The Abingdon Virginian. [volume] (Abingdon [Va.]) 1849-1883, 1862-10-24

to pursue our path to happiness, while they
1 IN peace pursue theirs.
We are, however, debarred from the re-
| neWal OF former proposals for peace, because
| the relentless spirit that actuates the Govern
ment at Washington leaves us no reason to
expect that they would be received with the
respect naturally due by nations IN their in
| tercourse, whether in. peace or war. 1t Is un-
der these circumstances that we are driven to
protect our own country by transferring the
seat OF war to that of an enemy who pursues
us with an implacable and apparently aimless
hostility. If the war must continue, its
theatre must be changed, and with it the poll
| cy that has heretofore kept us, on the defen-
sire on our soil. So far, it is only our fields
that have been laid waste, our people killed,
our homes made desolate, and cur frontiers
ravaged by rapine and murder. The sacred
| right of .seifdefence demands that henceforth
/ some Of the Consequences of the war shall
| fall upon those who persist in their refusal to
make peace. With the people Of the North
west rests the power to put an end to the IN
| vasion of their homes; for, if unable to pre-
vail upon the Government of the United
States to conclude a general peace, their own
state governments, in the exercise Of their
| sovereignty, can secure immunity from the
! desolating effects of warfare on their soil, by
| separate treaty Of peace which our Govern
1 ment viii be ready to conclude on the most
just and liberal basis. s, -
The responsibility then rests with you the
people of the Northwest, of continuing an
unjust and aggressive warfare. upon the peo-
I pie of the Confederate States. And in the
name of reason and humanity, I call upon
you to. pause and reflect what cause of quar-
rel SO bloody have you against these States,
| and what are you to gain bysit? Nature has
set her seal upon these States, and marked
them out to be your friends and allies. She
has bound them to you by all the ties of
geographical eontiguity andconfornation, and
the great mutual interests of commerce and
productions. When the passions Of this un-
| natural war shall have. subsidized, and reason
resumes her sway, a community OF interest
will force commercial and social coalition be-
tween the grain and stock growing States of
the Northwest and the cotton, tobacco and
sugar regionsrof the South. The Mississip-
| pi river is a grand artery Of their mutual
national lives, waieh men cannot sever. and
which never ought to have been suffered to
Ibe disturbed by the antagonisnis, the cupidi-
! ty and thes bigotry of New England and the
East. tits from the East that have come the
germs of this bloody, and most unnatural
strife.
I 1t is from the f,eddlesome, grasping and
| fanatical disposition of the same people who
| have imposed, upon you and US alike those
tariffs, internal improvement, and fishing
| bounty laws whereby we have been taxed for
their ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. It is from the East
that win comet tax gatherer to collect from
you the mighty debt which is being amassed
mountain high for the purpose Of running
| your best customers and natural friends
When this war ends the same antagonism of
interest, policy and feeling which have been
pressed upon. Us from the East and forced us
| from political union, when we had ceased
| to find safety for our, interest or respect for
our rights, viii bear down upon you and
| separate you from people whose traditional
policy it is to live by their wits upon the labor
| of their neighborsi Meantime, you are be-
| ing used by them to fight the battle of eman-
cipation-a battle which, if successful, des-
| troys your prosperity, and with it your best
| markets to buy and sell. Our mutual depen-
dence is the work of the Creator. With our
| peculiar productions, convertible into gold, we
| should in a state of peace, draw from you
| largely the products Of your labor.
L
| In US of the South, you will find rich and
! willing customers; in the East you must con-
| front rivals in productions and trade, and the
tax gatherer in all the forms Of partial legis-
| laticn. You are blindly following abolition
ism to this end, while they are nicely calcuIa.
ting the gain of Obtaining your trade on terms
I that would impoyerish your country. You
say you are fighting for the free navigation Of
the Mississippi. It is yours freely, and has
/ always been. without striking blow. You
say yon are fighting to maintain the Onion
That Union is a thing of the past. "A Union
of consent Yves the only Union ever worth a
drop of blood, When force came to be sub
stituted for consent. the casket was broken
and the constitutional Jewel of your patriotic
alteration was forever gone.
come, then, to you with the olive branch
of peace, and offer. it to your acceptance in
the name of memories of the past and the
ties Of the present and future. With you re-
main the responsibility and option of con-
tinuing cruel and wasting war, which can
only end after still greater sacrifices in such
treaty Of peace as we now offer; or of pre-
serving the blessings of peace by the simple
abandonment of the design Of subjugating a
people over whom no right Of. dominion has
been conferred on you by God or man.
BRAxroN BRAGG, Gent G. S. Army.
From the Mobile Advertiser and Register.
r u,s. j.