The Daily Dispatch: May 16, 1862., [Electronic resource]

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Richmond shall be defended.

We are glad this authorized flat has gone forth-authorized by the Confederate Government and the Legislature of the noble State of Virginia Richmond is the Capitol of the Southern Confederacy, Richmond is the metropolis of the State of Virginia. To loss Richmond is to loss Virginia, and to loss Virginia is to loss the key to the Southern Confederacy. --Virginians, Marylanders, ye who have rallied to her defence, would it not be better to fall in her streets than to basely abandon them and view from the surrounding hills the humiliation of the capital of the Southern Confederacy? To die in her streets would be bliss to this, and to fall where tyrants strode, would be to consecrate the spot anew, and wash it of every stain.

To defend Richmond there are men enough; the energy and will alone is wanted; the arms are within the grasp of every one; the plans should be known to the President and Cabinet. They are known; let them act.--Will they act? There is no time to be lost.--The enemy are at the gates. Who will take the lead and act, act, act?

The loss of Richmond in Europe would sound like the loss of Paris or London, and the moral effect will scarcely be less. Let us, therefore, avert the great disaster by a relieves on ourselves. It is better that Richmond should fall as the capital of the Confederacy, than that Richmond exist the depot of the hireling hoards of the North. But Richmond can be defended, and saved from pollution. The fats of the Capital of the Confederacy rests with the people.