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About Weekly constitutionalist. (Augusta, Ga.) 185?-1877 | View Entire Issue (June 23, 1869)
THE WEEKLY OOKBTITUTIONALIBT WEDNESDAY MOKNINO, JUNE 28, 1869 Clßb OM«i for the Weekly Conetltutlon- RlUt. That every one may be enabled- to sub scribe, and receive the benefits of a live jour nal, we offer the following liberal terms to Clubs : 1 Copy per year - - • - f3 00 3 Copies per year - • - - 7 50 5 Copies per year - - - - 12 00 10 Copies per year - - - - 20 00 We trust that every subscriber to the paper will aid us in adding to our list. OBOPS AND OUBBEN / NEWS. Our subscribers and friends In the coun try will confer a favor on us and our nu merous readers by sending us items as to crop prospects and general news in their different sections. We trust that each subscriber will consider himself a special correspondent for the C’onstitu- TiosAMS%and thereby add to the interest of the paper. MR. STEPHENS AND MR. BENNETT. The New York Herald Is amazed at Mr. Stephens’ recent letter on the causa can sans of the late war. It says : «On both horns of the dilemma, slavery and State sovereignty, he is transfixed. The man is merely mumbling in his sleep who talks at tills day of the constitutional Union. It went down in the deluge with African slavery.” That’s an explicit confession, and makes the Northern cause a sham and hypocrisy. Having declared the impossibility of are turn to State Rights, the TTrraUl speaks of the alternative of Imperialism thus: “ VVc cannot restore the Bourbons. We must go on. Railways, steamships and telegraphs have taken the place of South ern abst ructions and the old stage coach of five miles an hour and the old clipper ship passage of six weeks across the Atlantic. Rip Van Winkle, after ids twenty years’ sleep, was nearer the time of day than Mr. Stephens.” All that refers to our progress may be true and still leaye Mr. Stephens ns a vigilant observer of the times rather than a political somnambulist. What Rip Van Winki.kism is there In the sharp, clear and incisive proposition of the great Georgian, which nmy lie summed up thus: The ship of State, (pardon the metaphor), is drifting on a turbulent sea without chart or com pass, and dreadfully Water-logged. To what destiny shall she drift—Anarchy, Imperialism or Republicanism V With a drunken or reckless pilot on board she must strand on the reef of Chaos. With nil unprincipled helmsman she will drive on the rocks of Imperialism, With a navigator of the old school site may reach the haven of Republicanism. Now Mr Stephens fears what the Herald avows, viz: that a ship-master of the old school cannot get on Imard because of the pirates wlio have taken possession of the good cratt; ami so, he predicts that, empire is the crag gy port to which she inevitably tends. The Herald says no old fogy of a cap tain can possibly reach the ship's deck. Very well, says Mr. Stephens, then the pirates will force her into the harbor of Imperialism. Granted, rejoins the Herald, lint we must let her plunge on. Mr. Ste phens still hopes that a savior may some how scramble to the post of danger. Rut the JlcraUl is determined to make his at tempt as difficult as i>ossible. We do not Set* any Rip Van Winki.kism in the alter- natives presented by Mr. Stephens, bat wo do see that the Jlerakfa spasmodic attacks upon the ImperiMit newspai'er are Just what the editor of that sheet describes them to be—mere pretense.- In an article entitled James Gordon llknnetj, the Im perialist says t “ All who have watched the career of Mr. Bennett are aware how persistently he has abused the Infancy of every great move ment, except In cases whore he could*bet ter smother by seeming fhvot', and with what unvarying regularity he has. In alter days of prosperity, fawned, and groveled, and demanded ‘ consideration ' for his ser vices as nurse, If not as parent. Now, knowing as we do that the owner of the Herald Is strongly monarehiul, opposed not only to Republicanism but to that Free Empire to which we are pointing, but which he cannot comprehend, we can have j no doubt that Ik-fore long he will attempt j to take our powerful anil growing move- : ment under his protecting wing and claim J it as hi® own." The prediction the Imperialist would j sewn to be in swift "course of verification, i The fleroM declares that the “Constitution- i al Union of onr Withers went down in the deluge with African slavery." That is an ' exact copy almost of the everlasting re frain of the ImpetinUst. If the Constitu tional Union is forever at an end. Empire Is j the next thing In order, just as Mr. Stk- ! rawra presages and dreads. The fact; is, an open declaration of this great truth galls our Northern brethren so that they resort to all kinds of evasion to cs-1 ca)>cthe condemnation such an enunciation involves. When the American Republic eh .til have become an Empire, we should like to know how those honest dupes who fought for the Union ami the Constitution will feel. We fancy they will look upon the struggle of i he South with different less wretches tu bln*, who grind hand or g;tu« In Nortln in din s for a livelihood, teller! ltf iiMrrtii*i-e that - SsMh lali-s II THE SUPREME COURT AND NEGRO ELIGIBILITY. 4Thc question of negro eligibility, now before the Supreme Court of this State, occasions Intense interest, and, it may be that great excitement will foiiovv the report of the decision when made. Let ns somewhat anticipate the decision aud it* probable results. It seems to lie the opinion of those best informed that the Court will decide that the negroes are not entitled to hold office under the Constitution of but that they are entitled under nie Code.— That it is not a right secured by the funda mental law, but ft is a right under statute as the statutes on the subject now stand. AVe advance this opinion as the conclusion readied by such thinkers as have given the subject a thorough investigation and know the character of the officials who arc ap polntcd to solve it. We suppose that the Court will decide honestly as able jurists, with only so much of party bias as is in separable from human nature on doubtful points of construction. It is generally ad miMtd, we believe, the question 6f negro eligibility, under the Code, is not one free from doubt, or free front adverse and differ ent constructions. It is a subject,,too, upon which the ablcst%nd most honest jurists may differ. Hence, it may npt come amiss to admonish our people against undue de nunciation of the decisional' made as we anticipate it will be. We are so situated that we can only injure ourselves by re i fusing to bow to«“ the majesty of the law ” as expounded by the highest judicial au thority. This is the only hope for free in stitutions, ami it is our only hope, as we patiently endure even an unjust decision, trusting to time and justice for relief. Let us see what will be the effect of such a decision as we have foreshadowed. It will lie to put White In the office he claims, and all other negroes-, in the State offices to which they have been elected, except members of the Legislature. It can have no bearing upon that matter. That question lias been settled by the only courts having jurisdiction of it—that is by each House of the General Assembly. They alone have constitutional jurisdic tion of the subject, so far as their respect ive bodies arc concerned. They have de cided, so far as this Legislature is con cerned. Their decision, when rendered, was a judicial decision, which cannot now be reversed by themselves. All that coffld come of such a decision of*the Supreme Court, in the future, so far as relates to holding the office of legislator, would be to ujfr.lt as an argument in the next LegislaSlß, if the question should again come up in either House. It could not bind the Legislature ; for, by the Con stitution, each House is the sole judge of the election and qualification of its mem bers. No other court cun control that judicial judgment in the matter. matter, ns well as in all cases of oth'er of fices, can be easily remedied without any undue excitement, and without any injury except that of the temporary holding of office by the, few now elected, as before stated, under the Code as it exists. The Legislature, at its first session, if it see fit, can repeal that part of the Code and de clare by express law (as can lie done under the Constitution, If the decision be as we predicate,) that negroes shall not be entitled to hold any office in this State—we mean, of course, State offices. By keeping cool under- adverse circum stances, wo clarify our minds ami are pre pared to direct them toward prudent courses. Should the Supreme Court decide • |rs we have supposed, we must strive to moderate any promptings to Indignation, and go to work in business fashion to clear away the obstacles which now encumber our progress. That we can do so easily, and without passion, we have attempted to dqjnonstrate to the satisfaction of our readers. THE WARREN COUNTY TROUBLE. Forney’s Chronicle still keeps up Its dia bolical spite against Georgia, by means of false telegrams, as well as elaborate edito rials. Here is a special dispatch to that paper calculated to mislead the public: “ Atlanta, June 11,1869.—Reports from Warren county show that the Ku Klux have succeeded lu obtaining a judicial in junption restraining Sheriff Norris from making further arrests. The efforts of the military authority. acting through • the civil officer, to break up these insurrection ary organizations seem thus to be brought to a stop.” From the ear-marks, we should judge that the above dispatch emanated from the crafty brain of Evokne Davis, the “ Gov dVnor’s ” Secretary, who seems to have a natural proclivity for slander. The North ern iK'oplc are informed that the best citi zens of Warren county uuited to have the Injunction served ui>ou Nokkis. who came down upou them with a military array and a show of violence calculated to provoke, bloodshed and disorder. Preferring the ways of peace, the good i>eople of Warren sought such redress as the law permitted them, ahd stopped the flagrant invasions' of Nonius by legal process.. It should be known abroad that Judge Andrews, who sanctioned the writ enjoining Nonius from j further exercising and performing the du- j | ties of sheriff, until his right legally to! Ido so is judicially adjudged, is himself ]« Epubliedn, one of the most pronoun*- id Nepuldicans in the Stole, <ind holds his prss rnt ..[the an,Ur Goo. link’s Without this knowledge of his status, the iut.T'Vivnoo of Judge Avnnr.ws might U made to apis nr. and really Is made to ap is.ir, as farther evldeiuai of the “disloyalty" of our people extending even to the Judi ciary. We want the Washington OaooieU aud other trnlv loyal sheets to understand then, that tin rtlUeiis us Warren comity j ticlongs to tlie strictest sect of Radicalism ; that he holds his office by warraut of such I party ties and holds it from Mr. Forney's | dear friend “ Gov.” Bullock. It may be i lliat Judge Axduews has not yet ascended | info those higher regions of the-“ God and i Morality ” doctrine illustrated by the Grand High Priest, Attorney General Hoar; but he is sufficiently “ loyal ” for all decent Republicans and sufficiently honest, so far as jve know, to keep his judicial ermine free from the uttermost contamination of being the tool of designing partisans. The (H-ople/if Warren county were too well-ad vised and too well poised to play into the hands of those who wished to provoke them to deeds of wrath in order to effect their ultimate ruin. Because they resorted to the law instead of to arms, Bullock and Forney are chagrined and strive to effect their object by denouncing Judge An drews’ injunction as a triumph of the Ivu Klux. This move is completely checked when it becomes known that Judge An drews is a Radical Judge by Bullock's special appointment. Os course, the Chroni cle will not correct its telegram to this ex tent, but it is just as well that some of the honest people of the Nortli should be made acquainted .with the true state of the case. THE MILK IN THE COCOANUT. The late opinion of Attorney General lfoAit, concerning the status of Texas,given at the dictation of Beast Butler, the Na tional Boss, is well calculated to cause concern, now that the same worthies have the case* of Georgia under their malign consideration. Georgia is an obstruction to Radicalism, and must lie removed. Even the Radicals dislike the idea of •med dling with her witlfuut some mockeries of law, and so, a weak judge is to be made, perhaps, the instrument of vengeance. Commenting upon the peril of the hour, in this regard, the National Intelligencer says: “The fundamental idea that underlies the entire reconstruction business is this: Will thisor that State when ‘reconstructed’ vote with us or not? If it will, it is fully and properly reconstructed ; if it will not, it is uot reconstructed at all, and does not, in the cant of the times, ‘ possess a repub lican form of government.’ Georgia is no exception ; she must be judged by the same criterion as the rest. If she is not reliably Radical her reconstruction must lx; begun dc novo, and the State put again through tlie crooked and stormy ways to which a violent and usurping party resort when they wish to convert or coerce a .State to their all-destroying faith. The Union, of course is nothing to them. Constitutions and laws are nothing to them. The cry of the country for repose, that the Union may be completely restored, that bad and angry, passions may be allowed to subside, that industry should be revived, that taxation should lx: lessened, is nothing to them.— They care for nothing but the accomplish ment of their own infamous partisan pur poses, though iu consequence the people should be made mere hewers of wood and drawers of water, and the institutions of the country disintegrate and fall to pieces, to reappear, perhaps, in the form of an empire. “ AVi tli such a party as this, therefore, neither Georgia nor any other State need look for much justice or mercy. They-ac knowledge no principle of right, no law but the law of force, and would stick at nothing, however criminal, or cruel, or un justifiable, that seemed to them to be for the advantage of the Radical party. Hence, so long ds the South is in their hands, a State may be in the Union to-day, with its sitting members, as is the case with Geor gia, and out of the Union to-morrow, where Georgia is attempted to lie placed. There being with them no principle in tlie matter higher than party expediency, it is never possible to say when or how long a State is in the Union, or wliat will be attempted or what done, where they have the power. If all the States lately in rebellion are to be kept out, or put out, of the Union until tliev are innoculated with the virus of Radicalism, and consent to range them selves politically on tlie side of that party —and this seems to be what is threatened— who can tell, we ask, when the Union will ’be restored, and the country, with all its shattered and suffering interests, set at rest ?” As we have already declared, Georgia may be remanded, but she will not stay re manded. She will, in every lawful way, prove a veritable thorn in the side of her oppressors. As for the poor Union about which the Intelligencer has so much con cern, wc do not see how it can ever be re stored without those who still remain true to it rise in their majesty aud discard the tyrants who hnve,made it, and still make it, an impossibility. Groaning over the situation will never mend it. If men who were so prompt to crush the right# of others are slow to vindicate their own, they must lapse into the slavery they help ed fasten upon their victims. In Georgia and the other Southern States we are doing what we can to build up our waste places, and, though our insatiate foes may pros trate us still further, we shall still peace fully essay to build again in spite of ad verse fortune. A persistence of this sort generally survives the malice of genera tions aud has a tenacity surpassing the assaults of evil. But while we have been trained to endure the very worst, our Northern friends are just commencing their ordeal. We can do nothing to help them, the more as they are so impotent or so careless in the effort to help themselves. • Personal. —Wc were more than pleased j to welcome to onr sanctum, on Monday. 1 Major .1. A. Enof.lhakd, editor and co-1 proprietor of the Wilmington Journal.— 1 Major K. was one of the best and boldest of i Confederate soldiers, and, having beaten his : sword lute a pen, is now one of the most' u-i ful of our Southern editors. “ llcuHh itirt renown To bU hr »ve young crown !’* —>*«■** St'HTDK hy a Yov.no Lady. —We learn that Miss Mason, a young lady from the neighborhood of Wetumpka, who was visit l tug an estimable family in the lower por tion of tlila county, committed suicide ou Friday last, by taking strychnine. She left a note stating that she was tired of life I'he dec. naed belonged to a g.sid family, | aud fine social |s»ltU)n, and was In all re *ll*4lll i4«t it hi it tMtmuMi' vlv " Secretary Seward. HIS EXPERIENCE AS A SOUTHERN SCHOOL TEACHER. j A correspondent of the Rochester Ex press relates the following episode of Secre ! la ry Seward’s early career, which he had I from the statesman's own lips: “ Spending an evening at his house a few ' vcnrs ago, during that strange lull, or po ! jitical maze that preceded, and as I have Mnce often thought, to his practical eye and ear, heralded the four years’ storm of blood and fire that, for a little time, at least, purified the political atmosphere, so that the Goddess of Liberty was no longer believed to be an African slave; the con versation at length turned to the ‘ irrepres sible’ subject. I naturally desired and eV cn hoped to gather from his wisdom some possible solution of the difficult problem by other means than the bloody sacrifice. He had been Governor of the Empire State, also United States Senator. Some of the ablest political papers had is sued from his pen. He was believed to be a statesman, a scholar, and a man of thought. But when he showed the true nature of the difficulties, and their vast extent, and many complications, and said honestly that he could see no way to untie the Gordian knot, the appaling figure of tlie ‘ irrepressible conflict’ —the death ol slavery or the death of the Republic—was present as never before. I had perhaps held this as a theoretic truth, and at times had uttered it as a note of warning; but now I felt what that truth meant,. He spoke with deep and heartfelt sympathy for the South, and, much as Southerners hated Seward, he was the only friend that could and would have helped them, at any sacrifice, had they not been too demented to-be helped by any friend— He showed liow the evil had grown up, til! tlie Southern people could neither en dure its ills nor suffer the application of only remedy. ‘ Bad as is the condition of 'tlifi* blacks,’ said he. ‘the scourge is not light elsewhere.’ He then alluded to the fact that tlie yellow fever had existed in New York city under the lostering care of slavery, as then it did in New Orleans, re ferring to the deterioration and deprecia tion of the soil and universal relapse to barbarism observed everywhere within slave territory. ‘But worst of all,' said he, ‘is the degradation of the mind and body of the owner of the soil himself under this blighted process.’ And then, as if to enliven the conversation, he said: ‘To illustrate this point I will relate my ex perience in school teaching down South. When I was in my Sophomore year 1 ran away from college and went to , m Georgia, and opened an academy, which soon prospered under my earnest efforts, and I soon acquired a great popularity, and was enjoying the new field of labor very much, when my father found out my hiding place and sent for me to return to college, and 1 was compelled to leave my successful enterprise, to the great sorrow of my patrons and pupils, who could be reconciled to my departure only by my promising them that I would send the best young man in the college to-take my place. 1 returned to my studies as the best I could do iu fulfillment of my promise to my new- j found friends in Georgia, sent them my excellent young friend, Mr. W , of the senior class, an excellent scholar and a finished gentleman. “ After the close of the Congressional session which had meddled with the tariff, to flic great indignation of the South, oil leaving tlie Senate, business called me to New Orleans, and when about to start for home a great desire possessed me to return through Georgia and visit the scene of my school teaching, arid see how the academy and niv talented successor had prospered. My course in the Senate was known at the South, but I felt safe until the cars arrived at , the former scene of my labors as teacher, when on looking from the window 1 saw some savage looking faces, and the first words I heard: 4 What In the h—l is Seward coming here for?’ Not enjoying this kind of, hospitality, I still did not like to come out of my way and not effect my object; I got out of the car. Every one looked so ferocious I hesitated to. inquire my way. I saw a large, fat, greasy, dirty man, without coat or vest, sitting with aimless stupidity on a bench. I thought it might be safe to inquire of him; but, on a nearer inspection, he was so repulsive to look upon, in disgust, I turned aside to a cleanly and decently dressed negro, and asked if he could tell me where I could find Mr. W., of whom I was iu search. Cast ing his eye about, he fastened it upon .the lump of obesity I had just rejected, and with a’polite bow, pointing to him, says: 'That is Mr. W !’ There was no escape for me. On inquiry I Ibund that he was what was left of my sißcssor in the Academy. “On learning who I was, he was (up to the measure of his capacity) right glad to see me ; took me. to his house, which was as tidy as its lord, and introduced me to his wife. I learned that he had married a plantation, and settled down and enjoyed himself many years, free from the petty annoyances of the pedagogue and desper ate excitements and turmoil ol‘ the political arena. But set out to find the dear old spot where I taught my first school. At last I came upon the place where the academy had been. But the osage orange, that iu the days of my principalsliip had been an adornment, had continued to thrive, with no hand to check its wanton growth, till it had completely covered and hidden firoiu view the entire building, which was inaccessible to me. School was dis missed, and the schoolmaster was— where ?” COMMENT OF THE COLUMBUS SUN. If the above report has been published just as it came from the lips of Seward, his deep seated malignity, which torments the people of the South’ will not permit ijim to state matters correctly, or advancing years have destroyed the memories of his early manhood. If he ran away from col lege’iu his Sophmore year, he lied to aud imposed upon his patrons in the county of Putnam, for he advertised himself as a “graduate" and competent to teach al! the branches of learning taught in T'forthern colleges. We think slippery Billy has not forgotten as to why he left the dear patrons am? pupils, but hopes that it has been for j gotten in Georgia. The popular legend in Putnam about this matter runs as follows: Bi'.lv had a stroug’taste for miscegenation, tlie ’grand principle of the Radical party, which he afterwards created, and ho pro ceeded to mix his cold blood with thajftof emotional nigger. The natural result was one or more mulatto babies. As lie 1 lived in one of the most intelligent and re | tinesi communities in the State, ids con i duct was distasteful to ids patrons, who | did uot consider him proper companion and teacher for their children, lie was ’ consequently discharged and departed in ‘disgrace. And till* was not all. lie basely ; deserted Jds offspring*, and left them in the Ponds of slavery. IYrhii|>* ho was not able : amply alile since, hut they have not »» yet W’oi'se still', ld» child*u >\. re one protthr tinkling his little bell, and committing men sud women to the Bastiles of the- Aiorth, e laid violent hands on a gentleman of Northern birth, but who had long resided iu the State of Georgia, and imprisoned him in Fort Warren. His offence-was some uncomplimentary' remarks concerning one Abraham Lincoln. A friend of the prisoner, a very prominent gentleman of this btate, immediately wrote to Robert Ould, Esq., Confederate Commissioner of Exchange offering to purchase Seward’s mulatto bastards, and to exchange them for his im prisoned friend. The offer was not ac cepted. . , There are some mulattoes now in tne city of Macon, demanding a share of the property of a deceased citizen of that place, upon'the ground that they are his children. Several similar instances have occurred since the war. In one case the party came armed and prepared with a written opin ion on the subject from his “ friend, Chief Justice Chase, and then intended to make a case in tlie Supreme Court of the United States. If these parties were in the opin ion of Judge Chase entitled to a distribu tive share of their alleged father’s estates, we would-be pleased to know if Seward’s nigger children have not claims of Gie highest consideration upon him. We sub mil to Howard, him of the “ Buro,” if this is not a violation of the “ Civil Rights Bill ”by Bill Seward. And if Grant will not order the army to interfere in this mat ter to see justice clone, should not the Kadi* cal party-, before its final dissolution, which is splendidly approaching, see to it that the record of its first and greatest apostle be made clear and without re proach. Northern journals please copy. Ex-Secretary Seward as a Georgia School-Master. Richmond. Va., June 18,1869. To the Editor of the Enquirer and Examiner: In your issue of the 9tli you publish a notice of Wm. H. Seward in connection with a school in Georgia, which was very complimentary to him, but you did not know, perhaps, that he was forced to de part rather hurriedly from, that section on account of an unpleasant miscegenation scrape with a colored housemaid belonging to the family in which he boarded, thus in early life .demonstrating what in later years lie publically proclaimed, “ the doctrine of miscegenation,” as peculiarly his own. An old and reliable gentleman who lived in the immediate neighborhood at the time, assured me that this was strictly true ; lie recollects the young man well, liis populari ty in the outset, and his hasty exit, with the‘indignant scorn of the whole com munity. W- Drifting to an Empire. THE TENDENCY OF THE TIMES—A REMARK ABLE LETTER FROM HON. ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS. The Hon. A. H. Stephens has written a long and elaborate letter to the National Intelligencer, giving his views as to the prime cause of the war between the North and the South, and closing with some j speculations as to our political future. We copy the concluding paragraphs of the letter: “And now, Messrs. Editors, do you ask, Cut ho no ? Why so much written upon the dead issues of the past, when questions of so much magnitude of a practical char-, acter press upon the public mind? If so, the reply is two-fold. First, to vindicate the truth of history, which is itself a high duty on the part of any one who has it in his power to do it; and, in tlie second place, to show the people of these States, iu this vindication, not only the true cause, the real '■causa causans' of the late war, but the real cause of their present troubles. -The Federal-machinery for the last ten. years has bem abnormal in its action. It inust be brought back to the Jeffersonian doctrines, and' made to conform in its workings with the organic principles of its structure, before there can possibly be a return of the days of peace, harmony, prosperity, and happiness, which formerly marked pur course. There is no hope for constitutional liberty on this continent. Judge Nicholas may ‘dream dreams’ about another constitutional amendment, pro viding it new mode of electing the Presi dent, but the remedy lies in no such device as that. It lies simply in bringing back tlie government in its administration to original first principles. This is to be done not by secession, however rightful and efficient a remedy that might be. That is abandoned. Nor is it to be done by force or violence of any kind, except the foroe of reason and the power of truth. It is to be done, it» at all, at the ballot-box. Free institutions are more generally lost than established, or strengthened by a re sort to physical force. They are eminently the achievement of virtue, patriotism and reason. That our institutions, and even’ nominal form of government is now in great danger, the prudent, sagacious and wise everywhere virtually admit. An able editorial in your own paper, uqt long since, put the pertinent and grave question, ‘Whither are we driftingi’ To this ques tion I take the occasion for one to give you ! a direct and positive answer. We are drift- j iug to consolidation and empire, and will land there at no distant period as certainly as the suu will set this day, unless the peo-! pie of the several States awake to a proper ! appreciation of the danger, and save them- j selves from tlie impending catastrophe by arresting the present tendency of public j affairs. This they can properly do oulv at' the ballot-box. All friends of constitu ! tional liberty, in every section of the State, ! must unite in this grand effort. They, | must seriously consider, and even recon : skier many questions to which they have rgiven but slight attention heretofore. They : must acquaint themselves with the princi | ides of their government, and provide ; security for the future by studying and cor j rectiug the errors of the past. “This is the only hope, as I have stated, : for the continuance of even our present : nominal form of government. Depend upon , it, there is no difference between consolida tion and empire! No difference between centralism and imperialism! The end of either, as well as all of these, is the over throw of liberty and the establishment of despotism. I give you the words of truth in great earnestness—words which, however received or heeded now, \v*i 11 be rendered eternally true by the developments of the ! future." “Yours, niost respectfully, Alexander 11. Stephens.” A steam generating apparatus for lire en tfines, widen, it Is asserted, keeps the water In the boiler constantly hot, at an expense of seven cents a day, has recently been test ed bv the chief engineer St the Newark, N, •L. Fin Department. At the trial an alarm was cmmnunicahHl by the telegraph, tlie horses were attached, aud the steam engine a counter minutes from the time the alarm [From the Ami-Slavery SundarJ. Wendell Phillips on the Pacifie Railroad. Air hail and farewell to the Pacific Rail road. The telegraph tell ns that the In dians have begun to tear up the rails, to shoot passengers and conductors on the road. We see great good in this. At last the poor victim has fdund the vulnerable spot in his tyrant. “ Thank God, America has resisted!” cried Lord Chatham. Our feeling is the same. For seventy years or nfore the Indian has begged this great na tion to attend to his wrongs. His cries have been unheard. Ruthless and unheed ing, we have trampled him down; To-day the worm turns and stings us. Last year Indians destroyed locomotives and shot conductors. Timid Durant for bade the telegraph wire's to report the fact. He trembled for his road. To-day fifteen thousand warriors on the war path—a‘ thousand miles of exposed road—this rail way, the pet plaything of the American people! Would our words could reach every Indian chief! We‘would tell him, lay down your gun, but allow no rail to’ lie between Omaha and the mountains “ The accursed code ” is O’Connell’s best weapon, said Shell. The Pacific Railway is the Indians’ Alabama. Every blow struck on those rails is heard round the globe. Haunt that road with such dan gers that none will dare use it. Some men may think us needlessly ag gressive. No citizenship, they may say, would be a better remedy. Yes, bv-and by. At present, citizenship means little.— Heaven forbid that we should betray the Indian to such protection aS “ citizenship ” gives to the Georgia negro and loyalist— No, we are thankful the Indian has one de fense that the negro never had. He i| no citizen and has the right to make war— Well may he use that last right, and never yield it till “ citizenship " means more than it does now* An Abolitionist may well glory in these red men. When, in 1865, General Sanborn carried to the Seiniuoles the news of eman cipation, they instantly set their slaves free. But, more just than we, they pro ceeded at once to divide their possessions with them fairly—shared with them their - pension money, and last Winter, in Wash ington, were’specially earnest to secure such a teacher as these emancipated men would prefer. When, two or three years ago, Sherman’s commission met the In dians, Navajoes refused to come into con ference unless their women could be admit ted on equal terms with themselves to share the debate. Could these men be persuaded to undertake, for a few years to come, the. task of reconstruction ! What a saving of time ! What a saving of honor! Earnestly do we wish that this nation could rise’ to the level of once doing an act of justice from pure and simple motives of honesty and duty. But it does not seem as if this level would ever be reached in our day. In default of that we rejoice to see tlie nation scourged to its duty. Long and weary were the years of blood and misfor tune that finally broke us into willingness to emancipate tlie black. May our stub bornness yield sooner and easier in this matter of the Indians. It seems probable. By the time Congress assembles again, we think its members will’be ready—as they never have been —to listen on this topic. • The 'sad' and ponderous documents stored in the Capitol will, at least, be read, and we shall learn that a nation by its owncon-. fission alwaVs in the wrong must seek some other path out of its troubles than by sending butchers to waste treasure and blood ill the vain effort to “ exterminate” a braver race than ours. Wc spent a hun dred millions really—fifty confessedly—to “.exterminate and remove ” the Seminoles from Florida. Bat there are everglades in Florida to-day where no white man enters, and which the Seminole still holds. If this be the case in-Florida with a thousand Seminoles, how likely are we to “ extermi nate ” twenty thousand such, spread over the boundless West ? Sherman is barter ing tlie glories of Atlanta for defeat, utter and shameful and well deserved, on the prairies. Wendell Phillips. The Jackson Tragedy.— The Memphis Ledger, of Thursday, publishes tlie follow ing: “Col. Yerger had a previous difficulty with Col. Crane, growing out of this same transaction. During Yerger’s absence to this city, Crane caused a very valuable piano belonging to Yerger to be seized and sold, and became the purchaser himself at a mere nominal sum. On Yerger’s return he demanded personal satisfaction of Crane. This was refused by Crane. At the time of tiie homicide tlie parties had met in the street, and Yerger denounced Crane, to which Crane responded by an attempt to cane Yerger, and in defense of himself Yer ger drew his knife and inflicted the wound which proved fatal. . “ The public should be slow in making their verdict against Yerger, as there are many mitigating circumstances connected with the affair which will show that Yer ger acted in self-defense. “ The conduct of Crane was grossly out rageous and aggravating, and the dispatch first sent is a one-sided affair, and evident ly 'gotten up in the interest of the Radicals,, as it comes from the Radical operator at Jackson.” LATER. “ A gentleman who came from Jackson yesterday states that Yerger challenged j Crane and that Crane refused to fight him. | Yerger then denounced him on the street. | Crane was armed and finally drew a pistol, j whereupon Yerger closed upon him with i the knife. Crane was formerly in the army, : but had been mustered out of service, and I at tlie time of his death was Mayor of the j city by military appointment. Yerger’s I piano was sold for city taxes, and consid erable telegraphic correspondence had taken ■jilace on the subject while he was here.” How Circumstances Alter Cases.— ls common rumor and almost daily newspa per reports can be believed, it is a warrant able conclusion that an expedition to-Cuba ! leaves onr shores—and often right under ! the eyes of the United States' officials—on an average, at least, once a week.. Now, 1 this may be all right. We do not sav it is not. But. when filibuster (naval) elpedi , tions left English ports to help Southern rebs,’’ we all kiiow how bad we felt about it—and how we are now insisting upon John Bull, not only to pay, but to apolo- I gize for it. Again—it /used to “ rile ” us when the English papers spoke of Jeff. Davis as “ President Davis.” But now—every day we see journals that used to be most indig i mint thereat, speaking of the Caban rebel i general as # President ” Cespedes—before tlie United States Government hn* recog nized him as a “belligerent,” even. We repeat, these things may be ail right, we don’t say they are not, yet one cannot i help thinking, how, with some folks, cir | euiustances alter ease*. [Aete York Express, Griffin Niws—‘Tin- Hiddh Georgian say* that at the election, last Thursday, on - ript.on to th Griffin mid North Alabama im r< a*i and 4H against ft. Comparatively
