The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-04-19

and patriotic citizens who opposed seces.
sion as long a. they could with safety IN
their persons and estates, and who, from
their domestic and business relations, No,
being able to escape from the power Of the
rebellion, seemed for time to yield to It's
violence, but who, always at heart for
the Union, arc now willing to desert the
lead Of men hostile to the principles Of the
Declaration Of the Independence Of tie
United States, and to place themselves
upon the Republican platform of universal
liberty and equality. To such we say let
the past be forgotten, and, like band Of
brothers, let all our contests be Only to ~.
eel in mutual efforts Of Cancellation and in
trying to carry forward the greatest and
best plans for promoting the material
mental, and moral interests of our whole
people. DetestiDg, as we do, the leader,
and authors Of the work of blood and
crime, we would make every just allow.
ance and discrimination, aod never inyoye
the innocent with the guilty.
"The great Republican party Of the
country, which is but another name for
the Government, is so strong that 1t can
well afford to be magnanimous, and will
never intlict unnecessary punishment upon
even the most guilty.
at will certainly not harm those who
have, under dureSs, been compelled agains,
their will to serve its enemies. Nor will il
regard any act as criminal which was not
voluntary and deliberatc nor should those
be ignored who were conscripted into the
rebel armies, or who paid only forced taxes
and loans to support the rebellion.
"For the same reason no disqualification
can possibly apply to those who, in good
faith, opposed the rebellion, and with hearty
love OF the Union may, in obedience to the
divine command Of the 18th chapter Of
Matthew, and to the hottest feelings Of our
nature, have ministered to some of the six
great physical necessities of our common
hunger, thirst, nakedness,
sickness, and slavery
though the persons relieved may have been
our worst enemies. Such acts are re-
Iuired by religion, and are, in every great
day of trial and final Judgment, the surest
tests of human virtue, and OF service 10
God and our fellow-men. We cheertully
all these good citizens to our
hearts and TO the stern duties which We
are all now called to discharge. Our slave
holding and land monopolizing aristocracy,
who have heretofore ruled the State, have
not only killed, banishcd, or prescribed,
those who ut any time boldly declared the
truths of freedom and equality, but have
flled our code OF laws with injustice aud
inequality, imposing the great burdens Of
making and repairing the roads and high.
ways, not, as in more northern and civil.
lied States, upon the property and farms
they benefit, or upon the landowner by
whose door they pass, but in large de.
gree upon the poor labOrer who lives
in some neighboring howell. In order
to relieve land taxation, exorbitant
poll taxes and license taxes are de.
manded, expressing the poor and depres-
sing every branch Of trade and all indus.
trial occupations until the most Of our
legitimate commerce is driven to other and
wiser States. Our criminal laws are still
more reprchensiblc. Instead OF proper
tioning punishment and accountability, like
the Divine law, to intelligence and capa-
city, they have reversed this natural order,
and impose the penalty of death upon
many acts when committed by the poor
and ignorant; at the same time their edu-
cation was declared criminal, while the
same acts are punishable only by fine and
if committed by persons Of
higher social standing. With a pcnny.aise
and pound-toolish policy, they have ig-
lOred the great truth so well stated by
Edmund Burke, that the education Of tile
people is the noblcSt economy and the
cheapest national defence, and have neg
ectcd the great duty and interest of states
nanShip and philanthropy, oil providing
means for public education.
"Now, then, We should learn wisdom
rom these errors of the past, and in future
ldopt system Of common and free school
,ducation, approved by all wise and good
men, and by the experience of the most
civilized aud enlightened States. Nor
should we shrink from collecting the ne
taxes from real estate 10 build
school. houses, purchase libraries, and pay
eachers. Let Us look for moment at
he amount of ignorance Ivy which we are
and the terrible evils it has
already inflicted.
"By the census Of 1860 we find that
more than a, 900 men and women OF the
white race over twenty years Of age in
his State could neither read nor write,
o say nothing OF the larger number
If the colored people whose education
vas forbidden by law. Who does not
know that it was this ignorance which
rave power to demagogues and brought
he rebellion, with its incalculable losses
If blood and treasure, upon our unhappy
people How important, then, that We
hould dispel this cloud of ignorance.
Nor would the influence of tax on real
state be less beneficial in its tendency to
Freak up the large plantations into farms
# reasonable size, and thus aid in reliey-
ng the State of its mos. terrible remain
ng curse Of land monopoly. No better
plan could be devised to raise the humble,
and to humble the pride of our cruel, ar
'ogant, and eilete aFistocracy. Ii was the
glory of the good King Alfred that no
made Justice cheap, and brought it home
o every poor mans door. 1t shall be
greater glory 10 the statesmen OF the
south who shall make education cheap,
md bring ii within the reach Of all our
.hildren and youth. Not only shall the
ands be increased in value, as has been
he universal experience Of every State
hat has made the experiment, in ten
old ratio to the cost, hut we will re-
GIVE immensely greater blessings in moral
In elevation OF purpose, in
Lightly of character, in ditf'using all the
'eaceful, and gentle, and eleyating, and
qualities OF mind and heart
trough all the activities and departments
# social and domestic lite.
"Under the old aristocracy, the degra-
lation of labor was great and natural
vii, and until corrected We cannot rea-
npalIy ;,nraag.J ,r,s,.art-