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 FAN ATISM — WITH LITTLE REASON 
 
 SCIENCE OR COMMON SENSE, 
 
 UNMASKS ITSELF. 
 
 LIKE ITS PREDECESSOR, 
 THIS NUMBER IS DESIGNED TO AID AND 
 ENCOURAGE ALL PP::RS0NS in trying to THINK 
 FOR THEMSELVES. 
 
 Opposition to reason is really madness. Had he lived, 
 Pr. Tliomwell might have been rewarded with a foreign 
 mission. 
 
 Copy-right secured by Dr. J. D. Haltc. 
 

 
 FAN ATISM — WITH LITTLE REASON 
 
 SCIENCE OR COMMON SENSE, 
 
 UNMASKS ITSELF. 
 
 LIKE ITS PREDECESSOR, 
 THIS NUMBER ife DESIGNED TO AID AND 
 ENCOURAGE ALL PERSONS IN TRYING TO THINK 
 FOR THEMSELVES. 
 
 Opposition to reason is really madnevSS. Had he lived, 
 Dr. Thornwell might have been rewarded with a foreign 
 mission. 
 
 UN 
 
 Copy-right secured by Dr. J. D. HalK. 
 
PREFACE. ^ 
 
 Some reasons why we fought, and others for continu- 
 ing the struggle, according to a South Carolina stand- 
 point, appear in WTitings of Dr. Thornwell ; one tract (No 
 130) was extensively circulated in the confederate arm3^ 
 and throughout the revolted states. 
 
 Thornwell w^as educated at old Harvard, and in the 
 opinion of Bancroft the historian ' 'one of the most lear- 
 ned of the learned. ' ' Chancellor Job Johnston, of South 
 Carolina, pronounced the tract "A model state paper." 
 
 The tract entire, is reproduced in Number Three, to- 
 gether with a few notes and comniertts. It is a model 
 in its peculiar wa}^ and should be read, and carefully pre- 
 served. The time is not far distant when a Hugo will 
 collect, compare, and produce a parallel to 93, in a 63. 
 To one unacquainted with the southern situation some 
 years previous to the revolt, and during 1860-61-62-63, 
 the course pursued by the ruling class of those people 
 is beyond comprehension. 
 
 Yet it was natural enough when we consider the learned 
 leaders principles was to inaugurate a despotism. The 
 entire southern people were to become abject slaves. 
 
 The church was being used as a manafactory to pro- 
 duce false ideas of honor, justice, and religion, controled 
 and enforced by the courts, churches, arm}^ and secre; 
 organizations that paraded masked at midnight. 
 
 Dr. Thornwell made a pilgrimage to England, and 
 returned a bitter secessionist. Was it possible that the 
 tract was inspired about Westminister's old Abbey ; in- 
 tensified, and encouraged, b}^ promises of assistance ? 
 
 The subsequent conduct of England w^arrants the 
 supposition. 
 
 The appended notes are open to mild or harsh criti- 
 cisms, as may suit the readers mind or inclinations. 
 
 The tract was selected from, a series of 18S, published 
 by the South Carolina tract society, and reproduced to 
 aid in prventing other wars. • S 
 
NO. 130. 
 
 OUR DANGER AND OUR DUTY. 
 
 The ravages of Louis XIV in the beautiful valleys of tlie 
 Rhine, about the close of the seventeenth century', may be 
 taken as a specimen of the appalling: desolation wjijch is 
 likely to overspread the Confederate^States if the Northern 
 army should succeed in its schemes of subjugation and of 
 plnnder.l Europe was then outraged by atrocities inflicted 
 by Christians upon Christians, more fierce and cruel than 
 even Mahometans could have had the heart to j^erpetrate. 
 Private dvellings were razed to the ground, fields laid 
 waste, <-ities burnt, churches demolished, and the fruits of 
 industry wantonly and ruthlessly destroyed. But throe 
 days of grace v*^ere allowed to the wretched inhaiiitants to 
 flee their country ; and in a short time, the historian tells 
 ns, "the roads and fields, which then lay deep in snow, were 
 blackened by innumerable multituries of men, wonsen and 
 children, flying Irom their homes. Many died of cold and 
 hunger; but enough survived to fill the streets of all t)H> 
 cities of Europe with lean and squalid beggars, v.dio haT; 
 once been thriving farmers and shopkeepers."' Andvvliat 
 have we to expect'if our enemies prevail ? Our homes, too, 
 are to be pillaged ; our cities sacked and demolisiv d ; our 
 property confiscated ; onr true men hanged, and tI>ose who 
 escape the gibbet, to he driven as vagabonds and v/; uderers 
 in foreign clim;.s.2 This beautiful country is ti) ?>ass out of 
 our hands. The boundaries which mar]; our States are, In 
 some instances, to be efiaced ; and tlie >tates that remain 
 
aro to be converted into subject provinces, governed by 
 Northern rulers and by Northern laws.3 Our property is to 
 be ruthlessly seized, and turned over to mercenary stran- 
 gers, in order to pay the enormo'.is debt which our subjuga- 
 tion has cost. Our wives and daughters are to become the 
 prey of brutal lust.4 The slave, too, will slowly pass away, 
 as the red man did before him, under the protection of 
 Northern philantrophy; and the whole country, now like the 
 gulden of Eden in beauty and fertility, will first be a black- 
 ene<l and smoking desert, and then the minister of Northern 
 cupidity and avaricc.5 Our history will be worse than that j 
 of Poland and Hungary. There is not a single redeeming 
 feature in the picture of ruin which stares us in the face, if 
 we permit ourselves to be conquered. 6 It is a night of thick 
 darkness that will settle upon us. Even sympathy, the last 
 solace of the afflicted, will be denied to us. The civilized 
 world will look coldly upon us, or even jeer us with the 
 taunt that we have deservedly lost our own freedom, in 
 seeking to perpetuate the slavery of others.7 We shall 
 perish under a cloud of renroach and of unjust suspicions, 
 sedulously propagated by our enemies, which will be harder 
 to bear than the loss of home and of goods. Such a fate 
 never overtook any people before.8 
 
 The case is as desperate with our enemies as with our- 
 selves. They must succeed, or perish ; they must conquer 
 us, or be destroyed themselves. If they fail, national bank- 
 ruptcy stares them in the face ; divisions in their own ranks 
 are inevitable, and their Government will fall to pieces un- 
 der the weight of its own corruption. They know that they 
 are a doomed people if they are defeated. Hence their 
 madness. They must have our property to save them from 
 insolvency. They must show that the Union cannot be dis- 
 solved, to save them from future secessions.9 The parties, 
 therefore, in this conflict, can make no compromise. It is a 
 matter of life and death with both ; a strugj^le in whicn 
 their all is involved. 10 
 
 But the consequences of success on our part will be very 
 different from the consequences of success on the part of the 
 North. If they prevail, the whole character of the Govern- 
 ment will be changed, and, instead of a federal republic, 
 the common agent of sovereign and independent States, we 
 shall have a central despotism, with the notion of States for 
 ever abolished, deriving its powers from the will, and shap- 
 ing its policy according to the wishes, of a numerical major- 
 \ty of the people ; we shall have^n other words, a supreme 
 iiresponsil)le democracy.il The will of the North will stand 
 ibr law. The Gov^'rnment does not now recognize itself as 
 
3 
 
 an attribute of ^cd ; and, when all the checks and balances 
 of the Constitntion are gone, we may easily figure to our- 
 selves the cai oer and the destiny of this godless monster of 
 democratic absolutism. 12 The progress of regulated liberty 
 on this contin' tit will be arrested, anarchy will soon succeed 
 nnd the end will be u military despotism, which preserves 
 order by the sacrifice of the last vestige of liberty. 13 We 
 are fully persuaded that the triumph of the North in the 
 present conflict will be as disastrous to the hopes of man- 
 kind as to our own fortunes. They are now fighting the 
 battle of despotism. 14 They have put their Constitution 
 under their feet; they have annulled its most sacred pro- 
 visions ; and, in defiance of its solemn guaranties, they are 
 now engaged, in the halls of Congress, in discussing and 
 maturing bills which make Northern notions of necessity 
 the paramount laws of the land. The avowed end of the 
 present war is, to make the Government a government of 
 force. 15 It is to settle the principle that, whatever may be 
 its corruptions and abuses, however unjust and tyrannical 
 its legislation, there is no redress, except in vain petition or 
 empty remonstrance. It was as a protest against this prin- 
 ciple, which sweeps away the last security for liberty, that 
 Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Missouri seceded; 
 and if the Government should be re-established, it must be 
 re-established with this feature of remorseless despotism 
 firmly and indelibly fixed. 16 The future fortunes of our 
 children, and of this continent, would then be determined 
 by a tyranny which has no parallel in history.l7 
 
 On the other hand, we are struggling for constitutional 
 freedom. We are upholding the great principles which our 
 fathers bequeathed us; and if we should succeed, and be- 
 come, as we shall, the dominant nation of this continent, 
 we shall perpetuate and diffuse the very liberty for which 
 Washington bled, and which the heroes of the Revolution 
 achieved. We are not revolutionists ; we are resisting revo- 
 lution. We are upholding the true doctrines of the Federal 
 Constitution. 18 We are conservative. Our success is the 
 triumph of all that has been considered established in the 
 past.l9 We can never become aggressive ; we may absorb, 
 but we can never invade for conquest any neighbouring 
 State. The peace of the world is secured if our arms pre- 
 vail. We shall have a Government that acknowledges God, 
 that reverences right, and that makes law supreme.20 We 
 are therefore fighting, not for ourselves alone, but, when the 
 struggle is rightly understood, for the salvation of this 
 whole continent. It is a noble cause in which we are en- 
 gaged. There is eveivtlnng in it to rouse the heart and to 
 
 /a 
 
nerve the arm of the freeman and the patriot; and though 
 it mny now seem to be under a cloud, it is too big with the 
 future of our race to be suffered to fail. It cannot fail; it 
 mubt not f'til. Our people must not brook the mfamy of 
 betrayiog their sublime trust.21 This beautiful land 'we 
 mustnever suiTer to pass into the hands of strangers. Our 
 fields, our homes, our firesides and sepulchres, our cities 
 and temples, our wives and daughters, we must protect at 
 every hazard. 22 The glorious inheritance which our fathers 
 left us v»'e must never betray. The hopes with which they 
 died, and which buoyed their spirits in the last conflict, of 
 making their country a blessing to the world, we must not 
 permit to be unrealized. We must seize the torch from 
 their Jjands, and transmit it with increasing brightuc-sS to 
 distant generations. The word failure must not be pro- 
 nounced among us. It is a thing not to be dreamed of. We 
 must settle it that we must succeed. We must not sit down 
 to count chances. There is too much at stake to think of 
 discussing probabilities. We must make success a certain- 
 ty ; and that, by the blessing of God, we can do.23 It we 
 are prepared to do our duty, and our whole duty, we have 
 nothing to fear. But what is our duty? This is a question 
 which we must gravely consider. We shall briefly attempt 
 to answer it.24 
 
 In the first place, we must shake off all apathy, and be- 
 come fully alive to the magnitude of the crisis. We must 
 look the danger in the face, and comprehend the real gran- 
 deur of the issue. We shall not exert ourselves until we 
 are sensible of the need of effort. As long as we cherish a 
 vague hope that help may come from abroad, or that there 
 is something in our past history, or the genius of our insti- 
 tutions, to protect us from overthrow, we are hugging a 
 fatal delusion to our bosoms.25 This apathy was the ruin of 
 Gieece at the time of the Macedonian invasion. This was 
 the spell which Demosthenes laboured so earnestlj'^ to break. 
 The AtJienian was as devoted as ever to his native city, and 
 the free institutions he inherited from his fathers ; but 
 somehow or other he could not believe that his country 
 could be conquered. He read its safety in its ancient glory. 
 He felt that it had a prescriptive right to live. The great 
 orator saw and lamented the error ; he poured forth his elo- 
 quence to dissolve the charm ; but the fatal hour had come, 
 and the spirit of Greece could not be roused. There was no 
 more real patriotism at the time of the second Persian inva- 
 sion than in the age of Philip; but, then, there was no 
 apathy. Every man appreciated the danger; he saw the 
 crash that was coming, and prepared liimself to resist the 
 
blovz. He knew that there was no safety except m coarafje 
 and in desperate effort. Every man, too, feit identified v.ith 
 the State ; a part of Its weiglit rested on his shoulders. It 
 was this sense of personal 'interest and personal responsibil- 
 ity ; the profound conviction that every one had something 
 to do, and that Greece expected him to do it. This was tiie 
 public spirit which turned back the countless hordes of 
 Xerxes, and saved Greece to liberty and man. This is the 
 spirit which we must have, if we, too, would succeed. We 
 must be brought to see that all, under God, depends on our- 
 selves ; and, looking away from all foreign alliances, \ve 
 must make up our niinds to fight desperately and fight long. 
 If we would save the country from ruin, and ourselves from 
 bondage. Every man should feel that he has an interest in 
 the State, and that the State in a measure leans upon him ; 
 and he should rouse himself to efforts as bold and heroic as 
 if all depended on his single right arm. Our courage should 
 rise higher than the danger ; and, whatever may be the odds 
 against us, we must solemnly resolve, by God's blessing, 
 that we will not be conquered. When, with a full know- 
 ledge of the danger, we are brought to this point, we are in 
 the way of deliverance ; but until that point is reached, it 
 is idle to count on success. 
 
 It is implied in the spirit which the times demand, that 
 all private interests are sacrificed to the public good.2d The 
 State becomes everything, and the individual nothing.27 
 It is no time to be casting about for expedients to enrich 
 ourselves. The man who is now intent upon money, who 
 turns public necessity and danger into means of specula- 
 tion, would, if very shame did not rebuke him, and he were 
 allowed to follow the bent of his heart, go upon the field of 
 battle, after an engagement, and strip the lifeless bodies of 
 his brave countrymen of the few spoils tiie3'- carried into the 
 fight. Such men, unfit for anything generous or noble them- 
 selves, like the hyena, can only suck the blood of the lion. 
 It ought to be a reproach to any man, that he is growing 
 rich while his country is bleeding at every pore. 28 If we 
 had a Themistocles among us, he would not scruf)le to 
 charge the miser and extortioner with stealing the Gorgon's 
 head ; he would search their stuff, and if he could not find 
 that, he would find what would answer his country's needs 
 much more efiectually. This spirit must be rebuked; every 
 man must forget himself, and think onlj' of the jiuhlic 
 good. 29 
 
 The spirit of faction is even more to be dreaded than the 
 spirit of avarice and plunder. It is equally selfish, and, is 
 besides, distracting and divisive. The man who now labours 
 
6 
 
 to weaken the hands of the Govenunenr, that he may seize 
 the reins of authority, or cavils at public measures and 
 policy, that he may rise to distinction and office, has all the 
 eelti-Miaess oi' a miser, and ail the basejiess i>t" a traitor. Our 
 rulers ar? not infallible; but their errors are to be reviewed 
 with candour, and their authority sustained with unanimi- 
 ty. Whatever has a tendency to destroy public confidence 
 iii their prudence, their wisdom, their energy, and their 
 patriotism, undLrinines the security of ourciiuse. We must 
 not be divided and distracted amon:^ ourselves. Our rulers 
 have great responsibilities. They need the support of the 
 whole country; and nothing short of a patriotism which 
 buries all private differences, which is ready for compro- 
 mises and concessions, which can make diaritable allowan- 
 ces for differences of opinion, and even for errors of judg- 
 ment, can save us from the consequences of party and fac- 
 tion. We must be united. 30 If our views are not carried 
 out, let us sacrifice private opinion to public safety. In the 
 great conflict with Persia, Athens yielded lo Sparta, and ac- 
 quiesced in plans she could not approve, for the sake of the. 
 public good. Nothing could be more dangerous now than 
 scrambles for oflQce and power, and collisions among the 
 different departments of the Government. Wo must pre- 
 sent a united front.31 
 
 It is further important that every man should be re idy to 
 work. It is no time to play the gentleman ; no time for dig- 
 nified leisure. All cannot serve in the field; butallcin 
 do something to help forward the common cause. 32 The 
 young and active, the stout and vigorous, should be 
 prepared at a moment's warning for the ranks. The dispo- 
 sition should be one of eagerness to be employed; there 
 should be no holding back, no counting of the cost.33 The 
 man who stands back from the ranks in these perilous 
 times, because he is unwilling to serve his country tes a 
 
 f>rivate soldier, who loves his ease more than liberty, his 
 uxuries more than his honour, that man is a dead fly in 
 our precious ointment.34 In seasons of great calarnity, 
 the ancient pagans were accustomed to appease the an- 
 ger of the gods by human sacrifices; and if they had gone 
 upon the principle of selecting those whose moral in- 
 signifiance rendered them alike offensive to heaven and 
 useless to earth, they would always have selected these 
 drones, and loafers, and exquisites. A Christian nation 
 cannot offer them in sacrifice ; but public contempt should 
 whip them from their lurking holes and compel them to share 
 the common danger.35. The community that will cherish 
 such men without rebuke, brings down wrath upon it. They 
 
must be forced to be useful, to avert the judgment of God 
 from the patrons of cowardice and meanness. 
 
 Public spirit will not have reached the height which the 
 exigency demands, until we shall have relinquished all fas- 
 tidious notions of military etiquette, and have come to the 
 point of expelling the enemy by any and every means that 
 God has put in our power.36 We are not fighting for mili- 
 tary glory; we are fighting for a home, and for a national 
 existence. 37 We are not aiming to display our skill in tac- 
 tics and generalship ; we are aiming to show ourselves a 
 free people, worthy to possess and able to defend the insti- 
 tutions of our fathers. What signifies it to us how the foe 
 is vanquished, provided it is done?38 Because we have not 
 weapons of the most improved workmanship, are we to sit 
 still and see our soil overrun, and our wives and children 
 driven from their homes, while we have in our hands other 
 weapons that can equally do the work of death ? Are we to 
 perish if we cannot conquer by the technical rules of scien- 
 tific warfare ?39 Are we to sacrifice our country to military 
 punctilio? The thought is monstrous. We must be pre- 
 pared to extemporize expedieuts.40 We must cease to be 
 chary, either about our weapons or the means of using them. 
 The end is to drive back our foes. If we cannot procure the 
 best rifles, let us put up with the common guns of the coun- 
 try ; if they cannot be had, with pikes, and axes, and toma- 
 hawks; anything that will do the work of death, is an ef- 
 fective instrument in a brave man's hand.41 We should be 
 ready for the regular battle or the partisan skirmish .42 If 
 we are too weak to stand an engagement in the open field, 
 we can waylay the foe, and harass and annoy him.43 We 
 in use prepare ourselves for a guerilla war.44 The enemy 
 must be conquered ; and any method by which we can hon- 
 ourably' do it must be resorted to.46 This is the kind of spirit 
 which we want to see aroused among our people. With this 
 spirit, they will never be subdued. If driven from tbe 
 plains, they will retreat to the mountains ; if beaten in the 
 field, they will hide in swamps and marshes; and when 
 their enemies are least expecting it, they will pounce down 
 upon them in the dashing exploits of a Sumter, a Marion, 
 and a Davie. 46 It is only when we have reached this point 
 tliat public spirit is commensurate with the danger.47 
 
 In the second place, we must guard sacredly against cher- 
 ishing a temper of presumptuous confidence. Tlie cause is 
 not ours, but God's ; and if wa measure its importance only 
 i)y its accidental relation to ourselves, we maybe sufiered 
 t') perish for our pride. No nation ever yet achieved any- 
 tliing great, that did not regard itself as the instrument ot 
 
Providence. The only lasting inspiration of lofcy patri.)ii^;m 
 ana exalted coura2;e, is the inspiration of religion.40 'I'he 
 Greeks and Romans never ventured upon any iinportant en- 
 terprise without consulting th(;ir gods. The.\ felt that rhr-v 
 were safe only as tliey vvere persuaded that thev were in :ti- 
 liauce with heaven. Man, though limiLed in space, liniir '1 
 in time, and limited in knowledge, is truly great wher. he 
 is linked to the Iniinite as the means of accomplishing last- 
 ing ends. To be God's servant, that is his highest destitiy, 
 ins subliniest calling.50 Nations are under the pupilage of 
 Providencf^; they are in training themselves, that they may 
 be the instruments of furthering the progress of the human 
 race. 51 
 
 Polybius, the historian, traces the secret of Roman great- 
 ness to the profound sense of religion which constituted a 
 striking feature of the national character. He calls it, ex- 
 pressly, the firmest pillar of the Roman State ; and he does 
 not liesitate to denounce, as enemies to the p.iblic order and 
 prosperity, those f)f his own contemporaries who sought to 
 undermine the sacredness of these convictions. Even 
 Napoleon sustained his vaulting ambition by a mysterious 
 connection wiih the invisible world. He was a man of des- 
 tiny. It is the relation to God, and His providential train- 
 ing of the raci', that imparts true dignity to our struggle ; 
 and we must recognize ourselves as God's servants, woriang 
 out His glorious ends, or we shall infallibly be left to stum- 
 ble upon th;.' dark mountains of error.52 Our trust in Him 
 must be the real spring of our heroic resolution, to conquer 
 or die. A sentiment of honour, a momentary enthusia'sm, 
 may prompt and sustain spasmodic exertions of an extraor- 
 dinary character ; Jjut a steady valour, a selt'-d ending ]!ai- 
 riotism, protracted patience, a readiness to do, and dare, and 
 sulier, through a generation or an age, this comes onl\' irim 
 a sublime faith in God. 54 The worst symptom that any peo- 
 ple can manifest, is that of pride. With nations, as with 
 individuals, it goes before a fall. Lst us guard against it. 
 Tiet us rise to the true grandeur of our calling, and go forth 
 as servants of the Most High, to execute His purposes.55 In 
 this spirit we are safe. By this spirit our principles are en- 
 nol^led, and our cause translated from earth to iieaveu.56 
 An overweening confidence in the righteoasnoss of our 
 cause, as if that alone were sufficient to insure our success, 
 betrays gr.oss inatteniion to the Divine (h^aliogs with com- 
 muniiies and States. In the issue betwixt our.sHivesanii our 
 ( nomies, we may be free from blame; i)iit tliare maybe 
 oMier rospecis in v.'hich we have provoked tiie Judgment of 
 Keaven, pud thoro may be other groiinds on vv lioh God Ji;h 
 
a controversy with us, and the swords of our enemies may- 
 be His chosen instruments to execute His wratli. He may 
 first u.se them as a rod, and then punish them in otlicr forms 
 I'or tJieir own iniquities. Hence, it behooves us not only to 
 Juive a righteous cause, but to be a righteous people. We 
 must abandon all our sins, and put ourselves heartily and 
 in earnest on the side of Providence. 57 
 
 Hence, this dependence upon Providence carries with it 
 the necessity of removing from us whatever is ollensive to 
 a hol\' God. If the Government is His ordinance, and the 
 pec-ple his instruments, they must see to it that they serve 
 Hiui with no unwashed or defiled hands. We must culti- 
 vate a high standard of public morals. Virtue is power, and 
 vic-e is weakness. 59 The same Polybius, to whom we have 
 already referred, traces the influence of the religious senti- 
 ment at Rome in producing faithful and incorruptible mag- 
 istrates, who were strangers alike to bribery and favour in 
 executing the laws and dispensing the trusts of the State, 
 and that high tone of public faith which made 'an oath an 
 absolute security for faithfulness. This stern simplicity of 
 manners we must cherish, if we hope to succeed. 60 Bribery, 
 corruption, favouritism, electioneering, flattery, and evei-y 
 sijecies of double-dealing ; drunkenness, profaneness, de- 
 bauchery, selfishness, avarice, and extortion ; all base ma- 
 terial ends must be banished by a stern integrity, if we 
 would become the tit instruments of a holy Providence in a 
 holy cause. 61 Sin is a reproach to any people. It is weak- 
 ness ; it is sure, though it may be slow, decay.62 Faith in 
 God ; that is the watchword of martyrs, whether in the 
 cause of truth or of liberty. That alone ennobles and sanc- 
 tifies. 
 
 "All other nations," except the French, as Burke has sig- 
 nificantly remarked, in relation to the memorable revolu- 
 tion which was doomed to failure in consequence of this 
 capital (^mission, "have begun the fabric of a new Govern- 
 ment, or the reformation of an old, by establishing oj-igin- 
 j; I ly, or bj enforcing with greater exactness, some rites or 
 other of religion. All other people have laid the foundation 
 of civil Ireedom in severer manners, and a system o^" more 
 austere and masculine morality." To absolve the State, 
 which is the society of rights, from a str.ct responsibiliij^ to 
 the Author and Source of justice and of law, is to destroy 
 the firmest securit}^ of public order, to convert libertv into 
 license, and to impregnate the very being of the coniiuon- 
 wealth with the seeds of dissolution and decay. France 
 failed, because France forgot God ; and if we tread in the 
 footsteps ot that infatuated people, and treat with equal 
 
10 
 
 contempt the holiest instincts of our nature, we, too, may 
 be abandoned to our folly, and become the hissing and the 
 scorn of all the nations of the earth. "Be wise, now, there- 
 fore, O ye kings! be instructed, ye judges of the earth. 
 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, 
 when His wrath is Jiindled but a little. Blessed are all they 
 that put their trust in Him." 
 
 In the third place, let us endeavour rightly to interpret 
 the reverses which have recently attended our arms. It ia 
 idle to make light of them. They are serious ; they are dis- 
 astrous. The whole end of Providence, in any dispensation 
 it were presumptuous for any one, independently of a spe- 
 cial revelation, to venture to decipher. But ti'ere are ten- 
 dencies which lie upon the surface, and these obvious ten- 
 dencies are designed for our guidance and instruction. In 
 the present case, we may humbly believe that one purpose 
 aimed at has been to rebuke our confidence and our pride. 
 We had begun to despise our enemy, and to prophesy safety 
 without much hazard. We had laughed at his covvardice, 
 and boasted of our superior prowess and skill. Is it strange 
 that, while indulging such a temper, we ourselves should 
 be made to turn our backs, and to become a jest to those 
 whom we had jeered ? We had grown licentious, intemper- 
 ate, and profane ; is it strange that, in the midst of our se- 
 curity, God should teach us that sin is a renroach to any 
 people? Is it strange that He should remind us of the 
 moral conditions upon which alone we are authorized to 
 hope for success? The lirst lesson, therefore, is one of 
 rebuke and repentance. It is a call to break otf our sins by 
 righteousness, and to tarn our e^'es to the real secret of 
 national security and strength. 
 
 The second end may be one of trial. God has placed us 
 in circumstances which, if we s!iow that we are equal to the 
 emergency, all will acknowledge our riglii, to the freedom 
 which we have so signally vindicated. We have now the 
 opportunity for great expknts. We c Ji now demonstrate to 
 the world whiht manner of spirit we arc of. f our courage 
 and faith rise suporic>r to the danger^ v\ c shall not only suc- 
 ceed, but we shall succeed with a moral iniluence and char- 
 acter that shall n^nder our success doubly \ uluahle. Provi- 
 dence seems to Ije against us; disaster Ui)on disasrer has 
 attended our arms; the enemy is in possession of three 
 States, and beleaguers us in all our coasts. His resources 
 and aimameuts are immense, and his energy and resolu- 
 tion desperate. (33 His numbers are so much "^superior, that 
 we are like a flock of kids before him. We have nothing to 
 stand on but the eternal principles of ^ru; ii and right, and 
 the protection and alliance of a just Gnd^; Can we look 
 
11 
 
 the danger unflinchingly in the face, and calmly resolve to 
 meet it and subdue it? Can we say, in reliance upon Prov- 
 idence, that, were his numbers and resources a thousand- 
 fold R-reater, the interests at rstake are so momentous, that 
 we will not be conquered ? Do we feel the moral power of 
 courage, of resolution, of heroic will, rising and swelling 
 within us, until it towers above all the smoke and dust of 
 invasion ? Then wo are in a condition to do great deeds. 
 We are in the condition of Greece when Xerxes hung upon 
 the borders of Attica, with an army of five millions that had 
 never been conquered, and to which State after State of 
 northern Greece had 3'ieldeJ in its progress. Little Athens 
 was the object of his vengeance. Leonidas had fallen ; four 
 days more would bring the destroyer to the walls of the de- 
 voted city. There the people v/ere— a mere handful. Their 
 first step had been to consult the gods, and the astounding 
 reply which they received from Delphi would have driven 
 any other people to despair. "Wretched men!" said the 
 oracle, which they loeliev^ed to be infallible, "why sit ye 
 there ^ Quit your land and city, and flee afar ! Head, body, 
 jeet, and hands, are alike rotten; fire and sword, in the 
 train of the Syrian chariot, shall oyerwhelm you ; not only 
 your city, but other cities also, as well as many even of the 
 temples of the gods, which are now sweating and trembling 
 with fear, and foreshadow, by drops of blood on their roofs, 
 the hard calamities impending. Get j'e away from the sanc- 
 tuary, with your souls steeped in sorrow." ' We have had 
 reverses, but no such oracle as this. It was afterwards modi- 
 fied so as to give a ray of hope, in an ambiguous allusion to 
 wooden walls. But the soul of the Greek rose with the 
 danger; and we have a succession of events, from the 
 desertion of Athens to the final expulsion of the invader, 
 which makes that little spot of earth immortal. Let us 
 imitate, in Christian faith, this sublime example. Let our 
 spirit be lottier than that of the pagan Greek, and we can 
 succeed in making eveiy pass a Thermopyle, every straii a 
 Salamis, and every plain a Marathon. We can conquer, and 
 \,^% must. We mast not suffer any other thought to enter 
 our minds, li we are overrun, we can at least die ; and if 
 our enemies get possession of our land, we can leave it a 
 howling desert. But, under God, we shall not fail. If we 
 are true to Him, and true to ourselves, a glorious future is 
 before us.Go We occupy a sublime position. The e\^es of 
 the world are upou us ; we are a spectacle to God, to a^ngels, 
 and to men. Can our hearts grow faint, or our hands feeble 
 in a cause like this? The spirits of our fathers call to us 
 from their graves. The heroes of other ages and other coun- 
 tries are beckoning us on to glory. Let us seize the oppor- 
 tunity, and make to ourselves an immortal name, while we 
 redeem a land from bondage and a continent from ruin. 
 
12 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 1 At the date of Dr. Thorn well writing, his party 
 were plundering their own citizens who dared question 
 confederate authority. 
 
 2 In many instances a day was not granted. The 
 mandate, ' 'go beyond our lines or join our army, on pain 
 of being- considered, and treated as an alien enemy." 
 
 In February 1862, I found numbers of these wretched 
 people, who had been thus treated and robbed on thelr- 
 way. At a point near Jamestown, in Fentress County, 
 Tenn. , to which place a squad of us were enroute carr^^- 
 ing the old flag, quite a number w^ho had hid in the woods, 
 came out and cried for joy. Half of them were bare- 
 footed and not one of them was decently clad. During 
 the trip we gathered seventy-eight of these unfortunate 
 ones, and carried them to Albany Ky., where they were 
 cared for by union families there, and in ihe vacinity. 
 
 3 "Northern rulers and by northern laws." The re- 
 volted states in secret conclaves promulgated codes of 
 laws, v/hich, if enacted, swept away the last vestage of 
 freedom ever held by their citizens. 
 
 4 The fate of many southern union women was too 
 horrible to repeat. 
 
 5 In the early summer of i86t, mj^ section of Ten 
 nessee was in a most prosperous condition but for the 
 continued threats of the revolted ones; our crop prospects 
 had never been excelled, if equaled, we were abundantly 
 supplied with stock of the needed kinds. 
 
 It would have been a task for South Carolinians or an}^ 
 other people, to prepare a more sumptuous repast than 
 we sat down to on the 4th of July 1861. Over a thou- 
 sand assembled at Hale's Mills on that national day, and, 
 although the utmost quiet and order prevailed, the act 
 was branded treason, and numbers were hunted and slain 
 for no other cause. 
 
 6 ' ' There is not a single redeeming feature in the pic- 
 ture of ruin which stares us in the face if we permit our- 
 
13 
 
 selves to be conquered. ' ' The Dr. estimated his condi- 
 tion, by the punishment then being inflicted by rebels 
 upon kinsman and neighbors. 
 
 7 The condition of unionists who were so unfortunate 
 as to be citizens of the revolted states was worse than 
 slavery. 
 
 8 "Home treason" was rendered most desperate. 
 
 9 The}^ "seceeded" but woe to the ones who dared 
 imitate the example set before them. 
 
 10 When pressed he and partisans were ever ready for 
 compromise, and as read}' to break the most solemn ones. 
 
 11 His followers then, are all democrats now. 
 
 12 "Democratic absolutism" has become their rule, 
 and no one must deny or doubt. 
 
 13 Militar}^ rule necessary to suppress revolt, and 
 which the}^ themselves adopted with the utmost rigor ; 
 are by them branded "robber}-." 
 
 14 Despotism prevailed after placing his partisans in 
 places of trust and profit, in place of subjecting them to 
 the stern laws of war. 
 
 15 A government of force. -Such has been the rule of 
 the revolutionists towards opponents whenever they 
 have regained control. 
 
 16 Whenever Thornwell's partisans have been given 
 power, every true and determined unionist is subj eat to 
 "remorseles despotism." 
 
 17 "Which has no paralel in histor3^ ' ' Histor>^ gives 
 no written account of a vast secret oath-bound midnight 
 hoard, going about in masks to execute horrid mandates. 
 
 18 ' 'We are upholding the true doctrine of the federal 
 constitution." 
 
 19 And made war to divide, and destroy the nations 
 very existance which but recently he himself declared 
 sacred. 
 
 20 And to set at naught both human and divine laws. 
 • -21 Confederate success must have rendered continued 
 internal war inevitable, for union men and women had 
 been free too long to be made slaves <)f v/ithout a deter- 
 
14 
 
 mined struggle. 
 
 22 "Our fields our homes our firesides and sepulchres, 
 our cities and temples, our wives and daughters we must 
 protect at every hazaad. ' ' All these it became the set- 
 tled plan to destroy unless belonging to interested 
 partisans. Whoever wrote No 130, was ignorant indeed , 
 of wars effect upon civil life and all connected with home 
 interests. The first male recruit withdraws so much from 
 the natural, and onl}^ safe protection of women. 
 
 War always encourages, if it does not force, the des- 
 truction of every thing connected with the famil}^ 
 
 To illustrate, two cases are cited, selected from thou- 
 sands of similar ones. Mrs. Blansett, of Jasper Tenn., 
 came inside our lines, at Murfreesboro, carrying a young 
 babe in her arms, and with an order from a confederate 
 General commanding her to leave the confederate lines 
 and not return. Mrs. Blansett died a few months ago in 
 extreme poverty. Bnt recently the General who issued 
 the order was elected to the U. S. Senate. 
 
 Mrs. Judd, a Missionary to Burmah, was found in one 
 of the lowest haunts in Nashvtlle, reduced as she declared 
 by Federal officers. Religous societies refusing to care 
 for her, she found a friend in an old negro woman. 
 
 23 Prayers during the active stages of a civil war avail 
 but little, no matter how fervent or to whom directed. 
 
 24 Here follow the Rev. Doctors' idea of duty. 
 
 25 ' * As long as we cherish a vague hope that help maj- 
 come from abroad we are hugging a fatal delusion to onr 
 bosoms. ' ' ( He and associates had counted on additional 
 aid from England.) 
 
 26-27-28-29 To inaugurate a despotism as a remed)' 
 for imaganar>^ evils, is a kind of learning which might 
 have been dispensed with to an advantage. 
 
 30 "We must be united." 
 
 31 "We must present a united front." 
 32-33-34-35 "They must be forced to be useful." 
 36-37-38 "What signfies it to us how the foe is van- 
 
 cuished, provided it is done." 
 r9"43"44 ' 'We must prepare ourselves for a guerilla war. ' ' 
 J 9 "The cause is not ours butGods." 
 
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