The mountain Democrat., 1863-02-07
Frcm the CIneianah EnQuirer.
AN EX.SEEATOR'S DREAM.


Restless and i'll at ease, for hours
could not sleep. For hours Llaid specu-
lating upon the cause and probable con-
equenceS-immediate and remote-of
the great civil war. Might it not have
been avertedH Might | not by giving
tny influence in favor of Cancellation and
compromise, have maintained the peace
and integrity of the Union? l once
thought Of earnestly uniting with tile
venerable Crittendcn, in a policy Of friend
| " and liberal cSlSpromise. Was it my
better angel prompting the to thisf Alasl
= t>s-2 ,,St riseDsarr" ,y.y'c'F from the
letters of party which had contributed
s0much to create. Well, this is past
Can the South ultimately vindicate its in.
dependence: think not, and yet all my
calculations as TO its power and resources
have been falacious. But suppose it
! subjugated. What then? Can the old
Union be re-instatcd? Can the deadly
animOsity between the sections be- ap-
pcascd? Can State rights, free, institu.
tons and popular liberty survive the
shock? Will centrnlization and military
despotiSm succeed? 1t is evident that
the war and the action Of Congress and
the President have cXtinguished nearly
all of the UHinn elements in the seeded
States How then are they to be held p
By the sword alone? This would not be
the old Union Of consenling and coequal
States, but the dead body without the
soul. And the negro-the hobby on
which we rode into power what is to
become of him? We cannot separate
and coloniZe and races SO distinct cannot
live together on terms Of equality, this is
certain. Will not the superior race per-
ish and die out? May not the negro
hereafter say, "Our protesting friends
have destroyed u.s.? once maintained
in studied lecture that peace, prosperity,
freedom might be preserved lin the event
of separation) IN each Confederacy. An
opposite opinion is "expedient" now.
IIarrassed by reflections of this kind, I
fell into a disturbed sleep, and had
dream intensely vivid and terrible.
A mighty spectral host, which no man
could number, loomed up before me, and
a deep, mournful voice from the midst
said" We are the souls of those slain in
battle, or dying in hospitals, from every
State and county and city and town in
this great country. No longer deluded
by passion and prejudice, we now know
that if you had given your influence in
favor OF peace aud cancellation, we might
have been enjoying life in tranquil and
happy country. When Douglas warned,
when Crttenden entreatcd, when Davis,
ToorRbS and others implored you to allay
the afprehensionS Of the South by some
reasonable guarantees, you stood Obsti-
nately on your party platform ndrefnsed.
lIeartless man, behold the ruin which has
followed, and which is but the beginning
OF the end !" The shadowy host vanished,
and, like the shifting scenes in a gloomy
panorama, myriads of women andchii-
dren passed before my sight, weeping and
wailing for their lost ones, and, according
to their latitude, ascribing their misery
and bercavementS to the demon Of Adolf.
ton or Secession. Again change, and
beheld vast desolated regions of the South
burned towns, and villages, and plaRta-
tions, among which wandered gray haired
men, and women and children, sending up
to heaven walls Of agony and cries for
vengeance on the destroyer. An old man
in the foreground spoke, in broken ac-
cents, and said, &" Behold your work +
viii these ever affiliate with their op-
preSsors? Scott warned you of the hor-
rors aud consequences Of war, while Holt,
with seductive sophistry, told the country
it was pretty pastime, which would not
ruffle flower or bruise blade of grass.
All this ruin you might have prevented,
had you and your party sought peace and
Union by fair and Christian means"
Another change-and bcheld in the
diStancc--as something approaching but
not yet accomplished, the horrors Of SER
vile surrection-townS and farm. houses
in famcs-old men ana women and chill
Grcn flying frantic, and remorSelessly
butcbered by in>urgent slaves, who, in
turn, were visited by swift destruction
and slaughtered by hundreds Of thous-
andS.
Another change came DER the spirit OF
my dream, and three august personages
stood before me, whose countenanceS, full
of sorrow and rebuke, filled me with
shame and terror. The first--in the thrill
ing tones, which, in other days, had al
! layed diSSenSiOn and saved the Union
spoke and said:
"MGn man. selfish and ambitious
with great head, but n heart Of stone !
did not warn you often, and especially
in my letter to Cotton, that that agitation
to which you, more than any other, have
given efficacy and success, would produce
all the ruin you have witnessed and the
final overthrow of our beloved free inSti-
tutions -
The second parsonage, with stem as
pect and commanding voice, said
"You have failed to cherish and helped
to destroy glorious Union, to the pres
ervation Of which, in the field and conn
Gil, devoted my life. When yon and
your party assumed the position that the
day of compromise had passed, the funeral
knel of the Union sounded. When South
Carolina nuliilied in regard to the Tariff,
a crime not greater than the notification
Of the Fugitive slave Law by many North
ern StatcS-when South Carolina thus
violated her constitutional obligations
while prepared TO enf.rce the laws, yet
| anxiously sought to settle the difficulty
by peaceful means. Though but little
sympathy was felt for the crring State, yet
it was justly feared that conflict in arns
with her would enlist other States in her
behalf, and destroy Union depending on
the consent and love of the people.
urged eminent men from other States tO
visit her-to request her to forbear-to
rctrace her steps--and to assure her that
justice should be done to her in the mat
ter of the Tariff--to the modification oi
which gave the full influence Of my high
position. thought conciliatior and com