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THE COUNTRYMAN.
Tl'RKWOLI), (hi., JUNE 7, 18C4.
The Result. *
There is a large party at the North,
and, it must be confessed, n few men
at South, who still cherish the hope
that the “union” as it once existed
may yet be restored. How wofully
do they deceive themselves 1 Why
our enemies do not evon pretend that
such is their wish. The Democrats at
the North who desire such a consum
mation, although very respectable in
point of numbers, are powerless to ef
fect any thing, and the radical war
party—or parties—express their inten
tion to fight the “rebels,” as they term
the people of sovereign, independent
Southern states, till all resistance is
quelled, and the people of the Con
federacy are thoroughly cowed and
subjugated. So far from holding out
any hopes for a restoration of the “un
ion as it was, ” they emphatically de
clare that they will none of it—that
they will guarantee us nothing. They
go farther, and say that our property
shall be confiscated, and if our lives he
spared, it will he a matter of grace.
Amidst the mass of evidence to this
point, rend Lineolin’s proclamations,
and the dotter lately written by the
yanhee general, Sherman, to his ad
jutant general, at Huntsville.
All this goes to prove to us, conclu
sively, that Almighty God 1ms de
creed that the North and South shall
be two separate nations, and that Me
is using the yankees themselves, as
instruments to cartfy out His designs.
The Southern people themselves will
not he trusted by Providence in this
matter. Stubborn as seems their re
sistance now, relentless and uncom
promising as appears their hatred to
ward the foe, there is no telling what
might he the seductive influence exer
ted upon thorn by a pledge on the
part of all the North that the provis
ions of the old Constitution should he
faithfully carried out, and that the
South should have all her rights un
der that sacred instrument When
people should contrast present scenes
of carnage and desolation with the
pleasant and peaceful and prosperous
retrospect "of *heir state in th^ep.rlusr
days of the Republic and the Consti
tution, it would he natural.it would
be human, to long and to hesitate. If
our enemies were wise—at. least if
they had been so at an early period—
who can tell what would have been the
result 1 We firmly believe that if ib#
Southern people, ns a mass, could be
thoroughly persuaded that their ene-
mies would, in good faith, go back
to our old form of government, allow
ing us all the rights we first enjoyed,
they would bo for uniting again,
Even John 0. Calhoun himself never
claimed moro than this, and it was
simply because we failed to got this
that wo seceded.
But right there is the trouble. In
the first place, the Northern people
distinctly avow their determination
not to admit ue to a union like the old
one, or to any other union, in which
we may enjoy equal rights. It seems
to be the object of the ruling element
in the United States to render tho
gulf between them and us broad and
deep, and impassable. Our wishes
have nothing to do with the matter
at all. The Southern people desire
no union with the yankees, but if they
did, it would be in vain, for the yan
kees propose no terms that any people
with one spark of honor or selfrespect
would accept. Surely the hand of tho
Lord is in all this, and the mortals who
are striving to unite"the two peoples
again under one government are, un
wittingly, contending against God.
Even, however, if the yankees
would promiso all that the Southern
people demand, it would avail no,th*
ing, for it was because past experience
demonstrated- that the party which
had at length come into power was
regardless of contracts and pledges,
that separation took place These
ineu declared for a higher law than
that of the Bible and the Constitution.
They wove compelled to admit that,
taking the word of God and the in
strument adopted by our fore-fathers
for our government as correct and true,
the South was light in the quarrel
then going on, and so they affirmed
that the principles of justice were
to be found elswhcre, and therefore
they repudiated holy scripture- and
the solemn obligations of tho Con
slitution. What could bind such peo
pie? If ever men were “possessed’'
with a disposition, a determination, to
convince the world that they could not
he trusted, and that they would keep
no pledge that it did not suit them to
keep, the abolitionists are these men;
and whenever the present war shall
cease, and the civilized world shall be
able to review the history of these
times without passion or prejudice,—
without fear, favor or self interest—it
will say that the South was utterly
powerless to avert the evils that have
fallen upon this laud. These evils,
hoAvever, constitute a part of God’s
“mysterious way,” and in His own
good time all will work out in accor
dance with His will. Wo would not
appear presumptuous, hut reiterate the
expression of our belief that it ip His
will that tho South shall never again
ho united to the North. *
Rebel Iron-Claps.—From the
sources of information alluded to in a
recent lettei, I have derived the fob-*
lowing facts in relation to the naval
plans of tho Confederates :
The operations of tho Confederates
in the campaigns of 1864 will not be
confined to the manoeuvres of land
■forces. If their plans are carried out,
naval operations, on a large scale, will
form a prominent part of the exertions
which they will put forth. Without
including their foreign built vessels,
of which 1 will speak presently, and
excluding also such vessels as the
Georgia, which are used merely as
stationary batteries, they have built
themselves, mostly from their own
materials, and have now at their com
mand, a fleet of no less than 31 iron
clad vessels. 'More than 20 of the
largest and most powerful of these
vessels, ns has been demonstrated by
actual experiment, are fully capable
oi coastwise and river navigation, and
are therefore capable of taking a part
in offensive naval wyirfaro.
There are four of those iron clad
vessels at Shreveport. They will, no
doubt, take a part in the engagement
with the Federal,forces concerned in
the present Red River Expedition, if
tho recent repulse of tho latter Iras
not been so severe ns to cause an"
abandonment ol the expedition. In
the East, there are two iron-clad ves
sels at Kinston, and one near Golds