The daily Chattanooga rebel. [volume] (Griffin, Ga.) 1864-1865, 1865-03-15

CoLumus, MISS. Feb ~ 20.
Fedral Iscwsiom anticipated inporioBce VI
Selma and Mobile Cor Byorns licssoge and
III, Mobile Regiasr- Psraoado lroods reasons
I 70, his cowae.
The rumor is current that the Yankees are con
centratinga srpng forceat corinth and Pitshnrg,
Landing, Another body q said q W. moving to-
wnrig Gfenada aud a third from iokSburg
ii.iti,,s sf ail lheso sodem6niuallaa ar assneanel3
diyersions. Mobile Is the real point d attack.
with the lose Of atcity,. Alabama 10 at The mercy
of the enemy .
Selma will be assailed by land and water. A
aeet Of ironelads will convey transports ireighted
with 10000 men 70 the very heart Of Alabaha =
: The destruction Of workshops and the desolaiion
of tho farest portion Of the Gulf States would
speedily follow. Gut of as w are from the A Lam
tic States Selma has become Of greater Importance
to the Confederation than all other cities. OF it,
self the loss of Mobile, save to ts own inhabitants,
signifies nothing Tho war woulI terminate not
an honr sooner, Mere d'sohti9u of cities and
States signifies nothing as II may eject the dura-
ton or result Of this struggle. Oh enemies have
at last given US no alternative. We must accept
hopeless slavery or utter extermination. No sane
man would assent to Lncoln's terms, and just now,
we can only fight depore this necessity hut
accept II as every Southron should.
With this prelude let me tell you that am an
extremist perhaps, as regards.the Independence os
the States. ! WASH follower of Douglas because
of his theory of Local (squauer) Sovereignty. r
! With me the idea of Local independence was iuf-
nitely more important than the immediate conser-
walton of our peculiar institutions" / thought
then, as do now if the people were left free to
frame their own organic laws that the question Of
slavery would soon become one of interest. Fol
lowing this idea, which you have seen cropping ont
in all that have written, sought to make this
question Of Local or State Independence, the issue
in this contest The Chicago Platform, and one
subsequently enacted at Cincinnati, embodied the
idea, but unfortunately, as / thought, the govern
ing classes" at the South refused to accept it,
The press and politicians, almost unanimously,
/ protested against convention Of the States.
will tell You frankly that tho objection assigned by
SGnntor Semmes aud those who adopted his views,
were the very reasons impellng me to advocate it.
/ Such a convention would have dissolved both
the Northern Union aud the Southern Confedera.
tion. The States would have been remanded to
their original condihou Of absolute nationality,
I SUD thWs icli fise u o,saiste saoi confdenaiohS
orunions as they saw proper, slavery would have
been left at the mercy Of iocal Law Washington
aud Richmond would have ceased to exist, as
centers OF political power. Most unfortunately for
the people the politicians would have been eject
ed. from place and power They would have been
deprived of any agency in measures of paciRca-
tion, and TO this they could never assent.
lam not sure that Mcclellan would have been
elected if our press and leaders had not lett him
without platform. But they are as culpabe as.
if otherwise, he would have been elected. They
had pursued the course designed and calculated
to defeat him, They declared their preference
for lincoln, rejecting the propositions of the cop
perheads, thus rendering a convention Of States
Smpossble,
Hence il is that you now find Fernando Wood
the hercest Of our enemies, and hence the north
is consolidated Wood is as honest as most poll.
tcians, wherever they dwell He found himself
contemned by those of the South whom he sought
TO befriend and If he would retain the place he
holds, he must float with the current which few
have the nerve to resist. When his speech reach
os the South you will dud that he aseigns, as The
reason for his conduct the course Of Southern
leaders, IN rejecting the platform Of State indie
pendeuce promulgated BY the New York News
and formally adopted, inpart at Chicago, aud
thoroughly at Cincinnati.
You may understand that am aud was "cop-
perhead" This is true. deemed this war for
the nationality Of States, and not for that of
Union either North or South Wood believes
that two central governments cannot cocNist IN
peace on this continent that the ,retroacton
pressure OF each upon the other would forever
i. consolidate both, aud that any peace made by
Ricd or Washington would, in fact, only
perpetuate condition of war.
But enough Of this. It signifies nothing now.
The theory is dissipaed by stubborn fact. We
must fight For this necessity Lincoln may not
be more responsible than our own politicians
But the immediate question is whether we shall
bow to LincOn's despotism, or nght mn we may
recognize q recurrence Of lost oppofsunities for
The achievement Of Loai aoi coutederate lnde'
pendeuce
Shall we break down the agency at Richmond,
through which alone we can fight successfully
DO the Georgians hope for peace when there can
'bo uonOg Separate State action will not now be-
get peace still less independence ON the contra
ry all the blood shed in this horrible war viii have
been shed in vain They will do violence to the
memories of tie fallen. They brand themselves
towards, who were brave enough when the war
ragged in Tennessee, and Virginia, yet now skuk
like whipped spanies beneath the lash of Lincoln
applied 10 their own backs
There is much ofoyeI truth in the message Of
Governor Brown, but while the truth may never
he suppressed, yet the course he would adopt If
properly represented q have not seen the message)
cannot BE- commended Cut oG from Richmond as
I we are, the time has eome when Governor Brown
may task the virtues ofthai doctrine Of state nde-
pendsnce ia which be and I concur lie deemed
pctent for peace, Il is surely worth little II not
as valuable IA war lf Richmond canuot, assistth the
States. lot the States rescue Richmond. lf the
States must DO free, let them achieve their uu-
abridged independence when no other staaes may
be enslaved by the process. Il becomes hideous
moral treason D any Southern State, at an hour
like this, to abandon her aHiss. Il were infinitely
preferable to go down together TO one con noa ru
fn Separate State action at this june,ure in.
,ures not only the destruction Of Georgia, OF the
n