The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-06-10
The Tender Mercies of the Wicked.

"The tender mercies OF the wicker aie
eruelo So saws the Scripture; and Scrip
,ure may surely be quoted as against ie''
srend gentleman such 81 HENRY WARD
RxnaEa. This clerical celebrity announces
,ba. he ia ready to forgive the people OF the
soptb, because they were ignorant, DAWES,
of Massachusetts,. on the contrary, says that
II must never be forgotten that there was a
difference between the cause for which the
South and that for which The North fought.
We prefer DAWES to BEEcRER. We would
rather be the subject Of fear and hatred than
that of bigot's commiseration. Besides,
DAWES is, after all, not so far wrong as
BEEcnER. There was but one right side 10
the late war, and that side was ours. DAWES
thinking that 1t was his, was not censuraoie
for declaring that he did not desire TO Zee
both sides nut upon an equality recog-
nized as right. BEEcHER has more sense than
DAWES. He il, however, not so honest. lie
has. perhaps, learned-what DAWES Will pro:
hohlv never learn-that the South was in the
ri.ht. but, not having the manliness to say
60. he compromises with his elastic con-
science by protesting Willingness to "for.
give" Of the South. Hear him:
LIN an enormous agricultural country,
where the masses could neither read nor
write, and where, naturally, the newspapers
had almost no part in the education OF the
PEOPLE, it was inevitable that few orators
and political managers should control the
community. So that slavery and the conse-
sucnt secession were, to remarkable degree,
The honest cause of the whole people. And
with splendid courage and endurance they
followed their disunion flag to wounds and
death, assimply and bravely as II it had been
the banner Of the Cross and they the old
Crusaders. They were very ignorant and
wholly wrong. but they died for the best
cause they knew-their idea of patriotism"
See the disingenuousness Of the man. The
ignorant masses Of negroes, who never take
the newspapers, and who are so easily con.
troled by demagogues, constitute the very
class upon whom BEECRER's party now relies
for success in the South. And during the
war they were almost the only Union men
in the South. So that Grass ignorance and
stolid "loyalty" were convertible terms
among us. The northern people. with
BsrcHER at their head, are never tired OF
telling how the instinct of these ignorant
creatures is superior to the intelligence of
the educated whites. Yet when BEECHER
would advocate forgiying spirit on the part
Of the northern people, he ascribcs the cour-
aye and consistency of the finest soldiers the
world ever saw to ignorance !-soldiers, too,
who. if they had not been outnumbered
more than two to one, would have secured
the independence of the Confederate States.
We repeat that the southern people do not
TX nor desire to he "forgiven." They have
,.ne nothing of which they are ashamed.
T4sy fought for MISREPRESENTATION the right
II govern themselves in their own way-not
for slavery. There was not a day from the
titne the war began until it was ended that
", would not have sacrificed the institution
nf slavery TO gain our independence. 1t Is
4 talSehood--a base, wicked. malicious, in
eAct.sable, unchristian libel upon the south
srn pcope-to say that the "splendid cour-
aye and endurance of our boys in grey
were called into requisitivn merely to up.
lo!d that institution.
The southern people fought for the same
l!ghts for which WASHINGTON, LAFAYETTE,
~GEuyLER, GREENE, PUTNAM, and WARREN
fought. They fought for tue right to establish
Il free Government of their own--the right
10 pass laws to suit themselves-th rig Int to
enjoy life and liberty and pursue happiness
IN the manner which to them seemed best.
They fought TO prevent the establishment of
Il lespotism upon the ruins OF republic.
That desputism has, however, been estab.
lished in spite of their efforts. The States
have been reduced to satrapes, US we knew
they would be il the North succeeded in the
war. The central Government now die
tates the policy of all the States. The CEN
trail despoti>m forced negro suffrage, negro
rule, carpet-bagger corruption, intolerable
Taxation, and poverty and ruin upon States
which, but for the intelligent" Yankee
soldiers would now be the richest, happlest,
most tlourishing. and most enviable political
communities in the world. The central
despotism used the conquered States
of the South as instruments whereby
TO make new Constitution, and thus
by force and arms committed an out
rage upon the Constitution framed by.
the fathers Of the republic which has no
parallel in history. The "intelligent" Yam.
kee soldiers fought to put Louisiana land if
Louisiana each Of their own States) into
such 4 condition as that the ruler at Wash
sngton can choose her Governor and her
Legislature aud all her officers, and compel
obedience to them at the point of the bayo-
met. The intelligent Yankee fought to se-
cure Jas he has in New York; the privilege
of seeing his children sent to school with
negroes and his wife and daughters seated
by negroes at the theatre and the opera and
the hotel! The intelligent Yankee fought to
give to the million Of ignorant negro votes in
the South the power to elect President
over the votes of his own intelligent !"
neighbors of this generation, and his and
their children in the next generation. The
intelligent Yankee fought to see an UNDER
WOOD in the place of a HALLIBURTON and a
Mason; negro in the place of CALHOUN
and McDuFFIE; all ignoramus in the seat
Of JEFFERSON DAVIS; and least BUTLER In
The place of JOHN Quincy ADAMS. Don't
talk to us about the ignorance Of the southern
soldier who fought for Independence and to
keep off all these evils which the "intelli-
Nonkcn hoc hrn,,frhf t1pop ho