Staunton Spectator

The Boston Journal recently published a statement to the effect that several Yankee shoemakers, who had been employed in Staunton, Va., were driven away from the place after being imprisoned, et. Mr. G. S. Raymond, late foreman of the Staunton Shoe Factory, who is also a New Englander, has the honor and moral courage to refute this gratuitous slander. He publishes a card in the Journal, in which he says that the party referred to "were not interfered with in any manner at Staunton, but were perfectly free to go away or remain, as they chose." It seems that they preferred to leave, and went "through the entire route without any molestation whatever." Mr. Raymond closes his card by saying:

I have to advise the friends of those remaining there that they need have no fear regarding their safety--they are free to remain or leave, as they choose. The probability is that they will leave, as they have a perfectly free route from Staunton to the Pennsylvania line by stages.

"Justice to the honorable gentlemen of the Staunton Shoe Company, and justice to the good people of Staunton generally, demands of me these statements."

If Lincoln has any regard for the most positive pledge given by him in the midst of the imposing ceremonies of inauguration, and under the solemn sanction of that "oath" which he speaks of as being "recorded in Heaven," there will be "no invasion" of our State beyond the localities of the property heretofore held by the United States Government, and "no using of force against or among the people anywhere."

It will thus be seen that he gave the most positive assurance, under the most solemn circumstances, that the "power confided" to him would not be used to any degree "beyond what may be necessary to hold, occupy and possess the property and places belonging to the Government," and that beyond this there would be "no invasion--no using of force against or among the people anywhere." If, in violation of this pledge, he should send troops into the interior of the State, he would show that he is a falsifier in whom the truth cannot be found, and that he has a poor chance, unless a radical change takes place, even to see the record of his "oath in heaven."

The Consecrated remains of Gen. Washington have been removed from Mr. Vernon to Lexington, to prevent them from being desecrated by the hyena-like Vandals of the North.

"Virginius," the Charleston Correspondent of the Richmond Dispatch, aims some very severe, though well-deserved, blows at those miserly and contracted souls who would speculate upon the present dire necessities of the people by demanding exorbitant prices for the necessaries of life. The following is an extract from the letter of that correspondent:

"We have in this city set very good examples to the world of disinterested patriotism, but I begin to hear occasionally that some "hoarse voice" that was heard in revolutionary times in Hanover county, as described by Wirt in one of Patrick Henry's speeches against an unprincipled speculator--"Beef, beef, beef." Provisions in our city all at once popped up 50 per cent.--Hams now sell at 20 cents, sides 17 cents, coffee 18 1/2 to 20 cents, flour $10.50 to $12.50, and butter 50 cents. In most instances these provisions were held by Yankee agents, here, and in some instances by natives, but the mark will be as indelibly fixed upon them for all time as that put upon the first murderer, Cain, by the finger of God Almighty, and right that it should be.

In times like these, no man with a soul will speculate upon his neighbor and his people, and he who does it ought to be made to feel the weight of public odium and disapproval.

One of the most melancholy features of the horrible and bloody strife into which this country is about to be involved consists in the fact that the very best portion of the population of the South will be required to meet in mortal combat, in great part, the very worst population of the North. Whenever the South shall lose a soldier, it will lose a valuable citizen, whose loss will be sensibly felt, whereas the North would be benefitted if a large portion of its soldiers would never return from the battle-field. The flower of Southern honor and chivalry will cross swords with rowdies, cut-throats and burglars from the corrupt cesspools of Northern cities.--the South sends into the field honorable, honest, moral and virtuous soldiers, the North such desperadoes, and dangerous men as she is afraid to keep at home. As an illustration of the spirit of our people, and the kind of men who are volunteering their services to the State, we will mention the fast that a number of Minsters of the Gospel who are distinguished for talents, cultivation, eloquence and piety, have exchanged the "sacred desk" for the soldier's tent.

The Rev. Dr. B. M. Smith and Rev. Dr. R. L. Dabney, Professors of the "Union Theological Seminary," Rev. Dr. Moses oge, Pastor of the 2nd Presbyterian Church in Richmond city, and Rev. Dr. Pendleton, Rector of the Episcopal Church in Lexington, all of whom are well known in this county, have connected themselves with volunteer companies. Dr. Pendleton is now Captain of an Artillery Company in Lexington, being elected to supply the vacancy caused by the promotion of Capt. McCausland to the post of lieutenant Colonel of Volunteers. As Dr. Pendleton is a graduate of West Point, and has served several years in the army, he will no doubt make a good and efficient officer.--Though the conflict may be terrible, we do no doubt that, in time, the Northern "Apollyon" will succumb to the Southern "Christian," and that our brave soldiery who go forth clad in the panoply of a just cause, will return with their banners--though "tattered and torn"--wreathed with the laurels of victory.

The following comes from adopted citizens of Charleston, and is well endorsed:

Fellow-Countrymen:--Being impressed with the first and great duty which we owe to the land of our adoption in these its present difficulties, we are carrying out measures for organizing a Confederate Irish Regiment, for the service of the Southern States. This, we must admit, is expected from us. Let us take up the cause of an honorable, just and upright people. They never interfered with our religious institutions, a subject which our friends of Massachusetts must have forgotten very soon; or is it possible that the burning of the Charlestown Convent did not make an impression, and open their eyes to the true character of their hightened [sic] Puritanic leaders? Although Know-Nothingism crept into a few sections of the Southern States from the hot-beds of the North, it was crushed in its embryo by our noble and chivalric people, who are too exalted to lend themselves to the encouragement of any doctrine that would have such direful effects on the prospects of their adopted fellow-citizens.

No man was ever persecuted in the South on account of his religious belief. And do our countrymen at the North forget how eager their neighbors were in publishing and circulating books detailing disgusting lies about escaped nuns for the purpose of arousing the feelings of the Prostestant [sic] sects against the Catholics? We appeal to you for your decision in favor of the Southern cause, and also for the justification of the position we are about assuming in standing manfully by it.

Strange scenes are being developed every day. There is one of the exiled sons of Ireland who was received all through the Southern States (as only a noble and generous people know how)--making preparations to march alongside of John Bull, heart and hand, to subjugate the very people who conferred on him the greatest encomiums, and had his name enrolled as an honorary member of their societies, and denominated military companies in respect to him. But is this to continue? No. Never again shall the name of Thomas Francis Meagher be united with any of our Southern institutions. We say, let them come, and learn that the foreigners of the Southern States have hearts as true as their steel in maintaining the rights and independence of the South.

We therefore submit to you a plan for organizing our regiment. There are a great many of our countrymen already enlisted in the service of the Southern Confederacy, and hence our inability to raise a regiment immediately here,--We have appealed to Georgia. The prospects are promising, and it naturally struck us that our countrymen in Virginia would be anxious to participate in the movement. If so, we will appoint place of rendezvous as soon as the undertaking is sufficiently matured.

For further information, address

Many Irishmen,
Key-Box No. 5, Charleston, S. C.

It is said a good many persons in this county will vote against the secession of Virginia; a report which I can hardly credit. I have been as strong a Union man as any one, perhaps, in the county, but believing, as I now do, that the last hope for a reconstruction of the Union on fair and honorable terms has fled, and that it is utterly impossible for the North and the South to live together in peace, I have come to the conclusion to vote for secession. Until within a few days, I thought I would not vote at all; but learning from various Northern newspapers the fiendish feeling that is exhibited by the whole North towards us of the South, I shall now go with all my heart and soul for the South. How anyone after reading the editorials of many of the leading papers published at the North, can vote against secession, or even not vote at all, I cannot imagine. Is it not the threatened policy of the North to invade our State and take from us by brute force, our lands, our houses, and all that we possess, and divide it among themselves? Their cry is "booty and beauty," which means, in plain English, as I understand it, to steal our lands from us, and ravish our females. Any one that doubts can get the newspapers and read for themselves.

And now I would ask, in conclusion, brave men of old Augusta, can you, will you, stand this? Rather, will you not defend your mothers, your wives, your daughters, and your sisters, to the very death. Then, let all come to the polls, and show the North that we have not a man amongst us who, in any way whatever, is willing to give the faintest shadow of a hope that he is not true to the South.

AUGUSTA.