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VOLUME XLII.
jl. M. OR ME & SON.
editors and proprietors
STEPHEN F. MILLER,
ASSOCIATE EDITOR.
£5* The Recorder is published weekly, at the
low price of Two Dollars per annum, when paid
inadtancr.—if not in advance, Two Dollars and
Cents—and if not within the year, Three
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transferred.
Advertisements conspicuously inserted at $100
per square for the first insertion, and 50 cents per
square for each subsequent insertion. Those sent
without a specification of the number of insertions,
will he published until ordered out, and charged ac
cordingly.
Sales of Land and Negroes, by Administrators, Ex
ecutors, or Guardians, are required by law to be held
on the first Tuesday in the month, between the hours
often iu the forenoon, and three in the afternoon, at
the Court house, in the county in which the proper
ty is situate. Notices of these sales must be giveu
in a public gazette FORTY days previous to the day
of sale.
Notices for the sale of personal property must be
given at least ten days previous to the day of sale.
Notice to Debtors and Creditors of an Estate must
be published FORTY days.
Notice that application will be made to the Conrt
of Ordinary for leave to sell Land or Negroes, must
be published for two months.
Citations for Letters of Administration must be
published thirty days—for Dismission from Admin
istration, monthly sir. months—for Dismission from
Guardianship, forty days.
Rules for Foreclosure of Mortgage must be pub
lished monthly for four months—for establishing lost
papers, for the full space of three months—for conipel-
ingtitles from Executors and Administrators, where
i boud has been giveu by the deceased, the full
/part of three months.
Publications will always be continued according
to these, the legal requirements, unless otherwise
ordered.
All business in the line of PRINTING, will meet
with prompt attention at the Recorder Office.
MILLEDGEVILLE, GEORGIA, TUESDAY, JULY 30, 1861.
NUMBER 31.
rrepesed Centrlbutien for wants efseldlers-
ProportioBBtc share of each County.
COURT CALENDAR FOR 1861.
REVISED BY THE SOUTHERN RECORDER.
SUPERIOR COURTS.
JANUARY.
2ii Monday, Chatham
Ilh Monday, Richmond
Lumpkin
'Floyd
FEBRUARY.
1st Monday,Clark
2d Monday, Campbell
Dawson
3d Monday. Forsjth
tPolk
Glascock
Meriwether
Walton
Ilh Monday, Baldwin
Jackson
Monioe
Paulding
Taliaferro
Walker
MARCH.
1st Thursday, Pierce
1st Monday, Appling
Chattooga
Cherokee
Coweta
Columbia
Crawford
Gwinnett
Madison
Marion
Morgan
5dMonday. Butts
Cass
Coffee
Elbert
Fayette
\ Greene
Pickens
Washington
\ Webswi*
lAsdayaft’r, Montgomery
lafcnday, Cobti
Calhoun
Hail
Hart
Heard
i -lacon
1 N>wton
Punam
1 Talb. t
TattmJl
i Ware
Fndij after,Bulloch
Ith Monday, Clinch
!|Cbattahoocli»e
Emanuel
Lee
Twiggs
White
, Wilkes
Mondav af.A „ , ,
t*r4thMon-C?<L ho1 ?
day. ) Effingham
APRIL.
lit A Sd Mon. Carroll
lit Monday, Dooly
Early
Fulton
Gordon
Pike
Rabun
Taylor
Warren
Wilkinson
•a Monday, Habersham
Hancock
Harris
Laurens
Miller
Scriven
Sumter
Tuesdayafter. McIntosh
3d Monday, Franklin
Glynn
Haralson
Henry
Jefferson
J ones
Liberty
Murray
Oglethorpe
Pulaski
Stewart
Monday ) Worth
after, $ 'Brvan
hi) Monday,Wayne
Banks
Decatur
DeKalb
Houston
Jasper
Lincoln
Schley
Whitfield
. Wilcox
Friday after, Telfair
Camden
Thursday after,Irwin
onday “ Berrien
Charlton
. , may.
Monday, Clayton
Gilmer
Randolph
Upson
Burke
Catoosa
Chatham
Fannin
Mitchell
3d tr , Muscogee
11 Monday. Bibb
Quitman
Spalding
Troup
Union
^Monday,
Terrell
^••‘Monday, Colquitt
‘“Monday, Dougherty
Lowndes
Sdu.., Milton
Mo#d »y. Brooks
tCIay
* Mend,, Th hn8 ° n
kltjj,—,/• Thomas
JULY
1st Monday, Floyd*
4th Monday, Lumpkin*
AUGUST.
2.1 Monday, Campbell
Clark
Dawson
3d Monday, Forsyth
fPolk
Glascock
Meriwether
Walton
1th Monday ,Baldwin
Jackson
Monroe
Paulding
Taliaferro
Walker
Thursday after,Pierce
SEPTEMBER.
1st Monday, Appling
Chattooga
Cherokee
Columbia
Coweta
Crawford
Madison
Marion
Morgan
2d Monday,Butts
Cass
Coffee
Elbert
Fayette
Greene
Gwinnett
Pickens
W>ahmgtot«
Webster
3d Monday, Cobb
Calhoun
Hall
Hart
Heard
Macon
Newton
Putnam
Talbot
Ware
Bulloch,
4th Monday, Clinch
IjChatahoochee
Emanuel
Lee
Twiggs
White
Wilkes
iMonday af- Y
the 4th > Echols
Monday }
OCTOBER.
ISA 2d Mon.Carroll
IstMonday Dooly
Early
Fulton
Gilmer
Gordon
Taylor
Warren
Wilkinson
Pike
Wednesday after. Rabun
2dMonday, Fannin
Habersham
Hancock
Harris
Laurens
Miller
Scriven
Sumter
3aMonday, Franklin
Glynn
Haralson
Henry
Jefferson
Jones
Murray
Oglethorpe
Pulaski
Stewart
Union
Worth
Thussdsy ? Montgomery
i after J
;4t’i Monday,Banks
W ayne
Decatur
DeKalb
Houston
Jasper
Lincoln
Schley
Tattnall
Towns
Whitfield
Wilcox
^Friday after Telfair
Camden
jThursday after, Irwin
Monday after Charlton
•^Mond
a J.
i NOVEMBER.
1st Monday, Berrien
Clayton
Effingham
Milton
Randolph
Upson
,2d Monday,Burke
Catoosa
Mitchell
Muscogee
3J Monday, Bibb
Quitman
Spalding
Troop
Baker
ilth Monday, Dade
Terrell
Thursday after, McIntosh
Monday after, Colquiit
do do Liberty
Mon. after Liberty. Bryan
DECEMBER.
1st Monday, Dougherty
Lowndes
2d Monday. Btooks
*C!ay
Johnson
3d Monday, Thomas
bftj).' tkree weeks, if necessary, at each
tTli*
,e falar fc, e f " ot *» tak ° effect till after the next
‘All C 1 the Court.
^ W, °®tmtjr, which, under the
J ed *>y this act hetwoen now and the times as
lW
Richmond
Comptroller General’s Office, ?
Milledgeville, May 22,1861. J
Mis Excellency Joseph E. Ilroicn.
compliance with your request con
tained in an address to the People of Georgia, un
der date of the 17th inst. I herewith furnish you an
approximate statement of the “amount which would
be the just proportion of each county, should each
determine to contribute its part of the one million
dollars proposed [by your Excellency] to be rais
ed,” “to be used by ihe State in equipping and
and providing for the waots of the Georgia troops”
now or that may hereafter be in the service of the
country, during the preser.t war.
Ibis statement is made jpon the basis of the nett
amount of tax paid into .he State Treasury from
the several counties, for '.he year 1860. It is only
an approximate apportionment, however. The
rule in this office in relation to prompt payments
by Collectors is quite f.tringent. The consequence
is, that, if on the 20tb December in each year, (the
day of the “fina. settlement,”) Collectors fail to
have their insolvent lists at this office as the law
requires, they have to pay into the State Treasury
the whole amount of the tax of their counties, after
deducting the Receivers and Collectors commis
sious. This enables the Collectors to take their own
time to obtain their insolvent lists without detri
ment to the State; and the same are allowed, if
correct aud in due form, and the money refuuded
for them whenever presented at this office. A
large number of Collectors make, their settlements
in this way. Many have already sent forward their
insolvent lists, aud have had the amounts of their
over-payments refunded to them, while the Gener
al Tax of 1860 is still indebted to a respectable
number of counties for their insolvent lists. Until
these come in, there is no arriving at the precise
amount to be apportioned to each county; but hav
ing made allowances for the same, I think the fol
lowing apportionment would not be changed mate
rially, were all these over-payments refuuded:
i must stand over till the times fix-
S>on, i« to t be°*3!?V t ttahMchee ’ by act of this
i Jf^oochee T nH^, t< J; and become a part of the
- *• * Jadlci »l District, after lstJannaiy,
lnks f or sale at this Office.
Appling,
Baker,
Baldwin,
Banks,
Berrien,
Bibb,
Brooks,
Bryan,
Bulloch,
Burke,
Butts,
Calhoun,
Camden,
Campbell,
Carroll,
Cass,
Catoosa,
Charlton,
Chatham,
Chattabooehe,
Chattooga,
Cherokee,
Clark,
Clay,
Clayton,
Clinch,
Cobb,
Coffee,
Columbia,
Colquitt,
Coweta,
Crawford.
Dade,
Dawson,
Decatur,
Dekalb,
Dooly,
Dougherty,
Early,
Echols,
Effingham,
Elbert,
Emanuel,
Fannin,
Fayette,
Floyd,
Forsyth,
Franklin,
Fulton,
Gilmor,
Glasscock,
Glynn,
Greene,
Gordon,
Gwinnett,
Habersham,
Hall,
Hancock,
Haralson,
Harris,
Hart,
Heard,
Henry,
Houston,
Irwin,
Jackson,
1,779
7,490
8,702
2,:«J4
1,876
22,449
7,505
3,063
4,095
19,261
6,257
4.722
4,957
5,909
5,889
14,615
3,515
1,080
42,351
5,020
5,333
4,817
13,523
4,522
3,090
1,789
10,318
1,501
13,267
529
14.625
8,201
1,467
1,160
11,763
5,613
8,820
14.625
7,678
722
3,641
11,588
3,449
1,328
4,657
15,641
3,086
3,088
13,503
1.4£9
1,540
4,607
14,288
6,525
7,059
2,352
4,830
13,798
1,070
15,512
3,359
5,760
9,633
19,914
897
6,660
Jasper,
Jefterson,
Johnson,
Jones,
Laurens,
Lee,
Liberty,
Lincoln,
Lowndes,
Lumpkin,
Macon,
Madison,
Marion,
McIntosh,
Meriwether,
Miller,
Milton,
Mitchell,
Monroe,
Montgomery,
Morgan,
Murray,
Muscogee,
Newton,
Oglethorpe,
Paulding,
Pickens,
Pierce,
Pike,
Polk,
Pulaski,
Putnam,
Quitman,
Rabun,
Randolph,
Richmond.
Schely,
Scriven,
Spalding,
Stewart,
Sumter,
Talbot,
Taliaferro,
Tattnall,
Taylor.
Terrell,
Telfair,
Thomas,
Towns,
Twiggs,
Union,
Upson.
Walker,
Walton,
Ware,
Warren,
Washington,
Wayne,
Webster.
White,
Whitfield,
Wilcox,
Wilkes,
Wilkinson,
Worth,
11,924
10,778
1,835
10,237
5,658
9,510
6,949
6,310
4,663
1,811
9,841
3,524
7,069
4 916
15,909
1,955
2.043
3.454
19,115
2,023
12,046
3,759
21,364
13,397
12,417
2,123
1,404
845
9,306
5,547
7,849
13,496
4.734
948
9.594
33,495
4,623
7.069
9,416
15,190
14,705
15,500
4,382
2,747
5.070
5,859
1,755
14,027
836
01,419
9,411
1,214
9,818
6,001
9,080
1,357
10,290
13,806
1,177
5.043
1,214
6,494
1,105
13,324
8,531
1.779
$ 1,000,000
Very respectfully. Your ob’t. serv’t.,
PETERSON THWEATT.
Comptroller General.
(CIRCULAR.)
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT,
Adjutant General’s Office,
Milledgeville, Ga., May 18, 1861.
As the Confederate Government does not, at
present, furnish clothing in kind, to the Volunteers
called into its sendee, but a commutation therefor
in money, every Volunteer ought, when mustered
in, for his own comfort and health, to be sufficient
ly provided with articles of uniform and dress to
meet his immediate wants, and for the probable
necessities of at least three months.
It is therefore recommended that each Volnnteer
will, as far as practicable, present himself at the ren
dezvous, where he is to be transferred into the ser
vice of the Confederacy, provided with the follow
ing articles of uniform and dress, viz:
1 Coat, or Jacket, (as may be the uniform.)
2 pr. Trousers.
1 Forage or Fatigue Cap.
2 Flanuel Shirts.
2 pr’s. Drawers.
3 pr’s Socks, Woolen or Cotton, Woolen best.
2 pr’s Bootees, Ankle or Jefferson, or Brogans
with full broad soles, and low flat broad heels.
2 Colored pocket Handkerchiefs.
1 light Black Neck Tie.
1 Comb.
1 strong Pocket Kuife.
1 small Tin Cup.
1 Iron Spoon.
1 Knife, 1 Fork.
It would be well, also, if each man took with
him a flannel band, of from 8 to 10 inches wide,
provided with strings to be worn over the abdo
men, (next the skin,) for the prevention of camp
diarrhoea or dysentery when exposed to damps, or
on the first indication of a change of habit.
Red for flannel shirts is to be avoided, as it pre
sents an excellent mark for the enemy. Gray or
blue are the better colors.
High or narrow heels to the boots or shoes should
not be worn, as they are injurious to the feet.—
Bootees are far preferable to boots of any kind in
summer. . , ...
Such articles as are not worn or carried about
the person to be neatly packed in, or to be attach
ed to the knapsack or valise.
To facilitate arrangements for securing a regu
lar supply of clothing from home, it is recommend
ed to Companies to consider the advantage otturn-
in trover to the Captain, orother responsible agent,
their commutation, as paid, to be applied m such
manner as may have been determined upon.
It is essential to the health of the soldier, wheth-
e, iii barrack, o, to MtoP, ttal h» be <*»»!«Mf"
son regular in habits, and physically exercised.—
The two first can be attained by dividing eac
Company into four or more squads or messes, and
assigning to each a subaltern, or non-com mtss, on-
ed officer, to supervise the persons. habits,
et of the men, who by a word of fnendly-ounsel
when required may correct neglect in «*« • ■
third, or physical exercise, rests with t p
or Commander of the Company, "ho.for
liue and efficiency, should in some manner or
cipuue ana _ / a 0 _
other employ his men actively every day.
B( order of tb.
Adj. & Ins. General
*200Reward.
W ILL PAY THE above reward to any one wbo
will deliver to me my runaway negro man
George; said negro is about thirty years of age,
lUrfit conrolexion, about five feet ten inches high,
thin visage, rather round shoulders, slow spoken
Ind weigS about one hundred and sixty or seventy
p ° T U f nd if; <■ caught and lodged In jail anywhere,
I will pay one hundred and fifty dollars, if I get
‘“Address me at Linton, Hancock C°un^G^ g
July 2, 18fil. 87 tf
From the Richmond- Enquirer.
1 be tollowiug letter, written by a dis
tinguisfced gentleman of Mississippi, for-
meily opposed to Secession, in answer to
a friend in N. Y. City, has been handed
to ns for publication. We would commeud
it to the mi8guited people of our own
States and of Tennessee, who are still
withholding their allegiance from their re
spective State Governments :
Vicksburg, Miss., May 25, 1SG1.
H. H. E. Esq., New York City :
My Dear Sir:—I Lave received and
read your obviously kindly intended letter
ol May loth, inst; and my surprise was
great, and upon re-reading it and think
ing about it, becomes greater and greater,
tbat the simple and most natural idea did
not occur to you, by which are the hor
rors tbat you have so vividly painted, all
the blood shed, crime, civil war, public de
moralization, devastation and private ruin,
in store for the whole land, would be at
once and entirely avoided, and peace and
good will reign in their stead, and prosper
ity and general happiness once more
spread their sunshine over the land. Tbat
idea is the recognition of a fixed fact, the
Independence of the Confederate
States. Tbat recognized and publicly ac
knowledged, and all the clouds of war
which darken the heavens and begin to
hurl their bolts upon the earth, will be
dispersed. Without that, the cloud will
uever be rolled back; and though the
darkness be turned into blood and every
conceivable element of horror be added,
nothing can stay the violenco or duration
of the storm but tbat.
These are figures. Let me drop them,
and assure you, in plain and solemn prose,
that the separation between tbe North and
the South, between the slave and free
States, is final and irrevocable : and ought
to be so. And every intelligent man,
North and South, ought to strive in a com
mon and earnest effort to make it so.—
That is a compromise such as you refer to,
“a true compromise” which will settle this
quoestio vexata forever, and will leave to
both of us and both sections and all our
posterity, “a nation and a government un
der which we can leave our children
safety.” No other possible compromise
can ever be made. It is idle to speak or
think of any other. The gulf of division
is impassable and eternal; and whatever
I and others who once revered the Union
of our fathers and dreaded its downfall
as the greatest of national calamities, may
have thought in time past, I do not believe
there is one man in my whole acquaintance
in tbe Confederate States, who would con
sent to its re establishment on any terms;
or who would not resist it more determin
edly and bitterly than he did its dismem
berment.
It is worse than useless to review the
past. You wholly mistake, when you
think we are deceived or deluded by our
leaders. Y\ r e are men of fair intelligence,
and we understand this question in all its
parts and bearings, as fully. T »»
you. or any ot the leaders either North or
South. To put it plainly to you, and
show what I mean ; you and I, as fair rep
resentatives of the moderate and conser
vative men of the two sections, ought
not live under a common Government, or
to bo subject to the same laws. You, a
Christian man, a just man, a fair minded
man, a humane man, and I, hoping and
praying that I may possess like character
istics, are not fitted to be under a common
Government, with the institution of slave
ry in the part in which I live, without it
in the part in which you live. You agree
with Mr. Lincoln that slavery is wrong ;
aud, to use your own language, “Yon can
not favor or allow the extension of it.” I
think it is right, has the Divine sanction,
is approved by reason, and founded in ne
cessity. Y T ou think all the power of the
National government must be used to cir
cumscribe it, and confine it to its present
limits. I think it should be free as air,
to go where necessity, or inclination, or
duty prompts. These views and princi
ples are totally antagonistic. They are
the antipodes of each other. They lead
inevitably to different policies, to opposite
measures, to clashing interests, to open
hostility. Your views and opinious are
those of the dominant majority of one sec
tion of the country ; mine, of the whole
body of tbe other. It is too plain for dispute,
that the differences are irreconceivable,
and must inevitably, sooner or later, have
resulted in division. That division has
come, and it is immaterial whether it has
come by secession or by revolution,
whether the- rupture has beeen according
to the forms of a supposed legal right, and
with all the legitimate ordinances of popu
lar conventions executing the popular will,
or by open revolution. It has come.—
The Union is dissolved. YY r e are no long
er one nation, and nover will, or can be
united again under a common government.
We will have no more irrepressible con
flicts in the nation ; no more questions of
half slave and half free ; no more ago
nizing disputes about the rights of the
South and slaveholders in the territories
and districts of the Government. We are
two people ; two nation; two Governments.
Y r ou, with your institutions, habits, opin
ions; we with ours. You auswerable alone
for your own, aud we for ours. You no
longer troubled by the moral responsibili
ties, which, according to the oft-uttered
complaint, your connection with ns impos
ed. YVe, freed from the intolerable inter
ference with our rights of property that
grew out of your sensitive consciences—
you, permitted to assert your righteousness
to its fullest scope, in having washed your
bands of the deadly sin of abetting the
holding your fellow man in bondage ; we,
allowed to ask the Divine mercy upon us
miserable sinners, and implore Divine
help to enable us henceforth faithfully to
do our duties by those bond servants, born
in onr bouses, orpurchased with our money,
whose welfare and happiness, and progress,
your steady intermeddling, for a quarter
of a century, has greatly checked and
thrown back. In a word, you and your
section without slavery ; we and ours with
it.
This, I 6ay, is what every intelligent
man, both North and South, ought to re
joice to see exist, and ought to strive to
make permanent. It is. in every aspect
of the question, far better than it was be
fore. We cannot live in peace together.
We have an insuperable element of^ dis
cord ; we cannot yield it up. Yon will not
cease your attacks upon it, either directly
or indirectly, either openly or mUiouk,
under one pretext or another. That ele
ment of discord has divided ns; it must
have divided us. The institution of sla
very is of such a nature that its lawfulness
cannot be questioned by outsiders, with
out danger of infinite and inexpressible
mischief. Its prosperity must depend, iu
the very nature of things, upon the unlim
ited and most unrestrained confidence and
love between master and slave. An
outside interference, touching the slave,
however remotely, that he does not owe
an allegiance demanded of him, while it is
cruel to the slave, is dangerous to the mas
ter, and excites his alarm and arouses his
passion. It destroys the foundation on
which the institution rests and is iutolera
ble. That the master endured it as long
as he did, is a proof of his loyalty to the
government and of his confidences in the
supposed intelligence and justice of these
who were to administer tbat government,
and in the humanity which he hoped would
ultimately stay the hand of those who of
ten carelessly and indifferently, but too
often wickedly, threatened the peace and
permanence of his household.
This line of argument need be pursued
no further. Autislavery has reaped its le
gitimate aud inevitable fruits, in the disso
lution of the Union. The Confederate
States are now, and I have no earthly
doubt will continue to be a separate and
independent government; homogeneous,
without any element of discord, under a
written Constitution, having a republican
form, securing popular rights and a well
regulated liberty, by all tho sanctions
which law justly and fairly administered
can furnish. YVhy shall not their late al
lies and brethren recognize the fact of the
independence and separate existence of
this new government, comprising one half
a million of square miles of territory, inhab
ited by at least ten millions of human be
ings ? It is, beyond all cavil, true that
the Union is divided ; the South has set
up a separate government and is determin
ed to sustain it by force of arms, aud lias
now over one hundred thousand well drill
ed and officered troops in the field, thor
oughly equipped, to defend to the
last the position she lias taken. Why
should the Northern States deny us this
right to govern ourselves and to separate
from them ? YVliy should they seek to
subjugate us and to drive us back into a
Union from which our whole land is now
jubilant that we have escaped ? I have
carefully looked and looked again though
your letter to see any reasonable or even
plausible pretext or suggestion offered for
it. Tbe only idea like a justification is
that you mnst uow “struggle to the death
for a nation and a government under
which you can leave your childreu in safe
ty ?” Let us examine this. It will not
bear tho test of scrutiny for a moment.
It will not justify the loss of a single life,
the ruin of a single man ot business ; much
less the hecatombs of human beings now
about to be offered up, upon such a pitiable
conceit and delusion, aud the wide spread
commercial ruiu that has already swept
like a besom of destruction through the
country.
What is this plea upon which a fratrici
dal war of desolation is to be prosecuted ;
begun with dreadful expression of ferocity,
and likely to be carried on in a no less fe
rocious spirit? It is that your children
may have a nation aud a government in
which their safety will be secured. And
let me ask you how that is to he effected ;
by giving up our land, to be wasted with
fire and sword, and our wives and children
made the victims, as ^threatened, of both
civil and servile war ? How will the ac
knowledgement of the independence of
the Confederate States, affect the nation
and the government under which you and
your children will live l That govern
ment wiil outwardly remain as it is now,
except that it will be as it was before our
separation, and as you would have it after
we are forced back into union with you.—
Y~ou will transmit tho same form of govern
ment to your ( children and the same liatiou
that you now have, as well without as with
the Confederate States. YVe are esseutial
neither to your nationality nor to your
form of government. Both are complete
without us. YVhat, then, do you mean by
“struggling to death for a nation and a
government under which you can leave
your children in safety ?” YY r e do not pro
pose to alter the form or substance of your
government. Y\ 7 e have simply withdrawn
from its control, and are independent of it.
Tho old thirteen States had less popula
tion and covered less territory than the
nineteen free States will possess ; and their
founders transmitted a safe government
to their decendants. YVhy is an union
with the slave States necessary to enable
you to transmit a safe government to your
children ? Is slavery a vital element to
your prosperity as it is to yours; without
which you cannot leave astable government
behind you ? If not, what is it, then you
mean ? Is it, that by recognizing the in
dependence of the Confederate States yon
thereby recognize the doctrine of seces
sion, and admit its legality ; and thus
sanction a principle which may some day
prove your own ruin ? Is that what you
mean ? And you would struggle to the
death, and involve the whole land in the
horrors of civil war, before you would let
us begin our national career by the asser
tion of a political principle, that, however
heterodox it may now seem, may some day
he successfuly maintained in the Northern
States, and result in a still further break
ing up of your federal alliance ? Your
object in this war, theu, is to put down the
idea of State rights, State sovereignty,
and State independence, and to maintain
the Federal authority, and the absolute
sovereignty of the Federal government.
It is a war against political ideas, and to
crush out a political heresy, that lias had
its advocates ever since the separation of
the colonies from Great Britain. It is a
war against freedom of opinion, the equali
ty and rights of the States, the liberties
and right of self government of the people.
Aud tbe result of such a war, even if
crowned with tbe completest success, yon
think will leave a safe and stable govern
ment to your children. And iu such a
hope and for sack an end you propose to
cry “Havoc, and let slip the dogs of war.”
and drench tbe land in blood and carnage.
If it be not that, what elso can you possi
bly mean by struggling for a government
under which your children can lire in
safety 1 Is it a military despotism that
you wish to establish ? If so, I confess
you are taking tbe right and sure means to
accomplish it. But if you want a consti
tutional government, you are madly and
blindly building up a fatal barrier against
it. It is alone by tbe consent and the
will of the people that a constitutional
government can be established and np-
beld. To force a government upon an un
willing people is to subject them to a des
potism.
1 admit tbat at one time I looked with
great apprehension to the effect upon pop
ular government and of the dissolution ol
the Union. I feared it would demon
strate its weakucss, and prove the failure
of free principles. On the contrary, it
has offered incoutestible evidence of the
capacity of the people for self government,
and that constitutional liberty has an ab
solute safeguard in their intelligence and
freedom. Tho disintegration of the late
union and the establishment of our present
confederation, illustrate with what ease
and celerity and certainty a free people
may redress their wrongs and assert their
liberties, without violence, or disorder or
the sacrifice of a single private right.
YY r hy, then, wage this war upon the
States that have withdrawn from the
Union, and seek to drive them hack into
it by force ? YVhat earthly good can flow
from it ? Recognize their independence
7101C and treaties of friend ship and alliance
will be made, which in a short time will
restore trade and commerce to their old
channels; travel aud social intercourse
will resume their wonted paths; and ere
long all marks of the present fearful state
of things will have worn away ; except
that we will have two governments and
be two distiuut nations, and tbat tbe dan
gerous word, war, of crimination and re
crimination, which have marked our na
tional legislatures and public hustings,
will have ceAsed, all things will proceed
very much as they did before ; and the
country, North and South, go on prosper
ing and to prosper.
But, if the golden opportunity of peace
be now lost, seeds of bitterness and wrath
will have been sown that will bear fruit for a
century to come. Y on can hardly suppose
that tho South can be conquered or held
as a province. You cannot, I am persua
ded, kelieve that over oue million and
a half of men, fighting on their own soil,
for their dearest rights of life, liberty and
property, can be vanquished permanently
by any body of men, however large, that
the North could bring against them.—
This State, oue ot the smallest of the elev
en Confederate States, with a voting
population of only sixty five thou
sand men, has already 6ent twenty thou
sand well drilled soldiers to the Confederate
army, and in less than a month conld send
twenty thousand more if needed. This
single county of YVarren, in which I live,
whose whole voting population is under
fourteen hundred, and two-thirds of which
voted co-operation of all the Sontheru
States before secession, has now in the
Confederate service one thousand men. I,
myself, would, if need be, buckle on my
armor and fight to maintain our separate
nationality and independence, as freely
as I would ask God’s blessing upon my
daily bread ; and would sacrifice property
and life before I would consent to go back
again into the Union as much abhorred
now, as it was once honored and revered.
How then, I ask, cau you hope to sub
jugate a people thus united, thus determin
ed ? And if you could subjugate them,
they would not stay subjugated. It would
take a perpetual standing army, as large
as that required to conquer tbe country,
to retain it in vassalage. Tbe idea that
any Southern State conld be whipped in
to acknowledging fealty to the broken
and contemned Union, into taking its
place again in the old confederation, is, to
onr minds and from our stand point of view,
as utterly absurd as it would have been
to have expected YVashington, at the very
moment that Cornwaljis was surrendering
to him his sword, to have acknowledged
the supremacy of England and yielded
the independence of the colonies to her
haughty domination. Tbe result of the
war must either be the recognition, ulti
mately, of our independence, or our total
annihilation. I do not think there is any
other alternative. And if that he so, no
man who is not utterly lost to every priu
ciple of humanity, will say that the latter
alternative should be preferred to the for
mer.
You speak, in the conclusion of j'our letj
ter. of your “loyalty and love for the good
Union, and your determination to save it.”
Y r ou cannot save what no longer exists,
but I wonder at the infatuation which can
prompt you to call the Government under
which you live a “good Union.” It is not
possible to conceive ot more gross and flag
rant violations of your Constitution than
your President has committed, and is
daily committing. Look at his proclama
tion, establishing the blockade of the
ports of the seceded States and liis send
ing armed ships to carry it ont, iu the
face of the Constitution, which declares
explicitly, that “no preference shall be
given by any regulation of commerce or
revenue in the ports of one State over
those of another; nor shall vessels bound
to or from one State, bo obliged to enter,
cleat, or pay duties iu another.” Look at
his call for volunteers and their enlist
ment to serve for three years, without a
shadow of law for it, thus usurping a pow
er to call out tho militia, expressly and
solely confided to Congress. Look at
his proclamation declaring his intention,
with seventy-five thousand soldiers, to
proceed to retake forts and do other hos
tile acts, notwithstanding the power to] de
clare war is alono conferred on Congress.
Look at his terrible declaration that he
will hang as pirates all privateersmen of
the Confederate States whom be may cap
ture, iu open violation of the Constitution
which leaves it to Congress to define and
punish piracies. Look at liis invasion
with armed troops into Virginia, sword
in baud, in face of tbe Constitution, which
makes it the solemn duty of the United
States “to protect each State from inva
sions.” See his self assumed right, with
out wan ant of law to suspend the writ of
habeas corpus, and, by the executive arm
of the government, strike down and paral-
ize the judicial power of tbe Government.
See him, without Constitutional anthority
and against the very letter of the Consti
tution, searching aud seizing persons,
houses, papers and effects, and setting at
naught nearly every clause iu the Bill of
Rights. These are all his acts, without
warrant or color of law, usurping powers
given to Congress alone, which they might
or might not have authorized him to, exer
cise but which, without the express author
ity of the Congress, he is an naarper and
a despot to have attempted. And yet
speak of this as the M good Union,” and
talk admiringly of “yonr loyalty,” and
complacently hag yourself with tbe delu
sion that in this dreadful war, which you
have inaugurated and are prosecuting with
such ruthfuless vindictiveness, you are
performing for ns a friendly act and “secu
ring to ourselves a nation and a govern
ment under which you can leave your chil
dren in safety.” In contrast to all this,
see the dignity and propriety with which
every step of our honored Chief Magistrate
is taken. His proclamtions are marked
by no empty bravadoes, truculence or blus
ter. They exhibited no disregard of con
stitntion and law. They assume no au
thorized powers. Called to the head of
the government, as YVashington was, to
lead the armies of the Continental Con-
gres, he lias acted with a prudence and
wisdom that have challenged the admira
tion of friend and foe. YVith a Constitu
tion, confessing our dependence upon
God ; with a President, thorougly imbued
with the spirit and principles of Christiani
ty ;with a Congress solicitous to do right
and with a people unanimous to maintain
our independence , we have nothing to
fear from all the passion and madness the
North may fulminate against ns. YY’e can
truly say with Elisha, “thej r that he for us,
are more than they that be against us.”
You arc perhaps aware that I regard se
cession as an illegal and revolutionary
remedy, and therefore opposed to it; and
you may not understand how it is that,
after the act of secession and separation
has been completed, I, aud all of those
with whom I agreed in opinion and acted,
now cordially and earnestly unite to np
hold our State in its new position, and to
maintaiu and stand by the uew Union
which it has formed. The explanation is
a perfectly simple one. From the State
government we drive all of our rights of
persons aud property, and are indebted
to it for the protection of life aud liberty
and what we posses ; and for the vindica
tion of every wrong committed against ns.
Every social tie derives its existence and
sanction from the Stat8 authority. YVe
marry our wives, our children inherit onr
estates, our servants yield obedience to
commands, we buy and sell, we act in every
relation of life as men and as citizeus under
the laws aud by the authority of the State
Government. To it we are indebted for
every right, and to it we resort to redress
every wrong. It is, therefore, entitled to
onr just support and allegiance. As it
shields and protects ns. as it gives right
and liberty to us, so it is in turn our duty
to shield and protect it; to maintain its
rights and liberties. It is not the prov
ince of the individual citizen nor is it eith
er his civil duty or political light, to
throw himself against a position which
the State authority lias taken, merely
because he conceives that position inju
dicious or inexpedient or hazardous ; and
especially is this so, when, with all his
heart and mind, he coinmeuds and justifies
the motives which prompted tbe State to
assume that position. The attitude of the
State once taken, every dictate of reason
and of law, both human and divine, re
quires the good citizen to stand by, and up
hold it even though in doing so he may
come in collision with, and be compelled
to cancel, a more distant aud less direct
allegiance, which, uuder former political,
arrangements, he owned to another power.
The Constitution of tho United States was
supreme within its limit, beyond all doubt;
but its practical operation on the individ
ual citizen was remote and limited. Its
main scope was directed to Federal, and
as a consequence, to foreign affairs, and it
bad aud could have, therefore outside of
its national aspect, no hold upon the affec
tions or the obedienee or the allegiance of
the people. YY T itb the separation of the
State from tbe Uniou, fell at once all ob
ligation to the National government. The
same sword which cut the State from its
counections with the United States, sever
ed tbe tie which bound each of her citizens
to allegiance to the Constitution, no lon
ger the supreme law of the State, and left
him tbe subject alone of State authority
aud power. The citizens of Mississippi, af-
te rthe ordinance of secession had proclaim
ed her independent of the Federal Union,
was no more subject to that Union than
was John Hancock,, after he had affixed
his signature to theYDeclaration of Inde
pendence, subject to the Crown of Eng
land.
YVhile these propositions are indisputa
bly true, as to tbe civil allegiance due un
der the law of man to the government
which protects his private and personal
rights, it is equally true that the same al
legiance is due uuder the direct law and
command of God. It would be strange,
indeed, if it were otherwise. It would be
a curious anomaly, if the civil obligations
of the faithful citizen to his government
conflicted with his religious obligations.
We have here but one government; but
one set of magistrates; hut one code of
laws. Our courts sit at stated periods, un
der the State and Confederate authority,
presided over by officials of State aud Con
federate appointment, aud award judg
ment under laws of State and Confederate
enactment affecting tbe lives, liberty and
property of the people, with no one in all
the broad land to say to them nay. If
there conld be found in the Scriptures a
single declaration which prohibited obe
dience to such laws or submission to the
authority which enacted them, it would
be an obvious interpolation upon the Di
vine oracles, aud would neither receive
nor deserve the respect of intelligent
Christians. So far as it prescribes rales
for the government of men, the Bible is a
code of morals, and not of politics. It
lays down-the rule for the guidance of
the citizen in his conduct as such, but does
not undertake to declare the form of gov
ernment under which he must live, nor to
prescribe the manner of its creation. It
takes sides neither for nor against States
Rights. It neither condemns nor justifies
secession. It dos not advocate a Monar-
cliial or a Republican ora mixed form of
government. It expresses its preference
for neither arbitrary nor constitutional
rule. It is no essay upon tbe spirit of laws.
But its solemn order to the Christian man
is : Obey the powers that be7 whatever
their name or character. Resist not tbe
government or the law ; for if you do, you
resist the ordinance of heaven. Men rale
in tbe place of God as his agents; obey,
therefore your rulers, and thus yon obey
God. In other words, to be law-abiding is
to be God-fearing; to obey the laws is
to obey God. Tho whole teaching of the
Bible on this subject is to be rammed np
in a single sentence : “Obey the estab
lished government and ita lawa;” and that
is precisely what I and all the citizens of
the Confederate States are doing; and in
so doing; we are obeying the will of God,
as did our Fathers when they threw off the
government of England and rallied to the
banner of Independence. God never
meant to declare and never has declared
that no change should ever take place in
government. He never meant to perpet
uate tbe horrors of a despotism like that
of NeFO. He has only enjoined obedience
to the civil antbortie9, so long as they re
main in authority ; bat the very moment
the sceptre has departed from their hand
and passed into that of another, tbat mo
ment obedience to the former ceases to be
of obligation and is at once transferred to
the latter. The United States have not
even the semblonce of actual anthority in
Mississippi. It is no longer a “power*.
here. It has ceased to be a government
among as. Obedience to it is an impossi
bility, and would hfe a breach of law and
so of Christian duty. I will not deny
that in civil commotions and in the conflict
of authorities, the Christian man might
dud it difficult to determine to what Jaw his
obedience was due. But that can never
be tbe case when the organized govern
ment under which be lives, acts and di
rects. In every case the controlling ques
tion is : Is the government an existing,
established one ? That answered affima-
lively, and tbe path of duty is plain as a
sunbeam.
You ask what you and I can do to check
this tide of civil, threatniug to engulf us
all? I can do but little. I act with those on
tho defensive. YY r eseek no aggression.
YY r e demaud nothing but to he let aloue.
Acknowledge onr independence, and, as
President Davis says, “the sword will drop
from our grasp.” Y r ou and meu like you
can do to much accomplish this. Y'our Con
gress is about to meet. YVill it sanction
this war of aggression, this invasion of our
soil, this intended subjugation I Flood it
with petitions not to do so. Call upon
all who maintain the right of self govern
ment, who hold to popular rights, to set
their faces against this attempt to crush
them out forever. I invoke all wbo pre
fer peace aud its inevitable horrors, to
call upon your Congress to acknowledge
our independence and establish treaties of
peace aud alliance between ns. Stir np
your people for peace and good will, urge
them as they would once more see their
own section prosperous, their government
firm and stable and administered accor
ding to the principles of your constitution,
to acknowledge our independence, and thus
lift from themselves and from us the dark
clouds which now threaten the peace ami
security of us all. Do this aud you will
have done much to avert tbe dreadful evils
of war ; aud whether^you succeed or fail
you will at least hajfe “tbe testimony of a
good conscience.’^ Yoffwill have taken one
step towards leaving a stable government
to your childrefiG under which they can
live in safety ; you will prepare the way
for the unexampled prosperity of both sec
tions, and will have vindicated the prin
ciples of liberty and free government, be
fore the civilized world, to all time. Fail
iu this, and let this unnatural war progress
and accumulate the bitterness ever inci
dent to bloodshed and violence, and while
yon may inflict grevious and wide gapping
wounds upon us, and throw back our
prosperity, and impoverish many of onr
people, and bring distress and anguish
upon many of our house-holds, you will
not have subjugated or conquered us, but
wiil have inflicted death stabs upon your
own prosperity, have crushed out constitu
tional liberty in your midst, and erected a
military despotism upon tbe ruins of the
Repnblic which you now possess, and bat
for the evil principles and passions yon
have evoked among yourselves, might have
made perpetual.
That you and men who think with yon,
may be incited to an earnest effort, in the
only path of wisdom, to procure peace by
tbe recognition of our separate natiouality,
and may succeed in it, is, and shall he,
the prayer of, Y'ours, &c.,
YYM. C. SMEDES.
First General Order of fflaj. General Polk
All will feel an interest to read the first
general order of tbe Bishop General to his
department. We give it, as follows :
general order no. 1.
Headquarters, Division No. 2, )
Memphis, July 12, 1861. j
Having been assigned to tbe charge of
tbe defence of that part of the valley of
the Mississippi which is embraced within
the boundaries] of Division No, 2, I here
by assumo command. All officers on doty
within the limits will report accordingly.
In assuming this very great responsibili
ty, tbe General in command is constrained
to declare bis deep and long settled con
viction tbat the war in which we are en
gaged is one not warranted by reason or
auy necessity, political or social, of our ex
isting condition, but that it is indefensible
and of unparalleled atrocity. We have
protested, and do protest, that all we de
sire is to be let alone, to repose in qniet-
ness under our own vine and our own fig tree.
YVe have sought, and only sought, the uni
disturbed enjoyment of the interest and the
indefeasible right of self government—a
right which freemen can never relinquish,
aud which none but tyrants could ever seek
to wrest from U6. Those with whom we bavo
been lately assoeiated in the bonds of a
pretended fraternal regard have wished
and endeavored to deprive ns of our great
birth-right as American citizens. Nor is
this all. They have sought to deprive ns
of this inestimable rigbt by a merciless
war, wbicb can attain no other possible end
than the ruin of fortunes and the destruc -
tion of lives; for tbe subjugation of Chris
tian freemen is cat of the question.
A war which has thus no motive except
last or hate, and no object except ruin and
devastation, under the shallow pretence of
a restoration of the Union, is surely a war
against Heaven as well as a war against
earth. Of all the absurdities ever enact
ed, of all the hypocrisies ever practiced,
an attempt to restore a anion of minds,
and hearts, and wills, like that wliieh once
existed in North America, by the ravages
of fire and sword, are assuredly among
the most prodigious.
As sore as there is a righteous Ruler of
the universe, sneb a war mnst end in dis
aster to those by whom it was inaugura
ted, and by whom it is now prosecuted
with circumstance* or' barbarity which it
was firmly believed would never more dis
grace tbe annals of a civilized people.—
Numbers may be against os, hot the battle
is not always to the stroug. Jnstiee will tri
umph. And an earnest of this triumph
we already behold in tbe mighty uprising
of the whole Southern heart. Almost aa
one man this great section come#., to tbe
resene, reeolved to perish rather thaft yield
to tbe oppressor, who, in the name of free*