Staunton Spectator

After more than two years of warfare scarcely equalled to the number, magnitude and fearful carnage of its battles--a warfare in which your courage and fortitude have illustrated your country and attracted not only gratitude at home, but admiration abroad--your enemies continue a struggle in which our final triumph must be inevitable. Unduly elated with their recent successes, they imagine that temporary reverses can quell your spirit or shake your determination, and they are now gathering heavy masses for a general invasion in the vain hope that by a despearte [sic] effort success may at length be reached.

You know too well, my countrymen, what they mean by success. Their malignant rage aims at nothing less than the extermination of yourselves, your wives and children. They seek to destroy what they cannot plunder. They propose as the spoils of victory that your homes shall be partitioned among the wretches whose atrocious cruelties have stamped infamy on their Government. They design to incite servile insurrection and light the fires of incendiarism whenever they can reach your homes, and they debauch the interior race, hitherto docile and contented, by promising indulgence of the vilest passions as the price of treachery. Conscious of their inability to prevail by legitimate warfare, not daring to make peace lest they should be hurled from their seats of power, the men who now rule in Washington refuse even to confer on the subject of putting an end to outrages which disgrace our age, or to listen to a suggestion for conducting the war according to the usages of civilization.

Fellow citizens, no alternative is left you but victory, or subjugation, slavery, and the utter ruin of yourselves, your families, and your country. The victory is within your reach.--You need but stretch forth your hands to grasp it. For this and all that is necessary is that those who are called to the field by every motive that can move the human heart, should promptly repair to the post of duty, should stand by their comrades now in front of the foe, and thus so strengthen the armies of the Confederacy as to ensure success. The men now absent from their posts would, if present in the field, suffice to create numerical equality between our force and that of the invaders--and when with any approach to such equality have we failed to be victorious? I believe that but few of those absent are actuated by unwillingness to serve their country; but that many have found it difficult to resist the temptation of a visit to their homes and the loved ones from whom they have been so long separated; that others have left for temporary attention to their affairs with the intention of returning, and then have shrunk from the consequences of their violation of duty; that others again have left their posts from mere restlessness and desire of change, each quieting the upbraidings of his conscience, by persuading himself that his individual services could have no influence on the general result. These and other causes (although far less disgraceful than the desire to avoid danger, or to escape from the sacrifices required by patriotism,) are, nevertheless, grievous faults, and place the cause of our beloved country, and of everything we hold dear, in imminent peril. I repeat, that the men who now owe duty to their country, who have been called out and who have not yet reported for duty, or who have absented themselves from their posts, are sufficient in number to secure us victory in the struggle now impending.

I call on you, then, my countrymen, to hasten to your camps, in obedience to the dictates of honor and of duty, and summon those who have absented themselves without leave, or who have remained absent beyond the period allowed by their furloughs, to repair, without delay, to their respective commands; and I do hereby declare that I grant a general pardon and amnesty to all officers and men within the Confederacy, now absent without leave or desertion, excepting only those who have been twice convicted of desertion.

Finally, I conjure my countrywomen--the wives, mothers, sisters and daughters--of the Confederacy, to use their all-powerful influence in aid of this call, to add one crowning sacrifice to those which their patriotism has so freely and constantly offered on their country's altar, and to take care that none who owe service in the field shall be sheltered at home, from the disgrace of having deserted their duty to their families, to their country, and to their God.

Given under my hand, and the seal of the Confederate States, at Richmond, this 1st day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.

We have the authority of our officials for saying that, at the present time, our force would be numerically the equal of that of the enemy, if our soldiers were all afield. Besides this, the President has called for all the men between forty and forty-five to join our army. The number of these in the country is about 168,500.--Deducting a forth for exempts, and we have more than 126,000, as an addition to a force that is now ale to confront the foe. We have an enlisted force now ample to meet our enemies, and we are calling our reserves more effectually than they. We have a population that will maintain an army much larger than we have yet brought into the field.

There is no occasion, therefore, for the fear that our supply of men will be exhausted, or become insufficient. All that is necessary is for us to do our duty. Let us keep down the exemption list. Let soldiers resolve to stand by their colors, faithfully. Let citizens unite to urge them to their duty, and especially let the ladies exert their irresistible influence in this behalf. If we lost our liberties it will not be because God has withheld from us the means and the strength to defend them; but because we will have thrown them away through cowardice or meanness of soul.

The above exhibit is very far from completing the statement of our capacity for self-defence.--The army of seven hundred thousand men, which we are able to maintain indefinitely, is composed only of the physically vigorous; such as are able either to fight around Richmond, or to pursue the battle to Gettysburg. But let us, if necessity require, make this a war entirely of self-defence; and what a vast force we could add to our strength of men unable to stand the march. None would rush more swiftly and gladly, and none would fight braver than the youths between sixteen and eighteen; and of these we have, according to Mr. De Bow, nearly 180,000. Of the men from forty-five to sixty, the very great majority would have the vigor and the will to fight for their country; and men of that age could not afford to disgrace themselves by a want of gallantry. Of these we have probably 250,000.--Thus we can meet our enemies with more than a million of men under arms, and of as brave a race as ever faced a foe. The invaders could not equal this number, if Lincoln were to do his utmost. Besides, if we stood on the defensive, we should have the choice of ground for fighting.

In view of all these facts, we would ask the most despondent man in the land, if his despondency is not a disgrace to him? We would ask the veriest craven in our midst, how it is possible that we should be conquered? Let us forever banish from our minds the faintest thought of a calamitous result to our noble struggle. It is a shame, so much as to give it a moment's audience. God has put the strength in our right arms wherewith to win our safety. He has signally manifested His favor on various occasions. He is sending distraction among our enemies.--In His own good time He will raise us friends, if we need them. Why, then, should any tremble, even if his soul were like the aspen? [Sentinel.

Good God! even now in the crisis of our country, greed is gloating over money! when every man, and all he has, is, or can be, is needed for the death grapple! As the lava flood rolled over Pompeii, and fixed the farmer in the field, the merchant at his wares, the artisan at his craft, and the miser counting his gains, all to be uncovered and gazed at by posterity, or pilloried for undying scorn and detestation.

All who withhold any aid within their power, whether personal service, money, influence, charity, or what not, for fear of injury, pain, discomfort, loss or grief, are morally cowards; and if, while wishing to be free, they fail to strike the blow at the very time that Freedom waits to welcome them to her temple, sympathy can never be their's [sic], though
"Hampered to the galling oar for life,
They plough the wintry wave, and reap despair."

Alas! we have thousands of such, whose presence is poison to the blood and debility to the strength of the nation. Would to God we could segregate them, and let them, as a people, be the serfs of the Yankee Czar.--[Enquirer.]

Over confidence may relax the energies and lead to temporary feebleness of action, but despondency, despair, loss of faith, destroy the springs of action and render the rebound difficult if not impossible. It is the duty of the press, and indeed of all organs of public opinion--of all persons and of all agencies who have the means of reaching the public eye and ear, and of touching the public heart, to bend all their energies to defeat and beat back the first approaches of this most dangerous of all the foes to a great cause--a cause which, we repeat now, as we have repeated so often, cannot be lost, unless it be abandoned, and will not be abandoned, unless the cause be betrayed and the people be misled by wily misrepresentations, or the whining of weak-hearted despondents, or the croakings of dissatisfied and disaffected aspirants. No, there is no good ground for the course indulged in by these people. Far better would it be for them to encourage the people, to stimulate their energies, to hold up to them the fact that Gen. lee, the greatest soldier on the continent, agreed with President Davis, that the men who owe duty to their country, who have been called out and have not yet responded for duty, or who have absented themselves from their posts are sufficient in number to secure us victory in the struggle now impending. Thus alone can peace be secured. Thus alone can absolute ruin be averted--the ruin of all we hold dear on earth.

To dishearten the people and the soldiers at a period like this; to enfeeble the springs of action and destroy the elasticity requisite to rise superior to the pressure of adverse circumstances, is to strike the most insidious and yet the most fatal blow at the very life of the Confederacy. And yet this is done every day, by people who pretend, when cornered, to be good Confederate citizens.

Let no word nor act, nothing written, or spoken, or done, go forth to discourage the people--to demoralize the army--to familiarize any one for one moment with the idea of submission.--Paralyzed for a time, the true men of the South and Southwest are rallying, and the coming fall campaign will, we trust, do much to restore the position of affairs in that section. There are more men in arms in the trans-Mississippi section now than there has been at any time within a year past, and these increased levies are under men in whom they have the fullest confidence, such as Kirby Smith, Dick Taylor and J. B. Magruder. The people in West and Middle Tennessee, and Mississippi and Eastern Louisiana, where the Yankees have penetrated, have found out to their cost that the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel, and they will soon swell the ranks of Johnston and Bragg.

Gen. Lee has issued the following order relative to furloughs in his command:

HEADQ'RS ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA,
August 16, 1862.

p>General Orders,
No. 84.

In order to allow as many of our brave soldiers to visit their families and friends as can be done consistently with the good of the service, and at the same time give some reward for meritorious conduct, a system of furloughs is hereby instituted in this army.

These furloughs will be granted, in the first instance, at the rate of two for every one hundred men present for duty; subsequently, at the rate of one for every one hundred men present for duty.

This system will be continued as long as the exigencies of the service will permit. Should the effect not be found prejudicial, commanders of regiments and battalions will forward on each occasion, the most urgent and meritorious cases from those recommended by the company officers for the approval of their superior commander.

The time will be regulated according to the following table:

Virginia, 15 days; North Carolina, 18 days; South Carolina, 20 days; Georgia and Tennessee, 24 days; Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana, 30 days.

Furloughs will be granted equally to soldiers from States and districts with which communication is cut off, but in no case will these furloughs carry permission to go within the enemy's lines or pass through them. The time for such cases will be regulated by the number of days allowed for the State in the above list which they intend to visit.

The men furloughed will be authorized to bring back stragglers and recruits who may come in their way. By command of

General R. E. LEE.

General R. E. LEE.

W. H. TAYLOR, A. A. G.

An important event to happen three years hence. The date of the end of the world is satisfactorily fixed for the year 1866. There is an ancient prediction, repeated by Nostradamus in his "Centuries," which says that when St. George shall crucify the Lord, when St. Mark shall raise Him, and St. John shall assist at His ascension, the end of the world shall come. In the year 1866, it will happen that Good Friday falls on St. George's day, Easter Sunday on St. Mark's day, and Holy Thursday, or Ascension Day, will also be the Feast of St. John the Baptist.

A Cincinnati papers says the canvass for Governor in Ohio continues with bitterness and activity, and that bribes and corruption hold full sway. The same paper says that General John Morgan's raid into that State interferred [sic] with Mr. Pugh's canvassing appointments. It is a pity the discussion of the great charter should be molested in this unseemly style. The Cincinnati Enquirer is very certain of the election of Mr. Vallandigham, and the opposition is equally certain the other way. Two or three Democratic papers which have heretofore supported him have deserted his standard.

Mr. Editor.--I am rejoiced that our patriotic Governor has called the Legislature to convene on the 7th of next month. If ever there was a time in our history that demanded the energies of our men of talents, and brave hearts, that will rescue our country from the hands of a besotted tyrant, now is the time for them to show their hands. I have been astonished that our most prominent men, who ought to be the first to sound the alarm through the medium of the public press, are at the present moment as quiet as a mouse, engaged in adding dollar to dollar, when the country that gave them birth is bleeding at every pore. I hope, when the Legislature meets, prompt and decisive steps will be taken, to put the whole State in a proper state of defence to repel the infernal foe who seeks our ruin.

JUSTICE.

Shrink not from a woman of strong sense, for if she becomes attached to you, it is from seeing and viewing the different qualities in yourself. You can consult her, for she is able to advise and does so at once--with the firmness of reason and consideration of affection. Her love is lasting, and it will not be lightly won, for weak minds are not capable of the loftiest grades of passion!

On Friday last, there was some excitement here consequent upon a despatch [sic] sent by Colonel Jackson to the Commandment of the Post of this place that there was considerable force of the enemy in Highland county, and that it was impossible for him to get his forces between the enemy and this place. Couriers were sent immediately to Gen. Imboden, apprising him of the intelligence, and he very promptly moved his command from Linsville creek, in Rockingham county, to the neighborhood of this place. By the middle of the afternoon of Saturday his troops were within three miles of Staunton. It seems from later intelligence that the enemy, 2,500 cavalry, appeared, quite unexpectedly to the citizens, at Monterey, the county seat of Highland, on Thursday last, and, the Court being in session, captured the Court and all who were attending, and about 100 horses. We understand that all were afterwards released except Mr. D. M. Auvil, a lawyer, who was, at the beginning of the war, Commonwealth's Attorney for Harbour county, Captain Wm. Myers, and several others. Mr. Auvil had been once before captured by the enemy, and imprisoned for a long time at Camp Chase. From Monterey, it seems, the enemy, instead of coming in this direction, went to Huntersville, the county seat of Pocahontas, where the forces of Colonel Jackson were stationed. We understand that there had been some skirmishing between the forces of Colonel Jackson and the enemy, and that the former fell back in the direction of the Warm Springs, the county seat of Bath.

P. S. Since the above was written, the excitement here was greatly increased and intensified on yesterday morning by the report of some of our scouts that the enemy were crossing the mountain at Buffalo Gap, about ten miles West of this place. As soon as this report was received prompt and active preparations were made to "welcome them with bloody hands to hospitable graves." The forces of General Imboden, and the convalescent soldiers in the hospitals here, were soon in readiness for the march to meet them. The members of the company which was organized on Saturday last, were soon in their saddles with guns slung to their sides. The hands in the work shops and other citizens responded with alacrity and promptitude to drive back the invaders. In a marvellously short time there was a large force in readiness to meet the foe, if he should dare to come to this place. This active preparatoin [sic] continued till the authorities became satisfied that it was a false alarm.

Such a scene has not been exhibited here since the brave ancestors of this people rallied from hill and dale and mountain glen to meet the enemy in the First Revolution, when it was thought that Tarleton was marching to cross the Blue Ridge at Rockfish Gap. The sons of Augusta of the present day are worthy of their brave and patriotic ancestors--they are chips of the old blocks, and will do their duty when the emergency shall demand it. Though the "wolf" did not come this time, it should have the effect of inducing our people to get the "dogs of war" ready, that [illegible] may tous him when he shall come.

To whom much is given, of them will much be expected of those who possess an abundance of this world's goods. Those who have the means should relieve the wants of the poor. The very high prices of the necessaries of life make it impossible for many to procure them honestly unless aided by the contributions of those who are more fortunate. Those who have the means, and particularly those who have made money since the war commenced, should contribute liberally and generously to the support of the needy. This is the first duty of the property-holder. The second is, to be willing to take the lead in meeting the invaders of our country. If the enemy waged war against our liberties only, then all would be equally interested in defeating them, for liberty is as valuable to the poor man as to the wealthy, and is as highly prized by him; but as the enemy are also making war against property as well as liberty, the property-holder is more interested in the result of the struggle than the man who has no property to lose, and should be willing, therefore, to take the lead in any enterprise which has for its object the protection of our liberties and property.--There are some property-holders so intent upon greater accumulations that they cease to have a single patriotic sentiment, and there are some poor men who have suffered their prejudices against such characters to blind them to their duties as patriots, and have resolved not to strike a blow till they see such Shylocks in the army. Both have duties to their country to perform, and the remissness of the one is not a justifiable excuse for the other. The property-holder should take the lead, and say: "Come on, boys."

Suppose, says the Lynchburg Republican, that the army now in Virginia numbers two hundred thousand men, it will require four hundred and fifty thousand barrels of flour to feed them in one year, issuing one pound and a quarter as rations per day to each man.

The census of 1850 put the total white and colored population of the State down as 1,421,661. From this number it is fair to take the inhabitants of that portion of the territory which does not enter into our calculations about the product of wheat, those in the army, and the negro population lost to us: one-third would not be a large estimate. This will leave o be fed a population of 947,773 persons, for which it will take in round numbers, two millions barrels flour. The sum may be stated thus:

which, if left unground, will give two hundred and twenty-four thousand bushels of wheat for seed.

It will be seen that we have left out of account the large product of corn, peas, beans, sweet and Irish potatoes, from which is derived one-third of the food used by the people.

With this exhibit, and the knowledge that there is no call for a single barrel of flour to go out of the State, the farmers and those who anticipate an increase in price will be disappointed. An abundant crop of wheat has been harvested in every State to supply the wants of its population. By what reasons is it urged, then, that the price must advance, except it be through the withholding of supplies by the farmers? This should not be done. It is unpatriotic; it is unwise.

The Atlanta Confederacy says that the most reasonable class of our enemies do not look for subjugation, but submission. Their anticipations are of an humbled people--worn down by the cares and anxieties attendant on war--the loss of property, of children--deportation from their homes, and the dislocation of family ties. The character of our people forbids this conclusion, but if there were any one circumstance stronger than another, to put to flight this expectation, it is the deep and growing and incurable hatred of our people to the dominion of the Yankees. History cannot furnish a parallel to it. It exceeds that of the Moors towards the Spaniards when Grenada was despoiled--of the Netherlands towards the same people, when William the Silent was assassinated, and the Duke of Alva brought to the block some of the most illustrious citizens of Holland. When the torch of the incendiary and the sword of the military assassin, when the spoiler and cut-throat shall be esteemed among the instruments of conciliation--then will our people listen to submission--not before.

The Tax in Kind.--It is well known to all that our Congress, at its last session, levied a tax in kind on the products of the earth. It is the duty of our planters to pay this tithe, upon such crops as has been gathered in, at the very earliest opportunity. Our armies are now needing the provisions which these tithes will furnish, and ought not to be deprived of them a moment longer than is sufficient to get them to some depot where they can be shipped to the order of the Government. Besides, a prompt compliance with the provisions of the law will save the Government much expense and trouble. We say to all who have a "tax in kind" to pay, do your duty patriotically--at once, with the least possible delay. Do not wait to be called upon and forced to do it.

I beg leave very respectfully to suggest to the people of Augusta County to form at once in each Justice District volunteer companies for Home Defence, under the Act of Congress, approved Oct. 18, 1862: When these companies are once formed, they can be organized into a Regiment under officers of their own selection, and while authorized to make rules for their own government will be entitled to the protection of the Confederate States if taken prisoners.

August 25, 1863. JNO. B. BALDWIN.