fellow-soldiers of the army of Tennessee! Three years ago we were called upon to volunteer in the confederate army for a term of three years; and we all nobly responded to the call, with the express understanding that we were to be discharged as soon as our term of service expired. Indeed, we were faithfully assured by all of our officials that such a course would be pursued. The Secretary of War proclaimed that those who volunteered for three years or during the war would have to be discharged from the army at the end of three years. But to our utter surprise, we are now told that we must be Conscripted and forced to enter the army for another term of three years! Our feelings are not to be consulted — we must be Conscripted! Was such a thing ever heard of before? Do the annals of war furnish a single instance of volunteer soldiers being forced to continue in the service after the expiration of their term of service? Surely not. If we search the history of the world from the days of Adam down to the present, we will find that in every instance a volunteer soldier was discharged as soon as his term of service expired, unless he, of his own accord, reenlisted as a volunteer. And are we Americans, once the boast and pride of the world, are we to be treated worse than the heathens of the dark ages of the world treated their soldiers? Are we be made the worst slaves ever known to the world? And are we to become the laughing-stock of the world? fellow-soldiers! Is it not clear to every rational mind that our pompous and merciless rulers are daily stealing away our rights and liberties, and reducing us to the most abject slavery ever known to the world? And shall we cowardly submit to this palpable infringement upon our most sacred rights? We were told that we must come out to fight for our rights; yet our inhuman leaders are gradually robbing us of every right inherited by nature or transmitted to us by our predecessors! The Federals did not hesitate to discharge all their nine months troops whose term of service expired last summer — they were promptly discharged, and their places filled up by new levies; and shall we suffer ourselves to be treated worse than our enemies are treated? No, brave comrades; let us assert our rights, and unfinchingly maintain them! Let us show our beastly rulers that they cannot thus enslave us because we are private soldiers. They have already cunningly led us to the very threshold of destruction; they have practised one deception after another upon [46] us; they have told us lies--horrible lies — to induce us to become their Abject slaves! Among the innumerable lies promulgated by these unmitigated scamps, we call your attention to the following: They told us that the war would not last three months; that foreign nations would recognize us as an independent people and help us fight; that the Yankees could not fight; that one of us could whip ten Yankees; that Chattanooga could never be taken; that Vicksburgh could never be taken; that the Peace party of the North would force Lincoln to make peace with the South; that we soldiers should be discharged as soon as our time expired; and that we would not be heavily taxed. These are but a few of the many hypocritical lies proclaimed by those conspirators who have precipitated us into irretrievable revolution. Shall we submit to be beguiled by these unpardonable Usurpers, and permit our families to starve to death, through want of our labor at home? Are we not aware that if our absence from our families be protracted another term of three years, many of them will suffer wretchedly for the necessaries of life, if they do not starve entirely to death? And are we not bound by the most sacred Laws known to man to provide for our familiess? And should we permit a set of usurping profligates to prevent us from complying with this divine law? By the late laws of Confress, our families are to be taxed to an almost unlimited extent; and if we submit to become conscripts, the last ray of hope will have to be expelled from our hearts, for we can hope for nothing but an untimely State of Abject Slavery, not only of ourselves but Alos of our Families. now is the time to Assert our rights, for if we wait longer our doom will be for ever sealed! We who write this address are determined to demand our rights, and, if necessary, we will demand them at the point of the bayonet! We are not enemies to the South, but we are lovers of our rights, liberties, and families, and if we must lose our sacred rights, and permit our families to starve in order to sustain our wicked leaders in their deceptive course, we prefer to return to our allegiance to the old Government, accept of Lincoln's pardon, and let the leaders and their Confederacy go to hell together! This may be hard language for men who have fought in many a hard battle to use; but silent endurance ceases to be a Virtue, and confident are we that the Government of the United States can treat us no worse than we are being treated by our heartless officials in the field as well as in Richmond. But we are told that if we let the authorities Conscript us, the war will soon close, favorably to our side. Can any rational man credit such a perfidious lie? Does not this conscripting business plainly say to the world we are fast playing out? that our weakness is rapidly manifesting itself even to our own deluded minds? Fellow-soldiers, we have been too often deceived by these wily liars to place the slightest confidence in any thing they tell us! They are but Invented lies to enable them to tie the cord of Despotism tighter around our wrists! Every intelligent soldier among us knows that we are already whipped, and why not acknowledge it at once? Why not show our leaders that we know we are whipped as well as they do? President Davis virtually Acknowledges this fact; so does the Secretary of war, and the Secretary of the treasury. What use is there for us to contend against A dead currency and an empty Commissary in the face of the best army ever marshaled for combat? Think of these things, fellow-soldiers, and decide what shall be your course. We have made up our minds to go home as soon as our time is out.many soldiers.The italics and capitals are the author's; the punctuation is mine. I have the original in my possession.--Cincinnati Commercial.
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Secret address to rebel soldiers.--The following address was procured from some rebel soldiers in Calhoun County, Alabama, a few days past.
I was on secret service for the Government, and was therefore in disguise, and the rebels gave me the address, supposing me to be a rebel soldier.
There is no mistake as to its genuineness, and I know that it has circulated to a considerable extent among the dissatisfied rebel soldiers.
The following is the address:
Van Nostrand. New York, New York. 1862.
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