We give below a report from the
Augusta (Georgia) papers of the speech of
President Davis in that city on the 5th instant.
It will be read with interest at this time.
The President made his appearance, accompanied by
Generals Beauregard,
Hardee,
Cobb, and a number of other officers, and on being introduced by
Mayor May amid enthusiastic cheers, spoke as follows:
Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends and Fellow Citizens of Georgia:
At the moment of leaving your State, after having come hither to learn the exact truth as to the late military operations here, I go away much more confident than when I came.
I have been to the army, and return imbued with the thought that they are as fully ready now as ever to meet the enemy, and that if all who are absent will return, and those owing service will go, thirty suns will not set before no foot of an invader will press the soil of
Georgia.
Never before was I so confident that energy, harmony and determination would rid the country of its enemy and give to the women of the land that peace their good deeds have so well deserved.
Those who see no hope now, who have lost confidence, are to me like those of whose distorted vision it is said they behold spots upon the sun. Such are the croakers, who seem to forget the battles that have been won and the men who have fought; who forget that, in the magnitude of those battles and the heroism of those men, this struggle exceeds all that history records.
We commenced the fight without an army, without a navy, without arsenals, without mechanics, without money and without credit.
Four years we have stemmed the tide of invasion, and to-day are stronger than when the war began; better able now than ever to repulse the vandal who is seeking our overthrow.
Once we imported the commonest articles of daily use, and brought in from beyond our borders even bread and meat.
Now the
State of Georgia alone produces food enough not only for her own people and the army within it, but feeds, too, the Army of Virginia.
Once we had no arms, and could receive no soldiers but those who came to us armed.
Now we have arms for all, and are begging men to bear them.
This city of
Augusta alone produces more powder than the army can burn.
All things are fair: and this Confederacy is not yet, in the familiar parlance of the croaker, "played out," as those declare who spread their own despondency over the whole body politic.
[Voice in the crowd, beyond doubt that of a Hibernian, "Three cheers for the
Confederacy," which were vociferously given.]
From the accents of that voice, my friend, I see that you have come into this country from one that has itself lost its liberty, and you may well exclaim three cheers for the
Confederacy, upon whose success now alone depends the existence of constitutional liberty in the world. --We are fighting for that principle — upon us depends its last hope.
The
Yankees, in endeavoring to coerce the States, have lost that heirloom of their fathers, and the men of the
South alone must sustain it.
Ours is not a revolution.
We were a free and independent people, in States that had the right to make a better government when they saw fit. They sought to infringe upon the rights we had; and we only instituted a new government on the basis of those rights.
We are not engaged in a Quixotic fight for the rights of man; our struggle is for inherited rights; and who would surrender them?
Let every paper guaranty possible be given, and who would submit?--From the grave of many a fallen hero the blood of the slain would cry out against such a peace with the murderers.
The women of the land driven from their homes; the children lacking food; old age hobbling from the scenes of its youth; the fugitives, forced to give way to the
Yankee oppressor, and now hiding in your railroads, all proclaim a sea of blood that freemen cannot afford to bridge.
There is but one thing to which we can accede — separate State independence.
Some there are who speak of reconstruction with slavery maintained; but are there any who would thus measure rights by property?
God forbid. Would you see that boy, with a peach bloom on his cheek, grow up a serf — never to tread the path of honor unless he light the torch at the funeral pyre of his country?
Would you see the fair daughters of the land given over to the brutality of the
Yankees?
If any imagine this would not be so, let him look to the declarations of
Mr. Lincoln, the terms he offers; let him read the declarations of the
Northern press; let him note the tone of the
Northern people; and he will see there is nothing left for us but separate independence.
Who now looks for intervention?
Who does not know that our friends abroad depend upon our strength at home?
That the balance is in our favor with victory, and turns against us with defeat, and that when our victory is unquestioned we will be recognized, and not till then.
We must do our duty, and that duty is this: Every man able to bear arms must to the front, and all others must devote themselves to the cause at home.
There must be no pleading for exemption.
We are fighting for existence; and by fighting alone can independence be gained.
Georgia is now invaded.--She is calling for succor, and he who, from
Alabama, from
Mississippi, from
South Carolina, rushes to her aid, strikes, when he strikes for her, a blow for his own home and family.
Our
Confederate States must lean one upon the other for mutual support.
We are, as the poet has said,
"Distinct as the billows, yet one as the sea."
One part must rush to the support of the other.
We must beat
Sherman, we must march into.
Tennessee--there we will draw from twenty thousand to thirty thousand to our standard; and so strengthened, we must push the enemy back to the banks of the
Ohio, and thus give the peace party of the
North an accretion no puny editorial can give.
Words will not now avail.
You must consult your hearts, perform more than the law can exact, yield as much as freemen can give, and all will be well.
With peace and freedom a glorious career opens for these
Confederate States.
Relieved from class legislation, free from taxes — indirect it is true, but imposed by your rulers for twenty years past — no longer subject to Northern speculators, grinders of the faces of the poor, and deniers of the rights of men, you will start forward in the brightest of futures.
On each of the former occasions when I was in this
State of Georgia, enemy way to the army, that army was on the soil of other States; and it is only at this visit that this is the battle field.
I trust that this will not be long so, and that.
Providence may soon take the war beyond her borders.
I trust, too, that our hearts are fixed on following the enemy in his retreat, and then, if negotiations come, they will come in such form as alone we can entertain.
Till then we can have no peace; and yet does any one suppose this Government is anxious for war?
Some have spoken of the executive, and declared that executive hardness and pride of opinion was opposed to any negotiations.
Those who think so must imagine me more or less than man. Do they not suppose I have wept over the wounded soldier borne from the field to tell of those who there lay lifeless; that I have not lamented the loss of property by our good and great men; that I have not mourned over the lives that have been offered up?
My first effort was for peace; and I sent commissioners to endeavor to arrange an amicable dissolution.
From time to time I have repeated efforts to that end, but never, never have I sought it on any other basis than independence.
(Enthusiastic applause.) But do I expect it?
Yes, I do. (Renewed cheering.)
Brave men have done well before against greater odds than ours, and when were men ever braver?
We will achieve it. How many sacrifices it may take, I cannot tell; but I believe that a just God looks upon our cause as holy, and that of our enemy as iniquitous.
He may chastise us for our offences, but in so doing He is preparing us, and in His good
Providence will assist us, and never desert the right.
And you, my fair countrywomen, whose past gives assurance of what you will do in the future; you, who have clothed the soldier and sent him forth to battle; who have hung upon the rear of the armies, and ever stood ready to succor the wounded; who have lined the wayside to minister to the feeble and pointed the dying to Heaven; you, too, have done your duty.
You have given up all. You have sent your husbands, your fathers, your sons, to the army; but you must do more.
You must use your influence to send all to the front, and form a public opinion that shall make the skulker a marked man, and leave him no house wherein he can shelter.
And you, young ladies, who are yet to marry, let me tell you that when the choice comes between a one- armed or one legged soldier and one who has grown fat on extortion at home, choose rather to cling to the armless sleeve.
There are some I know who have looked upon Confederate legislation as needlessly harsh.
I would that it could have been unnecessary.
I would that goods could have been bought in market rather than impressed; that the armies could have been filled by volunteering rather than by conscription; and yet I look upon the latter as the more just.
You force all men to make roads, pay taxes, serve on juries; why should not all fight your battles.
My opinion on this subject has not changed.
I believed, and believe now, it is just; that it would have been better had it been the policy from the beginning of the war; and I endorse it in all its length and breadth and depth.
Besides, however, these forces we have others.
For this the reserves have been organized, and on these, and on the disabled soldiers, who, faithful to the last, will fight, though they cannot march, the defence of this city of
Augusta must rest.
When your line shall have been completed these forces can hold
Augusta against any force but a large army, and when that comes, a large army will be at liberty to meet it, and such an army you shall have.
(Great applause.)
Some there are, too, who never set a squadron in the field who yet proffer their advice.
They can plan in their closets the campaigns of a general and write the
State papers of an executive.--I do not gainsay their wisdom, but let them go to the front and there give us the benefit of their services.
(Laughter.)
Why criticise a general or rail at the executive?
They have ventured all; and everything they have is dependent on the result.
Their honor, their reputation, their future, is at stake.
If you are assured of their good intent, their steady labor, their constant effort, why destroy confidence in them by railing?
In proportion as they err should they be treated with leniency.
In proportion as the executive is purblind, should criticism be friendly and error be pointed out calmly.
So far as they fall short, just so far do they need support.
Two of these gentlemen who crossed this floor with me you have cheered, and you have cheered them because you respect those who have freely ventured their lives in your defence.
One is
Georgia's own son — the hero of many hard fought fields — your own good and true
Hardee, (cheers.)
Hardee, who, as a captain, approved himself early a brave and brilliant soldier, and who now goes from one post of duty to another; who, leaving the army above, goes to make good the defence of
Savannah against your foe.
The other —
Beauregard--(cheers) goes to share the toils, the fortunes, the misfortunes, if it be so, of the army in
Georgia.
He goes with a single purpose to serve wherever I direct, asking no particular place, desiring no special command, but in the spirit that made a general a corporal, go where I say, and so going, I trust he goes not to bleed but to conquer.
(Great applause.)
With these hopes I go to
Virginia.--Late reverses there have been exaggerated by the telegraph, and the tide of victory is now setting in our favor.
Forrest has disposed of the enemy that held him in check so long, and is now going up the river, sweeping onward toward the
North, gaining victory after victory, conquering and to conquer.
Be of good cheer.
In homely phrase, put your shoulder to the wheel, and work while it is day.
With this stirring peroration, and a few parting words as to the necessity of defeating the two main Yankee armies before the new levies could come in from the draft, and the duty of
Georgia to feed the armies and hapless refugees, his
Excellency brought his remarks to a close amid enthusiastic applause.
Brief speeches were also made by
Generals Beauregard,
Hardee and
Cobb, which were greatly applauded.
General Beauregard, in the course of his remarks, said that he had fired the first gun at
Sumter, and he hoped to live to fire the last of the war, which drew forth loud applause.
General Hardee stated that before he left the army of
General Hood, that officer had said to him that "on Tuesday next (that very day) he hoped to lay his claws upon the
State road (in rear of
Sherman), and, having once fixed them there, it was not his intention to let them loose their hold." [Vociferous cheers.]
