196 



CONFEDEKATE STATES. 



Southern manhood revolts at the bare idea of the 

 spectacle presented. Can you think of it unmoved ? 

 Can property can life itself be so dear to you as 

 to allow you to weigh them for one moment against 

 degradation so abject against misery so profound? 

 We do not and cannot believe it. If the proud 

 memories and traditions of our first great Revolution 

 do not nerve you to eternal resistance to such a 

 consummation nor the examples of our forefathers, 

 who wrestled for the independence they bequeathed 

 us during long years of suffering greater than 

 we have endured let not the precious blood that 

 has been already shed, by our bravest and best in 

 the present struggle, cry out to us from our yet 

 reeking soil in vain ! Fruitlessly, indeed, have 

 these sons and brothers martyrs of liberty bled 

 and died if we falter now in the path which they 

 Lave illumined before us. 



In the Revolution of '76 our armies and our people 

 suffered far more than we have done. Our cities 

 then were almost all in the hands of the British, and 

 we were entirely cut off from all supplies from 

 abroad, while our facilities for producing them, 

 were infinitely less than they now are. Greene tells 

 us that the battle of Eutaw was won by men who 

 had scarcely shoes to their feet, or shirts to their 

 backs. They protected their shoulders from being 

 galled by the bands of their cross belts, by bunches 

 of moss and tufts of grass. A detachment, marching 

 to Greene's assistance, passed through a region so 

 swept by both armies, that they were compelled to 

 subsist on green peaches as their only diet. There 

 was scarcely any salt for fifteen months, and when 

 obtained it had. to be used sparingly, mixed with 

 hickory ashes. We need but allude to the terrible 

 winter which Washington passed at Valley Forge 

 with an army unpaid, half starved, and half naked, 

 and shoeless, to convince us that much as our brave 

 soldiers are now enduring, their forefathers, for a 

 like cause, endured far more. 



Washington did not then despair. Lee does not 

 now despair of the final triumph of a righteous 

 cause. Why should we be doubtful, much less de- 

 spondent, of our ultimate success? 



The extent of our territory, the food-producing 

 capacity of our soil, the amount and character of 

 our population, are elements of strength which, 

 carefully husbanded and wisely employed, are 

 amply sufficient to insure our final triumph. The 

 passage of hostile armies through our country, 

 though productive of cruel suffering to our people, 

 and great pecuniary loss, gives the enemy no per- 

 manent advantage or foothold. To subjugate a 

 country, its civil government must be suppressed 

 by a continuing military force, or supplanted by 

 another to which the inhabitants yield a voluntary 

 or forced obedience. The passage of hostile armies 

 through our territory cannot produce this result. 

 Permanent garrisons would have to be stationed at 

 a sufficient number of points to strangle all civil 

 government before it could be pretended, even by 

 the United States Government itself, that its 

 authority was extended over these States. How 

 many garrisons would it require ? How many 

 hundred thousand soldiers would suffice to suppress 

 the civil government of all the States of the Cont'ed- 

 eracy, and to establish over them, even in name 

 and form, the authority of the United States? In a 

 geographical point of view, therefore, it may be 

 asserted that the conquest of these Confederates, 

 States is impracticable. 



If we consider the food-producing capacity of our 

 soil, we need feel no apprehension as to our ability 

 to feed the people and any army we may put into 

 the field. It is needless to go into details or adduce 

 statistics in proof of this. It is obvious*to every 

 well-informed mind. Although the occupation by 

 the enemy, and his ruthless policy of destroying the 

 harvests, granaries, and agricultural implements of 

 our people wherever he moves, had undoubtedly 



diminished the amount of our cereals, still, in vieW 

 of the fact that in every State without exception ita 

 agricultural labor has been devoted almost exclu- 

 sively to the raising of breadstuffs (while before the 

 war it was mainly devoted to the production of cot- 

 ton, tobacco, and other exports), it is impossible to 

 doubt that there is ample supply of food in the 

 country. It is true that the deportation of our 

 slaves by the enemy, and the barbarous policy 

 reprobated by all authorities on ethics or interna- 

 .tional law has considerably diminished pur agricul- 

 tural labor. But when we reflect that in 1800, our 

 exports, almost entirely the products of slave labor, 

 amounted to two hundred and fifty millions of dol- 

 lars, it may be safely assumed that our slaves, 

 though reduced in number, are fully equal to the 

 task of feeding both the population at home and the 

 army in the field. Our transportation, it is true, is 

 defective and inadequate, but this may be indefi- 

 nitely improved by more energetic efforts and more 

 thorough and systematic organization. We cannot 

 believe, therefore, that on our bountiful soil, so richly 

 blessed by Nature, there is any danger of our failing 

 in this great contest for want of food, or of our be- 

 ing starved into submission to the hateful yoke of 

 the conqueror. 



But if we look to the amount and character of our 

 population, we see especial reasons why we should be 

 encouraged to hope for, nay, to be assured of an ulti- 

 mate success. .No people of our number can be sub- 

 jugated, unless, false and recreant to themselves, 

 their courage, faith, and fortitude fail them. We 

 have upon our rolls a very large army of veteran 

 soldiers. It is true and it is sad truth to confess 

 that the number present for duty is terribly dispro- 

 portioncd to the entire aggregate. This is too 

 notorious for concealment, and we have no desire to 

 conceal any thing. We wish to speak frankly and 

 truthfully to you of the actual condition of things. 

 The number of absentees from your armies has been 

 a fruitful cause of disaster. On many a hard-fought 

 field the tide of success had turned overwhelmingly 

 in pur favor, if all had been present whom duty re- 

 quired to participate in the strife. We will not stop 

 to inquire into the causes of an evil which we have 

 so much reason to deplore. The remedy is plainly in 

 the hands of Congress, and it is our province to apply 

 for it. But it is partly, also, in yours, and we 

 appeal to you to use it. Let every good citizen 

 frown down upon and indignantly discountenance 

 all evasions of military duty whether temporary or 

 permanent no matter how' plausible the pretext, or 

 how palliating the reason. 



No duty in this crisis of our affairs can be more 

 imperative than to fight for one's country, family, 

 and home. Let no skulker, deserter, or absentee 

 without leave from the army be tolerated in any 

 community. Let the reproachful glance of our 

 women, between whose honor and the brutal foe our 

 noble army stands as a flaming sword, drive him 

 back to the field. With proper effort, strict disci- 

 pline, and an elevated tone of public opinion 

 throughout the country, desertion and absenteeism 

 in the army can be arrested, and all men liable to 

 military duty put into and kept in the ranks of our 

 army. If this be effected, we can maintain in the 

 field a force sufficient to defy subjugation. But it is 

 in the character of our population, especially, that 

 we find those elements of strength which impress us 

 with the conviction that we never can be conquered. 

 Our people are^peculiarly military in their charac- 

 teristics. Better soldiers than those in our army, 

 history has never shown. They have endured ex- 

 treme hardships, and suffered with a fortitude, and 

 fought against constant odds, with a gallantry that 

 has earned the gratitude of their country and ex- 

 torted the admiration of the world. But in addition 

 to their military attributes, our people are pro em i- 

 nently of a proud and haughty spirit, and deeply iui 

 bued with the spirit of constitutional freedom. I 



