Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1861-01-25
Speaking sat EEt. Sidney.

Returning from Rockingham Court on
last Monday evening. we stopped at Mt.
Sidney to hear the candidates for the Con.
%yention address the people Of that vicinity
as advertised. One of the most thoughtful,
respectful and Intelligent audiences, con,
sisting Of about three hundred, had assem-
bled that we have ever seen. Thornton
Berry, Esq was called to the chair. Gen.
Hartman opened the discussion; Col. Baylor
followed, and he was succeeded respectively
by Col Baldwin, Capt. Imboden, and Mr.
Shelley. Gen. Hartman and Capt. limbo
den took decided aud almost similar posi-
tons, and declared their purpose, if elected
to use every effort to have our national diff
f%culties promptly and finally settled, at least
SO far as Virginia. action could ~inaugurate
a line of policy that would result in adjust
ment. They declared that resistance to CO.
ercion was a duty, and indicated Il cir en-
dorsement Of the Crittenden- Douglas Com
promise as a basis of settlement.
The other speakers, except when CUES
toned, confined themselves mostly to APP
peals in behalf Of the preservation of the
Union, without defining any particular pol
icy, except to aoait for future developments.
They seemed to lose sight of the fact that
the Union was already dt:ssolved, and that
hence tie question for the consideration and
judgment of the people was not the preser-
cation Of the Union, for that was impossi-
Bile, but its reconstruction. They did not
advert to the fact that there is no hope for
the old Union-fo for the seeding States to
come back and resume their original rela>
tions, unless the causes which led to thei1
separation are removed. They evaded the
practical points, which must be settled to
prevent civil war, and confined themselves
to exciting the feelings and fears Of their
hearers. We honestly believe this to be
wrong. AS much as we respect and
admire the high order Of talent and pu' e
character Of Coils. Baldwin and Baylor, and
Mr.. Shoffey. yet we are candid when we
say that the speeches on Monday night last
were calculated to mislead the people. We
ask them what possible good can result from
exciting the passions? Would it not be far
more becoming in this important canvass,
to tell the people plainly that we are in a
revolutionary bare the fact thatfve States
have seeded, and that to that extent this
Union is dissolved to all intents and purpo-
SEES? We want the plain, blunt truth pre-
scented to the voters of the county that some
policy of reconstructing our shattered T.
MON must be adopted-some teruls upon
which the seeding States will r%e-unite mast
be adopted. We call upon the people to
demand the positions of the candidates in
this regard. 1t will not do to sing pn~
ans to the Union and the stars and stripes
when the waves of revolution aud disunion
are surging all around US.
We confess that we were disappointed in
the speeches Of these gentlemen. In our
opinion, they did not meet the issues pre-
scented in the condition ofthe country. They
consumed their time with "glittering gem
eralities," instead of marching boldly for
ward and graphing with the mighty events
which are upon us. We will not here par
ticuIarize what we conceive to be positions
fatal to the peace of the country, assumed
by some Of these gentlemen. We simply
record our dissent from the general tone
and tendency Of their remarks. We can
never consent to an endorsement of a tenn
poriging, indecisiye c, urse, when the fate
Of tie nation depends upon a different poll