The daily clarion. [volume] (Meridian, Miss.) 1863-1866, 1864-08-01
Tbe covernment ana re People.

---S S-----y
The Government and t,e People.
The great business ofSur newly organ
lied Government at TIE present Junctur'
isto provide for tbe common dalenSe'o
the Confederate States against an enemy
that is none the less vindictive because
be formerly occupied friendly relation
with as. Indeed the annals OF the work
do not present an Isolated instance OF
war that has been waged more unjp'.S
been prosecuted with greater 'iooi'y
called into battlefield sueb ii,'"'''s'
masses of men, and proyIc' ~ 49, ,
tive Of life, of family ti~' .. propsisy, :, y
liberty, of honor. ma OF an 'na' 'h'
49, III ,,at,s 81 dear and sacred. On
49,, 80 a,she South, purely defensive
which a chivalrous and independ-
:" people, embracing all classes, the
young and the old, the professional man
and the tradesman, the humble and the
most distinguished, at the call OF our
young Government, rushed into the
ranks in order TO vindicate their constitu
tional rights against the encroachments
of the teeming millions Of the North,
animated by the most demoniac passions
and resolved on our utter destruction.
In roviding for ourdefense against these
hostile combinations, our Government
has certainly not been Indifferent to the
general welfare of the States. and has en-
deavored to adapt its legislation TO the
extraordinary circumstances produced
by the calamitous war through
which we are passing. In carrying on
war on so extensive a scale with the
populous States of the North, it has been
difficult for our infant republic to raise
the men and provide the means for its
successful prosecution. II had noArmy
and navy to prevent its interior from in
vasion, or to protect its coasts from the
formidable ornaments of the enemy.
But nerved by sense Of outraged right,
it went to work in real earnest, looking
upon the successful prosecution of the
war as the only solution of the menacing
difficulties by which we were surrounded,
What its army has done all know. 1t
seems to have been under the special di-
reetion of Providence, and thus far met
with asuccess beyond the general expec.
lions of the country and proportioned to
tile Justice of the cause in which we are
engaged A few may talk about the in
ns oc ~, Int IN a
whole, when we look at what is the work
ofits own creation, when we look at the sol
id Government erected out of nothing, we
must confess our admiration for the
heads that designed and the hands that
put together the delicate machinery Of
government We have, therefore, but
little to say against the Government. 1T
was born in stormy times, and has been
surrounded by ungracious and pect'liar
circumstances ever since. 1t made the
population of the South emphatically the
army of the South, introduced order and
proper subordination into the army, done
its best to protect the people at home
and make comfortable its soldiery. 1t
has tried TO be judiciors in the choosing
OF public guardians and guiders, and be"
cause some its selections have fallen
short of public expectations, TRADE is
raised against "the Government" We
have none to indulge in. Our affairs, tits
true, are in critical just now, but the
people at home, and not the Government,
are TO blame for it. When we become
such martyrs to liberty's cause as the first
American revolution produced, then we
will havea cause to complain Of the Gov
eminent; but SO long as we remain more
interested in self than country and refuse
to repair to an adjoining county to aid
in repelling a column OF scoundrels COM
ing fof the avowed purpose of laying
waste our territory, we should indulge in |
no undue clamor against that Govern
ment, struggling so nobly to give us
proud, erect place among the nations of
the earth United efforts will bring US
from under the cloud, and bear us swiftly
and safely over the breakers of war.