Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1861-01-22
5 sTAUNTON, VIRGINIA, TUESDAY, JANUARY p, 1869

JANUARY j ~, 1867.
ters not how much we may deprecate and de-
plore it, whenever you have President OF the
United States who feels the weight of his obli-
gution to the country. South Carolina will sub
init to the laws of the United States or there
soiW be ao0r-because the Constitution not only
authorizes, but demands it.; it does not leave it
to the discretion of the President, but requires
him to take an oath before his God, that he will
ito the best of his ability preserve, protect and
defend the Constitution !" and that Constitution
declares, that the President shall take care that
the laws be faithfully executed" and for that
purpose gives him the control of the Army and
Navy, and provides for calling forth the militia,
to enable him to execute the laws: and in the
name of Heaven, how can he omit this plain
paramount duty, without having the high and
infamous crime of perjury resting on his souls-
And the same Constitution declares that "trea-
son (Which is punishable by death) shall consist
in leuyiag ao0r against the United States or in ad-
herring to their enemies or in gioing them aid and
conyort." beseech the people OF Virginia not
to be led into error by ignorant demagogues as
to the nature of our government, nor yet to judge
of its powers by the imbeclity Of its present
rulers.
'One murder makes william, millions hero, u
says the Poet; this may be true in poetry, but
| it is not true in law, unless they have the pow
er to overcome all opposition that may be made
to them. Don't judge of what will be the con-
dition of the puplic mind when this secession
fever, which is now an epidemic, passes of, and
when the question comes to be determined by the
Courts, free from thephrended state in which it
is now found. Temper and passion,and prejudice,
and ignorance, must all, sooner or later, give
way to reason to common sense, and to the su.
prelnacy of law; and then the day of reckoning
will come; and in the meantime, let those who
would give ''aid and comfort" to South Carolina
in her position of hostility to the United States,
let those who solicitous to connect their fate
with that of the unfortunate and misguided State
of South Carolina go down among them and take
their responsibilities on their own shoulders, and
leave the Constitution-loving, and law abiding
men, women and children of Virginia, in the
enjoyment of peace, and in the discharge of their
duties to the Union, the Constitution, and the
enforcement of the laws.
| l coDcede that no greater calamity can befal
any people than that of war among them
selves; and if could believe it likely that the
Union could be broken into fragments, without
having constant and interninable forays between
the slave and free States, might possibly bring
my mind to the conclusion that it would be bet
ter to give up the Union than have war between
the general government and the Southern or
cotton States-but there lies the question
are we not to have the Union entire, or is
there not to be soar of some description or kind.
1t Is my belief that one or the other is una
vodable-and if so, which is the better and the
wiser course to adopt9-to have war that will
be OF short duration, or one that is to be perpet
ual and interminable until the substance of all
parties is wasted awaya
But let us estimate as wise men should and
will, all the cost in advance, and calculate the
probable result. Suppose the 15 slave States
should all secede; what are our means or our
powers of resistance or defence2 Gan any State
live without commerce. Suppose the govern
ment Of the United States, which will assuredly
be in possession Of the Navy, should station a
single frigate or have steamers at the capes of
Virginia, is not the commerce of Virginia and
Maryland effectually blocked up ?-then one to
Charleston, another to Savannah, another to the
bay OF Mobile, and still another to the mouth of
the Mississippi, leaving the free States on the
Ohio and Mississippi rivers with the facilities of
railroad, lake, and canal communication with
New York, l simply enqnire what would be our
conditiong Where is our Navy to drive them
off What would become of all the productions
OF the South-the cotton, rice, sugar, -four, to-
DaccO. &cs Would we not be check mated, and
conquered without the power to strike blow
Do the impetuous secessionsts of Virginia stop
long enough to reflect upon such condition o
things? or do the sober minded, rejecting men
OF the State think they are not worthy of con-
sideration9 If it is deemed necessary for our
honor and safety to leave tie Union, let us take
time to prepare for what will inevitably follow
Ii the Cotton States can establish their indepen-
dence let them do it, and fix upon their form of
government; then, if we like it better than our
own, we can unite with them-but let us not be
guilty of the madness of burning down the house
in which we live until we are sure of removing
into better one.
AS it is, am clearly of opinion, that the true
policy of Virginia is to have nothing to do with
the controversy that South Carolina has chosen
to wage with the general government, but let
her attend to her own business, and we attend
to ours, and remain in the Union as long as it
can be done with safety and honor to the State
and when these can no longer be retained IN the
Union, then let US go out like men, asserting the
broad right of revolution; let us all be united,
and shrink from no consequences that may fol-
low. am very respectfully yours,
JOHN M. Boris.
T. 81 sign my own name, because l am
neither afraid nor ashamed to avow publicly the
sentiments entertain. IN. B.
Richmond, Dec. %, 1860.