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Staunton Vindicator: March 22, 1861 Go To Page : 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

Railroad Securities of the Border States
(Column 3)

Summary: Points out that the border slaveholding states have carried out a great deal of internal improvements, especially in railroads. The collapse of these railroads in the event of a civil war would have a disastrous impact upon the currencies of the North.

Fort Sumter
(Column 4)

Summary: The Baltimore Sun reports that Fort Sumpter is to be evacuated by the Federal government.

Origin of Article: Baltimore Sun

The African Slave Trade--How it is Managed
(Column 5)

Summary: Details the method of importing slaves illegally. The trade goes through Havana, Cuba.

Meeting on Monday Next
(Column 1)

Summary: Reminds local Democrats that a meeting will be held to appoint delegates to the Congressional Convention in Harrisonburg. The Vindicator argues that the election in May will be a contest between State Rights and Federalism.

Full Text of Article:

Meeting on Monday Next.

We again remind the Democracy of the county, that a meeting will be held on Monday next to appoint delegates to a Congressional Convention to assemble in Harrisonburg on the 25th of April. This day is fixed upon, because it will not interfere with the Courts of any county in the District that we know of. We trust there will be a full meeting, for we deem it of the highest importance that prompt and determined steps be taken to organize the party and prepare for the triumph of the Democracy in May next. The contest is emphatically to be between State Rights and Federalism, and the quicker we draw the lines, the better. It is a time when every man should take his position, and maintain a fixed stand in support of the principles of the Constitution and the government as understood and explained by their founders, or subscribe to a latitudinous idea that will in the end lead to a surrender of our rights and the subordination of our section to Black Republican and abolition aggression and outrage. The issue is before us, and we cannot escape from its consideration. We must either identify ourselves with the North or the South. The question of Union or Disunion is dead and buried. Dissolution has already taken place, and whether the people of Virginia can realize it or not, it is most certainly so. The only question is, where will Virginia go--with her sister States of the South on terms of perfect equality, where the Constitution, the laws and legislation, the feelings and affections, harmonize with her interests and institutions, or with the North, where every act discriminates against her, proscribes her as inferior, and where the sentiment of the people is hostile to her rights and the rights of her citizens? We beg the Democracy and all State Rights men, to remember these things, and come forward on Monday next to take a firm stand for the organization of the State Rights party in this District.

The Programme
(Column 1)

Summary: Criticizes the "submissionists" of the State Convention, who have agreed to hold a Border State Convention in Kentucky. The Vindicator believes that the members of the State Convention "are determined to make all they possibly can out of their present position."

Corporation Election
(Column 1)

Summary: Reminds voters that the Staunton election is next Wednesday week and urges the city authorities to fix the streets.

Southern Express
(Column 1)

Summary: The Legislature has passed a bill creating the Southern Express Company, which will establish express lines through the Southern States. Harman and Ficklin are the incorporators.
(Names in announcement: B.F. Ficklin, J.A. Harman)

District Convention
(Column 2)

Summary: The Vindicator once again urges voters to support the holding of a district Democratic Convention. The paper supports this course because it is angry at Congressman Harris, who is nominally a Democrat, but who has placed himself "above every consideration of party interest." Harris has adopted a policy that "cannot fail to demoralize and hopelessly break up our organization, and eventuate in turning the District over to the Opposition."

[No Title]
(Column 2)

Summary: The Vindicator chides the Spectator for its expressed belief that a fusion will occur between Douglas and Bell supporters. The Vindicator argues that "Never was a delusion more complete."

[No Title]
(Column 2)

Summary: In reply to the Spectator's statement that "'States-Rights Democracy' now means Secession," the Vindicator states that "submission means Black Republicanism."

Baltimore Conference
(Column 3)

Summary: The Laymen's Convention of the M.E. Church has declared itself in favor of the separation of the Baltimore Conference from the General Conference of the Church. The Vindicator believes that the ministry must follow the lead of the laymen.

Staunton Station
(Column 3)

Summary: Disputes an article from the Baltimore American, which claimed that the people in Staunton perceive the Methodists to be so abolitionist that the local preacher is "supported almost entirely by the contributions of the colored people."

Full Text of Article:

Staunton Station.

Rev. Mr. Veitch, in the Conference, on Tuesday last, rose to a privilege question, for the purpose of denouncing as a falsehood the following statement from the Staunton Correspondent of the Baltimore American:

"The Methodists have the sympathy of other denominations here, but so great has the prejudice become against their supposed abolition tendency that the preacher in charge is supported almost entirely by the contributions of the colored people."

The preacher in charge of Staunton Station, Rev. J.R. Wheeler, is not only liberally supported by his congregation, but is universally beloved, both in and out of his Church, for his high character as a minister and gentleman. He preaches every Sabbath to a crowded church, composed of persons of nearly all religious persuasions, no one of whom has ever heard fall from his lips anything that could raise a suspicion of his loyalty to the institutions of the South. Indeed, there has never been a minister of any denomination who enjoyed a more unrestricted and implicit confidence from an intelligent public, than does the Rev. Mr. Wheeler from the people of Staunton. The only regret with his congregation is that they cannot have him stationed here for life. The writer of the above paragraph, from the American, is most egregiously ignorant, to say the least.

Can the People Bear It?
(Column 4)

Summary: Argues that the "pride and manhood of every Virginian" has been humiliated by the cowardly policies the state has adopted.

[No Title]
(Column 4)

Summary: Replies to the Spectator, which criticized the Vindicator for changing its policy on putting the question of secession to the people. The Vindicator claims that it didn't support a popular referendum before Lincoln's inauguration because the time was so short. Now that Lincoln is in power and the State Convention is in session, however, the Vindicator wants the people to vote on the question.

The Artful Dodgers
(Column 4)

Summary: Criticizes the Virginia Unionists for their repeated delays and failures to act. They first supported separate state action, then a Peace Conference, and then a Border State Conference. The Vindicator argues that these are all dodges, and the paper hopes that the people will "discard from their councils such miserable tricksters."

Mr. Goggin's Plan
(Column 5)

Summary: The Vindicator directs its readers' attention to the plan of ordinance for Virginia written by Hon. W.L. Goggin, the former Opposition candidate for governor. The paper supports the "tangible points in the proposition" and wonders if the Spectator will say the same.

The two Tariffs
(Column 6)

Summary: Compares the Morrill tariff, recently adopted by the Federal Government, with the tariff policies adopted by the Confederacy. The former raises the prices of "every article of consumption used by the farming and laboring classes of Virginia" and protects the interests of Northern manufacturers. The latter reduces the taxes on goods by about one-fourth.

[No Title]
(Column 6)

Summary: Argues that, as soon as the Morrill tariff goes into effect in the North and the Southern Confederacy is recognized by foreign nations, trade and specie will begin to flow into the South because of the Confederacy's lower tariffs on foreign goods.

[No Title]
(Column 6)

Summary: Claims that the "Whig and Know Nothing fossils" in the State Convention don't want Virginia to unite with the Confederacy because they know that such a shift would destroy their political power.

Nailed to the Counter
(Column 7)

Summary: Claims that the letter that the Spectator published purporting to be from Judge Robert Lyon of Abbeville, South Carolina was a "tissue of the most unmitigated falsehoods."

[No Title]
(Column 7)

Summary: The Vindicator believes that George Rye of Shenandoah will be named the new U.S. Marshall for the Western District of Virginia. The paper fears that the Lincoln administration will use all its power and patronage to "abolitionize" the state.

Mr. Editor
(Column 7)

Summary: Request that Bolivar Christian, a Whig, become a candidate for Congress.

Trailer: Amicus

Proceedings of the Baltimore Conference
(Column 1)

Summary: Minutes of the third through eighth days of the meeting of the Baltimore Conference being held in Staunton. The new chapter on slavery was a prime topic of discussion, but the meeting had not yet come to any final decision by the eighth day.

State Convention
(Column 2)

Summary: Reprint of the resolution introduced by W.L. Goggin to the State Convention. The resolution states that, now that all of Virginia's efforts to restore friendly relations with the Federal Government have been rebuffed, the state of Virginia should leave the Union.

Laymen's Convention
(Column 3)

Summary: Reprint of the report of the Laymen's Convention of the Baltimore Conference of the M.E. Church. The report calls on the Baltimore Annual Conference to separate itself from the General Conference of the M.E. Church.

Married
(Column 4)

Summary: Married on March 14.
(Names in announcement: Rev. J.R. Wheeler, Robert W. Smith, Mary Sue Pitman)

Died
(Column 4)

Summary: Mr. Seawright, former Justice of the Peace of Augusta county, died on March 4 at age 80.
(Names in announcement: John Seawright)