Newspaper Page Text
QMuwibn* limes.
j t t if - - - Gdiiur.
Monday Morning. March M, 1864.
Gov. brown's message continued,
orphan’s estate.
Oil account of the present depreciated
value of the Confederate securities 1 rec
ommend the repeal of the law which au
thorizes Executors, Administrators and
Trustees to invest the funds of those whom
they represent in these securities. As
the law stands it enables unscrupulous
fiduciary agents, to perpetrate frauds upon
innocent orphans, and helpless persons rep
resented by them; and in effect compels
orphans arid those represented by trustees
to invest their whole estates, in govern
ment bonds, which no other class is re
quired to do.
FURLOUGHS REFUSED..
On the 27th of February, when I issued
my Proclamation, calling you into extra
session, I telegraphed to ?the Secretary of 1
War, and asked that furloughs he grant
ed to members in military service, to at
tend the session, and received a reply
stating that it had “concluded not to grant
furloughs to attend the session,” that
“officers so situated are entitled to resign
and may so elect.”
t regret this determination of the Con
federate government, as it places our gal
lant officers who have been elected by the
people to represent, them,and to whom, as
well as their predecessors similarly situa
ted, furloughs were never before denied,
in a position where it costs them their
commissions to attempt to discharge the
duties as Representatives of the people.
THE NEW MH.ITTA ORGANIZATION ANT)
CONSCRIPTION.
.Since your adjournment in December
the Adjutant and Inspector General un
der my direction has done all in his pow
er to press forward the organization of
the Malitia of the State, in conformity to
the act passed for that purpose; and I
have the pleasure to state the enrollments
are generally made; except, in a few local
ites, where proixmity to the enemy has
prevented it; and the organizations will
soon be complete.
At this stage in our proceedings, we are
met with formidable obstacles; thrown in
our way, by the late act of Congress,
which subjects those between 17 and 50,
to enrollment as Conscripts for Confed
erate service. This act of Congress pro
poses to take from the State, as' was done
on a former occasion, her entire military
force, who belong to the active list, and to
leave her without a force in the different
counties sufficient to execute her laws or
suppress servile insurrection.
Our Supreme Court has ruled that the
Confederate government has the power to
raise armies by Conscription, but it lias not
decided that it also had the power to en
roll the whole population of the State who
remain at home, so as to place the whole
people under the military control of the
Confederate government; and thereby take
from the States all command over their
own citizens, to execute their own laws;
ami place the international police regula
tions of the States in tno Lands of the
President. It is one thing to “raise ar
mies” and another, and quite a different
thing, to put the whole population at
home under military law, and compel ev
ery man to obtain a military detail upon
such terms as the central government
may dictate, and to carry a military pass
in his pocket, while he cultivates his farm, :
or attends to his other necessary avocations !
at home.
Neither a planter nor an overseer engag
ed upon the farm, nor a'blaeksmith mak
ing agricultural implements', nor a miller
griuding for the people at home belongs to
or constitutes any part of the armies of
the Confederacy; and there is not the
shadow of Constitutional power, vested in
the Con led crate government, for conserib
ing and putting these classes, and others
engaged in home pursuits, under military
rule, while they remain at home, to dis
charge these duties. It Conscription were
Constitutional as a means of raising ar
mies by the Confederate (Government, it
could not be Constitutional to consribe those
not lictua.fli/ needed, and to be v.mph-Hjed
in the army; and the ( (institutional power
to “raise armies", could never carry with it
the power in Congress to oonscribe the
whole people; who are not needed for the
armies, but are left at home, because more
useful there; and place them under military
government, and compel them to get mil
itary details to plough in their fields, shoe
their farm horses; or go to mi 1.1
Conscription carried to this extent, is
the essence ol military despotism; placing
all civil rights in a state of subordination
to military power, and putting the person
al freedom of each individual in civil life;
at the will ol the chief of the military
power, hut it may be said that Conscrip
tion may act upon one class as legally as
another, and that all classes are equally ;
subject to it. -Ihis is undoubtedly true. !
If the government has a right to con scribe |
at all, it lias a right, to yonsc.vibe persons ■
ot all classes, till it has raised enough to j
supply its armies, Hut it has no right, to I
go further and who are by
its own consent to emain at. home, to
make supplies. If it considers supplies
necessary, somebody must make ihem;
and those who do it, being no part of the
army, should be exempt from. Conscription
and the annoyance of military dictation,
while engaged in civil, and not military
pursuits.
If all between 17 and 50 are to be en
rolled and placed in constant military ser
vice, we must conquer the enemy while
we are consuming our present crop of pro
visions, or we are ruined; as it will be im
possible for the old men over 50, and the
boys under J 7, to make supplies enough
to feed armies and people another year.—
I think every practical man in the Con-'
federacy who knows anything about our
agricultural interests and resources, will
readily admit this.
If, on the other hand, it is not the in
tention to put, those between 17 and 18\
and between 45 and :>O, into the service
as soldiers hut to leave them home to pro
duce supplies, and occasionally io do on
lice and other duties, within the JState
which properly belong to the Militia of l
State; or in other words, if it’is the inten
tion simply to take the control of them
from the State, so as to deprive her of all
power, and leave her without sufficient.
force to execute her own laws or suppress
servile insurrection; and place the whole
Militia ol the State, not needed for con
stant serviee in the Confederate armies,
under the control of the President while
engaged in their civil pursuits, the act is
unconstitutional and oppressive, and ought
not to be executed.
If the act is executed in this State, it
deprives her of her whole active Militia,
as Congress has so shaped it as to include
the identical persons embraced in the act
passed at your late session, and to transfer
the control of them all from the State to
the Confederate Government.
The State has already enrolled these per
sons under the solemn act of her Legisla
ture for her own defense and it is a ques
tion for you to determine whether the ne -
cessity of the State, her sovereignty and
dignity, and justice to those who are to
be effected by the act, do not forbid that
she should permit her organization to he
broken up, and her means of self-preserva
tion to be taken out of her hands. If this
is done what will be our condition ? I pre
fer to answer by adopting the language of
the presentable and patriotic Governor
of Virginia: “A sovereign State without
a soldier, and without the dignity of j
strength—-stripped of all her men, and
with only the form and pageantry of pow
er—would indeed be nothing more than a
wretched dependency, to which I should
grieve to sec our proud old Commonwealth
reduced.”
I may be reminded that the enemy has
three times as many white men, able to
bear arms, as we have, and that it is nec
essary to take all between the ages above
mentioned, or we cannot keep as many
men in the field as he does.
If the result depended upon our ability
to do this, we must necessarily fail. But
fortunately for us, this is not the ease. —
While they have the advantage in num
bers we have other advantages which, if
properly improved, they can never over
come. We are the invaded party, in the
right, struggling for all we have and for
all that we expect our posterity to inherit.
This gives us great moral advantage over
a-more powerful enemy, who, as the in
vaders, are in the wrong, and are fighting
for conquest and power. Wo have the
inner and shorter lines of defense, while
they have the longer and much more dif
ficult ones. For instance, if we desire to
reinforce Dalton, from Wilmington, Char
leston, Savannah and Mobile, or to rein
force either of these points from Dalton,
we can do so by throwing troops rapidly
over a short fine from one point to the
other. If the enemy wishes to reinforce
Charleston or Chattanooga from Washing
ton or New Orleans, he must throw his
troops along*distance around,almost upon
the circumference of a circle, while we
meet them with our reinforcements by
throwing them across the diameter of a
semi-circle. This difference in our favor,
i.s as great as four to one, and enables us,
if our troops are properly handled, to re
pel their assaults with little more than one
fourth their number.
In consideration of these, and numer
ous other advantages, which an invaded
people united and determined to be free
always has, it is not wise policy for us to
keep in the field as large n number us tbo
(inomy lias.
It is the duty of those in authority in a
country engaged In a war which calls for all
the resources at command, to consider what
proportion of the whole population can safely
be kept under arms. In our present condi
tion, surrounded by the enemy and our ports
blockaded so that we can"place but little de
pendence upon foreign supplies, we arc
obliged to keep a, sufficient number of men in
the agricultural fields, to make supplies for
our troops under arms, and their families at
home, or we must ultimately fail.
The policy which would compel all our
men to go to the Military field and leave our
farms uncultivated, arid workshops vacant,
would be the most fatal and unwise that could
be. adopted. In that case, the enemy need only
avoid battle and continue the war (ill we con
sume the supplies now on hand, and we would
Iks completely in their power.
There is a certain proportion of a people in
our condition, who can remain under arms,
and the balance ot our people can support
them. So long as that proportion has not
been reached, more may Safely be taken ; but
when it is reached, every man taken from the
field of production, and placed as a consumer
in the military field, makes ns that much
weaker; and if we go far beyond the propor
tion, failure and ruin are inevitable, as the
army must soon disband, when it can no long
er be supplied with the necessaries of life.
There is reason to fear that those in authority !
have not made safe calculations upon this
point, and they do not fully appreciate the in
calculable importance of the agricultural in
terests in this struggle.
We are able, to keep constantly under arms
two hundred thousand effective men, and to
support and maintain that force by our own
resources and productions, for twenty years
to come. No power nor State can ever be
conquered so long as it can maintain that
number of good troops, if the enemy should
bring a million against us let us remember
that then 1 is such a thing as whipping the
tight without, lighting it, and avoiding pitched
battles and unnecessary collisions; let us
give this vast force time ro melt away under
the heat of summer and the snows of winter,
as did Xerxes’ army in Greece, and Napoleon’s
ia Russia, and the enemy’s resources and
strength \\ ill exhaust when so prodigally used,
much more rapidly than ours, when properly
oconomi/.ed. In properly economising; our
strength and husbanding our resources, lie
our Most, hope of success.
Instead of making: constant new drafts upon
the agricultural and mechanical labor of the
country for recruits for the army, to swell our
numbers beyond our present muster rolls,
winch must prove our ruin, if our provision
fa.il, I respectfully submit that it would he
wiser to put the troops into the army: and
lroive men enough at home to support them.
In '‘other words, compel thp thousands of
youing officer- in gold lace and brass buttons,
wbo are constantly seen crowding our rail
roads and hotels, many of whom can seldom
be found at their posts, and the thousands of
straggling soldiers who are absent without
leave, or, by the favoritism of officers, whose
names are on the pay rolls, and who are not
producers at home, to remain at their places
ia the army. This is justice alike to the
country, to the tax payers, to the gallant offi
cers who stand firmly at the post of duty, and
the gallant soldiers who seldom or never get
furloughs, but are always in the thickest of
i- the tight. When the\ are enduring and sut
fering so much, why should the favorites ol
| power and those of their comrades who seek
S to avoid duty and danger, bo countenanced or
! tolerated at home, while their names stand
j upon the muster rolls?
If all who are able for duty, and who are
' now nominally in service drawing pay from
Hie Government, are compelled 1o do their
duty faithfully, there will be no need of com
pelling men over, forty-five to leave their
homes, ur of disbanding the State militia to
place more men under the President’s control.
| CONFLICT WITH THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT.
! But it may be said that an attempt to main
, tain the rights of this State will produce eon
.j iiict with the Confederate Government. lam
•' aware that there are those who, from motives
not necessary to be here mentioned, are ever
ready to raise tiio cry of conflict, and to crit
icise ami condemn the action of Georgia, in
every case where her constituted authorities
protest against the encroachment- ot tKb cen
tral power, and seek to maintain her thghi >
and sovereignty as a. State, and t ic eons i u
tional rights and liberties of her people.
Those who are unfriendly to State sover
eignty and desire to consolidate all power ia
the hands of the Confederate Government,
hoping to promote their undertaking by ope
rating upon the fears of the timid, after each
n g<v aggression upon the constitutional rights
of the States, fill the newspaper presses with
the cry of conflict, and warn the people to be
ware of those who seek to maintain their
constitutional rights, as agitators or partisans
who may embarrass the Confederate Govern
ment in the prosecution of the war.
Let not tlie people be deceived by this false
clamor. It is the same cry of conflict which
the Lincoln government raised against all who
defended the rights of the Southern States
against its tyranny. It is the cry which the
usurpers of power have ever raised against
those who rebuke their encroachments and
refuse ttfvield to their aggressions.
When did Georgia embarrass the Confeder
ate Government in any matter pertaining to
the vigorous prosecution of the war? When
did she fail to furnish mot*? than her full quo
ta of troops, when she was called upon as a
State by the proper Confederate authority ?
And when did her gallant sons ever quail be
fore the enemy, or fail nobly to illustrate her
character upon the battle field ?
She can not only repel the attacks of her
enemies on the field ol deadly conflict, but
she can as proudly repel the assaults of those
who, ready to bend the knee to power Tor po
sition and patronage, set themselves up to
criticise her conduct, and she can confident
ly challenge them to point to a single instance
in which she has failed to fill a requisition for
troops made upon her through the regular
constitutional challenge. To the very last
requisition made she responded with over
double the number required.
She stands ready at all times to do her whole
duty to the cause and Confederacy, but while
she does this, she will never cease to require
that, her constitutional right be respected and
the liberties of her “people preserved. While
she deprecates all conflict with the Confeder
ate Government, if to require these be conflict
will never end till the object is attained.
“For freedom’s battle once began— •
Bequeath'd by bleeding sire to son,
Though baffled oft is ever won,’’
will be emblazoned in letters of living light
upon her proud banners, until State sovereign
ty and constitutional liberty, as well as the
Confederate independence, are firmly estab
lished.
SUSPENSION OF THE HABEAS CORPUS.
1 cannot withhold the expression of the
deep mortification 1 feel at the late action of
Congress in attempting to Suspend the privi
lege of the writ of Habeas Corpus, and to con
fer upon the President powers expressly de
| nied to him by the Constitution of the Con-
I federate Stales. Under the pretext of a ne
cessity which our people know does not ex
ist in this case, whatever may have been the
motive, our Congress with 1 lie assent and at
the request of the Executive, has struck a fell
blow at the liberties of the people of these
States.
The Constitution of the Confederate States
declares that, “The’ privilege of the writ of
habeas corpus shall not be suspended, uyless
when in cases of rebellion or invasion the
public safety may require it".
The power to suspend the habeas corpus at
aid is derived, not from express and direct dele
gation, but from implication only, and an im
plication can never be raised in opposition to
an express restriction. In case of any con
flict between the two, sn implied power must
always yield to express restrictions upon its
exercise. The power to suspend the privilege
of the writ of habeas corpus derived by im
plication must therefore be always limited by
the express declaration in the Constitution
that:
RTUo of i/iio j)ropio to in* secure in
their persons, houses, papers and effects,
against unreasonable searches and seizures
shall not be violated ; and no warrants shall
issue but upon probable cause, supported by
oath or affirmation, and particularly describ
ing the place to be searched, and the persons
or things to be seized,” and the further decla
ration that, “no person slinW he deprived of
life, liberty or property, without due process
law.” And that,
“In all criminal prosecutions the accused
shall enjoy the right of a speedy and public
trial by an impartial jury of the State or Dis
trict where the crime shall have been com
mitted, which district shall have been previ
ously ascertained by law, and to be informed
of the nature and cause of the accusation ; to
be confronted with the witnesses against him ;
to have compulsory process tor obtaining wit
nesses in his favor ; and to have the assistance
of counsel for his defense.”
Thus it is an expression guaranty of the
Constitution, that (lie “persons” of the peo
ple shall secure and “no w arrants shall issue,”
Imt upon probable cause, supported by oath
or affirmation, particularly describing “the
persons to be seized, | ;r that, “no person shall
be deprived of liberty, without due proeoess
of law” and that in “all criminal prosecutions”
the accused shall enjoy the right of a speedy
and public trial by an impartial jury.”
The Constitution also defines the powers
of the Executive, which are limited to those
delegated, among which these is one author
izing him to issue warrants or order arrests
of persons not in actual military service; or
to sit as a judge in any case, to fry any per
son fora criminal offense, or to appoint any
court or tribunal to do it, not provided for in
the - Constitution as part of the judiciary.—
'The power to issue warrants and try persons
under criminal accusations are judicial powers,
which belong under the Constitution, exclu
sively to the judiciary and to the Executive.—
His power to order arrests as Commander-in
Chief is strictly a military power, and is con
fined to the arrest of persons in the army or
navy of the Confederate States, or in the mil
itia, when the actual service of the Confede
rate States; and does not extend to any per
sons in civil life, unless they be followers of
the camp or w ithin the lines of the army. —
This is clear from that provision of the Con
stitution which declares that,
“No person shall be held to answer for a
capital or otherwise infamous crime, unless
on a presentment or indictment of a grand
jury, except in cases arising ill the land or
naval forces, or in the militia when in actual
service in lime ot' war or public danger.”—■
But even here, the power of the President as
Commander in-Cbief, is not absolute, as his
pow ers and duties in ordering arrests of per
sons in the land or naval forces, in the militia
when in actual service, are clearly defined by
the rules and articles of war prescribed by
Congress. Any warrant issued Dy the Pres
ident. or any arrest made by him, or under
his order, of any person in civil life and not
subject to military command, is illegal and in
plain violation of the Constitution ; as it is
impossible for Congress by implication, to con
fer upon the President t-lie right to exercise
powers of arrest, expressly forbidden to him
by the Constitution. Any effort on the part
of Congress to do this, is but an attempt to
revive the odious practice of ordering politi
cal arrests, or issuing letters tL cachet by roy
al prerogative, so long since renounced by our
English ancestors ; and on the denial of the
right, ot the constitutional judiciary to inves
tigate such cases, and the provision for crea
ting a court appointed by the Executive and
changeable at his will, to take jurisdiction of
the same, are in violation of the great princi
ples of Magna Charts, the Bill of Bights, the
Habeas Corpus act, and the Constitution of
the Confederate States, upon which both Eng
lish and American liberty rest ; and is hut an
attempt to revive the ordious Star-Chamber
court of England, which in Hie hands of wick
ed kings, was used for tyranical purposes by
the crown, until it was finally abolished by
act of parliament, of 10th Charles the first,
which went into operation on the first of Au
gust, 1841. This act has ever since been re
garded as one of the great bulwarks of Eng
lish liberty; and as it was passed by the En
glish Parliament to secure our English ances
tors against the very same character of arbita.
ry arrests, which the late act of Congress is
intended to authorize the President to make,
1 append a copy of it to this message with the
same italics and small capital letters,
which arc used in * Hie printed copy of the
book from which it is taken. it will be
seen that the court of “Star-Chamber,” which
was the instrument in the hands of the Eng
lish king, for investigating his illegal arrests
and darn ing out his arbitrary decrees, was
much more respectable, on account of the
character, learning and ability of its members,
than the Confederate Star-Chamber, dr court
of ‘ proper officers,” which the act of Congress
gives the President power to appoint to inves
tigate his illegal arrests.
I am aware of no instance in which the Br it -
ish king has ordered the arrest of any person
in civil life, in any other manner, than by the
established courts of the realm ; or in which
he has suspended, or attempted to suspend the
privilege of the writ of habeas corpus since the
Bill of Rights act of settlement, passed in
1089. To attempt this in 1801, would cost
the present reigning Queen no less price than
her crown.
The only suspension of the privilege of the
writ of habeas corpus known to our Constitu
tion, and compatible with the provisions al
ready stated, goes to the simple extent of pre
venting the release under it, of persons whose
arrests have been ordered under constitution
al warrants from a judicial authority. To
this extent the Constitution allows the sus
pension in case of rebellion or invasion, in or
der that the accused may be certainly and
safely held for trial; but Congress has no
right under pretext of exercising this power,
to authorize the President to make illegal ar
rests prohibited by the. Constitution; and
when Congress has attempted to confer such
powers on the President, if ho should order
such illegal arrests, it. would be the impeia
ative duty of the judges, who have solemnly
sworn to support the Constitution, to disre
gard such unconstitutional legislation, and
grant relief to persons so illegally imprisoned;
and it would be the duty of the Legislative
and Executive departments of the States to
sustain and protect the judiciary in the dis
charge of his obligation.
By an examination of the act of Congress,
now under consideration, it will be seen that
it is not an act. to suspend the privilege of
warrants issued by judicial authority , but the
i main purpose of the act seems to be to author
ize ibe President to issue warrants, supported
by neither oath nor affirmation , and to make
arrests of persons not in military service, up
on charges of a nature proper for investiga
tion in the judicial tribunals only, and to
prevent the Courts from inquiring in such
arrests, or granting relief against such illegal
usurpations of power, which are in direct and
palable violation of the Constitution.
The act enumerates more than twenty dif
ferent. causes of arrest, most ot which are cog
nizable and Iryable only in the judicial t ribu
nals established by the Constitution, and for
which no warrants can legally issue for the
arrest, of persons in civil life any power ex
cept tne judiciary . am! (hen only upon pro
bable cause, supported by oath or affirmation,
particularly describing tho persons to be seized:
such as “ijrcaaon,” “treasonable efforts or
combinations to subvert, the Government of
the Confederate States,’’“‘conspiracies to over
throw the Government,’’ or “conspiracies to
resist the lawful authorities of the Confed
erate States),” giving the enemy, “aid and
comfort,’’ ‘ attempts to incite servile insurrec
reetiou,” “(he burning of bridges,’’ “Railroad
or Telegraph lines,” “harboring deserters,’’
and “other offences against the laws of the
Confederate States,” &c., &c. And as if to
place the usurpation of power beyond doubt
or cavil, the act expressly declares that the
“suspension shall apply only to the case of
persons arrested or detained by the President,
the Secretary of War, or the General Officer
comftianding the Trans-Mississippi Military
Department, by authority and under the con
trol of tbc President, in tiie cases enumerated
in the act, most of which aro exclusively ot
judicial cognizance, and in which cases the
President lias not the shadow of Constitution
al authority to issue warrants or order arrests,
but is actually prohibited by the Constitution
from doing sjo.
This then is not an act to suspend tho privilege
of the writ of habeas corpus, iu the manner au
thorized by implication by the Constitution;
but it is an act to authorize the President to make
illegal and unconstitutional arrests, in cases which
the Constitution gives to the judicary, and denies
to the Executive: a,rid to prohibit all judicial inter
ference for thy relief of the citizens when tyran
ized over by Illegal arrests, under letters etc cachet
issued by Executive authority.
Instead of the legality of the arrest being ex
amined in the judicial tribunals appointed by the
Constitution, it is to be examined in the Confed
erate Star Chamber; that is, by officers appoint
ed by the President. Why say that the “Presi
dent shall cause proper officers to investigate” the
legality of arrests ordered by him ? Why not per
mit the Judges whose constitutional right and du
ty it is to do it?
We are witnessing with too much indifference
assumptions of power by the Confederate Gov
ernment which in ordinary times would arouse the
whole country to indignant rebuke and stern re
sistance. History would teach us that submission
to one encroachment upon constitutional liberty
is always followed by another; and we should not
forget that important rights yielded to those iu
power without rebuke or protest, are never recov
ered by the people without revolution.
If this act is acquiesced in, the President, the
Secretary of War, and the commander of the
Trans-Mississippi department under the control of
the President, each has the power conferred by
Congress, to imprison whomsoever he chooses ;
and it is only necessary to allege that it is done on
account of “treasonable efforts” or of “conspira
cies to resist the lawful authority of the Confede
rate States,” or for “giving aid and comfort to the
enemy,” or other of the causes of arrest enumera
ted in the Statute, and have a subaltern to file his
affidavit accordingly, after the arrest, if a writ of
habeas corpus is sued out, and no court dare in
quire into the cause of the impressment. The
Statute makes the President and not the courts
the judges of !he sufficiency of the cause for bis
own acts. Either of you or any oilier citizen of
Georgia, may at any moment (as Mr. Vallandig
ham was in Ohio) be dragged from your homes at
midnight by armed force, and imprisoned at the
will of the President, on the pretext that you have
been guilty of some offense of the character above
named, and no court known to our judiciary, can
inquire into the wrong or grant relief.
When such limit strides towards military
despotism and absolute authority are taken by
those in whom we have confided and who have
been placed in high official position t-> guard and
protect constitutional and personal liberty, it is
the duty of every pairiotic citizen to sound the
alarm, and of the State Legislatures to say in
thunder tones to those who assume to govern us
by absolute power, that there is a point beyond
which freemen will not permit encroachments to
go.
The Legislatures of the respective .States are
looked to as the guardians of the rights of those
whom they represent, and it is their duty to meet
such danger re us enactments upon the liberties of
the people pr< inpfly, and to express their unqual
ified condemnation, and to instruct their Senators
and request i heir Representatives to repeal this
most monstrous act, or resign a trust which, by
permitting it to remain on the statute book, they
abuse to the injury of those who have honored
them with their confidence in this trying period of
our history. I earnestly recommend that the
Legislature of this State take prompt action upon
this subject and stamp the act with the seal of
their indignant rebuke. |
Can the Presidet no longer trust the judiciary
with the exercise ot the legitimate powers confer- !
red upon it by the Constitution and laws? In ‘
what instance have the grave and dignified Judges j
proved disloyal or untrue to our cause? When j
have they embarrassed the government by turning !
loose traitors, skulkers or spies? Have they not
in every instance given the Government the bene
fit of their doubts in sustaining its action, though
they might thereby seem to encroach upon the
rights of thel States, and for a time done substan
tial justice to the people ? Then why this implied
censure upon them ?
What justification exists now for this monstrous
deed, which lid not exist during the first and sec
ond years off the war, unless it he found in the
fact, that thopo in power have found the people
ready to submit to every encroachment, rather
than make an issue with the Government, while
we are at war with the enemy ; ami have on that
account been emboldened to take the step which is
intended to make the President as absolute in his
power of arrest and imprisonment as the Czar of
all the RusSias ? What reception would the mem
bers of Congress from the different States have
met in ISGI, had they returned to their constitu
ents and informed them that they had suspended
the hajbtgtf corpus, and given (lie President the
power to imprison the people of these Plates with
no restraint upon his sovereign will? Why is
liberty less sacred now than it was in 1861 ? And
what will wc have gained when wo have achieved
our independence of the Northern States, if in our
effort to do so, we have permitted our form of
government to he subverted, and have lost Con
stitutional liberty at home?
The hope of the country now rests in the new
Congress soon to assemble. They must maintain
our liberties against encroachment and wipe this,
and all such stains from the statute book, or the
Sun of liberty will soon set in darkness and blood.
Let the constituted authorities of "each State
Send up their representatives when they assemble
in Congress, an unqualified demand for prompt
redress or a return of the commissions which they
hold from their respective States.
THIS L'AISU OF TUB WAR, lIOW CONDUCT!;!*, AN!>
WHO liESrONoIBLU.
Cruel, bloody, desolating war is still waged
against us by our relentless enemies who, disre
garding the laws of nations and the rules of civ
ilized warfare, whenever either interferes with
their ’fanatical objects of their interest, have in
numerous instances been guilty of worse than
savage cruelty.
They have done all in their power to burn our
cities when unable by- their skill and valor to oc
cupy them; and to turn innocent women who
may have escaped death by the shells thrown
among them without previous notice, into the
streets destitute of homes, food and clothing.
They have devastated our country wherever
their unhallowed feet have trod our soil, burning
and destroying factories, mills, agricultural imple
ments, and other valuable property.
They have cruelly treated our sons while in cap
tivity, and in violation of a cartel agreed upon,
have refused to exchange them with us for their
own soldiers, unless we would consent against the
laws of nations, to exchange our slaves as bellig
erents, when induced or forced by them to take up
arms against us.
They have done all in their power to incite mir
slaves to insurrection and murder, and when un
able to seduce them from ilieir loyalty, have when
they occupied our country, compelled then! to en
gage in war against us.
They have robbed us of our negro women and
children who were comfortable, contented and hap
py with their owners, and under pretext of extra
ordinary philanthropy, have in the name ot liber
ty, congregated thousands of them together in
places where they have neither the comforts nor
the necessaries of life, there neglected and despis
ed, to die by pestilence and hunger.
In numerous instances their brutal soldiers have
violated the persons of innocent and helpler women;
and have desecrated the craves ot our ancestors,
and polluted and defiled the alters which we have
dedicated to the worship of the Living God.
In addition to these and other enormities, hun
dreds of thousands of valuable lives both North and
South have been sacrificed, causing the shriek of
the mother, the wait of the widow. and then y of the
orphan, to ascend to Heaven, from almost every
hearthstone in a.lffihe broad laud once known as the
United States. ,
Such is but a faint picture ot the devastations,
cruelty and bloodshed, which have marked this
struggle.
War in its most mitigated form, when conducted
according to the rules established by the most en
lightened and civilized nations, is a terrible scourge,
and cannot exist without the most enormous guilt
resting upon the heads of those, who have without
just cause, brought it upon the innocent and helpless
people who are its unfortunate victims. Guilt may
rest in equal degrees in a struggle litre this, upon
both parties, but;both parties cannot be innocent. —
Where then rests the crushing load of guilt ?
While I trust I shall he able to show that it rests
not upon the people or rulers of the South, I do not
claim that it .rested at the commencement of the
struggle upon the whole people of the North.
There was a large, intelligent and patriotic por
tion of the people of the Northern States,_ led by
such men as Pierce, Douglas, \ allandingham,
Bright, Voerhics, Pugh, Seymour, Wood, and many
other honored names, who did all in their power to
rebuke and stay the wicked, reckless fanaticism
which precipitated the two sections into this terrible
conflict. With such men as these in power, we
might have lived together in the Union perpetually.
Li addition to the strength of the Democratic party
in the North there were a large number oi' persons
whose education had .them into sympathy
with the so-called Republican, or in other words,
the old federal consolidation party, who would never
have followed the wicked leaders of that party, who
uged the slavery question jis a hobby upon which to
ride into power, and who to-day stand before Hea
ven and Earth guilty of shedding tlm blood of hun
dreds of thousands, and destroying the brightest
hopes of posterity, had they known the true object
of their leaders, and the results which must follow
the triumph of their policy a t the ballot box.
The moral guilt of this war rested; then, "i its m
cipiency neither upon the people or tfie boutii, nor
upon the democractic party ol the North, or upon
that part of the Republican party who were deluded
antfdeceived. But it rested upon the heads of the
wicked leaders of the republican party, who had re
fused to be hound by the compacts of the Constitu
tion made by our common ancestry. These men,
when in power in the respective States of the North,
arrayed themselves in open hostility against an im
portant provision of the Constitution ior the securi
ty of clearly expressed and unquestionable right of
the people of the Southern States,
Many of the more fanatical of them, denounced
the Constitution because ol’its protection of the prop
erty of the slaveholder, as a “covenant with with
death and a league with llell” and refusing to he
bound by it, declared that a “higher law” was the
rule of their conduct, and appealed to the Bible as
that "higher law.” But when the precepts of God
in favor of slavery were found in both the old and
the now testament, they repudiated the Bible and
its Divine Author, and declared for an anti-Slavery
Bible and an anti-Slavery God.
The abolition party having, when in power of their
• respective States, set at naught that part ofthe Con
stitution which guarantees protection to the rights
and property ofthe Southern people and having by
fraud and misrepresentation obtained possession
ofthe federal government the Southern people in self
defence were compelled to leave the Union in which
their rights were no longer respected. Having de
stroyed the Union by their wicked act and their had
faith, thesc.leaders rallied a majority of the people
of the North to their support with a promise to re
store it again by force. Monstrous paradox! that a
Union which was formed upon a compact- (between
sovereign States, being eminently a creature of con
sent, to be upheld by force. Hut monstrous as it is,
the war springs ostensibly from this source —this is
its origin, itssoul and its life, so far as a shadow *>f
pretext for it can be found. In their mad effort to
restore by force a Union which they have destroyed,
and to save themselves from the just vengeance
which awaited them for their crimes, the. abolition
leaders in power have lighted up the continent with
a blaze of war, which has destroyed hundreds ot
millions of dollars worth of properly and hundreds
of thousands of valuable lives, and loaded posterity
with a debt which must cause wretchedness and pov
erty for generations to come. And all tor what?
That fanaticism might triumph over constitutional
liberty, as achieved by the great men of 1770, and
that ambitious men mighthavc|p]aee and power. In
their efforts to destroy our liberties, the people ol
the North, if successful, would inevitably Use (heir
own, by overturning a3they are now attempting' to
do, the great principles of Republicanism upon
which constitutional liberty rests. The government
in the hands ofthe abolition administration is non
a despotism as absolute as that ot Russia.
Dnotfending citizens are seized in their beds at
night bv armed force and dragged to dungeons and
incarcerated at the will ofthe tyrant, because they
have dared to speak for constitutional liberty, and
to protest against military despotism.
The Habeas Corpus that great bulwark ot liberty,
without which no people can be seen re injtuoir lives,
persons or properly, which cost the I.iiiJhh seveiitl
bloody wars and winch was finally wrung; Horn tin
crown by the sturdy Larons and people at the point
of the bayonet; which has ever been the boast 01
every' American patriot, and widen l pray *-. > '-1 I 1 ! 11 -',
never, under pretext of military necessity be ymlued
to encroachments by the people ot the isouto ; -ias
been trampled under foot by the Uovernmeiu at
Washington, which imprisons at it- pleasure whom
soever it will. , , , , ,
Tim freedom of the ballot box has also been de
stroyed, and the elections have been carried by the
overawing intiuencej.of military force. .
Under pretext of keeping men enough m the held
Io subdue the South, President Lincoln takes via
to keep enough to hold the North in subjection also
- to imprison or exile those who attempt to sustain
their ancient rights, liberties and usages, and to
drive from the ballat box those who are not subser
vient to his will, or enough, ol them to enable ins
party to carry the elections. 1 'an an intelligent
Northern Conservative man ern template the state
of things, without exclaiming wither are wo dntting?
What will wc gain by the subj ugarion of of the South
if in our attempt to do it we must lose our own lib
erties, and visit upon ourselves and our posterity the
chains of military despotism?
How long a people once free will submit to the
despotism of such a government the future must de
velopc. One thing is certain—while those who now
rule remain in power in Washington the people ot ..
ilie Sovereign States of America can never adiu.- 1 j
their difficulties. Lut war. bloodshed, devastation,
and increased indebtedness, must be the inevitable
results. There must be a change of administration,
and more moderate connects prevail in the North
ern States before we can ever have peace. While
subjugation, abolition, and confiscation, are the
terms offered by’ the Federal Government, the
Southern people will resist as long as the patriotic
voice of woman can stimulate a Guerrilla hand, or
a single a tined soldier to deeds of .daring in defence
of liberty and home.
(to BE CONCLUDED TO-MORROW.)
—————— ““-S
NOTICE.
X Desire to
Exchange Castings for Bacon.
(SUGAR MILLS, SALT KETTLES, Ac)
F. C. HUMPHREYS,
Major, Ac,
• Columbus Arsenal. Ga., March 11. M fit
FKKSIfI ARRI VAL
OF
UNDRETH’S GARDEN SEED!
At * BOND & HOWELL’S,
» Barnett, Chapman A Cos s Old Stand,
mar Iff lw
TELEGRAPHIC.
Ui‘l»iiiTs ol t lit* Press Association.
El )& C< f.vT ,,ai m 'A'''“'.MV-’ in the year
j V-- *?’ , UI:A l,Ki h in til.: OUsrkV. off:.-
ttie District l mna „i the Conte.t.-rate State* ,
the Northern Di.-q.iiet of Georgia.
Richmond, March 12.-—The Baltimore Gazette oi
the 29th h:r been received, Noihiiur detiuite hud
been hoard from Sherman. The report of his arrival
at Vicksburg is contradicted.
Kilpatrick's expedition ir conceded a failnre.
Another attack upon Newbern i.- deemed immi
nent; and active preparations are making to repel
it.
Gen Grant is > AV.tsliiogtoh. It is reported
Meade is tube tried by mart maytial, charge- h«\
ing been preferred by Sickles.
Serious collisions had taken place between the
troops and people in Southern lUinoi.-. The pai ti.-u
lars are not given. There were mobs of a simlar
character in Penns; Ivania, Ohio and other Slute-
A consul from the imperial regency of Mexico ha
reached AYushington.
The latest European news'unimportant.
Muir, formerly British consul at New Orleans, died
recently in England.
The Confederate steamer Georgia left Cln i bour
on tho 15th ult.
A flag of truce boat will arrive at City Point iv ith
four days later news, to-night or to-morrow.
Richmond, March 12.—The flag* of truce b ~u
brought 000 prisoners.
Northern dates to the loth, and European advices
to the 2Sth.
Recognition rumors are again current in financial
circles. It is now said France will act at once if a
negotiation reply comes from England.
An exciting debate took place iu the House of
Commons relative to the Laird rams. A motion
calling for the correspondence in the ease was rejec
ted —yeas 15.'!. nays 178.
The Danes have tost Duppel. The Congress of
Settlements will meet in London, but hostilities witj
not cease.
The release of the Tuscaloosa has been ordered by
the British Government.
Gold in New York on the 9th advanced tu loviff
and closed at l(>s 3-4.
Dai.tox, March 12. —The Louisville Journal ofthe
9lh, has been received. It states that Lieut. Gen.
Grant is in Washington, and Itosecranz and Britten
deu have been reinstated.
Prentice warn the Administration that Kentucky
will be invaded from South Western Virginia, and
says the repulse in Florida was a very serious affitii
Meade will be relieved from the army ol the t'o
tomac.
Houston, Feb. 11.—Military movement on otu
dont appear to progress with much spirit.—
The Yankees, have done nothing worth speaking ~
for a month past. They hold position at ludiauola
at Deekrow Point —the end of Matagorda Peninsula,
at Saluria, Kansas Pass, and at Brown villa. Their
entire force at three places is variously estimated ut
from 7,000 to 20,001). It is probable that the smaller
number is nearest the truth. If is doubtful if there
are 9,000 men, including Mexicans and negroes. The
have offered the oath to none exeeptiin the town of
Indianola, and there they found not more than a
dozen old men and hoys. It i.s said some took it, hut
the majority spumed the proposition. The Yankee
have been as conciliatory as "tlioir nature would
allow. No property has been destroyed except tlial
of one or two absent rebels, who will get the worth
of it out ofthe enemy before the war is over. Occa
sionally the Yankee steamers shell our] woods at tho
mouth ofthe fancy, and thence up]to Evalazo, but
no damage has been done so far save the killing of
a mule and the wounding ol three others. The beach
is thickly strewn ’.with . fragments of I heir shells for
miles. Lieut. Gen. Smith i.sat present here on a visit
of inspection to this part of his Department, both ho
and Maj. Gen. Magruder are spending the present
week in the camp of Brig. Gen. Slaughter, who has
been made chief of staff to Maj. Gen. Magruder.
From Mexico we have intelligence Jof an interest
ing and reliable character, after the h'ruute of No
vember Oth, in Malamoras, which .‘left Cbrtinas in
Power, with Serbia as nominal G.n ~ and lluez the
Governor, an exile in Brownsville, the latter pro
ceeded to Juarez in San Luis Potosi, and obtained a
force ot 700 men, with which he came back laud un
dertook to regain possession.
A truce was made and it was agreed that he should
resume the Runzet; that Cortinas should have full
pardon on condition of his joining the Juarez Got
eminent against the French. Cortinas subsequently
demanded a share of the [public money which hud
been obtained by his own forced loan from the mer
chants of Matamoras, which has been refused.
A fight ensued, lasting all night, and resulted in
scattering Ruez forces and driving him out of the
country. A t latest dates, January 17th, all was quiet
in*Mattamoras, Ruezdjeing in Brownsville. Vida
querri has forbidden Juarez to passthrough Montcr
sy, He gives out that he will oppose the French, but
itis understood by those who ought.to know that lie
will give in his adhesion on their arrival at Monte
rey and beat once appointed imperialist commander
ol‘the Northern line. Juarez is at-Satilla? the French
are at San Luis Potosi and marching on Victoria.—
Yidaquere has 4,ooomen under his command at Mon
terey. Yankee emmissaries are stirring up the Mex
icans against both French and Confederates. Vida
querewill, however, arrange all that when the
proper time comes.
In Northern Texas the wheat crops-supposed
to be destroyed by the severe cold of New Year’s, are
coming out better than it was expected.
Some depredations have been committed by Jay
hawkers, but they are being driven ont by detach
ments of cavalry, and rapidly brought either to pun
is run cut or pardon, as the case merits.
Quantrell and his men are wintering in No rthern
Texas; they will be heard from in due time.
Preparations for planting are general and in much
of the low country corn is already in the ground : but
little cotton will be planted,
For FiiattaSioociiee.
The steifmer Jackson, Fry Master, will leave|for
the above and all intermediate landings, Tuesday
morning at b o'clock.
AUCTION SALES.
Ily l-lliis, Lit iiigirton A t il'
HOPE AND TOBACCO!
n\ TUESDd Y, loth of March,‘at 11 o’clock, we
* ) will sell in front of our store,
JS Coils Hemp Rope,
112 Boxc Tobacco,
1 Full Case Grover A Baker Sewing Machine,
1 Case K dliekinick Tobacco,
2d Sides Sole Leather,
till paw Lullies' Shoes,
bids Rye A hi-key.
mar 11 $7
ISy Ellis, 1A vi tigs tan A: Cos.
ON TUESDAY, March loth, at lljo'clock we will
sell in front of our store,
One Very Fine New Grover A Laker’s Sewing
Machine.
One Patent Lever Gold Watch,
mar 14 $•» Oil
To VoiHrder;iU‘T;i\ Payer*.
1 am instructed to forward to the State f Collect or
all money received in payment of Tax .-u as to reach
him before the 2bt'n met. On and after Monday, the
21st inst., this office will be closed for a few da> s, and
consequently the present currency wilt not be re
ceived at par iu payment of Confederate Tax.
J. .4. L. LEE,
V. S, Tax Col. for List. No. li
ma ill lw
Laml for Salt*.
4 TRACT of EIGHT HUN DRED acre- land, h
A ing near Spline Hill, in Barbour county. A,
bama. Between aoivv eli-;tml,all
having been in cultivation only l "“ 1 C ,fr,
This section of country is among the be.t cotton pr
during lands in Alabama or Georgia. I aides wish
ing to invest in such property may call on me be
tween this and the 20th mst utter that it will be
withdrawn from market. Appl.yto ( , R iy
at Greenwood a. Gray’s Office,
mar 10 til 20th mar
FOR NAI.E.
MY PREMISES containing two full lots, on whjch
are two cottages, good barn and other houses,
with a brick curbed well of never failing water.
Possession can be riven in a few days. Call on •
W. P. Turner, iu ruy absence, who is ant bonze*
make the sale. A. U. Dt-MiH.
mar 3 2w'
