Year: 1864

If General Johnsten's army is destroyed the Gulf States are thrown open to the enc my, and we are ruined"

 There must, indeed, have been desperate weakness when Georgia, and the Southern cause with it, were so neglected that Lees ar my might be made equal to the task of hold ing General Grant to the Potomac or the James and the people of the South are in- tslligent enough to understand, and to appre- ciate the fact, and they have lost heart aceord- ingly. .--5--~,,- ..'-.---- ..-

 The following is from a letter written by one rebel to another, that accidentally fell in to the hands of one. of my fellow-prisoners, and for the authority of which vouch

 Very few persons are preparing to obey the call of the Governor. His summons will meet with no response here. The people are soul sick, and heartily tired of this hateful, hopeless strife. They would end it, If they could, but our would be rulers will take good care that no opportunity be given the people to vote against it. By lies, by fraud, and by chicanery, this revolution was inaugurated i; by force, by tyranny, and the suppression of truth, it is sustained. It is nearly time that it should end, and of sheer depletion it must end 6etore long. We have had enough of want and of woe, enough of cripples and corpses.

  weeping widows and orphaned children in the land. If we can. let us not increase the num- Der. The men who, to aggrandize themselves, or to gratify their own political ambition. brought this cruel war upon peaceful and prosperous country, will have to render fear ful account for their misdeeds to wroDged, robbed, and outraged people. Earth has no punishment sufficiently meet for their villainy here, and he'll will hardly be hot enough to scathe them hereafter"

 There is certainly no small proportion of the Southern people (despite the lying decla- rations of their journals, as we had good DC cason to earn) that not only favor the pro- gress of our arms, but that daily pravs that this exterminating war may soon be brought to fnality by our complete and perfect suc- cess. They have had too much of despotism not enough of the triumph promised them. Many of the Southern gentlemen do, indeed, express strong hopes of their ultimate inde- pendence, but such hope is not shared by the masses. Disappointed from the first in not having been acknowledged by foreign powers more bitterly disappointed in their general expectation that Northern cowardice or dis senson would secure their ends-but single chance remains, and that is. tue result of om neat election .tor President. If democrat succeeds to Mir. Lincoln, they profess to feel sure of negotiations, and sure of their confed- eracy. They believe democrat will be elect ed. In Mir. Lincoln's reelection they see on ly suhjugation, annihilation, for the war must then continue, and continuance is their failure and ruin.

 In military affairs, it Is an excellent rule never to do what the enemy desires-is it not equally true in politics? Certain it is that the onIy remaining hope ofAe South lies in iHr. Lincol's's defsat.

 Now, l am not enough of a politician to know whether the election of democrat can result as favorably to the South as it antici- pates The wish alone may be the parent of their belief But assured all who expressed that belief, that the North, as mass, is as united as the Suuth-that no democrat could be elected Oh peace piatform-and that auy President who would inaugurats any measure leading to peace on the basis leading to South ern independence, would be promptly hung 1 by loyal exclamation, to the lamp posts in 1 front of his own presidential mansion l However that may be, if We are but true | ourselves, there eau be but one result. What ,re noio fsed IS men-only men not substi tutes or hirelings, who go forth for any motive but the country's good; and produce but little beyond depreciatiDg our armes-but MEN such as really constitute the State, and boast | of being freemen and the sons of freemen. If these fail to support their country's cause in her hour of peril, they are unworthy of con tnuing freemen, and should blush ever to ex- ercise freeman's privileges.

 l But if bounties must be paid, let it be in Southern land, and not in Northern gold and armies of iemigrants, whose sons may as- pire to even the rule of the nation, will cross the seas to win the broad acres that disloyalty has forfeited to the State.

 To every intelligent soldier who has fought through all these indecisive campaigns on al- most numberess indecsive fields, the question constantly arises, with touching force, why dc we not overwhelm our enemies?

 Tens of thousands of lives are lost because our array of strength is so disproportionably less than that against which we battle. Eve ry where we meet on nearly equal terms, where we might we'll have four to one. The cost to us in blood and treasure, oe prolong- ! ed war, can hardly be Unreasonable economy is infinite of such an effort as the glorious North should put forth.

 is equal; at aoiU submit to such preponderance as we should show in every field.

 Glance at the summers campaigns. If Sherman has but 500OO or 75, 900 more men now, the South would be lost, because Hood would be annihilated. If Meade had moved ID the Spring with reserves of 75000 to 1O0,- 900 men, Lee would have been hopelessly crushed. Even at this moment third col umn of 10000 to 5O,0OO rightly moved, would give unopposed blows to the Confederacy from which she could never rise.

 What folly then to struggle on in this way, when we can send to the field five times the force already there ! What weakness to think We cannot conquer the South Behind the James only boys and old men are to be seen, while here men buy and sell as in the olden days of quiet, and regiments of able bodied citizens crowd the streets of our cities

 There is but one course consistent with safe ty or honor. Let the people awake to sense of their dignity and strength, and few months of comparatively triling exertion, of such ef- fort as alone is worthy of the great work. and the rebellion will crumble before us. Fill this draft promptly and willingly, with good and true men send 8 few spare thousands over rather than under the call, and the summer sun of 1865 will shine upon a regenerated land.

 There are some who speak of peace! Of all Yankees the SouthroL most scorns those who do not flight, but are glad enough to em- ploy them, as they do their slaves, to do their dirty work. Peace for the South will be sweet indeed for us, except through Southern sub jugation, but anarchy and war forever. The