Georgia Historic Newspapers

    THE WEEKLY CONSTITUTIONALIST
WEDNESDAY »ft)RNINO. JULY ,1*67.
TO OUR SUBORIBEES.
The Weekly Constitutional!* 1, will here
after be mailed <»n Tuesday ins ead of
day morning. * We make Ibis change to accom
mod.tte many .PbacrlbOT. «
purpose to make the paper a first class pews anil
family journal, and we confidently hope that
the influence of our subscribers will be exerted
to aid us In doing so by extending its circu
lation.
THE GLORIOUS FOUETH.
The following extracts will speak for
themselves:
Congress shall consist of a Senate and
House of Representatives; that the Senate
shall be composed of two Senators from each
State, chosen by the Legislature thereof for
six years; and that the House of Represen
tatives shall be composed of members chosen
every second year by the people of the sev
eral States, and that “ Representatives and
direct taxes shall be apportioned among the
several States which shall be included with
in this Union, according to their respective
numbers.”— Constitution of the United States—
so-called.
WHO MADE THE UNION ?
Answered by Thad. Stevens : “ Massa
chusetts, Pennsylvania, and the town of
Lancaster.”
Answered by the Constitution: “We, the
People of the United States.”
WHAT HAS BECOME OF THE UNION ?
That devoted East Tennessee loyalist, T.
A. R. Nelson, asks and answers:
And what has become of that glorious
Union which the resolution of 1801 averred
it was the fixed and unalterable purpose of
Congress to maintain ? What has becouie
of that glorious Union for which —not to
speak of the heroic efforts of the patriot
soldiers of the North —more than twenty
thousand of the sons of East Tennessee so
long and so bravely battled? Where is
the Union of 1861 ? Where are the thirty
six States that then composed it ?* Where
is the'Constitution that bound them to
gether ? Where are the Senators and Rep
resentatives who, in accordance with its
provisions, were elected by the States and
the people, and have a "right to compose
the Congress ? The rebels tried, in vain, to
destroy that Union and overthrow the Gov
ernment ; and it has been left to the parri
cidal hands of Northern politicians to do
what the rebels failed to do; to do what
the patriot men who fought for its preserva
tion on five hundred battle fields said should
not be done; it lias been left to them, the
unscrupulous minions of revenge, the mer
ciless political tyrants of the North, with
unlineal hands to dissolve—but it is to be
hoped only for a little season —the political i
bands which connected us together. No
politician of any party dreamed of such a
result in 1861. No officer or soldier of the
Federal army who knew what he was light
ing about, ever toiled, or suffered, or fought,
or bled for such a consummation. And
yet, treating it as a practical question, look
ing to results just as they are, I repeat that
the Union of iB6l has been, and is, dissolv
ed ; not by the efforts of rebel soldiers, not
by the efforts of Tennessee soldiers, but by
the herculean efforts of Charles Sumner
and Thad. Stevens, and their misguided
satellites and followers in Congress. Yet,
deny it as they may, smooth it over as they
may, recoil as they well may from their
own horrible work, Congress itself has done
what Southern cannon and Southern mus
ketry could not do. It has kept, and is still
keeping, ten sovereign States out of the
Union.
THE RESOLUTION OF 1861.
In July, 1861, the following resolution,, of
fered by Mr. Crittenden, was passed by an
almost unanimous vote in both Houses of
Congress, viz:
“That, in this national emergency , Congress
banishing all feeling of passion or resentment,
tcill recollect only its duly to the whole country ;
that this tear is not waged, upon our part, in j
any spirit of oppression, nor for any purpose j
of conquest or subjugation, nor purpose of j
overthrowing or interfering with the rights or i
established institutions for those States , but to !
defend add maintain the supremacy of the
Constitution, and to preserve the Union, with
all the dignity, equality, and of the seve
ral States unimpaired; that, as soon as these
objects are accomplished, the tear ought to
cease."
HOW IT IIAB BEEN KEPT.
The same remarkable man, T. A. R. Nel
soNj shows how it has been kept :
There it stands, and will stand forever,
ion the journals of Congress—a solernu de- j
claration, in the presence of Almighty God,
and of all the nations of the earth, as to
what were the great objects and purposes of
the war. There it stood, down to the very
close of the conflict, a pledge to Union men,
a pledge to rebels, a manifesto to all the
world that the Constitution and the Union
were the sole objects of the war. There it
stood, and will stand forever, a pledge that
slavery would not be abolished. There it
stood, and will stand forever, as a pledge to
the rebels that, if they would surrender at
any time before the resolution should be re
pealed, they would not be treated as a con
quered or subjugated people. There it stood,
and will stand forever, not merely as au in
vitation to the rebel States to abandon the
rebellion, but as a guarantee to them, by
the only war-making power known to the
Constitution, that if they would ground
their arms they should be treated as an un
conquered people, and their dignity, equali
ty, and rights remain unimpaired. Ami
how have these solemn promises beeu main
tained?
Congress kept the sublime oath
s lt wou M “ banish all feeling of
SyKS w resentment, and recollect
M ,' vhole Country ?” Look
Charles le^ lers - There stands
who lea , der of the Senate,
.courage to resent it. Afw ‘X. m ,7
►pat speech on the * barbarism of sla”lrv "
he was denounced bv Mr er A’
floor of the Senate, as
rope, crawling through the ba?k cSorto
whine at the feet of British artetoSScy
craving pity and reaping a rich harvest oH
contempt—the slanderer of States and of
men.” There stands Thaddeus Stevens the
leader of the House, who has doubtless suf
sered from Southern Bit or quailed before
• Southern denunciation. There they stand,
with* festering hatred of the South and of
Southern men, too timid to resent Southern
.nsults when they were offered, and like all
vther cowards, destitute of magnanimity
®nd implacable In their revenge. There
I .t. froaded to madness by the mcm
! £££2s insnTts, dreading the return of
! southern talent and invective to the conn- j
. uKI debates'of the nation, plotting every
possible means of humiliation ! Animated
hr the strongest feelings of passion and re
sentment, they ignore the noble patriotism
of the resolution of 1861, and with fiendish
exultation and delight, forge and rivet the {
chains of conquest and subjugation upon
their fallen and powerless enemies, and re
joice in the thought that the once haughty ;
and imperious South is so much impover- j
islied and humbled by the adverse fortunes !
of war that it dare not, if it would, utter
one murmur of complaint.
A QUESTION FOR FEDERAL HEROES.
Did you volunteer to fight for negro
equality and a violation of the Constitution, j
or to uphold and maintain that sacred in-:
strument in all its parts ?
A RADICAL SHAM.
TJie Thirty-sixth Congress (the first Abo-:
lition or Republican Congress that ever j
assembled) had solemnly recommended to
the people of the States the adoption of the
Adams-Co’rwin amendment to the Constitu
tion, which proposed to place slavery on a
firmer basis than it had ever occfupjed be
fore, and to declare that it should never be
abolished in any State without the consent
of the people of that State. That resolution
was adopted by the Republicans (“so
called 1 ’) during the last session in which I
served in Congress, and was urged by me
when I came home in all my speeches, and
in the address which I published near the
close of the canvass, as one of the strongest
arguments to show the folly and Avicked
ness of the rebellion. — T. A. R. Nelson.
WHAT’s IN A NAME ?
The great and patriotic struggle for the
Union has degenerated into a selfish contest
for place and power. It is not names which
should distinguish Uniou men from rebels.
All history proves that principles may be
sacrificed under a show of patriotism, and
despotism established in the name of free
dom.—lbid.
CONFISCATION.
Bills of this sort ha\ r e been most.usually
passed in England in times of rebellion, or
of gross subserviency to the Crown, or of
violent political excitement, periods in which
all nations are most liable (as well the free
as the enslaved,) to forget their duties and to
trample upon the rights and liberties of
others. During the Revolutionary war bills
of attainder and ex post facto acts of confis
cation were passed to a w ide extent, and
the evils resulting therefrom \\ r ere supposed,
iu times of more cool reflection, to have far
outweighed any imagined good.— Judge
Story.
BTATE RIGHTS.
We (as States) have rights, which the
Federal Government must not invade, rights
superior to its power, on which our sover
eignty depends, and we do mean to assert
these rights against all tyrannical assump
tions of authority.
[ Chief Justice Chase, August 19, 1864.
You cannot forcibly hold men in this
Union, for the attempt to do so, it seems to
me, would subvert the -first principles of the
government under Avhich we live.—Benja
min Wade, Vice-President. Cong. Globe. 34 th
Congress, p. 25.
Any people, anywhere, being inclined and
i having the power, have the right to rise up
| and shake off the existing government and
foym anew one that suits them better. Nor
j is this right confined to cases in Avhich the
; people of an existing government may choose
!to exercise it. —Abraham Lincoln. Cong.
Globe. 30th Congress, p. 94.
If the Declaration of Independence justi-
I fled the secession from the British Empire
I of 3,000,000 colonists in 1776, avc do not see
i Avhy it should not justify the secession of
j 5,000,000 of Southerners from the Union in
|lß6l.
WheneA'er a considerable section of our
Union is all deliberately resolved to go out,
Ave shall resist all coercive measures design-*
ed to keep them in. We hope never to Ih'e
in a Republic Avhereof one section is pinned
to another by bayonets.
If the cotton States unitedly and earnestly
Avish to AvitlidraAV peaceably from the Union,
Ave think they should and Avould be allowed
to do so. Any attempt to compel them by
force to remain would be contrary to the
principles enunciated in the immortal Dec
laration of Independence—contrary to the
fundamental ideas on Avhich human liberty
is based.
\Horace Greeley, Nov. 26. Dec. 17, 1860.
AV. H. SEAVARD TO THE FOREIGN POWERS.
*There is not even a pretext for the com
plaint that the disaffected States are to be
conquered by the United States, if the revo
lution fall; for the rights of the States, and
the condition of every human being in
them, Avill remain subject to exactly the
same luavs and form of administration,
AVhether the revolution shall succeed or
Avhether it shall fail. Jn ease the
States would be federally connected with
the neAv Confederacy; "in the other, they
as noAV, be members of the United States ;
but their constitutions and laAvs, customs,
habits, and institutions in either case avIII
remain the same.
HOW HE TOOK THE OATH.
“ With certain mental reservations.”
[Charles Sumner.
THE LABOR OF HERCULES.
“ I liaA e labored nineteen years to take
sixteen States out of this Union.”
[ Wendell Phillips.
* A TERRIBLE CONFESSION.
“ Mr. Mallory, this Avar, so far as I have
anything to do Avith it, is carried on on the
idea that there is a Union sentiment in
those gtates, AAiiich, set free from the con
trol now. held over it by the presence of the
Confederate or rebel power, will be suffi
cient to replace those States in the Union.
If I am mistaken in this, if there is no such
sentiment there, if the people of those
States are determined w ith unanimity, that
their States shall not be members of this
Confederacy, it Is beyond the power of the
people of the other States to force them to
remain in the Union; and,” said he, “in
that contingency—in the contingency that
there is not that sentiment there —THlS
WAR IS NOT ONLY AN ERROR, IT IS j
A CRIME. —Abraham Lincoln, in the pres- \
ence of Mr. Crittenden.
THB WORDS OF MB. LIK
COLX, AS DICTATED BT
HIS OWS IDEAS OF
BIGHT.
“1 have no p ur P oec >
directly or indirectly, to
interfere with the insti
tution of slavery where
it exists. I believe I
have no lawful right to
do so, and have no in
tention to do so.”— Mr.
Lin coin's Inaugural,
March, 4,lß6l.
“ The war is waged to
preserve the rights and
equality of the States
unimpaired.” Congrct
iionaJ Resolution signed
j| 61 ‘* fr - Lincoln, July,
THE WORDS OP MR LIS
- AS DICTATED BT
HIS PARTT.
“ I Abraham Lincoln,
do hereby order and de
c'are that all persons
held as slaves in the said
States are and hereaft r
shall be free.”—Procla
mation Sept. 22, 1862.
“To whom it may con
concern—Any proposition
which embraces the res
toration of peice, the in
tegrity of the whole
Union, and the abandon
ment of slavery, and
which comes by and with
an authority that can
control the armies now
at war against the United
States, will be received
and considered by the
executive government.”
—Proclamation, July 18,
lw4*
R. l p.
Died. —ln Washington City, District of,
Columbia, on Monday, May 13th, 1867, of
paralysis, Columbia Liberty, after a se
vere and protracted illness of seven tedious
years.
BANQUO’S GHOST.
“ The National Debt is a National
SAvindle.”— N. V. Herald.
CRUELTY TO PRISONERS OF WAR.
About two weeks since, we bad occasion to
correct some slanderous comparisons institu
ted by Harper's Weekly, conceruiug the treat
ment of prisoners of war, Federal and Confed
erate. In sneering at the state of society in
this region, Harper said that Andersouville was
merely the legitimate growth of Southern civ
ilization and would hare been impossible at the
North. We took this declaration for what it
was worth and briefly but severely exposed its
falsity. We shOAved that Andersonville Avas
made possible by Northern vandalism, barbari
ty and bad faith, not by Southern depravity.
The invasions, cruel and unusual, of such
Huns as Sheridan, Sherman and Pope caused
much of the suffering at Andersonville. Wit
ness the desolations of the Valley of Virginia
and Georgia from the mountains to the sea.
Witness that brutal order, so scrupulously car
ried out, to “make the land’s ruin so thorough
that a crow flying over Avould have to carry his
own rations.” This Avas Gen. Grant’s signal
for barn burning, implement-smashing, crop
destroying, famine-producing in the South and
ferociously was he obeyed by his lieutenants.
Witness the repeated violations of the cartel of
exchauge. Witness the vigorous blockade by
land and sea making medicine difficult and al
most impossible of procuration. Witness the
forcible theft of laborers Avherever the Federals
trsd.
We went further and averred that statistics
proved greater fatalities in the different North
ern prison pens than in the Confederate gaols.
We have seen these statistics, from an official
Yankee source, and know that tne per ceutage
bore heavily against Southern life.
The New York Times has taken up the cud
gels for the North in reply to an article from
the Richmond Enquirer. An answer has been
elicited from the Rev. J. G. Wilson, President
of Huntsville Female College, who brings to
light a frightful scene of inhumauity, wheu all
the Northern land was full of comforts, full of
wealth and full of “ New England ideas.” Mr.
Wilson’s communication is as follows :
Female College,* )
Huntsville, Ala., Tuesday, June 18. (
To the Editor of the New York Times :
My attention has been called to an article in
your paper of 31st ult., in which, replying to
some remarks of the Richmond Enquirer in re
gard to the treatment of prisoners, it is said :
“ Nobody on either side ever pretended for a
moment that rebel prisoners ever died in our
hands or even seriously suffered for lack of food
or clothing or shelter. Nosuch charge has ever
been made.”
Will you then permit such charges to be made
through your columns? 1 was captured in
October, 1863, aud spent six mouths in Camp
Mortou. In March, 1864, I was remoA r ed to
Fort Delaware, where I remained until June,
1865. The winter of 1863-’4 is well known to
have been intensely se\*ere.
Many rebel prisoners, to myOAvnknoAvledge,
spent that winter without a blanket, and in the
scant and ragged summer clothing worn Avhen
eaptnied. The barracks were the old cattle
sheds Used when the prison was a fair ground,
and open enough for the winter Avinds to sweep
through freely. Scores of the men in the dead
of winter slept in these sheds, upon the hare
ground, without covering, huddliug together
likj hogs to keep from freezing.
It is well known to hundreds now living that
several died, actually frozen to death, Avhile a
large number were so badly frost-bitten as to
be lamed for life.
During the larger portion of the time the
hospital arrangements were shamefully defi
cient, and by many of the surgeons and atten
dants the sick were not only grossly neglected
but most inhumanly ireated.
Men barely able to crawl, through weakness
from insufficient food and disease consequent
upon exposure, were forced, in the se\-erest
winter weather, to stand at roll-call for two
and often three or more hours in line, like sol
diers on dress parade, and cursed like brutes
or beaten over the heads with sabres or clubs,
and sometimes shot at for moving a little to
keep from freezing. In several instances -pris
oners were shot on the most frivolous pretexts.
A quiet orderly man, an Englishman named
Coats, belonging to my division was murdered
in cold blood by a private of the Invalid Corps
named Baker, who was on guard.
Instead of being tried and punished; B ker,
though a private, was sent next morning into
camp to take charge, as Sergeant, of our divi
sion, in which position he heaped upon the de
fenseless men every indignity that so inhuman
a wretch could devise.
At the very time that such aii outcry was
raised about the mortality among Northern
soldiers in Southern prisons,* the inmates of
Camp Morton knew the mortality then in pro
portion to the number of men to be several per
cent, greater.
At Fort Delaware our barracks were more
comfortable, but the rations were miserably in
sufficient, and prisoners who could not Obtain
money from friends with which to procure ex
tra supplies from the sutlers, suffered the pangs
of hunger night and day, and reduced to skele
tons, and eaten np by scurvy from scanty and
unwholesome food, fell ready victims to dis
ease, and died by hundreds.
At the close of the war, of about 7,000 men
in one pen, fully one-half, if not three-fourths,
were but walking skeletons, hundreds of them
ruined for life with scurvy.
It was a daily occurrence lor large numbers
of the men to be beaten over the head with
bludgeons, or kept for hours tied up by the
thumbs In the most agonizing torture. A
Dutch Lieutenant, Dietz, in charge of our pen,
was for weeks in the habit of coming in with a
large cowhide and lashing the meu most un
mercifully—in one instance cutting a gash in
the face of an Alabamian named Pardue, in
which'your finger could lia\’e been laid.
' It was no uncommon thing for the guards,
npou the slightest pretext, to fire into the quar
ters in which Were 300 or 400 men, and several
prisoners were needlessly and recklessly killed
by them.
The above, and the half has not been told,
are plain, nnexaggerated facts, which can be
substantiated by most unquestionable testimo
ny, and for the truth of which I pledge my
character and repntation as a minister of the
gospel.
I request the insertion of this as an act of
justice.
J. G. Wilson,
President of Huntsville Female College.
This statement so plain, so pointed and so
full of authority compelled the editor of the
Times to remark :
“ This letter comes from a souree so respect
able and responsible, and its statements are so
specific, that we have no hesitation in publish
ing it Our Government has no excuse for in
humanity to the prisoners it captured during
the war, and its honor is involved in punishing
with just severity all instances of such cruelty
on the part of its agents as are specified above.”
There seems to be a vast dqal ot delusion on
subject of Northern inhumanity even among
journals so famous as the Times. Will this
candid editor pot Mr. Wilson’s facts to good
account, or will he, as is generally the case,
ignore them as soon as possible, and six months
hence, declare that “ nobody on either side ever
pretended for a moment that rebel prisoners
ever died in our (Yankee) hands, or even
seriously suffered for lack ot food or clothing
or shelter ?” Will he lurther declare that “no
such charge has ever been made ?” Mr.
Wilson’s statement is one of several hundreds,
but the rnau who wrote the Philadelphia Con
vention Address and afterward rejoined the
Black Republican party ; who usually spoke one
way and voted another way, can aflord to be
astonished at an unvarnished recital of Federal
barbarism and then very quietly forget all about
it.
IS THIS THE WAY TO GET IT ?
In a letter from Hon. Joseph E. Brown,
addressed to the Philadelphia Press , (one of
Fornet’s papers,) and appearing in that jour
nal under date of the 17th ult., we read the
following:
“My sincere desire is to seethe Union re
stored as speedily as possible, and with it
amnesty for the past and fraternity and har
mony for the future—each section bearing its
just share of the burdens, and receiving its fan
proportion of the benefits of a common gov
ernment.”
Now, we would in all seriousness *ask il ex-
Governor Brown or any other man of half the
ability possessed by that gentleman, supposes
for one single instant that the success of the
Sherman plan of reconstruction would eventu
ate in arfy such desirable state of affairs as that
in this excerpt alluded to ? Is there any
“ amnesty ” proffered by the plan ?—is there any
hope of “ fraternity is there any reasonable
prospect of “ harmony for the future held
out f”
Where, for instance, is its forgiveness, when
its very soul and essence is a lasting condemna
tion to political irapotency and shame of some
of the best men in the South? Where its
“fraternity,” when the man of the North is
made a Dives and the man of the South poor
Lazarus, to feed on the crumbs that fall from
the rich man’s table ? Where its “ harmouy,”
when race is perpetually arrayed against race
and section against section? No! Ex-Gov.
Brown knows in the light of his own con
science and in the sight of God, that there is
only persecution instead of amnesty, civil war
for fraternity and the discords of hell in the
place of harmony in this latest spawn of ava
rice, ambition, hate, cowardice and trickery.
Give us “ amnesty for the past and fraterni
ty and harmony for the future it is all we ask
The platform which sets this forth is our plat
form, the party advocating this our party, the
men who favor it our friends, and though such
men be black with the smoke of an hundred
battles against Liberty and the South, we
can, in all political acceptation, stand side by
side and shoulder to shoulder with them in the
days to come.
MYSTERY OF MYSTERIES.
Col. Donn Piatt, editor of the Mac-a-cheek
Press , a Radical journal, tells some horrible
tales out of school, and tells them, too, with
the mystery of a German philosepher. In a
recent number of his paper we read :
“ Committees are appointed by Congress and
one of these, nearly a year since, traced a fraud
involving a million of dollars to the door of an
official so high in office and the affections of
the people that all would be startled and pained
were it made public. And the report has never
bceu published. And why? Because it might
affect the next election.”
There are several individuals high in office
and popular affection, and it is but just to the
innocent that the illustrious culprit, the politi
cal Sebexo Howe, be exposed in public meet
ing. Give us his name, thou sage of Mac-a
cheek, and let the country repose from guess
ing. If there be further concealment, many
people will determine that, like a prince of
the blue blood, he is too mighty to name,
though low enough to steal.
Close upon the heels ol this Udolpho sensa
tion, we find the following startling rumor in
that staid and respectable journal, the Atlanta
Intelligencer :
Disgusted.— Jt is said that one of those fa
mous patriots who are hunting for soft places
under the Government, and who recently went
North to solicit alms to aid in running a Radi
cal paper in Georgia, has returned somewhat
disgusted with his brethren of the higher lati
tudes. They were slow in coming down w ith
the material aid. They have no objection to
paying emissaries from their own section, but
don’t seem frantic to entrust funds in the hands
of Southern Radicals. Perhaps they are right.
Speak! Tho people of Georgia burst with
curiosity. Let the “.famous patriot ” have his
day of notoriety. Every tea table is resonant
with guesses and conjectures. Speak! It is
not Br ? not Bar— ? not Sc ? Bpeak !
thou man of steel, and save the “ land you
love.”
BEGISTEATION.
We call attention to an address to the people
of Chatham county, in another column, ema
nating from Mayor E. C. Anderson, General
Henry R. Jackson and other distinguished
citizens ot Savannah. The necessity of a prompt
and general registration of the whites is clearly
and eloquently presented. We must repeat that,
whether in favor of a Convention or opposed to
it, registration is the*only way to make the
Convention serviceable, and likewise, in case of
attempted mismanagement and degradation, the
only way to apply the corrective. What is said
,n this address to the people of Chatham applies
with equal force to the people of Richmond and
other counties. Onr readers should give an
earnest perusal and, as far as their consciences
permit, come forward at once and secure a title
to suffrage.
A Terrible Picture.— A' correspondent of
the New York Hetald , writing from South
Carolina, says :
“ Great [are] the apprehensions of the whites
of a negro State government, which, from the
'barbaric- ignorance of their blacks, will be apt
to adopt such laws of heathenish confiscation,
agrarianism and negro social equality as will
make existence in the State intolerable to the
white man and worse than death to the white
woman.' On the side of the blacks there [is] a
corresponding degree ot enthusiasm, and they
[havej already fn their political meetings
thrown out some ominous hints of making
property exclusively pay the expenses of the
State, and of giving some unusual exemptions
and State favors to the laboring class.”
A harsh specimen of the “ fraternity, amnesty
and harmony ” predicted by Gov. Brown as a
necessary consequence of the Sherman Bill.
Ben Wade crows and his pnpils imitate him.
A distinguished New York divine, pressed
to go to Europe, is angry upon his return to
find his substitute so mnch preferred by his
parishioners that they propose to retain him
and let the “ original Jacob ” go. Such action
will stop a great deal of bronchitis.
There is a church at New Haven, Connecti
cut, built and endowed by the late Gerard Hal
leck, of the New York Journal of Commerce,
the special object of which [s to “ preach re
ligion and not politics.”
Confederate Numbers in the War.— An
abstract of the returns of the Confederate armies
shows that the greatest number of soldiers of
all arms and rrfnks on the rolls at any one time
was 550,000; the greatest number present lor
duty at any one time was 300,000, and then only
for a brief period, besides a few thousaud
rangers and bushwhackers. At only three pe
riods did Lee’s army number 100,000 present
lor duty. When McClellan, with 147,000 men,
feared to advance toward Manassas, supposing
the enemy had 150,000 men, their actual force
was less than 40,000.
When McClellan reached the peninsula, says
the Cincinnati Gazette (Radical), and was held in
check at Yorktown by Magruder, with what he
supposed to be the whole rebel army, Magru
der had barely 15,000. When he reached the
Chickahominy with over 100,000 men, and fear
ed to advance because he estimated the enemy’s
force at over 200,000, they had but 47,000, which
was increased in May to 67,000. When Meade
reached the Rappahannock, after Gettysburg,
with 80,000 men, Lee had but 45,000. This Was
when Halleck was directing operations, and he
forbade the -offensive. In October, wbeu Meade
had 70,000 and Lee 45,000, Meade was driven
back*within sight of Washington.
There are many other figures iu these returns
which will be found more interesting, historic
ally, than gratifying, to military pride. In spite
of our preponderance of numbers the rebels
generally managed to be strongest at the point
of attack. Our triumph was not achieved by
military genius in the conimauders, but by the
pasieut endurance and most lavish sacrifice of
the men, and by an expenditure of m.*ans as if
the national resources had no limit.
Marriage of a Well Known Clergyman.
—The Rev. J. L. M. Curry, formerly a member
of the United States Congress, and subsequent
ly of the Confederate Congress, from Alabama,
but now an eminent Baptist clergyman, was
married in Richmond, Virginia, on Tuesday
evening, to Miss Mary W. Thomas, daughter
of James Thomas, Esq., of that city. The Rich
mond Dispatch says :
The bridal party left Richmond Tuesday
night for New York, where they remain until
Saturday, when they will take the steamer for
Europe. They will be accompanied on their
ocean voyage by the Rev. Dr. Samson, of Co
lumbian College, Washington ; Rev. Dr. Wil
liams, of the First Baptist Church, Baltimore ;
Rev. Professor Thomas Hume, late ot Peters
burg, but now of the Dauville (Va.) Female
College ; Professor Huntington, of Columbian
College ; Rev. 't. W. Tobey, of Alabama ; Rev.
Win. D. Thomas, of Greeneville, S. C-, and
several lady friends.
Thad. Stevens. —Mr. Drake, one of the edi
tors of the, Union Springs (Ala.) Tunes , who is
now traveling in the Northern States, had an
interview, a few days since, with Thaddeus Ste
vens, at his home. After a long interview, dur
ing which the old man of the mill seemed in
clined to dodge, Mr. Drake said :
“Suppose, sir, Alabama should organize a
government enfranchising the negro, providing
for his education, and giving ample guarantees
for his protection before the courts and in so
ciety, and under that government should send
good men, who could take the ‘test oath,’ to
Congress, would you admit her to representa
tion ?”
Without a moment’s pause, he answered with
strong emphasis, “ No, sir,” and thus closed the
interview.
New England Ideas, Killing, as a Fine
Art. —Horace Greeley has made the crime of
feeticide the subject of a recent article. Dr.
Blanchard Fosgate, formerly physician to the
New York State Prison, at Auburn, classes it
among tho recent causes for the increase of
crime in general in greater ratio than the in
crease of population in this country would
seem to warrant. Dr. H. G. Stover, of Boston,
has written a book on the subject, which shows
that the people of Massachusetts, respect of
this particular crime, in the villages as well as
iu the cities, “are nearly twice as corrupt as the
population of France, and eight-fold more de
praved ihen that of the city of New York.”
The Right Spirit.—We copy from the
Churchman an article with the caption “ a visit
to Georgia.” It is gratifying to know that oc
casionally there comes among us those who
have Christianity so developed as to constrain
them to write of things as they find them—who
are possessed of that charity which vaunteth
not itself and which bclieveth all thiugs and
hopeth all things.
We trust that the writer s suggestion to his
brethern with reference to an Episcopal Church
for the co’ored people of our city will be heeded
by those who have the means. He evinces a
fair appreciation of the colored people in the
remark that moderate i ituaiism would suit their
tastes and temperaments.
A New Plan.—The Herald's South Carolina
correspondent has settled the reconstruction
scheme for that unhappy State. He says :
“The iqanifest destiny of South Carolina, if
peace is to be maintained between her two
races, is the relinquishment of her soil by the
whites to the absolute occupation of the blacks.”
As this is a neat way of interpreting the Sher
man Bill, we wonder what Gov. Orr and Gen.
Hampton think of it ?
The Whole Object.— The New York Herald
thinks that the Reconstruction question will
give no further trouble, since it is now deemed
certain that the proscriptions, intimidations,
and apathy of the whites, and the successfal
manipulation of the negroes, will give the
Southern Btates to the Radicals. This is what
was wanted, and the object of the whole schem
ing.
The Plot Confessed !—The Washington
Chronicle has announced :
“ If we reach the day of that election with the
constitutional amendments not adopted , and
Andrew Johnson still acting President of the
Lnited States , there will not be wisdom enough
in the land to prevent another fearful struggle."
The Radicals are determined to have another
war among themselves, in order to get “ more
enjoyment—more recreation.” Come op
Philip Sheridan !
Profoundly Grateful.— Secretary Beward
expressed himself profoundly grateful to the
Connecticut Assembly for permitting him to
“ speak what he thitk6 and what he feels.” The
Secretary, says the World, is at least consistent
in regarding that as an unusual privilege for
himself which he has so often denied as the
right of other American citizens.
The inconvenience, says the Madison News,
which we have so long and patiently borne,
from being deprived of mail facilities, seem
about to be removed to some extent. Mr.
Thomas Hollis, of this place, has taken a con
tract to carry the mail from Madison to Eaton
ton tri-weekly, beginning on the first of July.
A Card.
New York, June 24, 1567.
To the Editor of the New York Times
Sir: 1 notice in the journals of this morning
a card signed by J. M. Knap]*, in reference to
a suit which 1 have commenced, to procure an
injunction against the Merchants’ Union Ex
press Company, and for a receiver of its pro
perty.
I commenced that-suit for myself and my
associates for the purpose, if possible, of sav
ing something lrom the wreck of the concern,
and to prevent further unwarranted expend i
tures. I believe the facts stated in the com
plaint, as published in this morning’s Herald ,
can each and all be proved.
I shall prosecute the suit with vigor. It will
appear therciu that the secret and clandestine
arrangements alleged in the complaint are not
“ simply ridiculous, as well as recklessly and
wantonly untrue.” Mr. Knapp may not have
bceu aware the efforts that have been made
to effect such a selling out of our company, but
others of the defendants were.
As to Mr. Knapp’s suggestion, that ihc- com
pany is not insolvent, but, on the contrary, has
several hundred thousand dollars, I have only
to say that it is sufficiently negatived by the
fact that #2,000,000 mors have been called for
by it to put into that omnivorous rat-hole—its
treasury—l do not propose to pay. I have in
structed my counsel to receive the answer
which Mr. Knapp says will be served “at
ouce,” aud I will unite with him in any “force”
which be may see fit to use to hasten the trial.
Meanwhile, my associates who entertain an
opinion similar to myself will decline to pay
the further‘call of ten per cent. It is the last
feather. Respectfully yours,
8. P. Waterburt.
Query ?—“ Does the electiou for or against
a convention include the election for delegates
at the 6ame time, or will separate elections be
held ?”
There will be but one election. The supple
mentary bill provides that registered voters
shall write the names of candidates for said con
vention on one side and on the reverse the
words “for a convention” or ‘agaiust a conven
tion.”
Paragraph 3 of the supplementary bill pro
vides :
“ That at said election, the registered voters
of each state shall vote for or against a Conven
tion to form a constitution therefor, under this
act. Those voting in favor of such a conven
tion shall have written or printed on their bal
lots by which they vote for delegates as afore
said, the words “for a convention.” Those
voting against such convention, shall hare
writteq or printed on each ballot the words
“against a convention.”
Rents. —This is the season when landlords
and tenants a#e usually making arrangements
for another year. There is a general feeling
that rents must be reduced, and, as we noticed
a day or two since, oue or two landlords have
voluntarily made material differences.
In Columbus about a hundred tenants have
addressed the following to the landlords and
property holders:
The undersigned tenants have determined
unanimously that the present rate of rents paid
for business houses is.excessively higher than
is justified by the present condition of financial
and commercial affi'irs, and it is agreed that ifr
is only necessary to respectfully call the atten
tion of property-holders to the necessity for if,
in order to secure such an*abatement a-> would
be equitable.
That rents have been too high cannot l»c
questioned, and it certainly needs no laboreil
argument to prove that business men arc less
able to pay high rents now than formerly. If
any have a doubt of this, we would refer to the
great reduction in income ; none but property
holders having any to report.
The present is dark indeed; but the future
shows nothing but gloom to the merchant.—
With no profits for a year, and no hopes of any
in the immediate future, we must curtail oui
expenses, among the most important of which
is house rent.
There are vacant houses which wc could se
cure at much less rent than we are now paying,
but we have become identified with the houses
we occupy, and desire, with lower rents, to pre
serve that identity; hoping, with this prudent
precaution, to pass safety through the approach
ing financial storm, or that, perchance, it may
happily blow away, and we may again be able
to pay the rents which have been recently so
remunerative to our landlords.
Hoping to preveul the confusion which
would result from a general removal from our
present locations to cheaper houses now va
cant, and about to become so ; and, before
adopting any of the other propositions which
have been suggested to secure lower rents, we,
f ne undersigned tenants, would re-pcctfulty re
quest our landlords aud the property holders
in the city generally, to make, before the first
of August, such equitable agreement with their
tenants, for a reduction in rents for the coming
year as will he just to the landlord, and, at the
same time, not burdensome to the tenant.
Cholera.
The Epidemic Raging in Memphis — Forewarned,
Are we Forearmedf
The following important information has
been furnished the Republican Banner by Sur
geon A. C. Swartzwelder, in response to the re
quest of Dr. Joseph Jones, Health Officer ot
tbe city ol Nashville:
Nashville, June 27, 1867.
Dr. Joseph Jones , Health Officer city of Nash
ville :
Mr Sir: The enclosed telegrams have
been received from Memphis and Louisville.—
Every confidence may be placed in their cor
rectness. To the good citizens of Nashville,
that from Memphis is of the highest moment.
It looks as if a dark cloud were gathering in the
Southwest, which at any moment may fall upon
their devoted heads. If, in your judgment, their
publication will do any good you are at liberty
so to use them.
Very sincerely, your-ob’t serv’t,
A. C. Swartzwelder,
Surgeon IT. 8. Vo Is.
Memphis, June 27, 1867.
To Maj. Gen. W. P. Carlin , Asst. Com.:
About seventy (70) persons have died ot the
cholera since June 13th ; seveu (7) deaths re
ported yesterday.
[Bigned] Fred. 8. Palmers,
Lt. Col. and Sub. Asst. Com
Louisville, June 27,1867.
To Bv't Maj. Gen. W. P. Carlin , Asst. Com:
Only one (1) case of cholera has been report
ea in Louisville this season.
[Signed] Sidney Burbank,
A6«t. Coro-
Fallen by the Way.— The Mobile Register
says with much pith, “wc must not be sapris
ed if multitudes of our public men fall by the
way and yield, »#me, early, like Gov. Patton
and Brown, and others, later, like Gen. Loag
street and Capt. Senmoes. Wc ask tbe read
er’s careful perusal of the argument of tb«
clear-sighted and brave Georgia statesman, to
show that everything, including” honor, is to
be lost, and notbiog to be gained by the course
which these gentlemen advise. In so solemn »
dilemma, let no man be governed by the weight
of names, but jndge for himself on his con
conscience and Ms duty to God and country