USA > Georgia > The Confederate records of the State of Georgia, Vol 2 pt 2 > Part 18
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fication of personal ambition, would trample under his feet and sacrifice these great principles which underlie the very foundations of our federative system, and upon the success of which the happiness of unborn millions depends, deserves an eternity of infamy with the ever- lasting execrations of mankind upon his head.
As a band of patriots let us unite all our energies and exert all our influence for the success of our glorious cause, and for the maintenance in their original purity of the great principles of civil and religious liberty, which form the very pillars upon which the temple of our re- publicanism rests.
CONFEDERATE RELATIONS.
The war is still waged against the people of the Confederate States, by the Government of the United States, with a vindictiveness and cruelty which has few parallels in history. For nearly four years we have met the mighty assaults of Federal armies and have repulsed and driven them back on many a hard-fought field. We have lost important points, but none which we cannot temporarily surrender to the enemy and, with good man- agement, finally succeed. Atlanta was probably the most vital point to our success that has been won by the superior numbers of the enemy. Its fall was a severe blow, and for a time caused great despondency among our people. I am happy to see, however, that they are fast recovering from depression, and confidence is being restored.
At the time of General Sherman's march from Dalton to Atlanta, we had a large force west of the Mississippi
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of as gallant troops as ever faced the enemy, which had been almost in a state of inactivity, since our splendid victories in Louisiana last Spring had driven the enemy, except a few garrisons, from that department. Major- General Early is said to have a force of 20,000 men, of the very best of the army in Virginia, with which he drove the Federal General out of the valley of that State, and pressed forward into Maryland and Pennsylvania and remained there till his presence provoked those and ad- joining States to organize a force sufficient to drive him back and to threaten Richmond in the rear. General Forrest, with a large Cavalry force, was operating in North Mississippi, repelling raids from a country that had been overrun till there was but little property for the enemy to destroy, and General Morgan was raiding in Kentucky. While our forces were thus scattered from Pennsylvania to Texas, Gen. Sherman, strengthened by a concentration of the enemy's forces from different de- partments, was steadily pressing forward to Atlanta, the very heart and railroad center of the Confederacy, with a force sufficient, by reason of its superior numbers, to continually flank and drive back the gallant Army of Tennessee. During this whole campaign, Gen. Sher- man's base of supplies at Nashville and Louisville was hundreds of miles in his rear, and he was dependent for transportation upon a railroad constructed through an exceeding rough country, with bridges, culverts and curves along its entire line. In this condition, more than three hundred miles from the border of Kentucky, in the midst of an enemy's country, he was permitted to go for- ward, without serious interruption in his rear, and to accomplish his grand design.
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Georgians, whose homes have been overrun, property destroyed and fields laid waste, have naturally enquired, as doubtless the future historians will, why part of the large unemployed force west of the Mississippi were not brought to aid the Army of Tennessee during the summer months? And why, when the enemy were driven from the valley of Virginia, the key points were not garrisoned and held by part of Early's force, and the balance sent to Georgia, instead of the whole being sent upon the campaign into Maryland and Pennsylvania, which only served to stir up and unite Northern senti- ment against us and to enable the Federal Government to raise an additional force sufficient to drive back the expedition with disaster to our arms. If this whole force could be spared from Richmond to invade Pennsylvania, might not part of it have held the valley of Virginia and the balance been sent to Georgia? And could not For- rest, even at the expense of temporary loss in Mississippi. have been sent to destroy the railroads in the rear and stop the supplies of the Federal army? If we had adopted the rule by which most great Generals in such emergencies succeeded, of the evacuation for the time of all points not absolutely vital, and the rapid and vigorous concentration of every soldier in the Confederacy not necessary to hold Richmond and probably one or two other key points, and had hastened the whole to Atlanta and to Sherman's rear and hurled them upon him in his exposed and critical condition, the repulse and rout, if not the destruction or capture, of his army could scarcely have been doubtful. And as his army was the only de- fence provided by the Federal Government for the Wes- tern States, such a consummation would not only have relieved Georgia, Tennessee, North Alabama and North
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Mississippi from the presence of the enemy, but it would have thrown open the. "green fields" of Kentucky which have been more than once promised to our troops, and would probably have opened the way for an early peace. The powers that be, determined upon a different line of poliey. The world knows the results, and we must acqui- esce. But the misfortunes following the misguided judg- ment of our rulers must not have the effect of relaxing our zeal or chilling our love for the cause.
We may, as we have a right to do, differ among our- selves as to the wisdom of a certain line of policy, and of certain acts of the Confederate administration; and some of us may deplore its errors and mismanagement, while others may attempt to justify all its mistakes and defend all its errors, and may be ready in advance to approve everything it may do, and still we may all, as one man, remain true to our saered cause and be pre- pared, if necessary, to expend our last dollar and shed our last drop of blood in its defense.
While I am satisfied a large majority of the people of this State disapprove many of the aets and much of the policy of the Confederate administration, I am of opinion there are but a very small number of the people who are disloyal to the cause, or who would consent to close the war without the achievement of the great ends for which we took up arms-the independence of the Confederate States and the vindications and establishment of the sov- ereignty of the several States.
Confederate, independence with centralized power without State sovereignty and Constitutional and relig- ious liberty, would be very little better than subjugation,
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as it matters little who our master is, if we are to have one. We should therefore keep constantly in view the great principles upon which we entered into this unequal contest, and should rebuke every encroachment made upon them by our own Government, while we resist, with arms in our hands, like assaults made upon them by our ene- mies. While our gallant troops in the field are sacrificing the comforts of home, property, health and even life itself, and are enduring all the privations, hardships, per- ils and dangers of the service, they should never once lose sight of the great principles of equality, liberty, and Constitutional republicanism, for which they unfurled freedom's banners in the face of the enemy. Nor should they ever consent to lay down their arms till these prin- ciples are recognized by our foe and faithfully carried out in practice by our own Government. In other words we should never be content till we have established upon a firm basis the good old republican institutions of our fathers in all their purity, and should never under any circumstances, consent to accept in their places strong centralized Government with military despotism. I do not see how it can be denied by any candid man that we have, in practice, made fearful strides since the war be- gan, towards a centralized government with unlimited powers.
The constant tendencies of the war seem to have been to the subordination of the civil authorities and laws to the military, and the concentration of the su- preme power in the hands of the Commander-in-Chief of the armies. The longer the war lasts, the greater the tendeney to this result, and the less probability at its termination of a return to the Constitutional forms and
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republican simplicity which existed at its commence- ment.
But it may be asked, when is this bloody struggle to terminate? No human forecast can so far penetrate the future as to give a satisfactory reply to this question. The Northern States have resources and men enough to enable them to continue the war for years to come, and we have sufficient power of resistance and endurance to enable us to continue to baffle all their schemes of subju- gation. The sword can never make peace between the two contending parties. When this is done, it will be by negotiation. The prospect seems to indicate that the war may probably last till both sections are exhausted, before the passions of the people will subside, and rea- son so far resume her sway as to prepare the people of both countries for negotiation as the only means of adjustment which can terminate the bloody strife. This may not take place till we have accumulated a debt on both sides greater than we or our posterity can ever pay -till hundreds of thousands more men have been slain, and millions of women and children have been reduced to widowhood, orphanage and poverty-till our taxes have become so burdensome that endurance is no longer possible-till the civil laws cease to be respected, and highway robbery and murder are the daily business of predatory bands, and till the Federal and Confederate Governments have usurped and exercise all the powers claimed by the most absolute despots, each pleading in extenuation of its usurpations the necessity growing out of the like usurpations by the other.
There is reason to fear that President Lincoln, if re-elected, and President Davis, whose passions are in-
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flamed against each other, may never be able to agree upon terms for the commencement of negotiations, and that the war must continue to rage in all its fury till there is a change of administration, unless the people of both countries, in their aggregate capacity as sovereign States, bring their powerful influence to bear, requiring both Governments to stop the war and leave the question to be settled upon the principles of 1776, as laid down in the Georgia resolutions, passed at your late session.
These resolutions, in substance, propose that the treaty making powers in both Governments agree to stop the war, and leave each or any one of the sovereign States, by a convention of its own people, fairly chosen by the legal and duly qualified voters, to determine for itself whether it will unite its destinies with the one or the other Confederacy.
There may be doubts whether Missouri, Kentucky, or Maryland wish to remain component parts of the Government of the United States, or to unite with the Confederate States. If either one of those States shall refuse to unite with us we have no just right to demand such union, as we have neither the right to coerce a sov- ereign State not to govern her without her consent. And, if we had the right, we certainly have not the power, as we can only govern a State without her consent by subjugation, and we have no power to subjugate any one of those States, with the whole power of the United States at her back, prepared to defend her against our attacks.
We should stand ready therefore at all times, to set- tle the difficulty by a reference of the question of future
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alliance, to the States whose positions may be doubtful for determination by them in their sovereign capacity.
Our Congress, in its manifesto, has virtually indorsed the great principles of the Georgia Resolutions, and the President has said in his messages that he desires peace upon the principles to defend which we entered into the struggle. I am not aware, however, of any direct ten- der of adjustment, upon these principles having been recently made by the treaty making power of our Gov- ernment to the same power in the Federal Government. I regret that the wish of Georgia, as expressed through her Legislature has not been respected in this particu- lar. Such a direct tender made through the commis- sioners by President Davis to President Lincoln would place the question fairly and properly before the States and the people of the North for discussion and action. Had it been done months since it could not have failed to have had a powerful influence upon the Presidential election in the North, which may have much to do with the future course and conduct of the war.
It may be said however, that the proposition to settle our difficulties upon these terms made by President Da- vis to President Lincoln would be a letting down of the dignity of our Government, and might be construed as an evidence of conscious weakness on our part. I con- fess my inability to see how the direct tender of settle- ment upon these great and correct principles by the treaty making power in our Government, to the like power in the United States Government, could compro- init the dignity of our Government, any more than an indirect tender of the same proposition through the ir-
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regular channel of an Executive message or a Congres- sional manifesto.
There is certainly more true dignity in a direct, open and manly tender through the constituted channel. But nice questions of official etiquette and false notions of personal dignity should be laid aside when they inter- vene to prevent action upon which the blood of thou- sands and the happiness of millions may depend.
The Democratic party of the North, which is the only party there claiming to maintain State right prin- ciples, and which has great strength and power, what- ever may be its fortunes in the coming election, has de- clared in favor of a suspension of hostilities, and a Con- vention of all the States as the best means of adjustment. And I see no good reason why the treaty making power in our Government should not tender this proposition to the Government of the United States. There can cer- tainly be nothing like humiliation or degradation in a proposition to leave the settlement of a question which the General Governments, which are the creatures of the States, cannot agree upon, to their creators-the sover- eign States themselves.
However much the idea may be ridiculed to preju- dice the popular mind by the enemies of State sover- eignty the Convention if called would no doubt be one of the most able and dignified assemblages that ever met upon the continent. In so trying an emergency, in- volving issues of such immense magnitude, the States would doubtless select their wisest, ablest and best men to represent them, men whose passions have been sub- dued by age and reflection and who are alike distin-
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guished for love of justice, balance of mind and dignity of character. Such a Convention, composed of the greatest and best men of the country, of mature age and large experience, with the scenes of blood, carnage and desolation through which we have passed, fresh in their recollection, and the present and prospective condition of the country well known to them, could hardly be ex- pected to decide in favor of a continuation of the war, with all its blighting effects upon both the North and the South, or to adjourn without submitting a plan of settlement honorable and just to the people of both Confederacies, and to all the States.
All questions of boundary, and inland navigation, and all treaties of amity, commerce and alliance, and all agreements necessary to preserve in future the just bal- ance of power upon the continent, could be properly shaped in such a Convention and proposed to the treaty making powers as the result of its deliberations. Or it might be agreed in advance by the treaty making powers that the Convention settle the whole question and that its action be final and conclusive when submitted back to the people of the several States and ratified by them respectively.
In that event it must of course be understood that each State would enter the Convention as a separate, independent sovereign-the equal of every other State, -- and that the action of the body as in case of the Conven- tions which formed the Constitutions of the United States and of the Confederate States would only be binding upon each State, when submitted back to and freely rati- fied by the people thereof in their sovereign capacity.
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The propriety of submitting the question by the treaty-making powers to a Convention of the sovereign States is the more obvious, in view of the want of power in the Presidents and Senators of the two Governments to make a treaty of peace without the consent of the sovereign States to be affected by it. No permanent treaty of peace can be made which does not contain an article fixing the boundaries of the two Governments, when the whole country is inhabited as ours is, and one or the other Governments must exercise immediate jur- isdiction over the inhabitants of each State and each county. In other words, we can have no treaty of peace that does not define the States, or parts of States, that are to be embraced in each Government. And this can only be done by the consent of the States themselves. The action of separate States is therefore an indispen- sable preliminary to the validity of any treaty of peace that can be made. This action may, by agreement of the treaty-making powers, take place prior or subsequent to the treaty, but in either case the effect is the same, as the validity of the treaty is dependent upon the ac- tion of separate States.
Suppose, for instance, it is agreed by the treaty- making powers that the State of Ohio shall become part of the Confederate States, when an overwhelming ma- jority of her people in Convention called by the proper State authority, decide by solemn ordinance to remain with the United States. Or suppose that it is agreed by the treaty-making powers that Kentucky shall remain part of the United States, when two-thirds of her peo- ple decide to go with the Confederate States. Will any- one contend that the treaty-making power has the right
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thus to dispose of States, and assign them their future positions without their consent? And will anybody say that a treaty of peace can be made without defining the Government with which Ohio or Kentucky shall be asso- ciated in future ?
Suppose again, that the treaty-making powers in fix- ing the boundaries of the two Confederacies should agree to a division of Virginia, that the territory embraced in the pretended new State formed of a part of Virginia, shall become part of the United States, and that the balance shall go with the Confederate States. Will any Southern man contend that she can thus be dismembered and part of her territory ceded by the President and Senate to the Government of the United States without her consent? He who so contends denies the very fun- damental principles upon which the Government of the Confederate States was organized. What would the old Virginians of the Jeffersonian School say to this sort of State sovereignty? What would Washington, Jef- ferson, Madison, Monroe, Henry, Lee, Mason, Randolph, and other statesmen of their day have said, if they had been told that the Constitution of the United States con- ferred upon the treaty-making power the right to cede one-half the territory of Virginia to a foreign State, without consulting her or obtaining her consent?
If President Davis and the Senate have the power to cede part of Virginia to the United States in fixing the boundaries of the two Confederacies without her consent, they have as much power to cede the whole State to Great Britain or France for commercial advantages. Or to cede Georgia to the United States, in consideration that the other States shall be recognized and the war
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cease. Such a proposition is too preposterous for se- rious argument.
He who claims such power for the President and Senate would not only degrade the States to the position of provinces, but would clothe the treaty-making power of the Confederacy with imperial dignity greater than the most enlightened monarchs of the present day as- sume to themselves. It has been claimed as one of the prerogatives of sovereigns that they could cede to each other their provinces at will. But in the late treaty between the Emperors of France and Austria, the for- mer refused to accept a province ceded by the latter and incorporate it into his Empire and govern it till the question was submitted to the people of the province and they gave their consent.
It is certainly too clear to be successfully questioned that the Governments of the two Confederacies have no power to make the treaty of peace and fix the boundaries of the two countries, which, situated as we are, is a neces- sary part of the treaty, without the concurrence and con- sent of the individual States to be affected by it. If this cannot be done without the consent of the States, where is the objection to a Convention of the States to settle in advance the necessary preliminaries to which their con- sent is indispensable before the treaty can be valid and binding? In the Convention it could be agreed which States would go with the North and which with the South, and the ratification of the action of the Conven- tion by the treaty-making powers, and by the people of the several States to be affected by it, when of a char- acter to require their separate action, would fix the
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future status of the different States, and the proper boundaries of the two Confederacies.
While I am satisfied that separate State action may, and most probably will, be a necessary preliminary to a treaty of peace, I do not wish to be misunderstood upon this point. The sovereign States of the Confederacy each seceded from the old Union. This they had a per- fect right to do. And each is as sovereign in the present Confederacy as she was in the old and has the same right, under the like circumstances, which she then exer- cised. But when these States seceded and formed the present Confederacy, and entered into the present defen- sive war together, they at least, by strong implication, pledged themselves to stand by and aid each other against the common enemy till the end of the struggle. Thus situated, I deny that any one of the States can honorably withdraw from the contest, without the consent of her sister States, and make a separate treaty of peace with the enemy.
The people of the States can meet in Convention and abolish the Confederate Government whenever its usur- pations and abuses of power have reached a point where the sovereignty of the States and the rights and liberties of the people are no longer secure under it. The people of the Northern Government have a right to do the same by a like Convention, and to establish a new Government in place of the present tyranny by which they are con- trolled.
If the people of the two Confederacies have this power, which will not, I presume, be denied by anyone professing the State Right's doctrine of 1776, why may
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they not meet together in Convention and agree upon the boundaries and treaties necessarily growing out of a separation which is already an accomplished fact?
I am well aware that the advocates of strong central power, both in the United States and the Confederate States, including many of the office holders of both Gov- ernments, and the place hunters and large Government contractors who have made millions of dollars out of the Government without once exposing their persons to danger in battle, and the secret spies in the employment of the Governments who are supported out of the large secret service funds at the command of the two Presi- dents, to do their bidding, and such officials as wear gold lace in cities and drive fine horses and carriages, sup- ported out of the public crib, while all around them is misery and want; and the large provost and passport corps, scattered among our country villages and upon our Railroads, jealous of the prerogatives of the central power, and anxious to maintain and extend them, are ready by their actions to deny that the States have any- thing left but the name, or that they can have any agency in negotiating a treaty of peace, or that they can meet in Convention to consider of this subject without being guilty as "traitorous States." Those minions of power protected from the dangers of the battle field, never fail to impugn the motives and question the loyalty of every one who denies the legality of any act of the Government. or questions the wisdom of any part of its policy.
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