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About Weekly constitutionalist. (Augusta, Ga.) 185?-1877 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 27, 1867)
THE WEEKLY CONSTITUTIONALIST BLACK BEPUBLIOANISM—THE DUPE AND AGENT OF BEITISH POLICY- Wi call attention to the following article from Ik Bow's Ihriew —the production of one of the profounclcst intellects in this country: “There can be no longer any doubt whatever that the Englishman has caught the Black Republican Yankee, and is crushing his vitals out of him, under the fatal deadfall of the great Abolition trap. It must, be admitted that the Negro Eman cipation in thexUnited States is a British invent ion ; and it is quite certain that while the British revenues and British commerce and manufactures have been vastly bene fltted, the United States have suffered im measurably by the practical execution of the abolition programme. Seven years, ago British Consols were thought to be a first rate public security at eighty three for the hundred. They now stand within a fraction of ninety-five, and are rapidly advancing to oar value. Seven years ago the credit of the United States was rmimpeacbed, both at home and abroad, and was neither burdened with mountains of debt, nor threatened with civil perils. Now, while a three per rent. British Government bond is quoted at ninety-fire, a sh per rent, bond of the Uni ted Stales will 1101. command seventy-four in foreign markets, and within the United States every dollar of Government debt Is at a di,-count of not less than forty-five per cent. It follows from this that the foreign and domestic credit of Great Britain is higher by more than one hundred per cent, than ‘hat of the l cited States. And just at, this juncture it seems, too, that we are to be deprived of the natural advantages of possessing the broadest, finest, best situa ted, and, hitherto, the most productive cot ton field on the face of the earth. Asa practical proposition, it now appears certain that wt shall lose tin com maud of the supply of the European cotton market, while it is even prob'd>h that we shall be driven altogether from, the production of cotton as a remunerative staph cominod, ity. “ When we come to consider the very im porl mt, and, in some respects, the terrible results directly and indirectly effected in this unfortunate country by the British abolition policy ; and when we further con sider that, the purposes of Great Britain— always our political, commercial, and man ufacturing enemy—have been so often indi cated by unmistakable acts and even official declarations, and that they have been also exposed by some of our own wisest states men, it really seems to us that the conduct of the Black Republican party, in becom ing a British agent in this disastrous busi ness, can only be accounted for on the ground of moral insanity or judicial blind ness. “Asa matter of course we have not so much to do with the history of abolition ism in the United States as we have with the existing facts of the case. Neverthe less, t his history is very remarkable. At the beginning of the present century Great Britain and the United States were the principal African slave-trading nations in the civilized world. Spain, Portugal, and Holland, it is true, carried on a considera ble commerce in negroes, but both Old England and New England displayed greater activity, more capital in it, and derived steadier profits from it titan did of their rival - in (lie trade. England, Li verpool, Bristol, Manchester, and other cities, -.yflßkdic chief part of their then eoinmei^^^fcosperily to tin foreign slavedradc.New Kngiand. Ne\s r : :• • b i >' bed -i • e •mot:;. ' : - kind of trade to peculiar taste there was a spice of maritime adventure on a comparatively unfrequented coast, and within comparatively unknown seas. In it there was cruelty unough to the heathen captives during the middle passage to make the prayers of the master, owners and crew, acceptable as a .'TTVeet savor to the god of the New England blarney stone. And in it, last though not least, there were the sanctifying profits on an ablebodied negro fellow, valued at four hundred dol lars, purchased py the shrewd Yankee dealer for a gallon of rum and a jack-knife, each worth about twenty-five cents. “ But, apart from all minor considera tions. in connection with negro slavery and abolitionism in the United States, two im portant facts rise distinctly before us.— These facts are, first, that the British Gov ernment compelled the American colonies to accept negro slavery as a domestic in stitution, against their solemn protest re peatedly made. In his draft of the Declara tion of Independence, Mr. Jefferson, refer ring to this fact, denounced the British king for his unjust and inhuman conduct. And the second tact is, that the New Eng land States, overruling the wishes of Vir ginia, Delaware, Maryland and North Caro lina, introduced a provision into the Federal Constitution making the foreign slave trade perpetual at the option of Congress, and prohibiting Congress from any interference with it for the period of twenty years after the Constitution should go into effect, that is to say, from the year 1788 to the year 1808. The only reason assigned by Massa chusetts and the New England States, at the time, for their ‘ man-stealing' votes, was the extent and value of their negro-slave com merce. It follows, then, without doubt or question, that we are indebted to Old Eng land for establishing the institution of negro Slavery in the United States ; and it equally follows that we are indebted to New Eng land for a Foreign Slave Trade Coustitu- tion, for the legal confirmation and actual i consolidation of slavery as a domestic in stitution, and for the importation, as mer chandise, into the country of the ancestors of nearly all the present Southern negroes. “ But, at the beginning of tills century, events of a grave commercial importance had so developed themselves as to in duce the Government of Great Britain to eevers, its policy in reference to the Afri can slave trade. The East India Com pany, at that time the wealthiest, and, po litically, the most powerful corporation that ever existed, had acquired an immense domain in Asia, embracing many degrees of latitude and longitude of the tropical and semi-tropical regions, containing mil lions of tawny slaves, and capable of pro ducing, as the corporation thought, and as the British Government and people have since been made to believe, each and every one o! the great tropical and semi-tropical staples; and British statesmen conceived tin- idea of thus making Great Britain in dependent and self-sustaining in the pro duction oi the leading staples of commerce and manufactures; and of causing her to become, not only tin; chief carrier, but, at the same time, the principal planter and manufacturer for all other nations. While the influence of the East India Company was so irresistible in the British councils, the vigilance and experience of that gigan tic and selfish monopoly soon discovered that the United States were destined to be come their future commercial rival, and to contest with England and the Indies the empire of manufactures. It was speedi ly ascertained b\ the East India Com pany that the Asiatic slave in Bengal and Hindustan bore no comparison in point of endurance under tasks of labor or physical strength, in prolific power or docility, to the African slave imported from Congo and Guinea as a laborer into the United {States. For these reasons, the British Government note turned its efforts, resolutely and with perfect system, to the sup pression of the African slave trade, and to the ultimate extinction of negro slavery, and, with it, to the subversion of well disciplined negro labor. “ Portugal, Spain and Holland were each brought, by the payment to them of hun dreds ol thousands of pounds sterling, as subsidy money, to sign treaties for the ac tive suppression of the slave trade on the coast of Africa. The demons of the Jacobin Club in France, Danton, Marat and Robes pierre, had encouraged the ITaytien revolt and wholesale murders on that hitherto peaceful, faithful and happy island. Prus sia, Sweden and other European States were, by different inducements, gradually persuaded to join England in her efforts to suppress negro labor, and in a day, as it. were, the slayeholding and slave trading nations of Europe—still slaveholding and slave trading—were transferred into philan thropists and abolitionists. And after the spinning invention of Arkwright and the gin of Whitney had imparted such an ex traordinary value to cotton, and stimulated 71s production and manufacture so inordi nately, the British Government, in the interest of the Fast India Company, determined to at tack directly the institution of negro labor in the United States. “The first material step taken to this end was the remorseless sacrifice of the West India sugar and coffee planters by the aboli tion of negro slavery in Jamaica and other possessions in the West Indies and Central America. It had been already ascertained that, owing to the absence of frost during the whole year, an insect, called the red bug, by its destructive ravages, rendered a profitable cotton culture impossible in Ja maica. But the capital invested in these possessions was equal to the sum of one hundred millions of pounds sterling, and in order to appease the discontent of a por tion of the English people, arising from so great a property sacrifice, British officials addressed communicationto the press, in which it was advised as a ground of defense , that li est India emancipation was intended as " means cf attack upon negro slavery in the Southern States of the American Union. “Exeter Hall was now established as a great moral and political agency of aboli tion propagandism; the pulpit, the maga zines, the newspaper press, were all sub sidized; and emissaries were * employed and sent across the ocean to plant the tirst evil seeds of abolitionism among the New England communities. It also un fortunately happened that, about the very time the New England constitu tional provision in protection of the foreign slave trade expired, sectional passions and prejudices growing out of schemes of un law lui taxation, and of attempted financial dommation, had arisen between the north t-tn an ’i; rn sections of the Union, and. in consequence of the feelings and animosities thus excited, the founders of al>olitio)iis'!i in the United States—the secret s t race agents of the British Government — Garrison and oihers — soon obtained a steady foothold in Massachusetts. “ There is a certain class in every com munity, uniutellectual sentimentalists, who are simply semi-idiots. These are the in variable dupes of every clever charlatan or subtle conspirator agaiust law and right.— There is another class who are really and truly humane and good, and who, seeing every thing from the stand-point of their own noble natures, detest and oppose what may seem injustice or inhumanity, without enquiring into cause and effect, or calmly pausing to consider proper and rational remedies. There was in Massachusetts another and a still larger class who saw with delight a sort of moral speculation in the slavery agitation, aud who thought it would be the * cutest' trick of the # times, after having made themselves rich as large foreign and domestic negro traders, to ac quire by mere lip-service the virtuous character of philanthropists and liberty loviug champions at the expense of other men's property —the very pro perty, in fact, they had sold to those other men at such splendid profits as j Gic difference in value between four hun dred dollars and a gallon of rum and a jack-knife. The idea was unworthy of even the worst class of people in Massa chusetts, but it was rapidly entertained by a vast number of adherents. British gold, . and Exeter Hail cant, together with such ideas as these, gradim y establish a power ful abolition party in ‘ northern section ; aud the opposition pu > in the country to the constitutional gr- nt of limited powers in the Federal Government, having been beat under all of its ■ -us names, in al most every Pr.'l.iei ml contest, by the Democratic party, or rty of the Constitu tion, the perverse g< ffi-o ■ ’ William 11. Seward conceived the evil f , ff on of dividing the country by a eecU-‘<nC. politic.d line, and of rallying the whole •//;/«•■ ion North under the abohwax banner, outdoor the Con-dilution, in scribed wph the 'h yherluc' fund ‘ irrcpressi ble conflict shiholeth of blood and cartage. Tins WAS DONE. AND THE RESULT IS BEFORE us and the wDrld. It may be true that neither Seward, nor the more prominent of the abolition leaders proper, contemplated at the commencement of the war the sudden violent emancipation of the slaves, but the question advanced in the course of the war beyond their control. They may not even have positively de sired war, as some of them affect. They may have only desired the spoils and power j of office, and in their intense eagerness to ! obtain these were alone resolved to trifle j and experiment with the peace and liberties :of the country. They were at best but the i puppets and instruments of British design and ! policy, and it was the able, the callous, and the ; crafty Lord John Russell, seconded by the de magogue accomplishments of the Chartist, Bright, watching their opportunities and care fully manipulating the subject in the course of \ the war, who, before its close, forced the United States to abolish slavery. “It will be a difficult thing to make a | conceited Yankee abolitionist understand J this, but, whether he can be brought to be lieve it or not, it is true. We can only treat | the subject in a general way, but what are I the prominent.facts ? When the civil war ! first broke out in the United States the ! British Government hoped to witness the i accomplishment of two things, the dissolu tion of the Union and abolition of negro slavery. A strenuous effort was at once made to prevail upon the Confederate States to agree to a proposition for gradual emanci pation. Had the Confederate States consent ed to this, then British and French interven tion would have secured the other point.— But the Confederate States declined to dis cuss the subject. It will, however, be borne in mind that Mr. Seward had already addressed an official paper to foreign nations, in the name of the President of the United States, in which he declared that the war was not undertaken to abolish slavery—that the State institutions were beyond the purposes of the war and could not be politically affected by it, no matter how it might terminate. For the first year and a hall after the war began, cliicffy in consequence of this communication, British opinion on the policy of recognizing the | Confederate States was much divided. Lord Lyons, the British Minister at Wash ington, and Mr. Bunch, the British Consul at Charleston. South Carolina, are believed to have favored recognition for a time, and there was a considerable party in the British Parliament who agreed with them. But Lord Russell and Mr. Bright reso lutely opposed the recognition of the Con federate States, and so soon as it was dis covered that the Confederacy was positively intractable on the subject of their negroes their parliamentary support dwindled to comparative insignificance. Os course it did not take the British Minister for For eign Affairs loug to discover that the bug bear of the Black Republican leaders was foreign intervention, and that they felt they did not dare to face the Northern i people in an account of the blood and treasure- already expended, and with the Union irremediably divided, if the contest should prove unsuc cessful. These leaders would, in that j event, as they clearly comprehended, not only be ruined in their political standing and aspirations, but would proba bly become the personal victims of the pop ular indignation and wrath, as the persons who had inveigled the country into unue . cessary and disastrous conflict. In order to understand the drift of affairs we have oiuv to refer to Lord Russell’s first remark able speech after the sections had fairly grappled in war, and after Mr. Yancey, the Confederate Commissioner, had refused to entertain any proposition for the emanci pation of the negroes, in which he accused the United States of the inconsistency of having originated a war with the Southern States, apparently on the issue of the rights and wrongs of the slaves, and then carry ing on the light merely for empire, leaving the rights and wrongs of the negroes to take care of themselves. He further point edly declared that, in this aspect of the question, it was not strange that a vast bodv of the English people should svmpa thise with a gallant race struggling for their political independence. He also dis tinctly intimated that the United States could onlv disarm the antipathies of the British public by proceeding to take steps contemplating the humane result of the abolition of negro slavery. He hinted, too, in the course of his speech, in terms by no means unintelligible, that his Government already experienced considerable difficulty in repressing a strong and growing dispo sition in Parliament to recognize the Con federate States. J/r. Lincoln's anti-slavery proclamation quickly folloiced Lord Russells diplomatic demand. “ Next, we all remember how the Con fedrate States were suffered to build iu En glish pons a splendid fleet of steam vessels with which they would, most probably, have broken the blockade at various points, recaptured New Orleans, and mastered the Mississippi river. Nor is it forgotten tow, just as these powerful rams were ready for sea, requiring only their armaments to be put on board. Mr. Seward protested against what lie affirmed would be a breach of in national law, if these ships were allowed to leave port; and it will never pass out of rc codection how tins fleet was finally suppressed by Great Britain, at the cost of still more er povit anti-slavery proceedings on the part of the Congress and the President of the United States. And we all know that, at last, r ranee came forward, or rather was put forward, to say that she was quite willing to intervene, provided the British Govern ment would join in the movement, and that Lord Russell, in any way that could not be mistaken, or misinterpreted , however short of a formal demand, required the positive ABOLITION OF NEGRO SLAVERY IN THE United States as the price of his covet ed SILENCE. “ This is the history of the whole ques tion, told in brief but perfectly truthful terms. “Now, before the late civil war, the U nited States produced live millions of bales of cotton, worth two hundred and fifty millions of dollars in gold, and if the plant ers grew rich, the whole country through out the North and West became more and more prosperous and wealthy, and the slaves advanced in general contentment through greater and greater comforts and privileges accorded to them as they became more valuable to their owners and the na tion. The Southern States, with their cheap and efficient labor-system, found that they could afford to raise cotton at even eight cents a pound, and with their superior sta ple, and maritime facilities, control the Eu ropean cotton supply without the fear of a rival. But, with the labor of the country in its present disorganized condition, under negro suffrage following negro emancipa tion (and there is every prospect of things becoming worse and worse every year), it seems universally conceded that cotton can not be profitably.cultivated at less that fif teen cents a pound, and at that rate, taking the risk of season by season, it will be a hazardous and precarious crop. It is now selling for twelve and thirteen cents a pound, and it cannot be raised with free labor for that price in any quantity; and, it is mini fest, that, if the British manufacturers can com mand the East Indian and Egyptian cotton at a cheaper rate tiuin fifteen cents a pound , the cotton culture of the South must be ab indoned, and all attendant consequences must follow to the shipping and manufacturing interests of the nation. “ The British Government has expended a vast deal of money, time, and diplomatic intrigue, to accomplish this result, and it has, at length, fully succeeded by the spe cial help of the so-called Republican party —the silliest, basest, and most execrable political organization that ever yet existed in any country on the globe to mock at honesty and to cheat a confiding people.— The Englishman has a right to felicitate himself on his astounding triumph. When he commenced the contest he stood at great odds. His ancient Asian soil was less fruitful than the virgin fields of America. His cooley bondsman was a weak, sickly, and discontented laborer, in contrast with the enduring, athletic, laughing, and gene rally contented negro. And his staple was very poor, both in quantity and quality.— So long as the Democratic party—the party of the Constitution and law—controlled the desti nies of the Union the progress of our English enemy was sloio, and scarcely promised frui tion at any peri >d in the future. But a few miserable years of so-called Republican ride have, witnessed a complete success, as surpris ing to the English nan in the easy and speedy manner of its accomplishment, as it is appall ing to every Americ in mind that realizes Us fatal meaning. “ The grand total to be yet settled with the American people by the leaders of the Black Republican party may be thus stated: “ Ist. An unnecessary war engendered b} r the vilest management and intrigue. “2d. The blood of more than a half mil lion of men murdered in the flower of their youth. “3d. A debt of two billions and a half as a standing mortgage on the industry of the people, following the total sacrifice of one third of all the values in the country. “ 4th. A burden of taxation nearly twice that of England or France, based on less than one half of the wealth and property of either. “ sth. The probable desolation of the cot ton fields of the Southern section, and the yearly loss to the nation of two hundred millions of dollars in gold from that quarter alone. “6th. The pollution of the Constitution of the United States, and of the laws and the morals of the nation, and the inaugura tion of a military despotism based on em pire and absolutism, in the place of the representative Republican government of Washington and the fathers. “ These fearful facts cannot he suppressed , and now address themselves to the sense of the nation. How long the evil-doers icill be per mitted to bear sway to the ruin of the country is for the people to say. Already does a fear ful war of races and the remorseless and un speakable horrors of a second San Domingo tragedy threaten to follow swift upon the heels of the calamitous civil war forced upon the counting. Already , in the judgment of the most thoughtful and philosophical minds , American civilization and Christian enlighten ment has been hurled back a half century. It is time the truth should be told, and for men to speak without baled breath in behalf of both so ciety and liberty.'' Ox a Bust. —The New York Express has spoken of the last twelve years as a “big drunk;” Thad. Steyexs, our old friend, alludes to them as epochs of “ Free dom’s bursting principles.” This is a case of distinction without a difference—a “ big drunk ” and a “ big bust ” being synony mous terms. The Unconstitutional Conclave- It will be seen by the following General Or ders, No. 89, which we find in the Radical papers of Atlanta, that the persons who were elected to Pope’s menagerie are ordered to meet .in Atlanta on the 9th of December : Headquarters, Third Militast Dis’t, j (Georgia, Alabama and Florida,) Atlanta, Ga., November 19, 18GT. S General Orders, No. 89. hereas, By General Orders No. 69, from these Headquarters, dated September 19, 1567, an election was ordered to be held in the State ol Georgia on the twenty-ninth, thirtieth and thirty-first days of October, 1867, and by Gener al Orders No. 88, said election was continued on the first and second days of November, I s >7, at which election, injiursuaace of an act of Congress, entitled “ An Act to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel States,” and the act supplementary thereto, the registered voters of said State might vote “ for a convention.” or “ against a convention,” and for delegates to constitute the convention in case a majority of the votes given on that question should be for a convention, and in ease a majority of all the registered voters should have voted on the question of a conven tion. And whereas, At an election held in pur suance of said orders, and in conformity to said acts, there were polled ou the question of a convention votes to the number ot one hun ified and six thousand four hundred and ten, (106,-110,) being more than one-half of one hundred and eighty-eight thousand six hun dred and forty-seven, (188,647,) the whole num ber of registered voters in said State; and of the whole number of votes polled ou the ques tion of a Convention, one hundred and two thousand two hundred and eightv-tbree, (102,- 288,) being a majority ol the same were east for a convention. And whereas, At said election the following named persons were elected as delegates to said convention from the respective election districts in which they were so chosen : From the First Election District—C II Hopkins, James Stewart, A. A. Bradley, Walter I, Clift, Isaac Seeley, W. 11. D. Reyuolds, M. 11. Bentley, A. L. Harris. From the Second Election District—T G Campbell, .Villiam a. Goulding. From the Third Election District—A. M. Moore. From the Fourth Election District—F. M. Smith. From the Fifth Election District—P. B. Bed ford. From the Sixth Election District—Levi J. Knight, Lewis H. Roberts. From the Seventh Election District— M. C. Smith, W. C. Carson, J. L. Cutler. From the Eighth Election District—R. H. Whiteley, B. F. Powell, John Higden. From the Ninth Election District—H. 11. Christian, William W. Dews, Charles C. Mar tin. From the Tenth Election District—John Murphy, F. O. Welch, Philip Joiner, Benj unin Sikes. From the Eleventh Election District —W. H. Noble, J. A. Jackson, Robert Alexander, John Wh inker. From the Twelfth Election District—J. E. Blount, Thomas Crayton, G. W. Chatters. From the Thirteenth Election District—H. K. McCoy, J. E. Hall, F. Snead, Robert Lump kin, Jesse Dinkins. From tbe*Fourteenth Election District—S. E. Salter, J. W. Trawick, Simeon Stanley, J. M. Buchan. From the Fifteenth Election District—A. J. Cameron. From the Sixteenth Election District—Geo. Linder, E. W. Lane. From the Seventeenth Election District—J. A. Madden, J. M. Rice, Robert Whitehead, M. Claiborne, 11. H. Giisson. From the Eighteenth Election District—R. B. Bullock, Benjamin Conley, Foster Blodgett, J. E. Bryant, S. W. Beaird, Alexander Stoue, John Neal. From tbe Nineteenth Election District—D. P. Baldwin, Joseph Adkins, Robert Crumbley, John W. T. Caterings, Henry Strickland. From the Twentieth Election District—C. IT Prince, George Wallace, C. C. Richardson, Daniel Palmer, W. 11. Harrison, W. C. Supple. From the Twenty-first Election District— Samuel Gave, William Griffin, Charles Hooks, Thomas .Gibbon. From the Twenty-second Election District— G. G. Wilbur, M. A. Potts, F. Wooten, A. Bow doin, .T. J. Speer, W. J. llowe, M. Cooper, IT. M. Turner. From the Twenty-third Election District — Posey Maddox, O. H. Walton, S. A. Cobb, J. H. Anderson, Wm. P. Edwards. From the Twenty-fourth Election District— G. W. Ashburn, J. G. Maul, Thomas Gilbert, Van Jones, J. C. Casey. From the Twenty-fifth Election District- William Guilford, T. J. Costin, L. L. Stanford, Samuel Williams, E. J. Higbee. From the Twenty-sixth Election District— W. H. Whitehead, W. H. Rozar, S. T. W. Mi nor. From the Twenty-seventh Election District— John Harris, J. W. Christian, N. F. Hotchkiss, C. D. Davis, James C. Parton. From the Twenty-eighth Election District— H. S. Glover, William F. Jordan, J. R. Hudson, T. P. Saffold, A. G. Foster. From the Twenty-ninth Election District— D. G. Cotting, Lewis Pope, Josiah Sherman, James Knox, Romulus Moore. From the Thirtieth Electiou District—A. T. Akerman, S. McWhorter, E. S. Cobb, J. Bell. From the Thirty-first Election District—S. W. Crawford, Philip Martin, W. F. Bowers. From the Thirty-second Election District— Milton Moore, J. A. Woody. From the Thirty-third Election District— Madison Bell, Wm. L. Mailer, Benjamin Dun nigan. From the Thirty-fourth Election District—J. Mathews, B. D. Shumate, S. E. Dailey, Shad rick Brown, J. R. Bracewell. From the Thirty-fifth Election District—H. V. M. Miller, James L. Dunning, N. L. Angler, J. H. Flynn, W. C. Lee, H. G. Cole, David Irvin. From the Thirty-sixth Election District—J. W. Key, P. W. Chambers, J. S. Bisby, W. C. Smith, J. C. Bowden. From the Thirty-seventh Election District— John H. Caldwell, Robert Robertson, George Harlan, A. H. Harrisson, E. B, Martin. From the Thirty-eighth Election District—T. J. Foster, J. D. Waddc-11, R. B. Hutcherson. From the Thirty-ninth Election District—J. G. Lott, S. T. Houston, A. W. Holcombe. From the Fortieth Election District —W. T. Crane, JoLm Bryson. From the Forty-first Election District —C. A. Ellington, Wilkey McHan. From the Forty-second Election District — Wesley Shropshire, J. R. Parrott, W. L. Good win, George B. Burnett, Wm. A. Fort. From the Forty-third Election District —L. N. Trammell, John H. King, S. E. Fields. From the Forty-fourth Election District — Presley Yates, John M. Shields. It is ordered: That the persons above named do meet in convention, at Atlanta , Georgia, Monday, the ninth day of December, 1867, and proceed to frame a constitut-on and civil gov ernment tor the State of Georgia, according to the provisions of the acts above referred to, and that when the same shall have been so framed the 6uid constitution be submitted for ratification to the registered voters of said State as further required by law. Jambs Pope, Brevet Major General, Commanding. Negro Opinion of White Radicals.—A correspondent of the Savannah Daily Advertiser says : A few nights since, passing a church where freedmen love to congregate, we overheard a conversation which amused us, and may not be uninteresting to your readers. Sam and Joe were cosily seated on the steps, when Sam re marked : “ Joe, why don’t you go to de League now like you use to do ?” Says Joe : “ De sac is, I don’t like de white trash dat belongs to it. Xou see, dat is ’scietv anybody can jine, while or colored, and de white folks dat is jined are berry small taters, few in a hill, rotten in de middle, pithy at both ends, and mighty stringy at dat, and I don’t want to have nothin’ to do wid ’em.” Sam’s hearty response was, “ dat’s de blessed troof.” I From the Chicago Evening Post, Nov. 12. Heavy Government Forgery. Not long since the public were J tails of a series of heavy forgeries wm ?°, dc ; been perpetrated by John M KMie a! h had Quartermaster at Nashville, and'hls’suh!!!f tant arrest. He had forged the Scholl, of the quartem. Ml ,' 8 Dcpir,™ many vouchers which found their wav Washington, to the surprise of the Depart ment, which had no knowledge of any bcimr out of that kind. An investigation proved them to have been forgeries, and they were traced to this Kills. Further investigations were also made which implicated several oth ers iu the transactions, and Col. W. P. Wood" Chiet of the Secret Service at Washington, dis patched a messenger to Mr. 8. M. Felker of this city, with a large amount of Government vouchers purporting to have been issued hv Kills. Mr. Felker immediately commenced a rigid examination of the case, and on referring' to the record of the principal forgers of the country, found the name ot W\ C. Anderson, who appears to be the principal negotiator oi’ those bonds. Mr. Felker learned that Ander son was the partner of Kills at Nashville, and accordingly scut officer George H. F.iyman to Nashville for the purpose of arresting him.— W tn'e making further investigations, Mr Felker succeeded iu finding out all the forgers implicated iu the transaction. Among others of high standing in this community! no-ainst whom there are strong grounds of suspicion is a Mr. Rodney M. Whipple, who is charged with having disposed of a large number'd’ these forged Government vouchers to Mr. P. F W. Peck and others, and also with having negotiated some of them with the Fifth Na tional Bank. I pon Mr. Whipple’s learning that he was suspected of being a party to this forgery, he immediately went with Mr. Emory A. Storrs his attorney, to Mr. Felker’s office, and gave himself up as a prisoner, at the same time de claring himself entirely innocent o( any knowl edge ol the crime, and ddVnanding an immedi ate examination. He was accordingly brought before Commissioner Hoyne that 'morning, where a preliminary examination was had, and the case coutiuued for further examination un til Thuisday uext, Mr. Whipple being held in the sum ol ten thousand dollars to a linear at that time. Hog Packing in Louisville, Ky—The Courier says : I lie hog slaughtering and pork packing seasou has commenced, though as yet to only a moderate extent, with the slaughter early in the week of about 8,000 hogs by three or lour ot the city packers, while ihe others have not yet commenced operations. The packers are prepared to slaughter and put up 200,000 hogs this season, hut thus lar the offers have been tsiuoll and the purchases light, and the past Hi rue days have been too warm for slaughter ing, while the views ot buyers and drovers conflict, and the purchases as well as the re ceipts have been remarkably small. This, however, is rather early for pork packing at this point, and settled hard weather will liave to be inaugurated before the season opens iu earnest. In the transactions the prices of hogs to packers have ranged from (ijf to 6% cents on foot, or gross, with a sale at the close of last night of 2,000 Indiana hogs, to be packed here, at 6 cents, gross, the terms not stated. The receipts have been meagre. In the meantime, the market for the old product—bacon, lard and pork—has materially declined, with a de cided decline to-day in bacon. As. regards flic forthcoming crop, nothing definite is known beyond the generally con ceded admission or calculation that the packing this season will fall short ol that of the past year. Owing to the drouth in many sections of Kentucky and Indiana, and the short corn crop, the hogs have been turned out on the mast, and but few will be put up and fattened far the market, 'f he high price of corn in the interior has the influence to enhance the market for hogs. Buyers and packers, however, con sider the prices too high, and are refusing to enter the market, or entertain contracts at the prevailing rates. Destructive Fire in Quitman, Brooks County. —The following extract from a letter just received from Quitman, dated the 15th, furnishes the particulars of a most destructive fire in that town the night previous : ** * *■ * * The telegraph from Thom asville.has perhaps informed you of the terrible conflagration last night. The fire is thought to be ihe work of an incendiary. It was first discovered between Adam’s *nnd Avery’s, an <f in half an hour the whole square, excepting Mabbxtts house, was entirely consumed. The Brooks Huffily saved nothing but bed ding, clothing, and a few goods. The house, kitchen, and all the furniture was a total loss. Finch’s splendid stock was almost entirely destroyed. Loss said to be SB,OOO to 10,000. — Dr. Lawson lost his all; books, papers, manu scripts and everything. Dr. Ricks, the dentist, lost all. Dr. McCall’s drug store was almost an entire loss. The Smiths lost heavily. Mr. Avery saved one show case of his fine stock. Mr. Perham said the entire loss was about $75,000. The telegraph office with all the ap purtenances were burned. The photograph gallery lost everything. Not a breath of air was stirring—but the whole square was of wooden buildings—dry as tinder ; the hour midnight, and everybody re tired. Captain Brooks is in Cutbbert ; Mr. Haines telegraphed him from Thomasville this morn ing. Our people are grieved for present troubles and those in prospective. §num of the freed men behaved heroically, some rejoiced at the general dismay and destruction. i Albany News, V.Uh. Gen. Butleii’s Views on the Finances. —Thb following letter from Gen. Butler was iu reply to a citizen of Milwaukee, who had declared his views, as given in the Boston Advertiser, “ flat repudiation Lowell, Mass., Friday, Nov. 8,18G7. Dear Sir: Yours of October 23 has reached me. My financial propositions are not repudiation; they hold the nation to the fulfilment of the contract, but no more.— Argument is wasted upon any person who does not see the distinction between Mr. Pendleton’s proposition and mine. One pronoses to issue promises to pay without interest sufficient to redeem all the bonds which bear interest; the other proposes to borrow money on anew loan to pay an in debtedness of the United States according to its terms. Mine is neither unjust, un constitutional nor illegal. You had better read them carefully again. Yours, truly, * Benj. F. Butler. Peter Yates, Esq., Milwaukee, Wis. Are Negroes Eligible to Congress.— The New York Herald has the following pertinent inquiry: “Under the famous Dred Scott decision the Supreme Court of the United States decided that negroes were not citizens within tbemean ing of the Constitution. Whatever the popular semiment may be in regard to that decision, it was never reversed, and remained the law of the land, at least until the proclamation of emancipation issued by President Lincoln, in September, 1862. If that proclamation made negroes citizens they attained their citizenship at that time. The Constitution of the United States provides that no one 6hall be eligible to the United States House of Representatives until he has been seven years a citizen, or to the United States Senate until he shall have been a citizen nine years. These facts may dash the hopes of some of the ambitions Sambos and Quashees who have anticipated the honor of representing some of the Southern districts in the next Congress.” It will only dash the hopes of those aspiring to be Senators. The seven years of probation will expire in September 1868. Bat as every thing is worked “ outside the Constitution,” the darkies can put in a plea of higher law, a la Thad Stevens.
