The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-07-17
WV yrsprcArE i CONTEMPORARIES !:
n,sno,cb Won II certainly has the rlght to

wr yrsprc4TE CONTENT Or AHY - ! 10
D,snotch won. 1t certainly has sh ne sishe to
laugh.
have not heard the Dispatch laugh1ng. mat
Da,cr, albeit Il speaks now and then to the
"rrral press" in q grand, ez edthedrd tone;
md says :" am Sir Oracle" has deported
itself with degree Of good breeding and
moderation which do it honor.
WHY, indeed, "laugh' at any class OF
yirgi,fans devoted to the interests and
horror Of the StateY
Why .'hugh'' until the funeral-bakhs;di
meats are cleared from the board, and Oid
Virginia is buried ont Of sight?
Why laugh" before new Virginia is re-
stored to her place in the Union!
Why "slaueh" until the seventh section
inthc election bill turns out TO be q JOKE
Our brother Wilson has done injustice to
tbe D;spntch. whose good taste and wisdom
have been conspicuouSly displayed since the
election. in which the Bourbons were left.
like King Francis after his defeat, objects
worthy of respect, but not lit targets ior
VULGAR dcnunciation or stcreotyped lnFec-
eive.-No'Jolk T'rg'nidn.
That "grand. CT cattedra tone has
been laid to our charge so often, ana IN SO
many different places, that we are inclined
to believe that we have at least one tault.
Yet we must be allowed to protest that so
far az we know cit whistles ITSELF" we
,ssuredlv would not Willingly speak in such
!, tone to men who are ut least as well quail
fed as we are to discuss whatever questions
come before the public for consideration.
What are we to do in this our extremity!
Here is Professor HOLMES declaring in
speech at Lexington that the English Ian
guage is better spoken in America than
anywhere else, and better spoken in Viz
einia than anywhere else in America-that
Is, in other words, we speak better
English in Virginia than is spoken
anywhere else under the sun. we
are TirginianS. We love the Old DO
minon. We honor her sons. But we are
afraid that Professor HOLMES Is mistaken.
We have heard a Doctor of Divinity in this
city pronounce serrymander with soft
"g" instead of hard one, thus converting
the word into jcrrymander. We have heard
4 man distinguished rs Il speaker and as
writer accent the adjective precedent"
lust as the noun "precedent" is rightfully
accented; thus converting an expressive
phrase" condition precedent Unto an
unmeaning one" condition precedent
And yet there was no one present who
seemed to know that a blunder had been
committed. In our General Assembly and
in our courts and churches we constantly
hear towards converted into ''toward>s,'
and "to'' into "toe." Everywhere in East
Virginia the or" is prescribed letter.
ooh. no, we never mention it; it's sound is
"never heard In fact, Professor HOLMES
IS mistaken. When he says that the Eng
lish language is better spoken in America
than anywhere else in the world, he means
I" bv the Masses But when he says that
the English language is better spoken i'll
Virginia than elsewhere i'll America, lie
means by few people. We do not believe
that the English language can be spoken
more correctly by anybody else than it is by
the educated classes of London. So far from
it, if there is any standard it must be found
amongst that class in that city.
So much for this lecture ca cdthedrd.