Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Documents and Narratives, Volume 2.
Frank Moore, Ed.

[282] army. After that he increased the navy to 25,000. Louis Napoleon or the Czar of Russia never assumed more dictatorial power. The North responded to it. That Constitution that had my admiration, (and many of you have doubtless heard me upon it, for if there was any thing upon which my whole soul rested, and for which I have devoted life and every thing dear, it was the Constitution of my country,) that Constitution that the Montgomery Government has rescued, declares that no man shall be deprived of his life, liberty, or of property, but by due process of law.

That was the old Constitution. It was the Constitution we rescued. The Constitution the Confederate States presents to all people, high or low, in the surety to defend them, (applause ;) but, fellow-citizens, Mr. Lincoln by his edict, has nullified, abrogated, destroyed, trampled under foot this great constitutional right. He has suspended the right of habeas corpus; and to-day, if any one in Maryland or Missouri is down-trodden, or overridden by his myrmidons or even in Massachusetts if any freeman rises up in the land of Hancock to-day, and says or affirms that the people of the South can govern themselves as they please,--that for which Massachusetts once upon a time pledged honor and fortune and every thing dear — if a freeman was to-day to announce the great truth upon which the Revolution was fought, he would be arrested, put in jail, immured in a dungeon, and the courts being closed, he would have no hearing except a court-martial, and be executed for it.

I tell you the revolution is at the North. There is where constitutional liberty has been destroyed; and if you wish to know my judgment about the history of this war, you may read it in the history of the French Jacobins. They have become a licentious and lawless mob, and I shall not at all be surprised if in less than three years the leaders in this war, Lincoln and his Cabinet, its head, come to the gallows or guillotine, just as those who led the French war, (applause;) for human passions, when once aroused, are as uncontrollable as the elements about us. The only hope of mankind rests in the restraints of constitutional law, and the day they framed and ratified these lawless measures of Lincoln, they dug their own graves. They may talk of freedom and liberty, but I tell you no people without rulers sustained by constitutional law can be free. They may be nominally free, but they are vassals and slaves, and this unbridled mob, when they attempt to check it, Lincoln and the rest will be dealt with just as I tell you it was in France.

Why the conservative sentiment of the North is against this war. When I tell you it is fanatical, I do not mean that all men are fanatics. Just as the sturdiest trees of the forest yield to the blast of the storm, so have the friends of the Constitution yielded at the North. How is Lincoln to get those four hundred millions of dollars? I told you I might say something more about it. They have not the money. That is true. I suppose the North now might raise one hundred millions in gold and silver. I have not seen the returns of the banks. But their money-lenders are not going to lend it. Some say that the war is going to be a short one. No, my friends, do not lay the flattering unction to your souls. How did the Jacobins raise their money? Why they laid their hands upon it; and this is the way they will do at the North. First, they will issue script; but the Secretary of the Treasury cannot come up and tell them that it is wrong. He has not the nerve; and he might lose his head if he were to do it. They may issue four hundred millions of Treasury notes, and thus get along for twelve months, or perhaps for two years, before they are too much depreciated. They will then issue script against the rich man's property.

What is to be the result of this war? I am not a prophet, but I look upon it as fraught with the most momentous consequences, not unto us, but to the people of the North. I have always believed that if the Union were destroyed the North would run into anarchy and despotism. We are the salt of the concern, and it is only questionable whether or not we have quit too soon. That is the only doubt I have. Where it will end I do not know, but never again will they enjoy Constitutional Government at the North. They never understood it. Constitutional liberty is a plant of Southern growth, watered by Southern hands, nurtured by Southern hands, and if it is to be maintained, to live to light the world, it is to be done in the Southern Confederacy. (Applause.) At the North there is anarchy. Property will migrate just as it did in France. That is the end.

How long will they be able to war against us? I tell you it will be until we drive them back. There is no hope for us, there is no prospect for an early and speedy termination of the war until we drive them back; and my idea, my wish, my desire, and my council would be to raise men enough immediately from the mountains to the seaboard to do it. Georgia has already done well. I was proud of my State--proud of her origin, of her history, of her resources, and proud of her achievements; and I am to-day prouder of her than ever. In this her country's call, I believe she stands number one in answering it, both in men and money. (Applause.) She has answered nobly; let her answer still. The other States, let them send up men to drive the enemy out; and to the cotton planters I would say, come up with cotton to-day. I do not want to embarrass any one, but I say to you, tell your debtors to wait until you are out of danger. (Applause.)

When men come to you crying “Debt, debt, debt!” tell them, as Patrick Henry did when they cried “Beef, beef, beef!” let your debts wait; let all the machinery of society stand still until independence is secured. I would