .ne e'ou"u
that that body should not, WIN ''S own
.nns.n, .oncnr in the unconstitutional act
&c Ccnoress. and infict in that way dis
honor and disgrace upon the State. II
ana. view be correct, it follows as q matter
&c course that any act Of the people
such as going to the polls and voting for
members to o convention, &c.-showing
any sort of conformity to the denounced
LAWS dishonor and disgrace. Now,
what will the gentlemen aforesaid do
Win they advise the people to follow
their own example, and stay at home on
the day Of electioni Will they take the
ground that the only way to avoid self
perjury and national infamy is thus to give
ND their Government and their fates to the
colored voters and the followers Of HUNNI-
CUT? To be consistent, they must advise
them to do so; yet will they dare to give
advice so mad-so utterly ruinous to So
ciety and all the dearest interests OF the
State9 They must give this advice or
stand convicted of insincerity-of having
merely thrown themselves into an affected
indignation, and cut caper on the stage
for effect with excitable people-perhaps
for little personal distinction and little
political fame.
They cannot say that because the mill
tary commander calls the convention the
people are any more forced to go to the
polls than were they to vote for or sustain
the proposition to call convention; for
that would be positively untrue. If any
proof that it is so untrue were wanted,
Congress has determined to give it; for In
the supplementary bill, that will no doubt
become law, the first act required OF the
convention will be to decide the question,
"Shall the Constitution be amended y
Does this look like forcing the people to
amend the Constitution and would these
declamatory and highly honorable gentle
men and editors advise the convention to
respond to this question "No"? They
must SO advise, or they must do that most
disgraceful of acts, advise others to perpe-
trate an act of dishonor which they them,
selves will not commit. The tempest that
has been raised on this subject against &C.
quiescence is based on nothing but passion
There is no wisdom in it. Inaction )" led
inevitably into the hopeless gulf of ruin.
The reliance on the Supreme Court and the
President was utterly delusive. The Sc
nate acted upon the plain and inevitable
necessity of the case. They had no right
to assume that the Sherman Law was not
fnality and under it they proceeded
without due haste, to save the State ano
the people from anarchy and destruction
The unforeseen supplementary bill is
real relief to all who concurred with the
Senate. But ii is no relief to those acho die
not. If any act Of acquiescence in thai
law, which is not compulsory, is done by
any of them, they will be as much dis,
graced and dishonored as if they had voted
for or sustained the Senate bill; and they
will be even more disgraced by advising
anybody else to do what they feel would
be dishonorable to themselves. They can
not escape the necessity of deciding The
question of cooperation in working out thu
Sherman Law either at the polls or il
the Convention itself.
These are matters for the serious con
sideration of these persons and for the
people at large. Congress did not NEAR
to make it appear that the amendments in
dicated were compulsory. 1t means t.
leave the way open to the DISCLAIMERS ant
honorable indignants to clear their con
sciences and avoid the infamy of "co0pe
ration" or acquiescence.
But, gentlemen, understand further tina
the moment it is ascertained that the au
thoriZed voters under the Sherman Law
have refused to conform to that law, Con
gress will proceed to do what Mr.. SHERMAN
himself indicated would be done in that
event-viz., to pass law authorizing the
loyal citizens of the South, the colored
voters and their white allies, to hold con
ventions and form constitutions and govern
ments And then 2" (" Aad them" /
it is agreeable to any mans mind 10 con
template the picture, and if he feels tina
it is bis duty to help to bring it upon thi
land and upon the women and children o
our then indeed degraded Virginia-LE,
HIM!
But let us hope that better counsels anC
better judgments will prevail even witt
these gentlemen, and that they will, like
wise and prudent men, advise all the peo
pie to come out and take part in the po
litical measures Of the day, and, gracefully
submitting to necessity, thus save them
selves and their State from the most dread
full fate that ever came upon nation.
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CHARTER ELECTIONS. = The Common