Year: 1861

ot CT provisions and supplies for the support of our troops, or for the use of our government may be had is suggested that like steps be taken to solicit | rpposals for the sale of those articles at the market price, to be paid for in like bonds; the ar tic,es to be delivered at one or two depots to be established in each county, selecting the most con ye,liertt point possible for the government to ex port from All subscription lists must be forward ed to the secretary of the treasury, Hon. C. C. NJ mnger, as soon as they are full.

 The matter of subscriptions for the sale of pro- visions is regarded as of peculiar interest and i'm por.ance in all our north and northwest counties and the generous hearts of that people know, will lead them to subscribe more than the govern ment use there for their own defense unless indeed the contingencies of the war should require much larger forces our border, than can now be anticipated. Bullet us make full tender of what we can spare, and if not accepted it is not lost.

 Accompanying this letter will be published copies of the lorps ofbanks for the subscr .on of cotton and also of provisions and military These forms can be copied off and used in every county, they having been prepared at the treasury department.

 Again, Ido respectfully but earnestly urge upon our public spirited fellow citizens to call our peo pie together in every county, prepare blanks for subscription, establish points for depots, discuss these subjects, appoint agents to go forth and how much each man of us will agree, not to give, but to sell and invest for the sake of own liber ty and security. Some there are, who go 50 far as to express their doubts of the power of the South to sustain herself and her cause. May few facts of the case which l will cite, and the good providence of God, fill their hearts with greater strength and courage, if indeed they be patriots of the south.

 The Southern Confederacy comprises eleven States, (and the Indian Nations west of Arkan- sas,) with area of e65,OO square miles; whilst all the northern States, leaving of California and Oregon, which can take no part in this war, amounts to about G50,000 square miles The Southern Confederacy is more than four times as large the great Empire of France, and is equal in size to the five great kingdoms of England, France, Spain, Prussia and Austria. The South ern Confederacy has a population of over ten mil

 

 million and quarter of men; remarkable from childhood for familiarity with the use of arms; and expertness in horsemanship; unequalled for sens- tive personal honor, reckless courage, and military aptitude. Besides all this, the three great States of Missouri, Kentucky and Maryland are with us we well know, and will join us so soon as they are properly supported. They will increase our ,4:e our area to one million ofsquare miles. We have a commerce of exports which yields d cash return annually of over four hundred millions of dollars, and which from its nature cotton, rice and tobacco, the commercial world cannot do without for twelve months, unless at the expense of wide spread ruin and disaster

 It is safe to say that population of such a na ture as ours, scattered over so great a country of genial climate and unequalled fertility, with re- sources so great in agriculture and commerce as to be absolutely indispensable to the civilized world, and sufficient to sustain in q war for i've years or more, two hundred thousani men, at an annual expenditure or two hundred millions of dollars, cannot be conquered by any ordinary process, and can never be held in sub ection by any force on this continent. These facts known t1 the states men of the North, and they have often admitted publicly and calmly the mpossibility of couquerng the South.

 But the political party now reigning at Wash nston is the abolition party and the flnaticisn of that party, breaches and will sustain religious crusade upon the South, until their country is ex- hau.tcd and they are bro&en down. Yet the greater spirits and leaders of that party are reckless free thinkers and interruptions inilels, actuated alone by the lust of power, and rendered mali gnant by long series of defeats and dsappoiRtments

 Seward and Scott are the two great civil and military leaders; the latter being a renegade and traitor. They, and their intidel colleagues in n- quity, conscious that they have destroyed upon an unsound social theory, the most promising government and greatest power for good ends to mankind, and for the peace and happiness of its own people that the world ever saw Those peo. pie feel that they responsible for this crime to the verdict of posterity, which they can never es cape, and to the more immediate verdict of tLeir constituency and of the civilized word which they hope to escape by involving the North and South in struggle so stupendous, as to destroy public judgment and shroud it's true authors under a mag nitude of gores and horrors.

 Those great leaders know that delay cements and strengthens every revolution. They know too that they cannot control their own Congress, neither make any impression upon the South, but by the prompt inyovements of hundreds of mil lions of dollars, and by launching suddenly (though without law or authorty) a hundred and fifty or two hundred thousand soldiers upon the South, and by achieving some semblanec of success and triumph at the outset. Reckless of law and the constitution, and of their olhs, and with a fright ful energy, regardless Of cost and waste, they mon into the field power so vast, with a view to inspire confidence at home, and to command support; and perhaps too they entertain the vain hope that they will appall the stout heart and stern will of the South. The South has been kicked out of the Union, she will never consent to be kick ed into 1t again.

 They make all their fight to crush Virginia, our greatest State, and to seize Richmond and drive out the confederate president and Congress- To that end they eXhausting every of men, money, and national credit. They will offer bat tie before the 20th, if not before the 4th of July It will be mighty strugge-tbey know they will be crushed at home and conemned abroad, if they 1al III tHclf IS DN DlOOUy battles, and few successes to wrench from the south the border States. and in the first hour of our Encouragement to make peace on that trium. phant basis. They little know the fortitude of southern nature and the constancy of the southern heart to a national enmity. Neither know they the great statesmanshp of their leaders The future peace and security of the South this con tinent, forbids that make peace until every southern State is restored to us, if they desire it, as we know they do; and the southern soul recoils with instant anger and shame at the bare thought of such peace.

 But we have confidence in our southern soldiers; we know the great disadvantages under which they must struggle now, for want of organization, ma terial, and preparation, all of which will be sup piled in time, 9 9ice do our duty.

 Then let us who rennain ct ho'ne, my fellow cti- zens, do our duty and our whole duty, in subscrb- ing all we can to the government, and with it our prayers for those, if there be such, who have the means but who are not awake to the fact that this is a national necessity and a national duty.

 l am very respectfully, etc.

 R. W. JOHNSON.

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