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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'