Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1863-07-17
TO ARMSl

decisive. Tue capture Ol slchSDuTH ana t,iTL
Hudson by the enemy, and the partial and in
complete character OF our operations in Penn
sylvania and Maryland, together with the
abandonment of Middle Tennessee by the
army o; Bragg. have inaamed once more tie
war Spiri, vi the Yankee nation to its highest
pitch. Nobody at the North no,o speaks of
peace, save OH the terms Of submission to the
Union. Therefore, peace there can be none.
Three hundred thousand additional troops
are called for by our enemy, and their enroll
men; proceeds rapidly. Lincoln will now be
able to get as many men as he wants, and the
enormous lalschuods of the Iankee'prcSs about
the ''rout,'' "dcmorali, ation,' and SO forth, of
Gen. Lees army must necessarily have the eff
feet Of encouraging the populations to still
greater and more terrible efforts sand sacrifices
II is true that our splendid army Of the Poto
mac still deiantly holds its ground in Mary
land, and may still DC enabled to finish the
destruction OF AIeade's forces and march
upon Baltimore and Washington. Still, the
strong resistance already made to our advance,
with the other successes which the enemy has
gained elSewherc-all ,hi, makes one thing
perfectly certain: that there can be no peace
nothing but desperate, inevitable, universal
Var.
Such is the situation" We must look it
considered is, how to reinforce our armies,
and bring into the service all those who arc
able to bear arms. There are two large classes
Of residents, Of fighting age, who are doing
nothing -Save in isolated instanccs--ior the
common defence: First, those who have
bought substitutes and sent them to fight i'll
their place. Second, those who claim To hc
foreigners, and hold projections from SOCIAL
I'd consulS. While the war was on q compar-
atively small scale, and the country was i'll no
such inmincn: danger, there may have been
no great harm in men engaged in business
exempting themselves from the field by hiring
substitutes. But the case is different now
The very existence Of the Contederacy, and
the lives and liberties OF all, and everything
We have or hope for, arc ut stake, and call
urgently for the service and devotion Of every
man worthy of the name. We hold that those
VINO have heretofore furnished Substitutes, arc
II ~ morally bound to serve in person, Just Us
4 they had never served vicariously. Not
only an elevated sense Of patriotism, but
the stern necessity which is now upon the
whole country 10 save itself and all Its inhab-
i,antS from subiu CATION, wholesale cOnfiScatlon,
ruin and shame, should dictate to this class
Of citizens the duy of turning out en- maSsc
and Offering their services 10 the Government
For if the greedy and vinlictivc foe should
break in upon Us. it will he a small comfort
to these people that they paid each small
sum of money to hire man to fight for them
What Substitute" will then bear for them the
loss and disgrace that will overwhelm them
in common with us all? Ifthey have even died
by proxy, they will then feel that they ought to
tuve died in person, and died Il thousand deaths,
rather than live to see their country and
their children bound to the car Of triumph OF
the base Yankee nation. What proxy will
then stand between them and the plumber of
their homes, the outrage Of their families, the
pityine scorn os all The ends of the earth p
We speak to those men as patriots and true
Confedera,es, and appeal to them to make Il
present of their substitutes to their country. and
to give us now their own right arms into the
bargain. 1t is no time for haggling about the
exact amount Of a citizens duty; when gigantic
invasion, with plumber and determination
written on its banners, is laundering at al
our gates.
As for thc other class of rcsdcnts-those who
claim to be foreigners, and therefore protected
10y an alien nationality, though they have long
resided here. and found career for their in
.dustry and enjoyed the protection of the laws
there Gu! be no question as to the moral OBJ
legation of these men to do and TO suffer for the
country where they have made their homes.
all that the native citizens must undergo. And
it is lair to acknowledge that very many of
these do admit the obligation and act accord
ingy. Still there are many thousands, who
selishly keep out Of ull danger, who expect
others to guard their property, and who occupy
themselves in the meantime with Speculatious
upon the necessities Of their neighhors
The case of these pretended torci gncrs, how
ever, has this popularity: that they owe their
exemption, not to any authentic and legally
established foreign citizenship, but solely To
the forbcarancc of our government up to the
present time. Decisions of Confederate States
Judges, of Judge Magrath in South Carolina
of Judge Jones in Alabama, have declared them
legally liable TO the CONSUMPTION. There is NO
Consul of any Of their nations to extend over
them the protection Of their several flags
No British, or French, or German flag has
right to wave in any of our ports: and the
Secretary of War has at this moment full
power to order them every one into the ranks
If the pressure of public opinion, or their
own natural high spirit and manlincss, have
already induced many of these men to enter
the army, or to offer their services in volun-
tecr companies to the Government, this is an
additional reason why the remainder, who do
not acknowledge this obligation, should be
compelled to do 50. 1t is due not only to the
whole country, but also to their own more
conscientious brethren (who abandon their
business and devote themselves to the COM
mon causc) that the skulkers should not he
allowed to triple and quadruple their gains
by the removal Of all competition, and look on
with grin while their own German or Irish
brethren frankly cast in their lot with their
neighbors and pour out their blood in defence
of all alike. There is already good deal of
excited feeling upon this matter. Should
Aliens in our midst be Aliens to our cause ?"
demands the Knoxville Chronicle" at the