The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-01-12
Hypocrites.


A meeting was held in New York on Fri
day night last, at which various noted Ra-
ideals made speeches advocating the indie
psndence Of Crete. HENRY WARD BEEcHER,
who Was one of these speakers, felt that
there was on inconsistency between his po-
sition relative to Crete and the one he oc-
cupied during the late war in this country
and go, by way Of letting his Democratic
hearers know that he had considered the
point, he said:
citations as we'll as individuals have n RIGHT
IN their own NJ tonnmv own myself-f1au0h'
tnrl-and that which we hold 10 be 'hr EIoi ,
Of individual life Is also the glory OF na 10
life. And NIL have n right.to acn, m 49, :
glory Bnt nh Won saw. do Won nehese ."n .
nnv ncon1e have n right To break off and assert
their Independence and build mp separh.e
government Yes. For 1nst cause tnes n .,S
The rigbt For inst cause. Georgia, and Ala.
hama and Louisiana might have asserted
their independence If there had been law
the weight Of n feather that weighed MINISTRY
mon them. IL there had been single malien
Influence that pointed Mt them, Tor one
wonld never have voted against IL. But when
people. for factiousnrss. for the sake OF hono
eye undertake to assert Individuality, then II
becomes natter If self-defence to destroy
them. That Is the difference
BEEcHER can hardly be sillv enough to
suppose that he satisfied any of his hearers
on this point. His speech is in substance
the mere equivalent of SYDNEY SMITHS
witty saving, "Your doxv is betorodoxV,
and nv doxy is othodoxy." It is 1FsoP's
fable of the lion and the man. If the lion,
LII t0d
the picture would have been evidence OF
the superiority of the lion and not OF that
of the man. BEECHER assumes that the
South was in the wrong ; that she fought
not for independence, but for the sake OF
bondage, "for factiousness," &c. But as the
statement is an infamous falsehood, and diS-
graceful to any intelligent man who makes It,
his defence is not q good one even If we were
TO admit, as we do not, that the parties de-
nying independence to people struggling
for it are impartial judges, or even toiera-
BILE ones, as to the justice Of the claim OF
independence. King GEORGE and the Par
lament of Great Britain might have said
Of our revolutionary ancestors Just what
BEECHER says of us, and with much more
Of truth in the assertion. The Sultan Of
Turkey, we doubt not, would reverse Mr..
BEEcHER's declarations. He would say that
if the Cretans were such people az the
people of the Confederate States, and fight
ing for substantial rights, with clear un-
derstanding of what they we're doing, as
we fought, he would acknowledge their indie
pendence but that AS they are factious,
&c., &C., he will see them all hung first.
When the wolf tells the tale, it is always
the lamb that muddies the stream.
Posterity will decide-for it is simply
impossible that it should do otherwise
that the people of the Confederate States
fought in Just cause and were subjugated
by wrong-doers. That must be the verdict
Of even the descendants of the men who
fought in the tented field for the supremacy
of the Union. They will perceive that
right was on our side, and that the North
was so blinded by passion and prejudice as
to have honestly mistaken the rankest in
justice, oppression, and wrong, for justice,
freedom, and right.