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THE WEEKLY CONSTITUTIONALIST.
WEDNESDAY MORNIXO, MARCH It, lWi«.
EEPKESENTATION
Since the South ceased to maintain its Sena
tors and Representative# at Washington, both
lit)uses of Congress have wofully fallen from
their high estate of dignity and decorum. \ er
hiage has supplanted argument; riotous depar
tures from gravefiiaxlm A>f Repnhliean govern
ment are the subterfuges that mock and slander
the statesmanship*of the past. The Southern
intellect, fiery, creative, impassioned and ehiv
alrLc, was an admirable foil to the calculating,
hardy, aggressive mind of the North. Where
both met on the arena of reason, both were held
in nicest poise, the one by the other; and both,
by such grad tuition, flowered into something
really great. Segregated from one another,
both seemed to lose vitality. During the five
tremendous years that have,passed away, noth
ing more lamentable in the annals of our land
has occurred than the flaccid measures of
the 'Southern Congress and the frenzy of its
Northern prototype. Soul was wanting at
Washington and Richmond , and, Strange as it
may appear, the world has witnessed its first
stupendous revolution that had not richness of
material to mould a single statesman worthy of
the Paine. The proper stimulus of antagonis
tic elements converging towards the same destiny
was lacking, and here the necessity of an intel
lectual Union is strikingly exhibited in tlic
record of that unhallowed legislative era which
survived on both sides,pending the dash of anus.
ThcßuMthcm Congress equally with the North
ern was a cti'rictiture upon civilization. Neither
ascended to the abounding spirit of embattled
peoples of either section, harrassedby imbecility
or betrayed by private greed. Alas! the dignity
of the country, when torn assunder, lias been
severely compromised, and the austere shades
of WgBSTER or, Calhoun may well leel dolor,
if perchance they arc pleased to revert to the
seehes of their former grandeur, when they
stood like Titans,in the aidpitllcutrc of Thought.
“ Athos and Ida with a dashing sea
Os eloquence between.”
The tendency of the day is to regret the mad
ness of departed years and bring back, if pos
sihje, the old principles and the old Union,
trusting that with the restoration of such ele
ments the olden glories of an august Senate
iniiy be revived in the exaltation of men win/
shall emulate the renown of the mighty dead
of M assachusetts and South Carolina. The
Republic has received aterrltic'sliock, but It is
not moribund. It remains with the conserva
tive people of the. land tomakeanew precedent
in history; for never before did a Republic
drift so far into the jaws of anarchy and return
with something like integrity to the cardinal
principles that made it illustrious and free.
PBBstDENT Johnson has pointed out the path
of safely. The people have only, to close up
their shuttered ranks and march, compact as a
Roman legion, under the liarmbrof Restoration.
Unquestionably, the first move towards so
desirable a consummation is the admittance of
Rfrutllern Representatives to their vacant places
in Congress. This privilege denied, tIH* Union
is dead and buried. As the ease stands, nothing
can be so perilous to all the best interests of the
common weal ns Hie lop-sided and partial legis
lation wc (Jeplore. President Johnson per
ceives tills and many Republicans urebeginning
to appreciate it. A fact ion, however, apparent
ly bent upon rule or ruin, stolidly opposes the
President's scheme, thereby falsifying every
motive with which they urged their section to
blood and rapine. This faction an indignant
constituency must change.
.Lotus examine some of the reasons with
which they defend their.position and combat the
policy of the Executive.
One reason has cropped out in the discussion
of the Freedman's Bureau bill, emanating from
Senator FrSsendkn, who declared, in sub
stance that, lie “was not disposed to be tortured
by the President concerning tlic duties of (’(in
gress, in the matter of Representation,” Mr.
Johnson’s language cannot be so construed.
No denial of the right of Congress to judge of
the eligibility of its members was entertained ;
but otter exclusion was protested against, as un
patriotic and unparliamentary. The President
admits the prerogative of Congress to decide
upon tbu merit of an admitted member ; he ’de
nies tlm jwerogatlve of Congress to such pre
judgiueut, as against States, in the persons of
their representatives. He claims that if the
South is to bo condemned in its envoys, they
shall, at least, have the criminal's favor of a
hearing before conviction. Again, nothing can
be more anomalous than the biased and vindic
tive legislation that conceived that pernicious
Bureau Bill, palpably designed to torment the
very section which laid no voice in rts passage
and depended upon the merest accident for its
overthrow.
An ad eaptandum assertion, ns another point
of antagonism, Is subtly conveyed in the accu
sation that the Pkesidkst has been recreant to
the policy of lits predecessor and hence, to the
poliey Os the party which elected Idm.
The Emancipation Proclamation—the very
Tnimud or Koran of Radicalism—contains the
following language:
The Executive will, on the Ist day of January,
IWW, by proclamation, designate tlie States aiid
parts, of States, if any, in which the people
thereof, rcspeelive.lv, shall then be in rebellion
against the United States ; and the fact that any
State, or the people thereof, shall on that day
bo, in good lailli. represented in the Congress
of tlie United States by members,chosen there
to at elections wherein a majority of the quali
fied voters of such State shall have participated,
shall, in the absence of strong countervailing
testimony, Ac deemed conclusive- evidence that
such State and the people thereof are not then in
rebellion against the l nited Stotts.
Never did words more plainly signify the
ruling passion of Mr. Lincoln’s administra
tion ; never did words more emphatically ex
press a wish, nay a longing for Southern repre
sentation, when the specified condition* were
compiled with. It must uot escape the memory
that this proclamation had its being when pop
ular fury was at its white, white hot heat, when
the Southern eagle went clanging over Cbancol
lorvllle and the heart of Stonewall beat no
more to the drum-tap or fired the quick, eon
▼ukite rally. Let it not ba forgotten, likewise,
that when this right of representation was thus
proclaimed, the Test Oath was already in ex
istence. To every requirement of this pledge
the South has yielded. The very men who affect
such reverence for Mr. Lincoln contravene his
most cherished policy. The very man who
cleaves to the letter of his policy is by these
pseudo-friends assailed. The missile hurled at
the President smites back, like a boomerang.
The curses they storm at heaven fall like javelins
upon their own head. Every evidence of fealty
demanded by Mr. Lincoln in a time of war,
the Radicals distort and abuse in a season of
profound peace.
go far as the pretext of the Test Oath is con
cerned, no better evidence is wanting than that
contained in the document from which wc have
just quoted, demonstrating that Mr. Lincoln
regnded it merely as an expedient upheaved by
the vicissitudes of strife, to be put away, like a
corpse, when the reign of peace prevailed.
One more exhibit of the animus of the Re
publican party, as represented by Mr. Seward,
and we close. Several European Powers, at
the time of the Polish insurrection, advised the
United States to intervene,between the unhap
py Sarniatians and the cruel Czar. In answer
to these appeals, the Hon. Secretary forwarded
to Minister Dayton an elaborate reply, from
which the following paragraph is an extract.—
Mr. Seward wrote:
Our policy of nou-hiterveution, strait, abso
lute and peculiar as it may seem to other na
tions, has become a traditional one which could
not tie abandon' and without" the ihost urgent oc
casion, amounting to a manifest necessity.—
Certainly it could not be wisdy departed from
at this moifcnt, when the existence of a local
although, as we trust, only a transient disturb
ance, deprives the Government of the counsel:
of a portion of tin; American people, to tehoni
so wide, a departure from the settled policy of the
country must, in any case, be deeply interesting.
Comment upon such obvious language is su
perfluous. The right of representation bristles
in its leading thought.
By steadily opposing the policy with which
they inaugurated the war—the policy of Lin
coln and Johnson alike—the Radicals become
open to the conspicuous charge of seeking a
perpetuity of power at any sacrifice of princi
ple or Union. Finesse and a steady clutch
upbn authority may temporarily quell the
truth ; but defeat and disaster await them final
ly from the people at large—for whom and
for whom alone the Government was framed
THE LEGISLATURE.
By joint resolution adopted the General As
sembly of this State will adjourn on the lflth
prox., Tuced iy next, the enire session thus
being within a day or so of two months from
the date of re-assembling on the 15th of Janua
ry last. Up to this date there have been passed
one hundred and thirty-six acts and thirty-one
resolutions adopted. Private legislation—that
curse of our modern law making, the detested
leges private of Roman polity—takes up, as
usual, most of the results of this weary session.
Any number of companies have been incor
porated, and the Code doctored to that extent
that the lawyers tell us they are almost utterly
at sea as to the actual law. The Negro Code,
wo learn, will not, so far us signs now
show, he enacted in the form presented by
that learned and laborious Commission ap
pointed by resolution of Convention to prepare
a legal syllabus on that most delicate and im
portant subject. Gov. Brown’s idea that there
should only be one short' statute ip this
regard, placing both white and black on an
equality as to legal rights before tlfe courts
will, it seems, meet acceptance, .'modified so as
to admit tlic formation of county courts to meet
the ordinary litigation likely to arise out of the
freedman state. The Homestead Law still
hags lire, House and Senate being at a dead
lock In the matter of concurrence as to the
form In which some such measure shall pass.
A Slay Law, as will lie remembered, lias passed
either house, enacting iluit. debtors may be made
to pay one fourth of indebtedness in each
of the four coming years respectively, no con
tract made or liability created since June,.1865,
coming under this saving provision. Vetoed
by liis Excellency the Governor, as unconstitu
tional, this bill was nevertheless passed on the
7th, over tlic veto, in the House by 120 to 7.
The Senates action has not as yet. reached us,
but that body will doubtless follow tills refrac
tory suit. And, in thus touching on the topic
of veto and two thirds vote, it is a little remark
able that, in the heart of Georgia the same
contest, on a minor scale, between the, Execu
tive and Legislative powers should have broken
out us now rages rampant in the Federal Capi
tal. Tlic General Assembly passes a bill which
tlie Governor vetoes as radically Illegal. Up to
the charge comes the House with a vote seven
teen to one against the Executive, and the Sen
ate threatens not to be far behind—that same
Senate which iu turn also threw tlic weight of
its two thirds and over on His Excellency’s
veto of the Homestead Bill. And so, on a larg
er scale, the Federal Congress rushes through a
bill which the President constitutionally disap
upproves, whereat House and Senate rave, cry
ad gttem ffiwm t ami essay to beat up a two
thirds that shall render their side victorious in
the great cause now pending of the Legislative
t\s. the Executive.
But enough of this. Tlie thing grows serious,
and it is even a relief, though somewhat a grim
one, to read that there is—in Milledgevllle—“ <t
great deal qf business still in-an unfinished state."
How the public printers will rejoice, how the
public money will fly, how the lawyers will des
perately battle with misconceived, iU-bogotteft.
and wholly contradictory and nntinicous legis
lation, and how, ah! how will the people find
themselves deeper than ever In that Serbouian
bog of laws conflicting and jurisdictions at
sword's point, wherefrom they fondly, all too
fondly, dreamed this Legislature was to deliver
them. Boon as it adjourns we will essay to give
some analysis of its enactments, though, look
iug now at the huge roll made even by the cap
tions of acts and resolutions that have been
painfully ground out, it is almost enough to
fright our journalistic soul. However, justice
shall be done. Our lawgivers have had surely
enough of the honey of laudation, and where
they see in to have gone astray after strange
gods, as we fear some of them have very la
mentably done, it la fitting they should be
brought kindly but firmly to the rule.
OU£ PAEI3 COEEE3PONDENCE.
Gaiety of the. Capital —The Carnival—Political
Affairs —The Emperor's Address —Discussion
on Mexican Affairs— The Elections—The Ro
man Question —Dunubian Principalities —
Meeting of Sovereigns-—Spanish Affairs. —
Marshal O'Donnell —Paris Gossip—The Mu
sical World—The Cholera, Etc., Etc.
• Paris, February 14,186(5.
To the Editor of the Constitutionalist:
Sir : All Paris is dancing, and spending its
time in the follies of carnival, which is now on
its legs, as in a few days we shall have to put
on sack cloth and ashes and repent. The peo
ple of Paris avail themselves of the few days of
liberty allowed them to have their fling, to
make use of a not very distinguished but ex
pressive saying. The members of the upper
classes are no less joyous at present, for we
have balls at the Admiralty, balls at the Home
Office; and all the Paris press, for want of mat
ter, tire its readers with most minute descrip
tions of the costumes worn at the different
masked entertainments.
DISCUSSION OF THE ADDRESS BY THE SENATE
now occupies the attention of politicians. Up
to the present time we have had but two
speeches worthy of attention—those of the Mar
quis de B.oisy and of Marshal Forey. The witty
and original Marshal said many foolish things,
and some wise ones. His opinion is that the
Emperor must fall if liberty is not granted to
the people. The Marquis, afterwards, said that
he detested the English, and that he was delight
ed a# the Fenian movement; that the Tureos
were only brought over from Africa to crush
the people incase of revolution, etc.,' etc. —
Prince Napoleon, he said, was a seditious per
son, and should be narrowly watched. I will
spare you the rest of his speech, which caused
great hilarity among the members of the Senate.
Mons. Rouber protested, in the name of the
Government, against this insinuation of the
noble Marquis, specially as regards the latter
part of his speech. You must not conclude
from this that the Imperial cousins have made
up their last brouille, but that Mr. Rouber had a
duty to perform, as Prince Napoleon, a few
days before his departure for Italy, had infiorm
ed the Minister that if he did not promise to
take his defense, if attacked, he would postpone
his journey, in order to do so in person. The
Emperor, fearing a second edition of his
cousin’s speech in Ajaccio, (lie Minister was or
dered to do as the Prince desired.
MARSHAL FOREY
poke at length on the Mexican question. The
former leader of the expedition opposed the re
turn of the French troops; on the contrary, rein
forcements and money should be sent out to
complete the work begun. The proposition
was received with exclamations of dissent. The
Minister Rouber wished to Inform the deputies
that the Marshal's opiuions were personal—it is
believed that Forey had been commissioned to
fbelthe ground, and Mons. Rouber was to blame
ortoapprove,asthecasemiglitbe. The Emperor
still clings to his favoTite idea of protecting the
Latin races against the Anglo-Saxon on the
American continent, and it is much against his
will that-he is induced to give up the Mexican
question. Monsieur Rouber declared that the
Erench troops will soon be recalled. The only re
maining question to be settled is the Roman,
and that of increased liberty to the people. The
French press has for the last month been the
object of renewed attacks from the agents of the
Government; alarmed by the menaces of the
Moniteur, it is afraid to make any comment of the
debates of the corps legistatif and the Senate.
THE CORPS .LEGISLATIF
is much more stirring than the Senate ; the
greater part of the. deputies are alive to the ne
cessity of giving satisfaction to public opinion.
It is evident that the greater part of their eon
stitutents wish for liberal measures; they threat
en not to re-elect them in 186!), if they neglect
: to urge the Government to act with -less se
verity towards the French. Monsieur Emile Oli
vier, who is at the head of the new mixed
liberal party, will, it is thought, give the Govern
ment some trouble.
THE 24th OF FEBRUARY.
An election will take place in the Marne. It is
well known that the 24th of February is the
anniversary of the revolution of 1848, which gave
the people universal suffrage. There are four
candidates, hut the chances are decidedly in
favor of the opposition man, who, if elected,
will assuredly be found in the ranks of those
who imperiously demand an extension of liber
ty. Iu the meantime, the French Government
is taking every means of strengthening the
Pope’s power, as a great many French officers
and soldiers will he allowed to take service in
the Pontifieial army. I must not omit to in
form yon of
A Ptors STRATAGEM.
A papal recruiting office has been opened at
Arlan (Savoy.) Several who have enlisted un
fortunately turn out to be heretics. What was
to be done ? The Roman Cardinals would not
like, to be defended by any others than orthodox
muskets. We hear the baptismal register has
been extracted from the vestry room of the
Protestant parish church of St. Germain, of
Geneva, and false acts substituted, showing that
the enlisted Protestants were never Protestants
at all, but born in tlie holy Roman Catholic
Church. The act is certified by Mr. Henry,
the rector of the parish of St. Germain, who, in
a letter published in the papers, complains of
the thefts from his regiist rv, as much as the Pope
would if the keys of St. Peter were taken from
him.
the roman question
is getting a troublesome one, always on the
tapis, and more involved. One would fancy that
the nations of Europe had an interest in not
settling it. You know that the new kingdom of
Italy luis been recognized by Isabella. However,
in the red back (diplomatic documents) dis
tributed to the Cortes, the Ambassador of Spain
in Paris writes to his Government of the step
he has taken to obtain a promise from M.
Drotivn do L'Huys never to quit Rome, and of
his efforts to place the sovereign Pontiff un
der the protection of the fi. C. powers. More
over, the Senor de Casto maintained in the
Spanish Chamber that the temporal power of
the Pope was necessary for the free exercise of
the spiritual authority of the papacy.
The question » the following: What will be I
done in case the Roman people should rise
against the authority of. the Pope, when the
French troops have left the Eternal City.—
Mons. Drouyn dcL’Huyshas often said that tlfr
French Government would protect the Italy
See. but it could never prevent committing
suieife. Wo must conclude from this that the
temporal power of the Pope is condemned, but
that everything will be done by the Catholie
States of Europe to retard its fall, 'the Roman
Government feels this, and is of course very
airy to Victor Emanuel. Pio Nono has just
written a lefter of condolence to the King of
Italy on the loss of his son, Prince Odone.—
The Roman question is being now debated in
the French Senate ; several Cardinals and Sena
tors are opposed to the withdrawal of tint,
troops from Rome, and demand a restitution of
the provinces taken from the Pope by Pied
mont in 1860. Mons. Bonjean replied that Ro
man Catholicism, by its excesses of late years,
had been the cause of the re-action against its
encroachments, and that the Roman people had
a right to keep or reject the Pope as a tempo
ral sovereign. Mr. Rauber, in the name of the
French Government, stated that the Papal tem
poral power was guaranteed by the convention
of the 15th September, but it would not take
any engagement after the withdrawal of the
troops.
THE DANUBIAN PRINCIPALITIES.
Anew ministry has just been named at Buch
arest —the twenty-seventh since the reign of
Prince Conza. The late minister fell for having
granted several monopolies, contrary to the
law. Thus, you see despotism is not an easy
matter in some countries. In is quite
another thing. Herr Von Bisni:irik, being
being backed by a large and powerful tSVmy, can
do as he likes. A slight agitation took place a
few days ago in the streets of Berlin, during
the protestation of the deputies against the de
cree of the ministry, rendering the members of
Parliament responsible for their speeches. The
relations between Austria and Prussia are no
longer so friendly as they were. The former
country is trying to regain its former position
of a liberal power in Germany, whilst Prussia
is governing the population of Schleswig-Hol
stein with an iron hand. Austria is allowing
them to have it all their own way. It is re
ported that Herr Von Bismark declares it im
possible for things to go on in the Duchies in
this way any longer, and he proposes the re
establishment of a government common to the
two Duchies, which Herr Von Mensdorff, the
Austrian Minister, lias refused. There is much
talk of • n
A MEETING BETWEEN FRANZ JOSEPH AND NA
POLEON 111.,
which will be brought about by the interven
tion of Prince Metternich, which may have un
pleasant conscquencei for Prussia.
It is certain that the Prussian Minister has
proposed to the King to abandon the idea of
annexing the Duchies to Prussia, hut to attach
them to the Prussian Crown as is the Duchy of
Hanenburg, leaving them in possession of all
their ancient privileges. It is for the execution
of this plan that Herr Von Bismark is in want
of Austria, as the latter must renounce the con
vention of Gattein and leave the exterior gov
ernment of Holstein to Prussia, As Franz Jo
seph will not agree to this, it is affirmed that
Herr Von Bismark will carry out his plans
should a rupture between Austria and Prussia
be the consequence.
MARSHAL O’DONNEL
is playing at Von Bismark in Spain. The press
is now being hunted down. An editor of one
of the first papers was last week condemned to
seven years imprisonment. Order has been re
established, but the shooting of those led away
by Prim still continues. The Chilian question
is now the order of the day. The Government
refuses to give, letters of marque until it is offi
cially proved that the Chilians have taken a
similar step. The Minister of Finance assures
ns that the financial state of the country is bet
ter than was expected. Private correspondence,
ho waver, Informs, us that such is not the case—
that there is not a maravadie in the State coffers,
and that the country is on the eve of bankruptcy,
etc. To all these evils wc must add the cam
paign against Chili.
PARIS CHIT CIJAT.
I told you at the beginning of my letter that
all Paris lias been dancing for the last month.
There have been a great many balls in the
monde officiel , and more especially mashed balls.
The votaries of fashion have been racking tlicir
brains to invent original costumes, as those we
have had hitherto have become stale, flat and
unprofitable. Mad. , the wife of one of the
members of the Diplomatic Corps, appeared at
tlic admiralty ball as the areh-angel Michael,
which caused much slander and indignation.—
There is now a great tendency amongst the
ladies to return to the costume of the time of
our common mother, Eve, as the dresses are
becoming every day more and more decolletic.
If tilings go on in this way we shall be able to
say, “Ladies, if your heads were cut off, 1
should know you, nevertheless /” But you know
we have full liberty to do everything we like in
France, save talking politics.
Those who turn up their noses at the frivo
lous pleasures of the day, and spend their time
in perusing the newest literary works of the
day, as they appear, will Tead Mons. Taine’s
last work,
TRAVELS IN ITALY,
with unbounded pleasure. Mons. Taine is well
known for his celebrated work on the history
of English literature. The mania for writing is
now in all classes of society, and weare shortly to
have the Memories ofPcuoet , who was executed
at Versailles the other day. They were written by
himself after his condemnation.
The masked balls have been very prejudial to
the theatres of Paris during carnival time.—
However, I can mention two novelties—one at
the Opera and another at the Varie
ties. The title of the opera is Fior cTAliza , a
subject well known to those familiar with the
works of Lamartine. The ext fa vagan za at the
Varieties is called La Carbe Bleue^ and causes
roars of laughter from beginning to end to
crowded audiences. This piece will, no doubt,
have as great a rnn as the same author’s plav.’
Orphie aux Eufers , so successful in Londona
year or two ago. Thoughtless Paris is, there
fore, amusing itself as best it can, en attendant ,
THE TERRIBLE EPIDEMIC
which it is said is to visit us in the coming spring.
The weather Ims been so mild this winter -i
the flowers in thegardens o( Paris are
to bloom, and the trees are throwing out th. v
leaves. The cholera is still at Brest, ami n
Spain, and it is generally feared that it will .
turn to the capital if energetic measures be no
resorted to to 'keep it from our doors
have not entered into Lent, and as the anmj
iiient6 of Paris will be reduced to concerts amt
theatres, we shall have ample time to lay in sap) .
cloth and attend to more serious matters. The
project of making a bridge of boats
Calais and Dover meets with much approbation
on this side of the Channel, and Lord Malmes
bury, who takes great interest in it, has al
ready had an audience of the Emperor on the
subject.
We have not yet got rid of the London pick
pockets, who are reaping a rich harvest in the
French capital. We must soon do as ou
neighbors, and write up every where, “ take
care of your pockets.
The principal of the Howard Public School
at Nashville, Tenn., administered more than om
hundred lashes on the person of a white child
for some trivial offense, a few days since. The
monster should be burnt at the stake for his in
humanity. What a howl would come up from
the Abolition camp if the victim had been
black instead of white ; but, as if, is, the matter
evokes very little sympathy, and the perpetra
tor of the outrage goes unpunished.
In the late civil war, 220 battles were fought.
In Virginia 80, Tennessee 37, Missouri 37, Geor
gia 12, South Carolina 16, North Carolina 11,
Alabama 7, Florida 5, Kentucky 14, the Indian
Territory and New Mexico, one each. There
were also 1 seventeen naval engagements.
[From pie Philadelphia Age.
The Higher Law,
A great many honest persons, trained from
youth up to reverence the Constitution as the
supreme law of the land, have been puzzled in
past years to know what the Abolitionists
meant by the “higher law” which they invoked
people to obey, to the disregard of all their civil
obligations. There was something rather start
ling to plain people in a system of jurispru
dence which, while it took precedence of any
other, could be framed and interpreted to suit'
Jhe convenience of each philosopher who be
took himself to its study, and cast aside the irk
some and vulgcr restraints of the “lower law.”
It afforded a snhHme plea for rogues of every
description who were delighted "to be put in
possession of a code so flexible and so potent
to override the provisions of the common sta
tute book. Instead of being “moved and se
duced by the instigation of the devil,” as the
impolite phrase of the indictment would have
it, the gentleman of light fingers or bloody
ones—a Beast Butler or a John Brown, as the
case might be—was enabled, if caught, to as
sume the face of a martyr suffering for love ot
law, instead of that of a culprit brought to jus
tice for violating it. So far, indeed, was this
most convenient system of personal and pri
vate legislation carried, that the Abolitionists of
Boston made a hero of a preacher of their faith
who was held to answer for the very practical
and material offense of carrying off his neigh
bor’s wife. Although it was quite impossible
to associate Brother Kalloch’s crime in any way
with the cause of emancipation—the lady in
question being white, straight-haired and
free-born —yet "bis devoted admirers, after a
careful reference to the “higher law,” discover
ed that this fancy for females wearing other
people’s wedding rings was merely an excessive
development of" humane sympathies—one of
the little eccentricities of philanthropy the
overflowing of a heart whose gushing affections
even millions of enthralled blacks were incapa
ble to entirely absorb. Consequently Brother
Kalloch’s days in jail—the minions of the “low
er law” brutally carried him there —were so
laced by the visits of the sympathetic committees
—the pinchbeck spectacles of admiring maid
ens glittered through the grating of liis cell —
codfish balls of rare flavor, compounded by fair
hands, and pumpkin pies of dainty golden hue,
appeased the appetite of the holy man—and,
when liis prison doors are last swung open a
delighted multitude bore him to the sanctuary,
where (if he is not again in limbo) we presume
he is still expounding the “higher law.” We
contracted, somehow, a bitter prejudice against
the celestial and intangible code of the Aboli
tionists at the time ot Brother Kalloeh’s mar
tyrdom, which we have ilever been able to shake
off.
But although our contempt for the “ higher
law ” lias hot materially increased since that
shameful ease filled the newspapers, we have
seen, since the Abolitionists became masters of
the Government, outrages perpetrated under its
pretended sanction which are a shame to any
people, and for which our children’s children
will despise the memory of their fathers. We
have seen every refinement of cruelty, every ap
pliance of despotism, engrafted upon institu
tions which were meant to secure above all
things the liberty of the people. We have seen
the press silenced and its conductors bound and
imprisoned. We have seen public speakers kid
napped and dragged away to jail for telling the
truth to meetings ot free born citizens. We have
seen the Legislature of a sovereign State trans
formed by the magic of the bayonet into a chain
gang of starved and wretched prisoners, poor in
everything but spirit, stripped of everything
but the austere manhood which leads pilgrim
feet to the prison-house of the patriot, and
makes it a more glorious dwelling than the pal
aces of kings. We have seen every right which
the Constitution was made to protect violated
shamelessly, repeatedly, and with taunting defi
ance of the remonstrances of the wronged. Vie
see to-day the spectacle of a lawless and ruth
less band of demagogues, sitting in the seats of
power, pulling to pieces and patching with the
rotten rags of selfish suggestion the great char
ter of our liberties, dedicating their energies not
to the restoration of this Union, but to the over
throw and degradation of the sovereign States
which built up its glory. These are some of the
results of repudiating the written bond which
united us, the common statute book which de
fined what we owe to the law, and wliat the law
owes to us, and substituting in their stead the
“ higher law,” whose provisions are as capri
cious and shifting as |the mad, wild will of the
fanatic and demagogue.
Gen. Hood’s Reported Engagement.—
There has been a report going the rounds of
tlie pressthat Geu. J. B. Hood was tobe married
to a daughter of General William Preston,
of Louisville. We remarked to him said he,
that he had to suffer for his notoriety. “ Yes, ’
“ and it must be exceedingly annoying to the
jadv as we had no acquaintance whatever, hav
ing never even seen one another.”
He was recently the guest of Mr. James
Short, of our place, and spent some time with
his brother-in-law, Dr. Graves, an eminent
physician of North Middletown, in this count?
He is a much handsomer man than one would
judge him to be from his photograph, and, in
conversation, he has a very pleasant counte
nance. Someone remarked to him that the
greatest difficulty he had at the battle of the
Seven Pines was to keep the leaves which the
balls cut off from falling between his collar and
neck. “ That,” said he was before they learned
to shoot low.” Sharpsburg he considered the
hardest fought field of the war. He fought all
day long in open space against three times his
number, and lost half his men.
. [Paris Ktntuekim-