Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1860-11-16

are fortified
We have again and again charged that
the disruption of the Democratic party at
Charleston, mainly through the instrument
tality of W. L. Yancey, and for no sufi-
cient cause, was designed as the incipient
step TO dissolution Of the Union, in proof
of which wo cited his Slaughter letter.
This letter clearly and suoeinctly maps out
the plan Of procedure by which the end
was to be accomplished. 1t could not be
done by q sectional party, neither by a
NATIONAL party" but by excepting up the
old party relations, and at the proper time,
by one UNITED, CONCERTED MOVEMENT, PRE-
cIpITATE THE CorToN STATES INTO REvo-
LUTON I" The secession at Charleston, al
though deemed by Mr.. Yancey to be the
proper time,' proved not to embrace all
the material necessary for his purpose
Virginia did not UNITE, CONCERT in the
movement" Hence, on the re-assem-
bling of the Convention at Baltimore-al.
though the seeding States from Charleston
had formally and forerer, as they stated in
their farewell addresses, bid adieu to the
National Convention, and we're at that time
in session at Richmond, separate and dis
tiuct body-these seceders applied for ad-
mission, knowing at the time they did so,
that all of them would not be admitted. -
They were not admitted, and rightly so-
The plan had been arranged in anticipation
Of this result, and in secret caucus, Virginia,
under the advisement of James NJ. Mason
and R. NJ. T. Hunter, had been ''hitched"
on to the Cotton States to be dragged out
~ ct arnts, if necessary. The shallowness
Of the pretext-the transparency of the mis-
cradle motive-and the imbecility Of the
process exhibited to the most superb
cial Intellect the humiliating truth that she
had been plastered to the coat tail Of Ala
bama, and led out like sheep to the slaugh-
ter. Upon principle, at Charleston, she
had proudly spurned the proposition to leave
the only Convention to which she was del
jegated to act. 1t proved not, then, there
fore, the proper time" for Mr.. Yancey's
successful experiment. But at Baltimore,
having been manipulated with all the skill
Of the most expert electro biologist, and
brought under the mesmeric influence of
superior intellectually, she tamely and
with sickly whine, consented to contri-
butte her quota to creating the proper
time,' and upon mere question Of organi
cation, in the decision of which Virginia
was neither injured or insulted she, through
the majority Of her delegates, joined the Sc
cede's. They met in Convention, and by
the shortest method imaginable, nominated
John G. Breckenridge and Joseph Lane as
their candidates for President and Vice
President. They supported them. They
were defeated, as Mr.. Yancey knew they
would be, and so desired Lincoln was
elected, as Dir. Yancey believed he would
be, and SO desired. His "organized, con-
certed action" having been successful thus
far, the time for ''precipitating the Cotton
States into revolution had arrived. Mark
with what signifcancy and potency the word
"precipttate'' is invested, when taken in
connection with the scenes now being en-
acted in the Cotton States. The people of
those States are being precipitated- rushed,
Hurried, hurried, without time to think
moment, into revolution" and their rea-
sons lost amid the tempest and storm of an
excitement to which they are unaccustomed,
and which the country has scarcely ever w.t.
messed before.
This precipitation is the only necessa-
ry precedent to the accomplishment Of the
other specification of Mr.. Yancey's pro-
gramme, as developed in the Slaughter let
teri that Of Influencing PARTIES, LEeIsLA-
TuREs, and STATESMEN To attest the
fact that this. remarkable letter was digested
and framed as chart by which to be gov
erned in the work of destroying the govern
ment, we have only to refer to the fulfill
ment of this last cond ition in the action Of
the Legislatures Of South Carolina, Geor-
gia, Alabama, and the resignation Of Sena-
tors Toombs, Chestnut and Hammond, and
the federal officers in South Carolina Ii is
as clear as a sunbeam that the movement
was ''organized' previous to the Charles
ton Convention, aid that it only awaited the
shadow Of a pretext to, by CONCERTED ao-
tion," ''precipitate the Cotton States into
a revolution" This pretext was found in
the refusal to interpolate the Democratic
creed with the Intervention plank-an idea
that was mythical and non essential, and
which could effect nothing possibly but the
very thing designed by Mr.. Yancey, the
disintegration of the Democratic party, ard
the necessary result the election of Black
Republican candidate to the Presidency,
f which was to be the signal of the commence
ment of precipitation
:, We hesitate not to state, therefore, that
the Slaughter letter Of W. /. Yancey was
i. g. deem laid scheme of treaaoD hau;ur in