Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1861-01-18
For the V1ndlcdtor.
To the People Of Augusta,
Jan Is, 1861.

IettOD CtttIeHS I'm Tue 4ln OaV Oh
February next, you will be called upon tc
elect three delegates to represent you in a
State Convention. respectfully announce
myself candidate to represent you, in part,
in that body. Under ordinary circumstan
ces, relying upon your knowledge of my
views aud opinions so often expressed in
public addresses and discussions would be
content to submit any pretension [ might
have to your sufrages, in simple announce
ment Of candidacy. But in view of the a.
farming condition of public affairs which has
induced this call Of Convention to embody
the sovereignty of the State, and pass upon
questions OF the gravest and most vital i'm
portance to the people, and of the short Pc
riod which is to intervene before the cleo
ton of delegates takes place, deem it a.
like due to you and myself, that [ should
briefly address you, in order that there may
be no misunderstanding Of the position I
should assume if honored by an election at
your hands.
That this is terrible crisis in our histoA
~, has already been felt and appreciated by
every Intelligent citizen Of Augusta Mad
these States, and the wise institutions franz
ed by our revolutionary ancestry, under
which we have grown to be one of the great
est and most prosperous nations upon the
globe, are not only threatened, but to some
extent have already been destroyed. Utter
destruction Of the Confederacy anarchy and
civil war, with all their untold horrors, stare
us in the face.
It was right, then, in my opinion, for the
Legislature to appeal to the original fount
of power the people-to assemble, through
their representatives, in Convention. and
devise means, if possible, to avert this dire
calamity, and if not possible to avert it, to
mitigate and assuage its horrors, and at least
save the honor of our good old Common
wealth.
Already four of our sister States of the
South, smarting under the grievous wrongs
inflicted upon the slavehoiding States by a
sectional and fanatical majority in the So
called Free States. have declared their con-
nection with the United States dissolved
Call this Secession or Revolution, or by
what name you please, ecen if warranted by
the language and spirit of our Federal com
pact, an attempt to achip them back into
the Union would result in the certain and
irretrievable destruction of the Federal Gov
ernment, or worse-the provincializing Of
the hitherto equal States Of the South, and
the sacrifice of the institutions upon which
our social relations are based. But deny
utterly the right of the General Government
ciple and policy, will strenuously and Wig
orously, at all times and in all places, re-
sist the coercion of seeding or revolu-
tonizing state by the Federal Govern
ment.
am fully convinced that in this crisis,
Virginia, by assuming firm, temperate,
conservative aud decided stand may accom-
plish much--I sincerely trust the security
Of our rights in the Union-I confidently
hope the prevention of civil war.
My opinion is. that the State Convention
should, with the gravity and seriousness
beftting the occasion, consider and distinct
ly point out the grievances to which we
have been subjected and with the calmness,
dignity and decision of true men, repre-
senGlnS d CONSTITUENCY VI lIeeiheH, Qemauu
a redress of them, aud a guaranty, by a.
mendments to the Federal Constitution, of
their rights in the future. This guaranty
| I would insist should be so ample. as not
only to prevent the question of African sla-
very ever again being introduced into the
Congress of the y. S., but as TO secure, ESQ
far as human foresight can do) the equality
of the States in the Union for all time.
The Convention should take measures to
bring the slave-holding States into Gen
eral Convention, to which their ultimatum
should be presented, with view to SUBJ
hitting it to the non slaveholding States as
basis for the reconstruction and perpetu-
afion Of the Union. Should such a Conven.
ton Of the Border and Southern States be
convened. as | doubt not. at the instance Of
Virginia. it would be. and the proposed Con-
venton Of seeding States at Montgomery
postponed, have every confidence that
such an ultimatum as Virginia would pre-
sent would prove acceptable to the Slave
States.
Upon the submission Of a proposition such
as indicated, to TIE people of the North, I
ftrusk NOW that thew have henome satisfied