The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1866-10-13

elect Of Mobile, having been called up
on by the Mobile Tribune to resign re-
plies thus:
A CARD.
Admiral Semmes has read, with the
care and attcntiOnwhich 1t demands, the
article in the Mobile Tribune, of the
23d inst, calling upon him to resign
his Office of Judge Of Probate of this
county. No man n regret more than
himself, that any portion of his fellow
citizens should suffer Inconvenience,
and loss, from the closing ofhis court,
by military authority, but he take n very
different view from the Tribune. Of
what becomes him, as a citizen of Ala
bama. He has been chosen to an Of
flee by the people. He is eligible to
that Office, under the constitution and
laws of the United States, as well as the
State Of Alabama. He has been com
missioned, by the Governor, and for
mally indicted into Office, by filling his
official bond, and taking the oaths re-
quircd by law. He is ready, and will
ing to perform the duties Of his office.
and if he is obstructcd in their pcrfor.
nance, it is no fault Of his. Can any
citizen of Alabama, with these facts be-
fore him, call upon Admiral Scmmes to
resign, without feeling himself inward
ly rebuked, for a want of that manly
State pride which, above all things else,
should characterize the true citizen ?
Have the citizens Of Alabama fallen 50
low that they are willing to sacrifice
their constitutional rights and the hon
or of their State for any temporary adj
vantage whatever? Admiral Semmcs,
for one, will never consent to such a
sacrifice. Armed authority may'tram-
pie his body into the dust, but he has
never yet parted with his honor, and
he never will. In the attitude which
his case has assumed before the public,
he regards himself as an humble repre-
sentative of the honor and dignity of
his State, and that State shall not be out.
ragged and dishonorcd through him.
He will not become the willing instru-
ment ofhcr debascment. Ifhc is kept
out of his Office, by military force, in
time ofpeace, the remedy does not rest
with him, unless he would dishonor
himself. Let those eloquent appeals,
which the Tribune has addressed to
him, be addressed to the President of
the United States. Whatever might
be their effect, they would at least be
more manly. and more in consonancc
with the character OLA citizen ola State
which claims the right of selt-govern
ment, subject only to the Constitution
of the United States. If there are
large estates of deceased citizens un-
settled, if widows and orphans arc suf-
fering; if our people, generally, are
grooming under the oppression, Admi-
raj Semmcs is not the oppressor.
He will, however, do the President
the justice to say, that he does not be-
lieve that the closing of his court was
his own spontaneous act. He believes
that it was the result of party trick and
management, concerted here in Mobile.
He knows that the President was ap
preached on the subject betore the elec-
ton, and that upon the receipt of the
result of this interview. in this city, an
attempt vas made by the opposite par
ty to induce him to withdraw from the
canvass. lie believes, moreover, that
Gen. Wood was prompted to telegraph
to Gen. Thomas, with the view of in,
interference, after the election
and he has no doubt that this double
interference induced the President to
act. He is the more confirmed in this
belief by the kindly expressions which
had been used towards him, personally,
by the President up to this period.
A principle is involved in the resig-
of his Office, and Admiral
Scmmes feels that such resignation
affect the honor, not only of
but of all his fellow-citizens,
and of his proud, but suffering State,
and he will never consent that those
people to whom he owes so many IA
vors, shall be humiliatcd by any act of
his, nor that Alabama whose name he
to make rcvcrcd, and honored
as Il household word, among the ma
tons of the earth, shall blush to see her
son debase it now.
In conclusion, then the Admiral takes
this occasion to say to the Tribune, and
to those who have prompted its article,
once for all, that he has no intention,
whatever, of resigning the trust which
his fellow-citizens have confided to
him.