Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1865-08-15
wATCHmAN, WHAT OF THE NIGHT (.

WATCHMAN, WHAT OF THE NIGHT 2
Some person signing himself Lawson, !" writing
from Virginia, to the Editor of the New York
News, of August 5, talks very boldly about the
situation
TO the Editor Of the New York News
To you, MIR. Editor, every Southern eye is di-
rected for the first promise of returning day. For
years back, faithful among the faithless you have
stood the sentinel upon the watchtower of liberty,
almost solitary and alone, brave, constant and
true contending for those great principles of
stitutional liberty guaranteed to US by the Con-
stitution of the Republic.
Has the problem, indeed, been solved, and man
been found incapable Of self-governments Are
your people Wiling to accept the experiment al
ready made as conclusive evidence of their inca
pacity and quietly acquiesce in the subversi of
their Government by the substitution of despo-
tism, which has trampled under foot the last yes
tige of civil hberty2 God forbid This is what
we of the South or at least of Virginia are anx-
ious to know; for, helpless as we are, overrun by
hireling mercenaries from every land, with our
homes in ruins onr State desolate wilderness,
we tell you fairly and squarely, we intend no such
base submission at the CALLING chains of an arro-
CANT despotic power-not that we counsel or pro-
pose armed resistance to the Government but we
will contend for every right secured to us by the
Constitution. For four long, bloody, cruel years
we have resisted not the United States alone, but
the world in arms. We have been overwhelmed
kby the mighty hosts from the four corners of the
ptearth, and we submit to the necessity of an en-
brace from those whose hands are red with the
blood of our children, and faces black with the
smoke from our desolate hearth-stones. Truly,
this is louing embrace. Think you we accept it
from choice No thousand times no! Weac-
doof ],
Welding absolute necessity. That there are with
u.s. as with you, base, cowardly, craven, heartless
creatures who will crawl in the filth and mire on
all fours to the foot of powerfawn fatter, whine,
lick the hand that smites them, and show the sup
pie hinges of the knee, that thrift may follow
fawning' is too true; but thank God they are few
and impotent for harm.
The blood of Washington, Henry, Madison, Ma
son, Marshall. and Randolph still flows in our
veins and will fire brains long as our rights
and liberties are trampled upon. We intend to
lay fast hold upon that Constitution which they
have spurned, rejected and divided, (but thrust
upon us), as the sheet anchor of our safety Yes.
this sIeague with death and covenant with help'
we will, in good faith, sustain, uphold and defend,
contendng for every provision of it to the letter,
and denouncing all traitors who will violate it.
Again we ask, what do you propose to do in the
North? Have we no friends there to join with
us in this great political contest to bring back the
Government to the better and purer days of the
Republic? If not wo betide the nation Are the
Democrats of the North content with this condi-
ton of affars2 Is this the love feast to which we
have been invited Is this the "great, glorious,
freest, best Government the world ever 2" If
so, ssgood Lord deliver u.s." With large standing
armies in nearly every State to overawe peaceabe
people and control the elections, with the writ of
habeas corpus suspended, and the right of trial by
fair impartial jury, denied us; many of our best
men incarcerated in dungeons without just or
sufficient cause], all in a time of profound peace
at time, too, when armed resistance to the Gov
ernment is neither feared nor dreamed CT in
fact, when there can be no shadow of excuse for
it.
With such condition of things, what are we
to hope for or expect? Submission absolute a6-
5ect slavish Submission. Again we say, God forbid
What say you, We freemen of the North--or are
ye all slaves-you who have followed the immor-
tai Jackson and Clay, Pierce and Fillmore-have
you ground arms and surrendered to Hale, Ham
lin, Chase, Nade and the rest Of that pestlential
crew of fanatical traitors who have brought all
this bitter misery and woe upon our once happy
country Shame, shame, lasting shame upon
your manhood. Come forth to the battle; rescue
the old ship; let God and our native land be our
war cry. Then our faithful ssWatchman'' can give
back for answer, HAll's we'll"
Let the press of the country, the statesmen and
patriots, the good and true everywhere, North and
South "awake from the mighty lethargv in which
they lie bound-shake off the dewdrops that gilt
ter upon their garments-arouse from this igno-
BILE supineness," and save this great nation from
a fate otherwise inevitable
Virginia, Aug l, 1865. LAWSON.
FoRD'S THEATRE.-Workn are now