About The Confederate union. (Milledgeville, Ga.) 1862-1865 | View Entire Issue (March 3, 1863)
i Nation nor id restrain poVver; not cer-jand over again, I have proclaimed to tainlv to deliberate; not even to leg- but to register and ratify the edicts and acts of the Executive; and in your language sir, upon the first day of the session, to invoke a universal baptism of tire and blood amid the roar , of cannon and the din of battle. Free ! the people that the success of a see tional anti-slavery party would be the beginning of disunion and civil war in America, I believed it. I did. I bad read history, and studied human nature, and meditated for years upon the character of our institutions and speech was had only at the risk of a I form of government, and of the people prison; possibly of life. Opposition j of the South as well as North; and I wati silenced by the fierce clamor of j could not doubt the event. But the “dislovaltv.” All business not of I people did not believe me, nor those war was voted out of order. Five | older and wiser and their Airy for the Coustitutioil, the . them to 4c end; and the people, thank modern timeg have, through your inedrn- Unionand the flag, yet the natural God have at last heard and heeded, and petency and folly, availed nothing to crush and inexorable l£ic 5 of. revolutions them out,. cut off though they have been by your blockade from all the world, and would 1 , sooner or later drive them to . t}on ** | dependent only npon their own courage that policy, and with it to its final but j ^ nd - - ■ •*—i ■ - - inevitable result, the change of our ! xjnion now sir, I recur to the state of the land resources. And yet they were to-be to-day, What is it? Sir twenty j utterly conqu 14th of April. Had I on the 15th when I read the Presi- , . conquered and subdued in six present form of democraticul govern-j months have elapsed, but the rebellion is i weeks, or thiee months! tnent into an imperial despotism.— j not crushed out; its military power has 1 Sir, my judgment was made up aud These were mv convictions on the not been broken : the insurgents have not j e .\pt essed from the first. I learned it changed them j dispersed. The Union is not restored ; j f rom Chatham; “Mv lords, you cannot , , . ' • 1 IT^ “Uw j “>"*!■'« -Va»ri«u“-A»d ym low. m* - — - % dents Proclamation, and becomeicon- | three hundred ; six hundred days have | conquered the South. You never will, greater than T. j vinced that I had been wrong all my| 1; a thousand millions expended ; j Is «ot in the nature of things possi- hundred thousand men, an immense j They rejected the prophecy, and ston- life, and that all history was a fable, j an( j three hundred thousand lives lost or ; ble, much less under your auspices. But navy, and two hundred and fifty mil-j ed the prophets. The candidate of the and all human nature false in its deve 1 - j bodies inangled ; and to-day the Confed- money you have expended without lions of money were speedily granted, i Republican party was chosen Presi- j opment from the beginning of time, 1! crate Hag is near tlio Potomac and the limit, ami blood poured out like wa in twenty, at most in sixty days, the | dent. Secession began. Civil war was ; would have changed my public con-j Ohio, and the Confederate government ter: defeat, debt, taxation, sepulchres, rebellion was to be crushed out. To ! imminent. It was no petty itisurrec- j duct also. But uty convictions did not j stronger many times, than at the begin- i these are vonr trophies. In vain the doubt it was treason. Abject stibmis-I tion, no temporary combination to ob- change. I thought that if the war i n ' n £- Not a State ias een restore , no sion was demanded. Lay down ! struct the execution of the laws in cer- vour arms, sue for peace, surrender ; tain States, but a revolution, systema- vour leaders—forfeiture, death—this ! tic, deliberate, determined, and with was the only language heard on this \ the consent of a majority of the peo- floor. The galleries responded; the! pie of each State which seceded, corridors echoed; and contractors and Causeless it may have been; wicked placemen and other venal patriots ev- it may have been; but there it was, erywhere gnashed upon the friends of not to be railed at, still less to be peace as they passed by. In five j laughed at, but to be dealt with by weeks seveutv-cight public and pri- statesmen as a fact. No display of vig- vate acts and joint resolutions, with | or or force alone however sudden or declamatory resolutions, in the Sen- j great, could have arrested it even at ate, and House quite as numerous, all | the outset. It was disunion at last, full of slaughter, were hurried through i The wolf had come. But civil war without delay and almost without de- had not yet followed. In fiiy deliber- bate. ate and most solemn judgment, there Thus was civil war inaugurated in was but one wise and masterly mode America. Can any man to-day see ^ of dealing with it. Non-coercion would the end of it? avert civil war, and compromise crush And now pardon me, sir, if I pause out both ahbolitiouism and secession. >- The parent and the children would — e - e if the waring- ™ a ' a ™/ cs jeu;X i people gave you treasure and the sol- was disunion on the 14th of April, it j ^Union * And lias any : di ^ vieided up his life. “Fight, tax, was equally disunion on the 15th, and | thi been wanting that Congress, or the emancipate, let these” said the gen- at all times. Believing this, I could ; states, or the people in then- most gen tleman from Maine, (Mr. Pike.) at the not^as an honest man, a Union man ! erong enthusiasm, their most impassioned last session, “be the trinity of our and a patriot, lend an active support j patriotism, could bestow? Was it power? salvation.” Sir, they have become the to the war; and I did not. 1 had rath- And did not the_ party of the Executive, trinity of vour deep damnation. The er my right arm were plucked from its j control the entire Federal g° vermnent ’ war for the Union j ri your hands, socket and cast into eternal burnings, cver y S tat0 government, eveiy countj, u mos t bloody and costly failure, than "-ith „, y conviction,; to Imve) feCd •» The Presidentco„le f ^ it .,; the X* thus defiled my soul with guilt of per-| if . Wfls i(inHtJ 1 ence? ^Vhat more ? Did not September, solemnly, officially, and J »'•)*■ - . - | it. Was itintlucnce? What more . - - - . Sir, 1 was not taught in that tbc sc i, 00 j ( the college, the church, the under the broad seal of the United school which proclaims that “all | press, the secret orders, the municipality, States. And now lie lias repeated the is fair in politics.” 1 loathe, al>-, the corporations, railroads, telegraph, ex- confession. The priests and rabbis of hor and detest the execrable maxim. I j press companies, thevoluntary associations, Abolition taught him that God would stamp upon it. No State can endure j all, all yield it to the utmost ; was it no t prosper such a cause. War for a single generation whose public men | unanimity?.Never was an administration so p ue Union was abandoned; war for the practice it. Whoever teaches it is a j supported m Eng an or merica. ' n e openly begun, and with stronger corrupter of youth. What eve most '““j! ”'=7 JSin.mr ‘ want in these times, is honest and in- ; T 'j ie enthusiasm was fanatical. There has dependent public men. That mail | j, een „ ot ],i U g like it since the crusades.— who is dishonest in politics is not lion- 1 yy as it confidence ? Sir, the faith of th here a moment to define my own po-j The parent sit ion at this time upon this great thus both perish, But a resort to force | esfc at heart in anything; and sometimes ; people exceeded that of the patriarch.— question. would at once precipitate war, hasten [ moral cowardice is dishonesty. Do i They gave up the Constitution, law, right, Sir, I am one of that number who , secession, extend disunion, and, while i right; and trust to God, and truth and [ liberty, all at your demand for arbitrary have opposed abolitionism, or the po- it lasted, utterly cut off all hope of the people. Perish office, perish lion- power, that the re e lon mig , as 3 on liticnl developmental’ the anti-slavery 1 compromise. I believed the war, if ors, perish life itself, but do the tiling long enough continued, would he final,! that is right, and do it like a man. I disunion. I said it; I meant it; f did it. Certainly sir, I could not and, according tq e utmost of my doubt what he must suffer who dare ability and influence, 1 e.w.v-1 myself, defy the opinions and the passions, in behalf of the policy of noucoercion.,. fo say the madness of twenty niil- sentimentof the North and M est.from the beginning. T11 school, at college, at the bar, in public assemblies, iu the Legislature, in Congress, boy and man, as a private citizen and iu public life, in time of peace and time ol war, at battalions than before. With what success? Let the dead at Fredericks burg and Vicksburg answer. And now, sir, can this war contin ue? Whence the money to carry it on ? Where the rueu? Can you borrow? From whom? Can you tax more? Will the people corps, who kepi up cotnuiutnc&tioii be tween the fleet in Port Royal and Fort Pulaski, by means of flags by day and lan terns by liiglit. No privates are allowed to go up into the signal station; nor are they informed of any contemplated move ments. Whenever they get orders to cook rations for a number of days, they know that work is at hand. No such orders Lave been issued, although the talk was common in camp that Charleston was to be attacked. The fight at Genesis Point was thought to be intended to draw atten tion to Savannah, but no one believed that tiie fight was to be there. All look ed forward to what they believed would be the great battle of the war at Charleston, lie had heard a rumor that one vessel was sunk off Charleston, and that others were badly damaged; but the officers generally kept such news to themselves. He said that A/ainc had contributed 10,000 men to the war, and expressed fears lest he might be considered a deserter, as the circum stances of his leaving the island were so peculiar. When asked how many ves sels were at Port Royal, be stated that there were many schooners, Ac., that had brought out stores, and that these were vessels seen from our lookout. The steamers were going and coming all the time, and seldom remaiued long at Port Roval.—Charleston Mercury, 21#/. Interesting from Abolitiondom. Richmond, Feb. 24.—Northern dates of the 21st are received. The Illinois Legislature adjourned on Sat urday. The peace resolutions passed the House, but were prevented from passing the Senate by the withdrawal j tight of fighting Joe Hooker? Have the of enough of the members to deprive j malicious malignants of Washington taken that body of a quorum. j a j* ont °f him? Wo hope, not, and The gunboat New Era seized near i anxiously await the news of his forward Island No. ft) three steamers contain- I movement*. Where is the army of the • • 11 , . r* l v. j-Mississippi f bmee trie brilliant victory n.g quinine, army blankets. Coufeder- ; nt ArUa » n ^ 8 Post an(1 the splendid battle( J ate ttnifot ms audlaige quantities of j Murfreesboro, we have heard very little mischievous tones aud bush whackeri into useful employees of the Oonfed.. erate Government. The Major, if thJ war lasts, will yet be of infinite service to the Government.—Knoxville Icr. 21#/. “The three great BuHrarUo of ihr 5 tit | lion.* Why is tfere no Movement— Where “ Fighting Joe"—The People Ber 0m ; n „ Disheartened. The New York Herald deplores that there is no news army, and growing restiv under its inaction, lets off the following blast for an advance. ° Richmond, Charleston and Vicksbur* are nowTlie three great bulwarks of the rebellion. If the Government can succeed in capturing these three cities, and can defeat and put to route the rebel armies collected to defend them, the war will he virtually over, and the rebellion will soon die a natural death. Every day’s delay however, makes the achievement more didicult. Tiie rebels are active, enter prising and energetic, while we move verv slowly, and, we wish we could add, very surely. The road to Richmond has' been proven a very hard road to travel. Vicks burg has been fortified until it appears as inpregnable as Gibraltar. At Charleston our iron-clad gunboats wilf bo forced to encounter iron clad forts and batteries.— Our prospects are, therefore, not very encouraging, but they are, by no means hopeless. Where is the army of the Potomac, which was to take Richmond l Where is the promised, be crushed out in three months peupw uem; it? ^ait till you have j contraband goods. One stea merhad a Lf McClernand and Rosencr^s* Port and the Union restored. Was credit coleeted what is already levied, flow j large rebel mail containing valuable j Hudson is not vet taken, and Vicksburg You took control of a country, many millions more of “legal tender” I information. j still frowns defiance. Whe?e -are the and inexhaustible in —today' forty-one per cent, below] Despatches from Fort Monroe to | military and -naval expeditions which needed ! young, vigorous, wealth and resources, and of a government the par of gol^!—can you It was -adopted by Mr. Buchanan’s all times and at every sacrifice, 1 have : administration, with the almost unam- fought against it. It cost me ten ! mous consent of the Democratic and years’.exclusion from office and honor, Constitutional T nion parties in and ■it the period of life when honors tire out of Congress; and in Febuary, with sweetest. No matter, I learned early the concurrence of a majority ot the to do right and wait. Sir it is but the 1 Republican party in the senate and in development of the spirit of in termed- this house. J3ut that party, most disas- dling, whose children are strife and trousiy for the country, refused all murder. Cain troubled himself about compromise. How, indeed, could they the sacrifices of Abel, and slew him. accept any? That which the South de- Most of the wars and contentions and mauded aud the Democratic and con- litigation and bloodshed, from the be- servative parties of the North and ginning of time have been its fruits. West were willing to grant, and which The spirit of non-intervention is the alone could avail to keep the peace •verj* spirit of peace and concord. I and save the Union, implied a surren- do not believe that if slavery had nev- der of the sole vital element of the par- er existed here we would have had no tv and its platform—of the very princi- sectional controversies. This very civ- , pic in fact, upon which it had just il war might have happened fifty, per- won the contest for the President; not, haps a hundred years later. Other and indeed, by a majority of the popular stronger causes of discontent and of vote—the majority was nearly a mill- disunion, it mav be, have existed lie- ion against it—but under the forms of tween other States and sections and are now being developed every day into maturity. The spirit of interven tion assumed the form of abolitionism, because slavery was odious in name and by association to the Northern mind, and because it was that which most obviously marks the different civilizations of the two sections. The South herself, in her early and later the Constitution. Sir, the crime, the “high crime,’ of the Republican party was not so much its refusal to com promise, as its original organization upon a basis and doctrine wholly in consistent with the stability of the Constitution and the peace of the Union. But to resume: the President elect was inaugurated; and now, if only the efforts to rid herself of it had exposed policy of noncoercion could beraain- the weak and offensive parts of slavery ! tained. and war thus averted, time to the world. Abolition intermed- , would do its work in the North and dling taught her at last to search for 1 South, and finally, peaceable adjusts- and defend the assumed social, econo- ! ment and reunion be secured. Some mic and political merit and value of time in March it was announced that the institution. But there never was an hour from the beginning when it did not seem to me as clear as the sun at broad noon, that tiie agitation in any form in the North and West of the slavery question must sooner or later end in disunion and civil war. This was the opinion and prediction for years of Whig and Democratic statesmen alike: and alter the unfortunate dissolution of the Whig party in 1S-54, organization of the present can party upon an exclusive anti-sla very and sectional basis, the event was inevitable; because, in the then exist ing temper of the public mind, and after the education through the press and by the pulpit, the lecture and po litical canvass !<*r t\wut- years, of a generation taught to hate slavery and lions ol' pe<j[.%- ll!((1 x U(Jt rea j his tory? Did 1 not know Uuiuu. „y lire 9 But I appealed to time, and right no bly hath the Avenger answered me. I did not support the war ; and to-day I bless God that not the smell of so much as one drop of its blood is upon my garments. Sir, I censure no brave man who rushod patriotically into this war ; neither will 1 quarrel with any one here, or elsewhere, who gave to it ail honest support. Ilad their convictions been mine, 1, too, would doubtless have done as they did. With'my convictions I could not. Rut I was a Representative. War existed—by whose act no matter—not mine. The President, the Senate, the house and the country, all said that there should be war—war for the Union ; a Union of concert and good will. Our Southern brethren were to he whipped back into love and fellowship at the point of the bayonet. Oh, monstrous delusion ! I can comprehend a war to compel a peo ple to accept a master ; to change a form of Government ; to give up territory ; to abolish a domestic institution ; In short, a war of conquest and subjugation ; but a war for Union ! Was the Union thus made? Was it ever thus preserved ? — Sir, history will record that, after nearly six thousand years of folly and wickedness in every form and administration of Gov ernment—theocratic, democratic, mon archic. oligarchic, despotic and mixed—it was reserved to American statesmanship in the nineteenth century of the Christian era, to try the grand experiment on a scale the most costly and gigantic in its propor tions, of creating love by force, and de veloping fraternal affection by war ; and history will record, too, on tiie same page, the utter, disastrous and most bloody fail ure of the experiment. But to return : The country was at war ; and I belonged to that school of politics which teaches that when |we are at war, the Government—1 do not mean the Executive alone, but the Government—is entitled to demand and have, without resistance, such number of men, and such am/mnt of money and supplies generally as may be necessary for the war, until an appeal can be had to the people. Before that tribunal alone, in the first instance, almost free from public debt, and whose good faith had never been tarnished.— Your great national loan bubble failed miserably, as it deserved to fail; but the k|inkcrs and merchants of Philadelphia, . J 'V' "pd Boston lent you more than their entire bau&.^ n , .1 1 „„ that failed too, you forced crcuiif » •... ing your paper promises to pay a legal tender for all debts. Was money wanted? You had all the revenues of the United States, diminished indeed, but still in gold. The whole wealth of the country, to the last dollar, lay at your feet. Private individuals, municipal corporations, the State governments, all iu their frenzy j nemanne gave you money or means with reckless prodigality. The great Eastern cities lent you j-'loO.OOO.OOO. Congress voted, first, the sum of £250,000,000, and next $500,- i 000,000 more in loans; and then, first,: $500,000,000, then $10,000,000, next! Sir, in blood she lias atoned for her 90,000,000, and in July last, $150,000, credulity; and now tilery is mourning 000 in Treasury notes; and the Secretary , in every house, aud distress and sad- has issued also a -paper postage currency,’ ness inevery heart. Shall she give you ”” 1 any more? But ought this war to continue? I not a day, not an hour. men enlist now tit any price? Ah, sir, j exchange ot it is easier to die at home—1 beg par- fected don; but I trust lam not “discourag ing enlistments.” If I am, then first arrest Lincoln, Stanton and Halleck, and some of.your other generals, and T will retract, yea, 1 will recant. But can you aran again .- a ,i, y m „ Eng land—New York. Ask Massachusetts. —Where arc the nine hundred thou sand? Ask not Ohio—tlio Northwest. She thought you were in earnest, and gave you all, all—more than vou civilians have been per- to the float? Will | the lbthsav that arrangements for the 1 everybody^ supposed w°uld snap up Char leston with as much celerity as Dupont made Hilton Head too hot to hold arebel? Beyond the recent raid of the rebel iron clads and the experiments of the Montauk in the Ogeecheo river, there is nothin" stirring about the head and front of the .rebellion.—No wonder, under these cir cumstances, that our people are bccomin" disheartened. ‘'The wife whoso babe first smiled that day, The fair, fond bride of yester eve, And aged sire ami matron gray. Saw the loved warriors haste.away, And deemed it sin to grieve.” in sums as low as five cents, limited amount only by his discretion. Nay, more ; already since the 4th of July , 1S61, tin’s house has appropriated $1,400,000, ffnsur.r m the President had resolved to continue the policy of his predecessor, and evert go a step further, and evacuate Sum ter and the other Federal forts and arsenals in the seceded States. His I own party acquiesced; the whole country rejoiced. The policy of non- coercion had triumphed, and for once, ; sir, in my life, I found myself in an immense majority. No man then P rt?_ i must the question of the continuance of, tended that a Union founded iu con- j t h e war be tried. This was Mr. Calhoun’s j Ijjp solit could he cemented by force. Nay, j opinion, and he laid it down very broadly j l ( ]j_ more, the President and the Secretary j and strongly in a speech on the Loan! of State went further. Said Mr. Se-jBffl. in J$il. Speaking of supplies he : in an official diplomatic letter said : ..... i I “I hold that there is a distinction m j . . . this lcspcct between a state of peace and reasons lie (the Presi- war f n the latter, the. right of withhold- j <;U«!t) \\ 011 Iu not bt: disposed to i eject , supplies ought never to beheld sub-j a cardinal dogma of theirs (the secess- f ordinate to the energetic and successful! ionists), namely, that the Federal I prosecution of the war. I go further, and Government could not reduce the se-| regard tlie withholding stqiplics with aj ceding States to obedience by conquest view ot forcing the country into a dishonor- 000, almost every dollar without debate, ^ then? And now, sir, I- come to and without a recorded vote. A thousand G' e grandest and most solemn problem millions have been expended since the ! of statesmanship from the beginning 15th of April, 1801; and a public debt or of time; and to the God of Heaven, liability of «1,eoo.000,000 already incur- , illmniner of hearts and minds, I would red And to support all this stupendous humbly appeal for some measure, at outlay and indebtness, a system of taxation i„„ , "pi- , • , , , direct and indirect, has been inangnra- [east, of light anti wisdom and strength ted, the most onerous and unjust ever o exploie and l eveal the dark hut imposed upon any but a conquered pco- possible future ot this land, pie The recent Kcout or .STATEMENTS OF The recent dating J Hi lion Ilcnd. a prisoner. adventure of the General Foster has returned South. A despatch from Cairo says a barge with seven thousand tons of coal ran the blockade at Vicksburg on Satur day night The town of Bolivar was destroyed by the gunboat Conestoga in retalia tion for the guerillas firing into the steamer Jenny Lind. The Brooklyn and Scotia were blockading Galveston at last accounts. Another account says the fleet en tered the bay hut finding it strongly fortified deemed it best to withdraw for the present. The Florida sailed from Nassau on the 27th of January. Fourteen steam ers, sloops aud schooners had arrived with cargoes of cotton and turpentine from Charleston and other points. The House of Representatives have con curred in the bill already passed by the Senate to provide a national cur rency, secured by a pledge of United States stocks, which now awaits the signature of the President. The Sen ate has passed an act for the enroll ment and mustering into service of all able-bodied men between twenty i and forty-five, excepting the Govern ors of States, Judges, sons of poor I vastly interesting—the more so be- widows, and a few others, giving a military force of three millions—the officers to be appointed by and direct ly accountable to the President. The troops are to be called for by draft in such number as the President pleases. ward to Mr. Adams “For these the South, the success of that party, _ possessed, as it was, of every engine of althou 2 h he/were disposed to question political, business, social and religious • P ro l ,os jt'°n. But, in fact, the influence, wasoertaib. It was only a ^ rt> iuent.willingly accepts it as true, question of time, and short time. 8,1 imperial 01 despotic govern- Such was its strength indeed, that I mer,t cou,(1 subjugate thoroughly disaf- do not believe that the union of the j fccted insurrectionary members of Democratic party in lSGOxm any can- the State. didate, even though he had been sup- Pardon me, sir, but I beg to know ported also by the entire so-called con- whettlier this conviction of the Presi- scrvative or anti-Lincoln vote of the dent and his secretary is not the pliilos- countrv, would have availed to defeat ophy of the persistent and most vigor- it; and if it had, the success of the ab- ous efforts made by this administra- oiition party would only have been postponed four years longer. The disease had fastened too strongly upon the system to be healed until it had run its course. The doctrine of the “irrepressible conflict” had been taught too long, and accepted too widely and earnestly to die out, until it should culminate in secession and disunion; and if coercion was resorted to, then in civil war. I believed from the first that it was the purpose of tion, aud, first of all, through thiff same secretary, the moment war broke out, and ever since tiil the late elec tions to convert the United States in to tin imperial or despotic government? But, Mr. Seward adds, and I agree with him: “The Federal republican system of ours is of all forms of government, the very 011c which is most unfitted for such it labor.” This, sir, was on the 10th of April, busts of Xerxes have been outnumbered. And yet victory strongly follows the stand ards of the foe. From Great Bethel to Vicksburg the battle lias not been to the strong. Yet cvery disaster, except the last has been followed by a call for more troops, and every time, so far, they have been promptly furnished. From tlio begin ning the war lias been conducted like a po- liticale ampaign, and it has been the folly of the party in power that they have assumed that numbers alone would win the field less than to capture a Yankee, with the ; inviting Commissioners from 5W of eliciting information of the recent | State Legislatures to meet C ,, . , - , . . ■ In a contest not with ballots but with able peace, as not only to be what it lias , , . , id. 1 , r 11 1 , . J . 1 musket and sword. But numbers vou been called, moral treason, but very little 1 1 1 1 . -.1 . 1 ".i J have bad almost without number—the short ot actual treason itself. , . , , • , , , . , .. , , _ I largest, best appointed, best armed, ted, ac ei a ei- j and c | a< j j )0s j 0 .- brave men, well organi- u I zed and well disciplined, ever marshaled.— , 1 . , A navy, too, not the most formidable Every senator knows that I was opposed | b £ but tbo most numerous and gal- to the war, but none knows but myself { aud t i, c costliest in the the — *— 1 Upon this principle, sir be wards in the Mexican war. Speaking that war, in 1847, be said : 110 1 vie movements of the enemy’s forces. Day break revealed to them tlicir. situation ! which appeared to be a very exposed one —tiie uood scarcely affording sufficient j protection to conceal them in a crouching j position. They found, too, that the}' were ! within a hundred yards of tiie picket sta- ! tiou. NT? 1 ’ • - ■ would ha 1 lion, the pect of ha until ev , the guard was relieved, the Yankees pass ed to and fro almost within reaching dis tance- Their conversation, however, was not ot interest. During the morning, as 1 many as forty other iand Genesis Point batteries in the onitnis- j neighborhood of Savannah. This mav sinners ot that body at Louisville. • be true, but it is not worth while to Burnside lias assumed his new com- ] stake too much upon the story. The maud at New York. jl ederals, however, seem to have a The Connecticut Democratic Con- j fondness for desecrating the day of rest votitiou at Hartford have nominated j and peace to the devilish purposes of Thus. H. Seymour for Governor.! invasive war. At Pocataligo Gen. W. tion proclamation, the suspension of they will find batteries which thev the habeas corpus, the abridgement of j will earn laurels in capturing. But the freedom of speech and of the press, we hardly imagine the Federals will the compensated emancipation scheme j scatter their assaulting force over these depth of that opposition. With ; and agaiast afoe «l most without a navy at my conception of its character and con- I jj J sequences, it was impossible for me to 1 * ■ Twenty million people, and every ele as forty poisons passed and repass-j the dismemberment of the State of three points. ed - About ,! o clock, p. m. a soldier turn- j A irginia, and pledging the Western j proportions \vi world, 1 -I r^. f ’ "r* 1 ,. quite j States to unite with them in measures near them. Ma; some of the apostles of that doctrine ' and yet that very day the fleet was to force a colision between the North under sail for Charleston. The policy and the South, either to bring about a of peace bad been abandoned. Collision separation or to find a vain but bloody | followed; the militia was ordered out; pretext for abolishing slavery in the ] civil war begun. States. J11 any event, 1 knew, or ^ Now sir, on the 14tb of’April, I be thought ] knew, that the end was cer- lieved that coercion would bring on tain collision and death to the Union. ! war, and war disunion. More than Believing thus, I have for years ! that, I believed, what you all in your past denounced those who taught that ! hearts believe to-day, that the South doctrine with all the vehemence, the j could never be conquered—never! bitterness, if you choose—i thought it And not that only, but I was satisfied a righteous, a patriotic bitterness—of —and you of the abolition party have an earnest and impassioned nature, now proved it to the world—that the 1 hinking this, I forewarned all who secret but real purpose of the war was believed the doctrine, or followed the to abolish slavery in the States. In party which taught it, with a sincerity any event, I did not doubt that what and a depth of conviction as profound as ever penetrated the heart of man. Aud when, for eight years past, over ever might be the momentary impulses of those in power, ;uid whatever pledg es they might make in the midst of vote for it And again, in 1S48 : “But after the war was declared by au thority of the government, I acquiesced in what I could not prevent, and which it was impossible for mo to arrest ; aud I then felt it to he my duty to limit my efforts to give such direction to tlie war as would, as far as possible, prevent the evils and dangers with which it threatened the country and its institutions.” Sir, I adopt all this as my own position and iny defense ; though, perhaps, in a civil war, I might fairly go further in op position. I could not, with my convictions, vote men and money for tills war, and I would not, as a representative, vote against them. 1 mean that, without opposition, the President might take all tiie men and all the money V? should demand, and then to hold him to a strict accountability before the people for the results. Not believing the soldiers responsible for the war. or its purposes, or its consequences, I U a vc never withheld my vote where their separate interests where concerned. But 1 have denounced from the beginning the usurpa tions and the infractions, otic and a!J, of law and Constitution, by the President, and those under him ; their repeated and persistent arbitrary arrests, tho suspension of habeas corpus, the violation of freedom of the mails, of tlio private house, of the press and of speech, and all the other mul tiplied wrongs and outrages upon public liberty and private rights, which have made this country one of the worst despot isms on earth for the past twenty months ; and I will continue to rebuke and denounce geo felt that 'his danger was imminent. Drawing his lcvolvcr, he levelled it at the fellow, and putting his finger to his lip to enjoin silence, he called in a low voice, "Come here, sir.” The Yankee turned pale with, fright, and in a hurried voice exclaimed, “Don’t shoot!” Upon being assured that no harm would come to him if he would lie down and upnu the sea ; with the support almost keep quiet, the prisoner stretched himself servile, of every State, county and muni- on the ground between the two hold rebels cipality in the North and YV Qst; with a and a pair of navy revolvers read v for in- Congress swift to do the bidding of the slant use. For six long hours the three Executive; without opposition anywhere kept mute company, Magee forcing the at home, and with an arbitrary power prisoner even to suppress his cough, which winch nci hci the t_zar, ol Russia, nor the.* was verv troublesome. ment of strength and force of command —power, patronage, influence, unanimity, enthusiasm, confidence, credit, money, men, an army and a navy, the largest and the noblest ever set in the field or afloat lor the cessation of the war and the restoration of the Union. Gold closed at 102 in New York on the ISth. Emperor of Austria dare exercise; vet after two years of more vigorous prosecu tion of war -than ever was recorded in history; after more skirmishes, combats and battles thau Alexander, Ciesar, or the tiist Napoleon ever fought iu any five At tattoo, the time agreed upon for leav ing the island, the three started noiseless ly for the rendezvous previously agreed upon, the Yankee wondering how they were to get off the island, lie was soon relieved bv the appearance, in a safe place years of their military career, you have of a canoe'into which he was requested to utterly, signally, disastrously—I will not take a seat. He was at tiffs time very say ignominiously—failed to subdue ten mil- anxious that his rebel fiiends should "ct lion “rebels,” whom you had taught the first, so as not wet theirfoet; hut Gelston people of the North and West not only to was very solicitous about his cough, aud hate but to despise. fearing that wet feet would increase Rebels did I say? Yes, your fathers it. insisted upon his getting a "ood seat, were rebels, or jour grandfathers. He and himself offering to push th(T boat off who now before me on canvass looks down and then jump in. A five minutes’ row so sadly upon us, the falso degenerate brought them well off’ from shore; they and imbecile guardians of the great re- were halted, hut being out of reach of the public which he formed, was a rebel. And sentinel’s musket tb^y did not heed him. yet we, cradled ourselves iu rebellion, and The prisoner is a middle, a^cd man, a who have fostered and fraternised with native of Maine. Ho reports in substance, cverj’Jinsurrection in tho nineteenth centu- that thirty new regiments recently arrived ry, everywhere throughout the globe, from North Carolina: that they average would now, forsooth, make the word “re- possibly 500 men each, and that General bel” a reproach. Rebels certainly they Foster came with them, but had since re- are; hut all tho persistent and stupendous turned. The observatory on Mr Bay- efforts of the most gigantic warfare of nard’s liousewas in charge of a signal The Indian Legion. Major Thomas, commanding the Legion of Cherokee Indians, who have rendered much service to the Confed erate cause in East Tennessee, was in our city yesterday. The Major is now with his aboriginal allies in the mountains on the border between this State and North Carolina, where lie is in reality conciliating the lories. Let us mention a fact or two, communica ted to us by Major Thomas, to the credit of these dusky warriors. They excel any troops in either the North ern or Southern armies for subordi nation—ari Indian always executes an order with religious fidelity. They scrupulously respect private proper ty—there are 110 reports of depreda tions where they are encamped. They are the best scouts in the world, and hence the good that they have accom plished among the mountain tories and bush whackers. A notice that Major Thomas’ Indians are in a sec tion of country brings in the dodgers at once, for they know that hiding out will not avail against the Cherokee*. By their aid the Major has enlisted, without bloodshed, a great many men in his corps of sappers and miners, who have thus been converted from It lacks the “grand” oportions with which our Northern foes are fond of investing all their warlike enterprises. It looks small even to the humbler views of the Con federates, who never had a single “grand army” in the field. On the whole, since this “grand” attack upon Carolina and Georgia has taken such modest proportions, we find ourselves in danger of losing the absorbing in terest in it we felt before.— Telegraph. Richmond, Feb. 20.—In the Senate the impressment bill from the House was taken up and amendments pro posed. The Senate went into Executive Session. The House passed resolutions ot thanks to General Bragg and the ar my in Tennessee, for gallantry at the battle of Murfreesboro. The House then went into secret session. The following little motto of ^ ir * ginius Hutehen, of Graves’ battery has a good deal of pith: ‘‘Jump over the if* and bets— There’s always some kind hand To lift life’s wagon from the ruts, Or poke away the sand. *‘Pnsh[on ! Yon're rusting’while you stand Inaeiion will not do: Take life’s small bundle iu your hand, And trudge it briskly through. ' — • —— Spool Cotton, O A DOZ. Coats Spool Cotton for Sale br £VJ ‘wright & brgWv Peb. 3d, ISM. v v NEGRO COTTON PATCHES. At the request of a number of planters of Wash ington county, says the Sandersville Georgina, we addressed a letter to Gov. Brown enquiring whether or not the I tte Act restric ting the planting of cotton to three acres to the hand, prohibit-d planters from allowing their servants to plant their (the negroes’) patches of catton, as heretofore, ia addition to three acres to the hand planted by the owner ofsaid slave. The following is the'Gov ernor’s reply : Executive Department. ) Milledgeville.Ga.. Sttth Feb. Jiblt. ( J. M. G. Medlock. E-q.—Sir: In reply to your letter of the 19th ins!, I am directed by the Gov ernor to say, that in his opinion a planter who permits bis mgriies to plint more thau three acres ot cotton To the hand, for any purpose, violates the law. If a planter wishes to give his negroes permission to plant for themselves he has ihe right to do so, provided he does not exceed three acres to the hand, counting what the negro plants for himself and for his master. V here negroes have patches and are permitted to plant for themselves, it would be perhaps best to let them plant corn or potatoes or some other crop than cotton. Respectfully, your ob’tserv't, IIeiirert Fielder, A. D. C. FROM CHARLESTON. The figures from Port Royal are cause thej* are probably true. One hun dred transports would probably bring about thirty thousand men—an aver age of 300 to the vessel—a full com plement, taking into consideration the immense bulk of supplies, munitions, camp paraphernalia, wagons, horses, (JO 15E CONTINUED.] Moneji and credit, then, you have had in hand to prodigal profusion. And were men wanted ? More than a million rushed to arms ? Seventy' five thousand first (and the country stood aghast at the T i n - multitude,) then eightj’-three thousand ^° l F’, ! ’ i 1 > a ® ee ’ 118 ^krades, R. tt nenaltips „.. p more were demanded; aud three hundred * Gelston, Barton Y\ ells and. R. O. Rey- | . T 1 ‘ and ten thousand responded to the call.— n .° ^ s ’ ( eser ' es more detailed mention f The President next asked for four hundred ! li;inou ‘ brief notice of last Saturday morn- i the draft, thousand, and Congress, in its generous , ln ®.’ aU , WC ® a Y e ,^ een confidence, gave him five hundred tlious- tae particulars, and ; and, not to bo outdone, he hundred and thirty seven thousand, of these melted away in their fir paign ; and tlie President demand? hundred thousand moro for the then drafted yet another three hundred ... . • - o - ------— i,, , ,. , . . i ,, . .. , _ thousand for nine months. The fabled co ™l ,1,s ' l, . rne,lt oi tIie,r purpose, which was resolution passed a day previous, f 4 ocotal/go, and the Causten’s Bluff imposed for resistance or counselling resistance to j forage, ordnance trains, &c., Ac., J which must accompany such a force, and we have been at some pains to ! Commodore WoodKull, of the U. S. I More troops are coming,* too, and The party, in a j Navv, was killed at Fort Marshall, near ] these are from the late armv of the
