Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1860-11-23
The Crisis--National Convention

the grave questions of which the presen
canvass is pregnant, they are rushing blind
ly into the very jaws Of destruction, ant
suggesting scheme that must inevitably
''precipitate" revolution in our political
SYSTEM, and blot Us from the roll of nations
as the freest ard best governed people il
the world. Hardly had the Lightning flash
ed through the country the intelligence o
the revolutionary movements of S. Carolina
before the metropolitan Breckenridge press
backed by the Alexandria Sentinel ant
Lynchburg Republican, burthea their col
umns with clamorous appeals for '.Souther,
Convention apparently ignoring the fac
that We are apart of the whole confederacy
as we'll North as South; and regardless @
the important consideration that our caas,
of complaint is against the North, and no
the South. 1t seems patent to US, that {
just ambition to avert the calamity of disso
luton; to allay the nervous excitement in
cident to the election of sectional Presi
dent, and adjust the difficulties which reck
less and fanatical men have thrust upon US
would have suggested the expediency of Z
National Convention to cure sectional dis
eases, rather than sectional Convention t.
infame sectional passions, brood OYER see
tlonal wrongs, and estrange and embittel
the feelings of the parties to the federal COM
pact. He is careless and superficial think.
er who sees ia the election Of Abraham Lin.
coin verdict of the American people
in favor Of the doctrine of the plat.
form upon which he was elected. It is
true, that through the folly and divisions
of the con sentative element ct the North
Mr.. Lincoln received majority of the e.
lectoral votes Of all the States, and by vir-
tue thereof becomes in name the Presiden,
of the Unitod States. It is merely 10 name,
for he goes to the white house with the NOR.
al power Of less than one third of the PEG
pie to back him; with the Senate, House Of
Representatives, and Federal Judiciary
all the checks provided by the Constitution
against him, and as utterly powcrless te
Go harm as he would have been had be re
NAMED at his quiet home in Springfield.
Viewing all the circumstances therefore
attending the election of Mr. Lincoln, and
calmly surveying the facts as they are pre-
sented to US, we can see no just reasons for
a Southern Convention, until the more ra-
tional and statesmanlike policy of National
Convention has failed to accomplish the de-
sired end. A Southern Convention would
be utterly powerless to remove any one of
the causes of complaint, and could result in
nothing else than an imagined extenuation
of our wrongs, driving reason from Cur
deliberations, and substituting therefor in
famed passions. The great and browning
error Of the Virginia delegation at Charles
ton-an error the resultant of which was the
disruption Of the Democratic party, the cleo
ton of Lincoln. and the imperiling Of the T.
nion-was the appointment ola delegate to
meet similar delegates from the Southern
States in consultations That was the first
step towards the division that afterwards took
place Had the conference been national
had there been an honest desire to adjust
the differences of opinion that existed, and
one paramount sentiment, and that the de-
feat Of the Black Republican party, the De-
mocracy this day would have the President
elect.
1t is now proposed to pursue like suici-
dal, contracted and narrow minded policy.
by holding q Southern Convention instead
Of a National Convention. We are we'll
convinced that the intelligent masses are
opposed to any such folly. We know they
are in this section. Believing that South
Caroline has recklessly and madly initiated
steps Of disunion, regardless not only of the
sentiments, but the interests Of the border
States, they feel called upon, as patriots de-
voted to Constitutional Union, to speak
out against any movement that can be con-
strued as endorsing her course, and to once
again appeal to that stern sense of virtue and
honor, which in troublous times gone by
made Virginia the break water to section
alism to step forward to pour oil upon the
maddened waters.
AS fully carrying out this idea, and as
indicating a step commensurate with the
vast interests involved, the following plan
suggested by Gov. Letcher in lis inaugural
address last January seeing the most appro-
pirate and feasible:
The only mode, therefore, ofremedying
the evil, that occurs to me. under the Con-
stitution, is provided in the fifth article
thereof Summon Convention Of all the
States, that full and free conference may
be had between the representatives of the
people, elected for this purpose, and thus
ascertain whether the questions in contro.
versy cannot be settled upon some basis mu-
tually satisfactory to both sections. Ifsuch
Convention shall assemble, and after full
and free consultation and comparison of
opinions, they shall End that the difference
between the slayeholding and non-slavc-