The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-07-15
o,r good friend Governor PEIRroINT il


virginian by birth, yet nc is as genuine
a specimen Of the Puritan as If he had
been born in Massachusetts,. He believes
in making slaves Of all men whose skins
are white. He is opposed to negro slavery
for some reason or other, we know not
what: but as to the whites, he holds very
different views. If they do not know
when they have good masters, ne Is IN
favor of teaching them; and as it is PLAIN
to him that the people of the South wonia
have been ruined if they had succeeded
10 gaining their independence, however
desirable that result may have appeared 70
them, he contends with great earnestness
in letter which be has just written .ha'
il was for that reason nothing but r'en1
that UNCLE SAM did not let them se'.up
for themselves. This is the usuai areu-
ment of the whole tribe of Puritahs-lhey
not oply wish to do as they please them
selves. but wish to compel everybody else
to do as they please. Governor PElR-
POINT, if he has not forgotten his logic,
ought to know that the right of people
to govern themselves in their own way
does not depend upon whether they will
do 1t better than despot would govern
them. 1t may be very seriously ques
toned whether the people of this
country would not now be better OIL
than they are if they had remained de-
pendent upon Great Britain. At any
rate, no one can show that their condition
was bettcred by independence. Yet the
Governor would scarcely argue from these
premises that our fathers had no right to
rebel. So as to the negroes. Thousands
of people think that as class the negroes
we're in better condition as slaves than
they are now, or ever will be, as frcemen.
They hold that the whites were injured
and the blacks benefited by the institution
of slavery. This is our own opinion. But
the negroes have different idea. They
honestly believe that their condition has
been much improved by emancipation,
and all the orators and writer's in the
world could not convince them to the con-
trary. THOMAS CARLYLE says that the la
boring classes in England would be much
better cared for if, like the fat cattle and
fine horses which he sees everywhere,
they were the property of the owners of
the soil. JOHN RUsKIS has come out in
favor of system which seems to us to be
only another name for slavery. THOMAS j..
DURAST, the notorious Louisiana Radical
Of that name, made speech in New York
last week, in which he contended that
every form Of compulsory labor-and in
this description he included all la
Dor done by mon who either had to
do it or do worsc-was n species Of
slavery. Suppose that Governor PEIn-
POINT agrees with these distinguished
Radicals in opinion, does it follow that he
would favor the reduction Of the laboring
classes to y state of slavery! We know
that he would not. Yet, if his epistolary
argument against the attempt of the
southern people to set up q government
of their own is worth anything, it would
prove that this very measure might right
fully bc enacted into law. The whole
argument proceeds upon the assumption
that the people Of the southern States are
not to decide any such questions for
themselves, but that the people Of other
States have the right to decide upon
them; and if these latter come to the con-
a. ,upp1I ;pir
themselves by any given course Of action,
then they must be prevented by force Of
arms from taking such action. There is
no doubt that GEORGE III. and the people
of England honestly believed that the
colonies would injure themselves by Sc
parating from the mother country; and as
there were five times as many people in
the British isles as there were in the colo
MES, it follows that the mother country was
right in attempting to reduce the rebels
TO subsection, and that our fore(athers
were wrong. Is the Governor prepared
for such conclusion? The fact is, that
question of right cannot be decided by
majorities, nor by force in any form. We
acknowledge that we were defeated on
the battle field; that the right of State
to scccde does not now exist, if it ever did !;
that we owe allegiance to the United
States Government; and that to attempt
To secede now would really be to rebel.
But, at the same time, we contend that
the language of the Declaration of indie
pendence that call governments derive
their just powers from the consent of the
governed" is worse than nonsense if it is
to be construed to mean that 1.-THE 60
verned" are not capable of Judging what
is best for them, and that their I" consent"
is worthless if they "conscnt" to a 60
yernment or to laws that certain other
people think will injure them.