The banner of the South. (Augusta, Ga.) 1868-1870, August 29, 1868, Page 5, Image 5

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purposes of its creation ; and are to be I- ude until such time within twenty-one vears from the date of the Probate ot ‘this, my last Will, as the said Corporation shall alien, or attempt to alienate said Stuck, or any part thereof, or interest therein. And in the event that the said Corporation shall, within the period aforesaid, alien, or attempt to alienate, the said Stock, or any part thereof, or interest therein; or, in the event that h;.id Corporation shall, within the period aforesaid, cease to be a body corporate, or to act as such, in fulfilling and carrying out the objects and purposes of its crea tion, then, or in either of said events, the trusts thereby created upon said shares of Stock, shall cease, and the said shares of Stock shall be transferred to, and be equally divided amongst, the heirs and distributees of my estate, exclusive of my said two grand-children, hereinbefore par ticularly named. Put, in the event the said Corporation shall not alien, or at tempt to alienate, the said shares of Stock, or any part thereof, or interest therein, during the period aforesaid ; and shall not, within the period aforesaid, cease to he a body corportae, or to act as such, in fulfilling, and carrying out, the objects and purposes of its creation, then, at the expiration of the said period of twenty-one years, the trusts hereby created upon said shares of Stock shall cease, and the same shall be transferred absolutely, and unconditionally, to the said American Bible Society, for the uses, objects, and purposes, contemplated in the creation of said Corporation ” The lirst Article of the Constitution of the American Bible Society, as adopted in 1816, and afterwards incorporated into its Charter, in 1836, is as follows : “This Society shall be known by the name of the American Bible Society, of which, the sole object shall be to encour age a wider circtilaton of the Holy Scrip tures, without note or comment. The only copies in the .English language, to be circulated by the Society, shall be of the version now in common use.” Mr. McGehee’s heirs notified the Executors of his W ill, that the American Bible Society had ceased to carry out “the purposes and objects of its creation,” by circulating copies of the Holy Scrip tures in the English language, not ac cording’ to the version in common use, in 1816, namely, the copy, as reported by the Committee on Versions, and that this copy, in its headings of chapters, and marginal references, contained “notes and 0011111101115”; which the Society was circu lating, iu violation of the ‘‘sole object” of its creation ; that the trusts in favor of the Society had consequently ceased, and that they, the heirs, claimed the legacy’. In May, 1859, the Executors filed a Bill in Equity, against the heirs and the American Bible Society, in which they ask the Court to direct them in the execution of the trust, and to decide whether they shall pay to the heirs or to the Society. All the parties have an swered the Bill, and much testimony, in cluding two copies of the Bible, one pub lished before, and one after, the alleged charges, has been filed in the cause. Able counsel are engaged by the heirs, and also by the American Bible Society ; and the matter will be thoroughly sifted when the case is tried. It is a matter of little interest to Catholics how this case maybe decided; but the proposition that the Word of the Almighty comes to man with a sound so uncertain that the Courts of Justice must be called upon to dictate what it is, seems to me to be much more difficult to believe than any dogma of the Catholic Church. V hosoever heedeth not the voice of the Lord, must die; and it is surely swallow ing a camel, to believe that His voice comes to man only through this litigated Bible, in six copies of which, twenty-four thousand variations were found in the text and punctuation. Violation of the Sabbath. —The Jaco bins in Congress, following close upon the example of the French Jacobins, who, in effect, abolished the Sabbath, so far a* it laid in puny human hands to do so, de liberately so determined the day of their adjournment, as to give them the pre tense of a necessity for holding a session, for the first time, we believe, in our his tory, ou die Sabbath day. Sessions' of Congress have sometimes extended on Saturday night over to Sunday morning, but it was not until Jacobinism, in fill] bloom, had sway, as it now exists that the h dy Sabbath has been desecrated by an adjournment, to meet at any hour of that sacred day. The people should know that the bargaining, and selling utid huckstering, of Wall Street, with all its bad passions, had full play, last even ing, in the lobbies of the Senate, and that the approaches to it were thronged as upon a gala day.— National Intelligencer. GREAT SPEECH OF HON. BENJAMIN H. HILL, DELIVERED AT THE CITY HALL, AUGUSTA, Friday Evening, August 21, IS6S. Fellow-Citizens : To forget past differ ences, to unite in averting present emer gencies, with a view of securing future ad vantages, is the duty of all people, the sum of all wise statesmanship. When the late war ended, no people ever so much needed the exercise of these virtues as the southern people. Difficulties surrounded us, trials enveloped us, doubts arose on every hand ; yet, our patience was such as no people, in any previous history of the world, ever exhibited. We were im poverished to a very large degree ; our means were exhausted ; our pride was humiliated; our cause was gone ; our property was gone ; and even hope itself was almost gone. We had, then, to gather up our wasted energies, recuperate our exhausted strength, and establish good government again. This required of us the most striking forbearance and concilia tion, with all the wisdom and firmness from the people which they could ever be expected to possess. There was one circumstance which oc curred, indeed simultaneously with the misfortune of our surreuuer, which was well calculated to inspire us with hope—if anything could inspire hope—and that was the manner and the terms of the sur render. After four years of war, the strug gle was settled in accordance with the stipulations agreed upon between the Gen erals commanding the armies. These terms were noble; they were magnani mous, they were manly; and permit me to say here to-night, and I say it with pleasure, could the terms granted by Gen. Grant to Gen. Lee, at Appomattox Court House, and by Gen. Sherman to Gen. Johnston in North Carolina, have been fairly complied with, there would have been a very different state of things. These people were to lay down their arms and not to take them up against the United States Government again; to obey the laws, and to live in peace and quiet, which was so much de sired by the country after the grievous warfare through which it had just passed. If these terms had been complied with, it might have restored the Uuion intact, it would have left this people iu the same condition as they went into the war, with simply, their losses the less. But there was a certain class whom these terms did not suit. Congress, the President and the Judiciary would not endorse them as the terms which should be exacted of “rebel lious States.” Our people thought they were restored to the Union and to their rights; but they were mistaken. Still, there were the terms given by General Grant to General Lee and by Gen. Sher man to General Johnston ; and it must ever remain an honor to the commanders of both armies, that they were so quickly and so kindly adjusted. But, unfortunate ly, they were not approved ; unfortunate ly the honor which was displayed in the field did not exist with the politicians in the Cabinet; and they took upon them selves the revision of these terms. And, first, they exacted terms which had never been exacted before, terms which were con trary to all precedent. Nevertheless, these terms were plausible enough, and well cal culated to commend themselves to the Southern people. These were the terms exacted by the Executive, Andrew John son, who had come into the Presidency upon the death of Lincoln. He was not satisfied with the stipulations agreed upon between General Grant and General Lee, and between General Sherman and General Johnston. I would remark here that the terms to General Lee were limited to Lee’s army; but those to General Johnston ap plied to the whole country east of the Chattahoochee, and soon afterward to all east of the Mississippi. Andy Johnson, succeeding Mr. Lincoln, was, as I have already said, not satisfied with these terms, and, therefore, required others. What were they? He required that the various State conventions must as semble and frame new constitutions ; and at the same time he advised the emanci pation of our slaves. The first condition was the calling of the conventions and the framing of new constitutions. Well, the South very readily yielded to that. And here 1 want the colored people particularly to understand what I am about to say. They have been told that they owe their freedom to Lincoln’s Emancipation Proc lamation. It is not true. Even Mr. Lincoln* himself did not claim this. That was simply a war measure, and of effect only during the war. If the South had accepted the terms of that proclamation, she could have kept you all in slavery to this day. But they were not accepted ; and at the close ol‘the war, we laid down our arms under the terms agreed upon by the Generals of the Armies. Then came Andy Johnson’s measures. He said that he desired that you should be emancipated. Well, to this proposition the Southern people very readily yielded; and there were two conditions which reconciled them to it. First: whether the measure was right or wrong, whether it was best for white and colored or not, it was looked upon as a natural conclusion of the war, and as a measure of economy. The other, and in my judgment, the strongest, reason that reconciled us to it was the way in which you colored people behaved your selves during the war. Yes, the colored 0g BH 10111“ people behaved honorably, nobly, bravely and truly, toward us during that struggle; for while our fathers, sons, and brothers, were absent upon the battle-field, they guarded our homes, made our bread, and protected our interests. This conduct be got a feeling of kindness for the colored people which reconciled us to their eman cipation. With these and some other con ditions we complied. We called our State Conventions and framed new Constitutions, and in this we declared that slavery should never exist again. Now, my colored friends, mark the point. That is what se cured you your freedom. In 1865, this emancipation measure was made a part of the Constitution in the manner and for the reasons which I have given you. This emancipation was anew measure with us. We had never before encounter ed it. We had here four millions of col ored people as estimated: Now to all these freedom was to be given at once. Why, even the Northern people proposed only a gradual emancipation;buthere,all at once, suddenly, we gave you your freedom. What was to be the result? No man could tell. We could not tell how you would behave yourselves, how you would be guided ; whether unprincipled men would take charge of you, and mis lead you. But these difficulties were met at the threshold. To your credit, colored people, be it said, you behaved nobly; you remained quiet; you remained true to the country; you went to work quietly and peaceably; you exhibited a docile tem perament, and a pleasing , gratifying wil lingness to work. In this you relieved the question of half of its difficulties, and the country of half of its troubles. The next thing required of us by Mr. Johnson, was the repudiation of the Con federate debt. This we also complied with. In addition to these measures, he also claimed the right to pardon our peo ple. Now, I claim that the terms agreed upon at Appomattox Court House settled that question, and relieved all the people from the necessity of any pardon ; but Mr. Johnson claimed the pardoning power —pardoning some of the rebels, as we were called, and leaving others out. Well, we complied with this also. We were re quired to take an oath to support the Con stitution, and the emancipation of the slaves. The people took this oath readily and in good faith, and they have kept it in good faith. Here, then, we had two sets of terms: Ist, the Army terms, and 2d the terms of the Executive Department, with both of which our people complied; and what was the result ? Thus far we had become in volved in no serious difficulties—nothing had been required of us which was incon sistent with the rights and honor of an overpowered people. We had managed this question wisely—the people and statesmen had proved them'selves equal to the emergency. Well, what was the result? Under the existing state of things we be gan to prosper. Land increased in value, property of all kinds increased in value, while the colored people were getting the highest wages paid to any class of laborers on earth. Everything seomed to grow brighter—the fields to bloom more beau tifully, and all began to prosper and to hope. How prosperous we were in 1866! When the close of the year came and con tracts had to be made for the ensuing year, hands in Southwestern Georgia were paid as high as $l5O per year, besides being found. I repeat it, such prices were un heard of before for labor. Why, not a single laborer in the North got as much ; and it was almost double what they got in their factories. Everybody looked for ward to the future with faith and hope. But suddenly, another class came forward with new requirements. The politicians, the Radicals, not satisfied with the terms given us by Grant and Sherman, and by Johnson, must have terms also. They said that President Johnson had no right to offer terms. Well, at once the prosperity of the South com menced tumbling, prices commenced fall ing, and the country was ruined. The Con gress denied us every privilege guaranteed by the Union; it imposed taxation and every burden upon us possible, yet re fused us representation. It imposed a tax, first, of three cents per lb. on our cotton and then of two and a half; ceits-a tax which struck at white and black alike. We soon became a ruined and an impoverished people, but we stood these heavy taxes, and readily complied with their terms; and not only did we tolerate all this, but we stood, also, the robberies of the thieves who went about the country stealing all the Confederate property they could lay their hands upon. Yes, we bore it all—the Army, the Executive, and the Congression al terms ; and, worse than all, we bore the rogues too. These were like the locusts of Egypt, almost as numerous and infinitely meaner* Well, Congress said it must set tle the question of reconstruction. It gave us the Constitutional Amendment No. 14, and said we must adopt that. That Amendment contained four ideas; one of them was giving the right of citizenship to all the people. Now this was altogether unnecessary, for it is ever to be remem bered, and it cannot, dare not be disputed, that we had already secured you col ored people your freedom, in 1865, as I have before said to you. Yes, the State of Georgia had granted you your freedom long before Congress had required it of us; and yet you will hear people going about the country saying Congress gave the colored, people their freedom. It did no such thing.. We gave it to you fir.-t. Well that requirement was not objection able, because we had already done this. The second requirement, then, was that all who were excluded from the privilege of the ballot-box should be excluded from representation. We could not accede to this though by some slight Amendment to the Constitution we might have met even that point. Tim third requirement was that ‘ ‘the rebel debt,” as they called it, was to be repudi ated and the United States debt to be paid. Why put this in the Amendment ? We had already repudiated, our debt, and by going back into the Union, we were help ing to pay its debt, by paying the taxes imposed upon us, and the more enormous taxes to the rogues besides. Now, colored people,if you will listen to me, you will find that I am your best friend —why, lam worth a thousand such men to you as Bullock, Blodgett, and Bry ant; for they will deceive you— I never will. \ ery well. The fourth and last require ment of the Constitutional Amendment— and that is why it was rejected and the on ly reason why the South made a point against it—was the exclusion of almost every intelligent man in the South even from the humblest office. Why under that Amendment, you could not have made that whole-souled, pure and noble patriot, Charles J. Jenkins,a Justice of the Peace or a Constable in your county. I ask the colored people was that right? Was it right ? After all that we had done —after all that we had complied with,was it right to exclude such men as Crawford, Starnes, Jenkins, every educated man, thousands of the best, and wisest men of your State, from every office in the State? I ask you, colored men, was it right to let you vote, and to keep the white man from voting, for no other reason than because he had been a leader in the war? This was the first point which impinged on Southern nonor. We had granted cheer fully everything else with impunity; borne patiently everything else exacted of us; but when the miserable Radieal Congress, which has said we will tax you and yet deny you representation, and now said you must disgrace yourself by disfranchising your own people, the whole South rose up as one man, and said, that we will not do. Upon the rejection of this measure, Con gress proposed new terms, known as the Reconstruction Measures of 1867. Now, remember, colored men, how prosperous you were in 1866, how high you were paid for your labor. Well, in March, 1867, this wicked, nefarious measure, known as the Reconstruction Bill, was adopted by Con gress. From that moment the country commenced going down. Up to that time, the colored people were docile, industrious, true to their “old masters,” and kind good feelings reigned on all sides. We began to congratulate ourselves that emancipation was the best thing for us. But from this moment, confidence was struck down, prosperity ceased, Northern capital stopped coming here ; and very soon after we were introduced to that meanest, most contemptible of all earthly things, called “carpet-baggers.” What does this measure propose to do ? It ex cludes the wisest men of the South from holding office, or voting, while it clothes, say four millions of colored people, with the right to vote. What a field was opened here for these monstrosities, the Freed meu’s Bureau and the carpet-baggers ? These people concluded that they could get something at the South —the wisest of the white people are excluded, said they, from holding office, and the colored people have the right to vote. So they became office seekers and office-holders. These carpet baggers, bummers, and spoon-stealers had nothing to do with Grant or Sherman ; they never were on the battle-held; and never did any good anywhere. But they saw this fine opening at the South, and down they came. And this is one of the first objections to this Reconstruction measure, that it put such trash upon us. Well, they came here, and then what did they do ? They got you colored people into their Loyal Leagues, took you into dark places, where the people who had been your friends, whom you had been raised with, couldn’t talk to you ; and where these vile carpet baggers taught you a feeling of hatred against the Southern people. Unfortunately, you went in, many of you, and now see the result. Under their sway, how property has fallen; how wages have fallen ; how confidence is destroyed ; how business is ruined ! In a word, the amount of the pecuniary injury sustained by the Southern people would pay the debt of every man, woman, and child in the Southern States. Wages are cut down —they are not half as much as they were in 1867 —while the confidence between the employer and the laborer is destroyed. If it had not been for these measures, prosperity would still reign here, and hundreds of factories might now be erected over these Southern States. But I have dwelt too long upon these points, my fellow-citizens ; and so we will pass on. I want to make two remarks here, worth bearing in mind, concerning these Reconstruction measures. The first is, that the Northern Radicals, who matured and prepared them, admit, themselves, that they are unconstitutional. Not a respectable lawyer on the face of this continent will say, to day, that they are constitutional. The second is, that not a respectable man in the South, intended as a victim of these measures, said it was Constitu tional ; if he did, he was a fit subject for the lunatic asylum. I wrote to General Grant, in behalf of. the people of the South, when Pope said that a large ma jority of the people were in favor of these measures, and challenged him, or any honest man, to put his hand upon his heart and say that they were Constitutional; that they were just; that they were right. I have never heard an intelligent man yet say they were any of these things. I have never seen it so claimed in any of the speeches which I have read. Some crazy man may have said so; but if he did I didn't see it, as I read only the speeches of the intelligent men of the country. I look to such men as Orr, of South Carolina, Holden, of North Carolina, an unmen tionable in Georgia, and others of that character in other States. I did my best to bring them out. I dared them to come out, and say that these measures were legal, constitutional, and just. Not one of them would do so. Colored men, remember nu! S 'i • 'vL en d*d they favor them ? i hat is the point. What reason did they *9 r 1C • Why, that although uncon stitutional, unfair, and unjust, we had bet ter adopt them for fear Congress might do something worse ! In other words, if you don t let a man cut off your arm he will cut off your head. Well, all I have got to say is if you let him cut off your arm, you deserve to have your head cut off too. Thank Heaven 1 that idea was founded in cowardice, and the Southern people didn’t accept it. I heard men, iu whom 3 t ou have confi dence, say that they were in favor of giving the negro the right to vote, but when they would get in office they would turn it all over! What shall I call such men ? Creatures ? Creatures is too good for them. Vipers? I beg pardon of vipers; things ? No name can characterize them. They carried you into their Loyal Leagues, They have deceived you, cheated you, and betrayed you. They told me, as late as October, some of these very men, that they were just much opposed to the Reconstruction measures as I was ; and after they were in the Union they would turn round and betray the whole concern. This was their intention. And they would have done it then, though perhaps they wouldn’t do it now. Yet I believe that if they could come back to the respectable positions which they once held, they would abandon Radicalism be fore the setting of to-morrow’s sun, and thank God for the privilege. But these men are demoralized. They have gone so far down the current that they can’t get back. I wish they could, I feel sorry for them ; and I would forgive them now, if they could “bring forth fruits meet for re pentance.” I’m in a forgiving humor now. I want everybody to come with us. I want everybody to join us in this contest. I want everybody in the world to vote for Seymour and Blair. I know that we are going to win the fight—that the last battle for Recon struction has been fought; but I want you all to have a share in the victory. These miserable Radicals have taken back all they promised you. They put Relief in their Constitution, and when it went on to Washington, the Congress struck it out, and the miserable creatures at Atlanta, your so-called Georgia Legislature, which made a great ado about it, backed out also, and struck it out. I wouldn’t give any thing for the brains of the colored man who couldn’t tell how mean a Radical is. He shows his meanness in his countenance; he shows it in his gait; he shows it in his coat ; and even in the swing of his arms. His very shadow on the earth is a walking illustration of his meanness. He is false to the Con stitution, to Liberty, to the white race, and to the black race —to every class, condition, and race under the sun. Such a scheme as this Reconstruction measure can not last; it ought not to last. Every wise man knows this. The advocates of the measure, North and South, know it. I read in the New York Times , a Republican organ to-day, an article saying, in substance, that the country had not come out of this Reconstruction trouble yet; and the whole argument showed that the writer considered it a failure. It could not be otherwise, for the measure is illegal, unconstitutional, un wise, and unjust, stimulated by lust, and sustained by robbery. Such a measure could not last long in this country. And not only has it failed, but the candi date of the party which endorses it can not be elected President. Every day is making this more palpable. I deeply re gret that Gen. Grant has allowed himself to be used by this party. You know how I spoke of him at the commencement of my remarks —how I said that he had act ed nobly, generously. That was not all. Even after. Congress commenced its plan, when President Johnson sent Gen Grant through the South, on a tour of observa tion, he went back and made a report, in which he spoke of the Southern people kindly and favorably, and recommended that we be admitted. That was generous. Had he remained true to his position, he would have been, not only the chief of the conquerors, but the idol of the con quered—the favorite of the South. But, unfortunately for the General, he was re quired to remain at Washington, where he fell into the hands of those miserable creatures, the politicians. He was taken charge of by the Radicals; and for some time it was not known which side he would take. Earnest appeals wore made to him to stand by his position. I took the liberty of appealing to him in behalf of the whole people but without success. He took ground in favor of the Radical party, and upon him alone does it stand. If he were to abandon it it would not live five hours. I had hoped that he would have the wis dom to perceive and the courage to do what was right; and I never knew any better until lie wrote the letter about the War Office in which he acknowledged that he was deceiving the President. 1 saw a let - ter the other day from the North in which the writer states that General Grant is at last waking up to the knowledge of the fact that he has been deceived by such men as Washburne and others, and that he made a great blunder in going with them ; and that he talks about coming down. Well, 5