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THE WEEKLY CONSTITUTIONALIST
WEDNESDAY MORNING. JUNE 5,1807.
TO OUB SUBORIBER3.
The Weekly Constitutionalist will here
after be mailed ou Tuesday instead of Wednes
day morning. We make this change to accom
modate many subscribers. It is oui aim and
purpose to make the paper a first class news and
family journal, and we confidently hope that
the influence of our suOscribers will be exerted
to aid us in doing so by extending its circu
lation.
— ' w ■■ :
reaction.
.Wc call attention to a significant article
copied from the New York Herald and catitled
“Counter Revolution in New York, and all
over the Country.” The Herald is considered a
pretty good weather-cock, and this article be
tokens a high wind against the Ridical party.
Many persons seem to think that immortality
belongs of right to thb rule or ruin faction,,
whereas nothing is more certain than death and
political vicissitude. We do not know of auy
folly so profound as that which seeks to per
petuate a dying cause ; and yet, the would-be
Radical party-builders at the South are attempt
ing just this stupendous folly, while the North,
groaning with oppreasion and disaster, bids
fair to annihilate that which tint Browmtes de
sire to vivify iu our midst. Even that vilest of
Radical journals, Harper's Weekly , begins- to
waver iu its allegiance and finds courage to
declare as follows concerning the taxation of
the people :
“ We can not help thinking, and saying, too,
in strict confidence to the readers of this jour
nal, that stupid, and dull, and voiceless as the
public may be, he has some rights which poli
ticians will sooner or later have to recognize.
He is now paying tax at the rate of seven per
cent, more than is paid by the most heavily
taxed people of Europe, and at the same time
he is paying for commodities of all kinds, and
labor*fifty-five and one hundred and fifty per
cent, more than any other people iu the world.
In England the taxes are heavy, no doubt, but
food, clothing and rent are cheap. In Russia
livings expensive, but the taxes are light; but
here”in the United States the public groans
under the simultaneous burden of heavy taxes
and expensive living. We have a notion that,
sooner or later, ho will rebel against this load,
and that the party that laid it on his shoulders
will itself be laid pretty low.”
The New York Commercial Advertiser, a Re
publican paper, is equally bitter. It says :
“ Ere the present Congress reassembles, the
evidence—conclusive and irresistible will be fur
nished, that the last Congress was the worst
and the weakest that ever left its impress upon
our country. The day is not distant when
every prominent feature aud almost every in
fluential enactment of that Congress will be
execrated. Iniu’Uvely, however, it prepared
the escape from the ruin it will have
caused, by the passage ot a Bankrupt Law.”
We have always contended that the future
would hand over the Jacobins and their edicts
to the execration of history and, thus believing,
eudeavored to save onr people from a share in
the coming iulamy. The Mobile Register and
Advertiser , commenting upon the tremendous
reaction uow steadily progressing at the North,
thus trenchantly sums up its causes and ad
ministers a withering rebuke to those Southern
men who attempt to strengthen a rotten and
sinking concern. It says :
“ All the signs of the political times portend
that the hour is near at hand when Radicalism,
which has lived a rapid existence ol violence
and error, is to be broken up in its foundations,
to leave not a wreck behind. The working
masses of (he nation are groaniDg and growing
restive under ouerous taxation, while labor is
scarce and its rewards not equal to the high
prices ol living. Everywhere, too, trade is
paralyzed and private incomes diminished,
while the public revenue is alarmingly falling
oil, to tbe peril of the Government credit and
the certain increase of the National debt. The
enormous exactions of the Tariff have driven
the business of ship-building from the Northern
cities, and while the ship-carpenter’s hammer
is busy in every seaport of Canada, its ringing
sound is no longer heard iu the docks and yards
of the United States. Government policy,
shaped by Radical politicians, is on all hands
being held responsible for the commercial aud
industrial torpor which is bringing want and
suffering to thousands ; and the voice of discon
tent and reaction is loudly audible in Demo- „
eratie victories, wherever the polls are opened
for its expression. Tbe Radicals themselves
give fullest expression to their apprehen
sion of the rising storm at the North, when
in their desperation they determine up
on the wild expedient of saving themselves by
converting the South to their liberty and pros
perity killing principles. They rely upon the
negro vote and the help of white-livered reue
gulos at the South to cover them from the pop
ular wrath in-store for them. They are mad
enough to expect that the people they have
trodden in the dust, insulted, slandered and de
prived ot rights and liberty, will be base
enough to lick the oppressor's hand and crawl
irom the mire to save them from thfi just ven
geance of an impoverished and ruined nation.
The storm comes as sure as truih. Let the
cowards who are shrinking away from present
danger and* deserting their fellow-sufferers to
make easy terms aud places with the dominant
party beware-of the breaking of that storm, for
when it pours upon them they will call upon
the mountains to cover them, aud curse the
day, the hour and the pusillanimity that tempt
ed them to their disgrace. Now, they fceP sc- ;
cure with power at their backs. Now' they
gloat and glimmer like maggots in its sunshine.
But let them “ beware ol the Ides of March,”
when the pendulum of re-action swings back
to liberty and justice.”
GREELEY vs. BROWN.
Horace Greeley, the big Indian of Black
Republicanism, having whipped out the Loyal
Leagues, turns his attention to the Georgia
Uha.dba.nd who wauts us to be “joyful—joy
ful —joyful!” Here is what fie says of Joseph
E. BgoW'N and his precipitate zeal:
“ Casting far from him the lingering uonSeu«e
of treason, although when It was rampant he
was as deep in it as anybody, Gov. Brown says
that he is lor accepting reconstruction upon the
terms offered by Congress. * I sav,’ g-iys the
Governor, ‘accept them, aud live "up to them
like men who were beaten in fair fight, and who
are bound to take whatever terms"the men who
beat them offer.' The Governor goes rather
than is necessary. We do not think the
‘ bouud to acquiesce in any terms.”
that Horace Greeley was tendered
.‘be Cabinet, which he declined,
.but he could net support Presi
'dicy.
THE RADICAL MANIFESTO.
A few dafs since, we published extracts from
a Manifesto originating with the Congressional
Committee, which plainly intimated that the
present Machinery Bill was not a finality. We
proved from the document itself that the bill"
could only be regarded as an ultimatum when
the Southern people should present themselves
. bound hand and foot, eternally pledged to ultra
Radicalism. Counting as a certainty upon the
negro vote, the Radicals explicitly inform the
whites that they are expected to form a coali
tiou with the negroes to make the matter safe.
Witness that declaration of the Manifesto which
says “ there must be co operation -of the races,
and there must be co-operation upon the princi
ples which prevail in the North , and to which
the Republican party is fully committedf
Here, then, we have it understood that a pre
dominant Radicalism, based “upon the prinei-.
pies which prevail at the North and to which
the Republican party is fully committed,” is
absolutely requisite to final reconstruction.
That finality depends upon a wholesale abnega
tion of principle and an acceptance of corrupt
and'hypocritical dogmas. Even this is founded
upon certain contingencies, and thq thorny
road to Radical reconstruction, according to
Congress, winds through the devious labyrinths
pointed out by tbe following extract. The
Manifesto continues thus:
We then earnestly invite and implore the
people of the South of all classses— first, to ac
cept the plan of universal suffrage as the basis
of political, educational and industrial prosperi
ty and power. The black man will soon prove
that he is more to the State as a citizen than he
was as a slav«. The laborer, whether black or
white, with education and culture, will elevate
and enrich the community which iu his
ranee he dishonored and burdened. Secondly,
upon the basis of universal suffrage, we urge the
people of the South to direct their efforts TO the
ESTABLISHMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF A SYS
TEM OF public SCHOOLS for the education of
the children of all classes. ‘ Finally, public poli
cy should stimulate the laboring people to be
come landholders. The owners ol large estates
should divide and subdivide their lands, and
sell them at reasonable rates to those who need
them and can improve them. In the South, there
is land enough for all , and all who desire should
be permitted to obtain homes. This is a com
mon-human RIGHT, WHICH CANNOT BE DENIED
with safety to society. In these measures
of justice we shall expect and welcome the aid of
many who formerly were slaveholders, and par
ticipated in tbe rebellion. By the acts herewith
presented it will be seen that Cowgress re
serves to itself the full and unrestrict
ed right of JUDGMENT ■ WHENEVER A STATE
PRESENTS ITSELF FOR ADMISSION INTO THE
Union. That right will be exercised fairly and
generously. But yet, in the interest of peace and
loyalty, certain conditions and precedents are
laid down in laws. These must be met. But be
yond these conditions Congress must be sat
isfied ALSO that the people of the proposed States
respectively are , and are likely to be, loyal to the
Union, .BY decisive and trustworthy MA
JORITIES ; that the institutions are framed
upon the basis of equality, and that they will
from year to year, from age to age, contribute
to the peace, progress and prosperity of the
States and of the country.
As our readmission i«to the Union must de
pend upon “ decisive and trustworthy majori
ties,” those majorities can -only be such as
Massachusetts gives Sumner or Butler. When
it is remembered that this Congressional Com
mittee speaks by authority and represents the
spirit of Congress itself, we leave it to the
judgment of all how vain are the dreams of
finality under the Sherman edict and how
sternly true is the assertion of this journal that
those who favor Congress are Radical allies and
co-laborers with the enemies of Constitutional
liberty.
SERENO HOWE, JOHN, 7:8.
The Richmond Times thus caustically refers
to a notorious clerical villain and shining light
of Radicalism. Severe as the Tmesis the brief
editorial of the Church Union has the double
distilled essence of aqua-fortis. Read this :
“We alluded in a recent editorial to the
nameless and incredibly infamous crimes which
have been proved against the Rev. Sereno
Howe, a distinguished Massachusetts clergy
man, aud expressed our surprise at his having
been permitted to escape uuwhipt of justice.
The Church Union, a leading religious paper
of New England, has the following leading edi
torial, containing three w'Oids and tw'o figures,
which fully explains why he was tenderly dealt
with by the civil aud religious authorities. It
is an eloquent defense of the purity of the
clergy of that favored region. Here is the edi
torial “ in full :”
“Sereno Howe.
John, 8:7.”
Turning to John, chapter eight, verse seven,
‘we find the humane judgment of Christ upon
the womau taken in adultery: “ So, when they
continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and
said unto them, *He that is without sin among
you, let him first east a stone at her. ”
We are permitted now to draw our own con
clusions with reference to the extraordinary
forbearance exhibited by tbe Massachusetts
clergy and Legislature towards the most un
natural brute who ever disgraced the form of
man.”
REGISTRATION.
An esteemed correspondent, writing bom
Columbia Mine, Ga., asks us eertaiu questions
concerning registration, founded upon an edi
torial advising the people of Georgia to take
no action under the military bill. The date of
the editorial will show that our couusel was
given at a time when any action under the
provisions Os tbe Sherman bill would have
damaged the case then pending before the Su
preme Court. At the period mentioned it was
presumed that the Georgia petition for injunc
tion would not be summarily dismissed.
Since, however, several of the poor judges
.were frightened out of their propriety by the
brow-heating threats of Attorney General StaV
bery, causing a loss of the ease through want
of jurisdiction and Judge Grier, the political
aspect has been measurably altered.
The argument adduced by us "was a legal and
technical one. It may still hold good. But,
at present, the most advisable course seems to
be general registration, aud, following the plan
ol Gov. PERRT.au endorsement of“Ao Con
vention" on the ballot of every man not over
eager to invite additional insults aud over
anxious to consent to a participation iu dis
grace.
We will speak promptly on this aud kindred
subjects wheu the day of action shall have ar
rived. At.prcscnt, there is no special need of
anticipating future contingencies unduly. We
can merely pray that Georgia be not Sherman -*
ized. The dreary farce of registration in
Louisiana might well give cause for apprehen
sion and invincible disgust. ’
ona Ohio have subscribed f 100,-
.f • e endowment of Denison University,
rS.-d. 1 lS hPp<?d that *50.000 more will be
READ THE RADICAL MANIFESTO
The Rome (Ga.) Commercial contains the fol
lowing paragraph:
While you believe it best for the South to re
construct under the Sherman bill, you need not
throw yourself into the arms of the Radicals
to carry out the programme, it does not fol
low as a sequence that those who favor recon
struction are Radicals—tar from it. A man
may honestly' believe that it is the best for
Georgia to reconstruct, but at the same time
hate Radicdism as bitter, deep and loug, as the
most rampant enemy ot the bill.
•*f it is the intention of the ex-Governor to
b jild up a Radical party in Georgia, we are
stfrry lor it.. We hope that our people would
be one people anti work and act together. No
necessity for division —vote for good men and
true men for the convention, it such a body
should be called together. Vote convention if
you desire, but vote for substantial men. This
is one time when we should vote for men, not
measures. *
Our contemporary should read the Radical
Manifesto just issued by the Congressional
Committee, which speaks by authority. A
careful perusal of that document will throw a
world of light upon what seems sorae-what
doubtful and opaque in the political sky. To
hear journals hesitating about or favoring
the Reconstruction Bill discourse, any one
would suppose that members of Couveution
are to have discretion of any kind. There is
positively no discretion. Become substantial
ly Radical; obey every edict of Congress ; fast
en, as far as constitutions or fundamental laws
can, a heritage of Jacobinism upon posterity ;
make common cause with and Ste
vens ; prove by “ decisive and trustworthy ma
jorities” that your manhood, principles, char
acter and liberty are surrendered to a rule or
ruin party.; send Bryant & Cos. to the Seuat-e
and House of Representatives. When these
things are conceded, the South may hope to
receive*representation at the hands of the pres
ent party aud present Congress. Otherwise,
those who think it best for - Georgia to recon
struct under the Sherman edict and yet have a
deep and bitter hate of Radicalism, reckon
without their host and assume the right of
discretion when none at all is allowed.
ONE MORE HYPOCRITE.
Theodore Tilton has announced that his
paper, the Independent, is no longer devoted to
religion. Hitherto, it has illustrated the theol
ogy of Radicalism* with a vengeance. Donn
Piatt, 'of Ohio, referring to the change of base,
says:
“ If Theodore labors under the impression
that his extraordinary and able journal has been
the mouth-piece of any known sect, it is the
most singular delusion any one ever labored
under. All the outside scallawags, full of an
insane desire to benefit humanity, have used
his paper for their purpose, while the religious
part has come in like a bit of cheese at the end
of a dinner, to aid digestion.”
Not long since, Theodore had what the
papers call a “ descent into hell.” Brother
Beecher had it before him, but having whistled
up courage, denied its hot and perpetual juris
diction. Poor Tilton evidently has taken a
different view of the subject and, from glimpses
of tbe punishment reserved for those who steal
the livery of heaven to serve the Moloch of
Radicalism, concluded to abandon the character
of Maworm and make a feeble effort to save
his soul.
A PITHY STATEMENT.
A valued patron of this journal sends us the
following communication :
“Your unmasking of the unfledged Radicals
to the manor born, it is to be hoped, will check
their indecent flight to the field of spoils. Does
not Judas’ conduct cease to be so wonderfully
infamous when we look upon the political
chameleons of the day V Are their thirty pieces
of silver secure ? Under their damnable doc
trine of policy and'expedieney, wc will be called
upon to legalize oppression and assent to our
own degradation. Let us not be the instruments
of our own shame and ruin.
“Shall experience teach nothing, and shall the
lessons of history go for naught ? The spirit
of aggression never yet was allayed by conces
sions, nor the ferocity of the wild beast appeas
ed by submission. In our late struggle we have
many blunders to regret—nothing to cause us
shame —much to excite cur pride: now that the
din of battle is over, must we lose manhood at
this late hour, invite New England emissaries,
for whom #ve have had a life-time loathing, to
insult us in our misfortunes and to triumph
over us at our own hearth-stones ?”
O dii immortalcs! übindm gentium swnus ?
A DYING PARTY.
We have quoted from several Radical papers
to show the alarm existing in the Jacobin
camp and the general fears of dissolution. The
Spirit of the Times, a rabid and fanatical ad
herent of rule or ruin, thus prognosticates ot
the future:
“Theßepublican majority in Congress, heed
less of the lessons of history, and heedless of
the inexorable, laws of revolution, has taken its
course, aud must abide the inevitable penalties
of error. Those erratic philosophers within its
ranks who are already sighing that its majority
is too large, need sigh no more. The President
will be speedily reinforced, not only by the re
constructed South, but by sufficient defections
lrom tbe Rcpubhcau party to put an end to the
two-thirds votes which have heretofore embar
rassed him.”
Aud y<et, while the Radical party is shaken
like a reed in the wind at the North; while
even its prophets aud pimps recognize the hand
writing on the wall aud the wrath to come,
miserable factions iu Georgia and throughout
the South strive to strengthen a decayed back
bone with-their support, and hope to save it by
a cataplasm of shame.
BOOTH'S DIARY.
A Washington correspondent says :
“Anew phase has been developed about the'
Booth diary. Ex-deteetivfe Baker declares that
the diary is not in the condition it was when
he first saw it. He says that it contained an
account of Booth's killing his horse iu a tangled
wood to escape detection, and then sleeping
between the animal’s legs, to get the warmth
while it remined in the dead body, nearly all
of one night.- He has published this declaration
in his book, and the Judiciary Committee in
tended to question him again on this point, for
there is nothing ot the kiud in the diary as just
published.”
Baker is the most notorious liar on the con
tinent, but may speak the truth accidentally.—
There are nice little wrangles all over the
North. Oue thing seems very certain. Either
Butler was correct when alleging the mutila
tion of the diary, or the diary, as produced, is a
forgery from begining to end.
Diocese of Charleston.— The Right Rev.
Bishop Lynch is already on his way to the
“Eternal City ''—ad limina apostolorwn. He
has appointed the Very Rev. Dr. Bermingham
Administrator of the Diocese during his ab
sence.
ANOTHER LETTER FROM GOVERNOR j
PERRY. * :V ** J
Oar readers will thank us for presenting them
with another letter from the Hon. B. F. Perky,
who may now be justlv recorded as the fdte
most uran in all. the Sou A. We invite an at
tentive consideration 01 this glorious letter and
feel that, unless our people are sunk»in~utsr
apathy, these grand words of a grand, man
rekindle the fires of manhood in bosoms ehokeu
with the dust and ashts of intimidation or bc
wildermeut. Perry or Brown? The njr.u
who prefers the latter is capable of sublimities
in folly, against which even Esa.u’3 greedy'bow-,
els would have revolted in disgust.
BY AUTHORITY.
The Republican Committee has decided that
there is no occasion for a meeting of Congress
in July.— Philadelphia Press.
The above quotation points a moral and
makes a point. II any Southern recohstrue-
Uoiiist, uuder the Sherman bill, doubts the in
dividuality and power ot the Congressional
Committee, his eyes may be opened by this in
dication of absolute will. The Committee that
forbids a re-assembling of Congress can issue a
manifesto by authority. *
Emerson Etheridge.— I This gentleman is
•carrying ou a vigorous and relentless campaign
against Brownlow aud Jacobinism in Ten
nessee. He thus characterises those nonde
scripts called Southern Radicals:
“And who are the men that surround this
shining light—this mob chieftain —this destroy
ing angel ? Who are they that do his will, echo
his.commands, give an. appearance of strength
to his power, and in all things sustain him as
Eastern satraps and janissaries sustained their
masters in Oriental times and lands ? Who
are they that Seek in the name of loyalty to
root out the seed, to kill the fruitful blossom
of liberty, affecting to hate and despise a great
rebellion at the moment that they are arraying
themselves on the side of a greater, a rebellion
against society, peace, humanity, love, and ail
the precedents of good government? Who
they ? I answer —Apostate Rebels ! Not
repentant rebels, not pardoned rebels, but re
creant. base, cowardly, malignant, apostate
rebels! The last and the greatest of earthly
infamy has been reserved for those who have
been false to every principle, truant to every
party, faithless to every promise and engage
ment, because no other class of men could do
the work that they have done —could sink so
low or grapple so foully.”
His opinion of the Supreme Court aud its
late action in the case of Georgia B not very
flattering. He says .-
“ It was only a few weeks ago that you saw
the Supreme Court—the highest tribunal known
to the law—receive a great public question
againt reason, precedence, legal rulings, civil
liberty, and common sense, then resign and ac
cept their re-appointment with increased wages
of five hundred dollars apiece annually. Do
you call this purity ? Do you call this free
government ? Could such an enormity be
practiced, has it ever been practiced, in Eng
land ? There the bench is at leastlndependent
of the Court. Here it is made the serYant of
the Executive.”
Gossip About the Presidency.—The Rich
mond Whig thus summarizes:
“A Washington correspondent of the Cincin
nati Commercial gives a detailed account of
what he considers to be intrigues and manoju
vsrs that are in progress at Washington to se
cure the nomination of Ben. Wade, of Ohio, for
the Presidency. He says that Judge D. K.
Carter, of the District of Columbia, is fore
most in this movement, being especially anx
ious to defeat Chief Justice Chase.* In ordir
to get General Grant out of the way, Judge
Carter, according to this correspondent, recent
ly called upon him, and formally announced
to the General that the time had arrived when
he must make his decisiou whether he was
willing to be a candidate for the Presidency of
the United States on* the Republican ticket or
not; telling him that the people were looking
about for the ‘coming man,’ and that if he
was going to come, it was time that he was
coming along; that he wanted to know ex
plicitly, whether he would be a candidate tor
the Presidency, and if so, whether he would
have any objection to having Wade upon the
same ticket as candidate for the Vice-Presi
dency.
“ General Grant, according to the raconteur,
gave his traditional cigar an extra twirl in his
mouth, and remarked that he was obliged to
say that those were rather plain and direct
questions. After a minutes deliberation, he
added that he really did not feel desirous of
becoming President of the United estates ; that
he had beeu honored and trusted to a degree
that was a surprise to himself; and yet he felt
that if the people called upon him to become a
candidate for the Presidency of the party that
had been for the war for the preservation of
the Union,he could not decline ; and that, as a
matter of course, he could have nothing what
ever to say, in such a case, as to the second
person on the ticket ; that, as also the first
place on the ticket, w r as a matter for the wisdom
of the people to determine, and he certainly
could have no objection to the Hon. B. F. Wade,
of Ohio. All of which, the correspondent says,
was taken by the Ben. Wade party, as repre
sented in this interview by Chief Justice
Carter, to mean in so mauy words, that General
Grant was, and would be, a candidate tor the
Presidency.”
Important. —The Mobile Tribune of Sunday
says “ we have been called upon by Mayor Hor
ton, the new appointee, who informed us that
Major Genera] Swayne desires that the report
to the effect that negroes were to be appointed
on the police be at once corrected. No negroes
will be appointed at all, so our citizens may
divest themselves of the humiliating feelings
engendered by the circulation of that report.
It is the General’s intention, so we are in
formed, to maintain a rigid military police in
the city for the present, and will spare no exer
tion to keep peace and order. This will be ac
ceptable news to our community, as all good
citizens earnestly desire peace and harmony.”
General Pope and the Confederate
Grey.— The Commandcr-m-Chief of District
No. 3 has issued an order through General
Swayne forbidding the police force of Mobile
wearing a uniform in imitation of that worn “by
the late rebel army.” On Friday last the City
Council passed the following resolution on the
subject—“ That a committee of two members
from each Board, to which his Hqnor the
Mayor shall be added, be appointed to repre
sent that the uniform in question is not 1 pat
terned after a rebel uniform,’ but is a copy of
the uniform of the Central Park police of the
city of New York.”
Ottawa, Canada, intends petitioning parlia
ment against indecent and immoral advertise
ments in newspapers, and vicious books.
- Latter from Hon. B. F. Perry.
so Editors of the Columbia Phoenix :
• There is one Important and vital fact which j
should be remembered by those who are going ;
for a - convention. The military bill |
mak«Vtt obligatory on the convention to pro- j
i vide for unqualified negro suffrage in the State
•constitution. No discretion is left with the
| couvenliou to adopt or reject this odious fea
i ture. They are not allowed to establish ini par
-1 tial suffrage and require property or intelli-»
| geiK-ein the vo'ter, whether white or black. AU
must vote who are twenty-one years old,
whetbefe-or not they have property, or can mid
and or are white or black. The funda
mental <*rror, this black “ Trojan horse,” full
of strife and woe< must he introduced into the
State constitution. There is no help for it if
we go iuto a convention.
If the military bill left it discretionary with
the contention to form such a constitution as
they, in their wisdom, might see proper to
adopt., then there would be some excuse iu
voting for a convention. But when ordered
\ and required , in violation of all rights of self
government, to incorporate so mischievous and
degrading a feature in their constitution, it
does seem that the people of South Carolina,
prompted by the spirit of liberty, should cry
out, “ touch not, handle not, the unclean
thftig!” They must know that'it will be im
pelsible to maintain a just, wise and perma
nent. republican form of government where a
majority of the voters are iguornnt, 'stupid,
demi-savage paupers. They ought to see, too,
that the peace and quiet of the State cauuot be
preserved where-there are too antagonistic
races clothed with equal political powers, aud
the inferior race superior to it in numbers. —
They*tuust come in collision iu their contests
for power. In two-thirds of the districts of
South Carolina the negroes have the majority
ut voters. They may and will elect their
sheriffs, clerks, ordinaries and tax collectors.—
They will send their own members to the Leg
islature, and elect their own Governor and
members of Congress.
If wc lived in monarchy, or were to be con
tinued under military rule, then both races
might be properly governed and made to do
justice towards each other. In a Republic,
the people are the sovereigns, and they must
he wise aud virtuous, or their Government will
practice the most revolting tyranny and op
pression. Look at Mexico, where they have
had a Republic founded on a stupid, ignorant,
mongrel population. There Government has
beeu uothiug but a succession of bloody revo
lutions and cruel military usurpations. With
out the highest virtue aud great intelligence on
the part of the masses of population, it is im
possible for a Republic to stand. Eugland at
tempted one iu 1640, but it was a melancholy
failure, owing to the ignorance and vicious
ness of the masses. France has tried the ex
periment twice, aud after wading through
rivers of blood, had to seek repose in despot
ism. Iu both England aud Frauce, at the time
those efforts were made, there were thousands
distinguished for their virtues and talents ; but
the great masses were ignorant and uninform
ed, and were swayed by their passions and
vices. But how infinitely superior were those
masses to the freedmen of South Carolina.
We have a foretaste of negro legislation, as
sisted by Radical cunning, in' the platform
adopted at their Charleston convention. Be
fore they have been allowed to cast a vote, or
exercise the first political privilege, they boldly
proclaimed that properly alone, and not persons,
is to be taxed. Remember, this avowal is pub
licly made by those who have no property to
be taxed. In ather words, the negroes are to
pay no taxes towards the support of the Gov
ernment; but all taxes are to be paid by the
white race ! Next, they declare that their chil
dren .must be educated at our expense, and
their aged and infirm parents must be support
ecWby us! We must support, too, their idle
and vicious who become paupers ! The hearty,
hale negro man, who makes his hundred or two
hundred dojlars per annum, and spends it fool
ishly, must not be taxed one cent to educate
his own children or to support his own father
and mother ! They declare also, that the lands
must be divided into small tracts, and that it is
not good policy for one man to own a large
landed estate. Iu other words, every negro
must have a home. The ways aiid means of
getting that home will be explained fiert after,
in the convention or Legislature.
It would feally seem, from this programme,
that the black race are to be a sort of aristoc
racy in South Carolina. They are, by their
superior numbers, to have the reius of govern
ment in their hands, and elect all the State and
District officers, to make all our laws, and to be
exempted from taxation, like the feudal noblesse
of France, prior to their revolution in 1790.
The white man must cultivate his lands, pay
the taxes of the Government, and obey the
laws made by the freedmen ! This is what the
friends of convention are innocently preparing
for themselves and posterity! What worse
can a Black Republican “ Rump Congress” do
for us ?
But it is said that it is in vain to think of de
feating the call of a convention. This is very
true, whilst so many white persons are deter
mined to vote for it, anil a portion of the news
paper press of the State refuse to publish any
thing on the other side. If the white race were
united as they ought to be, by every principle
of honor, patriotism and interest, they could
very easily vote it down. In the country, re
mote from the influence of vile, Radical emis
saries, the freedmen know very little, at present,
about the right of suffrage, and careless. They
will not go out to register and vote, aifi many
of them will vote with th'fir employer* But
this will not be the case lorg. Dj aJFpvoba
bility, the white vote of the *stljte wilt be
larger at the ensuing election jiftao the ufftek
vote. It will not be 60 in auAber election.
In the last State ConvejjMwi, which assem
bled in Columbia in 18G5* ) jS]<>re were gathered
together all the illustriou&tnen of the State. It
wa 3 a body of men unsurpassed for their wis- '
dora, virtue and talents.. Not one of them can ;
be a member of-thc proposed convention - . They j
are all excluded by the military bill, and tie-j
priced even of voting for members of the con- j
venlion. The proposed assemblage will be !
composed of negroes, Northern n\en, traitors j
to the State, and tv few gajkqft and honorable
young men, who may possibly eon»eaJ. to he-!
come candidates and bejeleewd, in some of the j
upper Districts. -It will be a motley, heteroge j
nous collection of white, grey and black spirits
around the political cauldron, Ado which is to !
be thrown the honor, eoustitutrerHH rights, re- \
publican principles and’departing 4 glory of
South Carolina.
To the tew young men in that convention, i
there will be something ineffably mean iu know
ing that they have obtained their seats there by
disfranchising and dishonoring those whom
they have loved and honored through life. But
this disgraceful sacrifice does not stop with the '
convention. It must be continued in the gov- j
eminent of the State, and iu filling all the offices I
in the State. Every Judge on the Bench, from !
the venerable Chief Justice down to the young-
est member of the judiciary, must throw aside
his gown,,ami will no longer be permitted to
administer justice in South Carolina. All who
have seived in the Legislature, or filled the of
fice of Justice of the Peace, are excluded from
any participation in the administration of the ,
government. In the place of those Judges,
Governors, Legislators and distinguished men,
who are disfranchised and declared unworthy
of holding office, the negroes are substituted!
.It is not suprising that the Radical members
of Congress should wish to exclude fi om the"
councils of the nation all representatives who :
are worthy of being regarded as Southern men.
They have so long indulged in vulgar and rna-j
liguaut abuse of the South, that they would na
turally feel unpleasant iu having a true South
ern man listening to their billingsgate. It is
very likely, too, that Mr. Sumner and others
might not, from old associations and remem
brances, feel exactly safe in uttering their eal
umnies. But that any honorable and spirited ■
Southern man should consent to vote for such
exclusion, is to me most passing strange.
South Carolina, and the whole South, with
one voice, rejected indignantly last fall, the ;
Constitutional Amendment, which o ily ex
cludes from office the leading men of the South
ern States, and reduced oar representation in
Congress. It did not disfranchise any one or .
establish negro suffrage. But now, both these j
dishonoring and fatally ruinous principles are ;
established by the military bill, and the people j
are ready to adopt thens! What has produced
this seeming craven and cowering spirit ?
It is urged that uuless w'e vote for a conven- !
tion, establish negro suffrage, and disfranchise !
cur prominent men, confiscation will be adopt
ed by Congress. A friend Baid, the other day,
that this ought not to scare us, for we were all
broke and ruined pecuniarily, and had nothing
left to confiscate He thought it was too late
in the day to dishonor ourselves in order to
save the remnant of our property. I think if
any one will read the speech of Horace 'Gree
!<#•, in Richmond, on confiscation, he will sec
as I have always contended, that there is no
danger on this subject from Congress. Mr.
Greeley says that Thaddeus Stevens is the onlv
prominent member of.Congress who has ever
suggested such a scheme, aud that lie has never,
with all his ability and influence, been able to
persuade others to adopt it. He then goes ou
to show that such a policy would not benefit
the freedmen, whilst it would entail ruin and
starvation on the Southern States.
But we ore told that if we-4o not adopt the
military bill and vote for a convention, some
thing worst wijl be imposed on the Southern
States. In my opinion, nothing worse than
negro suffrage and negro government can be
forced upon us. It would be a thousand times
preferable t.o remain under military rule, and
submit to all the exactions ot military nulhort-'
ty. The officers of .the army are generally
honorable men, men of our own race, and in
telligent men, who have some regard for the
opinion of the world and their own reputa
tion. Thpy areactiug, too, under the direction
of the President and his Cabinet, who are wise
and enlightened statesmen, aud will have some
'regard for justice and humanity— which the
stupid negro will not have, when his selfish
ness and passions are aroused.
There are some w ho advocate the voting for
a convention as a means of controlling the ne
gro vote.. They seem to forget that the con
vention is bound to establish negro suffrage,
and that no discretion is allowed ou this sub
ject. In my judgment, negro suffrage is the.
ne plus ultra of all political and social evils. I
have, in former letters, shown the fallacy of
hoping to control the negro vote in the future,
aud w ill not repeat what I have already said on
this subject.
In all that I have said, I know - that I am in a
large minority at this time, as I was in 1860,
and that I have been censured and abused now,
as I was then, for resisting and fighting to the
last moment, what 1 believed to pa the ruin
and degradation of the State. Minorities,
which are so Rightful to some, have.no terrors
for me. I have lived in them all rnv life, and
grown familiar with them. Indeed* I have a
great respect and sincere regard for them iu
times of political excitement or panic. They
have generally linn ness aud principle, which
cannot always be said of majorities, however
large they may be.
1 will conclude this article with an extract
from a letter received, the other day, from a
noble lady, of South Carolina, whom I never
had the pleasure of seeing, or correspondence
with bqfore. It wa3 the spontaneous effusion
of a spirited and patriotic heart. She says :
“ I believe I speak the feelings of at least
every woman in South Carolina, w - hen I say we
heartily endorse your views, and each and
every sentiment you express in your recently
published letters. We pray you to continue
your efforts to save us from such dishonor and
such degradation, to which the pain of twenty
violent deaths were preferable, and may Heaven
aid you in recalling the manhood of our State
to a sense of what is due at least their race.”
This is the entire letter, with the exception of
the address and the name of the writer. Such
patriotic and spirited sentiments from one
lovely woman fully compensates for all the
criticisms aud abuse which have been heaped
on me.
I now repeat what I have said in my former
articles. Let every one, not disfranchised, go
and register his name. Thi t he must do, if he
has any regard for the preservation of his life,
liberty and property. Then let him go to the
electiou, without fail, and vote for good men,
endorsing ou it, “ Against Convention. 1 ' These
afe the words of the military bill, and must be
used instead of “No Convention.” Let him
influence others to vote the same ticket, with
the same endorsement. Having done this, he
will have discharged his duty’ to the country
and himself, and done all he can do to save the
hqnor of his State.
B. F. Perry.
I From the Nashville Gazette.
Died,
Iu Washington City, District of Columbia, on
Monday, May 13, 1867, Columbia. Liberty, of
paralysis, after a severe and protracted' illness
of seven tedious years.
The deceased was horn in 1776 of a poor but
respectable couple—Honesty and Patriotism.
The first seven years of her life were a struggle
with misery even as were the closing seven.
But she grew up a beautiful lass, and made her
entree into society in 1787, winning the admira
tion of friends and the jealousy of rivals. At
an early age she formed a tender attachment
for principle. A happy union followed, and in
j the course of events a numerous offspring rose
up to bles3 her. The duties of maternity, how
ever, did not detract from her beauty, and as
she advanced in years she seemed to increase
in loveliness. Devoting hersef exclusively to
the care of her numerous family, and sure o 1
the euduring love of her only spouse, the future
lay before her bright as the vision ot beatitude.
But alas for human frailty! In an evil hour,
elderly .matron, though she was, she listened to
the honey-words of an unprincipled young fel
low named Radicalism, not yet out of his teens.
SRe resisted his advances for a while, but in
November, 1860, lost to all sense ol womanly
dignity, sfie abandoned the partner of her you'll
and.took up with this young scapegrace. This
faux pas created a lamentable disturbance in her
previously happy family. Eleven of her most
•loving children refused to live with this young
stepfather, and sought for themselves other
homes. For this piece of contumacy the wick
ed stepfather disinherited ten of them, and drag
ging the eleventh back to the old homestead,
he inflicted on her untold barbarities and out
rages. The poor old mother, heart-broken by
the disgrace of her household, was struck with
paralysis, aud has been bedridden for several
years. The physicians who attended her were
chosen.by her unprincipled husband, and the
public opinion is that they were employed to
kill instead of cure, as tne lady was an obstacle
to his ambitious designs on her property and
that of her children. Monday, after unheard of
suffering and anguish, she breathed her last.
(Jan this be death ? there’s bloom upon her cheek.
But now I see it is no living hue,
But a strange hectic—like tV unrsatura’ red
Which Autumn plants upon the perished leaf.
It is the same! O God that I sliou’d live
To look upon the same I
S. M. F. College.— We learn that the Com
mencement Sum on, for the annual commence
ment of the above Institute, (Southern Masonic
Female College) for 1867, will be delivered by
Rev. J. D. Burkhead, on Sunday, the 23d of
June.
On Monday night, the 24th, prize reading by
the sophomore class.
On Tuesday, the junior exhibition will take
place, to be followed by an Address by Capt.
Jas. M. Face, presenting the prizes awarded to ‘
the ‘sophomores.
Senior Exhibition on Wednesday, the 26th. *
The annual address, will be delivered on
Wednesday night, by Rev. Dr. Lipscomb,
chancellor of the State University. The annual
concert will also take place on Wednesday
night, the 26th of June. —Covington Examiner.
The Astor House, New York—ln the
New York Herald's aeeouut of the arrival of
Mr. Davis at New' York, the following
The Niagara was due here at midnight. It
was rumored that he would stop at the Astor
House, but it was believed that his presence
there would not be desirable, and that if appli
cation were made for accommodations he would
be denied the same, in accordance with a decis
ion of the proprietor. Not dewring any public
demonstration for or against him, it was under-
he would avail himself of the hospi
tality offered him by private friends in the city,
rather than subject himself to the disagreements
inseparable from staying at a hotel.
The above may be a good advertising card
tor the Astor House, but we are iuelincd to
tbiuk not.
A New Orleans letter says the recent decision
ir the New Orleans courts, that debts incurred
ror the purchase of slaves before the war arc
null, involves nearly $ 100,000,000.*
Brazil. —The report that the Government of
Brazil Lad abolished slavery is untrue.