, 1864-12-29
THE REBEL PRESS.
Dikse naions Among tho Robels-Jen
Oav1h' Organ Wants Them AL t.
Hang Together.

lCIQul lue IlENfn0QQ cenEQe1, Lee. III
The factious spirit that prevails to SO great
Confederate cause. We deem It our duty to
warn the people that the danger from this
source is worthy of their most Serious atteu-
tion for 1t Is great, and seems to be grow
Ing. The confidence Of au army in it's general
Is halftts strength. Tbs confidence of the
times such as the present. ffmen Of learn
ing and eloQuence were found tgayersing Gen
eral Lees camp, making it their business to
traduce him to the soldiers, assailing his ca
pacity, decryIng his merits, imputing imagi-
nary faults, charging him With intemperate
passions and corrupt designs, just in proper
ton as these persons were believed, would
the glorious army Of Northern Virginia be de-
moralized and ruined. We need not SAY that
there are many whose chief employ il to make
o like fatal attempt on the public interests by
their incessant assaults on the President and
his administration. It is no compliment to
these men that they have not ruined the
did not believe them that they have done so
little harm. It Is because the people hnye
had no confidence In them that they have
continued their confidence to the President.
But 1t Is too much to believe that their per-
sis1ent and industrious efforts have been to-
ta]ly fruitless. It is too much to hope that
the people will not be hereafter found to give
them many an ear amid the severe trials incl
dent to such war. Where 50 much mud is
thrown some will stick.
& It is only necessary to open certain news-
papers Of our country and read 1t Is only
gentlemen and listen, to realize that their
talents and influence are daily and diligently
exerted to strike down t..o confidence Of The
people In the President. They intermlngle
these atM stabs at the very life Of our cause,
By felicitations. as If In cruel nockcry, on the
usefulness Of the press, and the salutary In
huence Of free speech. Instead Of generously
cares Of great responsibility, they pursue the
opposite course, whatever the effect On our
struggling fortunes. This conduct Is exhib-
tied day after day. Are these men so humble
or so unreasonable Us to suppose that the
good sense Of the people Will remain proof
against all their efforts and their artss
Suppose they succeed In lodging In the
minds md feelings Of others those prejudices
which they daily indulge, and those harsh
iudgmcnts and suspicious which they so con-
stantly utter, there Is no one who does not
see that our cnuse would be lost and cur ruin
assured. That our hopes hare not been
wrecked is due not to the discretion of these
sound sense Of the people. But We confess
VIC are often alarmed ior fear that the poison
so diligently dispensed will not always prove
inocuous. Hpopular confidence and sympa-
thy be once destroyed, the men who have
pluckcd them down may be alarmed at
their work; but all their compunc-
ticn, If colnpunctton they shall : feel,
will not avail to arrest the ruin they will have
wrought. It Is far easier to raise the whtrl-
wind than to direct. the storm. It Wtll be
too late when mutinie8 shall have broken out
all over the country, when combinations to
resist the law shall be found In every ueigh-
borhood where men shan refuse to honor the
xrt1 ho n4uf0
thcn,. We say, for the persons who are now
sowing the seed for such harvest, to subdne
the evils they will hnre created. These eTfls
will have come at their calling, but they will
not down ut their bidding. They are sowing
the wind now; it will not be their merit if
wind. They are diligently assuring the peo-
pie that President Davis is Incompetent, ty-
iannlcal, usurping. vindictiye; that he
snuandeIs our resources, mlsman1gcs Our nf
fairs, and Is intent only on oyerturnins our
liberties, and securing to himself despotic
power. They declare ealso that Congress is
weak, ohse4uious and corrupt and that It Is
against our liberties rs are not to bo publicly
discussed, -
viii it be wonder, should the people be-
lieve the half Of this, If they shall show tho
same reluctance TO assist in the pnbltc de-
tense that some Of the editors who tell them
these things are now eyidencing9 Win 1t be q
wonder If men shall not patiently pay enor-
NOUS taxes for no profit, and shall not be
prodftnl Of their lives in service that Is
hopeless from mEsmanagcment. Aye, rather
will it not be the natural, the inevitable re-
suit, that the whole country will seethe with
will be overtukcn with terrible, ignominous
and hopeless overthrow and ruin, if these
busy teachers shall impress their noxious les
cons on the people? 10 ask tho5e questions
is to answer them. We confess, therefore,
that NC are filed with the most painful ap-
prchensious, when we reflect on the tendency
Of the factionists that are SO numerous aud so
busy among US. We sllulder Us does the iar-
mer when torches are being Haunted about
his stack yards. We hare only to look at the
state of sentiment which prevails in some
neIchborhoods Of some states to realize, In o
faint degree, the evils which would overspread
the whole land. i people rent with local
dissensions, nciehbor warning with neighbor,
loyal men and tTnitors everywhere intermix-
cd, aud the country falling an easy and 1nglo-
rfous prey to our cnemtes-snch would be our
State ind our fate.
such is the logical result Of the course which
50 many arc pursuing; such the catastrophe
for which, whether through ignorance, pas
sion or design, 1t matters not, they are labor
anxiety? Is there not reason why we should
utmost .orgct our greater dread Of this greater
po1ils It matters not how good or cause
may be, it. at the came time 1t be in8isted that
it Is made 4 bad and hopeless one by mlsman-
acement. People cannot but abandon 1t II
they are thus convinced; and, alas! with
what pains IL such conclusion pressed upor
ilieir minds.
Why can we not differ in opinion as friends
| WHY can we not Judge and cEiticise rs friends
and compatriots, aud not with the rirulence
! Of enemies and the ferocity Of Mohawks
Why can VIC not suppose that it Is, at least
possible Wo may be mistaken In our personal
| opinions, md TINT those who are better in
| formed Of facts may be, after all, right. And
Why should It be hard thing to acquiesce
with cheerful good temper in the decision
! nails, uud to adopt it 4s our OWL.
| "Let TIE nll hang together,n. remarked one
of the signers Of the Declaration Of Indepen.
| dence, in 1T7e. ayes" replied another, $50,
if re do not hang together ne will all hang
separately" Let us take the lesson to our.
selves. # wc do not cease these chickering's
and examinations among ourselves; If We dc
| not rally together, and rally around our con.
| stituted authorities; if we do not unite tC
strengthen the hands that arc entrusted witt
| the conduct Of our cause, then our cause will
20 down, and We shall be ruined, forever
ruined. Aguin VIC It'll the people that NC are
| In serious peril. The beginning Of strife isas
the letting cut Of waters. Tho leak in the
| 1eyee soon becomes roaring creVasse. We
implore all good citizens who have fallen into
censorious tempera, to pause and take thci,
| bearings anew. Why should we do the enc:
| my's work. i long pull, strong pull, ant
| pull altogether" Gun alone save lis, will
the blessing Of God, in the cxigeucy that /.
| upon us. To wrnng'e is to die.
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