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1' H E COUNTRYMAN,
TFRjfWOLDi OA.i JANUARY 10, 1S65.
>Jn., ni —— - -
President Davis and the Press.
We protest now, as we have done here
tofore, against putting the liberty of the
press into the hands of Pr. Davis, as he
requests congress to do: for his request
virtually amounts to this. There is no
act of our president’s life which we regret
80 much, both for his own sake, and that
of the country, as we do his asking con
gress to give him power to abridge the
liberty of the press, contrary to the decla
ration of the constitution that it shall not
be abridged.
Our president would appear to aim his
blow, not at the press, but at class exemp
tions. It seems, though, that the constitu
tion favors one class exemption, and that
is in favor of the press. Why could not cur
president, a constitutional man, do as
much ?
Now here is the way the question pro
sent.s itself, in a nut-shell : The consti-
tut ion, the people, and an enlightened
world are in favor of a free press. By
the exemption from military service of
just a few editors and printers, the liberty
of the press is maintained. The thing is
all going on weH—nobody complaining.
But for the sake of gaining just a few
Score men, our president makes a propo
sition which virtually amounts to sup
pressing a free press. Granting that he
d >«s not wish to abridge Cfie liberty of
the press, does he not, now, in the matter
of his own reputation, give his enemies
an advantage over him, which a few score
soldiers cannot pay him for ?
But suppose he wishes really to let the
press go, if necessary, for the sake of ma
king soldiers of the tew persons engaged
in conducting it: what a piece of military
folly this is! A free press is the palla
dium of liberty. A'few score men can
successfully garrison the fort against the
world. But suppose an unskillful mili
tary leader orders a sally from the strong
hold, to meet the enemy upon the open
field : $ fight ensues, the small garrison is
killed or captured, and the palladium
falls.—This is Pr. Davis’s case, and the
whole <jf it.
Battle of Franklin.—AVe are
indebted to an officer, who left Hood’s
army on the 1st of December, for full
and intelligible accounts of tlie recent
eevero, and bloody fight at Franklin,
Tennessee. It appears that the ene
my, after being driven out of Colum
bia, evacuated Murfreesboro, and uni
ting all their forces, took up position
tbe high cliffs south of Franklin.
Gen. Hood pushed them closely, in
their retreat, and when they formed
their line of Kittle, on a series of hills
below Franklin, he flanked them out
of their position. They then fell
back to their fortifications, on the
edge of the town, where they formed
a strong line of battle. Immediate
dispositions Were made to assault their
works, which was done, in front,
ehiefly by Cheatham's corps, with
spirit and vigor, the various comman
ders leading their columns, the bands
playing, and the men huzzaing.
Stewart's corps was on the right,
and Cheatham, aided by some of Lee’s
corps, formed the centre and left.
The remainder of Lee’s corps had
been d ‘taclu d to create a div rsion.
Forrest’s cavalry defended our right
and left flanks.
The enemy opened a very severe,
and destructive fire upon our line, and
it was in this charge that tbe heavy
loss of general officers occurred. The
irresistible bravery of onr men car
ried everything before them. The
lines were occupied by our troops,
several of our generals, among them
the heroic Cleburne, being shot on
the breastworks. This attack was
made at 5 P. M. Despite the terrible
losses, tbe army entered the enemy’s
lines in the highest spirits, with bands
playing, and flags waving. It was
then descovered that the enemy had
a second li»«, where they had rallied.
There they were quickly assailed by
our men, and a severe and close fight
ensued, wheiein tin* combatants were
separated by a ditch, and breast
works.
It soon became a hand to hand
fight, which was continued into the
night, until the enemy gave way, and
retired to the third line. The fight
was again resumed on this line, and
kept up until about two o’clock in the
morning—when an escaped prisoner
informed our commanders that the
enemy had evacuated this line, and
retired to Nashville. Our army then
occupied this line—and early the next
day pushed on towards Nashville—
and on the 1st December, when our
informant left, the rear corps was at
Brent wood, eight miles from Nashville.
This would bring our front to the for
tifications of Nashville. Our inform
ant heard heavy firing in the direction
of Nashville, a^d many rumors that
the city had been taken. These, we
fear, are premature. The enemy, it
was understood, was commanded by
General Schofield, and he, and Gen
eral Wagner were reported to be
among the killed.
The loss of the enemy could not
| be ascertained, as they had remov* d
most of tbe dead. Our loss was
heavy, between two and four thou
sand. The distressing mortality
among our generals is confirmed.
There were five killed: Cleburne,
Strahl, Gran bury, Gist, ami John 0.
Carter. There were five generals
wounded : Quarles not mortally, as
first reported, Brown slightly, John
son, and the names of the other two
not remembered by our informant.
Gen. Gordon was captured. A large
amount of stores was captured, es
pecially at Columbia. Recruits are
joining Hood’s army, in numbers more
than sufficient to supply all the loss,
and the army is in high spirits.
Gen. Pillow arrived at his ^ lanta-
tion in tune to capture large stores.—
Chattanooga Rebel.
From Texas.—We had the plea
sure of a visit, yesterday evening,'from
Dr. M. 0. McGregor, of Austin coun
ty, Texas, who kindly furnished us
with copies of Texas papers up to the
25th uk.
The doctor gives us the most favor
able accounts from the ‘Lone Star”
state. He says the planters, through
out the state, have made most abun- (
dant crops of everything in the sub
sistence line—in truth, the present
corn crop of the state of Texas is
considered most abundant; sufficient
to sustain the population of the state
for the next three years.
Everything is cheap throughout
Texas. Corn 4 to 6 bits per bushel,
wheat $1, salt 4 cents per pound, and
everything else in proportion. He
certainly brings us cheering news from
that portion of the trans-Mississippi.—-
Mississ ippin n.
The Southern Residents.—“Dix
is busily persecuting ‘the southern,
residents’ of the city of New York..
They are called up, registered, rigid
ly examined, bullied, sworn, and
‘spotted,’ to he dogged with spies,.
The Herald says :
It is believed that there are not less
than 25,000 southern people resident
in this city, the great bulk of whom
are peaceable persons, not likely to
trouble themselves with plots, or con
spiracies. Of these, a large propor
tion are females, the wives, daughters,
and sisters of soiuhern men resident
here, and also of many who still re
main in the south, from choice, or ne
cessity 7 . It is said, even, that some of
these females are the wives, or near-
relatives of officers in the rebel army.” -
Both anger and love sometimes
spring from a desire to gratify self.