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GEO- W ADAIRJ HENLY SMITH,
EDITORS AND PBOPBIETOBS.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA:
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1861.
FOR PRESIDENT,
JEFFERSON DAVIS,
OF MISSISSIPPI.
FOR VICE PRESIDENT,
ALEX. H. STEPHENS.
OF GEORGIA.
Electoral Ticket.
STATE AT LARGE I
DAVID IRWINof Cobb.
IHOS. E. LLOYDofChatham.
ALTERNATES !
J. R ALEXANDERof Thomas.
W. H. DABNEYof Gordon.
DISTRICT ELECTORS :
I. J. L. HARRISof Glynn.
2 —ARTHUR HOODof Randolph.
3.—J. L WlMßEßLYofStewart.
4—ED MeGEHEE,.of Houston.
5. I P. GARVINof Richmond.
6. M. C. M HAMMOND,of Clarke.
7. C. GIBBON,of Spalding.
8. JOHN RAYof Coweta.
9. 11. W. CANNONof Rabun.
10.—H. F. PRICEof Cass.
ALTERNATES.’
J. J. L. SINGLETONof Scriven.
2—J 8. DYSONof Thomas.
3.—J M MOBLEYof Harris.
4—l E. DUPREEof Twiggs.
5. J S HOOKof Washington.
6. ISHAM FANNINof Morgan.
7—J T. STEPHENSof Monroe.
9.—J. H. BANKSof Hall.
10 —F. A. KIRBYof Chattooga.
FOR GOVERNOR,
ELGEMLS a. NISBET,
OF 8188.
THE SENTIMENT OF A PATRIOT.
From Judge Nisbet’s Letter of Acceptance.
»IF I HAD BEEN CALLED OUT BY A CONVEN
II IN, HAVIN + IN VIEW THE REVIVAL OF OLD,
OR THE ORGANIZATION OF NEW PARTIES, I
WOULD, •» ITHOUT HESITATION WITHHOLD MY
Nam*. I COULD NOT LEND IT TO SUCH PUR
POSES. tOR TUN AT ELY, PARTIES IN UUR GRaAT
STATE *RE EXTINCT, AND HE WHO, UNDER EX
ISTING CIRCUMSTANCES, WOULD SEEK TO DRAW
ANEW THE OBLITERATED LINES OF POPULAR
DIVISION, OR OPEN ISSUES CLOSED BY THE SE
CESSION UF THE STATE, OR AROUSE PREJUDI
CE, AND ANIMOSITIES LAID TO REST BY THE
WAR, IS SCARCELY LESS a TRAITOR THAN THE
MAN WHO WOULD APPLY THE TORCH TO THE
state Capitol, or, dwe ling among us,
WIrH THE REPUTE OF A LOYAL vITIZEN, GIVE
AID AND COMFORT TO ENEMIES.”
Vice-President Stephens and the Rich
mond »»Examiner.’
In ibe ••Examiner” of the 16th instant, we
fiud a tirade against Mr. Stephens, abound
ing wiih all the characteristic vituperation
and envenomed malignity, fur which the pen
ot J >hn M Daniel is famous. Like the at
tack on him by Mr Baylor, it is uncalled for,
and u just in ibe highest degree —calculated
to do no good, but “only evil and that contin
ually,” and proceeds either from derangement
of mind, bad judgment, or is purely mali
cious.
He says : ‘ Fair play to the border States
demands that they should have a place upon
the ticket,” but concedes the first office to the
Cotton States. This sentiment is unstates
manlike and unpatriotic, and no man who is
so narrow minded, so contracted and illiberal
in his views—no man with such a want of sa
gacity, and who so little understands human
nature, and the true principles of republican
government, can be either a statesman ora
patriot.
John M. Daniel is a facile writer. His ar
ticles are spicy and entertaining. He is full
of gall and poison, and dips bis pen deeply in
them when he sees fit to indulge in invective
or abuse against any man or measure. When
this is told, all is told of the man. He is a
Cynic, a fault finder—never pleased with
anything that commonsense people esteem,
and never content, except when he has some
man or measure to hunt down and abuse. He
is an impracticable. man ; and if his advice is
heeded, he will inevitably lead our country to
ruin. He don’t understand his follow men;
he has no forbearance, and does not show to
others that mercy by which he would have
them show to him.
If Mr, Stephens is not a statesman—if he
has not ability and integrity, adequate to tbe
d scharge of the duties of tbe office ; if he is
untrue to us in this struggle—these will con
stitute sufficient reasons for refusing to place
him in that responsible office! But if he is
to be rejected because he is from the Cotton
Stites; if thus early, while we are in the
midst of a revolution which is purely the re
suit of sectionalism ; while the heart’s blood
of our brave men is being poured out in ne
st imed measure to sustain us in a revolt which
sectionalism has driven us into, in defense ot
our honor, as well as our very existence; if
thus eaily in tbe revolution, a sectional spirit
is engendered and nourished, and sectional
parties organized: then is this revolution in
vain. Theu will our independence of the
North be worthies* as chaff when obtained
It will be empty, deceptive; and turn to ashes
on ou- lips Tbe editor of the “Examiner”
is now planting in the virgin soil of our new
government, the seeds of the same death
which pm an end to the American Union. If
nurtured, they will spring up and soon ripen
in><* the a-«me btiter fruit of which we are now
eompvliad to partake to our fill. It will be
alm >*» ns easy to arr*y Virginia, North Caro
lina. Kentucky, Atkansae and Missouri a
g-*tnsi the Gulf States in feeling and interest,
as u was th* Northern against the Southern
8 air* of the late Union.
There never eat, in any Government, such
a harmony of interests between its sections—
SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY
j theugh diverse the pursuits—as there was be
tween Northern and Southern States of the
late Union. The productions of the one and
the manufactures of the other were mutually
advantageous; and we could have gone
on haamoniously and prosperously to the end
of time, with the greatest possible advantages
to both sections, but for the avaricious, sec
tional, puritanic, short-sighted, grasping, il
liberally of the North—just such views as
Baylor and Daniel are now trying to instil in
to the minds of the people of the more North
ern States of the Confederacy, in regard to
Mr. Stephens. It is characteristic of narrow,
selfish, puritanic, Yankee bigotry and illiber
ally ; and has none of the elements or char
acteristics of Southern virtue, liberality or
statesmanship about it.
What shall we have gained, if, at the close
of this war, when our independence is ac
knowledged, New England shall be brought
down to Virginia; Boston located in Rich
mond; New York at Nashville; Cincinnati
and Chicago at Memphis, &c. Away with
such a Yankee doctrine! and let the people
beware of such a dangerous teacher. Strange
that the man who, of all others, is most pro
lific in his abusive epithets upon the North,
should be the first to leach the most fatal of
all Yankee doctrines among us. But so it is.
When a man’s name is presented for our
suffrages, the inquiry should be, “Is he cf
my country ?” and not, “What section of it
does he live in ?” A patriots heart takes in
all his country —his whole country —every
part of it—knows no section of it as having a
sectional interest or jealousy; and makes no
objection to one man, and gives no prefer
ence to another on account of tbe part of the
country in which he lives.
Let us have done with sectional phrases,
such as “Cotton States” and “Border States.”
These very words engender the seeds of dis
cord and death. We.are all slaveholders—all
Southern States—all under the government
of the Confederate States. We are all slave
holding and all agricultural. Tbe Gulf States,
it is true, make Cotton, Rice and Sugar, while
the others make Tobacco, Grain and Hemp,
but there is no conflict of interest whatever;
but. aspiring demagogues, and such disturb
ers of the peace as John M. Daniel, can soon
get up a bitter sectional feeling, and inaugur
ate another revolution, before the tears of the
present one are dried upon the cheeks of tbe
thousands of bereaved and broken-hearts
with which our laud is afflicted and will be
for years to come.
In the language of Washington, “we would
indignantly frown upon the first dawning of
every attempt to alienate any portion of our
country from the rest;” and we look upon it
“as a matter of serious concern, that, any
ground should have been furnished for char
acterizing parties by geographical discrimin
ations.”
In conclusion, we adopt the language of a
correspondent of the Nashville “Banner:”
“The thrusting aside of Mr. Stephens, would
increase the chances of some gentlemen whom we
could name," but how would it benefit the
country ?”
Bugenderiug Parties.
The| “Intelligencer” of Saturday, took a
step to initiate further division and distrac
•ion among our people, and to embitter and
intensify the canvass, by hitching the names
of the gentlemen whom it will support for the
Legislature, on the Brown ticket. This is a
step towards the organization of parties which
chat journal would have been tbe last to take,
if it bud regarded its own consistency as
worth preserving. That journal has, for
weeks, been crying out against parties and
the organization of them, in every way and
manner, but is the first to take a practical
step in that direction. We, have not done
this. We have known the position on the
Gubernatorial question of all the gentlemen
whose names were before the people for the
, Legislature. We were content to have them
, run upon their merits, without regard to whom
they might vote for for Governor; and we
i earnestly hoped no such issue would be made.
It. however, is made by those who are contin
, ually crying out against the formation of par
. ties. We desired the candidates for Govern
, >r and all other offices, to be run on their per
, sonal merits, but party lines are drawn, and
everybody is required to take sides, not only
, fur or against Governor Brown, but for those
, who support him, and against those who op
pose him.
, Thus a political party, with all its evils, is
, at once inaugurated A man’s preference for
( Governor, is to be a test of his fitcess to
, make laws!
> The “Intelligencee,” Gov. Brown's organ,
, did that. No friend cf Judge Nisbet in Geor
! gia, has made that issue.
, One word as to the gentlemen whose names
are thus used : If they allow it—if they al
I low themselves to be run on the Brown ticket
on tbe merits of being Brown men, and not
i on their own personal merits, they will be
t particeps crim mis in inaugurating political
i parties and engendering political strife.
p .. . , . »->-♦
Died.
Os typhoid fever, at Camp Walker, near
Pensacola, Fla., on the 16th instant, Marion
Timbe, private in Captain Rhode's Company,
(late Capt. Lee’s) Georgia Volunteers, after a
sickness of eight days.
He was a resident of Jackson county, Geor
gia, but enlisted with Capt. G. W. Lee’s Com
pany, in this city, in tbejfrstcompany receiv
ed into the service of the Confederate States,
ard marched under the first Confederate flag
hoisted in Georgia.
At a company meeting, it was resulved that
Mr. Timbs was a dutiful member, a zealous
and bold defender ot the South ; and that, in
nim, were combined the manliness of a sol
dier, the heroism of the patriot, and the en
dearing virtues of a gentleman and friend.
H<s remains were *ent home fur inter
- ment.
Our Special Army Correspondence.
MOVED FORWARD SIX WEEKS TO CLOSE
THE CAMPAIGN SUPPLIES WANTED FOR
THE SUFFERING SOLDIERS APPEAL TO
GEORGIANS—THAT SKIRMISH LOCATION
OF GEORGIA REGIMENTS, AC.
Army of the Potomac, 1
Near Fairfax, Ya., Sept. 18,1861. f
Since my last letter, our camp has been
moved forward to this place, and hence, I
failed to write you on the usual day for post
ing my communications. There is but little
to communicate, however. This is necessari
ly so at this advanced post, unless one should
introduce topics which the public interests
require should be treated with silence. But
some of these topics, such as the health of our
troops and the policy of our Generals since
the battle of Manassas, I shall claim the pri
vilege of discussing at the proper time. Six
weeks will close the present campaign, and
one can well afford to wait that long, especial
ly as the summer’s operations are too nearly
over to accomplish much good by speaking
out now.
One thing I may say now. The health of
the troops, though improving, is far from good,
and whatever the people at home design to do
in the way of furnishing hospital supplies,
and clothing, blankets and shoes, should be
done as soon as possible. These articles are
wanted now. There was a heavy thunder
this afternoon, and there is many a poor fel
low to night with no other protection above
him but a wet tent, and nothing beneath him
but the cold ground and a single blanket, who
is shivering for want of proper covering. The
forest has been gleaned of leaves, and it is
only now and then that straw can be had to
scatter in the tents. All this could be borne
without inconvenience for a few days on a
fishing excursion or a hunting expedition at
home, but it is very different when it has to
be repeated week after week and month after
month.
Think of a man with typhoid fever, or a
second attack of measles, in the condition I
have just described—a man, too, who has been
accustomed all his life to a soft bed, and to
kind and careful nursing ! It was only today
that I received a buffalo robe which I had or
dered from home, in view of the rigors of the
coming winter, and before getting it to my
tent, I passed a sick soldier who had but his
one blanket to lie upon and cover with, and
who looked at the robe so wistfully, that I
placed it under his fueb'e limbs and bade him
use it until he got well. Will not the people
at home also share with the soldier? They
can do it without inconvenience. Have they
no blankets they could give? Have they no
wool they could have made into gloves, socks
and comforters? Have they no leather that
could be spared for shoes? No hospital stores?
Have they no quinine to divide with the man
who stood guard last night on Munson's Hill
and who to-night is shaking with a chill ? Not
an ounce of quinine was to be had at Manas
sas last week !
Men and women of Georgia, there is a great
work before you. It is a good work—it is a
divine work. It stands ready to your hands.
Your sons and brothers have passed through
the storms and heat ot summer. They now
endure the fogs and damp of autumn. Soon
they will encounter the furious blasts of win
ter. Many of them have been stricken by dis
ease. Many are now sick. All of them have
lived a hard life, and yet have borne it pa
tiently—even cheerfully. Do you, and each
of you, then, to the extent of your ability, see
to it that they suffer no more, if you can pre
vent it. Do your duty ; give all you can. Let
no one think he is too poor to do something.
A pair of gloves may save some poor fellow’s
fingers, as be stands guard in the dense for
ests, or on the bleak hills amidst the ice and
snow of the coming winter. He stands senti
nel for you and your fireside while you re
main at home. He stands between you and
the enemy. Ilold up his hands, then, while
he battles for you, as Aaron and Hur held up
the hands of Moses, and as sure as the sun
shines in the heavens he will prevail against
your enemy and hie. It is better to give than
to receive. Let it be remembered, too, that
whatever is given in this way but reduces the
amount each one would be required to pay in
the form of taxes.
' This appeal is not made doubtingly. I
know the people of Georgia will do their duty.
The only fear is, they may not move soon
enough. The winter sets in up here all of a
month sooner than it does in tbe South.
One wor t in regard to the Army of the Po-
I to mac. Some days ago, we all believed that
a decisive movement would have been made
. before this. Why it has not taken place, it
would be improper to say. If the news we
get from Richmond be true, a forward demon
stration may be postponed for some time. We
cannot tell whether the news is reliable or not
—a short time will remove all doubt. If cor
' rect, however, I fear the Government has com
mitted its first blunder.
> The camp rumor adverted to in my last let-
■ ter is without foundation, as I suspected at
the time. I refer to the rumored skirmish at
■ Munson’s Hill, in which it was said the ene
my gut the advantage of us, and to tbe move
ment of a heavy column in the direction of
Fairfax Station. The only affair of any con-
| sequence that has occurred was the one near
I Lewinsville, above Arlington, some account of
which I gave you in my last letter. On that
! occasion, the enemy sent out a force of 2.500
•or 3,000 men to make a reconnoiss&nce. To
* hold this force in check, Col. Stuart moved
forward with 450 men, and soon succeeded in
routing the whole party without tbe loss of a
man. He took four prisoners, including a
! captain and lieutenant, and killed eight—at
least, that number being left dead by the ene
my, who beat a hasty and disordered retreat.
How many he carried off, if any, is not known.
The Ttb, Sth, 9th and Ilth Georgia Regi
j ments are encamped two miles from ns. Two
: days ago, the Sth, and the Kentucky Regi
ment belonging to the same brigade were sent
down to Mason's and Munson’s Hills to do
i picket duty for five days. They left their
; tents behind. Col. M. Duncan Smith's Regi-
I ment is also in advance. The Sumter Flying
Artillery, Capt Cults, is encamped near us,
1 and Col. Mercer's Regiment, attached to Gen.
| Crittenden’s Brigade, is soma two miles north
i of us. A.
To the Voters of the Eighth Congressional I
District of Georgia,
Composed of the Counties of Campbell, Cobb,
Coweta, DeKalb. Fulton, Haralson, Heard,
Paulding and Polk :
Cedar Town, Polk County, Geo., )
September 17, 1861. j
At the solicitation of citizens in different
parts of the District, and agreeably to my own
desire to serve you, I am a candidate for the
Confederate Congress, and humbly solicit your
support at the election to take place the First
Wednesday in December next. It is due to
you and myself that. I should make public a
brief statement of my views; that there may
be no misunderstanding as to men, principles,
or policy in case I am elected. We have pass
ed from the old and much corrupted Govern
ment of the United States. Our eminent states
men have nowhere displayed their claims to
popular confidence and gratitude more visibly
than in the gratifying extent to which they
have in the new Constitution corrected the
sources of evil The administration of Pres
ident Davis and Vice President Stephens; the
course of the wise counsellors that surround
them in Cabinet and Congress; the brilliant
achievements of our arms ; the heroism of our
officers and soldiers in the camp and field ;
and the glory they have shed upon the Con
federate character at home and abroad, have
filled my heart with more true happiness than
I ever bad hoped to live to feel in temporal
affairs.
While it will be difficult to suspect men of
violating who had so much to do in framing
the new Constitution, and whose hearts are so
deeply imbued with the love of its sacred
guarantees, I shall nevertheless, if elected,
endeavor to guard with sleepless vigilance its
letter and spirit, in subordination to that in
strument. I shall, to the best of my energy
and capacity, support the administration ; do
all in my power to promote the welfare of our
gallant armies ; honor the living and dead de
fenders of our liberties ; render the burthens
of war as light as practicable upon our peo
ple; maintain unanimity and confidence in
tbe armies and among tbe people; and to fos
ter that unparralleled patriotism which swells
tbe whole Southern heart, and prompts to that
degree of heroism both in officers and men,
which will, I humbly trust, at no distant day,
secure us honorable aud lasting peace with
glorious Independence. Every feasible meas
ure coming before your Representatives, tend
ing to give the Confederate States that prom
inence and consideration in the policy of for
eign courts, which they so richly deserve, will
command my earnest support.
I avow myself now and forever, opposed to
a reconstruction of tbe Union in any form,
and in favor of the Independence of the South,
politically, commercially, in literature aud re
ligion, socially, and in every sense in which
the word can be used to denote that our peo
ple will depend upon the Northern people for
anything.
With the light of the old Government’s his
tory before our eyes, strict economy in col
lecting and disbursing public funds, is tbe
proper policy in these early days of our legis
lation, both for the purpose of alleviating tbe
burthens of Government upon the people, and
for the very beneficial effect the precedents
will have upon the Government and people in
after years.
The most inviting element that can attach
itself to any Government is equality in rights
and burthens, aud must be ultimately the high
est attainment of Constitutional liberty. That
subject having engaged my thoughts for years
past, and the doctrine having impresseditself
upon my heart and been sealed by a lifetime
observation of its ruthless violation, it is need
less for me to say I will carry tbe study of it to
Congress if you see fit to send me there, and
so far as is practicable endeavor to impress it
upun the Confederate legislation.
My party prejudices very strong in early
life, had gradually abaded for years prior to
this Revolution : never having made a politic
al speech from tbe time I was appointed So
licitor-General in March, 1856, up to tbe
Presidential election in 1860. lam now hap
py to assure tbe people of the District that
whether I go to Congress or remain at home,
I am not conscious of the slightest preference
between old party associates and opponents.
In whatever concerns tbe people of the Dis
trict, I will take particular pleasure in serving
them. I know of but one public measure now
to which it seems necessary to refer. I doubt
not the Capitol of the Confederate States will,
within the next two years, be permanently lo
cated. That it should be central, accessible
and healthful, is but common justice to all
parts of the Confederacy ; and peculiarly for
tunate for those who desire that Atlanta or its
vicinity should be tbe place. Residing sixty
miles from that city, and owning no property
in or near it, the slightest suspicion of per
sonal interest cannot attach to me when I
pledge to that measure, if desired by tbe peo
ple there, my earnest and most energetic sup
port.
It is due to you, however, that I should ap
prize you of the fact that I have never been a
political officer, State or Federal; and am un
trained in the arts of legislative bodies. If
you elect me, you must suffer me to preserve
my conscience, and be open, bold, frank and
sincere in all that I do for you.
My desire being to serve you and not my
self, but earnestly coveting the honor that may
flow from serving you faithfully and accepta
bly, I have determined, after deliberation, to
make no promise as to how many terms I will
serve : but this promise I here put on record,
(hat I will retire whenever I ttn satisfied it is
your wish that I should do so, whether it is
during, or at the end of a term. If I were to
pledge myself to some leading men of the Dis
trict who might be aspiring hereafter, that I
would only serve one term, and al tbe expira
tion thereof tbe people should demand my
further services, it would be wrong to keep
the promise; therefore it would be very wrong
to m»ke it. If I felt that I had the right in
such grave matters of public zeal to serve my
self alone, then I should not hesitate to assure
my friends that in voting fur me they would
incumber the field with my candidacy only
one term. *
There is another motive, not as high in my
opinion as that which should actuate a free
people in choosing Representatives, and which
is frequently urged by men in office to ward
off competition. It is that the incumbent may
be “ indorsed." If it is my good fortune, fel
low citizens, to be elected this time, and should
ever ask for a second election, it will be upon
the ground that I still desire to serve and be
lieve it is the wish of the people that I should
do so. I now insist for tbe people of this Dis
trict, that they have the right, free from the
influence of such appeals, to choose whomso
ever they desire should represent them.
If they choose a tried man, let it be upon
the ground that he is the man they wish to
serve them, and not upon the supposition that
they are under every obligation legally or
morally to elect a man in order to “indorse"
him.
In setting out under the new Government,
we should preserve the virtues only, and es
chew ibe evils only, of the old. All the itsti
tutions of our freedom, the ballot box among
the rest, should be unttammeled. We profess
to have a Government of the people. This
means simply that the people choose their own
officers, aud through those officers they are
governed. Then let the people choose free
from the influence of all such appliances, as
was calculated under the old systems of par
ties to trammel them and prevent their unlim
ited freedom in elections.
I trust it is with a proper sense of delicacy,
and free from personal ill-will, that I allude
to Col. L J. Garlrell, whose name is also an
nounced at his instance, as a candidate for
Congress in this District, and present the
grave objections I have to his election at this
time whether I am preferred over him or not.
He and all our gallant soldiers are fighting to
secure our independence and establish the
Constitution we have adopted. It is strange
beyond comprehension, that he should seek,
in the first election under it, to violate one of
its important provisions.
Article 1, Section 6, of the Confederate
Constitution, ameng other things, provides as
follows :
“ And no person holding any office under
the Confederate States shall be a member of
either House during his continuance in office.”
He is holding office under the Confederate
States, to continue twelve months from the
time be was mustered into service. That term
will not expire until nearly three months after
tbe time for the meeting of the Congress now
to be elected. Let the simplest minded voter
in the whole District decide whether or not he
can be a member of tbe House under this
Constitution.
But to meet every objection, let us suppose
be tenders his resignation, and it is accepted,
and he discharged from tbe army in order to
let him go to Congress, he would not then
“ continue in office,” and tbe strict letter of
the Constitution might thereby be avoided.—
But what is the letter worth when we kill the
spirit '.' Have we so soon forgot the history
of the old Government ? And do we desire as
legislators those men who are so soon taxing
their wits to avoid tbe sacred guarantees of
the Constitution ?
Our Government has its several branches
and departmen' s, and spheres of action. Its
success and purity depends much upon keep
ing these separate and distinct, and free from
the undue influence or control of each other,
even in the hands of different persons, and
that evil is .expressly provided against as
above, rendering it impossible that they should
unite in the same person. But certainly no
officer at such a time as this will quit his post
in the army to take a civil trust, unless he is
satisfied of the existence of two things. One
is, that no person out of service will take and
is capable of filling the civil trust; and the
other is, that he can be well spared from bis
post. Both should exist; for if either station
has to be vacant, the public safety requires
that it should not be the post in tbe army.
But we are told by some of Col. Gartrell’s
friends that he intends to serve his time out
as Colonel of the Seventh Regiment; then dos
sing the epaulette, to make his appearance in
his long vacant seat. Was there ever a paral
lei case to this on either side of tbe Potomac?
When was it ever known before that a public
officer asked the people to elect him to anoth
er post of honor and trust, and that office re
main vacant until he could serve out the one
he was in ? Why not elect some gallant officer
in the army President, aud another Vice Pres
ident, and let Mr. Davis and Mr. Stephens re
tire to their respective homes in Mississippi
and Georgia, and their places remain'vacant
until the honored soldiers and heroes could,
with safety to us all, leave their posts in the
army ? The only difference between tbe two
is not of principle; but one is a large picture
and the other a small one—the elementary
shades and colors being precisely tbe same.
Suppose I was employed at a salary, by Mr.
A., who is a feeble old man, and whose son is
in the army, to till bis field and make a crop
next year in his sou’s place. The time comes
to plow, and be calls on me to proceed. I in
form him that I have a t welve months’ contract
with Mr. 8., entered info about the first of last
June, and when I fulfill that I will proceed
with his crop. Do you think that Mr. A.,
would have an idea that it was my purpose to
promote his interest.
Cui. Gartrell can no more serve in the army
aud in Congress at once that lean work upon
the farms of A. and B. at once; and one is
just as sensible an undertaking as the other.
I am aware that Col. Gartrell organized his
regiment within this Congressional District,
and that I address many persons who have
sons, brothers, and friends among the brave
troops under his command, and that the influ
ence thus exerted among the people,(as though
voting against him could possibly cast any
imputation upon the regiment or its noble
troops,) is very great, and, through sympathy,
is Calculated to lure men from the true issue.
They forget that to call him from the more im
portant post, while the danger is still cou
slant and imminent, is indirectly to declare
that his friends at home are not willing to
trust him there. Let me ask every man who
has a son, brother, or friend in that regiment,
why did you send him there ? Was it to make
this man or that a Congressman that you were
willing to hazard lives so dear to you ? Or
was it to establish independence and secure
to yourselves and posterity the liberty which
your adopted Constitution guarantees?
Then are you willing to sacrifice that very
Constitution in one of its important provisions,
by tbe very first ballot it will be your privil
edge te cast under it, in order to honor a man
simply breause he commands your relatives in
Virginia ?
But if tbe Constitution were silent upon the
subject, the precedent of electing to high civ
il station a man in high military commission,
and while in actual command, is fraught with
danger. If it is good thus to elect a Colonel,
why not a General ? If good to elect a man
in command of 1000 troops, why not of 200,-
000? The seeds of military despotism have
been sown, have germinated, sprung up, and
borne fruit in the short space of one year, in
the United States. r .)Ve are in full view of the
astounding picture. The light would shine
upon our understnnding if we even desired to
close our eyes. It is as foul as ever blacken
ed the pages of Russian history. We have
taken no steps that way ; I trust never will.
True, we have popular Generals, but they are
inspired by the same motive—love for consti
tutional liberty and notional independence—
and 1 trust none of them are ambitious. Our
descendants in later years may have those who
are both popular and ambitious, and who hate
instead of love that liberty and equality we
so highly prize. Then, if eligible to civil
government while in actual command of ar
mies, where will be tbe freedom of the elec
tive franchise and popular government in
practice? Will the eighth district of Georgia
set the example in the first election ? If he were
Gen. Beauregard himself that offered, while
in command, and we eve i had no constitution
al barrier in the way, and I were the only man
in the district to object, with a full knowledge
of the history of the old Government, and
fully active to tbe power of precedent in pop
ular government in luri> g the people from the
landmarks of freedom, 1 wspld boldly protest
against bis election. In all Governments de
partures from constitutional guarantees, and
the limitations upon power, whether in a mon
archy, an aristocracy or a democracy, or in
the republican form we have, always begin in
small and unimportant things. The abuse in
creases with the distance from the source ; one
generation dies off and another succeeds, grow
ing up with these increasing evils upon them,
adapting themselves to them in their very
growth.
One evil in small affairs makes tbe example,
and supports the claim of authority for grea
ter exactions and oppressions. When they
have become so onerous as to be intolerable,
and to arouse the people then it is too late for
civil remedies, and nothing but revolution and
bloodshed can cure the evil. Tbe Constitu
tion in its purity is the only thing that we can
build a hope upon to preserve us from anarchy,
when tbe common foe is driven from our bor
ders, and the danger from abroad subsides
I love it; if too dearly, it is an offence that
may be pardoned. It is but an honest con
session when I tell you that the honoiable
service of sitting in the first elected Congress,
and, with sleepless vigilance in the early pro
cedents, watching and warring against every
departure from its letter or spirit, is a desira
ble one to me.
Tho enormities of Philip 11. and Charles V.
aroused the heart and nerved the arm of the
poilantbropic soldier and patriot, William, of
Orange, and. after countless and heart-sick
ening brutalities, and noble sacriflcesand glo
rious achievements, gave to Europe aud the
Dutch Republic, which may be regarded as
the first great revolvtion of modern times,
tending to the establishment of true civiliza
tion and free government The second was
still later, when tbe abuses of the British Con
stitution, by Charles the First, and his prede
cessors, wrote indelibly upon the pages of the
world’s history, and sealed it with blood, the
name of Oliver Cromwell.
The scene of the third was the Western
world, whan tbe exactions of the British Gov
ernment, founded in a system of baneful pre
cedents, gave birth to our own' country, and
made the characters of Washington and his
great compeers, to be loved wherever free
government has a charm for mortals, and as
endearing tbeir names to the Anglo-Saxon
race.
The cause of the fourth we know too well.
The spirit of the Constitution they murdered,
having departed, leaving only the dead car
cass. They sought to chain us to that, while
they prostituted the government to most odi
ous system of usurpations and exactions.—
When we talk of cutting loose from that body
of death, then it was the clang of those chains
fell upon the astonished ears of the South.—
They shook those chains in exultation of des
potic power, and to warn freemen that they
were wound by inextricable coils. The peo
ple felt for the first time that common destiny
made them one in interest, one in feeling, one
in purpose ; and they turned the clang of the
despot’s chains into his funeral knell. Their
determination to be independent and free has
under the sweet pealing notes of
victory, which float from every field where the
foe has been met. I thank God for the gal
lant officers and brave men, for the wise coun
sellors, and the resources of the South, which
enable, us to hope we shall soon pass triumph
antly through tbe trying ordeal.
May we hope this is the last revolution,
and that when this war ends constitutional
liberty is forever established ? Just as well
hope to see a snow-flake bask in the equinox
ial sun and never melt, unless we begin now,
and continue to guard with unwarying vigi
lance, our Constitution in its letter and spirit.
Hrving been for several years before tbe
public of seven counties in the district, in an
official capacity, most of them know me per
sonally. It is, however, desirable on my part
to visit and mingle with them in social inter
course, and, as far as practicable, prepare my
self to represent them from a knowledge of
their views, The people of those neighbor
hoods where I do not go, will, Itrust, bear in
mind that the space of time is too short to
travel all over the ten counties. I ehail feel
grateful «.o all into whose hands this letter
may fall, whether they support me or not, to
do me the kindness to circulate it as far as
convenient among the people.
Soliciting tbe support of all, I have the hon
or to be your humble servant.
HERBERT FIELDER.