About The Savannah Republican. (Savannah, Ga.) 1858-1865 | View Entire Issue (July 7, 1865)
VOL. LXV. [NEW SERIES.] SAVANNAH, GEORGIA, FRIDAY MORNING, JULY 7, 1865. [PRICE 5 CENTS.] NO- 157 HE REPUBLICAN ,]. K HAYES,Kditor and Proprietor advertising. j Vr sqMiire of TEN lines Nonpariel type or space oc- i, .j*(ii*- same number of lines, $‘2 first insertion, ; ,r ivi'cli continuation. * ii i!f Square—$1 for first insertion; 50 cents for each iH^Vni.ent insertion. i 1 i; M s -£> bo per hundred; subscription (by mail ,. Irrirrj *1<» l**r anunm; single copies, 5 cents. .« ’! . M ivertisements mnst be paifi for at the Counting mi previous to insertion, and if handed in by 8 p. will appear in the morning edition. 80 80 i:» ni s.4 VANNAH, GEORGIA. FRIDAY MORNING, JIIEI 7. beading mattes, on eveky page, the southwest. ,Jobber, of the Texas Treasury hoy ,11 ucriinj;at Houston—Colton in the »,.(l River Region—Prospect ol the t ontinS Crop In Alabama aud Mis sissippi Cairo, June 29. An arrival from New Orleans brings 920 bales of citi 'D f»r 8t. Louis. Tireire or fifteen men recently broke into the -tr,te Treasury building at Austin, and broke open the safes! robbing them of $13,000 in gold, iearing the silver. Thoy were unable to get into the vaults where most of the treasure was kept. The New Organs Times denies that cholera -r yellow lever has appeared in that city this sen-on. A loyal meeting was held in Houston, Texas, on the 13th June, at which most of the promi nent men of the State participated A series of it- lotions of the most loyal character was draft ed, and unanimously adopted. Ten steamers filled with soldiers belonging to the Fifteenth Army Corps passed to-day, en route p,r 1 tuvall's Bluff. Shreveport advices ol the 1 Ith state that the • iti.itiiity of cotton likely to get to Now OrloaDS by w.iv >1 i!ed Rivcris variously estimated at from I ,in i.•,0,0011 bales. Next year’s crop will be in ill. as but little has been planted, urierson’s cavalry have arrived at Vicksburg, en linc at that point their month’s campaign through the States of Florida, A Ubama aDd Mis- -; ? .tplii. The expedition passed through portions „f Aiabatnn and Mississippi never bofore visited by hostile troops, and report the interior of those Suites in a most prosperous condition. They sis,, report seeing hundreds of thousands of bales of cotton which tbo owners were anxious to take ! i market, and that there would be large crops of cotton this year. Thousands of acres which ha• been p’aDted in corn were ploughed up and cot ton -ubetituted. The crops generally are looking very fine. Army of tlie Potomac. Major General Meade’s Farewell Order. Washington, Thursday, June 29. The farewell order ol Gen. Meade is published. i in as follows : 11ea)>'i}Rs.of tub Army of tub Potomac, I June 28, 1865. ) Soi.i'itiits:—This day two years ago. I assumed jmnund ol vou under the orders ot the l’resi- eru of the United States. To-day, by virtue of .» -ame authority, the army ceasing to exist, I are to announce my transfer to other duties, and •v separation from you. It is unnecessary to numerate all that has occurred in these two ul years, from 'he grand and decisive bat- e of Geitvsbuigh, the turning point of the war, tlic surrender of the army of Northern Vir- ,ria at Appomattox Court House. Suffice it to iv that history will do you justice. A grateful imtry will honor the living, cherish and sup - ,jri he disabled, and sincerely mourn the dead, n porting from you, your Commanding General rill ever hear in memory your noble devotion to .r country, your patience and cheerfulness n! i all the privations and sacrifices you have r. tailed on to endure. Soldiers, having accomplished the work set he re us, having vindicated the honor and in- -ur"v ol our government and Hag, let us return hanks to Almighty God for his blessing in .Taming us victory and peace, and let us eamest- v pi ay for strength and light to discharge our tunes as citizens as we have endeavored to dis- .1,uige them as soldiers. GEORGE C. MEADE, Major-General U. 8. Army. AVGUSTA MARKETS. Augusta, July 4, 18G3. Ha. os.—There has been some demand for Bov n at 1" to 10 1-2 cents, hogroun* hams 12 1-2 to II: sides 11 to 12 1-2 ; shoulders 10 to 11. Li T iF.it —The supply from the country has oven fair during the week, and sales are readily mode at 20 to 30 cents. I5kf.su at.—There is a ready sale for bees wax at 12 1-2 to 1.7 cents per lb. JiFKr.—The -npply is limited, and prices are 'cry irregular. Sales have been made at 7 to i 11 corns, and sometimes at higher rates. Units.—Tiiis article is scarce and in demand. Me hoar of sales of a few hundred bushels at >1.10. 1 ui'fke.—The supply is limited, and prices mngc at 30 to 63 cts. ( "to isn.—Scarce. We quote 15 cts. * iifi.sk.—There is an active demand at 40 t ‘ .,0 cents. Very little in market. Uka, kers,—Boston crackers and soda bis- ■ ion are in limited supply at 25 to 35 cents per i",mi'l. * "I'ui-.kas.—This article is very scarce, and in demand at 20 to 25 cts. "i ton Goods.—There is some speculative ["'p ry ( ( , r cotton goods, and holders are firm, iumc T-p goods at 20cent8; 7-8 at 18 to '"•at 17 to 18. Yarns are usually held '• >2 iiij. r four.—There is but little in market, and :,le “cniand is moderate tO $10 1-2 to $12 per V, , Mil. 8 ,ine are holding at higher rates. Laud.—Moderate supplies are coming in, "'mch are taken at 10 to 12 1-2 cts. - Ia'.kfiiki..—There has been limited arri- v'l-jluring the week, which readily command > to >||. i.i r< i; S —All spiritous liquors are contra- ;; du,i ' but "hiskey is held at $3 00 to $4 50 i good corn, and $4 00 to $4 50 for good L' v _ Domestic (grape) brandy is held at $5 per gallon. l J each and apple may be at Buie lower rates. Sales can only be made by permission of the authorities, tb , i”—There is little in the market, and e demand is active at $1 25 to $1 *0. -'An.*.—There are but few in market, and Bank of Savannah, “ Bank of Athens, “ Bank Middle Georgia, “ 75 “ “ Union Bank, S. C., “ 70 “ •“ S. W. K. R. B.. S. C., “ 90 “ “ City Council Notes buying at 80 cts. Cotton.—There is an active demand for Cotton, but very little if any offering. We heard of a small lot of a superior quality being sold on Saturday at 20 cents in gold. But this is not, however, a fair criterion of the market, and we quote Cotton at 2D to 25 cts. in currency as the prevailing prices during the past week. Arrival of Cotton.—Yesterday a flit arriv ed from Augusta, with 309 bales of oottoD, con signed to 0. C. Cambridge. * TO THE PIBLIC. ’I lie Failure of General Lee. [From the London Times of the 7th June.] The caprice of fortune and the uncertainty of war have been signally illustrated in the lot of General Lee. We cannot but discredit the rumor that it is intended to indict him for high treason, but fate has visited him hardly enough already. For him alone, the most consummate of all commanders in America, was reserved a destiny which his own lieutenants and his oft- defcated rivals were permitted to escape. He alone lost a decisive battle. He alone suffered an absolute and irremediable disaster. Never before, in. the whole history of the war, was a victory followed up. a rout made complete, or an army compelled to surrender. Never before was a gencral-in-chief taken prisoner in the field by another general-in-chief; never was a campaign concluded by capitulation and sub- m^sion. The braggarts and blunderers who at the beginning of the war cost their country men so dearly, still evaded this extremity of disaster, and were always enabled to report their armies as “safe.” Lee himself, after one of his most brilliant victories, lamented the invariable absence of results, and complained that he could never capture a division or even a brigade of the vanquished enemy. These trophies it was his fate not to win for himself, but to contribute to others. The war was at last concluded and the cause lost by the very commander who had done more than all the rest to promote and sustain them. Y'et all this did in reality but speak for his extraordinary ability. He suffered the final defeat simply because he was the last to be beaten. His deu'enants escaped because he was uncon quered. Early was gradually driven out of the Shenandoah Valley by Sheridan, but he had Rich mond open to him ia his rear. Johnston was driven across the Carolinas, but he held his forces together with tho assurance that there was Richmond to retire upon. Lee, however, the support and stay of all the rest, had only hisotpi army and his own position, and round that army and position the armies of one adversary after another steadily dosed. Whenever a divisional commander retreated before a Federal force that force became disoogaged for the" combined cam paign against Lee. He held Richmond so long that at last there was nothing else left for the eoemy to take. The’ capitals of Georgia and South Carolina, though far in his rear, had been taken already, and although be still guarded the frontier of the Confederacy, the interio. had been penetrated and occupied behind him. North and South, East and West, tho foe gradually encom passed him, and for months the end was at hand. Chat this end for him,should be not only defeat but prosecution, is too straDge an event to be believ ed. Twelve months ago there was not an Ameri can of the North but would have enthusiastically hailed his accession to the command of all the armies of the Kepuplic. It is obvious, however, that the abruptness of the end, combined with the terrible crime by which it was signalized, has effected the policy of the American Government. Not only is a new and more uncompromising President at the bead of the State, but the State itself is under the influence of natural passion. Peace came at last with an absolute shock, and the collapse of the South was so sudden and complete that it re moved all immediate necessity of conciliation or compromise. Let the North do what they will, the South for the present can fight no more.— The stories from Arkansas and Texas are but apocryphal, aud, indeed we know, that no or ganized forces fi otn these parts could be brought effectually upon the scene of war, even when the Mississippi was in the hands of the Confederates. The N'oitb, in sborq is so absolutely master ol the lield that President Johnson is exempted from many of the considerations which President Lincoln but a lew months since would have been compelled to entertain. Yet it must be ac knowledged that as regards foreign nations his policy has been unexceptionable, and we trust that the plain interests of the future may gradu ally prevail with him in bis internal administra tion over theoretical conceptions of allegiance and treason. The whole course of this civil war has been unique in its character. The Confederate leaders did more than any insurgent chiefs have ever done, and ended with less to show for it. Theirs was no “Provisional” govern ment, organized in secrecy and maintained at hazard. For four years they claimed place openly, and not unreasonably, among the States of the world. If the Confederate gov ernment was not “recognized” in diplomatic form, it obtained, at any rate, every other kind of acknowledgment. It was known on the Exchanges of Europe, and contracted loans on no unfavorable terms. It found its way into our Year Books and geographies, and became for its brief term of existence a genuine political reality. Posterity may turn even to the respectable Almanack tie Hot ha, and learn who were the Southern officers of State in the year 1804. Great English states men recognized the creation of a new nation, and yet of that nation there remains less now than usually survives even the most hopeless" insurrection. Six weeks sufficed to convert se cession from a mighty revolution into a trea sonable crime. • “demand is good at $7 to $8 per keg. ' AS -—The supply is light, and the demand A,,lv e at $1 to $1 25 for common field, and *■' fo •? 1 30 for table. Financial, Leld—Buying, 30c. to 33c. prera. " Selling, 40c. Ml ver—Buying, 25 to 30c. “ ' Selling, 35c. “ Sterling—4 44. ( Hank Notes. b “y in 8 at 50 per ct. dis. Bant li „ Bank ' buying at 50 per ct. dis. ■ State of Georgia, “ 80 “ “ Hanne Bank, i« jq << « A Marylander on Universal Suffrage. Mr. James Valliant, of Talbot county, who was a member of the Free State Convention, and who ably supported the present Constitu tion of our State before the people, thus writes to the Y'ork (Pa.) Democrat on the question of suffrage : The tide of popular sentiment in the North is daily growing stronger in favor of negro suffrage. This subject I tbink should be han dled with great caution. The negro has a right to have some say in the making of laws by which he shall be governed; but at this time he cannot be other than an incompetent j voter. For this reason it may not be prudent i or wise to extend to him this right, but there i is a strong reason why I shall not oppose the 1 party favoring this further extension of the ne- i gro’s political privileges. It is simply this.— . If he once becomes a voter, the necessity for his education will become more apparent, and ! the opposition to the policy of negro education will melt away more rapidly. Counties that Havs Held Public Meetings.— We have already published the proceedings either in part or in whole of the following counties of Georgia, all of them acquiescing in the fate that has conquered us, and to that extent endorsing the jfest policy of this paper : Cheatham, Bibb, Muscogee Bartow, Upson, Pike, Monroe, Schley. Sumter, Murray, Catoosa] Walker, Randolph, Gordon, Whitfield, Chattooga, Milton, Forsyth, Clayton, Butts, Terrell, Spalding, Dougherty, Clay, Richmond, Oglethorpe, Fulton, Morgan, Hancock aDd Houston. These are counties lying on the Railroad, and bad mail facilities been in existence, we doubt not that many others would ere this have bees added to this list.—Aaqwta Tranxtript, 1 ft. Mili.haven, ) Liberty County, June 16th, 1865. f “Still must I hear; shall hoarse Secessia bawl, His creaking nonsense in a tavern hall; And I not write, lest haply Secessia’ssons Should dub me soribbler, and pronounce me danee. Prepare for prose, I’ll publish right or wrong, Fools are my theme, let satire be my song.” The above lioee of the immortal bard, with tho alterations, suggested themselves to me, a day or two since, on reading for the first time in the Republican of the 3d of this instant a com munication over the non deplum<s of “Squibob,” as follows: “I saw in your paper of this date a very patriotic address of one William B. Gaul- den, of Liberty county. Understanding that, for his valorous conduct in behalf ol the United States daring the past four years, be is striving for and anxious to’obtain the military Governor ship of the State, I desire to know how many farms (‘six feet by three’) he has furnished his Yankee cousins ? If he has furnished many, he may get it; if not, not. Tho following letter, written by him and printed in tho Savannah Nows, may enlighten the authorities at Washing ton. (Signed) Squibob.” What he calls a let ter of mine was a card to the public proposing to raise a regiment for the defence of the coast of Goorgia. This Squibob is no doubt one ol that pack of secession curs who have been yelping at mv heels ever since the Charleston Convention in 1860, and emerging again from the slime and filth of their own degradation, wouldadrag me down to a level with themselves. What is my offence that has set this cur to barking? To use his own language, I issued a very patriotic ad dress to the people of Georgia. What were the points made and argued in that address ? They were as follows : That I was a member of the Democratic National Convention—resisted the treasonable project then and there sot on foot to break up .the Democratic party and destroy the Government. That I came home and published an address to the people of Georgia, in which 1 warned them of the traitorous schemes of the Breckinridge party to destroy the Union. That I was put on the Douglas Electoral ticket and stumped the southern portioo of the State, warn ing the people against their nefarious schemes. That when candidates were to be elected to the Convention which took the State of Georgia out of the Union, I ran on the Union ticket, and again published an address to the people urging them to give no heed to the deluded leaders who were luring them to their ruin, which ad dress I republish in connection with this. That I was defeated by falsehood and deception. The State seceded, followed by the ruin with which we are all buttoo familiar, until we are a subju gated people. That as the rejection of my ad vice had been followed by all this woe, I now claimed tbe right to advise them again, and that advice was to submit to the new older of thiDgs, to co-operate with the government, SBd endeavor to bring order out of chaos, aud iD so doing, see to it that no original secessionist received any office at their hands, as they had shown them selves incapable of appreciating self-government; and that I had formed a party on this platform in 1863 and was elected on it to the Senate. That I could make no move in the direction of this platform, on acoounf of the political com plexion of the Senate, and floated and voted along with Secessia, until the called session jf March last, when, as a desperate and last resort, I offered resolutions calling a convention to in augurate measures of peace—spoke the best part of two days iu their support, but they were re jected by tbe Senate, they receiving but about eight votes. * My object in issuing the address was to say to my friends, what, in my opinion, they ought to do under the present changed condition of things.— For, with all our mail facilities broken up, they were almost entirely in the dark, as to the views and wishes of the government, and also to impress Secessia, if they were not still deaf to reason, with the fact that they were in a condition where it should be best to submit to the accomplished fact, that they were a subjugated people, and to induce them to give up their vain hopes of foreign intervention, which they were still clinging to like a drowning man to straws, as I had then but reoently heard some of the hopeful soions of Se cessia express the opinion that we were not then half ^hipped, that foreign intervention would come, and that the hated Yankee nation would yet be whipped out. All will bear me out that the above contains a fair statement of the points, facts and arguments of the address Does he meet a single fact, point or argu ment made,—no, not one, but with character istic duplicity and fraud, passes over all these and hunts up an old card issued by me long after their foul and treasonable scheme of se cession had been accomplished and the thumb screws put upon, and rope around the neck of every Union man in the country, and by this card would hold me up under false colors as a secessionist. Did it ever occur to “Squibob,” or did he ever learn that in morals a suppress)* vert is as bad as a siyjestio falsio—oh! no, I guess net, he would suppress all my exertions in behalf of the Union as beneath his notice and seize upon this card to place me in a f. lse posi tion. And it is this kind of subterfuge that I have had to contend with against this heartless pack of yelping curs for the last five years. They either had not the brains to understand or honesty to admit the argument addressed them, and ’invariably replied by some low or personal fling. But, “Squibob,” I thank God that I am once more out of your accursed rule, and can now speak like a free man, at least so far as you are concerned, and whenever you shall attempt to answer arguments by trying to drag one down to a level with yourself and the pack to which you belong, you shall hear from me, Mark, then, how plain a tale shall bring the blush to your cheek if you are not passed the blushing process. Though J spent the best energies of my mind from the date of the Charleston Con vention to prevent it, secession was accom plished in January, 18G1. At that time it was the universally received opinion at the South, as far as I knew, that this was a constitutional right. I remember as for back as the days of the Carolina Nullification, though I waa then but a boy, to have heard prominent Union men of that day who were opposed to nullifi cation say that secession was the rightful re medy, and not nullification. Whether it was from association or otherwise, I inclined to this opinion. Yet I never could give it my full assent, for the difficulties which presented themselves in its practical operations when at tempted to be carried out caused me to doubt capitally whether tbe fathers of the constitu tion intended to reserve this right to the peo ple without making some provision for it.— More especially, it is past comprehension how any sane man could entertain the idea that the Yankees would not fight—a people who had produced a Wayne, a Putnam, the im mortal Green, and a host of the bravest men of the revolution—as was proclaimed by the secession orators throughout the length and breadth of the land. I can only account for it on the hypothesis that “they whom the Gods would destroy they first make mad.” Secession accomplished found me with these views - My first impulse was to continue the contest in the State, but looking arouod for sup porters, I found A. H. Stephens, our chosen lead er, had abandoned us, together with many lesser lights; even tbe rank and tile had fallen away, un der tbe baleful influence of tbe constitutional right to secede, coupled with its logical conse quence, until I could not have raised a hundred men in the State to have voted for any measure to sustain the old government, much less to have fought for it. In fact, anything of the kind would have been punished by instantaneous death. I then determined to pursue a - neutral course, but this was not allowed me. All I had in the world was here, and Secession found me in command of the 2d Regiment Georgia Militia on the coast, which command, either as Lieut. Colonel or Col onel, I had held for the last fifteen years. I was ordered to the heaviest duty in drilling and pre paring. I had but one alternative, which was to resign, and if 1 did I would only have become a private, liable to conscription; hence, there was no good in this. I at ore time determined to sell out my estate and leave the country; but to be driven ivom the land of my birth aDd the graves of my ancestors, my kindred and friends, by a set of fanatics and fools, was most revolting. Hence, I gave this up, and time rolled on until the fall of 1S61, and as it was understood that the coast would be attacked that fall and as I saw that I would be compelled to take up arms, whether willing or unwillingly, either as a private or of ficer, I accepted authority to raise a regiment for the defence of the coast—my own home—and published the card which ‘‘Squibob” has paraded with such gusto. My heait was not in it, the enterprise failed. I was glad of it, and borrow ing a leaf out of the book of my Secession friends, I resorted to expedients to keep out of the ser vice, aud succeeded as they had done—a fact well koown, that the more rabid vhey were for secession, the more strenuously did vast numbers of tbem avoid the fight aud hunt soft places. From that tramaotion in the fall of 1861 up to the spring of 1863, I failed not on all proper oc casions to express my sentiments in condemna tion of secession and the policy of the govern ment in not making or offering terms of settle ment, for which I was terribly denounced and slandered. I now hold in my possession a writ ten notioe from a lieutenant colonel of tbe Con federate army, that he would have me arrested as a disloyal person and brought to trial. Two other colonels threatened to arrest and lock me up for disloyalty to tbe Confederacy. The lieu tenant colonel’s charitable intentions towards me were prevented from being carried into effect by the intervention of a Yankee bullet. Tbe two colonels coDoluded that discretion was the better part of valor, and let me alone. In the fall of 1863, when I was a candidate for the Senate on my Union and peace platform, certain scions of Secessia attempted to get np a party to take me out of my house and hang me, but they, like the two colonels, concluded that discretion was the bettor part of valor. So numerous and varied were their threats, that I always went well armed and kept a full supply in my own house, intending to save the Yanks the trouble of disposing of a few of them. This I continued from 1861 to the spring oflS64, assailed through every channel by which vitu peration and abuse could reach a man. Taunted by them with being a rcconstructior 1st, which I always repelled in the sense which they apulied it, to wit: one who was willing to go back to tbe Union under any aDd all degrading terms. Whilst 1 was opposed to this, tbe wounded stag De’er panted for the cooling brook with more ardor than I sighed for the old flag, tho constitution as our fathers left it. Oh, Secessia ! Secessia ! how oft have I warned you; how oft have I prayed, nay, implored you to touchjnot one pillar of that sacred temple, that proud monument to the wisdom and patriotism of our fathers,our constitutional Union, and you would not. Like the base Judean of old, who betrayed his Lord and master with a kiss for thirty pieces -of silver, so you, excited and stimu lated by your selfish ambition, with protestations of love aud patrio'ism on your lips, laid the train at Charleston and Baltimore, which has blown up tbe proudest monument to free government the world ever saw. Oh! it was a sin— an awful sin — against humanity; a sin against civilization ; a sin against liber ty,9 a ; sin against human progress, a sin which hast sent constitutional liberty back a thousand years, a sin, in short, which has damn ed you to everlasting fame. But to return to the argument. In the spring of 1864, it came to me through various sources that Mr. Lincoln had issued a universal emanci pation and confiscation proclamation, as the only tern s upon which a settlement of our difficulties could be made. I never have seen either of his proclamations in print, except, I think, tbe first. Everything I received was through secession channels, which, as I know to my sorrow, are not always the most reliable. This news came upon me like a thunderbolt. It was in direct opposi tion to all that I had told the people. It was in direct opposition to the platform upon which Mr. Lincoln was elected, that platform pledging the Republican party not to interfere with slavery in the statos. I bad contended that this was a war forced ofi the North by Secessia, and prosecuted by them for the restoration of the Union, and not for the abolition of slavery. And dow listen, oh! Squibob, and hold your breath whilst I impart to you a momentous sooret, I became for the time, whilst under this impression, a bitter and deter mined war man, but no dirucionist. I still loved ai^ longed for the Constitution and Union of our fathers which had been traitorously destroyed by you and your friends, but I was willing to fight the North upon this issue to the bitter end.— About this time Governor Brown ordered all the civil and military officers of the State to the defence of Atlanta. They had been there a few months when he ordered, in the month ot July, all tbe reserved militia, which were the boys from 18 to 17, and tbe men from 50 to 60 years of age, to the same piece. This caused a g reat excitement among the people of Liberty, ryan and Mclutosb, I was importuned on a't hands to go up and see tbe Governor and induce him to allow them to remain, as there was a vast number of negroes in those oounties who gave evidence of insubordination, and we were expos ed to marauding parties from the coast. Tbe ladies, particularly, were in a terrible turmoil At tbe earDest solicitation of these people, I went up to Atlsnts to see tbe Governor. He at first flatly refused to allow them to remain, contend ing that Atlanta was tbe place to be delended. After mnch persussicn, be agreed to allow tbem to remain in would organize and command them for the defense of the coast. This I agreed to do on tbo express condition that they should not be taken oat of their cofinties. I waa some weeks completing the organization, and issued another card, which I commend to tbe attention of Stjuibob. He will find it s vsizable not to track- Before the organization was completed, tbe Gov ernor varied the agreement, informing the com manding General that in emergencies they might be taken out of their counties,which changed en tirely the object of the organization, to wit: a home guard. 8o I turned them over to the Gen eral, and have had no more to do with them from that day to this. They remained tu service a few weeks aud abandoned it and came home. Those that I conversed with, I advised to remain at home. 1 never was in service a day, ard never commanded them except to organize. Mv object for retiring was, first: the varying of the con tract by the Governor, but mainly from various sources during tbeorg-mzation which I believed reliable. I was induced to believe that this last proclamation was onl v intended as a war measure, and that as soon as the State would go back in to tbe Union it would be withdrawn, and we would be received w th ail our constitutional rights—hence I was no more a war man. I was confirmed in this opinion by subsequent con versations with Gen. Kilpatrick and prominent officers of his command, who assured me that such was the fact. I was of this opinion even after the ultima tum of President Lincoln to Mr. Stephens at Fortress Monroe. I believed that if the people in their sovereign capacity, would throw off the secession yoke and ask to be received back into the Union, they would have been so re ceived with all their constitutional rights, hence my resolutions in the Senate in March last, calling a Convention. I have yet to learn that I was wrong in this opinion. The war was pushed to the last extremity by fanatical rulers—had tt been otherwise how different to day might have been our condition. “Faith, fanatic faith, once wedded fast To some dear falsehood, hug» it toWbe last.” I remember that Gen. A. R. Wright, Presi dent of the Senate, declared in that body in March last, that he then considered the pros pects of the Confederacy brighter than they had been any time since within six months of the beginning of tbe war. I well remember in a private conversation with Governor Brown, urging him to give his influence in favor of my resolutions for a Convention, that whilst he ad mitted that I was right, that we had no time to lose in making peace, he had not the moral courage to come out and say so. And now “Squibob,” I Have devoted more time to you than you deserve. A few more words and I am done. I would say to you and your whole secession pack, “cease vipers, you bite against a file.”- Y r on haze ruined yourselves, you have ruined your country, and given, I fear, a fatal blow to the experiment of the capacity of man fat self government. This ought to content you without attempting to drag me down to a level with yourselves. I have felt your en venomed tooth for the last five years. I well know your character for duplicity and unfair dealing, but I scorn and defy you now as I ever did. To what base uses do we come. As an illustration : It is well known that I am a Southern man by birth and education, my an cestors having been Southern since the first settlement of the country. It was well known that I was a strong pro-slavery man, that I was the largest slave-holder in Liberty county, save one, that I was a theoretical not practical African slave-trader, that is, I was for carrying out the non-intervention doctrine of the immor tal Douglas, by a repeal of all laws interdicting the African slave-trade, and leaving it to each State and Territory to import as many or as few Africans as they pleased- That I ah.iays held that to bring a savage from Africa, civilize, and christianize, jind make him a useful member of society, was to confer a great blessing on him. That there was more of Christianity, humanity and moral ity in this than there was in the slave trade be tween the States, which tore a human being from wife and children, and all those associa tions which cluster around civilized life in Vir ginia and Marylaad, and introduces him to our Southern sugar and cotton fields. All this being well kuown to the sapient sons of Secessia, yet so soon as I refused to join them in their treasonable efforts to destroy our gov ernment, I was falsely and maliciously charged by them with being an abolitionist, which, in the sense in which they understood it, was to charge me with all that was base and vile.— As a further illustration of the moral philoso phy and religion by which these gentry have been governed, I would mention a curious fact: when, in the progress of the war, it was favorable to the Confederacy, they cried out lustily, an evidence of tbe,direct interposition of Providence in our behalf; and when the tide of battle turned it was only the Almighty chas tening us for our sins, and now that the whole thing has caved in, they say that the hand of God is in it, and lie is only chastening his chosen people. I met one of these Pharisees but a few days since who held out this cant to me. IJtold him that in my opinion God had nothing to do with it, but the devil had a great deal, except to do what I told them nearly five years ago he had done, to wit: given them over to strong delusions that they might be lieve lies, to the end that they might work out their own and country’s damnation with greed iness. The last and most contemptible of all are those loud-mouthed, blatant secesiionists who exhausted the whole alphabet of Billings gate in abuse of the North, who were going to whip the whole Yankee nation with corn stalks, regiments of oid women and pen knives ; who went almost into hysterics at the mention of a Yankee, and let off such torrents of cant, abuse and nonsense, as a fool and fanatic only could, in favor of secession. Yet they afe now tbe meekest and gentlest of Union ntt They were never secessionists— oh! no, rare name of secessionist is most ab horrent to their Union feelings. “Oh, for a forty parson power to chant thy praise, hypoc risy.” The virtues thou dost k>ndly vaunt not practice. There are many such cases which have come with, in my own personal knowledge, and I devoutly wish that there were a whip in each honest hand to lash such rascals naked round the world. I trust that the government will institute measures to bring to light each and every one of these hypo crites, who have brought this ruin on the country, and who are now like a^t of base cowards try ing to sneak out of it. There »ill be no difficulty in spotting and locating them. Those Union men, who were forced into the support of seces sion after it was accomplished,deserve only the pity and eommisseration ot all good men not their oen- sure. Before I conclude, there is o- e other class to whom I wauld pay a passing tribute of my profoond admiration - to-wit: the professional politicians of tbe South They are a distinct class, who made politios a trade, aud have been on the back of tbe negro for the last forty years. The negro was their en tire political stock in trade. They are properly divisible into two classes, the big class and the little class. The big class, by means of their bobby, managed to hold all the high offiees, State and federal. Tbe little class were the strikers at home, who were to be found in every oounty in the State, who ech< ed and repeated the orders of the big gnns, an d who waited with all the iinpa- tienoe of tbe sick aronod the pool of Betbesda, for the troubling of the political waters, that they might step in and be healed, or rather, secure some fat office as the reward for tbeir subservi ency, and spaniei-Iike cringing to their masters. The little class were more oontemptible because more ignorant and consequently more intolerant and proscriptive, to all who woold not bow down and worship tbe golden ealf created by their sope- riots. With them it was the negro by day, the negro by night, from early morn nntil dewy eve The whole Yankee nation were held np as a band of robbers, only waiting for an opportonity to poanoe apon and carry off their golden calf] the was that the ignorance and credulity of the people were olayed upon by a eetof desperate pad Ntfith political gamblers, ttatUth# SotMeni m'nd was inflamed to the secession pitch. What cared these iren for the widow’s sighs, the or pbao’s tears, the rivers of blood that flowed, if perchance they thonld succeed in ^curing those sweet offices for which they had sOTong sighed But, alas! for you. Tbe day of retribution has come—your sios have found yon out—you lie prostrate, telpless and bleeding—objects of pity and contempt to your enemies. It was foreign to my iDstiuots, nature and purpose, to have penned a line io triumph over your fall, though I have received neither mercy nor favor at your haods—but for tbe malicious and unjustifiable assault on ^ne by this “Squibob.” He repre sents a large class, and to him and tbem I would say, “That when a man is past b* 8 sense, The only way to reduce him thence, Is by twinging of tbe ears and nose, And laying on ot heavy blows, And when these fail to do the deed, To bnrntng with hot iron proceed. The government has twirged yonr ears, aflyi laid on the htavy blows, and I fear is preparing tbe hot iron process, unless you shall come <o your senses right speedily. Repent then,oh! “Squibob.” Repent of your manifold sins, con tent yourself with yocr own deep damnation.- Seek not like the king of hell to increase the number of your company by dragging in inno cent men. There are, no doubt, many good, but deluded men among tbe Secessionists ; men wbo have been, ardare.entirely conscientous. Squibob may possibly be one of tbem—though 1 would not be surprised if he is one of the same contemptible pack wbo hissed and attempted to insult me in Masonic Hall, Savannah, whilst I was makings speech in behalf of Douglass and the Union.— They could not insult me because they were not able to rise to the level of my contempt. I would inform Suqibob that bis understanding is verv much at fault; as much anas it was in swallow ing down unsifted tbe secession dogmas and de lusions. When he says he understands I am striving for, and anxious to, obtain the military Governorship of Georgia, I have not striven for it, nor have I tbe most remote idea that it will be tendered me. Squibob will do well to remember an old adage among lawyers: be sore of your facts before you aver; or, more properly speak ing, be sure you are on tbe right track before you yelp again. To my personal friends among the secessionists, whom I believe to be conscien tious and patriotic, by t misguided men, I would offer ao apology for this communication, but to the intolerant, bigoted, vain-glorious, conceited, proscriptive and tyrannical pack,who hive been yelping at my heels for the last five years, I have none, none, whatever. Respectfully, Wk. B. Gaclden. [From the Savannah Republican, December 21,1S6P.] To tbe Voters of Liberty County. MiAhaven, Liberty County,? December 17, 1860. j Having at the earnest, and as I believe, unani mous request of the conservative party of your county, accepted the position of candidate of that party, for the Convention shortly to assem ble in Milledgeville, in opposition to the im mediate secessionists, it is proper that I should give my views somewhat at large, to the end that none should vote for me or withhold his vote unadvisedly. In the first place, I am opposed to immediate secession, and believe that before any decided action should be had by any single State, that it is alike due to such State, and to all the Southern States, that a Southern Conference should be had, or at least tendered; and if re fused, each State would then be justified in taking such measures as she would deem neces sary for her protection, whether by secession or revolution.' I huId, that before resorting to either of these measures, we should exhaust all constitutional and peaceable measures to obtain redress of grievances; failing in which a united South ought, and will, strike for our liberties, trusting iu the God of battles to maintain the right. I do not believe that the election of Lincoln per se (though I much deplore and regret it,) is cause for a dissolution of the Union. The South ran three candidates, the Black Republi cans one, and all intelligent men North and South must have foreseen, from the day of the bolt, and breaking up of tbe Democratic party at Baltimore, that Lincoln would be elected, and the bolters at Charleston and Baltimore are responsible for his election, in my opinion. He has beaten us under the forms of the Con stitution, and is entitled to tbe office. Though lie has been elected, we have large democratic majorities in both houses in Congress, and if Southern Representatives and Senators will stay and do their duty to the South, and not bolt and leave the field to the enejny. they can force his administration to be eminently con servative, they can impeach him, turn him out of office, and hang him higher than Haman. 1 am the more strengthened in this convicdon when I come to reflect that be was elected by a minority, being beaten in the popular vote by a majority of nearly a million ot voles. Thus clear ly showiog that this vast majority are with us, and opposed to big doctrines. This tact should give us confidence, and pre vent ns from being scared before we are hurt. I have no fear of his administration, if south ern members remain true to tbe South. First, because if be maintains the Constitution, he breaks down himself and party, and will go out of office, the weakest man that ever left the Presidential chair. If be violates it, he can, and wilt be impeached. He will have Scylla on one hand and Charybdis on tbe other— the sword of the Constitution suspended over his head, with a I, nx-eyed majority ready to let it fall. But suppose we are mistaken, and a veDal Con gress should back up a corrupt President to vio late our constitutional rights, what then would be tbe remedy? Secession.' I think not. i would say go to war in tbe Union, claim all our con stitutional rights bv virtue of tbe sword, call up on that million and a halt of true Democrats at the North, to come to our aid, and light up the flames of civil war in all these nullifying North ern States, and I believe that every one ot those men would spring to tbeir arms in defense of your rights ; and with their aid, with the Con stitution and flag of our country waving over us, we would smite the Black Republican traitors hip and thigh—in one campaign there would not be left seed of tbe vile herd. Without stopping to enqaire into the legal pro position involved in the assumption of the right of a State peaceably to secede, and the de nial of any power in the General Government to coeroe, or force back the seoeding State, about whioh there is a great diversity ot opinion among the greatest and best men, I bare to say that I pity the man whose intellect is so feeble as to be lieve that the secession of one or more of these States oan b; peaceable. From the very natnre and structure of our Government, it- must and will end in war, war of the most terrible kind. And those statesmen wbo are leading their States out of the Union, and are not preparing their citi zens for the dire result, by a thorough arming and military discipline, in my poor judgment, are un worthy the name of statesmen; and posterity and the civilized world will not hold them guilt less. If a State secedes without the consent of the re maining States, I know of no law, or tribunal whioh would give her any right in the publio property, the publio lauds, tbe Army and Navy. Her olaim to the publio property would have to be referred to the arbitration of the sword. By secession she abandons everything to the remaining States. And ;without tbe Army and Navy, if the war should ooma, would fight naked pod alone—and by this aet, would neoessarily convert the million and a half of true and patri otic Democrats of the North if not into enemies, at least into passive friends. By withdrawing yourselvea by seeession from the ptoteotion of the Constitutipo, and eutting loose from the Union, you tie up their hands, and render them power less to aid you. I pray yon, than, pans# before you aooept the doctrine oi secession aa the best remedy. But you ore told by the immediate secessionists that the North has pursued, from the iooeptioa ef the fvrenaMt to the m oostiutl course of aggression; tbatyou have no equality in me Union— m fact, that you are but the Haves of the North. In listening to the it flamma ory ap peals of their speakers, in imagination. I could almost hear tbe clanking of the chairs sronnd me, 8rd almost imagine that I was a slave to the North. Permit me, fellow-citizen-, to rail your attention t, th% history of y>ur country, aDd you will see at a glanc how the North has made Daves of the Souih. and whar part she bore in destroy ing th <qui ibri«m between the two sections st least so far as the General Government is con cerned. At the close of the Revolutionary war, 1783, we were thirteen feeble States, all owning slaves and recognizing slavery. At the first Congress after, in 1784, Mr. Jtfferson, a south ern man, laid before Congress his celebrated ordinance for the government of the north western Territory, which composes the seven great States—O- io, Indiana, Illinois, Micbi- _gan,JYtsconsin, Minne.-ota and Iowa. Tiiis ordinance forever excluded slavery from ail these States, though it is will known that they desired it. Some diversity of opinion existing in Congress upon tho subject, it did not pass until 1787, when it received tbe unanimous vote of southern members, and all tbe north ern, except one from New York. There were seven great States forever given oyer to frecsoil,"and riavery forever excluded, by the direct vote of southern men. The Gen eral Government has admitted into the Union tbe four free States, Maine, New Hampshire, Oregon and California. The seven free States in which slavery was excluded by the South are not to be counted against the North in the list of aggressions since the formation of the government. Then, you find that the North hag admitted but four free States since the formation of the government. True, seven of^he old thirteen have abolished slavtry in their own States, and by their own individual State action, as they had the right to do, and for which the Federal Government is in no way responsible. Now, let us see what tne North has done for the South in the admission of States. The following nifie great slave States have been bought with the common treasure, aud ad mitted into the Union by the aid ot the North, to-wit: Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri, aDd Texas; the last with a territory equal to about six such S ates as Ge rgta. The territory of New Mexico, equal to about six more'-States as large as Georgia, wi'h slavery fully fcstajtlisbed there, as also in Utah. Now the six Ufa slave States of the original thirteen remain, to-wit: Delaware, Maryland, Virginia. North Carolina, S mth Carolina and Georgia, nine new States admitted, and five additional to be formed ont of Texas, six of New v exteo, two out of Utah, and you have tbe comfortable sum of twenty-eight powerful slave States Does this look like we were the slaves of the North ? Yet tbe preach ers of disunion wou d have vou believe tnat we were all the slaves of the North, with do rights in the Union, living in a state of inequality and degradation But to pass ou Tbe uexi b,ow which the South received at Southern hands was passing the law and urging Coogress to prohibit tbe Atrican Slave Trade in 18U7 and 1819. We have been unable to populate our Territories aid develop our resouices for want ol labor, suiteato cur climate, and also lost tbe ih'ee- bfths of tne representation to be drawn from this source. Three-filths of all the negroes thus imported being entitled to be represented in Congress as white men, aud lost the tddittonal white population which they would have caused to come, for it may be interred that every two negroes would baveb ought a master. You will remember 'bat Southern men bad already for ever excluded slavery irom the Northwes era States. These States had to res rt to freelthor; tbeir climate being well adapted to -his labor, they found a ready supply from tbe teeming popula tion of the old worl:; at low frees; their re sources were rapidly developed, with this addi tional advantage, that each laborer brought witn him his vote, and io men to be represented in Congress. If then you have, by your own act, placed the Northern States in a position to out vote : nd out-populate yon, yon mnst not blame the North for being in that position. The next blow received by the South, at south ern hands, was the Missouri Compromise. Tbe next the high tariff of 1828, vond for, it I mis take not, by Gen Jackson. The nexi. tbe Cali fornia fraud,by which tho South was rubbed of an empire, aided by southern and Ge rgia votes, headed by Howell Cobb, who is now crying out so loudly for disunion. Tbe South came to consider this Compromise a wrong: we demanded i s repeal. Tbe imm rial DoUglaB, backed by the patriotic Democracy, of tbe North, repealed it, and left the Territory open alike to the North and Soutb, bv the passage of tho Kansas Nebraska b 11 io 1854. The South consideren the tariff of 1828 oppresrive. Caro ioa nullified and demanded its repeal. The N ,rih granted it. So that you will see that there has been no aot of the Genera! Government which has not been repealed on demand of the Soutb.— They have passed just snob a Fugitive slave law as we asked, and ate ready to-day to pass ,te ten times as stringent. From tbis brief review yon will see, that so far as the General Govern ment is ooncernod and its agency with ibe N ,rth, we have had all our rights, except when they bad been denied for a short time, and that they have been promptly yielded on demand. We have then no complaints against the General Government, aDd our grievances are Darrowed down to those States, I think nine, which have passed laws to prevent the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave law. I put the question to]you : shall We attack aDd break up 'hie Union and destroy the wisest and purest government in the world, aud fall into anarchy and civil war? or shall we ctil on the offending States to do us justice by complying with their constitutional duties ? It seems to me, that there can be but one answer. I say let us make a demand on them at once to repeal all their obnoxious laws. Let us call on Congress to pass a law with the penalty of death annexed for tbe obstruction of the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave law, by any citizen of a free State. If these measures do not procure redress after a conference with the Southern States, let us go to war with these States, war to the knife, ifit must to that, and you will find the brave Democracy of the North with us. If honored by you, with a scat in the Convention, I shall op pose all precipitate action. I shall join any man, or set of men there wbo will take such course as will bring our grievances before tbe offending States, aod firmly demand all our rights, and take measures to enforce them, if they are re fused. I shall oppose secession or revelation un til we have exhausted all constitutional and peaceable means. This Union cost too much blood and treasure to be ltgh ly and rashly cast away. We are to-day, the happiest, freeest, and most prosperous people on the face of ebe globe. If the proper counsels prevail ia the Mtlledge- ville Convention, I believe all differences cao, and will be bealed, and our glorious Constitu tion and Union will yet survive, and tbe good sb'p of Bute will weather the storm, and gallant ly sail on dispensing immeasuraote blesaiugsto untold millions ot poster ty. Very respectfully, Wu. B. Gacldbn. A year ago General Sherman wrote these words: “It yon admit the negro to this struggle for any purpose, he has s right to stay in fur all, and when tbe fight is ov -r, the hand tb tt drops the musket cannot be denied tbe ballot!” Gen. Sherman having thus claimed io advance the ballot for the n«gro soldiers, bis preteot change ot position cannot but excite surpr se to tbe minds ot all interested in tne qoettioa or tbe declaration of AIHEIMcAv lAilihPliAlMiMK AX9 THJE PRESIDENT’S EMANCIPAI PROCLAMAT- rOR 8AUB AT THIS
