Southern places occupied by the enemy.
With very few exceptions, the people of the
South, in those localities which have been conquered by the enemy, exhibit the noblest determination to maintain their patriotism and self-respect.
We do not ascertain this fact alone from Southern sources of information, although they are quite numerous and reliable, but the
Northern letter writers all agree in the same statement.
Nor is it true alone of the original Secessionists in those overrun regions, that they stand their ground and will have nothing whatever to do with their enemies.
On the contrary, we have yet to learn of the first original Union man, who, having joined the
South from cheer conviction and principle has exhibited any other than the sternest resolution to live and die in her cause.
We pity from the bottom of our hearts the handful of man in the
South, who, for purposes of pelf and security, have pursued a different course.
If they supposed that they would not be alone, if they dreamed that wherever the tide of Northern invasion swept it would find consciences as and knees as cringing as their own, and that thus their surrender of State pride and manhood would be forgotten in the general wreck of character, they must by this time have discovered their mistake.
They are few in number, and easily discernable, like spots upon the sun, and there they will remain for all ages, the wonder of the world, and the only drawback of their country's glory.
We do not envy their feelings at this moment, and wish them no worse punishment than their own reflections.
In
Nashville, in
Alexandria, and in other cities and villages occupied by the enemy, there is a spirit need worthy of the best days of the human race, and giving the brighten augury of the future.
It is the spirit of endurance, a spirit even more rare than that which wins battlefields, and without which no people have ever yet achieved their independence.
The people of these cities not only refuse to perjure themselves by taking an oath of allegiance which they do not mean to keep, but they exhibit a studied reserve and dignity in their intercourse with the invaders which has already satisfied them that the alleged Union sentiment of the
South is a myth — a thing which, if ever existed, exists no longer.
They discover at once that
Andy Johnson, a brutal politician and adventurer, one of the ten thousand Dalgettys in politics who have no principle but prevent and pay, is no type of the people of
Tennessee and of the
South.
Not only the men keep aloof from them, and regard them with stern and unfriendly aspect, but the children look upon them as they would wild beasts, and the ladies entirely avoid their presence.
They have invented various stories, doubtless for the purpose of justifying some contemplated atrocities of incidents in illustration of the hatred of the population to them; but, true or false, it is certain that a wide and impassable gulf rolls between them and the people of the
South.
John Bell so long known as an inflexible friend of the old Union, is the representative of his whole party in
Tennessee, and, we may add, his whole country; and with such men blended heart and soul with original Secessionists in the war of independence, we do not wonder that the
Yankees are not satisfied with the acquisition of such cattle as Parson
Brownlow and
Andy Johnson.
The ministers of the gospel in
Nashville,
Alexandria, and elsewhere, have set an example in patriotism, as in religion, which deserves the universal gratitude and admiration of their countrymen.
They have been dragged from their pulpits and threatened with death if
they would not pray for the
President of the United State; but those pious, venerable men have preferred outrage and death to such treason to their country, and have resolutely and successfully resisted the demands of the tyrants.
Their churches have been closed, their flocks deprived of the ministrations of religion, and themselves driven out as wanderers upon the face of the earth, but their pure and lofty spirits are unconquered.
In
Western Virginia we hear of a spirit equally lofty and unconquerable.
The people of
Winchester have nothing whatever to do with the enemy.
They show in a calm and dignified, but most determined manner, that they are no longer one people with their enemies.
In Hardy county our loyal citizens refuse to have any intercourse with them, either commercial or social.
The
Yankees, with their accustomed eagerness to drive a trade, have offered to sell their coffee at five cents a pound, and they would not touch it!
This is the true spirit of endurance, of self-denial, and it is touching the
Yankee in the only raw spot of his callous character.
It is, in fact, defeating him in the whole object of the war, which is nothing more nor less than to compel the
South to trade with him. We commend this example of the people of
Hardy to the whole
South.
Let not the
Yankees have reason to calculate on our self-indulgence and love of ease.
Let the
Southern people resolve, whenever so unfortunate as to be overrun by the enemy,
never to buy anything of him. An army of a hundred thousand men could not annoy and foil him more completely.
Let our people resolve to adhere to their simple beverages, and to wear their old clothes, and to look upon that man as a hollow recreant to patriotism and principle, who, for the sake of a more luxurious table, or show in dress and living, would purchase a single article of the wretches who have committed every conceivable outrage upon our soil, and whose hands are red with the blood of our brothers and children.
In regard to the oath of allegiance, we trust that the example set by the patriotic people of
Nashville,
Alexandria,
Winchester, and other localities, will continue to be universally followed at the
South.
We are aware of the idea that oaths can be put on and off like a coat, and that such obligations, even when made an appeal to God, can be assumed without wrong, when there is a mental reserve to discard them upon the first opportunity.
We do not doubt that the oath of allegiance to the
Federal power has been taken in this way by some hundreds of Southern citizens, who thoroughly sympathized with the
Southern cause.
But, it is an act which, while even a good man, yielding to the weakness of human nature, may commit, he will most certainly regret to the end of his life.
We could not compare it to the base treason of
Judas, but, like Peter's denial of his master, it will cause the impious and vacillating heart that commits it to weep the bitterest tears of remorse and shame.--Even the fear that dictates it has no foundation; for, if the great body of the
South stands firm in refusing to take this oath, as they are in the regions now occupied by the enemy, it will be impossible to punish such a multitude.
They cannot carry off a whole country to
Fort Warren and put them all in prison.
