Newspaper Page Text
2.
THE ATLANTA WEEKLY SI]
THE DAILY SUN.
Fbtda^ Mouking Septembkb 8.
Tl»e New York World and Atlan
ta Sun Again.
"Wo publish to-day, in full, Mr. Man-
ton Marble’s reply to our article of the
29 th ultimo.
From this it seems he declines further
controversy on his own chosen ground of
personal warfare. Having previously
abandoned the “argumentum ad causam,”
he now, in like manner, abandons the
“argumentum ad hominem," to which he,
himself, and not ice, had descended.
“He must excuse us,” says he, (allud
ing to the Political Editor of The Sun,)
“from meeting him in the arena of black
guardism and personal abuse, to which he
has descended.”
If we descended from the high posi
tron of discussing public questions upon
their merits, to the arena of inquiring
into “personal antecedents,” who led the
way in that descent which has*become so
disagreeable to him ? How did we get
there except in pursuit, and in the dis
charge of a high duty to the Public ?
If there is anything in the nature of
“blackguardism” in our article, which
was only meeting him on his own chosen
ground, why has he not reproduced it,
and exhibited to his readers proof of dbr
personal depravity, at least, even if he
could not venture to .permit them to
judge for themselves of the force of our
logic or the merits of our argument ?
Our article, it appears, was most grie
vously long, in the estimation of Mr.
Marble—but what “indecent” word, or
expression, or anything savoring of
“blackguardism,” is to be found in it
from beginning'to end ? What was the
“filth” in it, which he says we “raked
from that sewer of scurrility, the old files
of Brick Pomeroy’s defunct Daily Demo
crat" “to fling at” him ?
Did we use anything taken from Brick
Pomeroy’s paper? What we quoted was
taken from and credited to the Hew
York Day Boole, published at his door
on the day of his first personal attack
upon us, in his vaunting arraignment of
our Democratic “antecedents.” And
what was the “filth” so “raked” and
“flung” at him? Was it anything but the
simple facts, substantially stated, that Mr.
Manton Marble, in his “antecedents,” had
formerly conducted the World newspa
per as a Kadical sheet, and continued so
to conduct it ns long as his finances en
abled him to do so, and that he himself
had acknowledged, when he was com
pelled to sell out to the Democrats, it
was the most “mortifying event” of his
life?
This may be a very “filthy” matter in
the opinion of Mr. Marble, as well as
others; but if the statement be true,
where is.the “filth," or “blackguardism,” or
“indecency” in the public announcement
of the fads? The “filth” is in the trans
action, and in the confession, not in the
publication.
We stated that we had waited to see if
he had anything to say against the truth
of the allegations of the Day Booh, be
fore we should rely upon and treat it as
such. The only reply he has now to
make to this allegation, touching his “an
tecedents,” is that the facts stated are too
“filthy” for decent ears! This is our un
derstanding of his present position.
We do not wish to do Mr. Marble or
any other man any injustice, but we say
to him if there is anything of an undean
or soiling nature in this matter, it neither
originated with nor sticks to us in' any
way whatever. We did not so much as
put our “naked hand” upon it; we only
touched it with the tip of our pen.
It, moreover, certainly comes with ill
grace from one in Mr. Marble’s situation,
in this case, to repeat his charge of “ego
tism” against us, for the pride with which
we proposed to enter the discussion of
personal “antecedents” with him, and
the confidence with which we challenged
the production of proof that we have
ever given a vote inconsistent with the
principles of the Democratic Party as or
ganized in 1S00; and the spirit with
which we called upon him to adduce
proof that he had ever in his life given
single vote in support of these principles,
or ever bore any other relation to the
Democratic Party of the United States
than that which was bought with a price—
the very mention of the origin of which
note seems to be considered by him so un-
vumnerly, though by his silence he admits
all to be true!
With equal bad grace does it come
from him, in his retreating steps, to give
out that we were in a “ rage" in putting
very plain but important questions to
him, or in exposing to the Public the real
Badical character of one who is endeavor-
ing to pass himself off as a true exponent
of “Democratic Public Sentiment.”
However profound our indignation may
have been at the guile directing such
conduct, there certainly was no indica
tion of “rage” manifested in the quiet
and easy mode adopted for unmasking
the imposture. This was nothing but
the propounding to .Mr. Marble of the
very plain questions he regarded as a
“trifle” too “impertinent” for him to
answer.
This simple as well as most dispassion
ate test could not be borne; but at its
touch,
“ Up he start*,
Discovered and surprised, ”
Hence his own present irate bearing
swollen and fuming—like that of his
great archetype, when made to show his
real character, while engaged in a like
occupation of deception, “ plotting” that
mischief and ruin from which all human
woes have sprung!
Hence, also, his last Partliean dart hurl
ed at us as he sullenly retires from his
selected field of controversy, (about per-
He
weapon
tal as a
sonal “antecedents” and “fidelity” to
Democratic principles,) in which he has
lost so mneb.
may have thought that this
so hurled, would prove as fa-
’poisoned dagger thrust into the
bowels” of his adversary, and thus stop
all further pursuit or encounter. But he
need not lay any such “ flattering unc
tion to his soul.” His garbled extract
from the “corner stone speech” is hut
the broken fragmeut of a shaft which has
often been hurled with equal violence
and malevolence before; and it now falls
at our feet as harmless as on any previous
occasion.
The unblushing face with which he
now uses it as he does, has no fitting
object of comparison, except the same
unblushing face with which he holds him
self forth as a true exponent of the princi
ples and sentiments of the Democratic
party. The object is to make the impres
sion upon the minds of Southern Demo
crats that he, Manton Starble, editor as
he was of the New York World, when
it was avowedly a Badical sheet, is a
wiser and safer counsellor for their inter
ests than we are, who committed so fatal
a blunder as to announce to the world
that the true cause of the withdrawal of
the Southern States from the Federal
Union in 1861, was not the “apothegm”
that “Cotton is King,” or anything else
of that sort, but that it was the open and
palpable breach of faith jm the part of
certain of their Northern confederates
on that clause of the Constitution of the
United States which had been declared
from the bench, by Judge Baldwin of the
Supreme Court, to be the “corner stone”
of the whole structure.
The leading idea of the speech on
this point was, that however prevalent
the public sentiment might have been
against negro slayery or subordina
tion as it existed in the Soath at the
time the compact of 1787 was entered in
to, yet the Constitution then adopted was
formed upon this basis; and that there
was no change in this particular in our
new Constitution from the old. Some
matters, on which doubtful constructions
had arisen, had been definitely settled—
that was all. The Constitution of the
Confederate States and the Constitution
of the United States, upon the subject of
negro slavery, were shown in the speech
to be essentially the same.
Garbled portions of this speech, it is
■true, were sent to England by many of
Mr. Marble’s political associates at the
time—-perhaps some of them through the
columns of the Tforld, then an open and
avowed Badical sheet—‘for the purpose of
misrepresentation and deception, as gar
bled portions arc now given by him for a
like purpose, though from a seemingly
different standpoint on-his part. The
whole speech, however, imperfectly repor
ted as it was, (and as the reporter himself
said in a note to his report, which Mr.
Marble well knows) we are strongly in*
clined to suspect, he never gave, and never
will give, either to his English or Amer
ican readers.
But the assertion that this speech “se
cured” to Alexander H. Stephens “his
triumphant and unanimous election to
the second office in the Confederate Gov
ernment” is as reckless in regard to fact
and truth as the assertion, further on in
the same article, that it was chiefly owing
to it that France and England did not
recognize the Independence of the Con
federate States; and that it was the “mal-
adroitnesa” of this speech “which stran
gled the Confederacy in its cradle !”
Now, the speech -was not made until
some time after the election, and, there
fore, could not have secured, it;
and nothing is clearer from' the
speech, taken all together, than that
our new Government was founded
upon the same “ corner stone” as the old.
Then, as France and England had both
recognized the United States, with this
“corner stone” in the compact of their
Union, how preposterously absurd is it
to affirm that they would have recognized
the independence of the Confederate
States but for the “maladroitness” of this
speech, which showed them that the peo
pie of the Southern States were not a
band of “conspirators,” as Mr. Marble
and his associates were representing
them to be, and that even upon the sub
ject of negro slavery the Constitutions of
both Governments rested upon the same
“comer stone?” Equally subtle, crafty
and flimsy is the “spider web” argument
spun” by Mr. Marble, in all that he
has said about our isolation from the
tion) to the great delight of Gov. Bullock.
It was a feather in his cap, an indirect
approval of his judgment iu selecting the
Joseph ML
The investigation now going oh at At
lanta relative to robberies committed
against the State Boad ere tes considera-
who were justly entitled, and who
are how permitted,) were against
these iniquitous measures by . which j Banking House of Henry Clews &.
the 14th and 15th amendments
claimed to have been incorporated
to the Constitution of the United States.
We do know that the “drift of public
opinion”-against these monstrous out
rages has grown stronger since then in
every State in the Union where it has
not been checked by the “New Depart
ure” counsels of Mr. Marble and his as
sociates. Wedo know', from the best of
evidence, founded upon popular elec
tions, that there was nothing necessary
to carry the Democratic party triumph
antly through the next Presidential con
test under their old banner—without any
change of principle or any lowering of
the flag, by simply yielding to this drift
and increasing current of public opinion,
and popular condemnation of the meas
ures of those who are aiming at the over
throw of our free institutions, and the es-'
tablishment in their stead of a- central
ized empire. It is, moreover, our most
thorough belief that the whole of this
New Departure” movement, started by
Mr. Marble, as editor of the New York
World, in 1868, is nothing but a crafty
device of the enemies of the Democratic
party in disguise to check and obstruct
this “drift” and portentously swelling
current of public indignation- against
usurpation, fraud, and perfidy.”
We know much more of Public Opinion
in this country, on this subject, than, he
is willing for his readers to know.
We know much more also of the private
averments of some of Mr. Marble’s asso
ciates, with their irreverent oaths as to
their determined purpose in this matter,
than perhaps he is aware. ■[
One other remark as to the teachings
of Mr. Marble upon the due observance
of “the drift of public opinion,” and
we will have done with him for the pres
ent. .. /i
While it is true that the “drift of pub
lic opinion” in this country, on the part
of the masses, is all in the right direction
at this time, so far as concerns the usur
pations of the Federal Government with
its corruptions, yet we uttel-Iy protest
against the doctrine that the “greatest
conceivable mistake” in politics, or any
thing else, is in not always finding out and
following the “drift of public opinion.”
The greatest conceivable mistake in
patriotism and statesmcaiship, in our judg
ment, is in not understanding, or in
“Departing” from, the essential princi
ples of Publip Liberty, and giving coun
tenance—much less sanction—to any acts
of usurpation!
Mr. Marble’s teachings on this subject
are of the same character with those of
the arch-tempter of mankind, when he
subtly instilled into the ear of Eve the fa
tal idea that she might in safety “Depart
from the injunction given her by the
Most High, when he said to her, if she
should eat of the forbidden fruit, “Ye
shall not surely die.” The first step in
Departing” from principle, integrity and
truth is often the fatal one, whatever may
be the “drift of public opinion” on the
subject. A. H. S.
WASHINGTON.
Special Correspondence of tlxe Atlanta Daily Sun;
A Bis; Banker Faming over other Peo
ple’s Matters—A Vcutler of Fraudulent
Boiicls—YVliy Bullock -\yants 'to Sell
State Bontis—'Why they arc -Hard to
Sell—Bullock’s Pardon of Angier--Tcl-
egraphic Puffing—The - State Hoad In
vestigations Viewed at Washington—
Dining and Wining with State Hoad
Stealings—Blodgett in a White House
Scene—Ruins His Prospects hy .His
Slanders—One of Bullock’s Old Letters
—A few Plain Questions put to His C.
O. D. Excellency—His Late $8,000 Let
ter at the People’s 'Expense—Direct and
Damaging Charges Against Him—
Startling Radical Plot Against Grant.
Washington, j). C., Sept. 3,1871.
Mr. Heury Clewc, of New York, the
famous Dunking agent of Messrs. Bul
lock & Kimball, was in this city Thurs
day last, very much exci£ ecl over t]ie va _
nous rumors of Kimball, failure and
Bullock’s sale of fraudulent Gv^^gja gtate
bonds. Clew's’ visit to WasMu- ctoil wag
evidently for the purpose of prevvj^ing
the further circulation of reports conce, Q .
ing Kimball’s failure and Bullock’s nt
terance of forged bonds.
It seems rather singular that a nvui of
Henry Clews, reported financial foresight
should consent to act as a vender of
fraudulent bonds.
It is stated that
ety to have his
negotiated is for
ble interest here. There are not a few
people here who have at one time or an
other, no doubt, been dined and wined
out of the stealings from the State Boad.
As far back as the winter of 1868, Bul
lock used to come here, during the ses
sion of Congress, and spend thousands of
dollars, which must have been State
Boad funds, (at that time the State Boad
was about his only source of plunder) in
entertaining Badical Senators and liep-
resentatives, in efforts to have the infa
mous Militia bill passed and the State of
Georgia consigned to a condition worse
than military despotism. If there was
no other sin to lay at Bullock’s door, this
single one should be sufficient to damn
him in the estimation of every Georgian
who love3 his State and would see her
freed from the miserable crew whose only
aim is plunder!
Blodgett, too, was here, hand in hand
with Bullock in the furtherance of these
mischievous schemes against themen, wo
men and children of Georgia. But Fos
ter seems in a fairway of being punished
for his acts, while the arch fiend will- perr
haps escape. r
I wonder of Blodgett remembers , a
visit he paid to the White House on the
evening of March 11th, 1869, accompa
nied by Cliff, Hopkins and Prentiss ?
How Gen. Dent. regarded, the quartette
with suspicion, believing them to be Ku-
Klux, etc. I was present and remember
very well the object of the visit. The
speech of Blodgett to the President,, in
which the people of Georgia were grossly
slandered, and painted in such dark col
ors that even Grant became disgusted and
abruptly terminated the interview.
I have since concluded that the dislike
which Grant conceived forBlodgett at
that interview influenced his (Grant’s)
action towards the ambitious would be
Senator last winter while he was trying
to gain admission to Congress as a Sena
tor elect from Georgia.
The Washington Chronicle of March
8th, 1869, contained a long letter from
Bullock in reply to a communication
addressed by tlie"Hon. Nelson Tift to the
Beconstraction Committee, Bullock de
nied that he ever used his influence with
the Beconstraction Committee for the
purpose of having the State Government
destroyed and a Military or Provisional
Government established in its stead.
No one ever charged Bullock with giving
any direct testimony or openly advocating
the destruction of the State government.
On the contrary, every one who has ever
read his (Bullock’s) testimony before the
Beconstruction Committee, will easily
remember that the crafty financier, when
asked by the chairman ©f the committee
if he (Bullock) had any thing to suggest
as to what should be done with reference
to Georgia "by the United States Govern
ment, recommended that the laws should
be executed literally, and to admit to the
Legislature only those who could take the
oath requred by law. But will his C. O.
D. Excellency deny that he employed
Blodgett, Baylor and several retired col
ored legislators of Georgia to come
here and work up the very case which
he then so positively denied any
knowledge of and which he so strong
ly repudiated in his recent eight thou
sand dollar letter written in reply to
Senator Scott’s circular and pub
lished at the expense of the tax payers of
Georgia ? Will he deny that he procured
letters to be written in this city purport
ing to come from Georgia, setting forth
the deep distress of the “ truly loil” of
all colors ■ in Georgia, and telling how
they were persecuted and murdered by
the desperate “Ku-Klux.?” Will he deny
that it was through liis influence that
false representations of the“Ogeechee
Troubles” were daily placed before the
Beconstraction Committee ? I have no
doubt but what he will deny it, but never
theless it is true and can be proved.
Bullock not only spent the earnings of
the State Boad, and other Stale funds, in
procuring testimony for the purpose of
destroying the State Government, but lie
paid the expenses of a clique at Washing
ton whose sole duty was to “ eat, drink
and -be merry. ” Besides all this lie em
ployed the assistance of several females
to assist him in manipulating votes of
certain Senators. This fact can also be
proved by competent witnesses.
The secret meeting of prominent Be-
publicans at Auburn,. New Nork, several
days since has caused quite a flutter in
political circles, especially among the im
mediate friends of General Grant. It is
understood that the purpose of this secret
meeting was to select a suitable candidate
to oppose Grant in 1872, and that Ex-
Secretary Seward is to be the nominee of
this new faction of theBepublican party,
provided they cannot carry their point at
the regular convention. Gratz Brown,
of Mtssouri, will probably be selected as
their candidate for Vice-President.
Angus.
whose mind has loug been trained to a
dexterous handling of the weapons of
of argument, makes a pitiable figure
when he is impelled “against nature and
his stars” to begin a' late apprenticeship
in flinging mud with his naked hands.
Without taking any further notice of
Mr. Stephens’ unbecoming loss of tem
per and decency under a little good-na
tured ridicule, we will avail ourselves of
this occasion to state some reasons why
the Southern people ought not to regard
the ex-Yice President as a safe and dis
creet politician. As he challenges atten
tion to his antecedents, he cannot reason
ably complain that we refer to them. He
acted a conspicuous part in a memorable
crisis, and the most perverse ingenuity
could not have turned liis rare acuteness
and eloquence (then in undecayed ripe
ness) to a more mischievous use to the
cause he meant to support. His mistake
then, in the fullness of his faculties, like
his mistake now, in their wane, consisted
in his inability to appreciate any other
public opinion than that of his imme
diate neighborhood. He is by nature
too much of an egotist to enter easily in
to the views of others; but if it had been
liis fortune to spend his earlier and more
impressible years in a greafreenter of intel-
gence, like London or New York, instead
of a small rural town, his native alertness
might have enabled him to read with
more or less facility what has always been
to him a sealed book, namely, the drift
of, public opinion outside of his own con
fined circle. His stupendous blunders
as a politician have resulted from this in
ability. ■ bx. ...
When, soon after his powerful speech
against secession before the Georgia Leg
islature, Mr. Stephens espoused the cause
of the secessionists, he furnished what is
perhaps the most glaring example in all
history of the irreparable kamage which
may be done to a cause by an able but
maladroit advocate. We (refer, of course,
to bis famous corner-stone speech. From
his point of view, and within his own
narrow horizon, no speech could have
been more apt and dexterous. Nothing
else could have so recommended the new
convert to the older advocates of seces
sion, or have so much disposed them to
forget or condone his previous vehement
opposition. It secured his triumphant
ana unanimous election to the second
office in the Confederate government,
though he sunk into insignificance soon
after his inauguration. But that cele
brated speech, though it brought a tem
porary advantage to him, did more than
any other one .thing to blight and ruin
the Confederacy. It was industriously
circulated in England by the agents of
the Federal government, and operated
as a fatal bar to any European recogni
tion of the new nation. That speech was
the most egregious political blunder ever
perpetrated by a man of talents. The
chief hope of the Confederacy rested upon
the Southern apothegm, “Cotton is
King.” Mr. Stephens dethroned that
king and destroyed the hopes of the
Confederacy by his astounding inability
to understand any other public opinion
than that of his own locality.
The English government and the Eng
lish aristocracy looked with great favor
and partiality on the secession cause, and
they would have been supported by the
distressed laboring classes who suffered
so severely from the cotton famine if Mr.
Stephens had not put into the hands of
the Federal government a weapon of re
sistless force. The English laboring class
es had been educated for two generations
into a profound horror and detestation of
negro slavery; and when the second offi
cer of the new Confederacy proclaimed
that negro slavery was its chief comer
stone, those starving laborers would have
rebelled en masse against the British gov
ernment if it had ventured to reorganize
the new nation. The French Emperor
was perpetually instigating the English
government to join with him in recogniz
ing Southern independence; but they
durst not brave the fury of the English
middle and laboring classes whose intense
detestation of human slavery was strong
er than the gnawings of hunger and pity
for their ragged, pining children. A re
cognition by France and England would
have secured the independence of the
South, and it is chiefly owing to Alexan
der H. Stephens that this recognition
was not given. His amazing blindness
and want of judgment were fortunate for
the Union; but they show how little this
statesman can be trusted to pilot a cause
he means to serve.. With his hand at the
helm, the ship is sure to be wrecked upon
the worst rock-in the channel. To illus
trate his un approach able maladroitness,
we insert the following passage from his
corner stone speech, which strangled the
Confederacy in its cradle:
But, not to be tedious in enumerating tlie numer
ous changes for the better, allow me to allude to one
other—though last, not least: the new Constitution
has put at rest forever all the agitating questions re
lating to our peculiar institution—African slavery as
it exists among ns—the proper status of the negro in
our form of civilization. This was the immediate
cause of the late rupture and the present revolution.
Jefferson, in his forecast, had anticipated this as the
“rock on which the old Union would split.” Ho
was right. What was conjecture with him is now a
realized fact. But whether he comprehended the
great truth upon which that rock stood and stands
may be doubted. The jirevailing ideas eutertained by
him and most of the leading statesmen at the time of the
formation of the old Constitution were, that the en
slavement OF THE AFBICAN WAS IN VIOLATION OF
great centres “of intelligence like Lon
don or New York,” and our want of due
appreciation of the “drift of public opin
ion” in other localities than our own.
It is true we do not live in a city, and
cannot, therefore, belong to that class of
men referred to by Dr. Johnson, whose
minds “dwell in an alley.” But “egotis
tical” as Mr. Marble may pronounce it to
be, we do claim to know something of
“the drift of public opinion” in this
country, on the subject of Congressional
usurpations, and the “drift” of it, in all
the States and sections of the Union. Our
knowledge is not founded entirely npon
newspaper utterances, or other like
sources of information, bnt upon public
records and indisputable facts.
From them we know that a majority of
the voters of the United States in 1868
(if all had been -** ’ ■
permitted to vote
Bullock’s . anxi-
bonds speedlily
file purpose of
raising funds to buy up the'Georgia
Legislature and prevent impeachment!
Can the Legislature be bought? Wili
the people submit to :he barter and sale
of their public servans? If so, thev de
serve to be controlledind plundered by
such men as BulloclgBlodgett and the
big speculators and pculators of Atlanta
and elsewhere, who an believed to be in
terested in all their fauds, not to men
tion the financial suefers of Wall street
who get a large proprtion of their (the
people s) hard earning.
Clews remarked t<B friend in this city
that he has recent* had considerable
trouble in effecting ;he sale of Georgia
bonds, for tlio rc&soitli&i Treasurer An-
gier is not friendly t Governor Bullock.
He also says that Bilock showed him a
pardon where he (mock) had pardoned
Angier for malfeatnce in office! This
is a specimen of Boock’s tricks to throw
discredit upon thahonest men of your
State.
The fulsome pd of' Henry Clews &
Consent from herfoy telegraph, on the
night of Sept. lst,| an evidence of how
Clews succeeded ifcoft-soaping some peo-
Of coarse at the Georgia papers
published the puff(that is, all those who
who‘are membeiif the Press Assoeia-
■From the New York World of the 2d Sept.
A. H. as a Political Counsellor
and Prophet.
The AtlantaxItjn of August 29 devotes
file and a half co1wq US D f editorial
page to the World, ana -perhaps A. H. S.
might not think us quite civil if we failed
to recognize _ his profuse attentions. We
have looked in vain through his long ar
ticle in the hope of finding something
which might deserve a reply; but he must
excuse us from meeting him in the arena
of blackguardism and personal abuse to
which he has descended. He has raked
that sewer of scurrility the old files of
Brick Pomeroy s defunct daily Democrat
for filth to fling &t us, and says he has wait-
ed more than two weeks to see whether
we would contradict some of this ribaldry
which was reproduced in the Day Book
before replying to our last articles com
menting on his services to the Democratic
party.
- We respect ourselves and respect Mr.
Stephens too much to wallow with him in
this slough, and are sincerely sorry that
our light banter borrowed from Don
Quixote should have thrown a statesman
of his years and pretensions into this un
seemly rage. He has given a signal veri
fication of Swift’s remark that anger
though it strengthens the sinews of the
body, weakens those of the mind. We
doubt whether, even in his coolest and
most self-possessed moods, the cast of Mr
Stephens’ talents fit him for rivaling
~. nc ^.^ >omero N in that considerate and
dignified gentleman’s peculiar line; but
certain it is that an enraged old man,
the laws or SATCEE; that it was wrong in principle,
socially, morally, and politically. It was an evil tliey
knew not well how to deal with; but tbe general
opinion of the men of that day was, that somehow
or other, in the order of Providence, the institution
would be evanescent and p»ss away. This idea,
though not incorporated in the Constitution, was
Uie prevailing idea at the time. Tho Constitution,
it is true, secured every essential guarantee to the
institution while it should last; and hcnco no argu
ment can he justly used against tho Constitutional
guarantees thus secured, becauso of tho common
sentiment of tho day. Those ideas, however, were
vcndamkntally WHOSO. They rested upon the as-
sumption of the equality of races. This was an error.
4 was a sandy foundation; and tho idea of a i-ov-
ernment built upon it—when the storm came and
the wind blew, it fell.
Our new government is founded upon enactlu the op.
ideas; its foundations are laid, its corner-
Bra *8*Ttsti upon the great truth U,at the negro is not
equei to the while man. that slavery, subordination
to the superior race, is his natural and normal
. (Applause) This, our new government,
li ‘. * ut °ry °f Me world based upon this
treat phytical, philosophical, and moral truth. This
h i^„ fce ?, n *' ow in th8 Process of its dovelop-
other truths in the various depart-
»fni° flCieice ' It is so, oven amongst us. Many
p,rhap . 8 0411 r c co ttcct well that this
T 0 * nl °* Kei)e rally admitted even within their
the past generation still clung
North i 0 l»te »B twenty years ago. Those at the
, V U ol‘L^ to these errors with a zeal
abtyyc knowledge, we Justly denominate fanatics.
In a subsequent passage of that aston
ishing speech Mr. Stephens said, still
speaking of slavery: “This stone, which
was rejected by the first builders, is be
come the chif stone gf the comer in our new
edifice. (Applause.]” Nothing could
nave been more opportune than this in
sane speech for counteracting the machi
nations of the secession agents in Europe.
It was a poisoned dagger thrust into the
bowels of the Confederacy.
Mr. Stephens is committing the same
T °f a blunder as a Democratic editor
that lie perpetrated as a secession orator.
It will prove less mischievous to the cause
he professes to serve only because he has
no such standing and authority in the
Democratic party as he possessed in the
Confederate government. This blunder
like the other, is a consequence of his
utter inability to estimate the moral anil
social forces that control public opinion
outside of bis own narrow circle. The
capacity to detect the tendencies and talft
the true measure of public sentimentin
all quarters which can affect the success
of his policy, is tbe first and most in
dispensable qualification of a statesman •
and among all the public men of our time
none has shown himself so signally defi
cient in this qualification as" the
late Vice-President of the South
ern Confederacy. If liis past blun
ders had not destroyed his political
standing and undermined all confidence
in the soundness of Ms judgment, the
Bepublicaus might circulate nis editorials
iu the North with as much effect as at
tended the circulation of his corner
stone speech in Europe. His editorials
if lie were a recognized political leader
would be as fatal to the success of the
Democratic party as the' corner-stone
speech was to the recognition of South
ern independence. Dr. Johnson once
said of somebody, “Sir, his mind dwells
in an alley. ” Mr. Stephens’s mind dwells
iu the rural bachelor residence which he
calls Liberty Hall, and breathes a stifled
atmosphere which the free winds of
heaven do not disturb and purify. It is
a great pity that so; acute and ingenious
a mind, hasjnot had the advantage of a
larger intercourse with the world. But
perhaps it is not in nature that the spi
der who spins his web out of his own
bowels, should emulate the excursive bee
that gathers wax and sweetness from
every flower that blooms in the meadows.
An intense, self-absorbed egotism is not
favorable to a wide acquaintance with the
ways and thoughts of men. But to mis
conceive the drift of opinion is the most
fatal of all mistakes in politics.
Mr. Stephens’s prophesies of the success
of his hide-hound policy are on a par
with his former glowing predictions of
the disintegration of the old Union and
the assimilation of the States to the new
Confederacy of which slavery was to he
the corner-stone. Judged by the way liis
sanguine predictions have been fulfilled,
the prophet deserves as little confidence
as the politician.
A Southern correspondent has lately
taken us to task for 'bestowing so much
space and notice on Mr. Stephens, think
ing that we give to his opinions an im
portance which nobody concedes to them
in the South. Very likely our Southern
correspondent may be right; but as the
editorials signed A. H. S. are favorite
electioneering documents with the North
ern Badicals, it has seemed to us right to
accompany the bane with au antidote.—
The Southern people have indeed too
much reason to know how fatal is this
man’s advocacy of any cause.
A Vacancy in the Office of Gov
ernor.
In days gone by, the Governors of
Georgia were careful not to go outside of
the State during their terms of office.
The idea was that it vitiated the title to
the office. Whether this be correct in
point of fact or not, we do not know, but
it shows the manner in which Bullock’s
present absence would have been viewed
by men ivho lived in a better day than
the evil times on wHeh we have fallen.
Bullock has been gone some two months
or more. He has been pretending to is
sue orders by telegraph during his ab
sence, and it is believed he has made
Blodgett Acting-Governor of the State—
virtually so. Whether absence from the
State or the bare crossing of the State
line, even on urgent business, by the
Governor, would legally deprive him of
his office, wiping out all claim to it, if
properly tested, or not, we will not pre
tend to say; but we think every lawyer in
the State will agree with us in two things:
1st, That the Governor cannot carry with
Mm any power, as such, beyond the lim
its of the State. 2d, That the Constitu
tion and law's never contemplated and
would not uphold such long absence as
Bullock is practicing, while he is “pirou-
tin’ ’round” after pleasure or deviltry, or
both. He has been absent from Georgia
long enough to vacate his office J and we
call attention to the fact.
The Constitution of the State has the
following provision for such cases :
*• In case of the death, resignation, or disability of
the_Governor, the President of the Senate shall ex
ercise the Executive powers of the Government until
such disability bo removed, or a successor is elected
and qualified. And in case of the death, resignation
or disability of the President of the Senate, the
Speaker of the House of representatives shall exer
cise the Executive powers of tho Government nntil
the removal of the disability or the election and
qualification of a Governor."
Now if Judge Conley were here, it
would be his duty to take the office of
Chief Executive, but he, too, is absent
on a long pleasure trip, and therefore la
bors under “disability.” There is
only one chance left for us to have a Gov
ernor, that is to send for Hon. B. L.
McWhorter, Speaker of the House, and
have Mm inaugurated. From some of
Ms partisan conduct as Speaker, and his
extreme Badical views, we do not know
that he would be any better than Bol
lock has been. We might “swap the
.devil for a witch,” but as he is a native
of the State, having children to live after
him, let us hope he would not, for the
short time he would occupy the Chair of
State, disgrace himself as Bullock has.
Let him be sent for and duly inaugurated
at once. Let a man be there having
some of the forms of law to sustain him—
not as Blodgett is now filling the place—
without even a shadow of authority.
Last night Georgia Lodge No. 132,
Good Templars, had a very pleasant
meeting. The ladies were out in profus
ion, and Mr. J. G. Thrower, as usual, was
all smiles and looked like a father among
his long lost children.
Mr. J. G. Thrower was elected Dele
gate to tue Grand Lodge, which meetsi
Macon on the 5th prox. Several Alter
nates were also elected.
Mr. E. S. Bleakley, Grand Marshal, of
Augusta, is in town. He has been ®
vigilant officer.
Dr. E. J. Kircksey, Past Grand Tem
plar, of Columbus, was also present.
A most agreeable time was spent.