Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1865-03-09
Speech Of Hon. Robert Toombs
AZ Augusta, Georgia, Eebru-
airy 18---1fad Management the
Great Danger Ofthc south---
OIL lti JeH. Davis Head.

~
ary l8---gfad Management the
Great Danger Of the soutb---
OF viii, Jen. Davis Head.
FELLOW -Cr1zEss come before you
at the request VI some Of sou 10 take coun.
sci with you IN reference to th. STAT pf the
country. a large portion pf the country has
been oycrrun, aud is liable 10 b. oycrrin
again. Dependency pcrvadcs the army
and people 10 great extent. IL becomes
us 20 determine " hat shall be done. -Four
years ago he had coun.eled resistance.
Many bright eye and heaving bosom that
greeted him then are now cold in the grave /
but, with all the lights before him, he
would say to-day, onward with the rcvolu.
ton. Though thousands are dead, and
many are dcspondent, thousands yet live
willing and able 10 carry forward the great
work. Thcae was some doubt four years
ago about the principles upon which the
revolution was based, but the enemy has
thrown off the mask. The question to-day
is not whether you shall own slaves, but
whether you shall yourselves be slaves. -
With such an issue, if the prospect was ten
times more gloomy, he would s;ly, strike on,
strike ever. There have been bundcrs and
errors, but where everything that is dear to
US and to posterity is at stake, is it not
worth the best energies OF all to make a re.
newed and vigorous effort to save the EN-.
pire? The great principle of his contest is
have we a right to change or alter our polit
ical condition at our will This being the
question, we cannot abandon it if we would.
| When we sent the commissioners who have
just returned from Old Point Comfort
these three distinguished gentlemen met
the federal authorities in good faith, and
were told BY Lincoln we have settled your
rights of property, and are ready to receive
your submission. If any are base enough
to desire peace on such terms, let them go to
the enemy. Shall we not rather tell him, as
we tell our people to-day, on with the revo-
luton We have a vast country, extend
| ing through every variety Of soil it is too
/ big to be held by any hostile power. He
may run over it, despoil il, but he can hold
no part of it, if the people are true, beyond
the reach Of his rifles He may steal ne
groes and rob women of their household
comforts, but further than that he cannot
go. After sweeping over our state, which
/ he Mr.. T0ombs thought might have been
prevented, the enemy did not even hold the
graves of his dead. O,r bud management
and bad legislation are tie great dangers
that JeSet u.s. Men are outraged almost as
much where the enemy has not been, as
/ NiCiC liz Iio DCC'i. 4 hC SlCdt ChuSS vi uS
sertion and discomfort are the oppressive
and unconstitutional exactions of the gov
ernment. When the war commenced, it
was worth premium to go into the ranks.
Everywhere everybody wanted to co.
Many were rejected Those who went were
allowed to go under men Of their choice,
and these men STEPPED from the cars in lir-
ginia and swept the veterans of the United
States army before them. After the adop-
tion of the conscript law, he had not seen
an adult volunteer, and the war had grad
uay subsidized He was gratifed to see
from the crowd before him many of whom
are in the service and from the returns Of
the late election, that all the people are not
dead yet. The constitution gives the pow
er to command the last arm and the last
dollarto sustain the public defense, and there
is no excuse for the p!undering schemes
adopted--fOrcing the people to hide their
supplies to keep from being robbed of them.
There is plenty of money He observed
that small mistake Of four hundred mil
lion of dollars had just been discovered,
and yet the common soldier has not been
he must press it. No army in the world
can be preserved under such management.
E Hungry men will become demoralized. This
is your country-your causc-and you
. must look to the cause of the evils that be-
set us, and remedy them. Nc must begii,
at Me reyy roOt Of tie eyH and npply the
: true ren,eely He was aware that this is del
icate ground. A bad Captain made a bad
company, and the same rule applies to those
in high places. II they are mcon,petent or
derelict, of tcdh their heads-So much for
Buckanghdm. He would initiate the great
| Athenian orator, and saw not one word that
was not in behelf of his country He had
no personal feelings in cause involving the
destiny of the country. The great mistake
had been in making mere machines of our
soldiers, for on this principle the enemy has
more machines than we have. 1t is the
high morale and the nvincible prowess of
people who feel an individual interest in
the cause, that makes an army invincible.
The cOnscript system has worked out. We
have tried it three years And it should be
changed. You cannot expect a man thir-
five or forty years Of age, to be dragged out
of his home by a stripping, who has got a
stripe on, by virtue Of rich father, and be
put in the barracks, with lousy vagabonds
and then dragged off 70 a camp of instruc-
ton to be mustered in 1t degrades and
embitters man who has true manliness in
him to be thrust thus into the service. Our
currency is gone We have refused to learn
from the history of the past, and to shun
the impracticable follics of others. But
the failure Of the currency does not destroy
our means of defense We issue $500, OO0,- :
000 and five waste it, it didn't cost much,
and we have still got the country and are as
strong to-day as when Sumter fell Some
one here made some disturbance, and a
voice said--"Put him out Oh no, said
the speaker, with one of his impressive
smiles, put no man out for expressing his
opinions in a free country. He had him
self said so many that people didn't like
I. that he was very tolerant of the sayings of
others. With all abuses, we could not then
arm fifty thousand and had not thirty can
non. No we have about - thousand on
our rolls, and weapons to arm them. We
have resources enough to whip forty Yam
kee nations if we could call back the spirit
of our departed heroes We must proper
ly regard the liberty of the citizen and the
rights of property We must dispense with
the petty posts which are established every
where, and thus increase our armies. They
are here in Warrenton, Washington, every
. where, with a crowd of able bodied men,
helping enrolling officers and cow drivers
doing little but distress the wives of those
| IL Il LII. l..