Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1861-02-15
o h4 Uinditator,
AUNMoN, va.
FRIDAY, FEB. 10, 1851.
s.. M. YosT, Editor and Proprietor
The Commissioners Convention.

The commissioners Convention.
The Convention Of Delegates from the
several States cooperating with Virginia
in the work of national preservation, was
on Tuesday organized by the unanimous
election of the Hon. John Tyler, as its
permanent President, and the Hon. s. G..
Wright, of Ohio, as Secretary.
We take pleasure in giving to our read
ers the subjoined authentic report of the ell
oquent and appropriate address delivered by
btr. Tyler en- taking the Chair:
GENTLEMEN: II fear you have commit
ted great error in appointing me to the
honorable position you have assigned me
A long separation from all deliberative bod
les, has rendered the rules Of their proceed
iings unfamiliar to me, while I should fnd
Tia my own state of health, variable and
| tickle as it is, sufficient reason to decline
the honor of being your presiding officer
But, in times like these, one has but little
option left him. ,PersJsal Considerations
should weigh sju5 lightly in the balance
The country is in danger; it is enough one
must take the place assigned him in the
great work Of reconciliation atd adjust
nlent ,..
The voice of Virginia has invited her CO.
States to meet her in council In the mi
tiation Of this Gofesnnicnt, that SAME voice
was heard and complied with, and the re-
suits of seventy odd years have fully attest
ed the wisdom of the decisions then adopted
Is the urgency of her call now less great
than it was then ! Cur godlike fathers
created; we have to preserve. They built
up through their wisdom and patriotism
monuments which have eternized their
names You have before you, gentlemen,
a task equally grand, sublime, quite as full
of glory and Immortality. You have to
snatch from ruin a great and glorious Con-
federation to preserve The Government, and
to renew and invigorate the Constitution
If you reach the height of this great occa>
SIGN, your cEiIdrs.a's Children viii rise up
and call you blessed. confess myself to
be ambitious Of sharing iu the glory of ac-
comprising this grand and magnificent re.
suit 10 re our names enrolled III the
Capitol, to be repeated by future genera:
tons with grateful applause, this is an hon
OR higher than the mountains, more endur-
ing than monumental alabaster.
Yes, Virginia's voice, as in the olden
time, has been heard. Her sister States
meet her tits day at the council board. -
Vermont is here, bringing with her the
r. fhn
memories of all her Ethan Allen, and his
demarsd for the surrender of Ticonderoga in
the name of the Great Jehovah and the A :
merican Congress. New Hampshire is
here, het fame, illustrated by memorable
annals, and still more lately as the birth
place of him who won for himself the name
of the Defender of the Constitution, and
who wrote that memorable letter to John
Taylor which has been enshrined in the
heats of his ccuntrymen. Massachusetts
is not here. Some member said she is
coming | hope so. said Mr. Tyler, and
that she will bring with her bel. daughter
Maine. did not believe it could we'll be
that the voice which in other times was SO
familiar to her ears had been. addressed to
her iu vain. Connecticut is here, and She
comes, I doubt not, in the spirit of Roger
Sherman, whose nau1e With .eYr very chill
dren has become household word, and
who was in life the embodiment of that
sound practical sense Witch BELTS the great
lawgiver and constructor Of governments.
Rhode Island, the land Of Roger Williams.
is here, one of the two last States. in her
jealousy Of tue public liberty, to give in
her adhesion to the Constitution, land among
the earliest to hasten to its rescue The
great Empire State Of New York. repre-
scented thus far but by one delegate, is ex~
pected daily in, fuller force to join i'll the
great Wcrk of healing the discontents cf the
times, and restoring the reign q, fraternal
feeling. New Jersey is also here, with the
memories of the past covering her all over.
Trenton and Princeton 1--we immortal in
story, the plains Of the last incrimsoned with
the hearts blood Of Yirginia's sous. A
motg her delegation rejoice to find gal
liant son Of the immortal signer Of the dec
laration which announced to the world that
the thirteen Provinces bad hecome thirteen
independent and sovereign States. And
here too is Delaware, the land of the Bay
ards and the Rodneys, whose soil at Bran
DIVINE was moistened by the. blood of Vir-
ginia's Youthful Monroe Here is Mary
land, whose massive columns wheeled into
lire with those Of Virginia in tie contest
for glory, and whose State house at Annap-
oils was the theatre Of a spectacle of d suo-
5essful commsrder. who, after liberating
his country, gladly unn'g3rthed his sword and
laid it down upon the altar Of that couptry.
Then comes Penhsylvania, ff5h' IL EeTo-
lutionary lore. bringing with her the death
less names Of franklin and Morris, and
trust ready to renew from the beIfr5 Of In
dependence Hall the chimes Of the old bell
which announced freedom and indepep~
dence in former days. All hail to North
C:rolina, with her Mecklenburg Declare
ton in her hand, standing erect on the
ground Of her own probity and frmness in
the cause Of the public liberty, and repre-
sented in her attributes by her Macon, and
in this assembly by her distinguished son
at no great distance from me- Four daug Oh
ters Of Virginia also cluster around the
council board on the invitation of their an
cient mother-the eldest Kentucky, whose
sons, under that intrepid warrior, Anthony
Wayne, gave freedom of settlement to the
territory of her sister Ohio Size extends
her hand daily and hourly across la d57ls
rivierc, to grasp the hand Of some one Of
kindred blood of the noble States ef Indiana
and Illinois, and Ohio, who have grown up
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