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About Weekly constitutionalist. (Augusta, Ga.) 185?-1877 | View Entire Issue (April 4, 1866)
tUcchln Constitutionalist. BY STOCKTON & CO. OCR TERMS. The following are the rates of Subscription and Ad vertising in the Constitutionalist : Wbekly—3 Months $1 00 6 Months 2 00 Single copies—lo cents. Advertisements inserted in the Weekly at $1 50 per Square for each insertion. To accommodate our patrons we will receive in pay ment Produce; such as Bacon, Lard, Butter, Flour and Meal, at the Market value, and it can be sent to us by Express at our expense. * [From the Metropolitan Record. Cotton Culture in the South. Its Past History and Future Prospects—Statis tics of Past and Estimates of Future Crops —Protection to New England Manufacturers —Fearful Mortality among the Emancipated Negroes —White Labor in the Cultivation of Cotton. To the Editor of the Metropolitan Record: Dear Sir : The value of cotton produced in the United States previous to the war and the influence it exerted over the industrial pursuits of all civilized nations ; the vast fleets employed in its transportation both in the raw and manu factured forms, and the multitude of artisans required for their construction and outfit, ren der the continuance of the supply a matter of the first importance to this nation and the world. It may not be uninteresting briefly to review the history of the growth of the interests con nected with the progress of cotton culture in the United States. * The great and rapid increase of commerce since the seventeenth century has usually been ascribed to the discovery of America. This undoubtedly was the remote cause, but we must look to a subsequent event lor the main spring of the astonishing increase of commer cial activity, which characterises the nineteenth century. From the time of the discovery of America till after the peace of 1783, the in crease of commerce was slow, although inter course with the teeming millions of Asia had been opened to Europe by the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope. She produced but little to exchange for the luxuries of the East; set tlements in this country were almost entirely eonfined to the vicinity of the coast and the large rivers. From 1790 to 1800 the people of the Southern States were seriously discussing the abolition of slavery on account of the un ptofitableness of that description of labor ; the foreign commerce was insignificant, being most confined to the exchange of live stock with the West Indies, and there were no manufactures; the United States was essentially agricultural from Vermont to Georgia. The whole commercial marine of Europe en gaged in foreign trade was not equal in tonnage to that of the vessels to be seen in the harbor of New York in a single day. Liverpool was hut a fishing hamlet. Austria and Prussia had no port. Spain had no trade except a few gal leons to and from her American colonies once vc. year—France hardly as much. A cotton patch ' of five acres was almost a prodigy in South Carolina and Georgia. Whitney invented the cotton gin (the only great Invention that was ever perfected by the inventor,) slowly but surely it grew into favor, and rendered the extensive culture of cotton profitable. African slaves were unfit by nature and capacity for commercial and manufacturing pursuits, but the possession of the gin made it profitable to employ them in the cotton fields. Slave owners began to leave the worn out lands of the sea-board and seek the fertile up lands and valleys of the interior ; forests disap peared and in their stead white-robed fields were to be seen on every hand; in fifty years the production of cotton increased from one to two huiidred bales to millions. In the mean time the sterility of the soil, severity of climate, and the rapid increase of population, compelled the people of the Eastern States to eke out the scanty supplies to be drawn from the earth by the exchange of their live stock and lumber for West India productions and the fisheries. At this point commenced that diversity of section al pursuits and interests, which finally culmi nated in the late war. The rapid increase in the production of the raw material consequent to the general use of Whitney’s gin caused a corresponding increase of English manufactories and shipping, as well as all the mechanical arts employed in building and fitting machinery and vessels ; thus sprang up modern commerce. Then came the war of 1812, and found the United States destitute of manufactures of arms, munitions of war and clothing. The difficulty in obtaining these es sentia] requisites for maintaining armies in the field caused great embarrassment to military operations and often produced serious disas ters. After the close of the war, while the evils of a dependence upon foreign nations for articles of prime necessity were fresh in the minds of all, Congress placed a tariff upon imports to pro tect and encourage home manufactures, as a measure of defense, and the people of New England, unable to subsist upon the products of the soil, turned their attention to manufac tures. The gallantry of our little navy had se cured for it the favor of the people ; the fishe ries had lumished our best seaman, and it was deemed important in a national point of view to encourage this school for seamen ; accord ingly laws were enacted to pay bounties to fishermen and to grant a draw track of the duties paid on the salt used in curing fish. Naviga tion laws were passed to encourage ship build ing. The most important, ifnotall these measures, were proposed by Southern men, and carried by Southern votes, with the full knowledge that the taxes laid must be paid out of the pro ducts of the soil, and consequently by the agri cultural section, and that all the direct benefits would be reaped by the North ; thus New Eng land by the operation of these enactments be came a manufacturing and commercial people. The immense demand for iron created by the invention and introduction of railways caused the Middle States to strike hands with the Eastern to procure a protective tariff for the products of their mines, and the line of separa tion between the North and South was distinct ly drawn, and tne diversity of interests became greater and greater until the two sections were placed in absolute antagonism. Southern statespaen (agriculturists) cheerful ly taxed the agricultural interests to build up manufactures and foster commerce in order to render the country independent of foreign na tions for the most necessary articles of eon sumption in the event of war, they never anti cipated that the measure of protection adequate to establish new indnstrial pursuits in success ful rivalry of the same interests already estab lished and prosecuted by powerful and wealthy nations for a long series of years, would not suffice for their continued prosperous exist ence ; they did not imagine that Yankee greed, like the horse leech, would be forever crying, “ give, give.” In consequence of the mighty impulse which the passage of these laws gave to manufactures AUGUSTA, GA., WEDNESDAY MORNING, APRIL 4, 1866. and commerce, a fresh impulse was given to the culture of cotton, fresher and more fertile lands were sought and brought into cultivation, aud the product increased from 250,000 bales in 1815 to 4,400,000 bales in 1859, and in value from $20,000,000 to $247,400,000; the cotton planter producing but a small portion of his supplies at home, consumed the products of the teem ing West and caused its rapid settlement. At length, convinced that the high tariffites of the North would never be satisfied till they had reduced the Southern States to the condition of tributary provinces, paying into their eofferS the whole profits of their labor, they seceded, a war ensued, which has ended in their conquest and the abolition of slavery. Noiv the question recurs—can cotton be pro duced by freedmen’s labor to a great extent ? That it cannot the present year will be evident from considering a few facts. Since 1861 three hundred thousand hands have perished of des titution and disease, nearly two hudred thous and have been forced into the army ; thus a half million have been taken permanently from cot ton culture, representing a production of 2,000,000 bales; their places cannot be supplied in many years. One-half the b&t cotton lands of Georgia aud South Carolina have been utter ly desolated, and if the means w<(|4e at hand, could not now be put in order in time to plant a crop this year. The Mississippi and Yazoo Valleys are utter wastes and will produce a trifle in comparison with the .1,000,000 bales once gathered from them. I will give what I look upon as a large estimate for the coming crop. Texas 300,000 bales ; the country whose outlet is New Orleans, 150,000 bales; Mobile, 150,000 bales ; Georgia, Florida and South Carolina, 200,000 bales, making an aggregate of 800,000 bales, barely sufficient to supply the mills of the United States. Nor would it surprise me to see cotton among the list of our imports, as we already see rice and sugar. That your readers may be able to appreciate the difficulties attending the culture of cotton by means of hired labor of any description, I will present, some of the conditions requisite to its profitable production. The first condition is an adequate and certain supply of labor for thirteen months at least,; the preparation of the ground for the reception of the seed must com mence with the first of the year. This is an operation of no little labor, especially on the bottom lands, which have heretofore produced the greater portion of the crop. All the old stalks must be pulled up by the roots and burned. This can be done only by the stoutest hands, by the aid of levers, the stalks being ten to fifteen feet higli and three inches in diameter. After the cotton comes up, the soil requires almost constant stirring to prevent the growth of grass and weeds; it must be kept as clean as I a garden, or a sickly growth and greatly diinin- j ished yield is the inevitable consequence. No ! one can imagine the rapidity and luxuriance of , the growth of crop, or crab grass, on all the ' cultivated lands of the South, who has not seen it; consequently a total cessation of labor for a single week, during the months of June and July, would cause the loss of the entire profit of the crop at least. The planter must then have the certainty of controlling a sufficient amount of labor at this season to secure any remuneration for his own outlay and time. As successful culture requires great judgment and long continued experience to determine what implements to use at different stages of growth and under different conditions of the soil and weather—a mode of culture that would, under* certain conditions, promote the health and vigor of the plant, would at another cause it to become sickly and the forms («'. e. buds) to fall off. The picking season commences about the middle of August and ends at Christmas. Then the ginning and hauling to market will require from one to two months more, making at least thirteen months from the beginning to the end of the crop year. To secure the crop the con stant labor of the whole available force of the plantation is needed. On good cotton lands more is always produced than the force which cultivated it can gather. Cotton must be gath ered as soon after opening as possible or it will fall out, or be beaten out by rains and wind, and be entirely lost. A cessation of picking for a single week during the height of the sea son, when the best cotton is to lie gathered, would entail tlie loss of the year’s profits at the least. After a killing frost, (say from the mid dle of November till Christmas,) negroes would pick but little unless compelled. The pods be come hard, presenting curved spines at the open end, which scratch the hands; besiflts, it is cold work in the early morning, and negroes dread cold. Thus the top crop, which in some seasons and certain localities is the major part, would be partially lost. Can the labor of the freedmen be secured thus continuously and certainly, as the conduct of a cotton plantation profitably absolutely re quires? Every man who understands negro character, especially every practical planter, will unhesitatingly answer no. Until some method can be devised to compel freedmen to enter into contracts to labor for terms of years, and to fulfil their contracts faithfully, till they become in some form or other fixtures to the soil, more or less permanent, their profitable employment on cotton plantations is impossi ble. Many planters, tempted by the present high price of cotton, having the land, stock and farming implements, are about to make the. experiment of planting with freedmen’s labor ; but they regard it as an experiment, and one ol very doubtful success at that. They say they have no idea of making more than a half crop at best; indeed the absurd conditions imposed by the Freedmen’s Bureau render it impossible. Still, they say a half crop at present prices will pay. Will the freedmen cultivate cotton to any ex tent, if plantations are divided ai*l as much land assigned to each person or family, as he or they ought to cultivate? Negroes never have in any land, nor under any circumstances, voluntarily engaged in per sistent, continuous agricultural pursuits, as either lessee or owner of the soil; nor is it to be expected that those of the South will prove an exception. They have not sufficient judgment or intelligence to cultivate cotton successfully, without continual supervision ; the.cuitivation of one or two acres in corn and sweet potatoes •will be all they will attempt. Their natural traits of character, their indolence and total want of forethought forbid anything more. A case which was lately told me will serve as an illustration of these traits and a proof of my position. A planter last spring made a con tract with eleven negroes—good hands—to labor the balance of the year for a share of the crop, who eventually agreed to take the cotton as their share. Each of these bands could pick from 200 to 300 pounds of cotton per day. They commenced gathering their crop, and in one week they picked 290 pounds (equal to about 80 pounds ginned cotton) and quit work. Some of the profound reasoners on subjects of which they know nothing, whose premises are founded upon what they imagine ought to be, and those eloquent deciaimers upon “ the rights of man,” without any reasoning, main tain that slavery has debased the negro, and en tailed these traits of character upon him. They, in their blind ignorance or designing rascality, have put the effect for the cause. Negroes were ' slaves in consequence of their degradation , not degraded by being slaves ; on the contrary, they have been uniformly elevated in the scale of hu manity by being enslaved bv either of the other races; and when freed from slavery they have always rapidly relapsed into their original sav age state. These facts are matters of history, and we see the same process of degradation go ing on all around us among those freed so lately as May last. The doom of the race in the Uni ted States is written —speedy extinction. The last question to be determined is—Will cotton ever be produced by white labor tcran extent to render the United States the great source from which the supply of the world shall hereafter be derived ? The mere cultivation of the plant requires no greater skill than may be easily acquired under proper instruction ; but picking requires edu cated labor as much as spinning and weaving the fabric, and the training must commence in childhood. So well established was this fact, that a South Carolina or Georgia negro would always command a higher price than one from Tennessee. The fact that on the better class of cotton lands more could always lie grown than could be gathered, rendered it all important to have fast pickers. The best hand could pick from 300 to 400 pounds per day, while those put to this labor after being grown, or brought from the poorer lands, could never lie made to pick more than from 100 to 200 pounds, making an immense difference in a season of four and a half months’ duration. So, it is evident, that if the negro laborers could at once be replaced by whites on the plantations in the same order they were in 1861, their utmost exertions could not produce more than from one-third to oue half a crop during the present generation. But an insurmountable obstacle to the em ployment of white labor on the best cotton lands, the lands from which the millions of bales were drawn, exists in the nature of the climate and the hygienic conditions of the at mosphere. Throughout these fertile valleys the malaria is so deadly that no white man can live there constantly. Some of the largest cotton producing counties in Mississippi poll from 14 to 90 votes only, no one except overseers living in them, and often from three to five different overseers were employed on the same planta tion in a single year, (three or four having died,) and this too when they perform no labor and avoid exposure to morning and evening dews and the heat of the noon-tide sun, while the negroes enjoy good health. The same is the case in the swamps of Louisiana. It requires the constant labor of all the hands from daylight till dark, after the picking season commences, to secure the crop. In a half hour after the hands enter the field they are as thoroughly wet from head to foot by the dew as if they had been plungedsn a river. In two or three hours the scorching rays of an August sun are poured upon their bent backs with an intensity of heat of which no Northern er lias any conception ; yet the vast fields are white before them, and they must toil on if they would secure the fruits of their previous labors. The malarious exhalations of the early morning, the saturation of the clothes with dew, and the subsequent exposure to the di rect rays of the noon-tide sun would prostrate any white man on a bed of sickness, of serious, probably fatal sickness, in a week. A planter only can realize the loss a month’s sickness at this season entails. Cotton will be raised on the poorer uplands by white labor, as it always has been; but even here they avoided exposure to the motning dews and mid-day heats; consequently they could never produce us much even on these lands as a negro could. Many, stimulated by the present high prices, will plant cotton, who never raised a bale before, and many will un dertake the cultivation ot the bottom lands; but will they continue its culture '< I think not, after prices return to their old standard. England requires an abundant supply of cheap cotton ; she has bent all her energies to foster its production in all quarters of the globe, with what success the rapid decline in prices within the past twelve months abundant, evi dence. There is every indication tiiat prices will still continue to decline, and that within five years Liverpool quotations will range from 6d. to lOd. per lb., if not even lower. When this takes place cotton will cease to be cultiva ted in the United States by white labor, and in 1876 we shall produce less cotton than in 1866. Vidi. A llaro Fate.—There is now residing near the little village of Willlamsboro’, in the State of North Carolina, an honorable veteran with a family, a wife and five young children, living upon charity. He is eighty-six years of age— iought in the battle on the Lakes in the war with England, under Perry and Elliot, and re ceived irom the State of Virginia a sword, with gold scabbard and mountings, in testimony of the appreciation entertained of bis public ser vices. At and before the late war, lie was a captain in the Navy of the United States, and in honorable retirement by the Star Chamber Naval Board who sat upon the merits of other deserving and distinguished men. When Vir ginia passed the ordinance of secession, he re signed his commission, which was all he had, and from honest conviction, a sense of duty and honorable instincts, cast his lot with the Confederacy. Virginia supported him during the war. That support has now ceased. Now, he is penniless and dependent—absolutely so. It is owing to the kindness of a friend in this city, Major Smith, that he has a temporary shel ter over his head. His dwelling in Portsmouth is occupied by one who lias it from the Freed man’s Bureau, or some other authority, and he is thus prevented from returning to his home and occupying his dwelling. The Attorney General has been petitioned—and the President of the United States has been appealed to by his wife aud by his friends. But his crime was in being an old naval officer, and who has not the influence which some other naval officers possessed, to obtain his pardon. He has been told that he has committed a very grave offense, and like the widow in Scripture, that he gave away his mite*—doing all he could against the best governnpnt that the • sun shines upon. This veteran and dependent man is Hugh Nel son Page, of the State of Virginia. [Norfolk Virginian. A correspondent, who recently visited the tomb of Thomas Jefferson, says: The walls inclosing the remains of Jefferson and his wife and children, besides those of some relatives, arc gradually falling to the ground.— The gate is left unlocked, and ingress can be obtained by every vandal curiosity-hunter dis posed to desecrate the tomb of Jefferson for the sake of possessing a chip of the stone monuj ment covering his grave. To such an extent has this petty larceny been curried, that the tombstone presents the appearance of a broken piece of granite. Even the gravestone of Mrs. Jefferson has not escaped these thieves. New York, March 25.—0n and alter the Ist of April next, Messrs. Coolis & Cos., Financial Agents of the Mexican Republic, will pay at their office, No. 57 Broadway, interest in gold due April Ist, on the $30,000,1X10 Mexican loan. The Herald’s Mexican correspondent repre sents the message of Governor Anderson, of Ohio, in January last, as having produced quite a sensation in the Republican party in Mexico. From the Columbus (Ohio) Crisis. Death of General J. H, Morgan. An Authentic Account of that Event — He is Shot Twenty Minutes after he had Surrendered to the Federal Trooj)s. BY AN EYK WITNESS. Happening to be present at the death of Gen eral J. H. Morgan, 1 have concluded to send you a few memoranda of that and its accompa nying events. I accompanied the expedition into Tennessee made for the purpose of driving back General Gillem’s brigade of Federal cav alry. We arrived at Greenville early in the evening of the 3d ot September, 1864. Green ville Is distant from Bull’s Gap (General Gil lem’s position) nineteen miles. The General established his headquarters at the house of a Mrs. Williams, in the town of Greenville.— His own brigade was sent on the road leading to Rodgorsville, to a point three miles from Greenville, for the purpose of getting forage, and a detachment of Tennessee cavalry, 600 strong, was ordered, under Colonel Bradford, to encamp on the road leading to Bull’s Gap, and to |pieket the roads leading towards the enemy. This force was not increased, because a larger number of horses could not be foraged in that direction. The country between Green ville and the Gap is billy aud wild, and very poor. Gen. Gillcm stated afterwards that lie received information of the status of affairs about Greenville at half-past nine of that night. He immediately moved bis command in the di rection of Greenville; when about five miles from town he halted, and sent a detachment through the woods, and succeeded in getting on the flank of Bradford’s command; he drove him (Bradford) back from the road, leaving it open to Greenville. 'A detachment of four com panies of the 13th Tennessee cavalry was then sent forward to charge the town. They met with no resistance. The square on which Mrs. W.’s house is situated (the house and grounds occupy the square) was surrounded immediate ly ; officers of the stuff being aroused by the couriers, of whom there were three or four at the front gate, rushed out and were captured one-by one. Gen. Morgan attempted to escape through tlie garden ; finding exit in that, direc tion cut off, lie concealed himself umong some grape vines. Ho had no weapon at all—Cap tain Rogers having one of his pistols, Mr. John son, A. A. G.’s clerk, the other. While the officers of his staff and couriers were together under guard within twenty yards of Ids place of concealment, he necessarily heard the ques tions asken them and the threats made against them. The questions were as to his where abouts—the threats to make them tell his place of concealment. Seeing that there was no hope of successful concealment, he came out and sur rendered to Cupt. Wilcox, Cos. G, 18th Tennes see cavalry. He had already both of Gen. M.’s pistols in his possession. This Captain sat on his horse (he and fifteen or twenty others had ridden into the garden, having hrokei* down the plank fence to get in) aud conversed with the general aud us for some time—about ten or twen ty minutes ;he then rode off. In a few minutes after he left a man rode up and presented ids gun at Gen. Morgan ; the General said : “For God’s sake don’t shoot me—l am a prisoner.” Tliegun was fired and the General fell. The muz zle of the gun (a Colt’s army rlflc)was within two feet of Morgan’s breast when it was discharged; his clothing and his body were blackened with powder. This man then dismounted aud threw the General’s body across Ids horse, in front of the saddle, and rode about town shouting “here’s your horse thief.” When Gen. Gillem gave us permission to go and nitond to Gen. M.’s body, we found it lying in the road, about one mile from the place where he had been shot. It was so covered with mud tiiat we could scarcely recognize it. The ball struck the centre of the breast, about three or four inches below its junction with the neck, and came out behind the left hip bone. He met his death as he met ids foes a thousand times be fore ; there was no shrinking—not a quiver of a nerve—though he saw murder in that brawny felon’s eye. Kentucky will yet be proud of John Morgan—of bis gallant, dashing life and fearless death. And in the “ laud of sun and flowers ” long will his deeds be the theme of “song and story.” The man who shot him was named Campbell, of Go. G, 18th Tennes see cavalry. He was promoted to a lieutenancy for bis bravery on this occasion. At Knoxville the staff officers were locked up in iron cages, in a jail, whose windows had neither glass nor sash. They had neither change of clothing nor overcoats nor blankets. These had all been taken from them. They were per mitted to go into the prison yard in the day time, and they bad a dead line there. We found at Knoxville several officers and men of Morgan’s command, who bad been taken two weeks before ns. They told ns that the soldiers who captured them said that they had orders not to take Gen. Morgan alive. After this it was rumored that the soldiers of Gen. Morgan’s command refused to take as prisoners of war men belonging to the 13th Tennessee cavalry. Gen. Gillem sent a commu nication, under a flag of truce, to General Breck inridge on this subject, complaining that some members of tli# Thirteenth bad been killed, and stating tiiat be supposed that it was done In re taliation for the “reported" murder of Gen. Morgan. lie stated tiiat Gen. Morgan had been killed in fair fight, and enc’ >sed a copy of a note from Capt. Rogers, o» Gen. M.’s staff, in answer to one from hinr inquiring into the cir cumstances of General Morgan’s death. (Rogers was then a prisoner In Gen. Gillem’s bands.) At the bottom of this copied note was writ ten, “ A true copy. A. C. Gillem, Brigadier General.” When General Breckinridge after wards attacked and routed Gen. Gillem, we cap tured his headquarters desk and private papers, among which was the original note of Capt. Rogers, altered and amended to read as the copy Gen. Gillem sent Gen. 8., and very differ ent from the said copy. These papers are still in existence. So far from Senator Douglas ever having ex pressed the opinion attributed to him by Mr. Bancroft, that Abraham Lincoln was Che most honest man he ever knew, the Quincy (Illinois) Herald says it is informed Mr. Douglas is known to have entertained and expressed a dif ferent opinion.— Petersburg Index. We did not know Bancroft told any such story on Douglas, but werfoknow tiiat Douglas expressed himself, in his most cool and dispas sionate conversation, to the full purport re ported by the Quincy Herald. “ Unscrupulous cunning” was the term he used In speaking of him, more than once. Since Mr. Bancroft has so high a regard for Douglas’ opinion of men, it may be interesting for him to know that Douglas considered a meeting held in this city in defensedf the ideas be was championing in 1858, os having )»een greatly weakened by having “ a political imbe cile” — Mr. Bancroft —as its chairman. [Freeman’s Journal. New York, March 25.—There Is continued activity at the Fenian headquarters. Reports from Ireland says that all letters for suspected parties are opened by the post-office authorities in that country. VOL. 24. NO. 14. The President and (Jen. Butler. an interview on tiie frekdmen’s bureau BII.L. The Washington correspondent of the New Orleans Crescent communicates to it the follow ing account of an interview between the Presi dent and Gen. B. F. Butler: The interview was very lengthy, extending over one hour and a half, during which time the notorious Benjamin employed all the arts of which he is capable to impress the Executive mind. Ido not pretend to report the conver sation verbatim, but present the substance of it, and in some parts the exact words employed. 1 have also good reason to know that the Crescent is the only Journal which lias received accounts of this important interview. I may premise that Butler has been for some time frequenting the Radical haunts, and, although holding no official.position, is recognized as an efficient wire-puller. The President was not astonished, therefore, when a card was brought In, requesting the honor of a few minutes' tete-a-tete ; but having been wearied by repeated interviews on this same subject—the signing of the Freedmen’s Bureau Bill—Mr. Johnson bad become exhausted and petulant, and said in bis expressive manner, “ When did he come ? Well, let him come in.” After being seated face to face with the President, the “hero of New Orleans " laid out hi* case In full, urging the approval of the bill, and suggesting its adoption as the basis of a compromise between the Capitol and the White House. The President, with bis usual impcrtiirhlc manner, listened to the entire rigmarole of the politician, and then answered him with the words of the statesman; words that were doubt less immediately reported to Ills Radical friends in waiting: “Gen. Butler, you are very well versed in all the astute theories now urged In the Capitol, but let us leave this slim-slam and come down to plain common sense. We fought this battle for the Union ; our entire course du ring the war was an endeavor to restore the States to their constitutional positions ; we tried to do so in Georgia, and I ask you would you not have received Georgia during the war as a State of this Union had she sent a representa tive to Congress ? Wherever I found a green spot of loyalty In Tennessee I tried to sustain It, and endeavored to obtain a representation for it. If they were States then, why are they not States now ? You have appointed judges over them, you collect taxes In them, anil you remse them representation. Why, they have not even a delegate, like the Territories. Their voice— the vote of eleven millions of people—cannot be heard in the National Capitol. This is hard and unjust. Are you afraid of a few Southern members? Why not admit those who ean take the oath and send the rest home to havo their places tilled by other men? You think to soothe me by admitting the Tennessee delega tion, because I happen to belong to that State, but the rights of every State of this Union arc equally dear to me. Your party tulks very much of supporting my policy, but when it comes to voting, you follow a different course. You talk of my kingly conduct, ‘of losing my head;’ this is almost equivalent to Inciting peo ple to assassinate me. If you proceed in tills manner, a revolution will not bo far distant.— In the name of God, when is this to stop? This bill secures them—the negroes—all they ought to liuve, and n little more, too. Ido not say whether I will sign the bill or not.” After Andy has once expressed his opinion, ho lias a peculiar manner of shutting himself off from the further conversation of the speaker, and this manner he adopted on the preseut occa sion. During the interview lie had continually used the word General with a slightly satirical tone. Indiana Democratic State Convention. This body met in Indianapolis on the 15th lust., and after* nomination of candidates for State officers adopted a platform, whereof the following Is a synopsis: The first resolution denies the right of seces sion. The second approves the reconstruction prin ciples avowed in President Johnson’s annual message, solemnly condemns the action of the majority In Congress, cordially endorses the veto, and pledges the President the eurnost and disinterested support of the Indiana Democracy in all liis conflicts with that tUnatlcal Congres sional majority. Third—Believes tfyit the sole power ot Con gress over the admission of members is con fined to their election return and qualifications; that it h:is usurped powers in excluding from representation eleven States, acknowledged to be in the Union by having votes counted In favor of the, constitutional amendment; that the elected members from Southern States are constitutionally qualified, and should be imme diately admitted. Upon the refusal of Con gress, it is the prerogative und the duty of the President of the United States to defend and uphold the integrity ot every State now in the Union, aud take care that the laws be faithfully executed. Fourth—lt inflexibly opposes the prohibitory or protective tariff. I ifth—lt declares that taxation and represen tation should go together, and that Government bonds should oc taxed. Sixth—lt repudiates the rebel debt. Seventh—Thauks the soldiers and demands the equalization of bounties. Eighth—Pledges support, regardless of party affiliations to any State or national official guided by the principles this day avowed. Ninth—Denounces the conferring of suffrage upon negroes In the District of Columbia. Tenth—Opposes the repeal of the constitu tional article prohibiting negroes and mufattoes from settling In the State. Eleventh—Encourages immigration. Twelfth—Eight hours should be the legal day’s work. Thirteenth—Favors religious toleration. Fourteenth—Sternly condemns the immense financial und other frauds of the abolition State and Federal Governments. Fifteenth—Pledges the party to oppose all prohibitory liquor or Sunday laws. Sixteenth—Denounces the expulsion of Mr. Voorhees as a high-handed outrage of a profli gate, unscrupulous party. » ■ ———n ' ■ <* The President Endorsed Auxin.— When Andrew Johnson was a tailor iu the little town of Greenville, East Tennessee, he had the re putation of being one of the best tailors in all that region of country. So popular was he that the little boys were accustomed to sing upon the streets the following verse, the product of some youthful brain at the time : If you want to buy a bran new coat, I’ll tell you what to do; Go down to Andrew Johnson’s shop, And buy a long-tailed blue. m i ii i New Yobk, March 25. — A message from the President to Gov. Hamilton, of Texas, iu which be reiterates his hopes that the loyal represen tatives irom the Boutb will be permitted to take their seats in Congress, is published. It bears date of February 16,1866.
