Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1863-12-04
Farnando wood ON the war.


4 Farnando Wood ON the War.
Fernando Wood, OF New York, attende
an entertainment given by the Peace Dem
ocrats' Of Bergen county, NewsJerseY. Of
the 24th, and made speech. which possess
es the Importance only Of showing 10 nd
vance what will be his course and that o
those who concur with him in the Congress
which meets at Washington next Monday
4 The following were some Of this toast
given oh the occasion Il
The State Of Mlnois-fhe stsf IF hop,
in the west.
The State Of New Jersey-fhe only spo
OF dry laid in the deluge. ~
/ The County Of Bergen The Banner
County Of Democracy. which has not saet
nondescript as War Democrat within
its borders -
State Rights-Msy they not be forgotten
10 delirious and bloody triumph Of STATE
wrongs Z.
I The abolition Var Of Disunion-Le1
those who think it is right 60 to it, and
tthose who think tits wrong stay at home
The only Possible Remedy for Secession
and the Only Hope Of the Union-Peace
mutual concession and compromise.
"BhKssED ARE TUE PEAcEMAKEas.'
In response to toast complimentary to
himself, Mr.. Wood spoke as followss
Whatever may be the secret or avowed
grounds on which prosecution Of this war
is urged, rest assured, my friends, it leads
to result that will engulfall alike IN one
common maelstroml of destruction. I care
not whether it is prosecuted for patriotic
purposes OF nett the objects of men or of
the Government are nothing in view Of the
fact that the effect, tendency and eatastro-
phe will Of necessity be fatally disastrous. -
It is folly to pirate Of motives, however high
and ennobling they may ostensibly appear,
when the results which accrue from those
motives are destructive and debasing. It
may be as we'll said that man is justified
in jumping from an eminence, fall from
which is certain to break his neck, because
he did not design doing any injury to him.
self Whatever his intention may have been,
he perishes in the act. So with this war.
Whether we will or no, its continued pros.
ecutlon is certain destruction. There is no
such thing as rebellion under the ins:itu.
tions upon which the Government of this
country is founded. Suppose New York
chose to seoede. who dafe attempt to pre-
vent hor? Virginia had the same right as
New York War is disunion and disintegra.
tior. No man in his senses disputes this
Every man who favors it. directly or indi-
rectly, favors the dissolution of the Ameri-
can Union-promotes the establishment Of
centralized despotism, and advances the
fortunes Of the most desperate and unsoru-
pulous knaves that ever cursed country.
The advocates Of the war may we'll be GLASS
ed as the .'evil-dispored" and the simple
minded"
i Il i
The present decisions must subside. -
Like the French Revolution, the dreadful
era Of carnage and fanaticsm must run its
course and have its termination. All civil
wars founded on social or moral ideas have
produced the same excitements, been preg-
nant with the same popular outbreaks, and
eliminated as this will, in the downfall and
extinction Of the men or party which advo-
Gated them. Rely on this. History will re-
peat itself in this instance as it has in a
thousand others -our nature has not been
changed; men are now as in the days Of
Robespierre and Cromwell bloody, treach-
erous fanatical, selfish and unpatriotic.
| + X
He believed that when the president call
ed fer troops, if only one State Executive
with brain and nerve had done his duty un-
der the Constitution, the war would have
been stopped before now. With 100000
under Lee threading Washington, neither
Stanton nor Lincoln would have had cour-
! age enough to turn and face the FIRE they
would have felt in the rear. It is the duty
of the people now to refuse to give another
man or another dollar for the purpose Of
carrying on the war, A reference made
by the speaker to Mr.. Vallandigham, was
received with the most boisterous applause.
Elk Governor Price, Of New Jersey, fol-
lowed Mr.. Wood. He endorsed all the most
ultra demonstrations of Copperhead doctrin-
ism enunclated by this New York examplar.
He believed the only salvation Of the coun-
try lay in the restoration to power of the
Democracy, and he was not very scrupulous
as to the means by which the Democracy Sc
cured the necessary lease Of power.
Other speeehss were made by G. Chaun-
cy Burr. Judge Van Loom and others, and
letter from Hon. J. p. Singleton, Of Illi=
nOis, was read.
Heroisma OF the Defenders VI Fort Sum-
ter.