Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1891-10-09
About Secession.

IA f4ilAk tht N4iNBt IL Au'
DisrArcH few days ago occurred tho fol-
lowing sentence:
ITO admit ihs, tho Federal Govcrnmcn, hni
tho night 20 compel Virginia 20 remain Ia tho
Union would be 10 charge the leaders q the
southc'n people with crime whose magnitude
W. have not language 10 describe
A well-known and able gentleman Of
this city writes ne letter commenting
upon that declaration. or rather lntcrpre-
ting il for the benefit Of tho public. HIS
letter reads as if It's writer thought he had
caught Us IN a trap. aud did not intend 10
set us free until wa had explained away
the simple sentence Just quoted. His let
ter is n follows:
Your editorials boar the Impress q .inceri'-
aswell as u abhiy AMI are generally worthy OF
careful consideration. would lc g.al q knC"
wrefhcr I draw wight conclusions rom tue
closing sentence Of yO'r editorial ne above on
Lincoln.
I infer thc-cirom That secession II Illegal
would havo been - crime, not because Of any
thing inherently criminal in 'hr bare ting ~
idca ~ secession, bat b3cAusc OF its hnfilulr =
and that int womb have hc"n "a crime WI ="
rac't'u dc W" hasc Mt lang lage 10 describe
so'c', because the eyil- rosulting were Of COT
res loidirs magnitude. Ia other ana lower
words, 10 harm no crime.
Infer further that the THne leaders VINO "Du'I
lnyo teen nnigmcntal crminH.s II they ma
prcrlptaiel ILLEGAL secession must have been
equally criminglf troy had lrf'fpiinici even
legal secession, provided tho inevitable cohS'-
quonces Of legal secession were mo same, no
more. 10 lcss ~ 81 Illegal secession.
Custom AID the law. too, generally bold man -
intend the effects naturally to hro1 i"'iei thefc-
from. and with much greater reason Ar" ic1ic :
held 10 intcnc. and are therefore responsible Tor
Hsf ffff fllI ffff al
placed on higher anl more advanced ground my
have better opportunity Of ncc1rniely gauSihs
natural cunacQurnccs. aud Tor th"in MOI ]" s''
A. a. stamp themselves with ti.ect condemnation.
Ailuuler tote worse than crime and for
lenders ~ commit acts from which monumental
~alnfnI'ir- inevitably Cow which Wo'li nave
boon f,rrae.n because their evil effects began -
ruaufo-f H. efuSciycs at once 4 ~ trly u plh'"
,f..r.,,. l..- ir the aftituir of committing 81 a
,,rine whose magnitude We have not languago Z,
express o. n they had acted not only Illegally
These. m ou cvon,e. appear 60 M" 20 y" In
ferrnros fc!nrihl" from he sentence h'Rling
ms communication Would be- CAD for en-
l.,arm,ut. sESkX.
If the reader WI recall the fact that we
have again and again stated III the DIS
PATCH that We DO not admit that the
Fo leral Government had the night to COM
pei Virginia % remain II the Union. he
will see that we have SAID nothing which
calls flr explanation. We maintain that
the httle paragraph quoted by SeneX y
j. literally true. If the leaders Of the peo-
pie of til southern States believed that
the Federal Government had the constltu.
tional right - compel those States 10 r.
main in the Union. and those leaders, not
withstarling that belief led tho masses
into the ac, of secession then they GER
taiuly committed just such crime a. our
language points out. But those leaders
did not believe that the Federal Govern
ment hal tho right q compel any OF tie
States 20 remain IN the Union, and 20 ,Tr
not liable u censure for having led their
people INTO the ca.amitous war which r.
suited from q difference ofopinlon between
the northern and southern leaders upon
the question of thc right Of secession. We
DO not suppose that the southern leaders
expected war g. result from the secession
movement They seem rather TO have
been Of the opinion that tho erring SIS
ters' would be allowed to depart N
peace.' a. HoRACg GBEfLEY declared they
ought to bo, and that the northern
people would. ~ WFNDyLL lHILIWs
said they should DO. "buiid them a brdg'
Of gold" upon which t. march out OF the
Union. We nave 10 doubt whatever that
even after toe battles of Manassas tncrs
were statesmen IN the S nth who stlil
cher.s shed the belief tina. there wopld be
10 war. or rather DO more war. II, how
ever. our leaders knew that the States bal
10 constitute nal or natural night 10 So
code. and still brought on the war between
the States. then thew surely committed q
huge crime. "Senex' viii see that we
raise no question az 10 illegal (consti-
tutIonaD secession, but simply raise Il
question as t. whether our leaders rushed
headloug AID knowin-lr into a war with
the most powerful nation on earth. or IN
the firm belief that the States had q right
10 sccedc proceeded to act upon that as
sumption. and so led Us uniutontionally
into war.
We devote but few words - "Seuez's
letter. but We trust be Will accept tho a
covering all tho ground We intended
to cover when we penued the ht:lo para-
graph which attracted his attention. We
repeat that never having had "a doubt As 10
tie right Of Virginia III 1851 II secode from
the Union, we could not possibly lay 10
the charge of our leaders the crime typo-
thetical.y charged upon them.