Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1860-10-27
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made its appearance in the Richmond En-
;gUfrer. We give below the closing part Of
it, in which that gentleman sets forth what
he means to do in case Lincoln is elected
So soon as the war already declared against
lay State and my section shall be astualiy
commenced by the election OF Black Re
publican President stand ready to draw the
sword of defence. will wage no private
war. [ will take part in no unauthorized To-
raw. I shall first await the action of my own
sovereign State In torturing suspense,
shall wait upon her resolves, and pray God
that they may be worthy of the example of
'9S and 49, And, although fully recognize
the right of sovereign State to select seces-
sion as her mode and measure of redress for
the infraction of the Federal compact, seces-
sion is not the mode which would desire or
recommend I am unwilling to yield one
right for the sake of maintaining another
right. / would make no such bargain-no
such compromise. would not yield my
right to the Union any more than would
yield my right to my negro property. No!
I would keep both the Union AID the negro,
and fight to the last t.. preserve and maintain
all my rights to both.
AS / have said, shall first appeal to Yir-
ginia for authority to fight under her banner.
But if Virginia shall not meet the issue and
come up to the mark of self-defence and self
respect, | will look to North Carolina, 1 will
look to South Carolina, to Georgia, to each
Southern State in succession, and appeal to
each for permission to fight under the aegis
of her sovereignty. And [ will advise each
State not to wait for the example or co-opera-
ton of other States Such waiting will only
produce faltering, and all the delay and con-
fusion of uncertainty. No! let each State
leap at once, for herself, into the contest, and
struggle for precedence and pre-eminence in
the work of defence.
ANY one State, even the smallest, can
make the battle and win the victory
And if gallant little Florida will alone
take up the gauntlet of war and levy an
army, will enlist in that army, whenever it
shall be raised, and we will see then whether
the ''Black Douglas" can execute his threat
of coercion II ever the issue comes,I hope
to meet him in the field where the ultima
ratio of States is to be tried. And even
fighting under the banner of one little State,
| will remember that the race is not to the
swift nor the battle to the strong | will re-
member. too, that Patrick Henry had every
loyalist to cry out treason" against him in
the House of Burgesses; but he seized the
old powder magazine at Williamsburg, and
dragged even loyalistS themselves into the
tide OF resistance and revolution along with
him. I will remember, too, when told that
eighteen millions are pressing against our
eight millions. that there was time when
five millions of American patriots stood Sc
cure and won the contest against more than
ffty-more than hundred millions!
And when the hour of battle comes, we
shall find that it will not cross swords over a
sectional line No Our enemies at the
North will find our friends there, too, the
true friends of justice and right-Northern
defenders of Southern rights-and enough
in numbers to keep both hands of Northern
fanaticism busted with strife at home while
we. at the South, will have active work to
do in waging war against Southern traitors in
our midst, and at our doors. 1t will be a
neighborhood war, ut both ends, and in the
centre of the continent. At the North and
at the South, it will be war which will ar
raw all the forces of conservatism, all the
friends Of equal rights, against fanaticism
AK, lie fraud of Black Repubicanisln MT the
North, and its tools and panderers at the South.
It wifi not be war of sectionalsm or OF dis
solution, and once commenced, 1t must result,
sooner or later in the re-establishment OF the
integrity of the Union and the purity of the
Constitution.
In such strife, and for such holy pur-
pose, [ will join the ranks OF war, and tight
alike against those who would oppose me and
those who would coerce my submission to
oppression. will fight
'To combat violence, fraud and usurpat:on,
To pluck the spoil from the oppressor's jaws,
And keep my country, as found it-FREE"