The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1863-03-20
The Duration of the War.
From the Charleston Courier.l


they had strong reason for believing
would transpire before the incoming O
the first summer month.
One of those events. that twas though
would lead 10 permanent cessation o
hostiities, was the withdrawal from th'
| Yankee ARMY Of about three hundred
thousand men, 20 the expiration OF hei
term Of eryiee. early IN Nav. Tha lang,
number IS composed Of soldiers porto,
o whom enlisted FOR hgo. years en3 10.
remainder fog nlee months, a sajority @
..ssi-s7a.sre FsfsSFa nSefr tlfe most Hardy
iia5oand efficient soldiers in the Aboit
on host
But ouu g1tchlui and raso'u.e enemy
aware Of tie evils that would 0elaI, hin
in case he permitted that immense body
Of fighters to return to their homes, has
devised means for prolonging their peri
cd of service. They are to be retained
until it is deemed safe and proper to
HIuul lltlll u hlsCIllISt.
And to this end the Yankee Congress
has invested Abraham Lincoln with abso-
lutte power. The relation they sustain to
the several States of which they are cit
liens is ignored, and they are directly and
completely subject to the authority Of
their President. They are to be dealt
with as subjects of the Dictator at Wash
ington, as soldiers of the army Of the
United States, and no power can come be-
tween the commands and purposes Of
their supreme ruler. The Constitution
is no longer in force, the Governors, Judg
es, and Magistrates have been set aside.
Courts of Justice have been closed, the
Habeas Corpus has been suspended, and
that rude, vulgar, wicked and stupid man
enthroned at Washington has all author
ity and all power. We apprehend that
the principal object aimed at by that Bill
is the detention of those men in service
who by the provisions Of the Acts under
which they were enrolled, were entitled
to claim their discharge at the end of two
months. And that measure is fraught
with greater danger to our cause than
the enrolment Of the three millions
The formerare disciplined soldiers Injured
10 the labor privJtiou and hard-hipe and
acc stoned to danger The larger por-
ton af them have been in battles lld
those who belong to tho army of Rosen-
cranZ have never been subjected to the
influence %. an utter discom.
future. The men who will be drafted and
organized into an army are for the most
part unskilled in the use of arms, and
months must elapse before it will be safe
to lead them into battle. And long be-
fore they are sufficiently well acquainted
with their duties to meet our veteran
troops face to face in fight, we will have
won so many decisive victories and infct-
ed so great loss and humiliation upon
the foe, that the people would rise in
their might, dethrone the usurper, over
whelm his party, and put an end to the
conflict.
viii the three hundred thousand sub
NIT to the power of the Dictator? His
ability to prolong the war depends in y
large measure upon the answer time will
make TO that important question,
While we do not lend an open ear to
the numerous reports Of dissafection and
desertion ir the armies of Lincoln, it is
to believe that these men pre-
fer being discharged to remaining in SER
vice, but that feeling may not be strong
enough to induce them to Join issue with
their Government.
If they are resolved to lay down their
arms when the period for which they en-
listed expires, will they be able to make
head against the power of the Autocrat?-
1t is known that the armies in Kentucky
md Tennessee are principally composed
Of men from the frontier States. The
soldiers from the Northwestern States so
largely outnumber those from other States
IN those sections, that it they are firmly
resolved to hold their Government to the
terms Of the contract under which they
went into the army, they have the power
to leave the service. viii they pursue
that course? will they, if need be, stand
up and with their arms defy the power
hat would continue to use them as in
in the accomplishment Of its
purposes
1t will be seen whether orno the North
vest is in earnest. If the powerful States
that divisicN Of the United
States array themselves against the des-
Dotsm that now wields its sccptre over
.wenty millions Of people, the call for
he militia will never be enforced, and
bio war will virtually be over before sum-
ner fnot the end is far distant.
Order For the Seizure Of all Private
Arms in New York.
From an editorial in the Chronicle we
learn that Gen. Wool has or
iered patrol force to ascertain the mum.
,cr aud description Of firearms in the
'ity Of New York, and also the quantity
# ammunition in tho stores Of that city.
This was charged by .he New York Ex-
,ress to be precautionary movement Of
he Lincoln government against popu.
az outbreak. The Chronicle does not
leny this, but says 70 IS well known tha
here is large number OF dsloyal people
here. and The Exprsaa is oeo OF the or
4 H 3D.