The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1874-09-09
A Reply TO JoEhn M. Orr, Esq.
RICHMOND, September s, 1877
9 of the Richmond Dispatch

A Reply TO JoEn M. Orr, Esq.
RIcHMoSD, September 8, 1874.
Editors of the Richmond Dispatch:
Gen,Iemeu.-T believe there are many men
In the United States whose sentiments prac-
ticaly accord with mine, but who, restrained
nv obvious considerations, refuse their ex-
preston, only authorizing dim suspicion
Of the concealed truth. Do they await an
;nitiatiye? II so, 7 lin the absence of one
better uualitied) am willing to take it. l
have gatnered-in measure the prevailing
cast of thought North, South, and West, and
I am satisfied there exists party containing
integrity. education. ard wisdom, which is
oplg not strong because not organized. 1t
ia composed Of those who are sick of the
foul stencil with which the putrid body poll.
tic of America offends the nostrils of every
decent man within her limits; who regurd
that Rome in her most corrupt days was yet
not more corrupt than this model Republic
OF less than one hundred years old; who
are not absolutely blind, and who do
therefore see the notifying failure
exemplihed by popular government of the
nineteenth century, in other countries be-
side our own, though more striking here
than elsewhere. Nlnety-eight years ago our
fathers, in solemn conclave, declared these
several States free and independent of the
British crown, thereby putting on record
the strength of their honest attachment to
principle (what ever else may have aceompa-
MED herewith, Which they foresaw would
be-as it was-aftested by the subsequent
years of sanguinarv war. They were finally
rewarded with success. Then arose the ques-
lion of what to do with the roc's egg OBJ
tanned at such cost. After various abortive
attempts it was fnally matched. The un-
ncdged younglng was Of promising proper
tions, and, scarce clear of the shell, gave evil
dence of possessing enough brag and brass
to stock abundantly the bar of the world.
But rooted in It's organism were seeds of a
disease so fatal that if maturity should be
reached it could never be expected to at
tain old age; and these soon appeared.
The sovereign remedy prepared was the
much raunted Coustitution-va Wanted as per-
feet, like most other quack medicines. Per-
feet it certainly was not. Good, perhaps, at
first, but with many nperfectiOns-"a frail
and worthless fabric" to quote the language
of Alexander Hamilton, Of which the frall-
ness and worthlessness have been much en-
BANGED of late years. AS medicine for
political disease, its properties have never
been adequately tested. Almost from the
beginning the doctors have been tampering
with 1t. They offered it TO their poorer pa
tients in form so sickeningly repuISive as
to produce nausea Of the most ineradcable
type, but for themselves and their disciples
it was compounded into Julep so marvel
ously favored that the original taste of the
liquor was hardly to be detected. That julep
has become the steady drink of the Radical
party. But TESTING apart: Cast your eye
back to the age Of the wondrous three, and
it is at once arrested by the celebrated de.
bates OIL secession and notification. Here
was an instance Of how honest men may
differ, showing the irreconcllable con-
trariety of opinion upon very
important part Of the vicious old
Constitution. But the first season of
~ ri passed away, DO attempt having been
made to settle the troublous point By an
amendment, and superficial calm was re.
stored, Notwithstanding the low mutterngs
of thunder which from that time on were
heard, with occasional peals, down TO the
beginning of the stormy period from go to
'65. These tbunderiDgs were caused in
large measure by the black cloud of slavery,
a subject which could never have been han.
died as it was had it not been for the moral
cowardice of the trainers Of the Constitu-
ton, who, not daring to meet the issue
squarey; not daring either to accept or re-
irct the "pecuIar institution" foisted by
others on the Soulh-by England. old and
new meanly evaded the pregnant question,
and left it in due time to bring forth the
horrd darkness which now enwraps sail
other persons" besides multitude of their
bet,ers. In 1860 the lightning struck
home. ILet me here not speak as SOUTH
crner, but as all outsider - as a disin-
terested foreigner - giving credit for
good intentions to both North and South
Then, with no mention of notification, the
country was honestly divided on the subject
Of secession, SO honestly as to fight for four
years in support of its several views. What
must we think of an instrument that allowed
such divided opinion on point so vitality
fundamental? And why, after the war,
when it was deemed necessary to amend the
Constitution, and follow 1t with the force Of
ratification, was it not amended as to this
Are the interests involved in the thirteenth,
fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments
greater! or were our national legislators
restrained by pride? by an unwillingness to
admit the need OF amendment? They had
practically admitted it in other respects;
why not in this? Pride, within reasonable
limits, is good, but should always be diluted
by slight infusion of common.sense. Pass
ing on to events since the return of what is
termed, as though in mockery, peace, have
the laws been uniform. just, and humane |?
Even as between whites and blacks. have the
scales of justice been held with an even
hand? Has the conquered South nothing
to complain of? Is the great West wholly
satisfied? Civil liberty is the restraint Of
natural liberty only SO far as is necessary for
the general good of the community; political
liberty is our security by and under the
laws for the enjoyment of civil liberty. Ac.
cording to these definitions, what of either,
civil or political liberty, is there in the Union
cannot stop to exemplify; illustrations
without number will occur to you and to
your readers. Listen to the voices of South
Carolina, Louisiana, Arkansas; listen to the
roaring fires of the western chimneys, whose
fuel is the very staff of life, rendered worth
less to them by the selfish class-legisation of
the East. The Northeast and East baye
been for nine years the master of the situa.
ton, and The West and South have been
their servants. These things are the legiti-
mate and logical result, human nature being
what it is, Of Radical Repubhcanism, which
makes every man a politician, and every
second man a demagogue. lRtemperate' Re
publicanism is proven failure, apparent to
every candid observer, though the fact be
acknowledged by comparatively few. 1t an
egregous and disgraceiul failure, and the ex-
perence which discloses its repuIsive charac.
teristics, discloses also that this government of
the majority, the minority unrepresented, is
the most oppressive OF all tyranies among civil
lied men-worse than ordinary individual
despotism. What remedy, do you ask? In
moment: that will be the question eventu.
ally, but We must fully examine all the
sources of evil before seeking their cradles
ton. If it were only question of improv-