Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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w \ , V -*v- . * ' I f)/V 4 & - " " . + m * . ~^ ^ "" ^ "^' ?^ _? - ?? " ????? -. '" "?- - ? j. e.&l. m. gbist, | proprietors g,n fititcjj mired Jamil? t Jar % $tnu&n af t|e ^jalitical, jjwial, ^griraltaal anlr Cammertial fntatsls cf % &mrifc. |?s pes ybab, is advab'qb. VOLUME 10. 7 ' YORKVILLESOUTH CAROLINA, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 9, 1864. , "". , MMBER $ ^>o?a>Rr -> -y g - -W-- - ' ...^ Address of Congress to the People of the Confederate States. Id olosiog the labors of the First Permanent Congress, your Representatives deem \t a fit occasion to give some account of their stewardship; to review briefly what, under snob embarrassments and adverse oironmstances, has been accomplished ; to iovite attention to the prospect before as, and the dnties incumbent on every citizen in this crisis; and to address such words of eonosel and encouragement as the times demand. Compelled by a long series of oppressive and tyrannical.acts, culminating at last in % the selection of a President and Vice-President by a party confessedly sectional and hostile to the South and her institutions, these States withdrew from the former Uniod, and formed a now Confederate alliance, as an independent Government, based on the proper relations of labor and capital.? This step was taken reluctantly,, by constraint, and after the exhaustion- of every 0t ' measure that was likely to seoure us from interference with onr property, equality in the Union, or exemption Jrom submission to an alien government. The Southern States olaimed only the unrestricted enjoyment of the rights guarantied by the Constitution. Finding, ' by painful and protracted experience, that'this was persistently denied, we determined to separate from those enemies, who had manifested the inclinatipn and ability to impoverish and destroy us, we fell back upon the right for ' which the colonies maintained the war of the revolution, and which our heroic forefathers asserted to be clear and inalienable. The unanimity and zeal with which the separation was undertaken*and perfected, finds no parallel in history. The people rose en ma?se to assert their liberties and protect ;heir menaced rights. There never was before such universality of conviction, among any people, on any question involving so serious and so thorough a change of political and international relations. This grew out of the clearness of tbe right so to aot, and the certainty of the perils of farther association with the North. The change was so wonderful, so rapid, so con trary to universal history, that rnaDy tail to see that all that has been done is "tho logical sequence of principles, which arc the highest testimony to the wisdom of our fathers, and the best illustration of the correctness of those principles. This Government is a child of law instead of sedition, of right instead of violence, of deliberation ^instead of insurrection. Its early life was attended by no anarohy, no rebellion, no suspension of authority, no social disorders, , no lawless disturbance Sovereignty was f not for one moment in abeyance. The - . utmost conservatism marked every proceeding and public act. The object was "to.do what was necessary, and do more; and to % do that with the utmost temperance and prudence." St. Just, in his report to the Convention of France, in 1793, said, "A people has but one dangerous enemy, and that is Government." We adopt no such absurdity. Id nearly every instance, the first steps were takeu legally, in accordance with 'the will and prescribed direction of the constituted authorities of the seceded States. We wore not romitted to brute force, or natural law, or the instincts of reason. The charters of freedom were scrupulously preserved. As in the English Revolution of 1688, and ours of 1776, there was no material alteration in the laws beypnd what was necessary to redress the * abuses that provoked the struggle. No attempt was made to build on speculative principles. The effort was confined within the narrowest limits of historical and constitutional right. The controversy turned on the records and mnniments of the past. We merely resisted innovation and tyranny, and contended for our birthrights and*the covenanted principles of our race. We have had our governors, general assemblies and courts; the same electors, the 6amc corporations, "the same rules for property, the same subordinations, the same order in the law and in the magistracy." When the sovereign States met in conncil, they, in truth and snbstance, and in a constitutional light, did not make, but prevented a revolution. Commencing our new national life under suoh circumstances, we had a right to expect that we would be permitted, without molestation, to cultivate the arts of peace, and vindicate on our chosen arena, and with the selected type of social characteristics, our claims to civilization.. It was thought, too, by mauy, that war would not be resorted to by an enlightened country, except on the direst necessity. That a people, professing to be animated by Christian sentiment, and who had regarded our peculiar institution as a blot and blur upon the fair escutcheofi of their common Christianity, should make war upon the South for doing what they had a perfect right to do, aod for relieving them of the incubus which, they professed, rested upon them by the association, was deemed almost beyond belief by many of our wisest miuds. It was hoped, too, that the obvious interest of the two sections would restrain the wild frenzy of excitement and turn into peaceful chan> nels the thoughts of those who bad bat recently been invested with power in the U. States. ? These reasonable anticipations were doomed to disappointment. The red glare oi battle kindled at Sumter, dissipated all hopes of peace, and the two Governments were arrayed in hostility against eaoh other. W charge the responsibility of this war ujpoi the United States.. They are accountabh for the blood and havoc and ruin it hai caused. For such a war we were not pre parod. The difference in military resource: between oar enemies and ourselves; thi immense advantages possessed in the or ganized machinery of an established Gov ernment; a powerful navy; the nucleus o an army ; credit abroad, and illimitable facil ities in mechanical and mauufaofuring povs er, placed them on ?the vantage ground.' In our infancy we were without a seams ? or soldier, -without revenue, without gold | and silver, without a recognized place in the fapily of nations, without external commerce, without foreign credit, with the prejudices of the world against us. While we were without manufacturing facilities to supply our wants, our ports were blockaded ; we had to grapple with a great adversary, defend 2,000 miles of sea coast and an inland frontiev of equal extent. If we had succeeded iu preventing any successes on the part of our enemy it would have been a miracle.. What we have accomplished, with a population so inferior in numbers, and means so vastly disproportionate, Las excited the astonishment and admiration of the world. The war in whidt we aro engaged was | wickedly, and against all oar protests and most earnest efforts to the contrary, forced upon us. South Carolina, sent a commission to Washington to adjust all questions of dispute between her and the U. Stated One of the first acts of the Provisional Government waa to accredit agents to visit Washington, and use all honorable means to obtain a satisfactory settlement of all questions of dispute with that Government. Both efforts failed. Commissioners were deceived and rejected, and clandestine but vigorous preparations were made for war. In proportion to our perseverance and anxiety have been the obstinaoy and arrogance in spurning offers of peaoe. It seems we. can be indebted for nothing to tho virtues of our enemies. We are obliged to his vices, which have enured to our strength. Wo owe as much to his insolenoe and blind-# ness as to our precaution. The wager of battle having been tendered, it was accepted. The alacrity with whioh our people flew to arms is worthy of all praise. Their deeds of heroic daring, patient endurance, ready submission to discipline, and numerous victories, arc in keeping with the fervent patriotism that-prompted their early volunteering. Quite recent1 wm nAAMAfl nf WAnirviAnta Kotta ro onliafofl fnr IJ OWUiCO U1 igglUiUUM UbTW tW'VUiiUbUVA ?v? | the war, testifying their determination to | fight until their liberties were achieved.? Coupled with and contributing greatly to this enthusiastic ardfir, was the lofty oour' age, the indomitable resolve, tho self-denying spirit of our noble women, who, by their labors of love, their patience of hope, their unflinobing constancy, their uncomplaining submission to privations of Jthe war, have i shed an immortal lustre upon their sex and country. , Our a?uiy is no hireling soldiery. It comes not from paupers, criminals or emi- ' grants. It was originally raised by the free, unconstrained, unpurchaseable assent of the men. All vooationsand classes contributed to the swelling numbers. Abandoning luxuries and comforts to which they had been acoustomcd, they submitted cheer- 1 fully to the scanty fare and exactive service of the camps. Their services above price, the only remuneration they have sought is tho protection of their altars, firesides and liberty. In the Norwegian wars, the actors were, every one of them, named and patronymically described as the KiDg's friend and companion. The same wonderful individuality has been seen in this war. ' Our soldiers are not a consolidated mass? an unthinking machine?but an army of intelligent units. To designate all who have distinguished themselves by special valor, would be to enumerate nearly all in army. The generous rivalry between the troops from different States has prevented any special pre-eminence, and hereafter, for centuries to come, the gallant bearing and unconquerable devotion of .Confederate soldiers will inspire the hearts, and encourage the hopes, and strengthen the faith of all who labor to obtain their freedom. For three years this cruel war has been waged against us, and its continuance has been seized upon as a pretext by some discontented persons to excite hostility to the Government. Recentst\nd public as have been the occurrences, it is strange that a misapprehension exists as to the conduct of the two Governments in reference to peace.? Allusion has been made to the unsuccessful efforts, when separation took place, to procure an amioablc adjustment of all matters in dispute. These attempts at negotiation do not comprise all that has been done. In every form in which expression could be given to the sentiment?in public meetings, through the press, by legislative resolves?the desires of this peoplo for peace?for the uninterrupted enjoyment of their rights and prosperity?has been made known The President, more authoritatively, in several of his messages, while protesting the utter absence of all desire to interfere with the United States, or acquire any of their territory, bas avowed that the "advent of peaoe will be hailed with joy.? I Our efforts to avoid the war, forced on us i as it was by the lust of conquest and the insane passions of our foes, are known to 1 mankind." ' * | The course of tho Federal Government ' has proved that it did not desire peace, and j wou'd not consent to it on any terms that i we could possibly concede. In proof of this, we refer to the repeated rejection of all terms of conciliation and compromise, tn their recent contemDtuous refusal to re ' j ,w A. j ceive the Vice-President, who was sent to j negotiate for softening the asperities of the , war, and their scornful rejection of the off for of a neutral power to mediate botwoen , the contending parties. If cumulative evidence be needed, it can be found in the foU ;: lowing resolution, recently adopted by the t House of Representatives in Washington : 3, "Resolved, 'That as our oountry and the 9 very existence of the best Government ever instituted by mau are imperilled by the 9 most causeless and wicked rebellion that e the world has seen, and believing, as we do, that the only hope of saving this country - and preserving this Government is by the f power of the sword, we are for the most 1- vigorous prosecution of the war, until tho r- Constitution and the laws shall be enforced " and obeyed inall parts of the United States; q and to that end we oppose any armistice, or - ? intervention, or mediation, or proposition for peace, from any quarter, so long as there shall be foand a rebel in arms against the Government ; and we ignore all party names, lines and issues, and rcoognize but two parties in this war?patriots and traitors." The motive of such strange conduot is obvious. The Republican party was founded to destroy slavery and the equality of the States, and Lincoln was seleoted as the instrument to accomplish this object. The Union was a barrier to the consummation of this policy, because the Constitution, which was its bond, recognized and protected slavery and the slavery of the States. The ' Union must, therefore, be sacrificed, and to insure its destruction; war was decermmea on. The mass of the Northern people were not privy to and sympathized in no such design. They loved the Union and wished to ' preservo it. To rally the people to the support of the warvits objeot was proclaimed 1 to be '<a restoration of the Union," as if that whioh implied voluntary assent, of whioh agreement was an indispensable element and condition, could be preserved by J coercion. It is absurd to pretend that a Government, really desirous of restoring i the Union, would adopt such measures as the confiscation of private property, the emancipation of slaves, systematic efforts to ( invite them to insurrection, foroibld abduction from their homes and oompulsory enlistment in the army, the division of a sovereign State without its oonsent, and a proclamation that one-tenth of the population of a State, and that tenth under military rule, should control the will of the remaining nine-tenths. The only relation possible between the two seotions, under suoh a policy, is that of conqueror and oonquered, superior and dependent. Best assured, fellow-citizens, that although restoration may still be used as a war cry by' the Northern Government, it; is only to delude and betray. Fanaticism has summoned to its aid cupidity and vengeance; and nothing short of your utter subjugation, the destruction of your State Governments, the overthrow of your social and politioal fabric, your person- i al and pnblio degradation and rain, will satisfy the demands of the North. Can there be a man so vile, so debased, so unworthy of Rberty, as to accept peace on suoh humiliating terms ? * It would' hardly be fair to assert that all the Northern peoplo participate in thas.e designs. On the contrary, there exists a powerful political party, which openly condemns them. The Administration has, however, been able thus far, by its enor- 1 moos patronage and its lavish expenditures, to 6eduoe, or by its legions of ('Hessian" mercenaries to overawe the masses, to con- 1 trol the elcotions and to establish an arbitrary despotism. It oannot be possible that ' this state of things can continue. The people of the United States, accustomed to freedom, cannot consent to be ruined and enslaved, in order to ruin and enslave us. Moral, like physical, epidemics, have their allbtted.periods, and must sooner or later i be exhausted and disappear. When reason returns, our enemies will probably reflect that a people like ours, who have exhibited such capabilities and Extemporized such resources, can never be subdued; that a vast expanse of territory, with such a population, cannot bo governed as an obedient colony. Victory wohld not be conquest. The inextinguishable quarrel would be transmitted "from bleeding sire to son," and the struggle would be renewed between generations yet unborn. To impoverish us would only be to dry up some of the springs of Northern prosperity?to destroy Southem wealth is to reduce Northern profits, while the restoration of peaoe would necessarily re-establish some commercial intercourse. It may not be amiss, in this connection, to say that at one time it was the wish and expectation of many at the South to form a treaty of amity and friendship with the Northern States, by which bothpeoplo might derive the benefits of commercial intercourse and move on side by side, in the arts of peace and civilization. History has confirmed the lesson taught by Divine authority, that each nation, as well as each individual, should seek their happiness in the prosperity of others, and not in the injury or ruin of a neighbor. The general welfare of all is tho highest dictate o ? ? of moral duty and economio policy, while a heritage of triumphant wrong is the greatest curse that can befall a nation. * Until some evidence is given of a change of policy on the part of the Government and some assurance is received, that' efforts at negotiation will not be spurned, the Congress are of opinion, that any direct overtures for peaoe would compromise our selfrespect, be fruitless of good, and interpreted by the enemy as an indication of Weakness. We can only repeat the desire of the peoplo for peace, and our readiness to accept terms, consistent with the honor and integrity and independence of the States, and compatible with the safety of our domestic institutions. Not content with rejecting all proposals for a peaceful settlement of the controversy a cruel w?r of invasion was commenced, which, in its progress, has been marked by a brutality and disregard to the rules of civilized warfare, as stand out in unexamj pled barbarity in the history of modern i wars. Accomplished by every act of crucltv and rapine, the conduct*of the_ enemy has been destitute of that forbearance and magnanimity, which oivilization and Christianity have introduced, to mitigate the asperity of war. The atrooities are too incredible for narration. Instead of a regular war, our resistance of the unholy efforts to crush out our national existence is treated as a rebellion, and the settled international roles between belligerents are ignored, i Instead of conducting the war as betwixt two military and political organizations, it is. a war. against the whole population. Houses are pillaged and burned. Churches f are defaoed. Towns are ransacked. Clo :? thing of women and infants is stripped from ' their persons. Jewelry and mementoes of tho dead are stolen. Mills and implements of agriculture are destroyed. Private Bait works are broken .upon. The introduction of medicineB is forbidden. Means of subsistenoe are wantonly wasted -to produce beggary. Prisoners are returned with contagious diseases. The last morsel of food has been taken from families^ who were not allowed to carry on a trade or branch of industry. A rigid and offensive espionage has been introduced to ferret out "disloyalty." Persons have been forced to choose between starvation of helpless children and taking the oath ot allegiance to a hated Government. The cartel for exchange of prisoners has been suspended and our unfortunate soldiers subjected to the grossest indignities. The wounded at Gettysburg were deprived of their nurses Ami inhnmanly left to perish on fhe field. Helpless women have been exposed to the most cruel outrages and to that dishonor which is infin itely worse than death. Citizens have been murdered by the Butlers and McNeils and Milroys, who are favorite generals of our , enemies. Refined and delicate ladies have been seized, bound with cords, imprisoned, guarded by negroes, and held as hostages for the return of reoaptufed slaves. Unoffending non-combatants have been banished or dragged from their quiet homes to be immured in filthy jails. Preaohing the gospel has been refused except on condition of taking the oath of allegiance. Parents have been forbidden to name their ohiidren in honor of "rebel" 'chiefs. Property has been oonfiso&ted. Military governors have been appointed for States, satraps for provinces, and Haynaus for cities. These oruelties and atrocities of the enemy have been exceeded by their malioious and bloodthirsty purposes and maohinations in reference to the slaves. Early, in this war, President Lincoln averred his constitutional inability and personal unwillingness to interfere with the domestic institutions of the States and the relation between master and servant Prudential considerations may have been veiled, under conscientious scruples, for Seward; in a confidential instruction to Mr. Adams, the Minister to Great Britain, on 10th Marob, 18G2, said : "If the Government of the United States should precipitately dOoree the immediate abolition of slavery, it would reinvigorate the declining insurrection in every part or the South." Subsequent reverses and the refractory rebelliousness of the seceded States oaused a change of policy, and Mr. Lincoln issued his celebrated proclamation, a mere bruteni fulmen, liberating the slaves in the "insurrectionary districts." On the 24th June, 1776, one of the reasons assigned by Pennsylvania for hor separation from the mother country was that, in her sister colonies, the "King bad excited the negroes to revolt" and to imbue their hands in the blood of their masters, in a manner unpracticeJ by civilized nations. This, probably, had referenoe to the proclamation of Dunmore, the last Toyal Governor of Virginia, in 1775, declaring freedom to all servants o? negroes, if they would join "for the reducing of the colony to a proper sense of its duty." The invitation to the slaves to rise against their masters, the suggested insurrection, caused, says Bancroft, "a thrill of indignation to run through Virginia, effacing all differences of party, and rousing one strong, impassioned purpose to drive away the insolent power by whioh it had been put forth." A cotemporary annalist, adverting to the same proclamation, said "it was received with the greatest horror in all the colonies." "The policy adopted by Dunmore," says Lawrence in .his notes on Whpnton, "of arming the slaves against their masters, was not pursued during the war of the Revolution ; and when negroes were taken by th? English', they were'not considered otherwise than as property and plunder." Emancipation of slaves as a war measure has been severely oondemned and denounced by the most eminent publicists iu Europe and the United States. The United States, "in their diplomatic relations, have ever maintained," says the Northern authority just quoted, "that slaves wero private property, and for them, as suoh, they have repeatedly received compensation from England."? Napoleon I, was never induced to issue a proclamation for the emancipation of the ItJo mo., mi'fPnssiA FTn said ! OCUQ 1U uig nui nnu "I could have armed against her a part of her population, by proclaiming the liberty of the serfs. A great number of villages asked it of me, but I refused to avail myself of a measure which would have devoted to death thousands of families." In the discussions growing out of the treaty of peace of 1814, and the proffered mediation of Russia, the principle was maintained by the United States that "the emancipation of the enemy's slaves is not among the acts of legitimate warfare." In the instructions from John Qnincy Adams, as Secretary of State, to Mr. Middleton, at Saint PetcrsI burg, October 18, 1820, it is said : "The British have broadly asserted the right of emancipating slaves, (private property) as a legitimate right of war. No such right is acknowledged as a law of war by writers who admit any limitation. The right of putting to death all prisoners in cold blood and without speoial cause, might as well be pretended to be a law of war, or the right * ? ? to use poisoned WeapuiJO, ur LU uaaoMiuato. Disregarding the teachings of'the approved writers on international law and the practices and claims of his own Government in its purer days, President Lincoln has sought to convert the Sooth into a St. Domingo, by appealing to the cupidity, lusts, ambition and ferocity of the slave. Abraham Lincoln is bat the lineal descendant of Diinmore, and the impotent malioe of each was foiled by the fidelity of those who, by ' the meanness of the conspirators, would only, if successful, have been seduced into idleness, filth, vice, beggary and death. But we tire of these indignities and c-i normities. They are^too sickening for re? cital. History will hereafter pillory those who committed and encouraged saoh crimes in immortal infamy. Gen. Robert E. Lee, in a recent battle order, stated to his invincible legions, that the "crnel foe seeks to rednoe onr fathers and mothers, onr wives and ohildren to abject slavery," He does not paint too strongly the pnrposes'of the enemy or the consequences of sabjngation. What has been done in certain districts, is bnt the prologue of the bloody drama that will be enactedIt is well that every man and woman should have some jnet conception of the horrors of conquest. The fate of Ireland at the period of its conquest, and of Poland, distinctly foreshadows what wonld await us.? The /guillotine, in its ceaseless work of blood, would be revived for the execntion of the "rebel leaders." The heroes of our contest would be required to lay down their proud ensigns, on which are recorded the battle fields of their glory, to stack their arms, lower their heads in humiliation and dishonor, and pass under the yoke of abolition misrule an3 tyranny. A hateful inquisition made atrocious by spies and informers; starchamber courts, enforcing their decisions by' confiscations, imprisonments; banishments and death; a band of decectives ferreting out secrets, lurking in every family, existing in every conveyance; the suppression of free speech; the deprivation of arms and franchises; and the ever present sense of inferiority would make onr condition abject and miserable beyond what freemen can imagine. Subjugation involves everything that the torturing malioe and devilish ingenuity of our foes oan suggest. The destruction of our nationality, the equalization of whites and blacks, the obliteration of State lines, degradation to colonial vassalage and the reduction of many of our oitizens to dreary, hopeless, remediless bondage. A hostile police would keep "order" in every town and city. Judges; like Busteed, would hold our courts, protected by Yankee soldiers. Churches would be filled by Yankee or tory preaohers. Every office would be bestowed on aliens. Absenteeism would1 curse us with all its vices. Superadded to these, sinking us into ^a lower abyss of degradation, we would be made the slaves of . * i i 3 it our slaves, newers or wooa ana urawtuo ui water for those upoQ whom God has stamped indellibly the marks of physical and intellectual inferiority. The past or foreign countries need not be sought unto to furnish illustrations of the heritage of shame that subjugation would entail, Baltimore, St. Louis, Nashville, Knoxville, New Orleans, Vioksburg, Huntsville, Norfplk, Newborn, Louisville, and Fredericksburg are the first fruits of the ignominy and poverty o& Yankee domination.. The sad story of the wrongs and indignities endured by those States which have been in the complete or partial possession of the enemy, will give the best evidence of the consequences of subjugation. Missouri a magnificent empire of agricultural and mineral wealth, is to-day a smoking ruin and the theatre of the most revolting cruelties and barbarisms. The minions of tyranny consume her substance, plunder her citizens, and destroy her peace. The saored rights of freemen are struck down, and the brood of her children, her maidens and her old men, is made to flow, otft of mere wantonness anB recklessness. JNo vrnispers of freedom go unpunished, and the very instincts of self-preservation art*outlawed. The worship of God and the rites of sepal* tare have been shamefully interrupted, and in tnany instances, the cultivation of the soil is prohibited tp her own citizens. These facts are attested by many witnesses, and it is but a just tribute to that noble and chivalrous people, that, amid barbarities almost unparalleled, they still maintain a proud and defiant spirit towards their enemies. In Maryland, the judiciary, made eubservient to ezecntive absolutism, furnishes no security for individual rights or personal freedom; members of the Legislature are arrested and imprisoned without process of law or assignment of cause, and the whole land groaneth under the oppressions of a merciless tyranny. In Kentucky, the ballot-box has been overthrown, free speech *s suppressed, the most vexatious annoyances harrass and em| bitter, and all the appliances of an unscrupulous despotism are freely used to prevent the uprising of the noble patriots of "the dark and bloody ground." Notes of gladness, assuranoes of a brighter and better day, reach us, and the exiles may take courage and hope for the future. In Virginia, the model of all that illusj.? I-- L.m.n Viai-mam nnd aalf-rlAnvinc T>at UtttCa liumau uvww* j? D r? riotism, although the tempest of desolation has swept over her fair domains, no sign of repentance for her separation from the North can bo found. ' Her old homesteads dismantled, her ancestral relics destroyed, her people impoverished, her territory made the battlo ground for the rude shocks of contending hosts, and then divided, with hireling parasites mookingly olaiming jurisdiction and authority, the Old Dominion still stands with proud crest and defiant mein, ready to tramp beneath her heel every usurper and tyrant, and to illust&te afresh her sic semper, tyrannis, the "proudest motto that ever blazed on a nation's shield or a warrior's arms." To prevent such effects, our peoplfi are now prosecuting this struggle. It is no mere war of calculation,, no contest for a particular kind of property,. no barter of precious blood for filthy lucre. Everything involved in manhood, civilization, religion, law, property, country, home, is at stake, We fight not for plunder, spoils, pillage, * <ni- - territorial conquest ?ue uu TOiuuiouv tempts by no prizes of "beauty or booty," to be drawn in the lottery of this war. We seek to preserve oivH freedom, honor, equality, firesides; and,tyood is well shed, when "shed for family, for'our friends, for our kind, for our country, for our God." Burke said, "a State, resolved to hazard its existence rather than abandon its object, most have an infinite advantage over thai which is resolved to yield, rather than, carry .ita resistance beyotffl a certain point/' It is better to be conquered by any other nation than by the United . States. It is better to .be a dependency of any other power than of that. By the condition of its existence and essential constitution, as now governed, it must be in perpetual hostility to us. As the Spanish invader burned his ships to make retreat impossible, so we ---- ~ ?J AAIta of A?H KO nlftBUT/fa I CBUIlUb MJiU^U Ml IKIAC Retreat is more dangerous than advance. Behind as, are inferiority and degradation. Before as, is everything enticing to a pa* triot. x Oar bitter and implaoable foes are pre* paring vigorously for the coming campaign. Corresponding efforts should be made on oar part. Without murmuring, oar people should respond to the laws, which the exigency demands. Every one. capable of bearing arms,- should be connected with some effective military organization. The utmost energies of the whole population should be taxed to produce food and olothing, and a spirit of oheerfulness and trust in an allwise and overruling Providence should be cultivated. The history of the past three years has muoh to animate us to renewed effort and a firmer and more assured hope. A whole people have given their hearts and bodies to repel the invader, - and costly sacrifices have been made on the altar of our country. No similar instance is to be found of such spontaneous uprising and volunteering. Inspired by a holy patriotism, again and again, have our' brave soldiers, with the aid of Heaven, baffled the efforts of our foes. It is in no arrogant spirit, that we refer to successes that have cost us so muoh blood, and brought sorrow to so many hearts. We may find in all this an earnest of what, with determined and resolute exertion, we can do to avert subjugation and slavery?and we cannot fail to discern in our deliverance from so many^and so great perils, the interposition of that Being who will not forsake us in the'trials that are to come. Let us, th-en, looking upon the bodies of our loved aird honored dead, catch inspiration from their example, and gather renewed confidence and a firmer resolve to! * !.l?j 1 1 it lL iL.l' ireaa, who nazajteruig i>ruat, mo pam >uu leads to honor and peace, although it lead through tears and suffering and blood. We have no alterna tive bat to do oar daty. We combat for property, homes, the honor of onr wives, the future of oar children, tjie preservation of onr fair fend from pollution, and to avert a doom whioh we can read, both in the threads of our enemies and the acts of oppression, we have alia-1 ded to in this address. The situation is grave, bat famishes no just excuse for despondence. Instead of harsh oriticisms on the Government and our Generals; instead of bewailing the failnre to accomplish impossibilities, we should rather be grateful, humbly and profoundly, to a benignant Providence, for the results that have rewarded our labors. Remembering the disproportion in population, in military and naval resources, and the deficiency of skilled labor in the South, onr accomplishments bave surpassed those recorded of any people' in the annals of the world. There is no just reason for hopelessness or fear. Since the outbreak of the war the South has lost the nominal possession of the Mississippi river tnd fragments nf h?r hnt.Federal oooananov is not conquest. The fires of patriotism still burn nnqnenchably in the breasts of those who are subject to foreign domination.? We have yet in onr uninterrupted oontrol a territory which, according to past progress, will require the enemy ten years to overrun. The enemy is not free from difficulties. With an enormous debt, the financial convulsion, long postponed, is snrely coming. The short orops in the United States and abundant harvests in Europe will hasten what was otherwise inevitable. Many sagacious persons at the North, disoover in the usurpations of their Government, the certain overthrow of their liberties. A large number revolt from the unjust war waged upon the South, and would gladly bring it to an end.* Others look with alarm upon .the complete eub version of constitutional freedom by Abraham Lincoln, and feel in their own persons, the bitterness of slavery which three years of war have failed to inflict on the Sonth. Brave and earnest men at the North have spoken out against the usurpation and ornelties daily, practiced. The sncoess of the men over the radical and despotic faotion which now rules the North may open the way to peaceful negotiation and a cessation of this bloody and nnneoeasary war. In conclusion, we exhort our fellow citi. zens to be of good cheer and spare no labor, nor sacrifices, that may be necessary to enable ns to win the campaign upon which we have jnst entered. We have passed through great trials of affliction, bnt suffering and hufniliation are tb? school-masters that leads nations to self-reliance and independence. These disciplinary providences but mature and develop and solidify our people. We beg that the supplies and resources of the country, which arc ample, may be sold to the Government to support and equip its armies. Let all'spirit of faction and past party differences be forgotten in the presence of our oruel foe." We should not despond-. We should be selfdenying. We should labor to extend to the utmost the productive resources of the country. We should economize. The families of soldiers should be cared for and liberally supplied. We entreat from all a generous and hearty co operation with the Government in all branches of its admibistratian, and with the agents, civil or', xxiili* tary, in the. performance of-their duties, Moral aid has the '.'power, of the inoom municable," &nd by united * efforts, by an I all-comprehending and Belf-fcacrtfl&irig pa I we can, With thrbtossiDg of God, , . jratMlp perils, which er^virop ps, and ;| aohieTe for oB?ielv? and ohiidren peaw and freedom. Hitherto the Lord has in terposed graciously to bring us victory, and in Hie band there is present power to prevent this great multitude which come against us, from casting us out of the pos- | session which He has' given us to inherit. J T. J. SEMMES, . ' 1 J. b. ORR, 1 A. E. MAXWELL, Committee on the part of Senate': J. W. CLAPP, . S J. L- M. CURRY, JtJLIAN HARTRIDGE, . . JOHN GOODE, je., W. N. H. SMITH, Committee of House of Representatives. Financial and Commercial. Notwithstanding the length of the following, we think its value entitles it to a place in oar columns We commend it to the attention of our readers as a elear and luminous exposition of this important Act f BiCHftoND, Fob. 22, 1864. There is no sn'-ject of more importance at this time, nor one that excites mom general interest, than-the recent financial legislation of Congress. Everybody is anxioUs to know what will be its effects?present and prospective?upon his own andthe publio interests. Having examined with some care the provisions of the two Acts, 1 ! styled the "Currency and Tax Bills," we \ j deem it proper to state onr understanding of their leading provisions, and to submit oar opinions of their probable effeote upon the onrrenoy and prioes. In the first place, the law discriminates against notes of the* denomination of one hundred dollars, on the presumption that they are, or will be, held chiefly by persons who oan afford to sustain the- loss-that may be occasioned by the heavy, discriminating tax npon them. A hundred dollar note, after the 1st of April next, will, under the operation of the law, be reduced to sixtysix and two-third dollars; on the 1st of 'May it will be worth only (as a representative of value) fifty-six and two-third dollars; and for each subsequent month that it is held it will be subject to a farther of so that, by the 1st of November, the qriginal value of the note will not only have been extinguished, bat a tax of Hi over and beyond that value will attaoh to it. If it is held until the 1st of January/an additional "tax of $10 (for December) will at- j tach to it, and then the holder,. by the.imposition of a farther tax el on* hundred per cent., will, besides losing the amount^promised on the face of the note, owe tbe Government one hundred and fourteen and one third dollars! Such being the effect of the discrimination against the $100 notes, it is not surprising that the holders should be anxioas to get rid of them, bat there is not the slightest necessity for any panic n \ excitement on the subject The invitation J to fnnd has already been issued by tfee 8*c- ' : retazy of the Treasury, and it will be responded to light willingly by those who bavtaxes to pay Let this class make it their neighborly duty, before taking their notes to the Treasury, to exchange their smelter J denominations for the "C's" of those who have more of them than they wish to fund. They cannot possibly lose by the operation, and will render a friendly servioe to those who have allowed themselves to be oaoght with a snperabandanco of "the large notes." Secondly, notes of the denomination of $50, $20, and $10, will, on and after the 1st of April next, be subject to a tax of om third of die amount promised on die face, of said notes, bat not subject, like the hundred dollar notes, to the additional monthly tax of ten per cent On the 1st of Janoa- ?. ry, howeVer, they will be wiped oat of circulation by the attachment or a tax of "one hundred per oeut. Long before that time arrives it is certain that most of the notes of the denominations mentioned will have been funded, (that is, exchanged for four ppp nnnt. bonds.') or absorbed in the pay r? / ? . .. meat of taxes, or exchanged for the new issue authorized by the aok . Thirdly, the la*' discriminates in favor of notes of the denomination of $5 and under, on the presumption that they are, or will be, chiefly held fcy persons of small incomes. The fives are not subject to-a tax until the 1st of July next, but, after that time, they . are to be rated as only worth $3,331, until the first of January next, when they will % ! share the fate of the larger denominations. (This latter provision is not clearly expressed In the act, but is presumed to have been the intention of Congress.) The immediate effect of this discrimination is to cause people to hold on to the fives in preference to the optes of larger denominations, unless they wish to fund before the 1st April, iu ???4 mnat imt nil nf fflfljr fivPd WUIUU OTCUIr uuoj iuuqv y? ???? ? . ? in exchange for notes of larger denominations. The privilege of loading the fives in fonr per cent, bonds commences on the 1st April and ends the last day of Jane, on this side of the Mississippi river. The 81, 82, and half dollar notes are not snbject to any ^tax under the "Currency Aot," and will, consequently, be exchangeable at par, in trade, for the new issue of Treasury notes. For this reason they are being hoarded, or laid by tor future use.? The amount of Confederate small notes in circulation on the 1st January, 1864, was about 810,000,000. It is. generally received as an axiom of finance that when the correnojrof a country exceeds the amount actually required for the exchanges of trade, the "purohasinr power" of the currenoy is Idnened to an extent corTespcrn m ng wun no ??? . r < > example, if $100^000,000 be required, and $160,000,000 be pat ia circulation, the latter amount, in the handgrofthe people, will net bqy more than than the $100,000,000 would; and sp, ^ktbe$160,600,000 uredqded again to $100,000,000, the lat i ter will buy as mttoh as thoformdr. Hence, " 'it is argued, that when the Confederate currency remaining unfunded on the 1* L April, ? farther reduced at.tfct time oneI fey the iuqmthanf a tax of 88i ? '