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138
THE 0 0 U N T R Y M A N.
Concluded from page 135.
holders of the notes. As the armies
are to be supported, however, at a cost of
hundreds of millions of dollars per annum,
the announcement leaves no doubt that it
is to'be done, in a great measure, by seiz
ing property, and paying for it in certifi
cates, or bonds, which will not pass as
currency, or in payment of taxes. This
would be little better than legalized rob
bery, and if practised long, by any gov
ernment, will drive the people to rev
olution," as the only means left, of throw
ing off intolerable burdens.
By its effort to grasp absolute power,
the so-called confederate administration
has greatlv weakened its armies: and re
sults have shown its utter inability, with
all the power placed in its hands, to re
cruit, and fill them up to a number suffi
cient to meet the emergency.
So fatal have been the results of their
wretched conscription policy, which, how
ever well-adapted to control European
serfs, or those raised to be slaves of power,
is. sp repugnant to the feelings, and spir
it of a once free people, that it has driven
their men, in despair, to delinquency, and
desertion, till their president has informed
the country, in his Macon speech, as re
ported, that two»third8 of ■ those who
compose their armies, are absent, most ot
them without leave. If this be true, it
shows a lamentable want of patriotism,
and courage, on the part of the rebels, or
an unwise, and injudicious policy, on the
part of their administration, which imper
ils the verv existence of their so-called
confederacy.
To carry out the new policy of allowing
the president to appoint the officers, it be
came necessary to refuse longer to receive
troops, in organized bodies, with tjieir of
ficers, but each must be conscribed, and
sent into service, un er such officers as the
president might appoint. This separated
kindred, and friends, and neighbors, while
in service. It destroyed the individuality,
and patriotic ardor of their people, each of
whom, prior to that time, felt that, as a
freeman, he was part of the government,
and that it was h*s war. But so soon as
this policy was adopted, he felt that it was
the government’s war, and he was no long
er a freeman, but the slave of absolute
power. This was not the freedom he set
out to fight for, and thousands of men,
rather than submit to it, and remain in
service, feeling that they wore the collar
of power upon their peeks, have left the
army without leave. Hence their presi
dent’s complaint, the catise of which has
been the result of his own policy. He has
mistaken the genius and spirit of his peo
ple, and the material of which bis armies
are composed. The high-toned, spirited
southern man will revolt, when you at
tempt to reduce him to an automaton of
power.
Prior fo the passage of this fatal act,
men taxed their ingenuity to devise plans
to induce the president to receive them in
to service, !*o soon, however, as the act
was passed, .vyhich denied them the right,
in ’afire, tp form their organizations, and
£Ut*r Uie seryic# #§ williug freemen, with
their neighbors, and friends, and gave the
president the power to seize them, and
appoint their officers, the whole feeling
was changed, and men have resorted, to
every imaginable shift, to keep out of the
service.
The rebel president has been as unfor
tunate in his generalship, planning mili
tary campaigns, as be has in his policy of
recruiting his armies. All remember his
first appearance on the field, as comman
der-in chief, at the close of the battle of
1st Manassas, when (if reports are reliable)
lie prevented bis generals from taking
advantage of the complete demoralization
of the federal army, to march upon
Washington City. He visited the army
in middle Tennessee, and divided it,
sending part of it t> Mississippi, too late
to accomplish auy good result there, and
left General Bragg so weak, that he was
forced to evacuate Tennessee, which,
together with Vicksburg, fell into our
bands. He again appeared upon the
field at Missionary Ridge, and divided the
army, when a superior force was being
massed in its front. General Long-
st'eet’s corps was sent into east
Tennessee. General Grant waited till
lie was out of reach, when he fell
upon the remnant of Bragg’s army, and
drove it back into Georgia, opening the
way for the advance into that, Territory,
ami then sent troops and drove Longstreet
out of east Tennessee, and made himself
master of that invaluable stronghold of
the rebels.
The rebel president’s last appearance
upon the field, was with General Hood’s
army, in Georgia, which was followed by
the movement, of that army into Tennessee,
The country knows the result, lleod has
beeu driven out of Tennessee, with great
calamity; and Georgia, which was left
completely uncovered, has been destroyed
by Sherman, at liis ieisure.
Instead of rapid concentration of his
armies at vital points, to strike his enemy
stunning blows, his policy has been to
divide and scatter his forces, in the face of
superior numbers, and receive blows which
have well nigh cost them their existence
as a so-called confederacy.
liis people have endured his misrule
with remarkable forbearance, and patriot
ism. But the time has come when they
are obliged to deal with stern realities, and
to look fttets full in the face. They can
no longer profit by hugging delusions to
their .bosoms. Their government is now a
military despotism, whenever the privil
ege of the writ of habeas corpus is sus
pended—an object to which their presi
dent’s earnest efforts are constantly direc
ted. The tendency to anarchy is rapid,
and fearful.
Thus, gentlemen ef the senate, and house of
representatives, I have presented you with a
most encouraging view of the operation of
causes, at the south, which would speedily
break up the rebel government, even without
the intervention of our arms. It now devolves
upon us to say whai shall be our policy to
wards the revolted- provinces. That policy
should be of the most stringent character.
When,I tell you that in denouncing the mili
tary despotism of Jeff Davis as I have, L em
ploy almost the identical words of Gov. Brown
in his private conversatiens, as I know them.
j to have occurred, whatever may be liis public
; p ofession?, T give you the very best ground
for taking a eheferfu! view of the whole matter,
and for expecting a speedy recurrence of the
time when ihe stars and stripes shall wava
again aver what, were once stales, but what are
how subjugated provinces, ft is for you to
adopt such legislation, with regard to these
provinces, as your wisdom shall dictate, keep
ing in view, always, the idea of local northern
sovereignty, and state rights. It would be a
degradation to the honor of Massachusetts, to
associate, on terms of equality, with states,
territories, or provinces, whose pretended gov
ernment has been guilty of the long catalogue
of crimes which I have enumerated.
I hope I may be pardoned lor laying Before"
you facts, geniletnen, which have cwrne within
my knowledge, since the passage of our troops
through Georgia. But first let me tell you the'
most effectual wa-y, under heaven, to Break
down the rebel cause : ft is to persuade the reb
els that their so-called president is a tyrant,
and imbecile—that he seeks to become dictator
—that he arms at universal power, and 1 the de
struction of hi» people’s liberties—that his
whole course, civil and mililary, has been a
seri-s of bltraders, from beginningto end—that
the war is hia war, not that of tire people —that
he has wasted the people’s resources—t-hat h-»
government is a military despotism—that hi?
conscription is unnecessary, and cruel—that,
under the pretense of necessary impressipept,
he shamefully robs the people of their proper
ty, and that his cause is hopeless:—Persuade
ihe rebels of all these things, and their cause
-falls lo iheground, with all its crushing weigh6.
Had J power to send New England emissaries--
could 1 scatter abolition orators all over the-
south —could I send Connecticut' peddlers, as-
missionaries, from one end of the so-called con
federacy to the other, in order to poison the
minds of the southern people against their so-
called authorities, I. would, if in my power,,
call Sher man home, today f disband every man
in Grant’s armyf and not a federal, nauskeS
should be found south of the Potomac; Fire»-
arms, and the sword, but serve to prolong the
war r hut persuade the southern people that
Davis is a tyrant, and a dictator, antfdown goes-
the rebellion, like an avalanche to the moun
tain gorge. Had I power, as I said before, !
would send my missionaries to the southern
ground. But, as you are aware, this is out of
our power. Yet the gratifying fact which I
have to lay before you is this—that, at the
south, we have faithful allies who are doing the
work of poisoning the minds of the southern
people against the rebel chief, faithfully and?
well. We haive orators there, who-" ring it
through the land that Davis is a tyrant: we hare
newspapers there, that pronounce his adminis-
tration an entire failure: and, more than all,
we have governors there, who write long mes
sages, directed to their legislatures, full of.
nothing but abuse for everything that is-“’con
federate,” ancT proposing state conventions,
whose ultimate ^whatever may he their ostensi
ble) object is, to dissever their states froth the;
so-called confederacy, and bring them again*
to the stars and stripes. Gntlemen, when i‘
tell you I know these things to-be so, from un
questioned sources of information, within my
possession ; when 1 tell yen that f know that
the governor of Georgia, at least, has said,
things as bitter against the so-called confeder
acy as any I have uttered in this effort to pre
sent you a true picture of the Davis despotism,
then you must admit that you have heard no
thing so encouraging, since the beginning of
this war. —And, with these closing remarks, I
submit the subject to you, knowing they wilf
send a thrill of joy through the heart of every
man in Massachusetts.—Our allies, at the south,
will certainly do our work for us, even should,
our armies fail.
“ When we are alone, we have our
thoughts to watch : in the family, our
temper: in company, our tongues.”
“Perfect happiness is like the statue
Isis, whose veil ito.mortal ever raised..”'