Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-02-16
Morning and Noon Dispatches.
Jeff: Davis to the Rebel T,roops.

Jeff: Davis to the Rebel Troops.
New YORK, Feb. ia special to, the
Herald from Headquarters Army of the
Potomac 18th, says: Nothing special to re-
port from this department. have receiv-
ed Richmond dates to the 10th inst. The
following is jeff Davis's proclamation to
the rebel armies:
SOLDIERS OF THE ARMIES OF THE CoNFED-
ERATE STATEs:-In the long and bloody war
in which your country is engaged, you have
"chieved many noble triumphs. You have
won glorious victories over vastly more
numerous host. You have cheerfully borne
privations and toll to which you were un-
used. You have readily submitted to re-
straints upon your individual will, that the
citizen might the better perform his duty to
the State as soldier.
To all these you have lately added anoth-
er triumph, q victory over yourselves. As
the time drew near when you who first en-
tered the service might well have been ex-
pccted to claim relief from your labors
you have needed the call of your suffering
country. Again you come to tender your
services for the public defence, a free offer
ing which only such patriotism as yours
could make, triumph worthy of the cause
to which you are devoted.
would in vain attempt adequately to eX-
press the emotions with which received
the testimonials of confidence and regard
which you have recently addressed to me.
To some of those first received separate ac-
acknowledgements were returned, but is is
now apparent that like generous enthusi-
asm pervades in the whole army, and that
the only exception to such magnanimous
tender will be of those who having origin
ally entered for the war. cannot display
anew their zeal in the public service.
1t Is therefore deemed appropriate, and it
is hoped will be equally acceptable, to
make a general acknowledgment instead of
successive responses. Would that it were
possible TO render my thanks to you in per-
son and in the name of our common coun-
try, as well as in my own, while shaking
the hand of each war worn veteran to rec
Ognize his title to our love, gratitude and
admiration.
Soldiers, by your will, for you and the peo-
pie are but one, have been placed in po-
sition which debars me from sharing your
dangers, your sufferings, and your priva-
tions in the field. With pride and affection,
my heart has accompanied you in every
march. With solicitude it has sought to
minister to your every want. With eXulta-
ton ithas marked your every heroic achieve
ment, yet never in the toilsome march, nor
in the weary watch, nor in the desperate
assault have you rendered service so de-
cisive in its results as in the last display of
the highest qualities of devotion and self
sacrifice which can adorn the character of
the war-worn patriot. Already the pulse
Of the whole people beats in unison with
yours. Already they compare your spon-
taneous and unanimous offer of your lives
fn N Info .k-xr xxysf IL, I,o
halting and reluctant service of the mer-
cenaries, who are purchased by the enemy
at the price of higher bounties than have
hitherto been known in the war. Animated
by this contrast, they exhibit a cheerful con-
fidence and more resolution. Even the mur-
murs of the weak and timid, who shrink
from the trials which make stronger and
firmer your noble natures, are shamed to
silence by the spectacle which you present.
Your brave battle cry will ring loud and
clear through the land of the enemy as well
as our own; will silence the vain-glorious
boastings of their corrupt partisans and
their press, and will do justice to the cal
umny by which they seek to quiet adeluded
people, that you are ready to purchase dis
honorable safety by degrading submission.
Soldiers the coming Spring campaign will
open under auspices well calculated to sus-
tain your hopes. s.s
Your resolution needed nothing to fortify
It. With the ranks replenished and under
the influence of your examples, and by the
aid of your representatives, who give the
earnest of their purpose to add, by legisla-
tion, largely to your strength, you may
welcome the invader with a confidence JUS
titled by the memory of past victories.
On the other hand, debt, taxation, the
repetition of heavy drafts, and the dissen-
sions occasioned by the strife for power, by
the pursuit Of the spoils of Office, by the
thirst for plundering the public Treasury,
and above all, the consciousness of O. bad
cause, must tell with fearful force upon the
Oyerstrained energies of the enemy. His
campaign in 1854, must, from the eXhaus-
ton of his resources, both in men and
money, be far less formidable than those of
, the last two years, when unimpaired means
were used with boundless prodigality, and
with results which are suggested by men
tion of the glorious names of Shiloh, Perry
vile, ,Murfreesboro, Chickamauga,t the Chick
ahominy, Manassas, fredericksburg and
Charlottesville. Soldiers, we are. assured
that success awaits us in our holy struggle
for liberty and independence, and for the
restoration of all that renders life desirable
to honorable men. When that success shall
be reached, to you, your country's hope and
pride, under the Divine Providence, will il
be due. The fruits of that success will not
be reached by you at once, but your chill
dren, and your children's children, in long
generations to come, will enjoy the bless
ings derived from you; that will preserve
your memory ever living in their hearts as
the citizen defenders OF their homes and
| liberties.
That the God whom we all humbly wor-