Valley Spirit

The united effort of the loyal men of the nation is needed to meet and suppress this Rebellion. What tends to preserve the Union is salvation to the country, but what tends to break in upon it, is fraught with danger! The sole common bond of the Union is the Constitution.

If we look at the border line of this terrible struggle--to Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri, there is really but one opinion among the Union men. They ask nothing of the General Government but fidelity to the national compact; absolutely nothing but what every United States officer is sworn to observe. Eighty thousand men in the field; the Home Guard larger still, to keep at bay the secession tiger that prowls about their homes; the language of their Representatives and Senators in Congress--all attest the sincerity of their unionism. All speak of a patriotism worthy of the olden time; and implore an infatuated radical majority, in the name of all that is dear to country, to desist from the atrocious and bloody revolutionary programme of emancipating the four millions of slaves at the point of the bayonet; but, in good faith, to stand solidly by the Constitution, and thus restore the Union as it was: that is, revive the social, commercial, religious, political intercourse that endeared our several political communities in the sacred relations of one nation.

But the radicals start up and insult common sense by representing a return to this Union as it was, as a restoration of Jeff. Davis and his compeers to power; and, in promoting their one scheme of emancipation, make nothing of overriding Constitutional barriers. If there be one principle settled distinctly by the Constitution, it is that to the States exclusively belong the determination of their local institutions. All this, however, goes for nothing with the radicals. They seem to care nothing for fundamentals. Now, of themselves, they are of little account. But the Secessionists at the South, at this hour get hold of this Abolition stuff, and reproduce it in their newspapers and speeches, falsely magnify it, charge it on the whole north, and thus succeed in arraying the Southern people in solid phalanx against what they term the "Abolition Lincolns." This is the constant testimony from the South. The last evidence is from a relative of a loyal Union man who has been in South Carolina all through the Rebellion, a son of Alderman Wilson, of Brooklyn, New York. His words are: "the Abolition policy of Congress does more to embitter the feelings of the Southerners towards the North than all the military expeditions that could be fitted out," and he relates how now the proclamations of Fremont, Hunter and Phelps, and the articles in the New York Tribune, are used to inflame the public mind. The people have become desperate. With them it is a matter of life and death. Other witnesses say the same thing. It is the constant object of the rebel leaders to hold up the idea that this is an Abolition war, and it seems to be the constant object of the radicals to keep them well supplied with detestable material to use as proof. If it was their object to create two confederacies, they could not work more effectually to do it than they are now doing.

Now, the remedy for all this is only in the people and through the ballot-box. It is no time for any other party than the party of the country, of the Union and the Constitution; and at this time all who override it, are unworthy of confidence. The good and true men of the country must unite against the reckless demagogues who seek to destroy confidence in all but Abolition Generals, like Fremont, and the abolition plan of emancipation; and must insist that their public servants, sinking the negro question, shall address themselves to the sole work of meeting and suppressing this rebellion. Before this gigantic work, how pitiful appear the questions of a race of mere shallow demagogues! Look at Sumner, blating out about Military Governors before he ever knew the facts; look at Lovejoy, with the negro eternally on his lips; look at the set about the army, who start such pitiful issues as that about the White House which Gen. McClellan has so scorchingly rebuked. What can be worse than the partizan caucus and the partizan schemes of the radical members of Congress? What can be worse than the partizan appeals of such portions of the Republican press as represented by the New York Tribune and the Chicago Tribune? It is enough to say that such schemes as Sumner doggedly presents in the Senate, and the presses that go with him continue to urge, tend directly to divide the loyal men, paralyze recruiting, and thus do detriment to the sacred cause of the country.

Let all true Patriots pledge themselves anew to stand by the Constitution and the Union, and to direct their utmost efforts to the preservation of the one, inviolate, and to the restoration of the other just as the statesmen and heroes of the Revolution transmitted it to us. This is a noble work, and appeals to the most exalted feelings that can move man to effort. To strive for this result by all the means in the power of the Government--by the war power as well as that of the Legislature--is one thing; to inaugurate revolutionary measures for which there is no warrant in the Constitution, is quite another matter. The one object is to restore, and bring back peace, fraternity and prosperity; the other is to destroy, and inaugurate interminable civil war.

We visited, on Friday last, the Associate Reformed Church, which is occupied during the week by the Ladies Aid Society. We found the room pretty well filled with ladies, engaged in the noble, patriotic and christian duty of providing clothing, and other comforts, for our sick and wounded soldiers. We might say much in praise of our ladies, but this is an age in which noble deeds bring their own reward. We will say this much, however, the ladies of Chambersburg will compare with any in existence, in their efforts to provide for the wants, and relieve the suffering of our sick and wounded in the army. They have enlisted in the good cause their nimble fingers and their noble, warm and patriotic hearts with a will. All honor then to our ladies who have thus nobly evinced their patriotism and vindicated that judgment which the poet has pronounced upon their sex, and which the world has applauded.

"When pain and anguish wring the brow,

A ministering angel thou."

The call for nine-months volunteers is being responded to in this county with patriotic alacrity. The people of the towns throughout the county are holding War Meetings and using every means to encourage enlistments. The necessity for reinforcing our army is felt, and appreciated, by every man in the county, for should this rebellion be allowed to go on much longer our neighborhood cannot escape the horrors of war if the threats of the rebels mean anything. There are scores of men ready and willing, in every section of the county, to serve their country but they are waiting to be asked. That is not the way to show their patriotism--they must come forward voluntarily at the tap of the drum.