The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-07-21
Was the Revolution of 7e Mistake?

volutionarv ancestors nau phid INV
imposed upon them and said nothing aoou'
representation but when we see o siinii"i
question asked in northern paper, we can
not but feel some surprise, as the northern
people have suffered comparatively nothing
from the tyranny, oppression, and misrule
of Radicalism. The New York Round Ia
Bile, one of the best papers published in this
country, has the following paragraph:
"Manv intelligent persons are forced to
doubt to-day whether that entire transac-
ton the American Revolution) was not
q very great blunder. But none the
less admirable are those old Virginia
cavaliers, who acted from their very oest
idea of duty. Those poor old cavalier s :
Let us retire from their presence back
| wards. with hats off and salutlng, II the
! process be not regarded rs too arlstocra1c
| and unrepubican. They were brave, thev
were honest-none Drawer or hones1er 'i'',n
| our good old cavaliers. They meant Wei
! They did their best. But they couid no'
get what they wanted-'a redress OF grleF-
ances or a Republic. They got pure De-
mocracv, and left il to their children. nus
then, in place of King George III we nave
a more oppressive and determined mon
arch-King Numbers IL
King Numbers is much more heartiess
tyrant than any GEORGE of England OF
NERO Of Rome, or PETER of Russia, that
ever lived. We do not know that there Is
any method whereby, in n republican 60
vernment, the people might rid themselves
Of his despotic rule. Perhaps the plan OF
Mr.. BrcKALEw, or some other, will accom-
n1isb this desirable end. AT present, III
this country, minorities have no rights
which naiorities are bound TO respect. Our
| constitutions. State and Federal, were all
| framed for the particular purpose OF pro
tectinp minorities in their rights as against
the encroachments Of King Numbers. But
written constitutions have proved to be as
worthless AS .Haqna Cdrta was before the
great rebellion in England. They are OF no
value when their assistance IS most neeoeu'
They answer well enough IN the piping
times of peace, and are treated with lhuch
respect so long as nobody desires TO Violate
their provisions. But when war comes
and a party of crazy fanatics or unprincl-
nled demagogues find their restrictions trou-
blesome, they are straightway pitched over
board az worthless lumber.
The history of England shows that the
people of that country had exactly the same
experience in regard to their chartered
rights-their constitutional rlghts-tha'
we are now having. Magma Carta 1t
. self was dsregarded whenever CIVIL
war ragged, and ali the dearest rights
of Englishmen, those which they had had
accorded to them from the times OF the
Contessor down we're trampled under foot
Thus we read upon oDe page that the no.
blity, after one civil commotlon was over,
claimed such and such rights and priv
| leees, and the King conceded them ana
bound himself to respect them. Yet we
shall not have passed over many pages be-
fore we will find these identical rights and
privileges again claimed and again con-
coded as sacred and inyiolable. BY constant
rcaSscrtion of their rights, the nobility
finally gained the victory.
The revolution Of 1910 seemed to have
I proved failure when twenty years later
| CHARLES III. ascended the throne OF his an
ccstors amid the vaccinations OF a whole
people. and the bones Of CROMWELL were
dug up and hung at Tyburn. But such was
not the fact. The revolution was accom-
plished in 1858, and the divine right oil
kings was buried in the Thames with the
| lowell that JAMES in his folly consigned 10
it's waters. WILLIAM and MARY were uSurp-
ers-as truly such, according to the laws OF
England. az if they had conquered the
country with q foreign army and forced
themselves upon the people. But they re-
presented those great principles to which
the revolution under CROMWELL had given
vitality, and which were indestructible
The revolution became success when
| WILLIAM and MARY assembled the throne
JAMES stood in the way of its success, and
he had to yield.
1t is improbable, therefore, to mourn
over past mistakes in imagining what we OF
our country might have been had they not
been made. Whether the Revolution OF
&c was Il failure or u mistake, ii is impos-
sible for us to know. So also as to the Sc
cession movement Of 1861. The result is
not yet wrought out. We may repeat the
experience of England. We may accom-
plish our object without destroying the uni
ty of our national government or shedding
drop of blood. The northern people may
become converts to those great principles of
free government for which we contended,
and incorporate them into the national Con-
stitution. This may get become a Govern
ment of consent. There is no telling. We
confess We do not see many favorable
indications of such result at pre-
sent; vet we know that the truth
will prevail in the end, and that
if we were right, it will not take the world
many years to learn the fact. The only
question is as TO whether We acere right.
Conceding this, and judging the future from
the past-reading our future by the light of
the history of our ancestors in England
we are compelled to believe that the Revo-
luton of l776 was neither q mistake nor u
failure, and that the objects Of the attempt
ed revolution Of 1861 will, if they were