Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1860-12-11
TTAUNToN. Nov. Goth. 1860.

gard me as botifian and intrusive thus TO thrust
oeiore your notH the inefficient logic of an in
dividuai SO ent4ly Innocent of weight in the
national connclleas myself; but You will permit
me 10 plead, as pology, the unusual aud sincere
interest," winch Feel IN your own personal adj
vahcement, as WI as the public good, to say
Iotnlng ABOUT Ssh to advise you of the error
(whicn posterlfy surely point at as the great
oiunder' OF your life) into which your darling
pei ana mlstress+the Union-has insensibly in
Vlted you. A mlress, who, when you first en-
oraced her, Waspomely, and worthy of your
love, Dut has now become hideous and rotten
and only 6t to be EAST aside for u,av untried nov
city.
ain iresn 1rOman attentive perusal OF your
able, earnest andpatriotic dream in the New
York tribune, witch some friend was thought
fui enough TO sent me; and alter very careful
review OF your mid and character-both we'll
known TO mel ian only charge your inveter
ate and industrious labor in behalf of this passt
Genad'a to that miost potent and tyrannical Of
despots-hablt. weakness which somebody
aptly and pontedy describes, as ''present action
from past motives" or persevering fondness
for an Union, whose integrity has been constant
ly and cruelty violated by the Industrious ma
levolence of the Northern States. But it is not
so much concerning the policy of disunion that
desire to talk with you; rather do | propose
to ask you to sit side by side with me, and suffer
a true aud earnest friend to entreat you to fore
go your lofty and patriotic, bat suicidal and con-
sequently, insane efforts to oppose your hand, as
weak and powerless as that of old Priam, against
the inevitable fall of that great Avalanche, which
now hangs impending, and only pauses until the
devoted band OF ssdroamers" have dwindled to
three hundred, as at Thermopyl@, to blot them
from the book of life.
Your own prophetic wisdom, which before
has been your bane, but should now become
your strength, must advise You that separation
Of the States IS inevitable. Then why not, in
stead of vain, Titan efforts to avoid the thunder
bolt, why not, say, rather rack and exhaust
every energy of mind and body in search of the
policy which may guide it best For my par
must say that the sublime martyrdom of those
silly people at ThermopyB has always seemed
to me to belong rather to the absurd than the
heroic. | want you to live to fight another
fight, and in order to do this to some purpose
you must now snatch the guidance of secession
1.-The wild horse did uot start at your bidding,
and, soith necessity for your apology, arrest OF
divert the mad devils that are loose. As far az
what is called exalted devotion to the Union il
worth, why others, your interiors in both polit-
ical and intellectual prominence, have risen 6
whole head above you, by proposing an appea
even from your remote tribunal-the Supreme
Court-and tickle the incorruptible sovereigns
with the promise of final reference, of any
vexed question that may have eluded the wis
dom of Congress and derided the constitutions
lore of the Supreme Judges, to their distinguish
ed sagacity. So you see that you are no where
for with an independent, almost obstinate hos
tility to popular error, you, of all, will surely no
consent to ape these hungry parasites of ioca
favor.
We all know that your mission on earth, lik.
that Of Cassandra, has been to foresee and de
scribe, with historical fidelity, the events in thu
future, only like that unlucky maiden, to be hiss
ed and scotfed as an impostor, until Time, "th'
philosopher" had vindicatad your claims to tn,
prophetic mantle. All now ask of you is tina
you will for once subscribe to this irresistibl,
torrent, which not all the spatriots of all til,
South can avert or control, and thus render you
voice fit and acceptable to be heard in the new
state of things which must soon come upon us
and why not? Grant that dsunion is presen
and real, and have you at my feet; for 10
from you do listen to hear a song ia praise O
the dying martyr, who adds the absurdity of So
icide, as only more notorious witness to his owl
uoopUHu0uCy3 duu tuo Woaku6SS vi q CduSS III
has upheld and abandoned. And you, too, b.
such desperate opposition, will render yoursel
powerless for good, and be guilty of desertin
the service in time of greatest need. Even gran
the South is about to perpetrate great wrong
or call it crime, not then should good men fail t.
tender such counsel as may avoid the evil an
secure the right, out of the chaos of conflicting
interests that will seek place in the delibera
lions of this new confederacy, and shorn Q
your locks by an uxcrious fondness for this skel
eton phantom of Delilah, as you surely will be
where then will we seek to find the national AM
intellectual patriotism and power to rebuke th
petty schemes of district politicians and rura
Machiavellis whose narrow ambition is racke
and content to secure charitable crumb from
the Federal pantry.
l may have been compelled, my dear sir, i
pursuit of my object, to speak OF you here i
terms which may sound OF flattery but | trus
that you will not understand them as such, bu
only as the common echo of the world, as we
as of my own convictions. With contidenc
that you will at least bestow thought on m
suggestions, and with all wishes for your good,
subscribe myself your friend, &c.