90 about. [Great cheering.] In the South they have what we term farmers by day and soldiers by night ; rebel bandits, who prowl around and shoot down our soldiers upon the outposts. Only yesterday, when I came from Newbern. I brought several soldiers of my ivgiment who had suffered in that way. I would take tbe negroes of the South and put muskets in tht-ir hands, for nowhere in the swamps of North Carolina can you find a path where a dog can go that the negro does not understand. Thtre are gentlemen here who will bear me witness when I state this fact, that in all our expeditions in North Carolina we have depended upon the negroes for our guides ; for without them we could not have moved with any safety The information we have received from them has always been reliable and always correct. I have never known an instance to the contrary. [Applause.] My friends, you all no doubt wonder how it is that the South has arrayed in front of the Federal army at Richmond two hundred thousand men. But it can be easily explained. Every man in the South who can carry a shot-gun, had, of necessity to become a soldier. There are two classes in the South the representative men, who number fifteen or twenty in a county, and the poor whites, if you throw out of the account the blacks ; but so far as my observation extends, the blacks are a much superior class in intellect to the poor degraded whites of the South. What is done with these poor whites ? They are dragged ruthlessly from their homes, and compelled to go into the army. When I first reached Newbern. the duty was assigned to me to advance into the country thirty miles on each side, over ground that our troops had not before then occupied. Wherever I went I found houses deserted, and the mothers, wives and children weeping for those who had been taken from their homes and curried to the army. I hold in my hand a scrap of paper, from The Raleigh. Standard, which contains the following : HEAD-QUARTERS N. C. MILITIA, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE, ) RALEIGH, Dec. 2lst, 1861. )" SPECIAL ORDER No. 77. Lieut. Sanford Earnest, of the 71st Regiment N. C. Militia, having declared his preference for the Government of the United States, and having declined to march under the flag of the Confederate States, is hereby dismissed, being unworthy of a commission in the Militia of the State and will hereafter do duty as a private. The Colonel will have this order read before the Regiment, and printed in the newspapers of his county. By order of the Commander-in-Chief, J. G. MARTIN, Adjutant-General. That is the way they are treated. [Cries of ' Shame, shame !"] The Colonel proceeded to give some further incidents connected with his experiences while in North Carolina, which were listened to with great interest, but brought his speech abruptly to a close the rain, which came up so suddenly, having already began to fall, and causing the hasty dispersion of a large portion of the immense throng.
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