Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1861-01-15

intercourse and relations between sister States.
with common domestic institution. that can be
best defended and maintained by united counsels
and action Such illusions to Virginia should
never have been made by the executive of q
State who feels her obligations for the large
contributions OF mind and effort which Virginia
has made to the common cause" and who is
more largely lndeoted to her for manifestations
of particular concern in her welfarai
In this address it was also declared etbat
when we (South Carolina,) propose a conference.
we do so with the full understanding that we
are but one of the States of that conference. en-
titled like all others to express our opinions but
willing to abide by and respect the united iudg-
ment of the whole. 1t our pace is too fast for
some we are content to walk slower onr ear-
nest wish is that all may keep together. p
These are noble sentiments, and declare sonnd
and proper position Ia movement an ;mnor-
tant, and involving consequences 80 seriops to
all the slaveholding States, no one State should
have ventured to move, Tithout first having Civ
en- timely notice to Others of her purpose. even
If she did not inteni Stp respect and abide BIZ
the united judgmens ct tAe whole. - Such ac-
tion on the part of South Carolina would at this
moment, IN all probability, have enabled "all to
Keep together" What effect her movement
may have upon the future, time alone can dis
close. South Carolina, sovereign State. had a
right to adopt the line ofpolicy she has pursued
and wouldyhave no special reference TO her
course, it had not been indirectly invited to do
so by her late executive, in his uncaed for ref
erenoes to Virginia, to exhibit, in my official in
tercourse with the States of the confederacy, a
spirit OF comfy, and to manifest all that respect
which Is due from one State to another When
ever the motives or the actions of Virginia are
arraigned. will feel it my duty to demonstrate;
and in doing so, will observe that moderation.
courtesy and kind spirit which become the char
acter OF a State whose 'arge contributions to
tie Unlon' have ''secured to her the respect and
affection of every State of this confederacy"
In the recent message of the governor of Mis-
sssslppi, find reference to the border States
OF the same character, and manifesting the same
spirit which has been exhibited by the late exec
utive of South Carolina:
"As 1t is more than probable that many of the
citizens of the border States may seek market
for their slaves in the Cotton States, recon-
mend the passage of an act prohibiting the intro.
ductlon OF slaves into this State, unless their
owners come with them and become citizens,
ana prohibiting the introduction of slaves for
sale by all persons whomsoever"
These references to the border States are preg-
nant with meaning, and no one can be at loss
to understand what that meaningis. While dis.
avowing any unkind feeling towards South Car.
ollna and Mississippi, must still say, that will
resist the coercion of Virginia into the adoption
of line Of policy, whenever the attempt is made
by Northern or Southern States
For the present condition of public affairs, the
non.slavehoiding States are chargeable; and if
the Union shall be destroyed, upon them will
rest the solemn responsibility. Their systematic
and persistent warfare upon the institution of
domestic slavery, as it exists amongst us-their
fierce and unqualified denunciation of it, and all
who recognize or tolerate it, have done much to
create the present state of evaporation existing
between the two sections of the Union Hatred
to slavery and shareholders is instilled into the
minds of their children, as part and parcel OF
education, throughout the infected district OF
New England. The institution is constantly as.
saied-through the press in the pulpit, in public
meetings, in private associations in their legisla-
tive assemblies, liz their statutes, on all occa-
siens-as morally, sosi8ily and politically wrong.
The slave owner ie painted as the great criminal
lOf the age, deserving ssaath.
] Money is raised ard has been expended in
hiring desperate and depraved men, in arming
and supporting them, in order that they may
make raids into southern States and excite the
slaves to insurrection and murder. Arms pecu
| liarly suited to the use of the slave have been
fabricated, and sent into the slave States, to be
placed in the hands of this class of our pOpula-
tion, after they have been stimulated to such q
degree of madness as will qualify them for the
commission of murder, arson, and every species
of cruelty. The results of these teachings were
seen in the Harper's Ferry raid
| Such an outrage ought to have provoked the
unqualified and universal condemnation of good
and law abiding citizens in every State of the
Confederacy. In atrocity, it stands without par
alel in the history of our country and all right
thinking men would suppose that neither the
authors nor the act would find apologists any
where. Did we not find numerous apologists
for the conduct of John Brown and his flagtious
associates, throughout many of the Northern,
but more especially in the New England States
The fountain of New England sympathy was
broken up to its depths, and gushed forth, when
John Brown and his followers were condemned,
after fair trial, aud expiated their crimes upon
the gallows. Though they are dead, New Eng
land sympathy for them still survives. But q
few weeks ago John Brown sympathizer was
elected to the gubernatorial chair of the State OF
Massachusetts,, one of the original thirteen. The
executive chairs of the States OF Ohio and Iowa
are also filed with the same description of men,
holding the same general views, advocating the
same principles and measures, and exhibiting
deep sympathy and strong partaty for these
Il.
prior to the Harper's Ferry raid
The people of the Northern States, as their
speeches and addresses, their resolutions In
public meetings, and indeed in almost every con-
ceivable mode, have been endeavoring to con-
fine slavery within its present limits, by exclu-
ding it from all the territories belonging to the
government. They have been endeavoring to
'draw line around the Southern States,n with
the purpose of then declaring that slavery shall
not 60 beyond the limits thus determined by
them. The statutes and resolutions of the non.
slaveholding States from the time Texas sought
admission into the Union, up to this day, con-
firm this view of the designs and purposes of the
free States
Who can have forgotten the attempt made by
the Northern people to use the mails for the
transmission of the vilest papers, illustrated by
pictorial representations, calculated and intend
ed ''to produce dissatisfaction and revolt among
the slaves, and to incte their wild passions to
vengeance" against their masters and Others in
slaveholding States. The objects they then
had in view, and towards the accomplishment of
which their efforts were directed, were the abo.
ltion of slavery in the District of Columbia. and
the exclusion of slave States from admission into
the Union.
Since the formation of the government. COM
posed of the original thirteen States, twenty
new States have been added to the Union ma
king now the number Of thirty-three. Of the
number so added, eleven have been free States.
and nine slave States. For many years the pol
icy was to admit States pari passu so as to pre.
sarvo tho annilibrinm in the Senata batwaon tho