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About Weekly constitutionalist. (Augusta, Ga.) 185?-1877 | View Entire Issue (April 4, 1866)
THE WEEKLY CONSTITUTIONALIST. WEDNESDAY MORNING, APRIL 4, 1866. HELP. •'•Whoso givbth to the poor, leemth TO the Loro.’ If you like the security, down with the dust." A CARD. TO GEORGIA CAPITALISTS. A portion of the People of Georgia, in Dis tricts overrun by both armies during- the late war, are suffering for lack of food, and, unless speedily relieved, must suffer more—perhaps starve. Their more fortunate and benevolent neighbors have done much for them, but can do a little more. The evidence of these facts Is lull and startling. The Legislature have ap propriated money lor their relief, but the money Is not in the Treasury. They have authorized the borrowing of money upon most satisfactory security, but it will require time to have the Bonds and Mortgages prepared and executed. And while this time runs against the sufferers, their sufferings will be terribly intensified. I am ready and auxions to act, but lack the means. In the name of patriotism and hu manity 1 appeal to you to furnish them. It will be a good pecuniary investment, and, some thing more, a commendable charity. Bring forward the money on loan for 1)0 or 120 days, or six months, or five, or thirty years, as you prefer, with seven per cent, interest. You will do v|fll, and the hungry will do better. All editors friendly to the object will please give the above a few insertions, and briefly direct attention to it. Charles J. Jenkins, Governor. OATHS,"AMNESTIES AND REBELLION. The Hon. Charles Gavakkk, of Louisiana, a gentleman of consummate ability and pro found erudition, who writes with the compact ness of Sallust and the grace of Cicero, has contributed an article on the above subject to lie Bose's Review. No cotcmpornneous maga- Rlnc or journal has produced anything on the same theme equally convincing and exhaust ive. It goes into the very marrow of the sub ject, and carries persuasion to any render not hopelessly wedded to error and an infidel to truth. Mr. Catarrh first starts out with a rapid but discriminating sketch of the different oaths which the United States have sown broadcast, from the Iron-Clad to the Test Oath, and how, in consequence, evory man has become a mol anclioly llamlet, tormented by inquisitorial ghosts. Tho tendency of the age being to ward swearing, the nature, the binding force and effects of the oaths, which invoke God in a chorus to witness our political or private sin cerity, become matters of serious investiga tion. The first thing that constitutes an oath is the invocation , tho second, the imprecation. The one summons the Almighty to the witness stand, and tho latter makes him the execution er. By him wc at test the ti nth, from him we exact the penalty of forfeit. It Is also in tho imprecation that French, ns ■well as Romnn authors, declare the essence of an oath to consist. Pothier says that “an oath is a religions act by which one solemnly expresses that he willingly submits to tl/e ven geance of God, or renounces IIU mercy, If he do»s not accomplish what he has promised.— "It is,” he adds, “ what results from these words: So guard me, or help me God; I wish that God may punish me, if I fail to keep my obligation." This being the nature of an oath its binding obligation consists in the guaranty thns given in solemn assertion before God and the arbitra ment of his vengance. All Pagan and Christian countries regard the guaranty as security, the supposition being that a man thus sworn will keep his faith, in view of such tremendous bar rier! to inconstancy. Hence, an oath bearing this sacred character becomes an impious farce when there ts no belief in God. In tho eclipse of faith, the awful significance of au oath has been measurably negatived. In this strait, the moral character of a man must give weight to hie oath and not the oath to tho word. Men exist who do not healtate to lie and cheat aud yet hesitate to compromise conscience when put upon a sacramental rack. Acting upon this supposition, terrible solemnities were in vogue among the ancients, npi>alUng to the senses and imagination ; in Christian times, the altar, the Gospel and the crucifix have been but modi fications of the Pagan form. In France a polit ical affirmation Is obligatory when knowingly taken. Our author then enter* Into a learned but ex ceedingly interesting sketch of the history and antiquity of oaths. Among the Greeks, swear *■* was universal. When in comparative mod eration, it answered Alutary purposes, but soon degenerated iuto common habit—so common that Aristoi'iisnes ridicule* them in his come dies and puts into the mouths of his puppets oath* as whimsical as some in our own day and generation. The experience of all nation* has proved the danger of making oath* too common a commodify. Every schoolboy tolerably well rood in classic* can appreciate from this the sneer implied by the Roman* in Grmcia Mendar; liar* were they when Pbbicleb survived, still Ham when C«un de Leoe bore the red cross, and liars to the lost when the Turk lost at Na varlno. Wherefore, when you cheapen an oath by inflation and expansion it is like the scrip of wild-cat banks. Conscience and Finance are •omparative. They depreciate by excessive ex pansion. Both have their gold and both their greenbacks. The Carthaginians swallowed oaths as eMily as oysters. “I’unle faith ” is, In its notoriety os famous as Hannibal. As long as the Romans remained worthy of their name, the sanctity of oaths wss pre eervad. Corruption and so-called civilization disturbed oil that, and when the marble palaces of Augustus supplanted the brick of Romulus, the stern morality of the founder had suuk in to the luxurious perjury of the Greek. About the Hebrews the same story may tie told. There is no reason to presume that they differed materially from Greek or Rbman, as time progressed. Abraham lied about his wife, Solomon and his people had strange propensi ties for false gods, by which ti ey swore. They certainly "were no worse than the Gentiles, eith er in the multiplicity of their adjurations or the facility of perjury. Modern nations are as fond of swearing as the Ancients. Oaths most frequently resort ed to are promissory and assertory. The main distinction is between the significance of a vow and an oath. In the one case, he who vows, promises to God ; in the other, thepromiseis to an individual or society. Official oath* arc such as are taken by appoin tees of Government, ueiag as it were the seals of contract. According to Blackstone, no oath is binding unless imposed by a competent authori ty. Casuists differ concerning the moral obli gation in the appeal to God. But the moral sense of the world has agreed upon one point: a high-minded man must be cautious of an en gagement under oath, for something in his breast tells him that he must maintain his plight ed faith. Very fast are we following in the wake of Greek, Roman, Carthaginian and Hebrew. Legislative powers shower their oaths upon us in the same proportion that they have become unmeaning mockeries. Witness the jury oath, the matrimonial oath, the tax-payer’s oath and those fantastic sacraments which pass current in the Custom House. Some commercial houses are reported to salary an oath clerk —a supple and available compromiser of other men’s con sciences. If judicial and social oaths areas thick as leaves in Vallambrosa, what shall we say ofthe oath political ? Our author, on this branch, considers this species of oath the least liable of observance. Such is the record of history everywhere. Those who shine with the starry nimbus of King makers about their brows have committed gross perjuries. Organic laws, constitutions, magna ehnrla how have they been kept ? Talleyrand knew the value of such an oath. “Sira,” said he to Lodis the Eighteenth, when he came to tender allegiance, “Sire, it is tho fourteenth. May, it, for your majesty’s sake, be the last.” God does not always punish the violators of political oaths, in this world. Did his ven gence follow swiftly, what hope could the Radi cals have, even in this planet. The oaths imposed by Congroes will one day be the shame of their advocates. Posterity shall one day sit in judgment, and history fur nishes no example where time hag consecrated such impositions. Is it not monstrous that the most enlightened people of the nineteenth eentnry should surpass all ancient wrong; and (his is precisely what the people of the United Suites approve in the Test Oath. No nation, however barbarous, ever employed a test oath which had reference to any time other than the present or the future. The United States have the unique eminence of clinging to the asper sions of the past. The monstrous effect of this oath is to antagonise our people. We are all innocent or all guilty : a un't in war, a unit in peace. Let us lock shields upon this issue. Noble and generous aetioi is electric. Even tually, we will be thanked for such a stand, even in Massachusetts. How much better will they lool* In history as tho vanquishers of a combined people, than a distracted mob. It will not be very proud to remember that it took several millions of men and billions of money to subdue a disunited South. The in terest and self-respect of ourNorthcru brethren should teach them this. As to the late struggle, a man that attributes it to the work of petty politicians is a Dogber ry. Edmund Burke has declared that men naturally love case and do not change their hubite easily, at a risk; that great revolutions were the offspring of intolerable provocation. One day the magnanimous North will admit provocation. We thought, at least, that we were right; we are hypocrites to deny it. The President wisely Juding that agitation should cease, was the first to pour oil on the troubled waters by the Issuance of a liberal amnesty. This journal has entered largely into discussion of his power in the premises, and we do not care to repent. We must bo satisfied with Mr. Gatarre’s distinction between am nesty and pardon. Pardon is special, and ap plies to an individual; amnesty to classes. Par don confirms the fact of culpability already established; amnesty implies the supposition of misdemeanor. The pardoned was guilty; the object of amnesty might have been in the same condition. Amnesty cannot be condi tional ; it must be absolute. It is an act of oblivion. The Congressional Test Oath practi cally vitiates the Presidential Amnesty —hinc illor lachrymtr. Sovereign and independent States could not rebel against the Federation they created, and hence we are not and cannot be Rebels. Look at the feuds of the Greek Republics. Every word of infamy did they hurl at one another, but never that of “rebel.” In the history of the Roman Republic no Roman citizen has been spoken of as rebel. When the plebians seceded from the patricians, they were not call ed rebels. Coiuolanus, even at the gates of Rome, with hostile intent, was ontlawed as an enemy but not a rebel. His mother's speech still remains. Enemy and parracide she calls him, but never rebel. Rebel or not, the Ro man matrons went into mourning for his death during a whole year. Marius never called Sctlla rebel; and vice versa. Even Catalinb was spared this stigma. Equality cannot sup nose allegiance. Whore there ia no allegiance there can be no rebellion. Rt-bals, among the Romans, were such as having been overcome in battle and yielding subjection, revolted for the second time. Foreign nations could rebel, but Romans could not. Hostile fragments they might be, but not rebellions fractious. < Sons may rebel agaitißt fathers, bnt no brother can rebel against his brother. The Italian Re publics of the nod lie ages were equally sparing of this obnoxious appellation. Where such regulations of language obtained amongst em broiled Greeks, Romans and Italians, Ameri cans should be dainty In the nee of similar terms. Wherefore, says our author, let the President * and the people North and West understand that we will be materially weakened in co-op eration for the restoration of the Union, if not permitted to preserve our self-respect even in the matter of nomenclature. Departed wealth may be recovered; honor, once lost, is lost forever. Even Henry Ward Bbbcher sees the per nlciousness of hypocrisy; he asks u* to accept facts and, if so disposed, retain theories. He farther observes : “It is said that the South should be humbled before it is received back. So far from that, I want to save the self-respect of the South, and he is (lie wisest statesman who can carry them through all this trouble without loss of self-re spect.” Verily, these are words of wisdom and such as the powers that be msv well hearken to. By the pursuance of such a policy, there may be secured the allegiance of the heart so much more valuable than lip-allegiance. Our author concludes with the following Example From Spanish History.— Some centuries ago, two kings were contending for the crown of Castile. We forget their names for the present, but to facilitate the telling of my story, shall call one Alfonso, and the other John. Alfonso proclaimed, of course, that John was a usurper and a rebel, and John re turned the compliment. Well, John at last de feated his rival, horse and foot, and carried everything triumphantly before him, with the exception of a single town which Alfonso had intrusted to a stout old knight, called Aguilar, aud which, after a long siege, still remained im pregnable. “You have done enough for hon or,” said King John, one day to the knight, “ surrender and you shall have the most liberal terms.” “If you had read the history of your country,” answered Aguilar, “ you would have known that none of my race ever capitulated.” “ I will starve you, proud and obstinate fool.” “ Starve the eagle, if you can.”—“ I will put you and the whole garrison to the sword,” —“ Try,” was the laconic reply ; and the siege went on. One, morning, as the rising sun was beginning to gild with its rays the highest towers of the beleaguered city, a parley sounded from the camp of the enemy. The old knight appeared on the wall, and looked down on the King below. “ Surrender,” said John again. “My rival, Alfonso, is dead, and the whole of Castile recognizes my sway, as that of its legitimate sovereign.”— “ Sire, I believe you, but I must see my dead master.” “Go, then, to Seville, where his body lies. You have my royul word that I •hall attempt nothing against you on your way, nor against the city in your absence.” The knight came out with banner flying, and a small escort of grim-visaged warriors. Behind him the gates closed; before him the dense battalions of the enemy opened their ranks, and as he passed along, slowly riding his noble war-horse, shouts ofadmiration burst wide and far from the whole host who had so often wit nessed his deeds of valor, and the echoes of the loud and enthusiastic greeting accompanied him until the red plume ’which waved over his helmit was out of sight. He arrived at Seville, and went straight to the Cathedral, where lie found the tomb of his former sovereign. He had it opened, and, after gazing awhile witli moist eyes at the pale face which met his look, he thus addressed the dead monarch: “Sire, I had never to deliver to anybody but yourself the keys of the town which you had entrusted to my care. Here (hey are; I have kept my oath,” and he deposited them on the breast of King Alfonso. Then, bestriding his good steed, he galloped back to his post. As soon as he ap proached, again the ranks of the enemy opened, and King John confronted him. “ Well,” said the King, “are you satisfied, and do you uow give up the contest?” “Yes, sire.” “Where are the keys of the town?” “On King Alfon so’s breast. Go and get thorn. We meet no more.” “By heaven, we shall never part,” ex claimed the King. “ Get the keys back your self, and remain in command of the town in my name.” The followers of the King murmured, and complained of his rewarding a rebel. “He is no longer one,” said King John. “ Sueli rebels, when won, become the beet of subjects.” Had we the honor , says Mr. Gatarre, of ap proaching the President, tee would take the liberty of saying to him: Follow this example, respected sir. Trust without fear those men who have fought to the last for the cause which they loved, and which claimed their fidelity. Trust those rebels who come to you with clean hands, and after having deposited the keys of their loyalty on the dead body ofthe Southern Confederacy. THE CASE OF SENATOR STOCKTON. In balloting for United States Benator the customary rule of the New Jersey Legislature had for some time been that a plurality vote must be obtained to secure election, but, before proceeding to that particular election resulting in the choice ot Jno. P. Stockton, this rule was, as R was perfectly competent for the Le gislature to do, set aside and anew one adopted declaring a simple majority sufficient. Under thi6 rule Mr. Btockton was duly elected United States Senator from New Jersey, receiving a clear majority of four on joint ballot. Taking as their cue the change of rule above mention ed, certain Radical senators plotted together to oust Mr. 8. and the entire action in this behalf of the Rump Federal Senate is not the loast entertaining little performance of the day. The first step was to raise the question as to Mr. Stockton’s right to his seat and have the whole matter referred to a special committee. This was done; the committee met, heard the evi dence adduced and finally reported dscidsdly in favour of the sitting member. Then on the 33d inst. came up this report for final action thsreon and the play began. Mr. Howe, of Wisconsin, a Radical zealous even to slaying opened the case, and after speak ing what had been set down for him, very dis creetly yielded the floor to worthy Fessenden, of Maine, agcntlemnn whose acerb disposition had, when last we saw him,, imparted a most lean and nutcrackery aspect to his visage. Succeeding this acid orator came a brace ol honorable nonentities from New Hampshire, and then our friend Trumbull, of Illinois, the very rumbling sound of whose name may ono matopretieally warn one Its owner is as very a Boanerges as ever shrieked, groaned, and grunt ed his hour in legislative halls. After him comes Mr. Yatbs, of the same Btate, following dutifnliy in the wake of his colleague as the sprat paddles puftingly after the porpoise. And then, there is a pause and an anxious hush of expectation. Evidently a big gun is priming for discharge. A rnstle among the ancient vir gins who infest the galleries, a low “ look dar” from Ethiopia's sons and danghters, a craning of necks, a bending of ears, a refreshing Mow ing of noses and Chawls Sumner takes the floor. He is tall and portly, hath a deep voice and big foot. He balances himself on the ons and proceeds to uplift the other. Evidently he is in the highest health. Since his back bone was token ont in Europe and soaked in oil and scraped he has not known a single days indis position. His head is clear and,slowly sawing the air, he proceeds to show that to Massachusetts alone is it given to know all things and that he, Chawls, is not the meanest of her many gifted sons. Quoting “ precedents from ancient and modern history ” —so says the report—“ to estab lish his position," he finally makes an end of it, and, amid grateful sniffs from ancient women and a golly from the blacks, sinks, good man, to his repose. Senators Cowan and Hend ricks have spoken for Mr. Stockton and that gentleman puts in a plea for himself, but after the discourse of Massachusetts Unavenged, no one speaks. It has fallen on the Senate like a pall, silencing ail opposition and repressing even garrulity itself. A vote is taken on an amended resolution to declare Jno. F. Stockton not a Senator. By nineteen to twenty-one the resolution fail*. Excitement prevails. The wail of arid virgins fills the gallery, and the voice of the tuneful Beaten One is heard upon the floor. “ Where is Wilson ?” he cries, “ send for Wilson /” and thereto adds other piteous implorations now lost to the world. The reporter merely adds “ 4c.,” aud wc arc left to painfully conjecture the successive and agonizing appeals of this wild ass that whickers for his mate in vain.— Wilson does not come. Another vote is taken—this time to declare Jno. P. Stockton is a Senator. The roll is called. Before the result is announced, "Mr. Sumner ,” we are t old, “ called loudly to Mr. Mob ridl to vote, anrfMr. Morrill recorded his rote in the negative .” Whereupon Mr. Stockton charges that person with having broken his pledged%ord of honor, given to his (Mr. S.’s) colleague, in pairing off, and demands that his own name be called and his vote re corded, which is done. Tho vote then stands— -22 yeas to 21 nays. A roar of many voices re sounds throughout the hall. No right to vote, cry the nays. Good a right as Morrill bawl back the yeas. Crimination and recrimination are fiercely bandied back and forth. Morrill —a man of pinched appearance and a famous hand at filching tariffs—explains his vote. He pledged his word not to, he knows; but he didn’t want to keep it, and he wouldn’t. And then another row. High above the din comes the roar of the man with the soaked backbone. He is “ much excited." So much so that he forgets to talk about Bostiugk, and actually quotes law— and not New England law either, but the law of Nations, which, as everybody knows, is the rule of action for the Federal Senate. But all in vain. The vote is announced, and New Jer sey’s Senator is safe—alas! good, easy naan, but for a season. An adjournment is carried over to the 26th. On that day Mr. Sumner is delivered of a speech. He makes a motion—that the journal of the 23d be so amended as to strike therefrom the name of John P. Stockton. On the next day the vote is thereon taken. By much fifing and drumming a bifre majority has boen gotten together. The whip cracks and they vote in solid mass. The motion prevails. The journal is amended and Senator Stockton is elimina ted from the Federal Senate. And now for another shift of the scenes. No ways* as the slang of the day has it, over "loyal," New Jersey resents this impudent in terference with her constitutional right to pre scribe 6uch rules as may best suit her, in joint legislative session, to elect Federal Senators, and shows evident signs of rocalcitration. Her Senate, is the report, refuses by its President’s casting vote, to go into anew Senatorial elec tion and so, for the present the matter hangs. What the upshot 'will be cannot be definitely told, but very probably the Radicals will carry the day, bring on an election and send some red hot Bombastcs in Stockton’s place. But, be that as it may, this whole performance pre sents some points of pleasing interest. Thus it is a charming thing to observe Mr. Morrill’s peculiar ideas of honour, and to see how little comment those rather singular views evoked. It is also far from disagreeable to note the exactness of that discipline which brings each party-man to the vote by whirling the lash without disguise about his ears. “ Vote,” bawls whipper-in, and up to the scratch comes the poor, slinking hound. But all this is merely the engaging portion of {this charming melo drama. There is another point of view wherein it becomes even instructive. It will be noted that both in the Federal Senate and in the State Senate of New Jersey, the Radicals arc so evenly resisted that a feather would almost turn the scale. One over a tie vote at Washington and one over a tie at Trenton, shows such a balancing of power as must inspire some rea sonable degree of hope. It is too much the impression among our people that the Radicals are utterly unresisted in the North. So far from this being the case they are often so hard pushed as to gain only such victories as did Pyrrhus, more hurtful in the long run than actual defeat. And—for the fact suggests the reflection—if now, with the South wholly pow erless, there can be in the North alone such an cren balance of the scales, how will the balance tip against tyranny when Southern votes come np to the aid of Northern conservatism? TEE UNITED STATES LAND TAX. In answer to our correspondent in the in terior, we are empowered to state that the United States Tax Commissioners for Georgia arc Dr. J. C. Bates, Col. T. P. Robb and Mr. 8. A. Pancoast. From the first named gentle man we understand that the devastated portions of the Btate will not be called npon until other counties have been assessed. Sixty days' notice will be given in all cases and every courtesy and fkvor vouchsafed that a generous authority warrants. Montana advices of the ad state that the peo ple there are now opposed to a State organiza tion. The discharge of Daniels, the notorious murderer, by Gov. Meagher, caused much indig nation. The election for members of the Terri torial Legislature passed off quietly. Madison county went Democratic, and Beaver Head county Republican. There are only partial re turns from the other counties. The war cost East Baton Rouge, La., eight thousand slaves, one hundred dwellings, five thonsand bales of cotton burned, five thousand stolen or captured, and an incredible number of horses, cattle and agricultural implements, which will, it is thought, amount to ten mil lions of dollars. BfILIGIOUS PERSECUTION Under this heading we find in the G Enterprise, published at Covington is , T/* 30th, thfc subjoined very excellent article* of those monstrous iniquities that h ° U ° a ' lowed in the wake of Radical triumph taking the incorporated warrant as a* t ' was our purpose to speak on this geneml' 1 '“ ject of religious intolerance, a form of 0 sion not known, to any actual extent iTv country for many years prior to the . in the article that follows find nearly alt would have said put with equal good sense *• justice. Directing attention especially t 0 T first strong point made—that the' o ff charged is that of having “ performed the of a minister of the Gospel we wo„m , * commend a .econd very j„«, „ J™ * effect that any despotism exercised ’ on n South will inevitably react upon the North There is no truth more needing exposition no, than this. Great aud mighty as the conqum,., section of the United States of America is b ■ not above the decrees of fate or the inevitaU operation of moral laws, and prineipie as sure], works out a retribution for every wron ’ Fate, in its untiring course, inflicts itspunbh rnent ou each evil doer : When in childhood we read of the of the Spanish Inquisition, and the more reeem trials for witchcraft in Massachusetts, and ! law persecutions of New England, and of eolo nml times in Virginia, it was pleasant to thi t that those scenes had passed away with th darkness of those superstitious davs, and tw the enlightenment of the nineteenth cemUrl would forbid the repetition of those scenes a least m the present generation. But what Will be thought of the following warrant unde winch a Baptist minister was recently arrested in Missouri ? State of Missouri, ) County of Pike. j To the Constable of Spencer Township, in Pike county- Greeting: Whereas, James S. Strother, of Pike conn ty, hath this day given information upon oath to me, Mm. Wilson,, a Justice ofthe Peace within and for the county of Pike, that on the 4th day of January, 1866, at the Rose School House, in Pike county, he heard Parson James F. Smith exhort or teach a discourse of religious services , and information having been given by several other persons, that the said James F Smith has performed the duties of a minister of the gospel : These are, therefore, to command you to forthwith apprehend the said James F. Smith, and bring him before me, at the Elm Grove School House, on the Bth day of Jan uary, 1866, to answer the complaint, at the hour of 13 of the clock, of that day, and further to be dealt with according to law. Given under my hand this 6th day of January 1866. Wm, Wilson, J. P There now, can the Inqusition or Pagan Rome sbs.w anything more anti-christian than the law under which that -warrant was issued ? Where is the Patrick Henry of this age to shame this law from the statute books of one of the States to which the Constitution ofthe United States guarantees a Republican Government ? It is an alarming stride toward religious despotism when any preacher can be arrested on such a warrant as this. If the preaching of the gospel is a transgression of the laws of one of the States of the Union, with what propriety can we claim to be a Christian Government ? If this is not the ground of the arrest, what crime is charged in the warrant ? It may be said that this arrest was for a violation of a military or der in preaching without first taking the test oath. If so why was it not so stated in the warrant ? Nothing therein contained shows any other crime than simply exhorting or teach ing a discourse of religious services, or per forming the duties of a Minister of the Gospel. And for this crime in the State of Missouri, in the model Republic of the world, in the year of tlfC Christian era, 1866, a man was arrested, and tried. But granting that the order of some shoulder-strapped officer was violated, where do the military of the United States find their authority for stopping the mouths of those whom God has commanded to preach his gos pel, It is true the power may temporarily be in their hands now, as in His mysterious provi dence it sometimes has occurred in ages past when the wicked bore rule, but surely as there is a God in Heaven He will visit summary ven geance on those who dare to controvert His command. He spoke not in vain when He said, “ Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm !” In the very height of the revelry of the tyrants who thus presume to in terdict the proclamation of the gospel, the mys terious hand will appear writing their doom in characters of living fire. “God is not mocked,” and His kingdom rulcth over all. Aside from all the mere sectional difficulties which have distracted our country for the last few years, the principle of allowing an irre sponsible military authority to exercise despotic powers, and override the rights reserved to the people by constitutional guarantees, will surely react on the people of the North as well as the South ; and the result will be that all vestiges of civil and religious liberty will be swept away from the whole country. This is no idle dream of a disordered imagination. History does not record an instance where a republic lias emerg ed from such anarchy and civil war a» that which has prevailed in this country for the last few years, without the loss of the liberties of its people. This is the most threatening evil to be apprehended now in this country. One most important barrier against despotism has been removed by the forcible establishment of the Federal power as superior to the States. Now If this additional encroachment is tolerated what limit can be set to the tyrannical assump tion of a centralized despotism! This is no slight question. The hopes of mankind for liberty and liberal institutions depend on the success of the experiment in this country. If it mnst be a failure here, there will be no more attempts in this age to establish republican governments, but Tyranny will continue to triumph over human rights, and the lovers of liberty may well despair. As illustrative of the effect of this persecution in Missouri, a correspondent of the Nashville Christian Advocate says: “ Many of the preachers who have taken the test oath prescribed by the new constitution, now regret it; and those who have not, will neither take it, leave the State, nor quit preach ing. They will obey God rather than man, and suffer and dare, and, if need be, die, ' for the testimony of Jesus and the Word of God.’— None of these things move us. We expect, ia all good faith, to 1 render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the thing* which are God’s’ but never subordinate the latter to the former, ‘ God helping us.’ ” New England papers represent a great scarci ty of house room in every town along th* sound, with any reasonable distance of New York. Hotels and boarding places are taket up already by panic-stricken New Yorkers, who have fled or intend to flee from the threatened cholera visitation. From New Haven to New London, Ct., there is not a place to be had.— The same is true of Norwich and other towns- One of the Government revenue detectives on the Canadian frontier writes to the Commis sioner of Castoms that the smugglers have laid pipes across the St. Lawrence river, and are en gaged in pumping whisky from Canada to the United States! That will do 1 Btep down ! Call the next witness.
