Staunton vindicator and general advertiser. (Staunton, Augusta County, Va.) 1858-1860, 1859-02-05

wrong was not here. fraud and woe, and
misery, and want dwclt not among us 80
From the eternal solitude Of the green
woods, arose the blue smoke Of the settlers
cabin, and golden fields Of cornlooked forth
from amid the waste Of the wilderness, and
the glad music Of human voices aWoke the
silence of the forest.
Now! God Of mercy, behold the change J!
Under the shadow of a pretext, under the
sanctity of the name Of God,. invoking the
Redeemer to their aid, do these foreign
hirelings slay our people! They throng
our towns, they darken our plains, and now
they encompass our posts on the lovely
plain of Chadu's Ford. @
''They that take the sword shall perish
by the sword. m sra.f. 4
Brethren, think me not unworthy Of be-
lief when tell you that the doom Of the
Britisher is near Think me not vain,
when I tell you that beyond the cloud that
now, enshroud us, see, gathering thick
and fast, the darker cloud and the blacker.
storm Of q Divine Retribution-! .
They may conquer us on tomorrow -
Might and wrong may prevail, and we may
be driven from this field but the hoursof
Gods own vengeance will come!
Aye, if the vast solitude Of eternal space,
lii. in the heart Of the boundless universe,
there throbs the being Of an awful God,
quick to avenge, and sure topunish guilt,
then will the man, George of Brunswick, !
called King, feel in his brain, sand in his
heart, the vengeance Of the eternal Jeho-
yah! A blight will be upon his life; a
withered brain, an accursed intellect a
blight will be upon his children, and on bis
people. Great God how dread the pun
ishment &sa@8 4EEsIa
| A crowded populace, peopling the vast
towns where the man Of money thrives,
while the laborer starves want striding
among the people in all its forms Of terror ;
an ignorant and God-defying priesthood
chuckling over the miseries Of millions !; a
proud and merciless nobility adding wrong
to wrong, and heaping insult upon robbery
and fraud royalty corrupt to the very
heart; aristocracy rotten to the core; crime
and want linked hand il hand, and Tempt
ing men to deeds of woe and death-these
are part Of the doom and the retribution
that shall come upon the English throne
and the English people!
Soldiers look around upon your ia
miliar faces with strange interest! To-
morrow morning we will 60 forth to battle
for need [ tell you that your unworthy
minister will march with you, invoking
Gods aid in the fight we will march forth
to battle Need exhort you to fight the
good fight, to fight for your homesteads,
and for your wives and children /?
Ny friends, I might urge you to fight, by
the CALLING memories Of British wrong -
Walton might tell you of your father
butchered in the silence Of midnight on the
plains Of Trenton; l might picture bis grey
hairs dabbIed in blood !; might ring his
death shrek in your ears. Shelmire, |
might tell you Of mother butchered, and
of sister outraged lonely farm house,
the night assault, the roof in flames, the
shouts of the troopers, as they despatched
their victim, the cries for mercy, the plead
ings of innocence for pity. might paint
this all again, in the terrible colors Of the
vivid reality, if thought your courage
needed such wild excitement.
But [ know you are strong in the might
of the Lord. You will 60 forth to the bat
tie on the morrow with light hearts and de-
termined spirits, though the solemn duty Of
avenging the dead ~ may rest heavy on
your souls. .1 hit
And in the hour Of battle, when all
around is darkness, lit by the lurid cannon
glare, and the piercing musket fash, when
the wounded strew the ground, and the
dead litter your path, then remember, sol
diers, that God is with you. The eternal
God fights for you-he rides on the battle
cloud, he sweeps onward with the march Of
the hurricane charge God, the Awful ano
the Infinite, fights for you, and you vii
triumph.
'They that take the sword shall perish
by the sword" ~e
You have taken the sword, but not in the
spirit of wrong and revenge. You have
taken the sword for your homes, for your
/ wives, for your little ones. You have Ia
ken the sword for truth, for justice and
right, and to you the promise is, be Of good
cheer, for your foes have taken the sword
in defiance Of all that man holds most dear,
in 5lasphemy of God-they shall perish by
the sacord. ..%.....ssf
/ And now, brethren and soldiers, bid
you all farewell. Many Of US may fall in
the fight Of tomorrow God rest the souls
of the fallen Many Of as may live to tell the
story Of the fight Of tomorrow, and in the
memory Of all will ever rest and linger the
quiet scene Of this autpmnal night
] Solemn twilight advances over the valley,
the woods Of the opposite heights fling their
long shadows over the green Of the mead
ow; around us are the tents of the CONT
mental host, the suppressed hustle Of the
camp, the hurried tramp Of the soldiers to
and fro among the tents, the stiffness and
silence that marks the eve Of battle. ,s.
When we meet again, may the long shad-
ows of twilight be flung over peaceful
land. n.
God in heaven grant it. n
Let US pray.
PRAYER.
Great Father, we bow before thee. We
invoke thy blessing, we deprecate thy wrath,
we return thee thanks for the past, we ask
thy aid for the future. For we are in times
of trouble, oh! Lord, and sore beset By
foes, merciless and Implying; the sword
CLEANS over our land, and the dust Of the