Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1866-10-30
From the Baltimore Transcript.
The South.

Ii the spectacle OF a great Soul, Struggling
heroically with the waves of adversely. is pleas
ing to the gods, the spectacle of great people;
transfxed with the arrows of misfortune, and
bleeding at every pore, yet uttering no excla-
nation of anguish or of anger, and neither To-
sing faith In Heaven, nor In Its own upright
ness is truly sublime. Such an exhibition.
grand and affecting to all minds which can ap-
preciate moral greatness the South now pre-
sents. IF the prosecutions of their enemies
were not completely blinded by party passions,
they would feel more reverence for the South
in its misfortunes than when. at the summit OF
its prosperity, it guided and controlled the des-
TIMES of the great nation. With communities,
as with individuals, it is only the fires ofadver
sity that reveal the true character, and prove
whether it is made of gold or dross. To such
| an ordeal has the South been subjected, and
we assert that the result has demonstrated that
it Is an essentially great people, and will be re-
| membered and admired in history as much for
the serene fortitude and noble dignity with
which it has sustained the direct calamities, as
for its brilliant craftsmanship in the period OF
It's power and influence, and for that magnif-
cent valor in battle which has extorted the ad-
miring acclamations of the world.
What the South was in the days of her for
mer greatness, we all know. 1t was she who
gave to the world it's lone Washington, the
man raised up by Heaven for the achievement
of American Independence the man whose
| wonderful energies and capacity, combined with
| the most spotless purity of purpose and ofchar-
acter, were the principal agency in the success
| full conduct of the American Revolution and
| the triumphant establishment of the greatest
Republic of modern times 1t was her Jeffer-
son who wrote the Declaration of independence :;
her Patrick Henry whose eloquent voice thrilled
| Ike .larnn blast tho hearts Of a struggling
people; her Madison, who Illuminated with his
wisdom the true principles of the American
Constitution, and her Marshall. who remains to
this day. the unapproached and unanproachable
glory of American jurisprudence. The sagacity
OF her statesmen in the national councils con
Quoted the United States on to career of prog
ress and prosperity unexampled in the records
OF nations, and the splendid genius of her SOL
diers In the field crowned with immortal chap
lets our military renown It was her Winfield
Scott, Andrew jackson, and Zachary Taylor,
who, from the SHOWS of Canada to the tropic
sands of Mexico, gave to world exhibitions of
the superior martial skill and prowess of our
countrymen to foreign enemies which it had
ever seen, and it was the consummate states
manshlp and all-embracing patriotism of her
Henry Clay which three times saved the Union
ne loved so well from the perils of division and
civil war. These, the fathers of American
greatness, were children of the sunny South, of
the great and glorious mother, at whose breast
they were nursed, on whose lap they first stood
erect, from whose lips they first learned those
lessons OF patriotism, virtue and valor which
made their country great among the nations.
and their names immortal among men.
Nor has the South contributed less to the
material than to the political and military i'm
portance of the nation The vast domain of
the teeming and productive West was given by
the South to the American Union It is no
figure OF speech, but the literal truth, she has
been the Mother not only of Statesmen, but of
States, and those States the most fertile, and
destined to become the most populous and pow
erful Of the American commonweaths The
wonderful variety and extent of the peculiar
productions of her own SOIL of cotton, rice to-
bacco, and naval stores, have laid the founda-
lions OF American commerce and contributed
by far the greater part of the revenues of the
nation. Strip from American progress and
wealth the elements which the South has con-
trlbuted, and what would remain? What would
have been the Revolution without Washington
What its growth and fortunes but for the gift
OF the South to the United States of the richest
portions OF It's territory, and the commercial,
manufacturing and national wealth derived
from the products of Southern agricultural in
dustry? Deprived of those accessories to its
greatness, the United States, fit so much as
| existed, would be fourth or fifth rate power,
without rank or respect among the nations
| All this glory of the South is past, and how
does the land sit desolate that was once so ra-
diant with benefcent power Stripped of four
| thousand millions ofproperty bereaved of three
hundred thousand of her children shut out
| from the Union which she did so much to build
up and enrich, she yet maintains a composure
and fortitude more marvellous than her proud
est achievements in the council and the field
| Despoied Of her earthly possessions, looking
back upon the most dismal blight that ever
came upon the fortunes of people, looking
| forward to the gathering of sombre clouds that
threaten her utter destruction, with earthquakes
rumbling beneath her feet, and at her heart
anguish and despair Juggling like wild beasts,
no querulous complaint drops from her lips, no
frown of Indignation or Impotence disturbs her
brow there is sadness and resignation, but not
one AFFECT glance in her heroic eye
1.-THE Niobe of nations there she stands
Childless and crownless, in her voiceless VICE.
An empty urn within her wther'd hands,
w hose holy dust was scatter'd long ago,
The Scipio's tomb contains no ashes now
The very sepulchres lie tenantless
Of their heroic dwellers dost thou flow,
Old Tiber! through a marble wilderness,
Rise with thy yellow waves and mantle her dis
tress."
The Staunton Spectator, quoting from a
letter to the Richmond Dispatch, has par
agraph about the prevailing excitement which
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