Newspaper Page Text
436
THE COUNTRYMAN.
... i ,„i i. ii i. .
TURNWOLD, GA„ AUGUST 16, 1864.
“Riled.”
Our good friends of the Atlanta Intelli
gencer—(success to them, wherever they
go)—have allowed themselves to become
a little “riled” at some anidmadversions of
the Appeal, and of the Rebel, about At
lantans’ forsaking their hearthstones,
without a fight. We have no disposition
to excite our cotemporary’s ire any far
ther, but just the contrary. We propose
to put it in a good humor, by being good
humored ourself. Of course it is not to
blame for evacuating Atlanta, under the
circumstances; at least we hope it is not
to be; for we would have done like it—
that is, we mean, in its becoming a refu
gee. We do not mean to say we would
do like it, in its intimation of a willing
ness to get up a private fight with the
Rebel, just to show it will fight. We pre
sume this came from the “fighting editor”
of the concern, and not from the clerical,
or municipal department, because a Mar
shall is always expected to command the
peace, rather than get up a tight.
In that part of our friends’ issue of 26th
July,which is devoted to “the position” in
txeorgia, there are one or two things which
present such a good opportunity for a lit
tle joke, or two, that we cannot suffer
them to pass, without “pitching in:” not
with any malicious, or bellicose intent,
however, we wish it distinctly understood,
in the beginning; for if it is to be a “free
fight,” or any fight at all, we prefer to be
“counted out,” at first, to waiting to the
last, after serious consequences, to be
“counted out.”
We preface our further remarks, with
the foregoing, to show how intent we are
upon peace, tho’ we must have our joke.
Our cotemporary, in its article, “The
' Position in Georgia,” in the issue of 26th
ult,says, “The enemy continues to per
petrate his practical jokes in the neighbor
hood of Atlanta.” It seems that the en
emy’s jokes became so practical, that our
cotemporary could not stand them. And
though it conld not, by way of retaliation,
perpetrate a joke just as practical as the
enemy’s, it shows its capacity to tuin
loose a bull; for it says, “Many of the
buildings (in Atlanta) have been torn and
defaced by the missiles, but they will on*
ly remain as honorable scars, to exhibit,
to the future, the gratifying fact, that At
lanta was defended, even if it was destroy
ed, in the effort:” that is Atlanta will re-,
main with scars, even if Atlanta is des
troyed I
Further on, our cotemporary says, “ We
retain the advantage of position at every
point”—(Italics The Countryman’s)—“and
the indications are that we will hold At
lanta and so it may be : but it is evi*
dent that Atlanta will not hold “we.” The
truth of the other proposition, that “ ‘we’
retain the advantage of position'’ is quite
as evident: for we would certainly con
sider the Intelligencer’s “position” in
Macon, more advantageous than that of
Sherman before Atlanta.
There now, the friend is through with
his jokes, and we trust they will not be
borne with the same disrelish as is exhib
ited by our cotempoi’aty for the “practi
cal jokes of the enemy : ’’ for We have la
bored to have it understood, from the be~
glning, that we .onsider the Intelligencer
as true as Steele to the dictates of patriot
ism, ever ready to Marshall its forces for
fight, upon a proper occasion j ar.d we do
not believe there is a Whiteaker of the
grey hills about Atlanta, that is not will
ing to send forth its lieges to the field, if
it should appear they .can better serve the
country there, than in their present posi
tions. Nor do we believe that the Abrams
of out cotemporary lack the faith which
would make them sacrifice even Isaac to
the cause, if neccessary. On the contra
ry, we be'ieve that, like Artemas Ward,
they are willing to sacrifice every able-
bodied relation they have, to the good of
the cause.
What is Thought in the North of
Peace Negotiations.—The ‘peacemakers’
gather at Niagara Falls—such rebel cele
brities as Jake Thompson, of Mississippi
(the notorious Secretary of the Interior,
under Mr. Buchanan) ; 0. C. Olay, of Al
abama (late United States Senator) ; J. P.
Holcombe (late member of the rebel Con
gress from Virginia) ; and that crazy man
with the world upon his shoulders, Color
ado Jewett—and straightway proceed to
business. The immediate business of San
ders is a game of bluff with Old Abe.
But how is Old Abe to be reached ? San
ders knows his man, and commences ope
rations by pulling wool over the eyes of
his credulous friend, Massa Greeley. Gree-
ley, sure that he has found a mare’s nest,
informs the administration of his wonder
ful discovery. Old Abe, anxious to con
ciliate Greeley, appoints him Peace Com
missioner to Niagara Falls, and sends Ma
jor Hay (late Peace Commissioner to Flor
ida). to help him in his diplomacy. San
ders & Company make their overtures for
peace, and reunion : Greeley reports pro
gress: Old Abe, calling in the aid of Mr.
Seward, rejects them : the Peace Confer
ence collapses, Greeley retires in disgust,
and Sanders returns to his main business
of manipulating the Chicago Convention.
But this is not all. While these pro :
ceedings arc going on at Niagara, President
Lincoln, determined to probe these peace
movements to the bottom, details the
Reverend Colonel Jacques, a fighting par
son from Illinois, of the Parson Brownlow
school, and Mr. Edmund Kirk, author of
the well known abolition romance of ‘A-
mong the Pines,’ and a writer for the
Tribune, on a co-operative peace mission to
Richmond. Parson Jacques is received by
Jeff. Davis Wee a prince, and fed We an
alderman, but returns to Washington
with substantially the same peace propo
sitions as those emanating from Sanders.
This game of bluff is ended, and it re
mains for the . Chicago Convention, on the
peace platform of Sanders & Co., perhaps,
to determine, before the people, the winner
of the rubber.
We are drawn to these conclusions,
from these extraordinary peace proceed
ings, under the management of President
Linc»ln. He has been playing not only
to conciliate, but to make a fool of Gree
ley, and to head off George Sanders, and
the pence democracy at Chicago, by com^
pelling them to expose their hands prfcma -'
purely* He has contrived, too, through
Parson Jacques, and Master Kirk,*ft? get
an inside view of Richmond, and of the.
present temper of Davis, and his associate
rebel rulers, in regard to the important
question of securing Southern independ
ence, or ‘dying in the last ditch A Ahq
here we reach the only really important
developement resulting from these peace
negotiations. It is this: that the rebel
leaders are very near their last ditch, and
that they would rather not die in it, if they
could get back into the old Union, on their
own terms. They have always declared,
heretofore that they would not come back
on any terms.' It is evident, then, that
they begin to consider their cause a hope
less one : and, with anything like a dis
play of common sense by the administia-
tion, in aid of those impressive negotia
tors, Grant and Sherman, there will be
no necessity for any more of these con
temptible peace missions, to George San
ders, or Jeff. Davis. But let Mr. Lincoln
fail in a decisive prosecution of the war,
meantime, and, considering our financial
difficulties, high prices of living, high
taxes, &c., still going on from bad to worse,
we think it not at all improbable that
Sanders, with the Chicago Convention on
his peace platform, will be apt to give the
administration infinitely more trouble
than Jeff. Davis, beginning with the na«
tional November election.—Hew York
Herald.
“Alexander Calame, of Geneva, Swit
zerland, one of the greatest landscape ar
tists of Europe, is dead. He was chiefly
known in this country by the lithographic
copies of his remarkable ‘Studies in the
Alps.’ There are only a few of his paint
ings in the United States. One of these,
‘The Ruins of Psestum,’ only twenty by
sixteen inches, cost $1,500. Calame a-
massed a fortune by his art, and built him
a fine city residence in Geneva, and a pret
ty country house, near the spot on the
shores of Lake Leman, where Byron and
Shelley spent so many days in the first
quarter of this century. He was born at
Vevay, 1815, and died at Geneva, in
March, 1864, and his death is universally
lamented in the art circles of Europe.”
• *
Great Beaver Hunt.—“The Clarion
says a beaver hunt took place on the
plantation of Ex-Governor Brown, in Co
piah county, a few days since, which ex
ceeds anything we have read of, in beaver
hunting.
On a small stream running through the
plantation, the beavers had been at work,
for some time, building dams. A party of
gentlemen, of the neighborhood, with dogs,
went out to try their luck, and, in a very
short time, they succeeded in capturing
and killing nineteen beavers. The skins,
at this time, are very scarce, and of great
value.”
When, during war, a man’s property
is destroyed, he becomes a soldier.