SPEECH
ON
THE MEANS OF SUCCESS. THE SOURCES OF
DANGER. AND THE CONSEQUENCES. OF
FAILURE IN THE CONFEDERATE
fof Independence !
DELIVERED IN
STERLING HALL, LA GRANGE, GA.,
On the 11th day of March, 1865.
BY B. H. HILL.
"It is greatness of soul alone that never grtyts old; nor is it wealth that delights in
the latter stage of life, as some give out, so much honor:"—Periclex.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA:
ECONOMICAL BOOK AND JOB PRINTING HOUSE,
V. P. 8I8HON £ CO., PROPRIETORS.
1874.
I re-publish this Speech for two reasons :
1. Some of those who heard it delivered, have requested its re-publication.
2. I desire its preservation as the best expression I can now give of the
moral causes which compelled surrender, as well as of the horrors consequent
upon surrender.
With immaterial variances in details, nearly all the predictions in this speech,
of the consequences of subjugation, have become, already, historical facts. The
predictions not yet fulfilled, I leave to that inexorable future which shapes human
destinies in logical consistency with human nature and God's laws, despite the
follies of human wisdom, and the crimes of human legislation.
The reader will see, in this speech, the reasons which prompted me so earnestly
to stand by the Confederate struggle to the last hour; and to seek, by every means
in my power, to avert from the Southern people that greatest of human calami¬
ties—the subjugation of one section, by another section of a common country.
I regret nothing but the failure, and my inability to do more to pre
vent it.
3ENJ. H. HILL.
ft ay 22d, 1874.
SPEECH.
From my youth, most of you now before me, have been ac¬
customed to honor me with a willingness to hear my opinions
upon questions of public interest. This large assemblage to-day
manifests that, through all our sufferings and vicissitudes, your
confidence remains steadfast; and most sincerely I thank you.
At no previous period have I addressed you with so thorough
a conviction of the magnitude of the interests involved, nor
with so deep a sense of my utter incapacity to discuss the issues
upon which those interests depend, satisfactorily to myself. I
do not come to tell you your property is secure, or your liberties
are unthreatened, or your lives are safe. I come to tell you
that the greatest trial which can befal a people is now upon you.
Are you willing—are you ready, to sacrifice property, liberty
and life to defend, to preserve, to establish that national honor,
national integrity and national independence, without which
neither property, liberty or life, could be either valuable or de¬
sirable? If so, you will enjoy all—property, liberty and life;
and enjoy them more abundantly. If not, then you lose all;
and with them you throw away national honor, integrity and
independence, forever. Nations, like individuals, must have
character; and nations, like individuals, must have that charac¬
ter tested—proven by trial. Trial is to the national character
what the sculptor's chisehis to the marble, it cuts away much of
its substance, but leaves it in shape, comeliness and value. And
this I can speak for our encouragement, that 110 nation has ever
yet died, or been destroyed, while the people held every other
interest subordinate to the preservation of national honor, virtue
and independence. While this I must say for our admonition:
that no nation has ever yet survived, whose people became wil¬
ling to sacrifice honor, virtue or independence, for individual
ease, or any material prosperity.
As, therefore, no man can enjoy life, liberty or property, ex¬
cept the national integrity be preserved, it follows, that it is
every man's duty to sacrifice all these, when necessary, to pre¬
serve that national integrity; and he who refuses to make the
4
SPEECH.
sacrifice, becomes an enemy to that nation, and the personal
enemy of every other individual of that nation, and of every
individual to be born in that nation.
I speak to you, my friends and neighbors, to-day, but I
speak of interests that must affect our whole country, and our
whole country's posterity. We can have no divided interests,
and no separate deliverance. I plead the cause of twelve mil¬
lions, living, and of twelve millions, many times multiplied, yet
to live. And what a patrimony to preserve, what a heritage to
transmit, are involved in this cause !
Since our beneficent Father made the heavens and the earth,
He has parceled out to His children no better portion than that
which we of the Confederate States possess. We have an area
broader than the five great powers of Europe. We have a sky
as bright, and a climate as balmy, as the poet's " loved Italia."
We have a soil more fruitful than that of the land selected by
the Father Himself for His own chosen people, and which is
described as " flowing with milk and with honey." And we
have rivers which can float to the sea ten thousand cargoes, each
richer than the fabled golden fleece! And yet, since God cursed
man and drove him from Paradise, thenceforth to be the victim
of hatred and revenge, and of every passion, no people have
been threatened with evils so dire, and a fate so terrible, as
those with which we, of the Confederate States, are now threat¬
ened ! For, what to us will be our wide-spreading lands, if
they are to be divided by the hands of an enemy? What will
it be to us, that our skies are bright and our climate balmy, if
the spirits of our people are bowed and broken? What will it
be to us, that our productions are rich and varied, if, while we
may reap, another shall enjoy ? What, oh, what will it be to
us, that the sails of white-winged commerce shall gather in our
waters and along our streams, as the fleecy clouds sometimes
gather on our horizon and through our heavens, if they come to
bear away our riches to fill the coffers of a conqueror ? I would
not be sacrilegious; I would not be ungrateful; I would not
throw away, foolishly, the bounties of Heaven, but rather than
these evils should be fixed upon us, I could pray that God
would curse these lands until not a seed could vegetate, and
darken these skies until not a ray of light could penetrate the
blackness!
SPEECH.
5
* In view, then, of*the great interests involved, let us proceed
to examine the issue, as that issue is now presented, between us
and our enemies; how that issue is to be solved; our resources ;
the difficulties which obstruct us; the method of overcoming
those difficulties, and our prospects for final success.
There can be 110 two honest opinions as to the character of
the issue. Our enemy, proverbial for deception, is candid with
us, on this subject, now. If we be deceived here, we must de¬
ceive ourselves. Indeed, so distinct is the issue, that, in my
opinion, this very distinctness, combined with the character of
the demands which make the issue, will, in history, make this
the beginning of the second epoch in this revolution. Four
years ago, our people were divided in opinion as to what our
enemies proposed to do ; and, therefore, were divided in opinion,
as to what we ought to do. Then, there was ground for debate;
room for doubt; tolerance for differences, and patriots on both
sides. Mow, our enemies declare distinctly what they propose
to do, and equally distinct becomes our duty. There is no
ground for debate; 110 room for doubt; and there ought to be
no tolerance for difference, for patriots cannot longer divide,
tie that is not for us, is, by the very nature of the issue, com¬
pelled to be against us. This issue, I repeat, is formed, made
up, by the demands of the enemy, officially announced by Mr.
Lincoln to our own appointed commissioners.
The first demand is " a complete restoration of the authority
of the Constitution and laws of the United States, over all places
within the States of the Confederacy." What Constitution?
Ah, my friends, not the Constitution which our common fathers
made! Not that Constitution in which conflicting interests and
opinions made mutual concessions for the general good; in
which, the South agreed to contribute to the commercial and
manufacturing greatness of the North, and the North, in consid¬
eration therefor, agreed not to interfere with, but to respect, the
industrial pursuits and domestic labor of the South; and without
which mutual concessions our fathers distinctly declared they
would never agree to any union at all. That old Constitution,
the Northern people did not like. Many of them hated it.
They called it " a covenant with hell, and a league with the
devil." They refused to obey it. They openly, repeatedly,
grossly violated it; and, because of that bad faith, we were com-
6
SPEECH.
pelled to abandon the Union formed by thatUonstitution. Since
we left them, they have made a Constitution to suit themselves.
They have annulled all the concessions their fathers made to us;
but have retained all the concessions our fathers, in return
therefor, made to them ; and have added new exactions of us,
which their own fathers,7 in the Convention, disclaimed, and
which those fathers would have considered themselves disgraced
in exacting; and which the most fanatieal enemy of the South,
in New England, would not have exacted before our separation.
They have repealed the old laws, made for our benefit, in pur¬
suance of the old Constitution ; and have made new laws, in
accordance with the spirit and purposes of this new Constitution.
And now, they take this new Constitution, and these new laws
—spawns of the most wicked fanaticism, conceived and perfected
in the most bitter hatred to us, even while they were invading
our soil, burning our homes and shedding our blood—and tell
us we must consent to have their authority restored over us as
the first condition of peace with them! Did these people forget
who our fathers were, or did they think we were degenerate?
The next demand is, that we must agree in advance "to ac¬
cept whatever consequences may follow from the restoration of
this authority." It matters not how hard our lot may be; how
degrading to our honor ; how ruinous to interests; how hope¬
less for our children; we must agree, in advance, not to com¬
plain ; not to plead surprise; not to resist again ; not to ask for
a change. We must accept whatever consequences may follow !
Our enemies are wiser, in their exactions, than the Venetian
Jew. We must pay the pound of flesh, whatever blood shall
flow, and it must be so written in the bond. If we sign that
bond, no fair Portia will give judgment for us, and no honora¬
ble woman can ever bear children to a people so bankrupt in
manliness!
But what are the changes made in the Constitution and laws,
and what are the consequences to flow from these changes ? for
Mr. Lincoln is candid enough to give us notice of a sufficient
number of them to enable even a stupid man to see that others
must follow.
In the first place, our slaves are emancipated by our enemies,
and we must consent to that emancipation. What need for
"courts and votes," after this consent ? Well, this change alone,
SPEECH.
7
is a great one. Slavery was not the cause, but it was the occa¬
sion of our secession. We voluntarily left a Union under a
Constitution which our fathers did help to make; in which
slavery was recognized; in which, even the abolitionists adinit-
ed it was recognized in the States, to secure greater and more
quiet protection for that property. It is now proposed, demanded
that we be carried back by force, to a Union under a Constitu¬
tion which our fathers refused to make; which our enemies
alone have made; in which our property is taken from us with¬
out compensation, and all at the bidding of an enemy who have
been murdering our children while making this change to destroy
our property, and who tell us they will continue to murder until
we accept the change, and consent to the destruction. I say, to
yield slavery at all, is to show a great change in our people. To
yield it thus to the enemy, is singular, unusual humilation for
the Southern people. But to yield as a privilege—as a condi¬
tion of re-union with that very enemy; and to be required, in
the new Union, to pay a full proportion of the debt incurred by
the enemy while murdering our people to force them to the sur¬
render, is a subjugation which no people fit to live with would
exact, and to which no people fit to live at all would ever sub¬
mit.
But I am speaking to-day of questions whose solution must
affect all the world, and all the world's posterity. By what I
this day utter, I am willing to go before my country, before pos¬
terity, and before my Heavenly Father for judgment. And so
speaking, I declare to you, I think the preservation of property
in slaves, great as it is, is yet the very smallest interest
involved in this contest. I believe slavery is God's own decree.
If I did not believe so, no earthly power could make me hold
my slaves until the going down of this day's sun. In God's
hands I am willing to leave the negro's condition and destiny.
"Best are all things as the will of God ordained them." But as
far as property in that negro is the creature of human consent,
I am willing to say I would freely, cheerfully, gladly, if neces-
sary, give up slavery for independence; but I will never consent
to give up slavery and independence, for any price which human
coffers can pay, nor on any terms which human ingenuity can
devise, nor under any torture which human power can inflict.
But I say, emancipation simply, is the smallest question in-
8
SPEECH.
volved. If this were the only danger; if we, the white race,
were still permitted to regulate the new relations by our own
State laws, we might be able to protect ourselves in our political,
civil, and social supremacy; and though in a different way, and
on different terms, we should still be able, in a great measure to
control the labor of the negro, both for his good and our own.
Our enemies have seen this result, and they have provided
against it.
Therefore, in the next place, under this new Constitution,
Congress—the Federal Congress—we are notified, "reserves the
power to enforce this emancipation, by such legislation as that
Congress shall deem appropriate." That is to say, the people
who emancipate the slave, reserve the power to say how that
slave shall enjoy his freedom ; what shall be his political, civil,
and social status; and what relations shall exist between the
freed slave and his former master. The people who hate you,
who have murdered your sons to free the negro, who impoverish
and degrade you to enrich and elevate the negro, is to be the sole
judge of what is appropriate in the future relations between you
and that negro. Do you imagine such a people will judge it
appropriate that you should be above the negro? Will it not
be marvelous if they even judge it appropriate that you should
be his equal ?
Let us glance a moment at some of the measures which this
Federal Congress must deem not only appropriate, but as abso¬
lutely necessary, to enforce this emancipation of the slaves; with¬
out which, indeed, the emancipation would be idle and cruel.
In the first place, of course, the freed negro must have a
country to live in. Now, it has never been known that the
white and black races could inhabit the same country, in any
large proportions, without the one race being subject to the other.
The contrary is the experience of mankind. In former times,
even abolitionists shuddered at the idea of turning loose four
millions of blacks to live in the South. What to do with the
negro after freeing him was the hardest problem for the world's
fanaticism to solve. For the purpose of solving this problem,
the "Colonization Society" was formed. The object was to carry
the freed negroes back to their own land, Liberia, and aid and
encourage them to pursue and progress in the civilization and
Christianity they had acquired here, and extend both to their
SPEECH.
9
race still in barbarism. Great intellects helped the scheme.
Wealth, philanthropy and fanaticism all combined, from the
North and from the South, to give it success. It failed. The
negro preferred slavery here to freedom there. Many in this
very State, freed by their masters to be carried to Liberia, refused
to go. Some did go. Teachers with books, and preachers with
the bible, went with them. But even with these helps, the freed
negro went back to the barbarism of his race with more rapidity
than he recovered his race from barbarism. Slavery is the only
civilizer of the negro. Early in Mr. Lincoln's first term, we
heard much of his efforts to get some Southern country in which
to colonize the negroes. He failed. The negro would not go.
He preferred to stay here even if compelled to shoot his master;
and Mr. Lincoln, it seems, has concluded that it is a more chris¬
tian work. The truth is, the negro will never voluntarily leave
this country. He much prefers slavery. And the Yankee has
concluded he shall neither leave the country nor remain a slave
in it, whatever consequences may result.
But why give the negro his freedom and a country to live in
and not the means of making a living? He must have lands to
work and the means to work them. Therefore, as another result,
our lands must be parceled out with the negro. Gen. Sherman
has already commenced the work. He has already set apart
certain lands in Georgia and South Carolina, and the islands
adjacent, for the poor, starving negroes who followed him, and
has forbid any white person going within their limits except by
military order.
In the next place, the negro, being a free landed proprietor,
must have civil rights, and civil rights are but a mockery without
civil power; and all these will be futile without social equality.
I tell you as sure as there is reason in logic, or revenge in hate,
these consequences will all follow. They cannot follow natur¬
ally. The negro, of himself, can never make, administer or
execute laws for the white man. His intellect is not equal to
the task of either supremacy or equality. His taste, his habits,
his nature can never, by any innate charm or power, rise to
social equality with the white race. And I repeat, these ends
will not be reached as results naturally arising from his state of
freedom. But they will be provided for by law. His friend
and your enemy, his liberator and your tyrant will have the sole
10
SPEECH.
right to judge of the measures appropriate to enforce the negro's
emancipation; and by virtue of laws thus provided, the negro
will be entitled to hold your lands, to sit in your legislative
halls, to adjudge your rights, to be the witness between you and
his race, to pass sentence upon your acts, to eat at your tables,
to associate with your families, and to intermarry with your
children.
Nor is the worst yet told. It will be in vain to give the ne¬
gro all these rights, and establish them by law, and stop there.
All the laws the Federal Congress could devise could not by
their simple enactment lift the negro to actual equality with the
white man. His nature and his habit is to fear and obey his
master. The nature and the habit of the white man is to com¬
mand and govern the negro. This normal relation must be
overcome by something stronger than laws, or it will practically
prevail. Therefore, power—force—must be provided to secure
to the negro the actual enjoyment of these rights. The Yankee
will not sacrifice a million of. lives and billions of money to ob¬
tain these rights for the negro, and then hesitate to adopt what¬
ever means may be necessary to secure their enjoyment, as far as
that enjoyment can be secured.
This force must come from without, or be found within the
country. To be furnished from without will prove too expen¬
sive. It will require three hundred thousand soldiers to garri¬
son this vast territory. It would doubtless be deemed appro¬
priate to collect the expense of maintaining this force from us,
especially as we would be considered the cause of the necessity
for such force. But, impoverished and enervated, and manacled
in all our energies, we should never be able to provide the means
for such payment. The Yankees would not long agree to pay
such expenses from their own treasury, and the force from with¬
out would be chiefly withdrawn. Only one resource to accom¬
plish the end would remain, and this would be adopted. The
black race—the emancipated slave—would be armed; and the
white race—the dominating offended master—would be disarm¬
ed ! Do not tell me this result is too horrid, too demoniac. You
will have no right to judge. That right is reserved, by the
terms proposed, to the Federal Congress. Your enemy is to be
the only judge. You are to agree in advance he shall be the
only judge. That enemy is fanatical/; that enemy is mad; that
SPEECH.
11
enemy is blind ! That madness has been restrained hitherto by
your power, but even now, is there any cruelty which that ene¬
my has not delighted to inflict upon us where opportunity pre¬
sented ? Let Atlanta, with her exiled people and heaps of
ashes, answer ! Let Columbia, given to a soldiery licensed to
sack, to riot, and to burn, close up the argument. I tell you,
Atlanta depopulated and destroyed ; Columbia sacked and in
smoking ruins, are happy places, where the weary and pursued
may well fly for rest and safety, compared to the fate which will
await this whole land, when the white race, conquered and hope¬
less, shall lay down their arms and submit to be the negro's fel¬
low on the Yankee's terms. I will not detain you longer with
details of the consequences that must result from an acceptance
by us of the terms proposed by Mr. Lincoln to our commission¬
ers in Hampton Roads. I have shown you that he requires us,
1. To accept a new Constitution and new laws made by our
enemies,—made in the midst of inflamed hatred to us; made
while invading our country, burning our homes and shedding
our blood !
2. To accept this new Constitution, and these laws, without
reservation or qualification as to the consequeuces that may
follow.
3. That we must agree in advance, that our slaves are eman¬
cipated ; and that the Federal Congress shall, in future, exercise
the power to enforce that emancipation by such laws as they may
deem appropriate.
4. I have shown you that to enforce this emancipation it
must necessarily be deemed appropriate : 1. That the freed ne¬
gro shall have this country to inhabit. 2. That he must be fur¬
nished with lands to cultivate, and with means to cultivate them.
3. That he must have civil rights; civil and political power,
and social equality with us. 4. That he must have power to
protect himself in the enjoyment of all these rights against an
old domineering master, and that, too, to this end : The negro
will be armed, and the former master—the white race—will be
disarmed!
I need scarcely add, that in order to carry out this policy, it
will become necessary to obliterate all State lines, and have all
the States of the Confederacy reduced to one vast territory. For
this territory there will be but one law-making power—the Fed-
12
SPEECH.
eral Congress; and from this territory in that Congress, the ne¬
gro, or the white man willing to be his equal, will be the only
fit and aceepted representative.
As an inducement—and the only inducement offered—to ac¬
cept these terms, Mr. Lincoln promises us a liberal exercise of
the pardoning power! And, doubtless, those at the North who
support him, will consider this indeed a liberal offer, since they
claim the right to exterminate us for the sins already committed !
The very terms of the issue, as tendered by Mr. Lincoln, must
preclude any division of opinion as to the manner of meeting
that issue. Diplomacy, 011 its own terms, by its own champi¬
ons, has made an effort and failed at the threshold. Statesman¬
ship has been given its day, and not only failed, but was humil¬
iated before one day ended. How could it have been otherwise
when Mr. Lincoln had previously plainly said: " It is an issue
which (an only be tried by war, and decided by victory." The
day for diplomacy and statesmanship will certainly come; and
it will come early, or delay long, just in proportion to the earn¬
estness and unanimity with which we, on our side, now wage
the war. Wooing will drive it away. Universal defiance will
bring it on. If our enemy could have heard from our people
but one harmonious determined voice of resistance to death after
the Hampton Roads conference, that day would have come upon
us 'ere the springing grain could yellow for the harvest. Oh !
dastardly is the cowardice of that trooper who lingers from the
battle now; hopelessly suicidal is that avarice which can with¬
hold its offering now; and hateful, hateful, hateful far beyond
the darkest thought of the traitor's mind, is that ambition which
cannot forget its personal griefs and personal scheming and cease
to divide our people now !
If we were base enough to desire to submit, we could not, for
all inducements to such submission are destroyed bv the terms
proposed. We could not get back the old Union, for that has
been more effectually destroyed by the enemy than by secession.
We could not save our property, for its surrender is the very first
condition of submission. We give up property in slaves in ad¬
vance. We throw away all the debt we have incurred, and
which is due to our own people. The remainder of our proper¬
ty, if sold in the most favorable market, would not pay our pro¬
portion of the enemy's debt incurred in our subjugation !
•speech.
13
We would not secure peace. I do not speak to you with
threats ; but I do speak in frankness. And I tell you, if you,
at home, are willing to submit to terms so degrading, the army
will not! The soldiers can give up property ; they have giveu
it up. They can leave home, and wife, and children; they have
left them. They (an endure cold, and heat, and hunger, and
nakedness. They have endured all these for four long years.—
TliOv can climb mountains, wade rivers, make long marches,
walk without shoes, sleep without tents, fight without trembling,
and die without fear ! All these things have been done from
Texas to Maryland. They can listen to the bursting shells with¬
out quaking knees, and watch the flashing guns without blink¬
ing eyes. They have heard and seen them in a hundred battles.
You cannot startle them with the enemy's numbers ; they have
met that enemy on a hundred fields without a count, save of the
slain and captured! They can bury their fallen comrades, and
still press on. Ah! ten times ten thousand quick-shoveled
mounds hide the still clenched teeth and fearless miens of sleep¬
ing braves from Oak Hills to Gettysburg. They are in the
valley of the Mississippi, and, to their memories, the great father
of waters will mingle a hoarse, deep dirge with the tolling bells
of floating steamers, while commerce shall gather the rich fruits
of their labors. They are among the hills of Georgia, and the
sweet, winding Etowah shall hymn their requiem, as long as the
iron mountain, around whose base she pours her waters, shall
remain. And Virginia—unrivalled old mother—holds them,
to-day, all over her great, wide bosom; and there she will ever
hold them, richer, in them alone, than India with her treasures,
and prouder than Egypt lifting her changeless pyramids to the
skies !
And what is it, so richer than wealth ; so dearer than home,
and wife, and children; and so more valued than ease, and
health, and life, that for it, the true, brave soldier, is willing to
lose all, and endure, and suffer, and toil, and fight, and die, and
never falter"? It is that, without which, there can be no enjoy¬
ment in wealth, no home for family, no safety in ease, and no
pleasure in life. It is the honor and independence of our coun¬
try ! And do you suppose, that these gallant heroes, who have
lost so much, who have endured so much, who have suffered so
much, and who have buried so many, and all to defend and
14
SPEECH.
maintain that honor and independence, will tamely agree, that
you, who have never felt the sirocco touch of this war's wild
blast, shall now surrender all national honor and independence
forever ? Will they agree that you shall say all their privations
have been endured in the cause of treason ? Will they, at your
bidding, lay down their arms, and like penitent felons, trust
the enemy they have been fighting, for pardon ? Will they ever
consent that you, taking the friendly hand of the enemy who
slew them, shall go over the fields of Manassas and Fredericks¬
burg, Shiloh and Chiekamauga, and write above the graves of
their comrades who are resting there, that blackest of libels—
" Traitors lie here" ? Will Georgia write that epitaph for Bar¬
tow, and Cobb, and her thousands of sons who fought and died,
to illustrate her honor? Will Virginians write it for Jackson?
Whose hand shall write it, and not be paralyzed? Whose
tongue shall utter it and not grow speechless ? Who will bear
the message to those foreign nations who are carving statues and
erecting monuments to his memory, to forbear the unholy work
of perpetuating the name and features of a traitor ? But even
if the army could endure all this, and lay down their arms,
think you they would not grasp them again when they should
see that nobler than Brutus, that purer than Cromwell, and that
greater than Washington, the glorious Lee, led up to the prison
stand to receive the sentence of an inveterate, or the pardon of
a penitent, culprit, from the mouth of such a jester as Lincoln?
Enough! enough! Away with the thought of peace on such
terms. 'Tis the wildest dream that restless ambition, or selfish
avarice, or slinking cowardice could conjure in the highest flight
of the most anguished imaginings ! The day you make friends
with the enemy on any such terms, you will make eternal ene¬
mies of your own brave sons and brothers who have been de¬
fending you against the malice of that enemy. You will have
an enemy in every household, a battle by every fireside, and a
war that shall blight your fields, and curse the land with horror
forever!
" For glory is the soldier's prize,
The soldier's wealth is honor."
But, even if our people and army were all to agree to submit
to Mr. Lincoln's terms, we should not have peace. No, not
even if our negroes should not be armed, or even the emancipa-
SPEECH.
15
tion proclamation should be abandoned. Policy, safety and
passion would all combine to drive our enemies into a foreign
war, and every man in the Southern army would be at once or¬
dered to the conflict. Our sons, husbands and brothers, would
be marched from the Mississippi into Mexico, or from the James
into Canada, or, perhaps into both ! Let us not deceive our¬
selves ! The day of compromise did exist. It lingered long.
It has gone forever ! There is now for us no safety, no proper¬
ty, no honor, no peace, no hope, save in independence.
The next question, therefore, becomes an important one:
What are our resources for prosecuting a defensive war ?
These resources are of two kinds, physical and moral. Phy¬
sical resources consist in men, in supplies, and in arms and mu¬
nitions of war, and in the means of producing and procuring
them.
It was my fortune to be one of a joint committee recently
appointed by the two houses of Congress, and charged with the
duty of enquiring into the condition of our resources, present
and prospective, for the maintenance of the public defence. Af¬
ter a lengthy examination, the committee had the happiness to
conclude and to report, unanimously, that our resources were
sufficient, and, with energy and vigilance, were available for the
prosecution of the war until independence was won.
It may not be improper to state to you some facts on this
branch of the subject:
We have more than half a million of white men within the
military age, east of the Mississippi river.
Taking the whole country together, east of that river, and
we find provisions—though scarce in some places—were never
more abundant. We have supplies in North Carolina and Vir¬
ginia sufficient to sustain Gen. Lee's armies until harvest.
Notwithstanding recent losses, we have an abundant supply
of heavy ordnance and field artillery. We have more small
arms than men on duty to hold them. We have machinery
now on hand sufficient to manufacture fifty-five thousand rifles
and muskets (not counting pistols and carbines) per annum.
This is more than twice the number manufactured in the whole
United States before the war. What will critics, who can find
nothing efficient in our new government, say to this fact alone ?
We need mechanics in this department.
16
SPEECH.
We have, and can manufacture within ourselves, powder
enough to carry on the war indefinitely. Lead is not so abun¬
dant as powder, but sufficient.
Thus, you see, God has not left us without all the physical
means necessary for our defence in this trying struggle. Truly,
it seems He hid away in our earth all things needful for us, and
at the critical hour of want he uncovers them for our use.
The moral resources of a nation consist in the will—the
spirit—the determined and united purpose of the people. These
resources are developed in the highest strength, when all the
people determine to use all the physical resources to the one
great end of defending, protecting or establishing, their national
integrity and independence. This will must be manifested by
faith—faith in God, in our cause, in ourselves, in our govern¬
ment, and in our army. This faith is manifested bv a readiness
—a cheerfulness to do, to suffer, and to sacrifice. It is the pro¬
vince of the clergy to teach you faith in God. I trust no man
now needs to be taught faith in our cause. The exactions of
the enemy have made that cause righteous far above all prece¬
dent. When this war began, 110 people ever exhibited a sublinier
faith in themselves, their government, and their army. None
will admit, they have lost faith in the army, or in the people.
But, in this struggle, the army, the people, and the government,
are almost the same. Certainly, neither can be strong, when
either is weak; neither can survive when either shall fail. And
the cause, which all are required to defend, cannot succeed when
these shall give way. Now, the skill of a commander is gener¬
ally exhibited by finding out and attacking his adversary's
weakest point. Our enemy have not been stupid or blundering
on this point.
From the beginning, Mr. Lincoln and his followers have
desired to weaken and destroy our government, well knowing
that whenever the people of the army should abandon the gov¬
ernment, we should be effectually destroyed, in all respects.
Indeed, they believe, that if they can disaffect our people to
any one branch of the government—especially to the President,
we shall necessarily fail. This great fact is made very distinct
by Mr. Lincoln's last message. He says: " On careful consid¬
eration of all the evidence accessible, it seems to me that no
attempt at negotiation with the insurgent leader could result in
SPEECH.
17
any good. He would accept of nothing short of the severance
of the Union. His declarations to this effect are explicit, and
oft repeated. He does not attempt to deceive us. He offers us
no excuse to deceive ourselves. We cannot voluntarily yield it.
Between him and us the issue is distinct, simple and inflexible.
It is an issue which can oniy be tried by war, and decided by
victory. If we yield, we are beaten. If the Southern people
fail him, he is beaten." Here Mr. Lincoln puts the whole issue
of the struggle on one single point. He does not say; if our
army fails; if our munitions of war fail; if our supplies fail; if
our cities fall; if our States are overrun, or if our currency be¬
comes worthless, we are beaten. No. Mark his words: " If
the Southern people fail." Fail what? Fail the cause? No.
Fail the Congress? No. Fail the President! "If the South¬
ern people fail him, he is beaten" !
I repeat, from the beginning, our enemies have never expected
to subdue us by the failure or exhaustion of our physical resour¬
ces. They have expected us to fail in our moral resources. They
have relied upon disaffection among our people to our govern¬
ment, and chiefly to the President. And in this fatal work we
have had enemies within as well as without. " Why," said the
greatest of Roman orators and the purest of Roman statesmen,
"why are we speaking so long about one enemy; and about that
enemy who avows that he is one; and are saying nothing about
those who dissemble, who remain at Rome, who are among us ?
Whom, indeed, if it were by any means possible, I should be
anxious not so much to chastise as to cure, and to make friendly
to the republic; nor, if they will listen to me,,do I quite know
why that may not be."
Never were words more applicable. That enemy who avows
he is one; who bears arms in his hands, who meets us in battle,
is not our worst, our most dangerous enemy. We have enemies
who deceive themselves; who dissemble; who are here among
us. And if we are conquered, subjugated, disgraced, ruined, it
will all be the work of those enemies among us ; and they will
accomplish that work by destroying the faith of our people in
their own government. Oh, if I had a voice to-day which could
reach every man, woman and child in the Confederacy, and
could open their eyes to this one great truth, our independence
would be secured beyond the possibility of failure.
18
SPEECH.
There are many among us engaged in promoting this work
of disaffection. They act from different motives, and are in dif¬
ferent degrees of guilt. Many are uninformed and thoughtless,
and do not really design to do mischief. Some are misguided ;
some are deceived; some are designing, and some are employed
by the enemy. To most of these I allude "not so much to chas¬
tise as to cure, and to make friendly to the republic."
Many of our people were opposed to secession as a remedy for
our grievances. They regarded it as revolution, and believed it
would bring, in its train, the evils of revolution. Most of them
are earnest and devoted supporters of our government. This
government has been regularly adopted by the people—is a liv¬
ing entity by the " consent of the governed," and cannot be
abandoned, except by another revolution. And another revolu¬
tion now, can never lead us back to the old Union, but would
lead, with multiplied horrors, inevitably to subjugation. It is
natural, therefore; it is consistent, that these men should give
all their energies to sustain the government, and should depre¬
cate the spirit of disaffection as the wiliest serpent of the crisis.
Occasionally, however, we find some of these, who are unable to
follow principle above prejudices, who still dream of the " leeks
and the onions," and who, deprecating one revolution, would
insanely rush us into another, whose losses, sufferings and evils
would be tenfold those of the present. I trust not one of them
will linger in his regrets and prejudices, after hearing of the
Hampton Roads conference. For one, I buried the Union as I
buried my father—from necessity, and in sorrow of heart. I
would not, I could not, unbury it now; for, decayed and fetid, it
would stench the earth. A fanatical abolition despotism has
been erected on the ruins of the old Union, and Southern honor
could not live in its Upas shadow.
Many of our people went early and earnestly into the seces¬
sion movement, from the highest motives that can actuate pa¬
triots. Many of them failed in their judgment of results;
doubtless looking more to the right than the questions of the
hour. These have vindicated their faith with the highest
proofs which the noblest heroism can offer. Some have en¬
dured every privation of the camp; some have been lifting
their voices urging the people to sustain the government; some
have practiced self-denial, and held their substance for the com-
SPEECH.
19
moil cause; some have given their lives, and passed away.
These all let us honor as countrymen, and love as brethren.
Almost before the bill became a law, the gallant Bartow ten¬
dered his Oglethorpes—eager to be the first to enlist to serve
during the war. I suggested to him, that the position he then
held—chairman of the committee on military affairs—was an
important one. " No, no," he said, " I cannot stay here. Re¬
membering my advice to the people, I feel that the front of the
fight is the only post of honor for me." On his last trip from
home to the army, the lamented Cobb called to see me. Du¬
ring our conversation, he said: "I do not like war; it is
shocking to me. I desire to live a Christian, and do only the
peaceful work of a Christian. But I urged the people of Geor¬
gia to secede. I did not think war would result, but it has re¬
sulted, and I cannot remain out of the service and look honest
people in the face !"
Noble Georgians! The State, the people, posterity, will
honor your memories and commemorate your virtues !
But all our secession friends were not Bartows and Cobbs,
nor Bennings and Colquitts. Many of them were very brave
when no battles were to be fought, and very liberal when no
burdens were to be borne. These "had not much earth," and
under the first rays of scorching war, they "withered away."
They may be found in shady places; many of them protected
by militia or other commissions, which they would have scorned
before the war; and their chief business is to abuse the govern¬
ment they are unworthy to serve.
Some men, as bankrupt in honor as in fortune, hurried into
the revolution to make money. They early sought the posi¬
tions suited to their purposes, and regardless of oaths as of du¬
ties, have violated the laws, abused their powers, levied contri¬
butions upon the patriotism of the country, and demoralized
the people.
In all countries, some people are naturally timid, and others
are made so by circumstances. Some are fearful of losing life,
and some are fearful of losing property; and prematurely con¬
cluding that, because the vessel of war is rocking in the storm,
it must necessarily sink, they tie their gold about them, and
leap into the shoreless sea of subjugation.
Others, again, went into the revolution with sonorous voice
20
SPEECH.
and lofty stride, to reap the honors in liberty's new struggle.
They will curse any government they cannot rule ; and will be
a curse to any people who will follow them. Desperate gam¬
blers ! Mad for losses, they would stake their country in an¬
other game of revolution, only for one more chance to win
honors.
Lastly, we have some peculiar characters among us, more
fully developed by this revolution than in any previous one.
These are men, who, adding to a natural vanity a long domina¬
tion in party tactics, have become absolute in their opinions,
and are unable to see how those who differ with them can pos¬
sibly be right or wise ; or why their counsel should be sought
and not followed. These find the conduct of the war is not
precisely according to the policy they may have deemed best.
Therefore, fealty to the sovereignty of their opinions requires
them to believe we shall fail. They, accordingly, prophesy we
will fail; they find reasons for proving we will fail, and never
seem to suspect that the very course they are pursuing is helping
to failure.
Out of these various classes, that triune curse of all revolu¬
tions—the croaker, the critic and the traitor, is formed. Add to
these the spies sent in or bought up among us by the enemy,
and you have the different materials which, though immaleable
in themselves, form the solid column which, day and night, is
assaulting the government, and striving to batter it down in the
confidence of the people. Having nothing to keep them to¬
gether but a common hatred to the government, it is the testi¬
mony of all history, that whenever they succeed in destroying
the government, they invariably fall to fighting each other, and
the people who are deluded to follow them, divide into factions,
and rush headlong into anarchy.
The two characters which furnish the most dangerous materi¬
als for this work of disaffection and demoralization, are the ava¬
ricious and the ambitious.
I have nothing to say against legitimate trade. The man
who made his living by honest trade before the war, if not called
into military service, may properly continue his calling. The
honest middle man is necessary to the non-producing class of
society. Nor will I stop now to develop the sin of the unofficial
citizen who takes advantage of political, social and commercial
SPEECH.
21
disruptions, to gather fortunes. It would be expecting too much
of our people to look for the sublime spectacle of universal self-
denial. Nevertheless, if it could have been so, this stream of
blood would long since have ceased.
But I cannot pass by the office-holding speculator, without
leaving on record my opinion of the unpatriotic and ruinous
nature and effect of his dealing. I deny that office holders have
the right to speculate at any time. All history shows it is cor¬
rupting ; and no government ever remained faithful to itself, or
to the people, whose administrators became traffickers. But in
times like these, the error becomes a crime—a crime against the
public faith and the public weal.
It was very clear from the beginning, that this war could
only be conducted on the public credit. The note of the gov¬
ernment was certainly to become the only currency with the
army and the people. It, therefore, became the solemn official
duty of every man in office, State and Confederate, to make, to
administer, and to execute the laws with special reference to the
protection and preservation of this credit. It is another fact,
equally clear in reason, and beyond doubt in the history of the
times, that the amount of profits in trade has been measured by
the amount of depreciation of this public credit. Here then is
the dilemma: It is the office holder's duty to preserve the public
credit; it is the speculator's interest to depreciate that credit. If
the office holder and the speculator be one, which feeling will
control—duty or interest ? I deny that any man has the right
to make the conflict, or that any people ought to risk the hazard.
Nor can the subject matter of the trade change or lessen the
guilt. It is the speculation, not the thing speculated in, that
depreciates the credit. In fact, large dealings in property, stocks,
bonds, and foreign commerce, are the more culpable because they
do more to depreciate the credit, and furnish a more unrestrained
held for the elasticity of conscience, than dealing in provisions.
And provision dealers only hoard their supplies, because they
know property dealers will certainly carry up the price by de¬
preciating the currency.
Speculations are, besides, exciting and absorbing to the mind,
and no man, so habitually engaged, can be fit for the grave and
heavy duties of official station in times like these.
The example, also, is disastrous. When people see those whose
22
SPEECH.
duty it is to represent the public interest, and preserve the pub¬
lic credit, engaged in trafficking, they engage, themselves, more
readily in the business ; and subordinate officers throughout the
country are glad to cover their sins with the example of those in
higher station; and thus the contagion permeates all degrees of
office, and all ranks of society. The public credit rapidly de¬
preciates ; the public debt, and the public burdens, rapidly in¬
crease ; demoralization spreads; the guilty become corrupt and
careless; the honest become troubled and discouraged ; the critics
find grounds for cavil; and the government is weakened in all
its sinews.
Plato had a maxim, that "when officials bought and sold, the
State became corrupt."
It was forbidden in Sparta, and by positive laws in Pome.
Verres, as" Governor of Sicily, violated this law, and went back
to Rome, at the close of his service, immensely rich. But the
eloquence of the great and pure Cicero has made him infamous
to this day.
" Whence comes it," said Demosthenes, in one of his patriotic
appeals to arouse the Athenians, "that all the Greeks once pant¬
ed so strongly after liberty, and now run so eagerly in servitude i
The reason is, because there prevailed, at that time, among the
people, what prevails no longer among us; that which triumphed
over the riches of the Persians ; which maintained the freedom
of Greece. Neither their orators nor their generals exercised
the scandalous traffic now become so common in Athens, where
a price is set upon everything, and where all things are sold to
the highest bidder."
History is full of examples, from Demosthenes to Washing¬
ton, that true statesmen have always declaimed against official
traffic ; and that a people who tolerated it have always suffered
heavy penalties. It is gratifying to know, that among the high¬
est officers of our Confederate government, this sin does not
prevail.
Those men among us, who became disaffected because of dis¬
appointed or ungratified ambition, are by far the most danger¬
ous. They are often men of ability and experience, and gener¬
ally furnish the arguments for all, who, from any cause, oppose
the government. They exhibit a " devilish malice" in the
adroitness by which they clothe falsehoods in the garb of truth.
SPEECH.
23
They profess great love for the Constitution, the rights of States,
and the liberties of the people generally ; and manifest that love
bv denouncing all the strong measures of the government,
adopted to carry on the war, as unconstitutional, oppressive, and
subversive of civil liberty. All governments, in revolutions of
half 'the magnitude of this, have found it necessary to suspend
the privileges of the writ of habeas corpus. All history shows
this is necessary to restrain treason and secret schemings to un¬
dermine and destroy the government. It is necessary to protect
the patriotic and the faithful. It is aimed to weaken the arm of
disaffection. It is natural that all those who work disaffection
should oppose the suspension, and very many good men become
alarmed by their earnest appeals, lest the government is seeking
to become a military despotism.
Again : It is not possible to conduct a struggle of such pro¬
portion without employing many agents throughout this vast
country. It is equally impossible always to secure intelligent,
upright and faithful agents, and many of them violate the laws
and deal oppressively with the people. All these acts of faith¬
less agents are ascribed to the government and the laws by the
designing and disaffected critics.
There are many hardships incident to the war. Burdens are
necessarily heavy. Marauders rob the people and defy the laws.
Disasters will happen to our arm's. The stronger power will
overrun the country and commit desolations. Strong measures
are absolutely necessary to compel men to discharge dangerous
and unpleasant duties, and make sacrifices. All these things are
inseparable from war. Yet critics and designing men never lose
an opportunity to ascribe all these hardships and misfortunes to
the blunders or incompetency of those who administer the gov¬
ernment and conduct the war. This is a favorite species of ar¬
gument not only with critics, but also with spies and traitors.—
It is easily made plausible. It comes home to the feeling of the
people, and it requires intelligence and patriotism to detect the
miserable sophistry. It seems to exhibit also a sympathy with
the people, and thus secures their confidence, and thus prepare
the way to misrepresent the acts and malign the motives of those
in power, and thus to disaffect the people.
The Southern people are naturally confiding, and designing
men always profess good motives. The Serpent professed a great
24
SPEECH.
regard for mother Eve when he sought to disaffect her to the
Ruler of Heaven. He made her believe that God was a despot
and dealt untruly with her. And from that day to this, that
has been a favorite argument and a favorite manner of using the
argument, to disaffect a people to constituted authority. Cata-
line used it in Rome. Arnold used it in the first revolution.
And, though I will not say, for I do not believe, all who are
using it now are Catalines and Arnolds, yet I will say that every
Cataline and Arnold, every spy and traitor in the land, are using
all these very arguments this very day, and for the one great
purpose of disaffecting the people to the government. If the
curtain which conceals men's hearts could be lifted, I have no
doubt there are men now in this country in the employ of the
enemy, editing papers, and in various ways, and from many po¬
sitions, instructing the public mind. Remember, " 'twas not
Philip, but Philip's gold, that took the cities of Greece!"
If a man desires only to do justice and circulate the truth,
why should he misrepresent facts, pervert the laws, and attribute
false motives to the government ? Why is it that neither the
Congress, nor the President, can do anything to please them ?
Why do they use arguments which justify desertions from the
army, and then attribute these desertions to the policy and laws
of the land ?
It has been found necessary", in all revolutions like this, for
the government to keep its secrets. There are many facts and
reasons entering into the making of the laws, and in conducting
the war, which the enemy ought not to know. The Congress of
the first revolution sat in secret. Our Congress has found it ne¬
cessary to do the same. Now, how can he be honest, or true, or
patriotic, who represents to the people that the object of the
Congress is to conceal the votes, and hide the reasons of the
members ?
Of all the assaults that are made upon the President, and the
Cabinet, and the Congress, I regard none as so manifestly dis¬
honorable, as the advantage which is taken of this very necessi¬
ty of secrecy. The heaviest assaults are made on these very
measures and operations, the reasons for which are often most
necessary to be concealed from the public enemy. It matters
not how many misstatements are made, how many false motives
are charged, there can be no defence, for defence would require
SPEECH.
25
the truth to be told, and this would damage the publie interests.
This is taking advantage of the patriotism of those in authority,
to destroy the publie confidence. Can anything in treason itself
be more dishonorable ?
I have heard the President say, on several occasions, " If my
enemies would tell falsehoods which injured only me, it would
be a -matter of small moment. But they make statements ut¬
terly perverting the truth, which damage the public interests,
and which cannot be corrected without exposing facts which
would damage the public interest still more greatly."
Washington often made similar complaints. In one of his
letters to Mr. Laurens, he uses this strong language :
" My enemies take an ungenerous advantage of me. They
know the delicacy of my situation, and that motives of policy
deprive me of the defence I might otherwise make against their
insidious attacks. They know I cannot combat their insinua¬
tions, however injurious, without disclosing facts, which it is of
the utmost importance to conceal."
How is it possible, that men who will take such a dishonora¬
ble advantage can be patriots ; and how can those who are pa¬
triots, believe any thing such men say ?
The greatest generals cannot escape the criticisms of these
designing " sappers and miners" of the public confidence.
They assume to know more about military campaigns and mili¬
tary strategy, than the best commanders.
In one of the most trying periods of Roman history, Paulus
Emillus—a great and good man—was called by the unanimous
voice of the people a second time to the consulship. He deter¬
mined to take command of the army, then engaged in a hard
struggle in Macedonia. Before leaving Rome, he called the
people together, and made them a speech, which was so full of
wisdom, that it* has been preserved to this day. Allow me to
read you a portion of that speech. He said :
" There are those who, in company, and even at tables, com¬
mand armies, regulate the disposition of the forces, and pre¬
scribe all the operations of the campaign. They know better
than we, where we should encamp, and what posts it is necessa¬
ry for us to seize ; at what time, and by what defile, we ought
to enter Macedonia; where it is proper to establish our maga¬
zines ; from whence, either by sea or land, we are to bring pro-
26
SPEECH.
visions; when we are to fight the enemy, and when to lie still.
They not only prescribe what is best to be done, but, for devia¬
ting ever so little from their plans, they make it a crime in
their Consul, and cite him before their tribunal." In this day,
they would call a convention, to amend the Constitution, to get
rid of him. " But know, Romans, this is a great impediment
with your generals. All have not the resolution and constancy,
like Fabius, to despise impertinent critics. He could choose
rather to suffer the people, upon such rumors, to invade his au¬
thority, than to ruin the business of the State, in order to secure
to himself their good opinion, and an empty name. If there
be any one, who conceives himself capable of assisting me with
his counsels, in the war you have charged me with, let him not
refuse to do the republic that service, but let him go with me
into Macedonia; a ship, horses, tents, provisions, shall all be
supplied at my charge. But, if he will not take so much trou¬
ble, and prefers the tranquility of the city to the dangers and
fatigues of the field, let him not take upon him to hold the
helm, and continue idle in port. We shall pay no regard
to any counsels, but such as shall be given us in the camp
itself."
The learned historian who reports this speech, makes the fol¬
lowing pointed comment:
" This discourse of Paulus Emilius, which abounds with
reason and good sense, shows that men are the same in all ages
of the world. People have an incredible itch for examining,
criticising and condemning the conduct of generals, and do not
observe, that by so doing, they act in manifest contradiction to
reason and justice ; for, what can be more absurd and ridiculous
than to see persons, without any knowledge or experience in
war*, set themselves up for censors of the most able generals, and
pronounce, with a magisterial air, upon their actions ! But, we
must not expect to see a failing reformed, that has its source in
the curiosity and vanity of human nature ; and generals would
do wisely, after the example of Paulus Emilius, to despise these
city reports, and crude opinions of idle people, who have noth¬
ing else to do, and have generally as little judgment as business."
Meeting with Gen. Lee, soon after Gen. Bragg was relieved
of the command of the Army of the Tennessee, and feeling
great interest in the question, I asked him to suggest to the
SPEECH.
27
President the most proper general to take command of that
army. He promptly said he knew of no better officer in the
service that Gen. Bragg. I told him I certainly pronounced no
opinion against Gen. Bragg, but, right or wrong, critics, or sub¬
ordinate officers, or both, had destroyed his usefulness, with that
army, and some one else would now have to command it.
" This is true ; unfortunately true," said the great man, and
then with a dignified sarcasm I shall never forget, he made the
following speech : "We made one great mistake, Mr. Hill, in
the beginning of this revolution, and I fear we shall never get
rid of the blunders that follow from it. We put all our worst
generals to commanding our armies, and all our best generals to
editing newspapers ! These editing generals alone can see be¬
fore hand everything that ought to be done in a campaign, and
how a battle ought to be fought, and never make mistakes. I
have planned several campaigns and battles and have taken
great pains and did my best, and sometimes I have thought
they could not be improved ; but when I had gone through
with the campaign or fought the battles, I have seen where they
could have been better, and have had to regret I could not fore¬
see and avoid some of the errors. Afterwards, on reading some
paper, I found those best generals saw all the mistakes from the
beginning, but were not kind enough to point them out until it
was too late. And now," added the patriot, " I desire to serve
my country in this struggle in any position in which I can be
useful. 1 think we ought to have our best military talent in
the field. I have done the best I could commanding the army,
and I know I have committed errors and made failures; and it
some of these better generals will come and take my place, I am
willing to do my best to serve my country editing a newspaper."
I have endeavored to be explicit in explaining the causes
which impair our moral resources, and thereby prevent the ef¬
ficient use of our physical resources, because I know they con¬
stitute the greatest obstacle in the way of our success. The en¬
emy may overrun our country, but they can never hold it, with¬
out the consent of our people. They conceded this much when
they abandoned Atlanta. Our people will never consent to
subjugation, unless their minds are first disaffected to our own
government. " If the Southern people fail the insurgent lea¬
der," said IVJtiv Lincoln, " he is beaten." Mr. Lincoln knows
28
SPEECH.
he can never be beaten in any other way. The critics, the
spies, and the traitors, among us, know it. These are our most
dangerous enemies, because they, alone, can assault and destroy
this fidelity of the people. Mr. Lincoln confesses his hopes lie
in this infidelity. He says, " some of them, we know, already
desire peace and reunion. The number of such may increase."
Yes, they are among us, and they will increase. We had but
few of these critics and destroyers of the public confidence, in
the beginning. As the war has progressed, and its burdens in¬
creased, and its hardships multiplied, they have increased. They
thrive on their country's disasters. We shall have other disas¬
ters, and they will grow in boldness and numbers. They have
always done so. They strengthen on the misfortunes that befall
our cause and oppress our people, as the vultures fatten on the
torn flesh of their prey.
They have already done much to produce and justify deser¬
tions from the army. They have done much to dissatisfy the
people, and induce them to hold back their supplies. They
have done much to prevent our recognition by foreign powers.
They have done much to encourage Mr. Lincoln in the hope,
that the "Southern people would yet fail their leader, and cause
him to be beaten." They have done much to break down every
movement at the North calculated to stop the shedding of blood,
and to inaugurate the peaceful counsels of negotiation; for the
North will never negotiate while they are made to believe they
can conquer. They have done much to prolong this war, and
to murder our people in battle. 1 know the time has come
when these enemies within will make fresh assaults, with greater
boldness; and, therefore, it is, I have come home to raise my
voice of warning against them. I know the grievances, all petty
and imaginary, that redden the eyes with vengeance and make
the words drop oily from the tongue, while the purpose grows
dark in the heart;'and 1 dread, this day, fhe subtle power of
the serpent that coils within the garden, far more than I do a
million of bayonets bristling without the walls!
There is but one way to fight these enemies among us. The
people must support the government which Mr. Lincoln, and
these, his co-workers, fight. It is your government, my coun¬
trymen. It is fighting your battles, and toiling, day and night,
to establish your rights and liberties. Support the President;
SPEECH.
29
support the laws; support the generals; supply the army ; drive
off' the traitors; confound the critics; and then you will be able
to defy the enemy; arrest disasters, and win independence. There
are many roads to failure and bondage. You may drift there
by lethargy; you may wind there by treason; you may rush
there by faction. There is but one road to success and freedom.
It may be narrow, and require toil, and patience, and sacrifice,
but you are certainly traveling that road, when you support your
own regular Confederate government. Every man who teaches
you otherwise, is your enemy.
And never had any people a government which they could
more safely trust. You may summon a thousand conventions;
you may let every carping factionist be tried in his turn ; you
may cross your lines, and select from all the cabinets of the
world, and you will get no better chief Executive than him
whom God and your own votes have given you.
You may resurrect all the Alexanders, and Napoleons, and
Washingtons, of all ages of the world, and you will never get a
better general than your own unrivalled Lee.
And, if you could combine, in one, the power of the Macedo¬
nian phalanx, the fidelity of the Roman Legion, and the earnest
fire of the French Guards, you could not get a better army than
that composed of your own sons, brothers, and husbands, who
have fought on an hundred fields; who have endured untold
privations, and who still, unmurmuring, unfaltering and un¬
flinching, face the mongrel invaders of our homes.
My faith has grown with every year of the struggle. That
faith rests on the known patriotism of our leaders; the tried
courage of our army; the virtue and intelligence of the people,
and the justice of a chastising, and mercy of a not always
offended, God. The campaign of 1864 has taught me to know
what I always believed—that this vast country cannot be held
by an enemy against the will of our people. I dread no enemy,
therefore, as I do the factionist. But I know this same enemy
helped the hosts of Persia against the Greeks, and was overcome.
This enemy helped the power of the conquering Hannibal
against the yet feeble Romans and was overcome. This enemy
helped the haughty and cruel Spaniard against the Netherlands,
and was overcome. This enemy joined the ranks of the British
30
SPEECH.
and Indians and tories against our fathers under Washington,
and was overcome. And I believe the Confederates are as
brave as the Greeks, patriotic as the Romans, determined as the
Dutch, and as true as even their fathers. And neither of these
were ever threatened with such a fate as that with which our
enemies threaten us. When every other resource shall fail, the
cruelty of our enemy's terms of peace, will still drive us to resis¬
tance. It is natural we should be punished severely, because
our sins have been many. For many years, in the old govern¬
ment, wrangling aspirants for place, losing sight of the great
duties of statesmanship, were solely engaged in heating the fur¬
nace of passion and hate. In the beginning of this revolution
there were deceptions, and frauds, and errors, on all sides; but
the abolitionists alone moved to their work with deliberate cal¬
culating malice against the rights of man and the decrees of
God. Therefore, while all of us must suffer, the enemy must
finally fail.
We are able to come out of this struggle with constitutional
government retained, with liberty enjoyed, and with slavery
preserved. The first two are our rights, and so dear, that war
with them, is better than peace without them. The last is God's
law, and He is stronger than any arm of flesh.
If a man shall stand on the banks of the Mississippi, and
watch the misfortunes that occur upon, and by reason of the
waters of the mighty river, he will see much to sadden and dis¬
comfort him. He will see that when a man falls in the middle
of the stream, he can swim to neither shore, but must go to the
bottom. He will see floating palaces striking snags, or meeting
with other accidents, and going beneath the mocking waves
with all on board. And, anon, he will see the flood swell high
and break from its bounds ; and now he will see beautiful homes
swept away; and man and beast alike, perishing in the deluge.
And then, if he will close his eyes, and not see that for one man
who perishes in that river a thousand live from it; that for one
steamer that sinks, a thousand ride safely, with wealth, and life,
and joy, over its surface; if he will not survey the wide alluvion
spreading from either bank, gathering richness from the swell¬
ing flood, and producing food and raiment for millions of people
throughout the earth, he would naturally conclude that philan¬
thropy required the waters should be stopped, and the long,
SPEECH.
31
deep channel, dried. And then, with vivid pictures of drown¬
ing men, and sinking steamers, and submerging homes; with
song and story, in pulpit and council chamber, he might excite
the imaginations of a fanatical people, and arouse them to the
expenditure of labor, and money, and life, to stop the flow of
that river. And when the high, long obstruction should be
completed, and the triumphing dreamer should leap to the sum¬
mit, and command the waters—back; the dancing, rushing,
laughing floods, breaking away on every side, and mocking the
puny creature, would cry with ten thousand voices : God bid us
go to the Gulf, and thither we are going, though we deluge a
continent on the way !
So the foolish abolitionist looks upon slavery, and can see
nothing but its stripes, its labors and its bondage. He will not
see that for every stripe there are a thousand blessings. He will
not see that no pauper population of any age in any country was
ever so well fed, so well clothed, so lightly worked, so comforted
with home, and so instructed in religion. He will not see that
this disciplined labor, while it protects society, and keeps the
negro in contented, happy subjection, is furnishing food and rai¬
ment to millions all over the world—even to the abolitionist
himself, and to his children. Therefore, he magnifies the evilS
of slavery. He arouses the imaginations and passions of an un¬
informed and fanatical people. He sets at defiance the solemn
covenant of a well-considered and time-honored compact of gov¬
ernment. He disrupts society, desecrates the pulpit, defames the
Senate hall, and prostitutes learning and science. He gathers
millions of men for slaughter, and billions of treasures to be
wasted. All, all that an easy bondage may be broken, and a
happy slave turned loose! And suppose, like the dreamer with
the floods, he shall seem for a time to succeed ? Suppose that
the restraints, which bind four millions of these people to duty,
shall be withdrawn. Who that knows the negro, or has faith in
God, does not see the result ? Bright homes will be destroyed,
rich fields will cease to bear, millions will become hungry and
naked, society will rush towards barbarism, and government to
anarchy and despotism. The continent will be deluged in blood;
and, after all, the poor scattering negroes, like the uncontrolled
and uncontrollable waters driven from their natural course, will
32
SPEECH.
wander in unknown ways, weakening the more, the farther and
longer they wander; earing for none, and shunned by all; de¬
stroying and destroyed wherever they go; until at last, they will
return to the channel of servitude which God marked out for
them to follow, and will bear, in happy usefulness again, the
burdens of their destiny. For He who bid the waters go to the
sea, said also, by His servant, that Canaan should serve his
brethren.
Man's impious devices can no more annul God's moral decrees
than his puny arm can subvert God's physical laws. He may
pervert and obstruct both for a time, but always with confusion
and punishment to himself. It was such transgression that put
death in nature, doomed ^he Ethiopian to bondage, and filled the
human heart with sorrows. But He who hath the power will
also show the mercy. And as long as the Mississippi shall roll his
floods to the Gulf, roaring, in eternal thunders, praises to Him
by whose command the waters come and go, so long will the
serving children of Canaan sow and reap in the valley made
rich by this coming and going; and, happy with food and rai¬
ment, home and family, faith and hope, shall hymn in daily
thanksgivings, praises to Him whose goodness also made this
•land of the Confederate the African's paradise!
Contending, then, only for what God has approved, and con¬
tending also, for all that rewarded the toils of our fathers, and all
that can give us hope for our children, let us dedicate all that we
are and have, anew to the contest. Let us, from this day, think
no thought, speak no word, do no deed, but for our country,
until that country shall be free. Let us have no friends but the
friends of our country ; let us have no enemies, but the enemies
of our country.
Who can fall, if his country shall rise ? Who would rise, if
his country shall fall ? Friends, neighbors, countrymen ! we
all, all shall rise if we will only
" Onward in faith ! and leave the rest to Heaven."