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About Weekly constitutionalist. (Augusta, Ga.) 185?-1877 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 29, 1868)
THE WEEKLY CONSTITUTIONALIbI WEDNESDAY MORNING. JAN 29,1868 TO OUR SUBCRIBERB. The Weekly Constitutionalist will here after be mailed on Tuesday instead of Wednes day morning. We make this change to .uimn 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 ot our subscribers will be exerted to aid us in doing so by extending its circu ation. AN IMPERATIVE DUTY- We holt', that it is the imperative duty of the Southern people to support those jour nals which have, through good and evil re port, through the impositions of military edicts and the menaces of despotism, through seasons of despair and universal prostration of finances, incessantly toiled for a restoration of liberty, the rights of the superior race, and the detqjt of that monstrous incubus which levels all social distinctions and destroys the life of trade. It may seem, to the unthinking, a labor of small moment to fight this tremendous bat tle. Few who lightly scan their daily pa per imagine the wear and tear of soul and body, the sweat of brow and brain, neces sary to furnish a reliable record of current speculations on the political situation or a resume of latest news. To the editors, the compositors and the business staff, this work of journalism is a constant round of activity, allowing but brief respite in the day’ or in the night. We work for money, it is true ; but every cent is dearly earned, and the eating of idle bread is an obsolete term in the vocabulary of a newspaper. The speculator or stock gambler may win his thousands on some lucky venture ; but the accumulations—if such things be—of daily journals are the legitimate fruits of steady industry, unresting zeal and patient plodding. The times are hard. None know or feel this cruel fact better than we do. In pros- i i porous seasons the papers flourish, or at j least, yield a support to those who own or ‘ guide them ; in seasons of depression, they f share the universal misfortune. Nay, they’ more than share it, for their numerous em ployees must have cash returns for their labor, and, while the papers are expected to furnish credit abroad, they are obliged to practice the “pay as you go” system at i home. For the all-sufficient reasons, then, that, the Democratic press of Georgia has man- ; fully stood up for the muniments of consti- ’ tutional freedom and the purity of blood ; that this press has been so powerful that the sword has been invoked to smite it down—the friends of the Constitution and Anglo-Saxon liberty should rally around these faithful guardians, and, in protecting the interest of sound journals, protect their own. In speaking thus generally for our coad jutors, we may be permitted to say a good word for ourselves. The record of the Con stitutionalist is one that the true men of the South need not feel ashamed of. It has never lowered its flag or denied a principle; it has vehemently asserted the right and never despaired of the day of retribution. It has, in days of darkness and wrath, seen streaks of light in the far horizon. It has kept not only the faith, but held fast to the faith in the faith. We think, therefore, that such a paper should meet with that degree of encourage ment to which it is undeniably entitled, full, liberal and prompt. The country is drifting into momentous events, and these events should be duly chronicled and gen erally known. We desire to report the shifting scenes of the great drama already opened upon the North and which is des tined to react upon the South. If we meet with lukewarm assistance from our friends, this can not be done as thoroughly as we desire. If, however, the reading community strengthen our hands as they should, we shall be able to return not only value re ceived, but something beyond the mere nomination of the bond. The Game Cocks.—The effort to unite Southern Conservatism under the banner of Democracy is gathering strength from day to day. The papers of Alabama and Arkansas are heeling their game cocks-for the fray. The journals of Georgia should not lag behind. Farewell Visit to Governor Jenkins.— It being understood that our honest and patri otic Chief Magistrate, having been driven from the position to which he hid been called by the people by military force, would leave our city on Friday, for Augusta, the citizens of Milledgeville turned out en masse to visit him on Thursday nigkt. The campus in front of the Executive Mansion was filled with citizens. The Governor appearing upon the front steps of the mansion, was greeted with three cheers by the people. The Mayor of the city, Mr. T. Newel), in a short, but appropriate address, in formed the Governor that his neighbors and fellow-citizens had come to take an affectionate leave of him for the present, and also to testify their unqualified approbation of his conduct as Governor of Georgia. Governor Jenkins thanked the "citizens for their approval of his conduct, and then in a speech of considerable length told his audience b jw hard he had endeavored to get on in peace w'ivJt i.n‘ ltary cotnma ndcrs ; that he had re in*■ himto ? V<: 7 Part Ot tlie Sl - atc aßk " it was only when asked to* do what LKon science and his oath of c,m,.,. r > ~ COn ‘ refused. He said he befc GeSaVw 1 was doing what he believed to be Ids d u‘v that his conduct towards him had bceS ma’rked by great politeness and courtesy Th- r “ d nor exhorted the people to s&nd sense of their constitutional rights, and trust to Providence and a returning sense of justice in their countrymen to vindicate their wrongs The vast crowd was greatly affected at thu address of their beloved Governor, ami retired to their homes more than ever impressed with admiration for their patriotic Governor and with loathing and detestation of tyranny. ’ [Federal Union. CITY AFFAIR?. Summary of the facts proven by the affi lavitsof citizens at. the suggestion of the .Military- Commission— Captains Sanderson ind McKibben: Genth men of the Commission: In answer to lhe request made by yourselves, through a printed circular, served upon us on the 17th cistant, to furnish you with such evidence as we were in possession of, going to show the truth of the charges made by a number of the itizens of Augusta against the present Mayor md Council, in a written memorial recently laid before General Meade, asking for their dis missal, wo beg leave to state that, although the time permitted for this investigation has been too short to afford us an opportunity of fur nishing all the testimony upon the subject which we believe can be procured, we submit he following affidavits, which we believe cover ill the points made in the memorial referred to. We beg to remark, in the outset, that the statement made by yourselves in the beginning of this investigation, that you had no power to compel the attendance of witnesses, has greatly retarded and nullified our efforts to procure in formation, as many persons who, we have rea son to believe, have important information which they might be compelled to give under proper process, have refused to answer inqui ries or make statements when appealed to by us for that purpose. We feel compelled to say, also, that we have been surprised to hear that the Commission has been engaged with the Council party in making investigations and tak ng testimony without notice to us or without permitting either of us to be present while such investiga tions were being made. When we have been called upon to furnish evidence against the Council, public notice of the. time and place have been given and the Mayor and Council have been present. The public must and will judge why this discrimination lias been made in the manner ot taking the testimony and of conducting the investigation in this ease. The first charge made in the memorial against the present city officials is: “That Council had, in secret meeting, increased the Mayor’s salary from two to five thousand dollars, and bad lengthened his term from one to four years.” The proof upon this charge (except the speci fication as to the length of the term), winch we present, is full and conclusive. On the 23d day of July last Council held a secret session, from which "they excluded the Clerk and Marshal, officers whose presence in such secret meetings was always deemed necessary heretofore. In this secret session an ordinance or resolution was passed increasing the salary of the then Mayor three thousand dollars above what it was when he went into office. The record of this secret meeting was not spread upon the mintes for some weeks after, and has not been, up to the present time, published, as all laws, ordinances and resolutions are required to be. The fact that the action of this meeting was wrong—nay, illegal—is virtually conceded by the refusal "of Council to give publicity to it by the usual and established methods of publica tion. We would call your attention to the fur ther fact that evidence shovjß the universal cus tom of Council to have been, in such secret meetings, to retain their Clerk and Marshal, or his assistant. We might ask why expel these officers it the action about to be consummated was considered fair and legal ? Further, is it not strange that the proceedings of this meeting were not spread upon the minutes for some weeks after, and not even then until the atten tion of Council had been called to that fact ? The evidence upon this point shows, further, that, before the installation of the present Coun cil secret, meetings were never held for the pur pose of legislation—the only meeting of this character being for the election of officers, or when sitting as a court in she investigation of charges. Why, then, did Council sit with closed doors while considering and passing the ordi nance or resolution in regard to the Mayor’s salary, if they were not convinced that such ac tion was wrong and illegal ? The affidavits of Judge Abner P. Robertson, L. T. Biome, Wm. H. Tutt and J. A. Christian show the universal custom of Council in preceding years on this subject. We have not felt called upon specially to prove the charge in relation to the increase of the Mayor’s salary, as that was, we understand, admitted by the Mayor and Council at your first meeting to be true, but, for bitter cer tainty on this point, we present the sworn tes timony of L.T. Biome, former Clerk of Coun cil, with extracts from the records of Council. The allegation is made that the present Council have greatly reduced the tolls on the Augusta Bridge, and at a time when the finan cial condition of the city is straightened and her credit suffering. Upon this point we pro duce certified comparative statement of the amounts received from tolls during the past and the preceding year. By this it will be seen that the reduction in incomes from that source is about fifty per cent, on the amount collected the year preceding. We cannot dismiss this branch of the subject without submitting testi mony to show that Council have acted with great partiality in regard to these tolls in cer tain cases. The published proceedings of Council show that the wagons and teams of the Kaelin Company, of which Colonel Bullock is President, have been permitted to pass and re pass over the Bridge without the payment of any tolls to the city. We present the affidavit of Col. Wm. Craig, President of the Bath Paper Mills, which shows that he made application to Council for a similar privilege, and that Coun cil refused bis request. Tne Bath Paper Mills and the Kaolin Works are situated within a short distance of each other, and we can see no reason why one Company should be exempted from paying tolls and the other refused, except that the head of the Company is a member of Council and a political partisan, while the other is not. The memorial to General Meade states that the present Council have contracted for the city printing the past year at a rate more than three times greater than was given by the for mer Council, and that memorialists have good reason to believe that more than one member of Council is interested in the printing house to whom the printing job was given. Upon this point we submit the action of Council, taken from its published proceedings, which show that the old Council contracted with E. 11. Pughe, proprietor of the Daily Press, at and for the price of twelve and a half cents per square, and that the present Council, through their Mayor, contracted, on the 2d day of August last, with E. H. Pughe to do the city printing the present year at forty cents per square. We show also that at the time of the Mayor’s report to Council, on the 2d of August last, ot his contract with Pughe and the ratifi cation of his contract with that person, that he (Pughe) was then, and ever since has been, the agent or business manager of the Georgia Printing Company, and as’ such agent the pub lisher of the National Republican newspaper, in which the printing and publications of Coun cil are made. We present the letter of R. B. Bullock upon this point to show that he was and is one of the proprietors of the National Republican, and that E. 11. Pughe is the agent or business manager of that paper. It will be seen, by reference to Colonel Bul lock’s letter, that he refuses to disclose whether Benjamin Conley and Foster Blodgett are also interested in said newspaper. This refusal of Colonel B. is a virtual admission of their pro prietorship in said paper, for it can hardly be supposed that if they were not Colonel B. would not hesitate to so declare. A letter of the same character was addressed to Foster Blodgett, who replies that he is a partner in the Georgia Printing Company, that Mr. Con ley is likewise interested, that the National Re publican newspaper is owned and conducted by this Company, and Mr. Pughe (the contractor) is the manager of the company. Thus we have shown that three members of Council are part owners of the paper with whose agent the Mayor, upon the motion of these part owners, was instructed to make the contiact for printing. Their interest in the printing contract is clear and indisputable. It cannot be avoided by saying that this contract was made with E. 11. Pughe as proprietor of the Daily Press. We submit proof to show that the Daily Press was merged in the Nation al Republican on the27thday of July and Coun cil confirmed Blodgett’s contract with Pughe several days after Council knew that the Press had been discontinued, to wit, on the 2d of August, and that E. 11. Pughe was the acknowl edged agent of the company owning the Nation al Republican. We show further that the print- ing of Council has been done in the Republican ever since its establishment here. Mr. Blod gett, states that he wns not interested in the paper at the time the contract was made, but admits that he is now, and, therefore, the reci pient of its benefits. We desire to call your attention, in this con nection, to the 6lh section of the Act of the General Assembly, passed on the 23d Decem ber, 1840, to be found in City Ordinances, Edi tion of 1866, page 139, as follows: “That no member of the City Council of Augusta shall hold any office, appointment or contract under said City Council (whereby he may derive any profit or emolument from said City Council), or the office ot Judge, Clerk or Sheriff of the Court of Common Pleas ; nor shall any person holding or interested in any such office, ap pointment or contr ict, be eligible as a member of the City Council after the first Monday in April next.” Col. Bullock, and Foster Blodgett, and Ben jamin Conley, are part owners of the National Republican newspaper and the Georgia Print ing Company—they are, two of them, members of the City Council, and one of them the Mayor of the city—they contract with E. 11. Pughe, agent of the Georgia Printing Company and of the National Republican, for the Council print ing for the present year and at a rate more than thi ee times greater than Pughe, when proprietor of the. Daily Press, had the same work for the previous year. We ask why this increase in the price paid, and for whose benefit does the increase inure ? Does not Col. Bullock stand confessed before this Commission as an open violator of the Act of 18-10 ? and do not all the facts in this connection show that Conley and Blodgett are in the same condition of Bullock ? Another allegation in the memorial to Gen. Meade is, that the present Council had remov ed competent officers without cause, and with out charge of any kind having been preferred against them. To sustain this we produce the affidavits of J. A. Christian, for long years Chief of Police or Marshal of the city, L.T. Biome, for several years Clerk of Clouncil, Dr. M. J. Jones, Dr. W. 11. Tutt, both of the latter members of Council, and one of whom has served for many years, copies of ordinance es tablishing City Small Pox Hospital, certificate of Clerk of Council, and affidavits from Scran ton Wall and Richard Stewart. This evidence shows that Council adopted the singular course cf pretending to abolish offices in order to get rid of the incumbents rather than pursue the open, manly and honorable course of quiet ly dismissing "these persons if inefficient, or permit!ting them to hold their positions for the entire term for which they had been elect ed or appointed. They pretended to abolish the Small Pox Hospital to get rid of Dr. Jones, against whom no charge was ever made, and so soon as Dr. Jones is ousted, the duties for one year, from January, 1867, were performed bv Dr. M. E. Sweney, and for which he has re ceived extra pay from Council. Four Sergeants of Police were discharged and their offices declared abolished, and sub sequently four other persons were elected by Council, who were required to perform he same duties of the discharged Sergeants, and who received the same pay and emolument. The memorialists state to Gen. Meade that there are other acts of mal-administration on the part of the present Council, which they could show, if necessary, and one of the written questions proposed by the Commission, and propounded to one of the memorialists on the ! first day the Commiss.on assembled, was, whether he knew any other acts of in d-admin istration other than those specified in the me morial. In answer to this interrogatory, we beg to submit the following : We offer the affidavits of George W. Conway and Patrick Rice to show that, on or about the 2d instant, the Mayor purchased from Howar ton & Conway fifty eords of wood, for which they received a check on the City Treasury for three hundred dollars, being at the rate of 86 per cord. That check is still in the hands of Howarton & Conway, unpaid. We show, by Rice’s affidavit, that a considerable portion of this wood, purchased for and paid by the city, was, by direction of one of the officers Ixllo is under the order of the Mayor, carried to and delivered in the yard of Foster Blodgett. When Conway sold the wood, it was contracted to be delivered in the yard of the City Hall. Com ment upon this transaction is unnecessary.— The whole affair speaks for itself, and shows that the present Mayor has paid the money of the city for the fuel which heusesinhisqirWate family. We submit further affidavits, which show competent and efficient officers have been dis charged from the service of the city because they would not vote in obedience to the in structions given them by Foster Blodgett at the election held for members of the conven tion. It will be seen by these affidavits that Foster Blodgett, then Mayor, stated to several of the city employees that unless they voted for him (he being a candidate for the conven tion,) and the convention that they would be discharged. There is no doubt, no equivoca tion on this point. The Mayor openly, and we say shamefully, prostituted his high office to the dirty work ot the partisan, and boldly avowed his determination to ostracise every one who failed to vote for him. We challenge the production, from the history of past ex citing elections in this county, a single instance in which a person holding an honorable office has openly used his official position and power to promote his private ends by such ignoble and improper means as these certificates show Blodgett to have used. We show, further, that Foster Blodgett, some time last fall, and just before the election for the State convention, gave to one J. E. Bryant a pass over the Augusta & Savannah Railroad, from Augusta to Millen, ostensibly on city bu siness, but in truth and in fact, to enable the said Bryant to appear at a negro meeting held that day at Millen. The fare of this person was, by Blodgett’s direction, charged to the city, and cheeks have been given for its pay ment by the Treasurer. These facts we prove by the affidavits of C. M. Cheeseborough and Joseph T. Philips, clerk and conductor on said road. We show, by the affidavits of Ed. L. Miller, conductor on the Georgia Railroad, that Foster Blodgett, just prior to the convention election, gave an order for a certain negro in this city, named Beard, to be passed over the said road at the expense of the city, to and from Berzelia, in said State. All these affidavits show that other passes were given by Blodgett to persons who, we believe, were not entitled to them. We show, further, that Foster Blodgett has, in open violation of law, ordered the release from the city jail of persons convicted ofcrime and undergoing punishment by legal sentences of the courts, and that one at least of these ne groes is a notorious thief and robber. We show, by sworn testimony, that the officers of his ap pointment and und-r his direction have so managed the work of the chain gang, composed of convicts for crime, as to make their punish ment a farce. This is shown in the affidavits of Theodore C. Bridges, who has been for some time jailor of the city prison, and who is well acquainted with all the facts of which he speaks. We show that the expenditures of the city for the past year have been much greater than they ought to have been, and it is no sufficient reply to this charge to say that the City Treasu rer’s hooks show that the expenditures for the last year were less than the year previous.— The sworn statements which we submit on this point show that the previous Council expended large sums for the permanent improvement of the city; that during the war the Turknett Springs Water Works fell into decay and were renewed at a cost of about 814,600; that the great freshet of the spring of 1865, which over flowed the city, so damaged the streets and drains as to require a large outlay for their re pair, amounting to about §21,657 82; that the bridge across the river was repaired at a cost of about §11,200 ; that the increase and prevalence of crime growing out of the disorganized con dition of society just after the war required a heavy police force, which was furnished by the previous Council at great expense, and which then so effectually performed its duty as to en able the Council to decrease the force before the expiration of their term of service ; that a large sum was paid by the previous Council for indebtedness incurred by the city previous to the war on account ot River Water Works, It is true, this latter sum was paid by the issue of bonds, but it is charged on the Treasurer’s book against Council as cash. We have shown, by affidavits of business men, bankers and brokers, that the city bonds have decreased in value under the present reign from 70 cents (for which they were selling j when the present Board came into power) to . 50 cents now, and that the Council have order- ed the issuing of §125,000 worth of new bonds, which will not bring in the market more than 20 cents, if so much as that. We submit, fur ther, that the Treasurer’s books do not, from the manner in which they are kept, show the indebtedness of the city, and do not show the amounts of indebtedness contracted and in curred by the presen'. Cour oil, which is still un paid. We know that large amounts are now past due and unpaid, and that, while the honest creditors of the city have been clamoring for their pay, the books show that the Mayor has been regularly drawing his increased salary at the rate of §5,000 per year—more than any offi cer in the State receives, the Governor’s salary being only §4,500, Judges of the Supreme Court §3,500, and Judges of the Superior Court only §2,500. One other point we desire to call the atten tion of the Commission to and we have done. We approach tire subject with reluctance, and would not now have referred to it but a sense of duty to ourselves and to the good name and reputation of our city require it. It is this: The memorial to Gen. Meade states that the present Mayor has been indicted by a Grand Jury in the District Cburt of the United States, at Savannah, Ga., for perjury—that a true bill for this infamous crime is now pending against him We presume that a matter of such public notoriety will not be disputed, but in case it may be, we present a communication from the assistant Postmaster of this city, certifying that Foster Blodgett has been removed from the City Post Office on account of the finding of a true bill by the Grand Jury in the District Court against him for perjury. We submit that it is highly improper that a man charged by a jury of his country and, in Blodgett’s case it may be said, almost of his own selection, with a erime involving so much of moral turpitude, should preside over the affairs of an honest people. A due regard to the opinion of mankind should, in our opinion, have induced him to resign, temporarily at least, the high position which he holds, until the charge of perjury could have been fully in vestigated and a verdict made in his favor. We say, further, if a man against whom a true bill for perjury has been fairly found by a Grand Jury ol the country is unfit to hold the subor dinate position of city Postmaster, how much more unfit he is to preside as the chief execu tive officer ot a city like our own ? But it is not alone because the Grand Jury have found a true bill for perjury against Blod gett that we ask his removal from office. We submit affidavits from John D. Butt, Ker Boyce, Dr. M. J. Jones and G. E. W. Nelson, to show that Blodgett has wilfully misrepre sented to these gentlemen facts which he knew to be false. He stands, by these affidavits of four respectable citizens, convicted of delibe rate falsehood, and we insist that, if the state ments ol these gentlemen are true —and which we are sure will not be questioned—Foster Blodgett is unworthy to hold the position of Mayor of this city. We submit, in conclusion, that we have ad duced positive evidence in proof of all and each of the charges made against the City Council (except, perhaps, the specification in the first charge as to the increase of the May or’s term,) and we are induced to believe that it the Commission has entered upon the inves tigation of this case with an eye single to the ascertainment of truth, and with a determina tion to examine till its details without preju dice for or against either party, that they ea come to no other conclusion but that the charges are well founded. From Atlanta. Atlanta, January 16th, 1867. Mr. Editor : The city is full, of rumors and as one among them your enterprising correspondent hastens to lay before you a most important forthcoming document, to perfect the bayonetizing of the State, as follows: Headquarters, &c., ? Atlanta, &c. 5 General Disorder, ) No. 5,00.2. y I. Sergeant Pat McGinnis, Co. I. and lance-corporal Friedrich Stinkelheimer, Co. Q, 999th Infantry, U. S. Army, are here by" detailed for duty as United States Sena tors from the State" of Georgia. They will draw straws for the long term and repair without delay’ to Washington, D. C., and there enter on the discharge of the duties devolving upon them, subject to instruc tions from these Headquarters, e/ce those Hindquarters, late of this district, relieved. 11. Privates Hobbs, Nobbs, Bobbs, and Spitzeerinctus, Co K ; Private Fluggins, Co. O; Druni-major Thump and Sutler Stickem, 999th Infantry, U. S. Army, are hereby detailed for duty as Representatives in Congress from the State of Georgia, subject in all respects to the provisions of paragraph two of section 1 of this Disorder, save that there shall be no drawing of straws, as therein directed. Privates Hobbs, Nobbs, Bobbs, Spitzeerinctus, and Fluggins, Drum-major Thump and Sutler Stickem will, there being that num ber of scats to be filled, play Seven-up for first choice. 111. Should there be any’ obstacle inter posed by The Constitution to the execu tion of this Disorder, as directed, that affair will be at once demolished as having de clined to respect the instructions of, and failed to co-operate with, these Headquar ters, vice those Hindquarters, relieved, Com manding. By order of General Meander. A. Bassvial, A. A. G. This announcement will fill every trooly loil heart with joy. Several of the lead ing Republicans of Atlanta have already called on Private Fluggins, and the New Ery is to have a poem on Drum-Major Thump in the morning. It begins: “ Oh I Thump, my noble Thump, Thou art going to ths Rump That bolds away— B ess the day— Over all America ; But remember the Era, When thou art far away, For it* very fond of Pay; So don’t forget thy friend, When at thy journey’s end, Noble Thump I” The whole poem is very beautiful. There are also other indications of patriotic fer vor in this connection in various quarters, but time does not permit me to dwell upon them as I would, though I may say that the prevalent sentiment here is, that we stand by General Meander as long as the money holds out. The new constitution progresses finely. Five lines have been adapted in three days. There is to be no imprisonment for debt, and as soon as the convention passed that section, it went out and bought enough paper collars and red eye on tick to run it a year. This is true wisdom. A disloyal man attempted to read an ordinance the other day against miscegenation. Mr. Bryant said, “I ‘carnt’ allow it.” Mr. Richardson said, “I‘wunt’ stand it.” Mr. Bradley fixed his.eye-glass on the offender, and had him brought to the bar of the house. The Committee of the Whole sat on him. This action fully demonstrates the mingled power and magnanimity of the best Gov ernment the world ever saw. In the lan guage of the Ery, when hard up for some thing to say, “ this is as it should be.”— Miscegenation is one of those relief meas ures by which we hope to carry the new constitution. Tire conservative members of the convention are going to withdraw Christmas. There is an ugly kind of forgiveness in this world a—kind of hedgehog forgiveness, shot out like quills. Men take one who is offended, and set him down before the blow-pipe of their indignation, and search him, and burn his fault into him, and when they have kneaded him sufficiently with their fiery fists, then they for give him. [From the National Intelligencer. A Military Despotism Impending. Ever since the destructives in Congress cut loose from the restraints imposed by the Constitution, and sought to justify their flagrant infractions of that instru ment by the unworthy pretext of a “ne cessity” resulting from the rebellion, their whole aim and the drift of their entire poli cy has been to subvert the Government of our fathers, and to establish a military des potism on the ruins of the Republic. At the beginning of the war, it was pre tended that the limitations of the Constitu tion rendered the Government feeble against such an organized resistance as the com bined and compact South presented. When that deception was exposed, by an exhibi tion of moral and material power oh the part of the Executive Department, trans cending any preconceived idea of its au thority, the conspiratots resorted to other means for accomplishing their infamous plot to overthrow our republican form of government. Radical Senators and mem bers ot the House, enjoying in a large de gree the confidence of their party, were open and unreserved in depreciating dis paragement of the obligations of the Con stitution, and equally bold in demanding a “stronger” government. Finally, when the surrender of Lee changed the circum stances, and by removing the pretended cause silenced these alarming utterances, another resort was adopted by the enemies of free institutions. Peace 'having been proclaimed, and the object of the war, as solemnly declared by Congress, having been attained by tlie com plete suppression of the rebellion, the ques tion came up, in what manner the States lately in insurrection should resume their normal relations to the Union, and by what means this desirable result should be brought about. Mr. Lincoln immediately initiated a policy, and went so far in Virginia as to authorize the military com mander to assemble a Legislature elected under Jefferson Davis to carry it out. The proof of that fact exists, and was submitted before a Congressional committee in the President’s own handwriting. Mr. Johnson soon came upon the scene, and took up this policy exactly ■where Mr. Lincoln had left it, and endeavored to execute his incom plete idea with uprightness and fidelity.— That purpose, however, did not suit the scheme of Congress, which had secretly de termined to prevent its consummation, and to subject the South to the treatment of conquered provinces. Hence the rupture wit’n Air. Johnson, and the unscrupulous hostility with which he has since then been pursued. Congress repudiated its own re peated declarations, turned its back upon every principle for which the war had been prosecuted, and commenced that system of tyranny, outrage, and cruelty which has led to tlie present sad condition of the country, and provoked the unanimous judg ment of the civilized world against us. When it is asked upon what authority, or by what right this system has been im posed, tlie unblushing answer of the chief conspirators like Stevens is, that it is “out side the Constitution.” They have tlie au dacity to confess the illegality of these proceedings, and presuming upon military power exercised by their obedient instru ments, they mean to enforce them at any risk, if the people will tamely submit to that oppression. The time has come when the dangers of such a crisis as these desperate men seem determined to force upon tiie country must dot be treated with levity. They have en neavored, by the most reckless measures and the rankest injustice, to trample tlie Southern States down to the degraded con dition of Poland, as a crushed province; but with the more revolting feature that negroes just emerged from barbarism are put over the intelligence, virtue and re l linement of those States as the controlling political power. Every wicked device and malicious ingenuity has been applied, in order to make the success of this infamous scheme more sure. One phase of recon struction has succeeded to another, each more offensive than the last, and all intend ed to punish, with the blackest and mean est vengeance, a people who are submis sive and obedient to the law, who are suf fering and starving, and who only beg for peace and the privilege of earning their bread by the sweat of their brow. Sorrow and destitution sadden every fireside, and yet, in the midst of this gloom and desola tion, there am men calling themselves Christians and legislators who are base enough to seek out new modes of punish ment, and to invent forms of cruelty that would disgrace the Inquisition in its dark est days of terror and crime. Not satisfied with the pains of tyranny already imposed upon the South, the con spirators have now devis 'd another and a more odious contrivance, by which it is in tended to strike down at a single blow every safeguard and protection under the Constitution, whether executive or judicial, and to deliver over the country manacled into tlie hands of a military dictator, in the person of General Grant, who is to govern by his individual will, and to disre gard all law but that which his directory shall fabricate for the occasion. This is but the beginning of the end. The real de sign is to subvert the Government and to establish a military despotism, first by the subjugation of ten Southern States, and then, by means of the power thus acquired, the whole Union. This conspiracy was hatched three years ago, and has been in creasing in proportions in the degree that the country has seemed occasionally to sanction the usurpations of the rump Par liament calling itself Congress. Now, when it is evident that the popular voice condemns the outrages which have been perpetrated, and that the destructives will be swept away by a current of indignation such as no party ever before experienced, desperate leaders have determined to em ploy the sword as their only resource of preserving power. They have succeeded in captivating certain military chiefs with the promise and prospect of unlimited rule, and this experiment is to be tried, unless the courage of the conspirators fails at "he final pinch. Let the country, then, be not betrayed into a false security upon the vague belief that such a peril is remote. The public liberties are menaced by an organized and powerful conspiracy, and unless the people rise up in their strength and majesty to protect their freedom, our boasted Republic will pass away, as others have done before, and become the victim and prey of military rule. This Radical Congress knows and admits that its party cannot exist while the Constitution is preserved, or the distinctive divisions of authority under it continue to endure. Hence, they have resolved to crip ple the Executive until he shall become the mere shadow of a name, and to so limit the power of the judiciary that it can exercise no constitutional function. Having thus tied the hands of tlie President, and dis armed tlie Supreme Court, it only remains for Congress to assume the prerogatives of both, to clothe itself with all the attributes of supreme power like the French Direc tory, and then to confer its direction to General Grant, trusting to his sword and the regular army to do the rest. This is the programme, and we are now on the very verge of tlie precipice. We are no alarinists, but on tlie contrary, would avoid all cause of excitement. Still it is impossible to close our eyes to tlie startling facts which rise up daily before us, or to shut out from view the strides which these revolutionary schemes have recently taken. The most serious perils are imminent, and it would be criminal to disguise them, or to deceive the country into a dangerous repose, from which it may at any moment be roused by the boom of cannon, announcing the fall of the Republic and the reign of a military despotism. [From the Newark Avertieer, Jan. 9. A Steam Man- A WONDERFUL PIECE OF MECHANISM. The old adage which proclaims that “ there’s nothing new’ under the sun,” has been daringly and yet successfully refuted. Mr. Zadock Deddrick, a Newark machinist, has invented a man; one that, moved by steam, will perform some of the most im portant functions of hu*nanity, that will stand upright, walk or run, as he is bid, in any direction a.id at almost any rate of speed, drawing after him a load whose weight would take the strength of three stout draught horses. The history of this curious invention is as follows : Six years ago, Mr. Deddrick, the invent or, who is at present but twenty-two years of age, conceived the novel ideal of con structing a man that should receive its vi tality from a perpetual motion machine. — The idea was based on the well known me chanical principle that if a heavy weight be placed at the top of an upright slightly inclined from a vertical, gravitation will tend to produce a horizontal as well as ver tical motion. The project was not successful. How ever, by observing carefully the cause of the failure, preserving and perfecting the man-form, and by substituting steam in place of the perpetual motion machine the present success was attained. The man st inds seven feet and nine inches high, the other dimensions of the body being correctly proportioned, making him a second Daniel Lambert, by which name he is facetiously spoken of among the workmen. He weighs five hundred pounds. Steam is generated in the body or trunk which is nothing but a three-horse power engine, like those used in our steam fire engines. The legs which support it are complicated and wonderful. The steps are taken very naturally and quite easily. As the body is thrown forward upon the ad vanced foot tne other is lifted from the ground by a spring and thrown forward by the steam. Each step or pace advances the body two feet and every revolution of the engine produces four paces. As the engine is capable of making more than a thousand revolutions a minute it would get over the ground, on this calculation, at the rate of a little more than a mile a minute. As this would be working the legs faster than would be safe on uneven ground or on Broad street cobble stones it is proposed to run the engine at the rate of 500 revolutions per minute, which would walk tlie man at the modest speed of half a mile a minute. The fellow is attached to a common rockaway carriage, the shafts of which serve to support him in a vertical position. These shafts are two bars of iron which are made fast in the usual manner to tlie front axle of tlie carriage, and are curved so as to be joined to a circular sustaining- bar, which passes around the waist, like a girth, and in which the man moves so as to face in any direction. Besides the motions, machinery has been arranged by which the figure can be thrown backward or forward from a vertical, nearly forty-five degrees.— This is done in order to enable it to ascend or descend all grades. To the soles of the feet spikes or corks are fixed which effec tually prevent slipping. The whole affair is so firmly sustained by the shafts and has so excellent a foot hold that two men are unable to push it oveß, or in any was throw it down. In order to enable it to stop quickly, it is provided with two appliances, one of which will, as before stated, throw it backward from the vertical, while the other bends the knees in a direction opposite to the natural position. An upright post, which is arranged in froiffi of the dash-board, and within easy reach of the front seats, sustains two miniature pilot wheels, by the turning of which these various motions and evolutions are directed. It is expected that a suffi ciently large amount of coal can be stowed away under the back seat of the carriage to work the engine for a day, and enough water in a tank under the front seat to last half a day. In order to prevent “ the giant ” from frightening horses by its wonderful appear ance, Mr. Deddrick intends to clothe it and give it as nearly as possible a likeness to the rest of humanity. The boiler and such parts as are necessarily heated will be en cased in felt or woollen under garments.— Pants, coat and vest, of tlie latest styles, are provided. Whenever the fires need coaling, which is every two or three hours, the driver stops the machine, descends from his seat, unbuttons “ Daniel’s ” vest, opens a door, shovels in the fuel, buttons up the vest and drives on. On the back, between the shoulders, the steam cocks and gauges are placed. As these would cause the coat to set awkwardly a knapsack has been provided that completely covers them. A blanket neatly rolled up and placed on top of the knapsack perfects the delusion. The face is moulded into a cheerful coun tenance of white enamel, which contrasts well with the dark hair and moustache.— A sheet iron hat with a gauge top acts as a smoke stack. The cost of this “ first man ” is $2,000, though the makers, Messrs. Deddrick & Grass, expect to manufacture succeeding ones, warranted to run a year without re pairs, for S3OO. The same parties expect to construct, on the same principle, horses which will do the duty often or twelve ordinary animals of the same species.— These, it is confidently believed, can be used alike before carriages, street cars and plows. The man now constructed can make his way without difficulty over any irregular surface whose ruts and stones are not more than nine inches below or above the level of the road. Messrs. Bolen & Crane, at whose works this wonderful affair has been built, have just completed a hardly less marvellous, though by no means as novel a machine. It is a leather splitter, for the Newark Pa tent Leather Company. It is so nicely con structed as to split, with ease and facility, hides to such extreme thinness that the va riation of the knives of a fractional part of the thickness of a sheet of writing paper, would destroy the work. The machine is to be sent to Paris within a few days. Discontented. —We are informed by a gen tleman, who overheard the conversation, that, on the day of our municipal elections, last Saturday, an aged Virginia negro was in town watching the working of the machine. Some of our Knoxville sovereigns spoke to him about the blessiugs of their freedom, as exem plified in the scenes before him. Said the Vir ginian :“ Go way dar, nigger! You don’t know what you talkin’ ’bout. Talk ’bout free dom ! Boy, its jes’ like Confed’rit money—de more you hab, de wus off you is !” After that the Virginian had to leave that party. [ Knoxville Press. Never chase your own hat when it blows off; just standstill and you will presently see half a dozen persons in pursuit of it. When one has captured it walk leisurely towards him and re ceive it with graceful acknowledgement. He will invariably act as if you had done him a I ivor.
