Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1863-12-02

General III the Rebel Army. HIS address
dated at Little Rock, Arkansas, Oct. Z, 1868.
FeliolU- -Cifizsns Since the third day Of
June | have been prisoner in the Federal
lines.
Having but recently been through the en-
tire South, having studied its resources, and
wept over it's ruin and having become fully
acquainted with its condition, and the charac.
ter of ITS rulers, have chosen. after long hes
itatiOn, to remain here and address you, in
pr. ference TO being sent home and exchanged.
l am now ont of the service, and can there
fore speak with unreserved freedom.
Ny course III this struggle as known to the
country. In the army and in prison, with
fre in front and in rear have been with you
al OF yon as long as hope remained And to-
day, know no devotion so strong as that
bear to my Southern home. and to the masses
OF our people, whose terrible sufferings bind
me closer TO them now than ever.
1 shall give you ny views and counsel for
what they worth, frankly and fully in this
address, and care not for the consequence to
myself. 1t is the path of duty, and l shall
follow it fearIeSsly.
JEFFERSON DAVIS.
r This gentleman LAS proved himself totally
uHsuited To the emergency. With the whole
cotton crop ana wesbh of the South at his dis
pOsai, and the friendship of many European
powers, he has accomplished nothing abroad
DIS IOlicy udS heen stupid failure.
He has PERMITTED himself to be over-reached
and outma1aged in everything. His policy at
home. while proving him to be strong in some
respects. has showed him TO be weak, mean
and malignant in others He IS cold selfish
and Supremely ambitious and, under the
cover of outward sanctity and patriotism,
flows concealed the strongest vein of hypocri-
~ and demegOguism.
He has never been up 10 the magnitude OF
the undertaking. He refused troops for the
war in May, \. D. 1868. because he did not
s'know that they would be needed.'' HIS
idea, at first, seems to have been that hostili-
ties would soon cease, and he bent his ener-
gias for cheap war. His preparations and
outfit were, accordingly, contracted and par
simonious. Awakened 10 a sense of his error
his next aim seems to have been to conquer
his foes and put down every man that had
crossed his pathway in his lite. . L
admit that in some things he looms up above
other men, but he has so many defects and
weaknesses beneath others, that it reduces
h lnI TO very poor second rate character.
And you can never change him. His life has
been warped by political intrigue. His preju
diceS have been narrowed and his hates en-
eittered by years of partisan strife. And you
had as well take the oak which has been bent
while twig and beat upon by the storms of
centuries, when its boughs falling off and
its trunk decaying, and attempt 10 straighten
II tp iO"dIu llCiHSD, " the straight
ening of a character so warped and bent by
years OF political storm and intrigue.
WHAT SHALL WE DO?
The question naturally comes up after all
that has preceded. If Mr.. Davis, when he
held the lives and fortunes of many millions
in his hands, so blundeTed as to loose his op-
portunity, what can we hope from him now
that scene of blackness, of anguish and desc
lation reigns. where wealth, happiness and
plenty smiled If he would not protect Ar
kansas when he could, but, instead, gave it
over to oppression by his pets, what have we
TO hope now that he trembles in Richmond for
his own safety, and wakes up at last to the
terrible reality OF his own weakness, folly and
If we were not protected when
we could have been, and if We cannot now be
what must we do Soma say con-
tinue the struggle. Let the last man die,
&C., &c.
| think differently. We ought to end the
struggle and submit. But you say it is hu
No more than to surrender when
whipped. We have done that often. Always
when we could do no better l have tried the
experiment twice and found it 10y no means
foolish. Submission is but surrender. s'We
are fairly beaten in the whole result, and
should at once surrender the point"
II we don't get the happiness we enjoyed in |
the old Government, we can get no more mis- |
cry than we have felt under Jefferson Davis I!
But look for peace there. We had it many /
years. Even while We arrayed against it, |
| find that hostile forces in our midst give |
more protection to citizens than they had when |
Homes and Hindman were here. 1t is true
the JohnsonS tell you that General Steele |
has Imprisoned and oppressed people here.
y OF word of truth in it. And they know il |
is all false. In few months, when no more
Confederate money can be invested, and
nothing more made ont of the people, they
will sneak back and claim his protection.
s.But fairly whipped-tairly beaten.
Dur armies melting and ruin approaches
u.s." Will continuing this struggle help US
Every battle We gain might ought to wiring
ears from the hearts of Southern men We
ire Just that much weaker-that much nearer
our final ruin. Anguish and sorrow and
iesolatiou meet wherever we turn. The
onger the struggle the more OF it.
Don't let yourselves be deceived with the
lope that the United Statea will abandon the
truggle.' They can never do it. They
laye toied and spent too much to see the So
utioD OF the problem, ,and not foot up the figures