Valley Spirit

The Transcript has twice vindictively assailed Senator COWAN for opposing the expulsion of JESSE D. BRIGHT from the Senate of the United States. In its issue of the 5th inst. it said it supposed "he intended to darken his career in the Senate with the encouragement of treason;" and on the 12th it said: "Mr. COWAN has most surely dug his own grave. His political life will evidently end at the expiration of his present Senatorial term. He has positively refused, knowingly, according to his own expressions, to represent his constituents properly in the Senate of the United States. He has committed an outrage upon the old Keystone, and the Legislature should very politely request him to resign his seat, so that it can be filled by one more worthy of its honors," &c.

We care nothing for JESSE D. BRIGHT, and Senator COWAN is neither a personal nor political friend of ours. But we put in an indignant protest against the Transcript's coarse denunciation of one of the ablest and most honest representatives that Pennsylvania has for a long time had in the Senate of the United States. The man who takes a seat in that august body should discard the low partisanship that disgraces our State Legislature. This Mr. COWAN has done; and because he has done it, and sunk the partisan in the statesman, he is assailed in unmeasured terms by certain members of his own party, who have not the elevation of mind to appreciate the dignity and the justice of his official conduct.

The Transcript compares the course of Mr. WILMOT with that of Mr. COWAN, and eulogizes the former as warmly as it denounces the latter. The very quotations it makes from the debate between these two Senators of Pennsylvania, shows the rank injustice of its attack upon Mr. COWAN. When Mr. WILMOT said, in answer to Mr. COWAN's inquiry, that "he was frank to admit that if he were sitting as a juror, there are those doubts hanging about the case (of BRIGHT) that would make him hesitate to pronounce a verdict of guilty," he gave up the whole case in favor of Mr. COWAN. As a Senator sitting in judgment upon a fellow-citizen, he committed a horrible outrage by rendering a verdict which he would not have rendered if he had been sitting as a juror.

One of the most deplorable signs of these most deplorable times, is the utter disregard of law evinced by the Republican party in general. Not only do Cabinet officers exercise powers never conferred upon them by the Constitution and laws--not only do members of Congress and of the State Legislature openly proclaim their want of respect for the sacred instrument which this gigantic war is waged to maintain--but the town and township leaders of the Republican party take under their special protection the degenerate statesmen and politicians who thus trample upon and deride all that a true American holds dear.

And worse than all, when an eminent lawyer like Senator COWAN, unable and unwilling to unlearn all that he has ever learned about the Constitution and laws of his country, refuses to follow the path marked out by the blind malice of such men as SUMNER and WADE, the cry for vengeance upon him goes forth at once from mouths that but a single year ago were sounding his praises.

The Transcript, which tenderly consigns Senator COWAN to a grave of his own digging, and calls upon the Legislature to request him to resign, has not a word of condemnation for State Senator LOWRY, whose remarks on his resolutions of instruction were a burning disgrace to Pennsylvania. LOWRY, who knew very well that his views on legal and constitutional questions were not worth a rusty nail in comparison with COWAN's, appealed to the mob spirit of the North and declared that there was "too much disposition shown to conduct this war on legal and constitutional grounds." For saying less than this, Democrats have been whisked off to forts and other military prisons, on the unlawful order of a Cabinet member or military officer, with the full approval of the Transcript and other Republican journals.

It is such men as these political gods of the Transcript, WILMOT and LOWRY, who have brought the country to the verge of ruin. It is such men as COWAN who will yet save her, if she is not beyond the reach of salvation. There is not now in the whole country a man who has done more than DAVID WILMOT to estrange and imbroil the two sections of the Union. From the day when he offered his celebrated proviso in Congress, fourteen or fifteen years ago, the country has known no peace on the slavery question. That firebrand, wantonly lighted in the Capitol of the nation, has gone on burning with ever increasing fury, till it has enveloped the whole country in the frightful conflagration we are now struggling to suppress. LOWRY is but another WILMOT on a smaller scale. He has less ability, but even more malice. He has no capability for doing good in any sphere of life, and under ordinary circumstances he could do but little harm; but he is a dangerous light to follow in times like these, and the Transcript incurs a heavy responsibility by holding him up as a guide to the public.

Senator COWAN's general course in the Senate, so far as it has attracted our attention, has been that of an able, resolute, safe and honest man. The Transcript will find itself mistaken in predicting that he has dug his grave. It may cover him with abuse and slaver WILMOT with praise, but the honest people of patriotic old Pennsylvania will have no difficulty in distinguishing between the enlightened statesman and the mischievous demagogue. As long as EDGAR COWAN stands by the Constitution, Pennsylvania will stand by him--for it is not the sentiment of this glorious old State that the Constitution can be saved only by being violated.

Exaggerated reports of sickness prevailing in this place have been circulated in some parts of the county. There is not a word of truth in these reports. Our town was never in a more healthy condition. Two or three cases of Varioloid have occurred but there are no fears entertained of the disease spreading and no alarm is felt about it.

CAMP WOOD, 77th Reg't,
P. V., Munfordville KY.,
February 10, 1862

MR. EDITOR: Having seen a request for communications from the Army, I will try to give you a few items that perhaps may be acceptable to some of your readers although you cannot expect much from a poor soldier. There has been nothing exciting here in this division of the army since that famous communication to the Cincinnati Gazette from this place. The Pennsylvania boys of this Reg't were very much pleased with your notice of it in the Valley Spirit. All we ask is a chance at the enemy and we will try to earn our laurels. I saw an extract from a letter from this Reg't, in your paper in regard to rations issued to this Reg't which I was sorry to see. The writer carried the idea that we were not very well provided for. I think this Reg't has been well supplied with provisions with one or two exceptions. When the bridge over the Rolling Fork River was washed away we lived on a very short allowance for a few days. We have had once or twice some crackers that were rather hard but they were an exception. In fact I can say that we have much better living than I expected when I entered the service. We of course do not fare as well in regard to delicacies from our friends as we would if encamped near home, which I presume is better for us, as I have noticed whenever the boys have received boxes from home they are apt to get on the sick list. There is no prospect of a forward movement here at present, but we never know before an order comes. We are all in hopes to see a forward movement soon. Mr. EDITOR if our friends at home would only write us letters oftener and give us all the home news they would often raise our drooping spirits. If this should prove acceptable you may hear from the Bloody 77th again.

CORPORAL