Kanawha Valley star. [volume] (Charleston, Va. [W. Va.]) 1856-1861, 1856-11-11
Union Srreamers.

speakers, that We shall have national
and equal Union or hone at all. The
converse proposition has been made TO
them, by the Know Nothing press and
speakers, that W: shah have Union il
we lave nothing else. The people have
decided for The first proposition. a sort Of
feudal reverence Las heretofore attached
us to the<Cnion. Our love for it was
more habit, than appr> cia, on Of its value
and lis merit. 1t was az instinct of 10y
ally rather than feeling of free affection.
1t had iostercd us and we wcrc grateful;
We ascrib d our political bles siugs to il: d
Nfelt dependent The Onion had success
! fuliy answered the ends Of its creation.
Its shape had been moulded and its course
directed By the harmonidusly mingled
Influences Of North and South, East and
West. l: had Scattered its blessings
impartially, and had been administered
in differently by men from all sections.
But Of i sudden a political SEC: sprung
up in Il secsiopstaripg local andApot ma
tlonal ends At heart. ltwas not so much
thcir~own interest they sought. as the
pdestruclion of the int rest OF another sec
ton Love Of neither the whole country
nor their own half Of it, was tho rule Of
! fitness for Office, but hatred Of the other
half. They who received Office were 10
bcstow patronage by the same rule Of
political hatred. until the excluded half
was likely to Be part ofthc nation by geo
. graphy only. and not by participation
in the government. 1t WAS to contribute
but not TO receive; it was to be tho pro-
Perty Of the central government, but the
central goyernmcnt was not to be its
agent; il was 10 defend the Federal crown
but not TO wear it,. The Federal govern
ment was tpsparaly1e the brain Of the
South, but to keep its thcws and sincws
to bear its burdens. There was no party
in the excluded section directly advoca-
ting these sentiments: Blu. cotcmporan-
eous with the origin Of this attack on. the
South, arose a party there advocating
ilsUBNls-1oN, not 70 the attack alone, but
-eFen 10 ths triumph of their assailants.
Equslity was mol their normal state; in
feriority was congcnial TO them. They
lacked courag &c 10 join tn. invasion of their
own rights; but they invited it byprqm-
Using submission. They fought neither
the battle Of aggression nor resistance;
r they made no show Of spirit except by at
lacking the defenders Of their own sec
tons rights. They strengthened the
cause Of their own ASSISTANTS by sym.
psthy with their triumphs: They were
against their own section without being
for any other; and ,fnstiga;ed by sort
Of taste for political: mischief committed
8ratutious treason against their own
rights, that hey might humor a spite a.
gainst theipI own defenders by involving
them in the common calamity. / -. .
! AS much to detersthe attack, as TO pre-
pare 10 resist it when made, the Demo
cratic party everywhere, set its face a,
gainst Tn ion Of aggression OIL the one
part and submission on the other. L pom
the hypothesis Of the success of the ag-
erosion, and the consumation Of the
scheme to prov ii :ializ4 a section, they
saw fewer evils in disunion with the rights
Of man preserved, than in preserved
Union in which these rights were sacri.
feed. The habitual reverence. for the
Union was conquered. They weighed
and calculated us vulue and its merits
They wanted no Union which they could
merely tolerate and to which they could
by e1ertion of political patience merely
submit. They wanted Union deserving
the rational attachment of free men,
The Union as it ought to be and as the
Constitution made it they loved, because
! they appreciated it. Their love for the
Union as it is, was measured by the zeal
of their vel fare on those who propose to
change its plan. Their patriotism was
felt for Union which secures the equali-
ty and PORN its the participation of all its
partsi and not Union in which part
usurps the control Of the whole, and
some enjoy exclusively the political es.
tate that belongs to all.
n Yet, forsooth, do we love the Union
Hess because We zealously guard its puri-
ty, and watchfully prevent its change?
Are We to be denounced as faithless to il
because we will not encourage the viola
ton and mutilation. of the very plan and
charter Of its existence BY promising
submission? Are those the true perpet-
uators of tho Union, who see the very
objects for its creation defeated. and is
organization destroyed, and vet submit to
ill., ,.,...1,,4ssSr n,.k A