At the first open declaration of hostilities on the part of the Northern aggressor, she defiantly displays in his presence her time-honored flag, with its motto so suggestive to all Tyrants. The moment Virginia calls upon her sons to come to her rescue, the voice of party and of faction is hushed, to be heard no more till her battle shall be fought and her victory won. The call of Lincoln for 2,300 troops from this State, to assist him in reducing our sisters of the South to subjugation, will be responded to by forty times that number, if need be, to assist in teaching him and his councilors a lesson of humility which they will never forget. This is not time for crimination and recrimination. All discord is as, as it should be, avoided, and the whole band performs in perfect harmony.
Men stand shoulder to shoulder in one common cause.
No question need be made as to what road individuals took to arrive at the point where all stand, it is enough to know that we are a unit. The Boston Journal recently published a statement to the effect that several Yankee shoemakers, who had been employed in Staunton, Va., were driven away from the place after being imprisoned, et. Mr. G. S. Raymond, late foreman of the Staunton Shoe Factory, who is also a New Englander, has the honor and moral courage to refute this gratuitous slander. The probability is that they will leave, as they have a perfectly free route from Staunton to the Pennsylvania line by stages. Justice to the honorable gentlemen of the Staunton Shoe Company, and justice to the good people of Staunton generally, demands of me these statements.