Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1861-03-15
vSrginIa--tfae Rattle Ground.


We have good reason to believe that our
State has been selected as the grand arena
for the display Of Black Republican PROV
ess-that our people have been marked as
the victims for Black Republican veng eance.
The concentration Of forces about Washing
ton city-a point convenient to Fortress
Monroe and the Virginia line-the unusual
precaution exercised in reference to points
over which federal authority extends in Vir-
ginia-the increase Of federal soldiery in
our midst-are all prominent facts Of evil
dence driving US to the conclusion that the
State which gave the soldier who won our
liberties, and the statesman who fortified
them with constitutional BARRIERS, is to be
the first to meet the shock Of Black Repub-
llcan invasion. The peoples representa-
tives in Richmond perceive this-some ack-
nowledge this-and yet there has been no
act passed, nor movement effected, calcula-
ted to detach Virginia from the anaconda
folds of this hideous centralism, and place
her whore she can resist the Vaccinations
and devices of her enemies.
Lincoln threatens coercion, yet our Con-
vention hesitates to secede; the Peace Con-
ference patchwork istepuaiated by Con-
gress,yet the Convention hesitates to secede;
the starved forces of the Government are
whistled from Fort Sumpter, and thrown
into Fortress Monroe or Washington city,
yet the Convention hesitases to secede; the
brand Of infamy and inequality is ready to
be impressed, Kissing hot, into our flesh,
yet the Convention besitates to sccede; the
Southern Confederation opens wide its gates
and beseeches Virginia to take her stand
under the folds Of that banner which bears
upon it the blessed motto Of Constitutional
freedom and State equality. yet the Con-
yention hesjtates to secede. Are the Free
men of Virginia ready to acknowledge the
inequality and inferiority Of their State p
Have they prepared their minds to witness
the most revolving spectacle ever yet pre-
scented to the gaze Of civilization the vol
untary abandonment, BY representatives Of
free people, Of all that ennobles humanity
and eleyates social existence /? Houer, free
dom, justice. good faith ali are to be crush
ed under the Juggernaut Of abolition vii
lainy. We put it to the farmer, the me-
chanic, the professional man, to men Of ev-
erv grade Of wealth and every occupation,
if this deed shall be perpetrated by the Con-
vention with impunity? We can answer
for the people Of the country that they are
not now, and never will be, willing to pass
from state Of freedom to condition OF
vassalage-to bend their nccks to the yoke
of abolition servitude. The Convention
cannot consign us to Northern despotism
The programme may be made out--the
gives all finished and furnished to conven~
tiona! order by abolition hands. Yet ulti-
mately Virginia is as certain to disconneot
herself from the North, aud unite with her
natural allies Of the South, as that infamy
attaches to the one, and honor is the con-
trolling principle Of the other The Con-
vention may delay-ehe Convention may
jeopardize our safety the Convention may
put to useless sacrifice many valuable lives,
but the people Of Virginia, in the strength
of that integrity and power and patriotism,
high above all Conventions, will force their
representatives to strike the blow in behal
Of that civil, religious and political liberty
which constitutes the chief glory and pri dc
of our beloved Commonwealth.