Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1860-11-27
AUGUSTA COUNTY union MEETING!

Iursuaht 70 adjournment, a large meeting of
the friends of the UNION in the county of Angus
te irrespective OF parties, was held in the Court
House, on Monday, November Goth, 16G0,-Hon.
ALEX Il. Il. STUART in the Chair, and JOHN L.
PEYToN acting as Secretary.
Mr.. Stuart explained to the meeting the mis-
apprehension as to his remarks in regard to the
position OF ). I. Harris, NJ g., and mentioned
the receipt OF letter from Mr.. Harris, express
ing his strong attachment to the Union
The Committee, composed of the following
gentlemen Hon. A. Il. H. Stuart, Chairman,
Hugh W. Shelley, Gen. K. Harper, Col J. B.
Baldwin, G. B. Stuart John L. Peyton, John
McCue. Joseph A. Waddell, Robt. Guy, John D.
lmboden, BENZ. Crawford, Geo. NJ. Cochran, jr.,
and Col. Geo. Baylor, appointed at the last meet
ing to report resolutions to this meeting, pre-
sented through Hugh W. Shelley, the following
PREAMBLE AND RESOLUTIONS
The people of Augusta in general meeting as
sembled, solemnly impressed with sense of the
danger which instantly threatens the existence
Of the government and tie Union of these
States; cherishing hereditary loyalty to the
commonwealth allied to the South in its domes-
tic institutions, affections and sympathies; but
bordering on the North, and, therefore, in imme
diate contiguity to the perils which may follow
dissolution OF the Union; far more vitality con-
cerned in the issues of the conflict between the
contending sections of the country than our
more Southern brethren can possibly be; as
deeply aggrieved as they by the recent election
of a sectional President; as keenly alive as they
to the aggressive tendency of the step Just taken
by the North; and as firmly resolved as they to
resist infractions of their constitutional rights;
yet unwilling to believe the experiment of Re-
publican Government a failure, deem it to be
their privilege, and, in view of the important
interests at stake, their duty, speaking to the
North as well as to the South, calmly, but firmly
to declare
y l. That the Constitution of the United
States, under the protecting power of which the
country has become so strong at home and so
respected abroad, with checks and balances SO
wisely adjusted, by which abuses are controlled
and grievances are redressed imperfect it may
be in some respects working hardly it may be
on some occasions, is nevertheless the easiest
yoke of government tree people ever bore, and
yet the strongest protector of rights the wisdom
of man ever contrived, and so long as it contin-
ues to secure our equality and rights as citizens
of common country Sin the fullness of its spir-
it and to the highest extent of its honest inter
pretation'we will stand by and maintain it.
\ g. The Union of these States, still esteemed
by them, as it was "a years ago, by the sFather
of his Country" as the palladium of their po-
litical safety and prosperity-as the main pillar
in the Edi6ce of their real independence-the
support Of their tranquility at home-their peace
abroad and of that very liberty which they so
Ill - ,, II AZ L..
of the unwavering attachment of the people of
Augusta; and as for them and their households
they will cling to it until the stern command of
honor and the conviction that their rights can
no longer be preserved under it, shall compel
! them, in sorrow, to let it go
| g. That the right of each State to form and
regulate its own domestic institutions is perfect
and complete under the Constitution, ard that
any organizations or discussions in other States
intended to impair that right or incite forays
upon our borders for the purpose of disturbing
our peace or robbipg us of our property, are fla
grant wrongs and breaches of faith inconsistent
with the tranquility of the Union.
! 4. That, apart from the consideration of the
question whether, as Virginia declared in 1898,
should be the case, to justify her in '.interposing
to arrest the evir' of Federal power, there has
get been, on the part Of the General Government
"a deliberate, palpable and dangerous exercise
of other poaoers not granted by the Federal COM
pact" and apart also from the consideration of
| the right In itself and the eSpedienpy in other
respects of State Secession trcin the Union it is
the opinion of this meeting that, bordering as
Virginia does, on that portion of the Confed-
eracy from which danger to the institution of
slavery is threatened, so far as her interests in
that institution ere concerned, secession is no
remedy.
5. That sympathizing deeply with their breth
rem in the extreme Southern States iD their sense
OF the outrage inflicted on the sentiments of the
/ South by the election of Lincoln; but having
still an abiding faith, if not in the sense of JUS
tice, in the intelligent se-iltersst OF the Amer
lean people; and confiding in the efficacy of
Constitutional means to protect their rights
aoithSn the Union, the people of Augusta, as
tbrothers speaking to brothers, bound together
/ by the most sacred ties, beseech the gallant and
patriotic people of the Cotton States to pause
and calmly consider the yet unmagired evils
WHICH must result from dissolution Of the u
nior and, before taking the step from which
there will be no receding, to unite with Virgin
ia in testing the efficiency of remedies provided
by the Constitution and aoithin the Union!
+, 6. That not regarding the mere election of
any citizen to the Presidency in accordance
with the Constitution and the laws as sufficient
CAUSE lOI UIOdN1uS 'AO uui0uts ftHu LlDI1-
fore in the spirit OF patriotic orbearance, being
willing to yield obedience to the Constitution
and to acquiesce in the recent decision of the
Northern people, with no purpose to threaten or
ntimidate, but speaking as brave men to brave
men, appealing to their loyalty to the Constitu-
ton and the Union, and to their regard for the
peace, concord and continued happiness of D.
nited country, the people of Augusta, who have
been wont in times past as Washington taught
them indignantly to trown upon the first dawn
ing of every attempt to ALLEVIATE any portion of
our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the
sacred ties which bind together the various
parts" solemnly declare to the people of the nom
slaveholding States, that the vexatious agitation
of the subject OF slavery in Congress and in the
| Northern communities, the disturbance of our
peace by the dissemination of incendiary docu-
| ments in the South, the invasions OF our rights
of property in slaves by emissaries sent into our
midst to decOy our slaves from our homes, the
disregard by the Governors and the people of
the non-slaveholding States of their Constitu-
tional obligations in respect to the rendition of
fugitives from service and from justice, the prac
tical notification By many Of their State Legis-
latures of the Fugitive Slave Law" and the or
ganization and triumph of a sectional party, u
nited together by sentiments deemed to be hos
tile to the South, whose recent victory has been
heralded by one high in its ranks as 1.-THE death
blow to slavery" constitute snch grievances and
outrages to the feelings and rights of the people
of the South, as will, if persisted in, extend
over the whole South the fatal sentiment of dis.
union now so fearfully on the increase; and the