Staunton Spectator

The question is frequently asked: "What has become of the great Union party of Virginia?" In answer to this question, we say that the Union party still exists, in full force, with many valuable accessions from the ranks of those who spurned us as submissionists, tories and enemies to our Southern country.

We claim no union with that party that would break down one section to build up another; or with that Administration that would reject all honorable proposals to settle a difficulty between two sections of a Republic, and be willing to sacrifice a noble and happy country to a silly, sectional platform, erected by a few political demagogues and fanatical hypocrites, who, by unparalleled intrigue and ignoble wire-working, succeeded in elevating a miserable miscreant to the Presidency, who, after calling around him the vilest of the vile, ignores the sovereignty of States and denies the right of revolution for un-redressed wrongs.

But we claim to be a Union party under the powers that be; and we have patriotism enough to uphold and sustain that Government of which we claim to be a part, and in which we claim an equal interest with any and every other section, so long as she is worthy to hold an honorable station among the powers of the earth.--But when by intrigue, corruption and usurpation, she becomes polluted and unfit to hold a place among the civilized nations; when we find our rights invaded, our institutions in danger, our peace destroyed, and we can find no means of redress, we then claim the right of revolution; we step aside from the polluted fabric, and seek freedom, independence and peace elsewhere.

Our friends of the cotton States, whose interests are intimately connected with our own, on account of sectional wrongs and political grievances, fanatical meddling and unparalleled abuse, being thrust upon them and us for many years, and persevered in with a zeal and apparent hatred that was continually on the increase, was fit to sever the ties that bound them to the Federal Government, and seek freedom and independence within their own limits.

They invited us to join our interest with theirs in a struggle for freedom. We thought their action premature; we considered them rash; we thought proper to demand redress of our grievances at the hands of the Federal Government we used all means that wisdom could devise, or patriotic eloquence portray, to gain a listening ear and a favorable response, and while these efforts were pending we were called anything else but honest men.

While one last effort was being made by the friends of peace the response came. It was heard at Sumter! It was reiterated in the proclamation of Abraham Lincoln! It was seen in the preparations made by the Federal Government to coerce the Southern States! And that response severed the last link that bound the Union party of Virginia to the United States Government.

And now we are a Union party in the Southern Confederacy, and ever will be so long as our patriotism is appreciated, our rights respected, and the Southern Republic worthy the name she now assumes.

Where is the great Union party of Virginia? The quick response to the call to arms will answer. The appropriations of the County Courts will answer. The readiness of the people every where to give their means and best energies for the defence of the State will answer. Where are they? When the conflict comes--and come it must--the crack of the rifle and the booming cannon will answer, Here! Here!

The craven-hearted wretch who now with-holds his means and shrinks from the responsibility of sustaining Virginia in her present relations, may be worthy the name of submissionist, tory, or an enemy to our Southern country, but he is not worthy a place or a name in the great Union party of Virginia.

A Union Man.