Staunton Spectator

The Richmond Dispatch says that there never has been an hour from the beginning of this contest when a determination as profound has animated the souls of the Southern people. They can die, and they can die with dignity and glory, but they will never live to be slaves. In this sublime resolution they have rendered their subjugation an impossibility. Such a people cannot be conquered. The Yankee shall not take our country from us, our homes, our liberty, our farms, our wives and children, our honor. They shall not make us slaves, and above all, slaves to the meanest, the most rapacious, and most cruel of mankind.

Monterey, Va.
March 3rd, 1862.

Mr. Editor: The time is past, in my humble opinion, when our army of recruits should have entered the field. Why should we, or how can we lie at home listless and inactive, when multiplied vandal hordes are approaching and menacing our homes and firesides? Our army is still diminishing daily by furloughs and going home, and on the contrary the Federal army is filling up to overwhelming numbers, and our army still at home! Why this delay? The old adage, "delay is dangerous," is no longer applicable to us. Delay to us is actual destruction. We have men enough, if we just had them out now. Now is the time we should rally. We know we must fight, and we must fight now or forever hold our peace. I have confidence in our government, and our officers, civil and military, but I must think them too slow. Our present volunteers are going to re-enlist, and many, very many of them have, but they look for and expect help from home, and think they should come out to assist in the good work. We would like to see Gen'l Edward Johnson on Alleghany strongly reinforced, and that position held against all opposition. The enemy has been reinforced on Cheat; reliable informants say, with 15,000 men. And we should by all means hold them in check and allow them to come no further. We expect to gain our independence, and to do it, not by folding our arms in ease, but by fighting, and if needs be, by sacrificing our lives on the altar of our country. Our recent reverses should not discourage us, and will not discourage the truly brave, but nerve them to still more desperate efforts.

The darkest gloom of the old revolution of '76 was in the campaign immediately preceding the dawn of victory and success, when the shackles of tyranny were burst asunder.

The darkest hours of the church have always been just before the dawn of a glorious revival of religion. And the deepest and darkest gloom of the soul is the immediate precursor of its transition from the wrath of God to his mercy.

We have another ravaging and ruthless foe to oppose, and that is liquor. When will the proper authorities stop the tremendous consumption of grain in the distilleries, and thereby save the grain, and instill new life into our army? Since I have been in the service I have seen youths as it were fresh from the endearing circles of home, and warm from their mother's bosom, staggering and reeling and swearing, under the influence of poisoned drugs. None need argue the necessity of its use, or allege its medical virtues, for I am happy to say there are some who totally abstain from the demon, and who are living witness of its uselessness and evil.

C.C.

MR. EDITOR: I have understood that great dissatisfaction exists among those who are liable to be drafted on account of the speculators. I am free to admit that there is too much truth in it. In times like the present, all inordinate desires to amass a fortune should be abandoned until we obtain our independence. We are all deeply interested in this struggle in which we are now engaged; and it requires the united efforts of both rich and poor, for what effects one effects the other. Our forefathers made great sacrifices and endured great hardships, and by perseverance established their independence. Has the spirit which animated them ceased to beat in the bosoms of the present generation? I hope not, but with one accord I wish to see a bold and united front to the vile invaders who have trampled under foot and set aside the sanctity of an oath, in order to reap their hellish vengeance against us by confiscation, and if need be necessary, extermination. What would wealth avail us under such circumstances? We might this day have been a prosperous people if it had not been for that paramount desire to horde wealth, and in order to obtain it, corruption has entered into the very vitals of our Government, and now the dreadful consequences are upon us. We must resist the invasion, at all hazards, that has been made against us, and humbly trust in that God who led our forefathers to liberty and established for us the best government the world ever beheld, and which has now been perverted in order to enslave us. I hope all selfish motives will be laid aside, and wish to see such a spirit aroused as will crush the tyrant who now disgraces the chair which Washington once occupied. To the rescue then, one and all, and set your country free.

AUGUSTA.

The Northern serpent who has penetrated the Southern Eden, attempts his natural arts. At Hatteras, and Nashville, and Roanoke Island he shows his brightest hues and assumes his quietest and most innocent airs. He proposes to harm no one--to disturb nobody's private rights--and only to restore quiet and security to the land. Were we simple and irrational, we might naturally fall a prey to his natural arts. But can he decoy Southern people by such duplicity, such charming? Are they to forget the burning houses, the confiscated property, the stolen and liberated servants of Southern people? Will they forget the cruelties practised upon our loyal and true citizens, the brutal treatment of women and children by the ruthless invader? Is Southern blood, shed in their defence, to be forgotten, and sink into the ground unavenged? Nay, can they forget the cause of the separation of the South from the North--or even think of the possibility of reconstruction?

To listen to the enemy, to think, even, of forgetting these things, would be [illegible]. Once in his power, we would indeed be crushed out. Our property would be confiscated and passed over to the possession of our conquerors--our sacred boundaries would be blotted from the map, and our States be no more known to the world--ruined, down-trodden, disgraced forever in the eyes of the world, so that our children would fain disown their parents, the very sight of our poor country would be intolerable to us, and those of us who were able would wander away from the land of our birth to find what relief we might in stranger climes. Those that remained would welcome death as a friend to close their eyes and their memories upon events and scenes fraught only with dishonor and misery for them!

This is what the northern serpent would do! Can he? Shall he? The response of a free people, who deserve to be free, will be given before this war is over. And all the falsehoods and all the charming arts of the most artful and unscrupulous of foes that ever waged a war, will be dissolved like the "baseless fabric of a vision."--Dispatch.