Republican vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1857, 1850-12-02

| ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF this glorious Republic. No,
Gentlemen, never, meyer. If il shall come to
that, political martyrdom is preferable 10 such
sight. 1t is better to die, while the honor of the
country is untarnished, and the flag Of the Union
still flying over our heads, than to live till we
behold that honor gone forever and that flag
PROSTATE in the dnst Gentlemen, | speak
warmly because feel warmly and because |
know that speak to men whose hearts know
are as warm as my cwn in support Of the coun-
try and its Union.
lam lately from the North, where have mix
ed extensively with men of all classes and all
parties, and assure you gentlemen, that through
the masses Of the Northern people, the general
feeling and the great cry, is for the Union and
for lis preservation There are, it is true, men
to be found, some OF perverse purposes, and
some ofbewildered imagination, who affect to
suppose, that some possible but underlined good
will arise from dissolution of the ties which
bind these United States together, but be assur-
ed the number of these men is small, the emf
nent leaders of all parties rebuke them, and while
there prevails general purpose to maintain the
Union, as it is, that purpose embraces as its
just and necessary means firna resolution OF
supporting the rights of all the States precisely
as they stand guaranteed and secured by the
Constitution. And you may depend upon it,
that every provision in that instrument, in favor
of the rights of Virginia, and other Southern
States, and every Constitutional act of Congress,
passed to uphold and enforce those rights, will
be upheld and maintained not only by the pow
er OF the law, but also by the prevailing inAu-
ence ofpublic opinion. Accidents may occur
stance misguided men may, it is possible,
sometimes enable others to elude the claims of
justice, and the rights founded in solemn consti-
tutionai compact; but on the whole, and in the
end, the law will be executed and obeyed the
South will see, that there is principle and pa
trotisfn good sense and honesty in the gene
raj minds of the North and that among the
great mass OF Intelligent citizens in that quarter,
the general disposition to ask for Justice, is
not stronger, than the disposition to grant It 10
others.
Gentlemen weare brethren, we are descend
ants of those who abored together with the in
tense axiety for the establishment of the presenr
federal Constitution; let me ask you gentlemen,
to teach your young men, into whose LANDS the
power fthe country must soon fall, to go back
to the close OF the Revolutionary war; to contem-
plate the teebleness s. incompetency OF the con-
federation OF States then existing and to trace
the steps by which the intelligence and patriot
ism of the great men of that day, led the country
to the adoption of the existing constitution teach
them to study the proceedings, votes, and reports
OF committees in the old Congress; especially
draw their attention to the leading part taken
by the Assembly of Virginia from 1889 onward;
direct their minds to the Convention at Annapo-
lis in 1856, & by the contemplation and study
of these events and these efforts let them see
what mighty thing it was to establish the GOV
eminent under which we have now lived so pros
perously and so gloriously for 60 years. But par
don me | must not write an essay or make a
speech. Virginia true hearted Virginia stand
by your country, stand by the work Of your ia
theirs, stand by the Union OF the States, and may
Almighty God prosper all our efforts, in the
cause of Liberty, and in the cause Of that United
Government, which renders this people, the hap
piest people upon which the sun ever shone
am Gentlemen, yours truly and faithfully
DAN'L WEBSTER.
To Messrs. VIM. Kinney, L. Waddel Jas
Points, B. Crawford, VIM. Frazier, Esqrs,-
Committee.