Early a few mornings since, I called on Gov. Wise, and
informed him that Lincoln had called out 70,000 men. He opened his eyes very widely
and said, emphatically, “I don't believe it.” The greatest statesmen of the
South have no conception of the real purposes of the men now in power in the
United States. They cannot be made to believe that the Government at Washington
are going to wage war immediately. But when I placed the President's
proclamation in his hand, he read it with deep emotion, and uttered a fierce “Hah!”
Nevertheless, when I told him that these 70,000 were designed to be merely the
videttes and outposts of an army of 700,000, he was quite incredulous. He had
not witnessed the Wide-Awake gatherings the preceding fall, as I had done, and
listened to the pledges they made to subjugate the South, free the negroes, and
hang Gov. Wise. I next told him they would blockade our ports, and endeavor to
cut off our supplies. To this he uttered a most positive negative. He said it
would be contrary to the laws of nations, as had been decided often in the
Courts of Admiralty, and would be moreover a violation of the Constitution. Of course
I admitted all this; but maintained that such was the intention of the
Washington Cabinet. Laws and Courts and Constitutions would not be impediments
in the way of Yankees resolved upon our subjugation. Presuming upon their
superior numbers, and under the pretext of saving the Union and annihilating
slavery, they would invade us like the army-worm, which enters the green fields
in countless numbers. The real object was to enjoy our soil and climate by
means of confiscation. He poohed me into silence with an indignant frown. He
had no idea that the Yankees would dare to enter upon such enterprises
in the face of an enlightened world. But I know them better. And it will be
found that they will learn how to fight, and will not be afraid to fight.
SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's
Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 26
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