Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1861-11-19
A Noble Example.

OOV. DTOWU Vi mlSSiSSlPPis oSSOtNi"S ~
Raleigh Standard, is about fifty years Of age
He has been Governor of that State, member OF
the House OF Representatives, and Senator. For
many years Mississippi has conferred upon MIN
her choicest honors. But when the war COM
menced be volunteered as private, and has
been serving on foot as Captain. Recently,
some twenty prominent Mississippi officers in
Virginia addressed him letter, urging him to
to accept the place of Senator in the permanent
Congress, and giving as reason that he can be
of more service in the Senats than on foot in the
field. From his reply we make the following
extract:
"When | took up arms in defence of the South,
it was to illustrate, by example, the heartfelt
sincerity with which had for many years urged
our people to strike for equality in the Union, or
independence out of it, caDnot now, canped
as we are in sight OF the enemy, consent to lay
down those arms, except it be to render my
bleeding country more efficient service some
where else Arms, as yoa all know is not my
profession, and if bear them ii is from necessity
and not from choice That have not sought
higher command than Captaincy, has been be-
cause my early training habits of thought, and
pursuits in life have not been such as to qualify
me for such command Unskiled as / am in
the arts of war, have felt at liberty to do no
more than risk my own life in the pending
conflict | shrank instinctively at the beginning,
and ever since, from the responsibility of risking
| the lives of Others"
Here we have an experienced statesman, posses
sed of high order of intellect, and well acquain-
ted with men and things, modestly declining any
military Office which would place the lives of
others at his disposal, on the ground that he has
not been trained to arms, and that he ought,
therefore, to do no more than risk his own life
in the pending conflict. How does this contrast
with those possessed of not one tenth the knowl-
edge and qualifications of Governor Brown, who
seek field offices, and obtain them too, in many
INSTANCES not on the score of merit, but on ac-
count of party services.
This letter of Governor Brown is entitled to
additional consideration from the fact that it is
dated "ln Camp near Leesburg," where he was
an active participant 10 that glorious conflict in
which the enemy were gloriously repulsed
and so terribly punished. 10 another letter, da-
ted at the same place, and addressed to friend
in Jackson, Miss, he says:
Opponents before the war in peaceful strife
for ascendancy 10 politics, the war has forced
arms into all their hands, thrown one flag over
their heads, and marked out for them q common
destiny. Under such circumstances, it is duty
SO clear as to make calculation needless that all
past differences should be laid aside, not 5n the
org but an tact, and that the most cordial broth
erhood should be habitualy cherished and prac
tced. This cannot be, if the old and dominant
States rights party does not make a fair division
Of honors with their former opponents and pres
ent allies"
Such is the language of noble hearted Mis-
sissippian who prefers his country to party. He
scorns, as all true Southern men scorn, the sell
fish motto that they who made the revolution
are alone entitled to the offices and honors which
are bestowed in conducting it. Let the public
visit with indignant reprobation all who act on
different policy.
We have not been of the number of those who
have dstrus,ed and abused men because they
were for the Union before the commencement of
the war. Respect and veneration for the Union
while there was probability of its being main
tanned consistently with the rights of the South
were commeEdable. Upon the commencement
of war between the two sections, hundreds of
Union men declared themselves for the South,
and showed themselves determined to resist the
unholy schemes of the enemy, even at the sac
rifce of their lives They had been deceived by
the lying professions of the enemy, and having
learned his real intentions, they were ready to
perform all the duties of good and loyal citizens
to the South. individuals might we'll be deceiv-
g !. as TO the intention of Lncoln's administration
when whole States were deceived. Virginia,
after the election of Lincoln, gave majority OF
sixty thousand for the Union. Tennessee and
North Carolina declined even to call conventions
70 consider their relations to the Union. Yet all
three of these States, when satisfied of the pur-
pose of the Lincoln Government to make war in
any of the Southern States, wheeled out of the
Union in solid columns, and now have in the field
nearly, if not altogether, as many troops as all
the other States united.
| With these facts before US, we never INQUIRE
at what precise moment before the commence
ment of the war, man ceased to be for the
Unior. If he is with the South, and in opposi-
ton to the common enemy, we consider his posi-
ton sound, and receive him as political friend
Rich. Whig.