Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1861-01-08

Think Before You Act.

Think Before You Act.
Those who are wont, 10 these times Of great
peril TO our country, to talk SO hippantly about
the dissolution OF the Union, know not what
they DO. They have never reflected upon the
ten times ten thousand evils it would entail upon
the country. They have suffered themselves to
be governed by impulse and blind passion, and
have dsda;ned to take counsel of reason-they
have heafkened to the voice of sectional prejn-
dice and turned deaf ear to the appeals of pat
riotism. They discard as worthless the warn
lngs and admonitions of the Fathers of the Re-
public, and refuse to learn ANYTHING from the
lessons taught by the history of all past nations
They place no value upon that which was pur.
chased by the toll, blood and treasure Of their
noble and immortal ancestors. They would
thoughtlessly pull down the pillars of the Tenn
pie OF Liberty which their fathers erected in the
hope that it would secure the blessings of free
dom to their children's children for countless
generations. If they succeed in their purposes,
and cause the downfall of this Republic, which
is the hope of the world, other nations will stand
aghast at the criminal folly and stupendous mad
ness which wrought such calamity TO the whole
civilized world Whilst the crowned heads
might rejoice In demoniac glee, wall would go
up from the heart of every man who cherished
an aspiration for liberty. The late Judge Story
well said: -
"The Old World has already revealed to us its
unsealed books, the beginning and end of all its
own marvellous struggles in the cause ofliberty.
Greece, lovely Greece, the land of scholars and
the nurse Of arms where sister Republics in fair
procession chanted the praises OF liberty and the
gods, where and what is she? For two thousand
years the oppressor has bound her to the earth
Her arts are no more The last sad relics of her
temples are but the barracks of ruthless sol
ldiery the fragments of her columns and her
palaces are in the dust, yet beautiful in ruin.-
She fell not when the mighty were upon her,
Her sons were united at Thermopyl@ and Mar
athon, and the tide of her triumph rolled back
upon the Hellespont. She was CONQUERED by
her own factions. She fell by the hands Of her
own people. The wars of Macedonia did not the
work of destruction. 1t was already done by
her own corruptions, banishments and dissen-
tons. Rome, republican Rome, whose eagles
glanced in the rising and setting sun, where and
what is she? The Eternal City yet remains,
proud even in her desolation, noble in her decline,
venerable in the majesty of religion, and calm as
in the composure OF death. Tie malaria has but
travelled in paths worn by her destroyers.-
More than eighteen centuries have moved over
the loss OF her empire A mortal disease was
upon her vitals before Caesar had crossed the Ru-
bicon; and Brutus did not restore her health by
the deep probings of the Senate Chamber. The
Cloths, and Vandals, and Huns, the swarms of
the North, completed only what was already be-
gun at home. Romans betrayed Rome. The
Legions We're bought and sold; but the people
offered the tribute money.
"And where are the Republics of modern
times, which clustered around immortal Italy 2
Venice and Genoa exist but in name The Alps
indeed look down upon the brave and fearless
SWISS 10 their native tastness; but tue guaran-
Zee OF their freedom is in their weakness and
not in their strength; the mountains are not
easily crossed and the valleys are not easily re-
tanned. When the invader comes he moves like
an avalanche, carrying destruction in his path,
the peasantry move before him the country is
| TOO poor for plumber, and too rough for valuable
conquest. Nature presents her eternal barriers
on every side to check the wantoness of ambition,
and Switzerland remains, with her simple insti
tutions, military road to tarer climates, scarce
ly worth a permanent possession, and protected
| by the jealousy OF her neighbors.
I'VE stand the latest, and, if we fail, proba-
| bly, the last experiment of self.government by
the people. We have begun it under circum-
stances of the most suspicious nature. We are
in vlgor of youth. Our growth has never been
checked by expressions OF tyranny. Our con-
situations have never been enfeebled by the vices
or Injuries of the Old World. Such as we are
we have been from the beginning bar
dy, intelligent accustomed to self-goverDment
and selfrespect
''Oan it be that America, under such circum-
stances, can betray herselt2 That she is to be
added to the catalogue of republics the inscrip-
ton of whose ruin is they were, but they are
nots' Forbid it, my countrymen; forbid it.
Heaven! call upon you, fathers, sous and
daughters, by the shades of your ancestors, by
the dear ashes which repose in this precious
soil, by all you are and all you hope to be, resist
every project OF disunion."
| ONE RIGHTEoUS MAN LEFT IN CHARLESTON