Newspaper Page Text
WEEKLY ENQUIRER.
JOHN H. MARTIN) - - - Editor
COLUMBUS:
TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 1867.
TUe Frightful Example of Tennessee.
Wo print on our first page to-day an ar
ticle from the New York Times, on the
condition of Tennessee, to which we wish
to direct the careful attention of the read
er. It is from a Republican paper, and
one that strongly suoporls the Congres
sional plan for the military government
and forcible revolutionary reconstruction
of the ten Southern States. In this arti
cle, the Times truthfully recounts the de
spotic acts cf Brownlow and his fellow-
usurpers, and expresses wonder at the
tameness with which the great mass of the
whito people of the State submit to them.
These admissions are worthy of remem
brance, should the so-called “election” in
Tennessee to-day be marked by bloody
conflicts. Wo have here the emphatic
declaration of a leading Republican paper
that the intolerance of the Brownlow fac
tion is greater than a people such as ours
could be expected to submit to.
But the point to which wo wished par
ticularly to alludo is the fact that the
Times, while protesting against the sub
jection of Maryland and Kentucky to a
despotism and tyranny similar to that of
Tennessee, favors the forcible re-construc
tion of the other ten Southern Stales ac
cording to the same model precisely 1 The
"ipal reason why Tennessee was “re-
be^iig^^^aesago of the Military
tided in their pro-
that her State Gov-
ical hands, and that
tTrRed to the system of
roscription ana disfranchisement applied
by Congress to these States. The present
condition of Tennessee is due entirely to
the violence and usurpations of her Radi
cal rulers and to the wholesale proscrip
tion of the white population to which
they bavo resorted. And this i3 exactly
the animus of the Congressional plan Of
reconstruction of the other Southern Slates.
They must disfranchise their best and
most competent men, and they must have
none other than Radical rulers and repre
sentatives. While the Congressional dis-
franchisement and disqualification has a
limit, there is none imposed on the Radi
cal State Governments required by the
Military bills. Governments established
by fraud and force will always endeavor
to extend or prolong their power in the
same way. We have proof of this in the
cases of Tennessee and Missouri. In the
former, it was found that the disfranchise
ment existing a year ago was not sufficient
to prevent the people from re-asserting the
freedom and political equality to which
they had been accustomed, and additional
disfranchisement was resorted to. It was
feared by Brownlow, as the canvass of
this year progressed, that he and his party
might still be defeated, and he resorted to
the despotic and arbitrary expedient of
rejecting the county registrations return
ed, in all instances wherein they were
“unsatisfactory” to him. In the language
of the Times, this system of proscription
in Tennessee “has now culminated in the
disfranchisement of four-fifths of the
while men of the State, and is still pushed
further wherever there is danger of a
Brownlow defeat.” And this condition
of things in Tennessee is to bo forced upon
the people of ten other States ! The Con
gressional policy goes half way in im
posing it, and licenses the Radical Gov
ernments instituted by the authority of
Congress to complete the job. It will not
do to say that Congress, under the general
constitutional injunction to "guarantee to
each State n ro P uUio«o form uf B <.
ment,” will step in and restrain Iho Radi
cal State Governments from doing what
Brownlow and his party have done in
Tcnnesseo. The governments required of
us by Congress are themselves not to be
“republican”—the Times will hardly af
firm that they are; and Congress, under
this provision of the Constitution, doe3
not interfere, or even talk of interfering,
to restore republican governments in Ten
nessee and Missouri.
And does the Times BUppose that there
can be peace, order and contentment in
these States, any more than in Tennessee,
when they are thus “re-constructed” ?—
Does it imagine that a minority will be
permitted to rule and oppress the majori
ty ? These are questions worthy of con»
sideration by men who are bent on forcing
upon now peaceful States frightful strifes
and conflicts, for the unworthy purpose of
keeping a party in power. They see the
condition of Tennessee, and admit its
cause to be a course of legislation com
menced by themselves, and licensed to be
further extended by others, to ten States
now under peaceful government. What
ever may be the consequences of such a
policy, the responsibility is fixed, as it has
been in Tennessee, and in proportion to
the consequent disorders and bloodshod
will bo the infamy of the party that inau
gurated them.
now Brownlow “Made his Election
Sure.”
The last Nashville Press <j- Times con-
tains the official report of the registration
for Giles county, which we copy from that
paper:
Soldiers honorably discharged 106
“ •• “ (colored) 670
Votes in election, Feb. 22,1865 133
Citizens, voters, (white)- iU5
" (colored) 1,383
It will be seen that there are at moEl
only 434 whites in the county who are
allowed the privilege of voting, while
there are 2053 new-made negro voters;
yet the white population of the county
largely outnumbers the black. This has
been brought Bbout by disfranchising
nearly all the old whito voters and on-
franchising all the negroes. The expla-
cation of the classification given is this:
By the law passed by the last Legislature,
only those who voted in the election of
Feb. 1865 (when the Confederacy was still
struggling), or who prove that they wore
then loyal men but could not vote in that
election, or soldiers honorably discharged,
or loyal citizens who have since attained
majority or sufficient residence, can now
vote. Of course, every negro can easily
show that he could not vote in the election
of 1865—the law would not permjj-oim.
But there are very man*402fiictnt Union
men, as well as adh3rents of tbs Confed
eracy, who could have voted in that elec
tion, not. These are all excluded.
The registers (all Brownlow men) gener
ally manage to got in the whites not in
cluded in one of the classifications, if
thoroughly convinced that they are rad
icals and will vote for Brownlow; but the
whites who are willing to make that kind
of showing are very scarce. At the elec
tion of 1865, which was on the question of
adopting the new constitution, only a
very light vote was cast, as is usual when
such questions are submitted to the peo
ple. The whole vote of the State was 25,-
341. Thoso opposed to the constitution
did not vote at all.
At the Presidential election in 1856, the
county of Giles cast 2820 votes for Bu
chanan and Fillmore—closely divided be
tween them; and wo have no doubt that
in I860 the county voted fully 3000, but
we have not the record. These 3000 whito
voters are now reduced to 434 by proscrip
tion, and 2053 blacks are enfranchised to
make sure that these favored 434 do not
carry the county against Brownlow, as
they would do if they had acbance.
This is a sample of Tennossee through
out If the reader, in view ol this kind of
registration, and bearing in mind that
Brownlow rejects the registration when
roturned if it does not suit him, and
throws out the vote of any county when
cast if he does not like it, cannot under
stand how it is that the Tennessee despot
“makes his election sure,” we are incapa
ble of enlightening him en the subject.
The New York Herald's correspondent,
who made the report of the discovery of
a detective dogging Gen. Grant’s footsteps
(see an allusion to it elsewhere), states that
tbo “politician from Massachusetts,” in
whoso employ the detective was said to
be, is one who “held a high commission
in tho army during the war,” and that his
object was “to hunt upsomething deroga
tory to Gen. Grant, to be used against
him in the Presidential contest.” This,
we think, is sufficiently explicit to disclose
to every reader "tho nature of the Beast.”
Governor Brown’s Letters.—Wo
would have felt it incumbent on us, even
if Governor Brown bad not requested it,
to copy his letters in reply to Mr. Hill,
inasmuch as we published tho series of
the latter, and as the Ex-Governor thinks
they touched him up rather sharply.
Governor Brown, however, commences
it>. «. spirit which we cannot refrain from
protesting against as unbecoming the occa
sion. Mr. Hill’s letters were not free of
acrimony and denunciation, and the Ex-
Governor enters the contest with the
apparent conviction that if ho can outdo
his adversary in this style of controversy
ho will come off with flying colors and
blusbiog honors. We do not believe that
he can ever redeem himself in that way.
The bill of indictment, upon which he is
arraigned before a people who have hon
ored and trusted him to an extent never
accorded to any other man, is too weighty
and serious a one to be thus evaded. The
Ex-Governor has a giant for an antag
onist, and most grave and damaging
implications to struggle against.
The New York 7dim.es (Republican pa
per) is “down on” the Atlanta Monument
to Lincoln “like a thousand of brick.”—
It notices particularly a circular sent out
from the very fast “Gate City,” soliciting
contributions from eviry State and indi
vidual in the Union to ,.id in building the
monument. The Times lislrusts the sin
cerity of the movement (a3 well it may),
and expresses the hope that he impat'ent
patriots at Atlanta will holffoiTa bit until
the balance of the Souti can be brought
up to the same degree jf fervor and dis
interested zeal. It says: “Thismag be a
spontaneour outWirltV'•Southern loyalty,
and a free-will cfl'eringof “gratitude and
praise” from "the ^anquished,” but it
looks very much UK ^tao handle of that
well-known jug—all^r- ono side. We
are no believers in namby-pamby
style of repressing real exhibitions of na
tional feeling and 7 ^Tiest they hurt tho
feelings o: those^ho tried to destroy the
nation. But this warsvrima facie evi
dence of being ary-Tn.ir riL-. rt ..
sen'.ation of thef ee ii D g 0 f Southern men,
and if it be a real enterprise (which is not
altogether certain), is an ill-timed and un-
^STeSiary’attempt to perpetuate what all
truly palrioiic men wisa forgotten—the
sorest wounds of the war—whilo it helps
to still further postpone tho result for
which the war itself was undertaken and
put through. If Mr. Lincoln’3 memory
is to bo especially glorified in the South,
let us wait until it can be done by the
South.”
-»•«-■> —
It is still asserted with a positive air
that a formidable organization of filibus
tering elements for the invasion of Mexi
co, to avenge the death of Maximilian, is
in progress in this country. St. LouU is
named as ono of the points at which con
siderable activity in this matter is mani
fested. That city has an unusually large
proportion of Germans in its population,
and it is not unlikely that the feeliDg of
indignation among them against Juarez
and Escobedo 13 very intense.
On the other hand, there are reports of
a filibustering movement at the North in
support of Juarez. It is stated that these
last named filibusters count on obtaining
in the South a large number of negro
cavalrymen to invade and overrun the
most accessible parts of Mexico.
Probably there has been more said
than done in the furthering of both of
these projects; and it is almost certain
that the Government will be able to
“head off” both of them.
We sincerely hope that the New York
Tribune correctly apprehends the lesson
which the Southern people have learned
from their experience with cotton for the
last two years. That the grain and othor
food crops of this year will be abundant,
we are now satisfied ; and we think that
there is no proposition bettor established
than that the cotton crop will bring about
the same amount of money, whether it be
2,000,000, or 2,500,000, or 3,000,000 of bales.
The Tribune says: “It is doubtful whether
'there wiil be more than half of such a cot
ton crop as was usual before the war. At
this result the best Southern mmds do not
know whether to be sorry or glad. While
cotton never cost them so much, grain
never cost them so little. They have re
ceived new light on farming. * * * A
whole year is required to plant, work,
pick, gin, and market cotton. It is not
possible to raise it at old prices, and it is
likely that the planters will be glad to be
relieved from the cares, vexations and
new duties attending its culture. Their
success thi3 year in raising gfain will give
their thoughts a new direction.”
“It is not possible to raise cotton at old
prices”—that is certain ; and the expe
rience of the last twelve months has satis
fied planters that it will not do to raise all
The Boston Post says: "It will not be
simply a national convention that will
control Gen. Grant’s nomination, bat the
national voice. If that demand his nomi
nation it will be made, and his election
rendered certain, independent of all Re
publican committees. The people—tired
of the ullraism, vacilations, intrigues of
hackneyed, unprincipled and debauched
partisans—may seek a guide to pioneer
them out the wilderness of civil anarchy
who is untainted with complication, corn
ruptions and hypocrisies of the leaders of
tho Radicals, and give him the highest
civil power, not because they concur with
him in all bis opinions, but because they
bolieve him to be honest. There is a dire
need of such a candidate, and such a one
may bo found with epaulettes or without
them—but not among any of the Con
gressional conspirators against constitu
tional government.”
—Wendell Phillips’ organ, tho Anti-
Slavery' SiZiUtard, announces that it will
oppose the nomination and election of
Gen. Grant to the Presidency “to the last
extremity.” It intimates that Wade is its
choice, saying, however, that it is not
wedded to the interest of any candidate,
but "the attempt to crowd down our
throats a man of deultful generalship and
unknown principles will be resisted With
every weapon we can command.”
A meeting wa3 to have been held in
Savannah on Friday afternoon to organ
ize operations for the establishment of a
Cotton Factory. A most sensible and
laudable movement, which we hope will
not be permitted to flag until the factory
i3 in successful operation.
A Talk With the President*.
“Mack,” the irrapsessible correspond
ent of the Cincinnati Commercial, pub
lishes notes of a recent interview with
President Johnson. We copy the follow
ing passages:
I neither said, nor meant to say that I
wouldn’t execute that bill; I never said,
nor meant to say that of any law passed
by Congress. My opinion of that and the
other Reconstruction Bills is that, if there
is any Constitution left in this country—if
there is any of it still remaining—they are
clearly in violation of it. I think that is
as clear as any proposition in mathemat
ics c n be. There may be doubts as to
the constitutionality of some bills, but I
don’t think there can be any as to these,
and especially the last one. Weil, that
bill was sent to me for my approval. I
couldn’t give my approval, so I sent it
back with my objections, stating why I
couldn't sign it. Does that prove,because
I vetoed it that I won’t execute it? If
they have disregarded the Constitution in
passing it, as 1 think they have, it’s no
reason why I should disregard it by not
executing a bill passed in the mode pre
scribed by the Constitution, by the re
quired two-thirds majority. A bill may
be vetoed either on the ground of expedi
ency or on the ground of constitutional
ty. " In either event it becomes as much a
law after it has been passed by a two
thirds majority over tho veto, as if it hud
received the approval of the Executive.
Hero is the way ho talks of tho “com
ing man :”
Speaking of Presidential candidates and
aspirants, Mr. Johnson asked me if I had
any idea what was the nature of Goneral
Grant’s testimjny before the Judiciary
Committee. I told him I only knew of
the rumor that had been floating about
Washington, attributed to Mr. Eldridge,
a Democratic member of the Judiciary
;: From the Augusta Chronicle.
Review of B. H. Hill's Notes on the
Situation—No. 2.
BY JOSEPH E. BROWN.
To the Editors of the Chronicle and Sen
tinel ;
You have lately published a series of
“Notes on the Situation,” by B. H. Hill,
in which he has thought proper to make
an attack upon me by name, which makes
it proper that I notice them appropriately.
As the attack was published in your pa
per, I rely upon your sense of justice
when 1 ask permission to reply through
the same medium. I also most respect
fully request all other editors who have
published Mr. Hill’s NoteB to publish my
reply. I think I can safely promise, in
advance, to occupy less space than he has
done. If any of my articles should be
longer than his, they shall be less nume
rous. In No. 14 of Mr. Hill’s Notes I
find the following language:
"Sumner and Stevens, and Brown and
Holden are not accidents—nor aro they
original characters. They have figured
in all mad revolutions, from the fail of
Greece and the destruction of Jerusalem,
to the present day. . Such men have ever
been treacherous to principle—faithless to
trust, and deceitful in professions, but al
ways consistent in the common end of de
struction to government. And as these
Military bills have no character but oppo
sition to ail the provisions and principles
of the Constitution, and can have no end
but its utter and final destruction—such
men and all their ilk, in both sections, will
write in their support.”
Whether all the persons named support
the Military bills or not, Mr. Hill’s inten
tion is plain, to donounce all who support
or advocate a settlement of our unfortu
nate political difficulties, under the Mili
tary bills, as treacherous, faithless and
deceitful. Coming from a source entitled
to respect, this would be a serious charge.
As it is intended, howover, as a political
document, and was written for political
effect—to deceive and mislead—before at
taching importance to it, I consider it not
inappropriate to inquire into the political
respectability of the author.
If I am correctly informed, Mr. Kill
started his political life professing to be-a
Democrat. In 1855 he was tfce Know
Nothing candidate for Congress in his dis
trict and was defeated. In 1856 he was
on the Electoral ticket supported by the
Know Nothing party of Georgia, and was
defeated. In 1857 he was tne Know
Nothing candidate forGovernor, and was
defeated. As I was the Democratic can
didate, probably the latter defeat had not
been forgotten by him when he prepared
his “Notes on the Situation.” In 1859
Committee, to the effect that Grant’s testi
mony made him a good candidate lor the
Democracy; but that I had also heard
that the Radical members of the commit
tee asserted the very reverse of this, and
claimed the testimony as fitting Grant for
a Radical nomination. The President re
plied that he bad regarded Grant as an en
dorser of his policy all along. “You will
remember,” said he, "that the message
for which I was first denounced in the
Senate as whitewashing the condition of
affairs in the South, was based partly upon
information furnished by Gen. Grant in
his report which accompanied that mes
sage. I have never spoken very much l
Gen. Grant on the subject of politics, but
I should be surprised to find out at this
time that he has been opposed to what I
, havo been attempting to do for the resto-'
or nearly all cotton, and depend on buy- 'ration of the Southern States.” ' Thest*'
ing corn with tho profits of cotton cul- [vwere the words of tbo\President on this
Registration in Stewart county has
been completed. A Lumpkin correspon
dent gives us the summary: Whites 773,
colored 1408. A correspondent of the
Macon Telegraph reports it—Whites 774,
blacks 1414.
Registration in Bit^j county has closed.
Result—Whites 1253, blacks 1818.
In Milton county—Whites 609, blacks
62.
The additional returns of registration in
Alabama, published by tbe Montgomery
papers of yesterday, show the following
totals: "Whites 41.809, blacks 61,765.
A squadron of cavalry, numbering
about one hundred, reached Atlanta on
Tuesday. The Intelligencer says it had
not learned whether they were en route
for another point, or were to remain on
out Atlanta. They could hardly
“d Tennessee beforo the elec*
ink that there is more need
than in any other.
Legislature of Connecticut
ejected a proposed amendment of tbe
-onstitution to give negroes tbe right to
vote in that State. In tho House of Rep
resentatives, in which the Radicals have a
majority of about fifteen, the majority
against tbe amendment was 18. The hy
pocrisy of tbe Radical pretended love for
the negro is shown by numerous demon
strations such as this.
A letter from Springfield, 111., dated
July 26lb, to the St. Louis Republican,
says: “Tho new crop of wheat is coming
steadily into market. About 5,000bushels
has been bought to-day at S1.50 for fall
and 51.25 for spring. The market at these
rates is very weak, and a still furtherjie.
cline is possible. New oats are being pur
chased at 40 cents at the elevator.”
A great excitement has been caused in
Pittsburg, Pa., by tbe application of a
colored man, named George B. Vashon,
for license to practice law. Evidence
showing his qualifications was presented,
and a motion made that he be admitted.
This motion was opposed by one of the
lawyers. The Judge finally granted a
rule to show cause why the applicant
should not be admitted, and the case will
be argued in a few days. Pittsburg is a
thorough abolition and rad'cal city.
The Augusta Chronicle and Sentinel
charges that at a secret meeting of the
recently appointed municipal officers of
its city, they resolved to raise the salary
of the military Mayor to 55,000, and
declared themselves in office for the term
of four years! The complaint against the
late Mayor and Council, who were not
permitted a re-election by the people, was
that they were extravagant in the dis
bursement of the city finances 1 The
Chronicle says that the authority upon
which this action of tho new officers is
based is tho following clause in the charter
of the city: "That the City Council of
Augusta shall have power, at any time,
* * * to change or increase the salaries
and fees of any of the officers of said city,
elected or to be elected by said City Coun
cil, at their discretion; and to fix, by
ordinance, tho terms and times of said
officers' election.” (Which, of course,
don’t apply to tho Mayor and Council.)
This is keeping step with Brownlow
and tbe Tennessee radicals, pretty lively.
Mr. Stephens.—The Augusta Consti-
iulionalist discredits the opinions and
views ascribed to Mr. Stephens by one
Swinton, a correspondent of the New
York Times, and adds : “We caution tbe
public to receive this letter and all similar
contributions with large grains of allow
ance. We have reason to so caution; and,
once for all, declare that Mr. Stephens is
not responsible for ideas purporting to
have come from him, unless under his
name or by his sanction. At the proper
time, the people of Georgia will hear from
him whom they have always delighted to
honor, and in whom they still confide.
We believe that time to be not far distant,
and pray that Heaven may vouchsafe him
the necessary strength and illumination
to make his words worthy of himself and
worthy of his country.”
The people who have been most troub
led by bis officious intermeddling in mat
ters not pertaining to his official position,
will bo glad to learn that G. L. Eberhardt,
State Superintendent of Education, under
the Freedmen’s Bureau, for Georgia, has
been removed by General Howard. This
announcement is made by the Augusta
National Republican, which ought to be
good authority. It says, however, that
his successor has not yet been announced ;
and we have no reason to jump to the
conclusion that the successor will bo better
than Eberhardt.
■*»-»
Registration has not yet commenced in
South Carolina; and it is said by the pa
pers that Gen. Sickles will not order the
work to be commenced before October, as
be does not wish tbe gathering of the
crops to be intefered with. If this is re
ally the General’s object in delaying re
gistration in that State, it is one that at
tests bis good judgment and regard for
the material interests of the people gov
erned by him.
tivntion. This truth, as a general propO'
sition, is undeniable. But whether the
planters will take it home, each man to
himself, and make their individual ar
rangements correspond with what they
perceive to be the general policy, is, we
fear, still doubtful.
Where Born.—We are indebted to Mr.
George I. Lloyd, Clerk of the Board of
Registration, for tho following statement
of the nativities of tbo registered voters of
Muscogee county:
Georgia. 1021
South Carolina 122
Alabama 35
Florida.
Tennessee
Connecticut
Kentucky
Ohio
District Columbia—
Germany
Canada
Virginia ^64
North Carolina 8S
Maryland 26
New York 6
Mississippi 6
Pennsylvania 6
New Jersey 4
Texas 1
France 1
Ireland 1
A Prediction.—Wo want to make a
prediction which will soon be verified or
dispelled. It is, that if the Radicals ob
tain majorities in the Conventions about
to be called in the Southern States, their
proceedings wiil be so violent and disor
derly that tho military authorities will
have to interfere and disperse or control
some of thoso bodies. Such a combina
tion of vindictiveness, selfishness and ig
norance as characterizes tho members of
the party can never make a republican
constitution or take tbe guidance of
State.
Gen. C. Robinson, one of the citizens of
Alabama most extensively known, and
esteemed as one of the first gentlemen of
the State,died at his residence in Lowndes
county on the 29th ult. His age was 62
years.
Tho Commissioner of Registration in
Memphis reports eleven thousand voters,
but the Assessors report that there are
only sixteen hundred and twenty-eight
persons subject to poll tax. This would
be considered very strange anywhere out
side of Brownlow’s dominions.—Nashville
Gazette.
Strange, but not impossible. We do
not believe that th6 tax collectors will be
able to find one half of the voters in
Muscogee couDty who have reported at
the registration office. Possibly they might
be found at the polls on the day of elec
tion, but they will not be there for the
purpose of paying “poll tax.”
Congress did not pas3 the bill to suspend
the payment of the three millions of
dollars awarded to claimants of cotton by
theCoffrtof Claims. The suspension was
advocated on the ground that the loyalty
of the claimants was of a doubtful char
acter, and the House paseed the bill, but
the Senate appears not to have acted upon
it. A dispatch from Washington states
that the claimants are now pressing for
the payment of their awards.
Congress thanked General Sickles for
decreeing a stay law in South Carolina;
and one of Chief Justice Chase’s late
decisions declares all such laws unconsti
tutional. The radical doctors differ.
The footings of the registration table
published by the Montgomery papers yes.
terday, are these: Whites 46,697, blacks
65,773. Tho returns aro not full from
quite a number of counties, and from sev
eral there are as yet no reports.
Two of tho radical leaders in South
Carolina, United States Marshal Epping
and C. C. Bowen, carried their violent and
vituperative contest for the chief leader.
ship so far that it led to a challenge from
one to the other. It is understood that tbe
challenge was accepted, and a duel was
about to be fought, when EppiDg was ar
rested on Thursday last, and the spilling
of precious “loyal” blood t^us prevented.
■ point, as nearly as I cadi remember therein
they express the idea, at any rate. My
impression is that when Grant’s testimony
is printed, it will bn hard to determine
from it. whether Ulysses is on both sides
or on neither at the present writing.
And here are his views of the situation.
It will be noticed that he lays a particular
stress on the Mexican imbroglio :
Frequently duriDg the conversation the
President spoke of he condition of the
country as extremely perilious, and beset
with many difficulties. "First,” said he,
“there are ten States totally disorganized
and torn to piecos. It is hard to see how,
under the existing laws, this matter can
be satisfactorily settled up. Then there is
the Mexican question—and a very compli
cated question it is, too. Men may talk as
they please in Congress and on tho Etump
about it, but it is a subject that must be
arranged by the law of nations. I don't
wish to be understood as saying exactly
what will be done about it, but merely to
say that it will be a difficult and compli
cated question te adjust before we get al
together through with it. Then there is a
great national debt to pay, and the people
are getting restive under heavy taxation.
Then we have an Indian war on hand, the
possible extent and cost of which are not
easy to forsee. Now al! these things de
mand attention, and I fear they will be
lost sight of in the great straggle for the
Presidency. The country needs all the
friends it can get now, irrespective of
party to help to save it from breakers.
Any man who will help me in the work
is my friend, I don’t care what hi3 poli
tics may be.”
Farmers and Capital Wanted.
We have often directed public attention
to the character of the lands in this section
of Georgia, and the various products
which they grow, our object being to in
vite emigration hither from less favored
regions of the country. But numerous as
the increased population has been in the
last ten years, the larger portion of Deca
tur and the adjoining counties, including
those in Florida and Alabama, still re
mains unsettled. Thousands of the most
productive lands is this vast region of
country, whose population look to Bain-
bridge for a market, still remain as they
were when the r6d man, driven from his
rightful hunting grounds by the dishonest
whites, sought a place of refuge amidst
the everglades of Florida. Some of these
lands might be purchased at one dollar an
acre, and from that to five and ten, the
product cf which, by tho use of guano,
could be made to reach thirty and forty
bushels of corn to the acre, and fifteen
hundred o>!wo thousand pound^Tfr’aned
cotton on an average.
We want farmers to cultivate these
lands—men of industry, enterprise and
intelligence. The climate is of a temper
ature unsurpassed in North America, both
for health and comfort. The water also is
most excellent, free from rotten limestone,
and refreshingly cool and pleasant. Tho
best water wo think we ever drank was
from a well not far from the Blowing
Cave in this county. In the vicinity of
all our creeks, with the single exception
of SpriDg Creek, which lies midway be
tween the Flint and Chattahoochee riv
ers, such a disease as chill and fever is
almost unknown—which is remarkable,
as the neighborhood of streams, on ac
count of the bordering swamps, is usually
sickly, and is avoided by settlers on that
account. Fine settlements may be found
here by the thousand, at very moderate
prices, and we cordially welcome good
and reliable men from every section of
the Union to cast their lot amongst us,
and aid us in the development of our
boundless resources.
We also invite another class to our
section—we mean the capitalists. The
Flint river, between Bainbridge and Al
bany, offers facilities for manufacturing
purposes rarely found. The rock bed of
tbe river shoals, and rich back cotton
country, a connection by water and rail
road with tbe great marts of the South,
as well as with the cities of tbe interior
and the grain growing regions, render
this a most desirable locality for manu
factories and machinery works of all
descriptions.
On the railroad between this place and
Thomasville, and in the vicinity of Bain
bridge, there is a great demand for steam
saw mills, which would pay handsomely
from the start.—Bainbridge Argus.
Mr. Patrick Walsh, who has had a long
and honorable connection with the press,
is announced as one of the editors of the
Augusta Chronicle and Sentinel,
1859 he
look position in advanco for war, without
waiting for an overt act of oppression by
the Federal Government, in case the Re
publican party should elect their candi
date for President tbe next year. In the
fall of 1859 he was elected State Senator
from Troup county, for two years—tbe
most distinguished honor ever conferred
upon him by popular vote. After Mr.
Lincoln was elected President, he backed
down from bis position for war. and was
a candidate in the winter of I860 for tbe
Convention on tbe Union or Co-operation
ticket Ho was elected and took bis seat
in the Secession Convention. He at first
opposed secession. Before the passage of
the Ordinance of Secession, after it was
known that a majority of the Convention
favored it, it began to te discussed in pri
vate circles who should be elected to the
Provisional Congress in case the State se
ceded. The Ordinance was pi t upon its
final passage, and Mr. Hill voted for it
and signed it. A few days afterward he
was elected to Congress by the Conven
lion. Whether by voting for tbe Ord
nance he betrayed the people of Troup
county, whose voice was against secession
for the causes then existing, I do not pre
tend to inquire. At any rate be was not
elected as a secessionist for tile then exist
ing causes; he voted for the Ordinance,
and was elected to Congress by a majority
of secessionists. What important mess
ure of practical statesmanship he inaugu
rated or carried through Congress by hi:
ability or influence, during his whole term
of service. 1 have never been able to learn.
While the Secession Convention was in
session at Savannah Mr. Hill, then a mem
her of both the Convention and the Pro
visional Congress, made a speech to the
people, in which lie said, “The North
would not fight. There would be no war
But if the North should be so foolish us to
go into the contest, there never was a peo
pie on the face of the earth so well pro
pared for it as we were. It should be an
aggressive war. The war should be car
ried into Africa; and when the cities of
the North were laid in ashes, and tbe
country devastated and laid waste, then
wo should find that the people of the
,North were the ones to ask for terms and
sue for pence." He pictured the rising
glory of tbe new Confederacy, and went
on to say that while this became more
compact and secure, disintegration would
come as sure as fate upon the old Union,
and they would seek entrance into this.—
And ho very graciously added that “if
they came humbly enough, ss ‘hewers of
wood and dr .were of water,' they might
come.
When the next Legislature met there
were in it a majority of the old Know
Nothing party, and Mr. Hill was elected
to the Confederate Senate oyer General
Toombs.
While in the Senate he voted, under
oath, against the first Conscript Bill. As
is well known I opposed the measure
when made public as unconstitutional.
Not long after this was known Mr. Hill
made a speech in Milledgeville, in which
he intended to be very severe on me for
my opposition to a measure against which
he had cast his vote under oath ; and said
the country wouid havo been ruined if it
had not passed. After that timo he be
came tho zealous advocate of the conscrip
tion policy and denounced all who op
posed it.
During the war when a call was made
upon the people, not subject to conscrip
tion, to volunteer and organizo for home
defence, when it whs doubtiu! whether
they would be called out for active service,
Mr. Hill made a speech in LaGrange and
encouragod all to volunteer, and as a
means of giving force to his appeals, and
of showing his own patriotic devotion to
the cause, he enrolled, or authorized his
own name to bo enrolled, as a private in
one of the companies being formed, and
pledged himself to go if they were called
out. Soon afterward, upon the advance
of the Federal army, the company wa3 or
dered to the field for active service, and
Mr. Hill not being one of tbe “dupes who
showed a will to lose blood” backe-j out
and refused to go. The reason reported at
the time, as given by him for bis refusal,
was that he was a Confederate Senat. r
drawing a salary, and that whilo in his
condition it would be unconstitutional for
him to draw the pay of a private soldier.
So it appears the present is not the only
occasion when Mr. Hill’s motto has been
to stand by the Constitution as his only
safety. A3 he would certainly have been
entitled to the pay of a private soldier if
he had shouldered his gun and gone with
the company, and as it was wrong for a
Senator to violate the Constitution, he was
not arrested and compelled to serve.
All true Confederates are expected by
him to admit, that Mr. Hill’s denunciation
fit those who willfully encouraged deser
tion or evasion of service, by any who
"could enter the bullet department, without
s violation of the Constitution, is most just
and proper. But no ods is expected to
Blame a Senator for refusing to shoulder a
musket as a private soldier, in violation
of the Constitution, after getting "our
people,” whose “intelligence and virtue,”
he says he has “often overrated” into the
service, any more than the world was ex
pected to blame the lame captain for
starting in the retreat in advance of his
men. It may be, in view of the above in
cident in his life, that Mr. Hill exclaims in
No. 14 of bis notes “I never felt 1 made
wSr-on the Union.”
Mr. Hill now says, "I was willing every
hour of the struggle to stop the fight and
negotate.” When and to whom did he
proclaim that willingness during tho
struggle? All remember in Georgia that
he was stumping the State when Gen, Lee
surrendered, assuring our people that
there was no possible danger of subjuga
tion, and exhorting them to accept noth
ing but “independence or extermination.”
While I admit that our position as a
conquered people is not consistent with
our former position; and that the sword
having settled the construction of the
owainat. na tha nnsitinn nf in —
even fanaticism itself,” becanse bo has
agreed that it is bis duty to execute laws
passed over his veto by two-thirds of Con
gress, which have not been declared void
by the Supreme Court; who boldly pro-
claims that it is the duty of tbe President
to suppress Congress; who arraigns tbe
Supreme Court of the United for having
in a late decision, as he says, "simply af
firmed what is called the ultra State-rights
doctrine of South Carolina ;” who asserts
that Generals Beauregard, Longstreetand
Hampton, are far more to be despised
than a burglar,” because they "counsel
submission to tbe Military Acts ;” and
who denounces, General Lee, General
Johnston, General Gordon, and almost
all other of the Generals of the Confede
rate armies, each, a3 an "enemy to the
Constitution,” and “an enemy of every
citizen whose rights are protected by the
Constitution,” because they "passively
submit” to the same acts of Congress.
Doubtless these great man, if they
should read Mr. Hill’s bombastic fulmin-
ations and aspersions, would be “exceed
ingly filled with contempt.”
Number 2.
Constitution against us, the position of in
dividuals who adopted the State rights
theory prior to the war, and the one they
now occupy under tho amnesty oath by
which they are sworn to Bupport the
“Union of the States,” aro not consistent;
I have felt justified, as the assailed party
is recurring to this outline before and
during the war—of the political character
of this reckless calumniator, who de
nounces the Congress of the United States,
again, and again, till the tautology is fa
tiguing, as a “fragmentary conclave,”
and its members, without exception, as
perjured traitors and “libellerswho
charges the President of the United States
with having committed “the most fatal
and dangerous error of this generation,
not excepting secession nor coercion, or
la Mr. Hill’s Atlanta speech he says, as
ho had before said in substance in his
Notes, that all who vote for a Convention
and encourage others to do so are "moral
ly nod legally perjured traitors.” This is
a very sweeping and unjust denunciation
of a large majority of the people of Geor
gia who will vote. Why are they per*
jured traitors ? Because the Convention
is called under the Military bills, which
he says violates the Constitution, which he
and all others who took the amnesty oath,
and all who take the voters’ oath, have
sworn to support. In other words, n<
man who has sworn to support the Con
stitution can vote fora Convention, called
by an act which Mr. Hill assumes to be
unconstitutional, without being guiliy of
perjury.
And why is he perjured- Certainly
not because he votes for a Convention to
alter the State Constitution. This is the
right of the citizens of the States at any
time, and has been repeatedly exercised
by tbe people of the different States. Not
because he votes for a Convention to
change the basis of suffrage. That has
been done repeatedly by State Conven
tions and Legislatures. Then why is it
perjury to vote for heConvention? The
substance of Mr. Hill's reply to this is:
The act of Congress that provides for
holding the Convention is unconstitution
al, and any one who has sworn to support
the Constitution commits perjury if he
acts under an unconstitutional act of Con
gress. All who register do certainly act
under this same unconstitutional law of
Congress. The first action which the
Military bill proposes that the citizen take
is to register. The second is to vote for
or against a Convention. Tho one is as
much action under the military law as
the other. And strange as is the incon
sistency, Mr. Hill advises him to do the
first act required, and denounces him as a
perjured traitor if he doe9 the second and
votes for the Convention. Before further
no.icing this very extraordinary position,
let us apply Mr. Hill’s rule to Mr. Hill
himself. When be wa3 released from
prison and took tbe amnesty oath, he
swore to support tbe Constitution of the
United Slates, and in tbe samo breath he
swore to support tho proclamation of the
Fresident abolishing slavery in the States,
including Georgia. At that time Georgia
had not held a Convention and agreed to
abolish slavery. The Constitution pro-
lected it. The President’s proclamation
had declared it abolished, and at the same
lime Mr. Hill swore to support both the
Constitution and tbe proclamation.
And ho came home and favored tho in
corporation of a provision into tho Con
stitution of the State forever abolishing
slavery, which was protected by tbe Con
stitution of tho United States; and when
the L“gislaturo met, he favored the adop
tion, by them, of an amendment of the
Constitution of tbe United States declaring
it forever abolished. The President re
quired tbo first, and Congress had pro
posed the second to tho States, which the
President also required the Southern
States to adopt. Mr. llill swore both to
support the Constitution and to carry into
effect tho proclamation of the President,
which abolished, or declared it abolished,
over or "outside" of the Constitution. We
were then acting under the requirements
of tho President. Now, compare that
with the present requirement. Tbe Presi
dent then required us to do two things :
First, to amend our State Constitution
so as to destroy some three hundred mil
lions of dollars of our property, which
the Constitution of the United States pro
tected; and, second, to ratify an amend .
ment of tbo Constitutional of the UnitoU)
States putting it forever out of the power
of tbe Stuta to restore our property to us.
The present requirement of Congress also
exacts two things of us: One to alter tbe
Constitution of tho State so as to give suf
frage to the African race, and tbe other to
ratify an amendment of the Constitution
of the United States disfranchising certain
officers (Mr. Hill among the number) who
engaged in the rebellion, as our amnesty
oath compelled us to call it, not forever,
as in the case of the abolition of slavery,
but till they may be relieved by a vote of
two-tbirds of Congress, aDd to do certain
other acts which were also required by the
President, as the repudiation of the State
war debt, &c.
Now, if it is a violation of the Constitu
tion for Congress to make a voter, upon
which Mr. Hill puts so much stress, and
to require us, as a condition precedent to
readmission, to incorporate it into our
State Constitution that he shall bo a voter,
was it not as much a violation of the Con
stitution for the President, by proclama
lion, to abolish slavery and require us to
ncorporate that into our State Constitu
tion? And if it is unconstitutional for
Congress to require us to ratify an amend
ment of the Constitution of the United
States, taking from certain officers who
engaged in the war the right to hold
office, was it not equally a violation of the
Constitution for the President to require
us to ratify a similar amendment, taking
from us hundreds of millions of dollars
worth of property, without a dollar of
compensation? Is Mr, Hill's right to hold
office any more protected b; the Consti
tution than th6 citizen’s right to hold
property ? If it is a violation of the Con
stitution to require the State to deprive
him of the one, isit not equally a violation
of the Constitution to require us to deprive
the citizen of the other? If he had sworn
to support the Constitution of the United
States he favored tbe one, and he now de
nounces as a perjured traitor any man
who supports tbe other.
He says he “shall never get done shud
dering, and horrors will never cease to
rise up in his mind, when he sees men
taking an oath to support the Constitution,
and then legislating to putin force meas-
sures which are outside of it." . He also
ays, “I shall discharge the obligation of
the amnesty oath. It required meto sup
port the Constitution and the emancipa
tion of the negro, and I do.” The Milita
ry Bills require an oath to support the
Constitution and the enfranchisement of
the negro. Where is the difference in
principle? Mr. Hill swallowed the one
without gagging, and saw the measure put
fnr-r.n ‘• r.n1/the* f^nnstit.ntinn
force" "outside" of the Constitution
without shuddering.” But when his in
ordinate ambition tor office is about to be
interfered with, “horrors constantly rise
before him.” And I regret to see that he
is not the only one of the former leaders
and officeholders in Georgia, who after
having aided in, and even presided over,
the doing of acts, quite as humiliating and
as violative of principle, and of constitu
tional guarantees, seems willing now to
see the country plunged into irretrievable
ruin, rather than submit to the disfran
chisement which the conquerer requires
on account of b ; s acts of disloyalty. Rath-
er than have their unholy ambition for
office thwarted, such men seem deter
mined to drag down with them those who
have been their followers and heed their
advice, and to subject them also to dis
franchisement, and their families to want
by confiscation.
Again, in his notes, and in his Atlanta
speech, Mr. Hill says, he "earnestly beg
ged and urged” Georgia and tbe .South not
to secede. He also says you me already
in the Union “and always were.” And
in his notes he says “I never felt I made
war on the Union ” .
It seems but and inference can be justly
drawn from these expressions, which is,
that Mr. Hill advised and urged Georgia
not to secede, and that he never believed
Georgia was out of tbe Union, and con§«-
quently that he never made war on it. It
Mr. Hill’s language means anything this
is his position. Let us compare these pro.
fessions with his acts. . _
In 1859, in his Dudly letter, of which 1
have no copy, and speak from memory,
the substance of which 1 am satified Igive
correctly (it 1 err its publication will cor
rect me), Mr. Hill, in answer to the ques
tion what the people of Georgia should do
in the event the Republican party elected
its candidate for tbo Presidency the next
year, most emphatically advised war,
war. war, in every sense in which the term
is defined or definable." And in the event
that Douglas was elected.or any one hold
ing his opinions, the same course is recom
mended in most earnest terms. I think
no word in tho letter indicated tho desire
or intention of tbe writer to await in overt
actol oppression by the Federal Govern
ment, or the co-operation of all theSoulh-
® r " * contingency on which
hostilities should depend. To this position
ot war, war, war, he committed his party,
bis Inends, and his honor, and defended
and justified it in his speeches that fall
whenever he alluded to it.
After the election of Mr. Lincoln ho
had not the moral courage to stand by his
position, but backed down from it, and as
he now says, in 1860 "earnestly begged"
and urged Georgia not to secede. In Jan
uary, 1861, he again changed and voted
for and signed the ordinance of secession.
He now says he told the people that seces
sion would produce war. Of course be
predicted all the evils that have befallen
us, none of which would have happened
if his advice had been taken.
Frior to I860 he had taken tho oath to
support the Constitution of tbo United
States. As a member of the Confederate
Congress he aided in the formation of the
Confederate States, and afterward swore
to support it. He also voted for a virtual
declaration of war against the United
States. Hs voted to raise and support
armies, and equip them, to bo hurled
against the forces of the United States—
tosetup, by force, an independent gov
ernment within the territory cf the Uni
ted States. He now denounces those who
told tho people that secession would be a
peaceable remedy, and says, in the teeth
of his Savannah speech, he always pre
dicted it would produce the state of things
that followed. Then, according to his own
statement, when be voted for secession he
knowingly and wilfully voted for bloody
war, and in the Confederate Congress
voted to sustain a bioody war against the
Government of the United States, whose
Constitution he had sworn to support.
When Mr. Hill did all this, if ho believed,
as he now says, that we “always were” in
the Union, he sinned against conscience,
light and knowledge, and is "legally and
morally a perjured traitor.”
If tho State had no right to secede, and
did not secede, the conclusion is inevita
ble that all who believed secession would
produce war and ought not to be attempt
ed, and so believing, voted for or volun
tarily aided secession, are traitors against
the Government which they believed had
rightful jurisdiction over them; and all
who, so believing, took an oath to support
the Constitution of tho United States, and
afterward aided the rebellion, as it is
called, are perjured traitors.
There is but one mode of escape from
the legal and moral guilt of treason and
perjury left to Mr. Hill, or any other man
who took the oath to support the Consti
tution of the United States and afterward
aided in the war against theUoiledStates.
That escape is found in tho position occu
pied by the secessionists, and those who
honestly believed that the State of Geor
gia had, under tbe compact, the right to
secede and did secede. What, then, fol
lows? After we seceded we wore, a State
foreign to the Cnited States We bad war
with the United States as a foreign power.
After a gallant struggle we were conquer
ed by the United States, and becauie a
conquered people out of the Union. We
then ceased to havo any Constitutional
rights till readmitted, except such as tbe
conqueror chose to recognize. We had
only the rights which, by the laws of
nations and the laws of war, belong to the
conquered. What we term Constitutional
rights in this country are not among the
rights of the conquered, by the law of
nations. Tho amnesty oa'h administered
to our people at the dictation of the con
queror, in which each person is sworn to
support the Constitution of the United
States, neither restores the seceded ritales
to the Union nor imposes the duty on
each individual in the conquered territory
to resist “the laws” passed by the Con
gress of the conquoror, which no judicial
tribunal has declared unconstitutional.
It simply means that we, as individuals,
will obey all laws passed by Congress
according to the forms of legislation pre
scribed by the Constitution, til! they are
repealed or declared void by tho proper
Constitutional tribunal. In or out of the
Union, the oath of a privato citizen to
support the Constitution moans no more
than this: When a law is passed by a
majority of Congress, with the approval
ot the President, or by two-thirds of Con
gress over the veto of tho President,
every citizen and subject is bound to obey
it till it is repealed, or the proper Court
has pronounced it unconstitutional and
void. The Military Bills were so passed,
and they have never been declared void
by the proper Conslitutional tribunal.
Till this is dons, or they are repealed,
every citizen of tho Unite. 1 -States and
every conquered subject of a,foreign State
held by ibe United States ia bound to
submit to them. He supports the Consti
tution by submission to tho laws passed
according to the forms of the Constitution
till they are repealed or set aside by the
proper Constitutional tribunal.
Every man of common setfle must see
that any other construction of the oath
would lead to endless confusion, blood
shed and anarchy. Our people often differ
about the constitutionality of acts passed
by Congress. Courts of high authority
differ. If Mr. Hill's position is right each
citizen is sworn to act upon hi3 own con
struction, and resist every law which he
deems unconstitutional, and defend all
rights which he believes he has under the
Constitution; and in his own language,
“Talk for them, and if need be, before
God and tho country, fight and die for
them.” Adopt this construction, that
each citizen is bouud to resist all laws
which he deems unconstitutional, and we
must have constant fighting and dying.
In other words, anarchy and contusion
must supersede all law and all order,
whenever we differ about tho constitu
tionality of acts of Congress.
In his Atlanta speech Mr. Hill ex
claims: "O how sorry a croature is the
man who cannot stand up for the truth
when the country is in danger. There
never was such an opportunity as now
exists for a man to show cf what stuff tie
is made.” How unfortunate for Mr.
Hill’s position, that this did not occur to
him in 1861, when he voted for secession,
after having sworn to support the Consti
tution of the United States, and after hav
ing predicted horrible bloody war in case
of secession, and after having urged and
begged Georgia not to secede. AV’bat an
opportunity he then bad to show the
stuff" of which he was made. Why did
he not then “stand by the Constitution,
our only' hope, and fight for it, and, if
need be, die for it in his effort to avoid
perjury, and put down rampant, bloody
treason, which, if his present position is
right, the Convention seemed determined
to commit? How unfortunate it was for
the country, and for the reputation of Mr.
Hill, if he be now right, when ho wrote
his Dudley letter, and when ho made his
Savannah speech during the session of
the Convention, and threatened tbe inva
sion of tbe North with fire and sword if
the people of the North attempted to
prevent our peaceable secession,and when
he voted for and signed tbe Ordinance of
Secession after having sworn to support
tbe Constitution ; that the guardian angel
of liberty did not sound in his ears louder
than seven thunders,the elegant ! chaste!
language of Mr. Hill, marked in the quo
tations below from No. 10 of his Notes.
O, Mr. Ilil), patriot, political prophet, fore
seeing (treat events after they occur, friend of
liberty! remember your oath i 1
"l ask again and again, and I beseech all
men” " to ask, it is the earnest, anxious pierc
ing” “ appeal ” of the dying hope of liberty!”
“Mr, Hill f are you willing to violate the Con-
“stitution? Are you willing first to swear to
‘‘suoport it, with the intent at tbo same time of
"swearing to violate it? Then I proclaim—all
‘posterity will proclaim, your bell-mortgaged
‘conscience will never cease to proclaim ; yon
“are perjured, and perjury is not half your
"crime; you commit perjury in order to become
< O r Mr°HiH, think! think I discard ambition !
and tarn a deaf ear to the allurements oi office!
stand by the Constitution! vote against secession !
and thereby avert the bioody war you have
predicted. Remember your oath to support the
Constitution.'! “If you do not the hell-hounds
which Death by rape begot of fain, when
Heaven’s Almighty hurled down to Hell those
who by deceit and force sought to dostroy His
supremacy, these very pretences which hate
besets of hypocrisy in this attempt to destroy
the Constitution wiil become ’yelping monsters’
in tho political hell into which the genius of
constitutional liberty will cast you.and will
‘kennel’ in tho womb that bud them, and
■‘ ‘howl and gnaw.’ and vex with conscious ter
rors forever." Shades of Milton!!!
Probably “Sensational” Only.—
New York, JulyTi.—The Herald’s Wash
ington special says a curious story is cur
rent that General Grant recently discov
ered that his movements were watched by
a detective, who had been persistently fol
lowing him, and who, it is further reports
od, is employed by a Massachusetts poli
tician in Washington. The detective, on
being questioned by the General, said bo
was bunting up testimony for a Congres
sional committee.
The Herald’s Canada correspondent
says that certain parties in Canada, who
are supposed to be posted, state that a
scheme for tbo abduction of President
Lincoln was started in tbe South as early
as 1863, and that Colonel Percy Wynd-
bam, who commanded a regiment in and
about Washington, had atone timeagreed
to deliver up the Fresident and his Cabi
net at Richmond, and would probably
have done so if he had not been suddenly
removed.
From tho N. Y. Times, 26th.
Affairs In Tennessee—The Browntow
Rule.
The proposal of ultra Radicals to sub
ject the Constitutions of Maryland and
Keotucky to Congressional revision un
der the pretence of providing therefor a
republican lorm of government, invests
with interest aii that relates to the politi
cal condition ot Tennessee, where Brown-
iow is carrying out their theories to per
fection. M
To the knowledge possessed by the pub
lic on this subject a correspondent this
morning furnishes a uoteworlhy addition.
The writer of the letter which we publish
in another column is a citizen of Tennes
see, a consistent friend ot the Union cause
and a man whose statements are worthy
ot the fullest credence, 'i’nere is nothing
lu them absolutely novel: they reiterate
representations which have been received
from other sources, and tbe literal truth of
which can no longer be doubted. The
letter, however, throws additional light
upon sorue points which imve not been
properly appreciated, and illustrates tho
approach of a crisis which Brownlow’s
lust for power seems on the uve of pre
cipitating upon the State.
What republican government in Ten
nessee amounts to is plainly shown in the
means which Brownlow is employing to
insure success for himself and his friends
in the ensuing election. Tho system of
proscription which bo has instituted has
culminated in the disfranchisement cf
four-fifths of the white men of tbe State;
and still it is pushed further wherever
there is danger of a Brownlow defeat.—
In some counties the white voters are
fewer in number than the offices to bo
filled. In others, the Governor is avail
ing himself of a law enacted by his crea
tures in the Legislature by which he is
empowered at pleasure to set aside the re
gistration where it is unsatisfactory, and
to appoint a new Registrar with the view
of making matters more agreeable. Thus
adverse majorities are overcome by a abort
and simple process, enabling the Gover
nor to disfranchise all who withhold from
him support. This extraordinary power
he is exercising to an extent that rendors
the holding ot an election a larce; the
regular registration under the law being
set aside, and a new registration made un
der tho direction of Browniow’s agents.
Even the candidates in some plat es offi
ciate as registrars and prepare the lists of
thoso who shall vote—a shameless substi
tute for the old method of ballot-stuffing.
Where the affinities of the citizen are not
known, tbe certificate oi a regular Brown
low man is required, and the result is the
wholesale exclusion of loyabsts, tried and
true, as well as of former rebels. N.:j,
tbe latter sometimes fare better than the
former, as a circumstance mentioned by
our correspondent proves. An anti-
Brownluw Unionist, who served as a Fed
eral officer during tbo war, lias in one in
stance been required to procure the en-
dorsation of a rebel Colcnel who happ :ns
now to be on Brownlow’s side I
Tbe effect of this condition of affairs
upon the while people of tbe fatale may be
conceived. We have but to suppose our
selves in the posith n of four-fifths of the
white Tennesseeans—including a majority
of original and steadfast Unionists—to
judge of the anger and indignation which
the course of the Brownlow faction is
everywhere exciting. It is not surprising
that fears of extended trouble are enter
tained, or that conflicts on a small sc ale
continually occur during the progress of
the canvass. Infinitely more astonishing
would it be if the outrages perpetrated by
the party of extremists who seek to in
trench themselves permanently in power,
wore permitted to pass wholly unresented.
Tbe pretences under which they are per
petrated add to their enormity. A band
of outlaws bolding tho offices of the Slate,
and trying by force and fraud to keep
them, would be a spectacle sad enough in
all conscience. Here, however, we have
usurpation, tyranny, injustice and crime
carried on in tbe name of loyalty and
Union, with former rebels, now in tbo
Brownlow interest, helping to commit
them, and thousands of faithful Unionists
among tbe victims.
To make matters yet worse, tbo same
disregard of principle which marks the
conduct of the ruling faction in regard to
registration and disfranchisement, governs
their appeais to tbe negro dement. The
four-filths of the whites who worship no
Brownlow aro held up to the blacks s
enemies who must be kept down—as ;os-
sessors of property which the blacks may
righteously appropriate. The bitterness ot
a partisan contest is, therefore, intensified
by tho passions incident to an antagonism
of races. Tho two causes, combined, are
rapidly reducing tho State to a condition
compared witli which thatol the people cf
Georgia or Mississippi is superlative blis*
Instead of wondering at the bad blood, of
which all accounts from Tennessee -peak,
rather let us wonder at tbe patience that
prevails and the respect for order which
tho leaders opposed to Brownlow enjoin
upon their supporters.
Unless a change come, and that speedi
ly, interference of some sort will be called
for to rescue Tennessee from tbe faction
that dominates over and disgraces it, and
to institute reconstruction after tbe fashion
of the military government plan. Cer
tainly, neither Maryland nor Kentucky
affords a hundre h part of the justi
fication for interference which Tennessee
presents, whether considered in reference
to wrongs done or the legitimacy of the
wrong-doers. The uncenstitutionality
and illegality which is attached to tbe or
ganization of the ten governments now
termed “provisional,” also taint the
foundation of the present Government of
Tennessee. AVe sec no method of purging
it of the foul humors which find rent in
theBiowniow regime except that of re
construction from without. Let the wants
of Tennessee be remembered when heip
for Maryland and Kentucky is invoked.
The Southern -‘Kingdoms.”
We do not use that phrase Southern
Kingdoms, unadvisedly. We mean just
what it imports. There is no crowned
head in Europe, governing a like number
of subjects, that has more absolute con
trol over life and property than have tl.o
five little monarchs whom the Rump
Congress have set up to “govern” by
brute force—that is, by military force—
States that used to bo called “sovereign”
within this Union
Naturally enough, these little monarchs
are gradually gathering around their re
spective headquarters ail tho airs and
graces of an aristocracy. We hear of one
driving his coach and four through tho
streets—and of another giving levees, re
ceptions, etc., with mounted guards at
the various approaches to his “palace.”
If things like these can be done with im
punity now, when the Military Recon
struction Bill has been in operation but a
few months—we may look for the estab
lishment of regular “courts,” with court
fashions, court etiquette, etc., when
months roll on into years. It is absurd to
say that the American people wiil not
stand that. We answer that they do
stand it. When once a great people be
come abject, and bow their neck; to a
self-imposed despotism, they will stand
anything.
Kings and kingdoms, however, it is un
necessary to add, are not maintained ior
nothing. They aro cosliy toys, and the
cost must be borne by tho people who aro
their slaves aud subjects. Even while wo
write this, tho “Kings” are clamoring for
more money at the doors of the Treasury
Department at Washington, and the
clamor must be henrd.
Next winter, when tho Rump meets,
wo shall see the effect of this costly ex
periment in a huge Deficiency Bill, with
increased taxes, a higher Tariff, and other
ingenious Radical devices for making tbe
rich richer and the poor poorer.
Now, the people can change all this in
less than a twelvemonth, if they so will.
But, if they do not so will, Jacobinical
demagogues, who aro now lording it at
Washington, will so manage things, as to
make their power perpetual. That is the
aim of ail their present legislation. That
is tho object of their Supplementary Re
construction Bills. That is the object of
their exclusion of members of Congress,
not of their own way of thinking. That
is why they arc pushing their negro suff
rage hobby.
The people must wake up from their
torpor. There are some liberties yet to
be saved; but, unless the existing indiff
erence be shaken off, it may he too late.
[Yen; York Express.
Tho Havana Breusa says tbo Liberal
authorities at tho city of Mexico are per
secuting tho Catholic churches. They
stripped the Cathedral of all ornaments
and silverware, and arrested tha Bishop ot
Jalapa, the Abbot of Guadeloupe and
Dr. Arrillaga, superior of the Jesuits, who
was hold in close confinement; tho two
latter ara each over eighty years oid.
The charge against the Bishop of Jacspa
is that he acted as alternate for the Arch
bishop of Moxico in Council of Regency,
and against the Abbot, and that ho took
partin the deliberations of the assembly
of the Notables is also slated. 1 lie la-
mous Chapel of the Rosary has been lev-
elod by the Liberals.