Gold.
--Gold is quoted at forty in
Houston, Texas.
Now; as gold is the same thing there as here, and the
Confederate currency which circulates there is the same as that which circulates here, is it not a plain case that gold, instead of being a measure of value, is now simply a commodity, and commands twice the price in
Texas that it does here because there is a better chance to invest it in blockade-running?
As much has been said about the informal message sent by
General Sherman to
Governor Brown,
Vice-President Stephens and
Senator Johnson, inviting them to visit the
General in
Atlanta, for a conference in reference to the state of the country, with a view to negotiations for peace, and as the public mind has been interested upon the subject, we copy from the
Confederate (Ga.) Union an account of the interview with
Sherman's messenger, derived from
Governor Brown himself:
‘
The Governor stated that
Mr. William King, who represented himself as the bearer of a message from
General Sherman, called upon him, and stated in substance that
General Sherman had requested him to say to the
Governor that he would be pleased to receive a visit from him and other distinguished Georgians with a view to a conference upon the state of the country and the settlement of our difficulties; that he would give the
Governor a passport through his lines, with an escort, it desired, to go and return at such time as might be agreeable to him; that he (
General Sherman) recognized him (
Governor Brown) as the governor of the whole State; and as over one hundred miles of the territory of the
State is now behind his lines, he (
General Sherman) would allow the
Governor to go and visit his people in the rear, if he desired to look after their condition, and return at his pleasure; that he would receive him and other distinguished Georgians at his headquarters, and treat them with the respect and consideration due their positions during the conference which he invited; that he did not wish to be compelled to overrun and desolate more of the territory of the
State, &c.
’
After hearing the statements of
Mr. King, the
Governor replied:
Please make to
General Sherman an acknowledgment of my obligation for the personal courtesies which you say he proposes to extend to me. But as he is only a general commanding an army in the field, and I the governor of a State, neither the constitution of his country nor of my own confers upon us any power to negotiate a treaty of peace.
We probably hold but few sentiments in common; but if we should agree in every particular, we would have power to bind no one by any compact we might make.
As our interview could, therefore, result in nothing practical, I must decline the invitation.--While the portion of the
State now in the rear of
General Sherman's army is held by him, and the execution of the laws of the
State suspended by armed force, I know of no service which I could render to the people of that section by a personal visit.
If I could better their condition, or mitigate their sufferings, I would, on their account, cheerfully go at the expense of any inconvenience or personal sacrifice which the trip might cost me.
To the remark that
General Sherman does not wish to be compelled to overrun and desolate more of the
territory of Georgia, I reply that no compulsion rests upon him to attempt this, unless it be the cruel orders of his Government.
If he makes the effort, he will find much greater difficulties in the way of his advance for the next hundred miles than those encountered during his march from
Dalton to
Atlanta.
Georgia may possibly be overrun, but can never be subjugated, and her people will never treat with a conqueror upon her soil.
As a sovereign State, she had the undoubted right to dissolve her connection with the
Government of the
United States, when the compact had been violated by the other States of the
Confederacy, and to form a new compact, which she has done.
She is as sovereign to-day as she was the day she seceded from the old Union, and has the same power, by a convention of her people, which she then had, to resume all delegated powers and all the attributes of sovereignty, and then to declare war, negotiate treaties of peace, and do all other reacts which a sovereign State may do. While this power rests in her people, who are the original source of all sovereignty, her constitution, formed by them, has conferred no such power upon her Governor.
The fact must not be overlooked, however, that while
Georgia possesses the sovereign power to act separately, her faith, which never has, and, I trust, never will be violated, is pledged by strong implication to her Southern sisters that she will not exercise this power without consent on their part and concert of action with them.
In league with her Southern sister States, she entered into this contest with full knowledge of all the responsibilities which attached to the act; and come weal or woe, she will never withdraw from it in dishonor.
However unequal may be the proportion of suffering or sacrifice which her people may have to endure, she will never make separate terms with the enemy which may free her territory from invasion and leave her confederates in the . Whatever may be the opinion of her people as to the injustice done her by the
Confederate Administration, she will triumph with her Confederate sisters, or she will sink with them in one common ruin.
The intelligent people of
Georgia already understand; and our enemy will soon learn, that the independent expression of condemnation of the errors, to use no stronger term, of the Administration, is one thing, and disloyalty to our sacred cause is another, and quite a different thing.
While the people of
Georgia think for themselves, and will not blindly applaud the mismanagement of their rulers, they will never violate principle for expediency, nor accept dishonor for reward.
The foundation of our government and the liberties of the people rest upon the sovereignty of the States as their chief corner stone.
Destroy the sovereignty of the States, and the whole fabric falls to the ground, and centralized power, with military despotism, takes the place of constitutional liberty.
When the passions of the people North and South have sufficiently subsided, we may make peace by negotiation, but never by the sword.
If
Mr. Lincoln would have peace and prosperity re-established upon a firm basis, let him stop the war, and planting himself upon the principles of the
Declaration of Independence of 1776, let him recognize the sovereignty of the States and agree to leave each sovereign State to determine for herself, by a convention of her people, whose delegates shall be fairly chosen by the legal voters of the
State, without military interference or intimidation, what shall be her future connection — whether she will remain in, or if out, return to the old Union, or adhere to her present league.
There may be doubts whether
Kentucky,
Missouri, and probably other States, desire to continue their connection with the
United States, or to cast their lot with the
Confederate States.
The only just mode of solving these double is the one above indicated.
If these or any other of the
Southern States should, in solemn convention, decide to go with the
United States, neither the Confederate Government nor the other States can object.
We cannot govern
Kentucky, for instance, against her will, unless we can subjugate her. This we have no power to do, with the
Northern States at her back; and if we had the power, we have no
right to
coerce a sovereign State into a connection which is not of her own choice.
If this were done, we must, in future, govern her people by the bayonet, which would convert our republicanism into the worst species of military despotism.
So it must be with the
North if
Mr. Lincoln should succeed in his policy of conquering us.
If we were overrun, and for a time subdued, our territory is so vast in extent, and our population so large, that it would take a regular army of two hundred thousand men to govern and hold us in subjection.
The support of such an army would not only continue the country in bankruptcy, but, in the hands of the
Executive, it would soon be used to subvert even the form of the government and change it from a republic to a monarchy.
Thus to destroy our liberties must cost the
Northern people their own; and the republicanism of
America must, in future, be a reproach and a by-word among all nations.
If
President Lincoln and
President Davis will agree to stop the war and transfer the settlement of the issues from the battle-field to the ballot-box, leaving each sovereign State to determine for herself what shall be her future connection, and who her future allies, the present devastation, bloodshed and carnage will cease, and peace and prosperity will be restored to the whole country.
On the other hand, if this is not done, the war will last for years to come, till both sides are exhausted and overwhelmed with debt and taxation, when it may degenerate into a guerrilla strife, the end of which may not be seen by the present generation, and the hate engendered by which will last through many future generations.
Neither
General Sherman nor I can control this, however much we may deplore it.
If those on both sides who have the constitutional power of negotiation, from obstinacy or ambition, refuse to recognize the sovereignty of the States, and to leave the settlement of the question to the States when they cannot themselves agree, and insist on continual effusion of blood to gratify their caprice,
all the States North and South, in their sovereign capacity, may
then be justifiable in taking the matter into their own hands and settling it, as sovereigns, in their own way.
