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HE COUNTRY M A
An Apology.
We must apologize to our readers for the
length of the case of The State vs. Joseph Ash-
field, Jr., reported in this journal. This num
ber, and another, will complete it.
When Thackeray was publishing The Vir
ginians, In Harper, it extended through so
many numbers, that some one asked “who
would ‘ run ’ the Virginians after Thackeray’s
death v” We have been afraid some one would
ask the question, who would “run” Joseph
Ashfield, Jr., after Joe Turner was dead y
“Heroes and Martyrs of Georgia.”
We have received, from the author, James
M. Folsom, of Gordon, Ga., the first volume
of his work bearing the above title, for which
we return him our thanks. The object of his
work is to put upon enduring record the mar
tial deeds of Georgia’s’brave soldiers.
Mr. Folsom deserves.credit for the laudable
effort he is making, and his book deserves suc-
eass.
We shall allude to but one fault of the book
before us, which is no fault of the author, but
which is a necessary concomitant of a work of
tbe class of that under consideration. The
compiler of all such books is necessarily com
pelled to depend, a great deal, upon written, or
verbal statements of men who frequently take
more pleasure in narrating their own brave
deeds, than in doing justice to others.
The man who writes his own biography, and
that of his favorites, will often cause himself,
and friends, to shine upon hisiory’s page, while
others equally brave, but not having so much
brass, are doomed to obscurity.
If there is any error of the kind in the vol
ume before us—and we do not say there is—we
believe it is no fault of the author, lie bitter
ly laments the meagerness of his so irees of in
formation.. He says, “ It was my hope, when I
commenced my labors, that the larger portion of
my work would be filled with incidents of per
sonal heroism; and it is a bitter disappoint
ment to me (owing to the difficulty of obtaining
names, and incidents) to present this work to
the public without more of the. names of those
to whom it is dedicated, filling its pages.”
Another difficulty in getting full and accur
ate information, in compiling biographical and
historical works, is the fact that vain and pre
judiced informants, and writers, frequently not
only give themselves more prominent portraits
than they are entitled to, but they refuse utter
ly to allow those to whom they are enemies, to
have any place at all in the picture gallery. to
which they are contributors. A noted instance
of this kind occurred in the case of Benton,
who, in his “Thirty Years in the U. S. Senate,”
would not allow the name of Foote to occur at
ail, in his ponderous volume.
Now, we are not criticising Mr. Folsom’s
book, in what we say here, for we do not know
that anything to which our remarks are appli
cable, occurs in his first volutng. But he wilj
readily admit the force^of opr romarks in the
abstract: and as he is endeavoring to be a
faithiul historian, he wjll admit, with us, the
importance of avoiding tumid, and exagger
ating autobiographers on one hand, and a
failure to find modest merit on the other—
guarding against all prejudices, and jealousies
among hia contributors, and informants.
Brown and Sherman.
Gov. Brown opens bis message with a com
pliment to Sherman, as lollows—
‘Since your adjournment, in November, the
army of invasion, led by a bold and skillful
general, have passed through our state, laid
waste our fields, burned our dwelling-houses,
destroyed county records, applied the torch to
gin-houses, cotton, and other property, occu
pied, and desecrated the capital, and now hold
the city of Savannah, which gives them a wa
ter base from which they may, in future, oper
ate upon the interior of the state.’
After making this statement, what would we
hear from the mouth of a true patriot? We
would bear an open, bold, determined denunci
ation of the yankee pirate and robber, and the
speaker would endeavor to arouse the slumber
ing patriotism of bis oppressed countrymen.
Like Demosthenes, among the Athenians, he
would utter, in burning words, the war-cry
that would cause to ring from the lips of his
countrymen, ‘ Lead us against Philip 1’
But does Gov. Brown endeavor to arouse his
countrymen against Sherman ? Not one word
does he say against this ‘ bold, and skillful gen
eral.’ His whole object, throughout his mes
sage, is to lead his countrymen against their
president. We have no idea that Gov. Brown
entertains, in his bosom, against Sherman or
Lincoln, one-tenth part of the rancor and ha
tred he bears for Pr. Davis—simply because
Davis is the biggest. This is the sum and sub
stance of Brown’s opposition to the adminis
tration, and we are compelled to believe, to
day, that Brown would prefer seeing the con
federacy sink with Pr. Davis, to seeing it rise
under the auspices of one whom he hates, as
much as he hates our national executive.
State of Georgia, March 8th, 1865,
To the Editor of the Bahama Herald :
I see going the rounds of the southern papers
— (I will not call them “ confederate ” papers
for 1 have a mortal aversion to everything “con
federate”)—I see going the rounds of the south
ern papers, an article copied from your journal,
in which you speak admiringly of the armies
and campaigns of the so-called confederates*
Never was mortal more mistaken, my dear sir,
than you are. The civil and military affairs of
this “confederacy ’’ have been the worst-man
aged afiairs of which history furnishes any
record.
Qne of the most unaccountable things, in the
world, to me, is the fact that foreigners be-
praise Jeff Davis so much. Jeff Davis ! Pooh
Pooh ! Sir!—Jeff Davis a great man ! Sir,
you astonish me.
You seem to be surprised at the fact that the
nations of the earth have not recognised our in
dependence, and attribute it to one of three
causes—“ fear, cupidity, or the gradual dying
out, in the human breast, of sympathy, and
chivalry.” Here, again, sir, you are wrong.
It is Davis’s fault we have not been recognized*
Had 1 been president, we would have taken our
place among the nations, long ago.
You speak of some great battles that have
been fought by Lee, Johnston, Beauregard, Ac.
No great shakes., sir I No great shakes I Had
I been general-in-chief, you would have seen
what could be done, ip the way of fighting
battles.
You have something to say about the “ im
mortal name of Jefferson Davis.” That sticks
in my gizzard, decidedly. Jeff Davis immor
tal, and not one'word’ about the: n '
Now, sir, I can’t stand it any longer. J in
tend to let out. Jeff Davis is a knave, and an
imbecile—a tyrant, and a monster: he aims at
universal power: his government is a military
despotism: he has trampled the constitution
under foot; he has wasted our resources i h«
has spoiled every military campaign, aver un»
dertaken in the “ confederacy this is his war,
and not the people’s : he is fast running our
country into anarchy : in a word, sir, Jeff Da-*
vis is an unmitigated scamp. Please correct
the mistaken impression entertained of him by
yourself, and other foreigners, give him leas
credit, and me more, and vert much oblige
Yours, &c.,
Josephus Fuscus,
King of the Cherokee*,
Gen. Brown on Gen. Hood’s Expedition
to Tennessee.
Gen. Bfown is quite savage with regard to
Gen. Hood’s failure, and is smart enough, now,
to point out the causes of his failure. What
remarkable military talent Joe Brown has got.
Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Hannibal
were not a circumstance to him. But one other
man in America is any where near equal to
Gen. Brown, in point of military capacity.
Only Gen. Lee can come any where near doing
hs he does. We have seen that the generalissi
mo ol our forces claims for himself the power to
see, after a failure, the cause of that failure.
But we doubt it. This is being too nearly equal
to Brawn. God does not give to one age, nor
to one country, two such men as Joe Brown.
Gen. Lee claims too much for himself.
The Exempts.—“Mr. Miles, chairman of the
house military committee, has reported the total
number of exempts, under the different clauses 4
of the present law, on this side of the Missis*
sippi river, as follows :
Physical disability, . . . 61,167
State officers, exempted by governors, 18,785
Ministers, 3,086
Insane asylum managers, and nurses, 185
Editors, and employes of newspapers, 635
Apothecaries, 390
Physicians 3,718
Teachers, and professors, ... . ... . 1,527
Under the fifteen negro clause, . . . , . 5,645
Quakers, Dunkards, etc., 89|
M31I contractors, . . .... . , , , . 472
Railroad employes, i . 4,989
The number of exempts is much smaller than
has been usually supposed. Particularly is this
the case as to state officers, for many, hara
claimed, heretofore, that the states of Georgia,
and North Carolina, alone, had each more than
the total number of state officers.
The press, too, exhibits an insignificant num
ber. There are about fifty-five dailies now
published east of the Mississippi, and fully that
number of weeklies, and monthlies, which al
lows only about six men, capable of service, to
each office. This showing should serve to stop
the mouths of those who are clamoring about
the press, to any extent, furnishing bomlj*
proofs.’’
‘ 4 Ma, if you will give me an apple, I
will be good.’
1 No, my child, you must not be good fog
pay.' _
1 Must I be good for nothing, ma ’