The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-10-09

lof tue State, sec HOW tney IeaC you
touch elbows; forward, charge! 1t means
We may think Of the past, but the Virginiar
must sponge it out in moment; he mus
forget his struggles. his disasters, his poverty
and his dead, and rake lls, whom he sincerely
regards as the cause of all his calamities, i'm
mcdiatcly to his arms, or if will be our duty
to unite and crush him. It is vile appeal
Its mere statement creates bad blood. Even
if there is such brutality, even if it is worse
than asserted, the source of the charge anC
the evident purpose Of its use tend to increase
rather than diminish the prescription. Bu
| Is THERE SUCH "BRurAL PRESCRIPTION
as Colonel Hughes charges? have had my
little experience in this matter both rs citi
zen and a merchant. From the day en-.
| tered into business here / have had General
Grants portrait on my office walls, and dc
not think it ever lost me more than one Gus.
toner. 1t is true, have heard some often.
sive things. A Virgnian would hear some
offensive things in Ohio. People in state
OF eXasperation always say such things
But the brutality" and coarseness y
that Colonel Hughes speaks Of never saw.
| think, on the whole, we are treated about
as well here as Virginians are treated in the
North, and the feeling is growing better.
We have not entirely forgotten the past or
learned to keep our mouths shut on either
! side; and while we are going through our
| indiscreet stages it is not the act of a wise
man TO be paradng our indiScretions. But
if Colonel Hughes, or any one else, thinks q
colony Of Firginians controlling the politics
of Vermont would be any better treated
| there than we now are treated here. let them
try it on, and we will then he prepared for a
| new lecture on brutality.
| THE LAW OF VIRGINIA MAKES Us VOTERS
after years residence. II we exercise that
right in good conscience the native has no
more right to question us than we have to
question him. Insofar as the right goes,
we stand upon equal terms with him. Its
manner of exercise is matter of Judgment
! Our judgment may be bad or good. So may
| his. We may he wise or unwse in its eXer-
else. So may he. II we try TO do for the
best, he can do no more. But we must
| fairly and sincerely try to do the best. Hay-
ing done this, there is no perfect freedom if
we are denounced because our conscience
may not point the same way that another
| mans conscience points. In this matter we
must think for ourselves, act for ourselves,
| and be responsible for ourselves. If others
do it for us, it is their do, not ours. If we
act as others think because we dread them,
or dread Il real or imaginary public
opinion. then are we towards. IT we do this
we dcscrvc all the i'll that may be said of us
and I'LL the i'll that may come to us. Above
all things, let Us be our true selves. Where
conscience points, there let us 20. But first
let us he sure it is conscience that points.
Let us be Sire when we do act that we are
acting on facts and conditions rs they are, and
not as our prejudice and precedent passion
paints them. What we were told and what
we supposed must be laid aside. They must
give place TO what we see and what we
know. The new events must mould our
minds. We must study these and conclude
from them. When we have concluded we
should act without fear Of public opinion
here or in the North. l repeat, in the
North
THE DEsrOTISM OF PUBLIC OPINION
is not always enthroned at our gate Or sitting
in our barn-yard. 1t sways us from the
other side Of mountains and deep rivers just
as surely as if it was sitting at our doors.
Men look back to their neighbor Jones or
Brown in Ohio or Pennsylvania and ask
What will he say about this :" just as often
as they think of Smiths opinion, who lives
across the road. Many northern Republi-
! cans vote with the Hughes party here for no
better reason than this: they don't want
their old neighbors to think they are fair
! weather Republicans, abandoning the party
where it is unpopular. How many such
there are no man can Know. Each must an
swer this for himself. But believe the
number is large. Some men love to be un-
changeabe. I, they can say their religious
convictions OF lunir political opinions have
.b, frit,or fhou, m hpnnnpSG
than their herds Of fat cattle. This is eSpe-
cially true when opinion is prosecuted.
Persecution keeps alive and confirms the
most malignant opinions. If some men are
prosecuted because of what they think, they
only hold fast to their way of thinking with
greater tenacity. The belief that their Opin.
| ions are unpopular arouses no inquiry as TO
| their wisdom, prudence, or justice. Every
| evidence of unpopularity only crowds them
into securer corner of stubbornness and
starts off new letter to Jones or Brown in
| forming him how firm the writer is under
| all adverse circumstances. In this case 1t is
Jones or Brown or the old neighbors in
OHIO OR Pennsylvania WHO ARE lNT0LERAST
and despotic. 1t is they who control the
new settler. 1t is they who hedge him in
with the past. 1t is they who call him cow
ard when he talters. 1t is they who shake
| the old banners in his face and bid him stand
firm. 1t is their opinion, or the fear Of their
| opinion, that controls his vote. This is the
| despotism against which warn you. 1t is
most dangerous and intOlerable because it is
distant and ignorant Of the small events
without knowledge of which no opinion can
be correct or just. Whatever else we do, we
should not vote for any man because some
friend or community in the North expects us
so to vote, Or will call us coward, weak.
kneed, or turn-coat if we do not so vote. II
we do, it is they who are not citizens that
vote. and not we who are citizens. So far
as is possible We should he unbiased by the
past.
We have come to new condition of things.
| Tn leaving our old homes we find we have
left behind us the partes-wc worked for and
the parties we worked against. We find
neither here.
| NEW PARTIES oPEN THEIR ARMS TO Us.
No matter what their names, they are new
! to us. and present for our examination IN
| terests and questions that have not before
disturbed us. How shall we treat them
! What shall we do with them! How shall
we vote on them? In the exercise Of our
Judgment on these questions we may vote
against the Hughes party, or we may vote
against the Conservative party; but Whlcne'.
or way we vote demand for us all the fullest
and most untrammelled freedom. Ii we ex-
anime fairly and determine only after we
have examined, no man has right to assam
us for our choice any more than we nave TO
assai him for his. In examining this matter
there are some things important Tor Us 10 re-
member.
We grew up in a society very different
from that which we find here. Our opin-
| ;onU ,voro different. o,lr habits of thought