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tUrrfelD JutfUtgfDffr.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA,
Wed needay, December 27, 1865,
Letter from Gorenor IcaklM.
OFFICIAL RECOGNITION FROM WASHINGTON OF
OCR STATE ORGANIZATION.
The following letter from Governor Jenkins
confirms the telegraphic announcement in on*
paper of yesterday morning. This will be pleas
ing intelligence to every son of Georgia, and in
it we recognize the first dawn of light upon our
glorious old commonwealth:
[From the Journal A Messenger ]
Milleduevillk, December $0,1863.
Editor* Journal <t Messenger :
% Gentlemen—Believing the intelligence con
veyed in an official telegram, received to-day
from Washington, will gratify the people of
Georgia, I Bend you a copy of it for publication.
Please furnish a slip to the other papers of your
city in time for their issues of the 22d:
Washington, D. C., Dec. 19,1865.
To Hit Excellency, the Governor of the State of
Georgia.:
Hm—By direction of the President, I have the
honor herewith to transmit to you a copy of a
communication which has been addressed to His
Excellency, James Johnson, late Provisional
Governor, whereby he has been relieved of the
trust heretofore reposed in him, and directed to
deliver intewyour possession the papers and prop
erty relating to the trust
t have the honor to tender you the co-opera-
tion of tho Government of the United States,
whenever it may be found necessary, in effecting
the early restoration and the permanent prosper
ity of the State over which you have been called
to preside.
* I have the honor to be, with great respect,
your most obed’t servant, W. H. Seward.
A copy of the communication to Hia Excel
lency Governor Johnson, referred to in the
above and of the same tenor, accompanied it I
trust that the people of Georgia and their public
servants will prove to His Excellency, the Pres
ident of the United States, that his confidence
has not been misplaced.
Respectfully, etc., Charles J. Jenkins.
Southern Claims for War Looms.
The resolution introduced into the House of
Representatives of the Congress of the United
States by Mr. Boutwell, instructing the Jndiciaiy
Committee to Inquire whether any of the citizens
of the Slates, declared to be in insurrection by
Mr. Lincoln, are entitled to compensation for
iossos during the war at the hands of the Federal
authorities, and which was adopted by the House,
is thus commented ou by the New York Newt:
“ The justice of Mr. Boutwell’s resolution is
one of very wide application. The suzerainty
under which tho Federal Government made war
upon the South, holds it bound in the duties of a
sovereign to his subject. Rebellion against a
Lord Paramount does not nullify his obligations
to individuals, but rather holds them in tempo
rary suspension. While the people of the region
of a territorial civil war are, as a whole, placed
to the suzerain in the attitude of enemies, all who
can show that they were not “ enemies ” are, we
believe, entitled to compensation lor, at all events,
all damage done them by his forces outside the
actual necessities of war. This would cover a
great breadth of injury inflicted upon the people
at the South. In the rear of the Federal lines
the rights, and with them, therefore, the duties
of the aiiegcd Lord Paramount, had certainly
been restored; and we consequently believe that
all the destruction of property which has been
done by our troops inside our lines in Virginia,
in Kentucky, in Tennessee, in Louisiana, con
stitutes lawful claims for compensation. This,
too, opens to the Judiciary Committee a field of
justice and humanity, whose breadth will, we
hope most earnestly, not act as a bar of their
recognition.”
The report of such a committee, if it ever does
report, will be looked to with great interest. So
many thousands have claims for losses sustained
hands of the Federal authorities, that but
few, we apprehend, will ever be paid, however
just may be their claims. Congress for the next
fifty years will be called upon to legislate on such
claims. The past history of toar claims is a
lesson for the fbture.
Telegraphic.—We are indebted to the Macon
Journal d> Messenger for the latest telegraphic
news from Washington, which we publish entire.
This paper is exhibiting more energy than any
paper in Middle Georgia. We cannot see why
the Atlanta papers don’t wake up a little. We
know they are making money enough to justify
the outlay. We have tried the telegraph a little,
but their charges are so exorbitant that we hate
to stand it; but the city papers of Atlanta could
surely make combinations by which they could
give the news.
The people don’t want old extracts from North
ern papers—they want live news. '
We clip the foregoing from the Griffin Star.—
The compliment paid our Macon cotemporary is
merited by that excellent journal. So far as this
journal is concerned, the reference to it as one of
the Atlanta impels, is in bad taste, coming from
a journal that “lias tried the telegraph” but
would not “stand it.” We, too, have “tried it,”
but it would not work ahead of the mail, and was
therefore ot no use to us. Perhaps it will do bet
ter ere long, and we shall then try it again. In
the meantime, if tho public, need “lice news" the
Griffin Star can at least tell all seekers after it
where it may be found, a business we are content
it may pursue.
A Pastoral Letter.—Wc commence the
publication to-day of the pastoral letter from the
Pre6byterial General Assembly which recently,
after a most interessing session, adjourned at Ma
con in this State. We regret that wo have not
space enough tor the insertion of the whole letter
in one issue ot our paper, the demands npon our
columns preventing this; but the remainder of it
we shall publish to-morrow. This letter it ap
pears was presented to the Assembly by Dr. Wm.
Brown, and perhaps emanated from his pen.—
Let the author however, be who he may, for pu
rity of diction, logical force, and exhalted Chris
tian charity, the document has rarely if ever been
surpassed. The policy adopted by this influen
tial denomination of Christians to preserve their
oiganization as a Southern Church, independent
of the Northern Church, is one to be approved.
Under all circumstances, the memories of the past
and views promotive of the future prosperity of
the denomination, this action of the General As
sembly was imperatively demanded of it
To our readers we commend a perusal of this
most excellent and able pastoral letter, which we
copy from the Macon Telegraph.
It will be gratifying intelligence to our peo
ple to know that rapid progress is being made in
the establishment of mail facilities for Georgia.
Below we give a list of a few officers that have
been recently re-established:
Canton, Cheokee county, L. Holcombe.
Manassas, Bartow county, Miss M. F. Brown.
Kingston, Bartow county, N. H. Eddy.
Allatoona, Bartow county, John Hooper.
Tunnel Hill, Whitfield county, J. D. Stephens.
Tilton, Whitfield county, Wade H. Harris.
Trenton, Dade county, E. T. Rogers.
Roswell, Cobb countv, Thos. D. Adams.
Powder Springs Cobb countv, A. J. Kiser.
Cumming, Forsyth county, J. R. Knox.
Hickory Creek,‘Forsyth countv, J. W. Orr.
Alpharetta, Milton county, O. P. Skelton.
Dallas, Paulding county, S. L. Strickland.
Bowden, Carroll county, T. 9. Garrison.
Floyd Springs, Floyd’county, Miss E. C. Mc
Cullough.
Stilesboro, Bartow county, J. F. SproulL
Van Wert, Polk county,'J. C. York, jr.
Summerville, Chattooga county, Phillips.
Augusta Market.— 1 TConstitvtionahst of
the 22d says:
Cotton.—We quote a brisk demand for good
cotton at 40 to 42. There is very little, if any,
demand for inferior quality. The advices from
abroad have had a favorable influence on our
market, and, as a consequence, much activity pre
vails, and prices have taken an upward ten
dency.
Gold.—The gold market has been more active,
■with a good demand at 147. Brokers’ rates are,
buying 147, selling 14?,
We have received in manuscript, the fol
lowing from the gifted gentleman who proposes
to write a biography of bis friend, one of the
most eloquent and able of Alabama’s sons and
of Southern statesmen, and comply with his re.
quest to give it an insertion in our columns:
FROBPECTC8 OF THE LIFE OF WILLIAM LOWNDES
YANCEY.
I have undertaken to write an authentic bi
ography of William Lowndes Yancet, of Ala
bama, and for this purpose have been entrusted
by. the family with his private papers. Hi* dis
tinguished and gifted brother, Hon. Ben. C.
Yancey, of Georgia, has promised to give me ail
the particular information I may require and
every possible facility for the work. I hope to be
able to complete, the book of about SOD pages,
octavo, and get it to the public during the next
year. Many years of the closest intimacy brought
me thoroughly acquainted with the character, the
principles, objects, and motives of my lamented
friend. He is beyond the reach of human perse
cution. History demands a fair and impartial
record of life. I stand fearlessly before her au
gust tribunal in the hearing of posterity to plead
tor justice to bis memory.
I solicit subscriptions to the book. It will be
sent by Express, or otherwise, to any direction.
Due notice will be given of its price, which shall
be reasonable, with fair deduction to the trade.
Attention of Booksellers invited. The edition will
be sufficient only to supply the subscribers.
The Author begs of his friends, without fur
ther or more formal application, to send him any
information or letters of Mr. Yancey which may
contribute to his work, and will gratefully ac
knowledge any good offices which may be ren
dered him in its prosecution.
It may be proper for me to Btate that I am
loyal to the Government, and that my work hu
no treasonable or factious design. I shall write
the truth in the interests of history, humanity and
my ecuntry. I shall do this as befits the sad and
sacred formal rites I owe to the hallowed memory
of a great-hearted, true and Christian friend.
"Thou art Freedom's son, and Fame's,
One of the few immortal names
That were not born to die!’’
Wm. F. Samford.
Auburn, Macon co., Alabama, Dec. 8,1865.
The “ Asher Ayres.”—This is the name of
a new steamer of 188 tons of very light draft, built
at Long Island, N. Y., by Webb & Bell, and
owned by that public spirited citizen of Macon
after whom it has been named, and Drigham,
Baldwin & Co. also of that city. She is described
to be a fine steamer, and is intended as a freight
and passenger boat on the Altamaha River, with
capacity \o carry 1,200 bales of cotton, and to
accommodate handsomely from 25 to 80 cabin
passengers.
If the steamer “Asher Ayres” proves to be
as reliable s boat, as the gentleman after* Whom
she has been named has proved reliable as
a business man from bis early manhood to
the present day, then she ought to be full freight
ed ou every i rip she makes, and her cabin filled
with passengers. There are some of us, now in
the “Gate City," who once walked the streets of
Macon on a refugeeing excursion having the fear
of one General Sherman in our rear, who can
never forget, when others looked askant at us.
that the gentleman referred to looked us full in the
face, kindly grasped our hands, and not only ten
dered, but extended to us favors, much to be ap
preciated at the time. Long life to him, and suc
cess to his boat!
—M M
The New York Times of the 16th instant,
commenting on the latest action of the House ou
the admission of the Southern delegates to seats
in Congress, says:
It cannot be overlooked at this crisis that the
action of the Senate was more in harmony with
the policy which has guided the President
throughout his whole course iu dealing with the
unrepresented States. While the Senate was de
liberating on this very question of a Committee,
the President was preparing a dispatch to the
Provisional Governor of Georgia, approving of
the inauguration of the Governor elect, Judge Jen
kins; and while heartily approving of the course
of the former, recommending him to issue no
commission to members of Congress, but to "leave
that for the incoming Governor." Anticipating,
by a few hours only, the moderating action of
the Senate on the House resolution, the Presi
dent says, in the same dispatch: “ Why can’t you
elect a SenatorT' No one will be disposed to the
belief that this dispatch was not known to the
majority who voted, on Tuesday, iu the Senate,
on the question of a Committee. Most people
will be inclined to believe that the favorable pro
gress in Georgia, which elicited such emphatic
approval from the Executive, was one ot the
strongest inducements to the majority in the Sen
ate to retain in its own hands the right of open
ing its doors to the members from individual
States, without abiding the adoption of a concur
rent resolution as submitted by the House.
The majority that followed Mr. Wilson ou
Thursday doubtless acted from what they con
sidered the highest motives of patriotism in un-
doiug, as far as possible, the agreement between
the two Houses. But it will shortly be seen, we
doubt not, that tho nearer the policy of the Ex
ecutive and of Congress harmonizes, the safer,
the surer, the speedier and the more satisfactory
will be the work of restoring all the States to
their true relations to the Union. The President
does not invite the election of Senators from
Georgia without knowing that there has been an
honest conformity in that State to the require
ments laid down in his plan of reconstruction.—
It is a question mainly, then, as far as Georgia is
concerned, whether the President’s policy has
the approval of Congress, or lias it not. The
credentials of the individual delegations that
present themselves will, of course, be still a mat
ter for thorough Congressional scrutiny. But
aside from that, a decision on the claims of such
States as Georgia and Tennessee must now re
solve itself into an approval or disapproval of
the Executive policy in dealing with the whole
broad question of the rehabilitation of the un
represented States.
In another article the same paper thus refers
to Governor Jenkins:
The Governor Elect of Georgia.—What
ever may have been thought of the shape given
by Judge Jenkins to the action of the Georgia
State Convention, of which he was confessedly
the leader, bis recent course must receive the
approval of the entire loyal North. Unanimously
elected Governor of Georgia, he yields gracefully
to the decision of President Johnson, that he
shall not at present enter upon the discharge ef
his duties, and in a letter to the Legislature, the
tone of which is admirable and unexceptionable,
postpones his inauguration until the national Ex
ecutive Rhall indicate its willingness that the cer
emony should take place. If the newly elected
Governors of Mississippi and some other South
ern 8tates had manifested the spirit exhibited by
Judge Jenkins, and shown themselves as anx
ious to comply with the wishes of President
Johnson as they were ambitious to assume au
thority they could not exercise, the work of re
storation would have been both simplified and
expedited.
We abe pleased to notice the following com
pliment paid to a young friend, the son ot the
late Hon. Francis H. Cone of this Stats, who it
appears is now in the city of New York engaged
in the practice of law:
Theodore C. Cone, of Georgia.—On Mon
day last in the Superior Court of New York, on
motion of Mr. Charles O’Connor, Mr. Cone was,
ex gratia, allowed to make an argument for Mr.
O’Connor, in an 'important insurance case, in
volving the value of the cargo of the ship Morti
mer Livingston, wrecked some two years ago
near Cape May.
The motion'of Mr. O’Connor was made neces
sary by the fact that Mr. Cone’s admission to the
bar of this State is delayed by the non-arrival of
a certificate of his having been a member of the
Geoigia bar.
We have heard his argument spoken of as
evincing much ability and research, and as prom
ising him an honorable place among our metro
politan lawyers.—N. T. News, IStA instant.
The population of the Sandwich Islands is
now about four hundred thousand, and that peo
ple have reached quite an advanced stage of en-
lightment, being well supplied with newspapers,
books and schools. As sn evidence of their civi
lization it is mentioned that in their courts they j
have trials for murder, peijury, polygamy, bur
glar}*, assault and battery, larceny and all other
crimes known to civilized society. Business and
general industry are flourishing, and on the whole
the islands are doing well. The coolie labor
system has recently been inaugurated, but has
not yet been sufficiently tested to enable a judg
ment of its results to be formed from actual ex
perience.
A PastarsI Letter,
from the Presbyterian General Assembly to the
Churches under their Care.
Beloved Brethren in the Lord: Such
were the convulsions of the country and inter
ruptions of travel last'spring, that a meeting of
the General Assembly of our church at the tune
appointed was impracticable. It has been now
convened under circumstances of peculiar inter
est, involving the gravest responsibility. From
this fitet arises the special duty of addressing a
pastoral letter to the churches under our care, by
which they may be the more comfortably re-as
sured concerning various points of great import
ance connected with our position, and be coun
seled in faitliful love concerning the solemn obli
gations' resting upon them.
That these weighty matters may be the more
distinctively set before you, let the following
points, concisely presented, be brought under
your prayerful consideration.
I. Our relation to the dcil governments of the
Country : The storm of x~ar lias, during the four
years past, swept over nearly every part ot our
bounds; a war so vast in its proportions, so bit
ter in its animosities, so desolating in its effects,
as to make it an astonishment to the nations. Its
sacrifices in treasure and in blood, its public
losses and private griefs, swell beyond all calcu
lations. As to its particular causes, or upon
which party rests the blame, chiefly or wholly—
these are questions which the church of Christ
has no commission to decide. Beyond a doubt,
however, its great root is to be found in those
lusts which war in the members. Of these it be
comes us to own our full share, and because of
them, to humble ourselves under the mighty
hand of God.
During the prevalence of this war, “the higher
powers” actually bearing rule over most of our
bounds, and to which under the word of God we
were required te be “subject,” were the Govern
ment of the Confederate States, and those of the
several States constituting it. By the event of
the war the first has been overthrown, and the
second, as constituents thereof, are changed. The
“higher j lowers” now bearing rule over us are
confessedly the Government of the United States,
aad those existing in the States wherein we re
side. The rigbtfulness of these several authori
ties, or to which of them the allegiance of our
people as citizens is primarily due, are matters
upon which a judicatory of the church ha9 no
right to pronounce judgment. The relation of
the church of Christ to civil governments is not
one dejure, but de facto. As right and good, or
wrong anu wicked, they rise and fall by the
agency or permission of God’s providence. In
either case the attitude of the church towards
them is essentially the same. As long as they
stand and are acknowledged, obedience is to be
enjoined as a duty, factious resistance condemned
as a sin. But in regard to conflicts between ex
isting governments, or movements in society,
peaceful or otherwise, to effect political changes,
the church as such has no more control over
them than it has over the polls of the country.
If it has authority to uphold on the one side, it
has equal power to condemn on the other; if to
suppress a political movement, then also to insti
gate it. In truth it has neither; and to assert to
the contrary is to corrupt the church in its prin
ciples, forever embroil it with the strifes of the
world, and plunge it headlong into ruiu.
Under these views, and considering the extra
ordinary conflict through which the country has
passed, as well as the extraordinary circum
stances in which it is now placed, it is incumbent
upon us to exhort you, brethren, to “obey them
that have the rule over you, and submit your
selves. Fulfill with scrupulous fidelity all your
obligations to the government of the land, re
membering the duty of this compliance, “ not
.only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.”—*
“For so is the will of God, that with well doing
ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish
men.”
II. Our relation to the Church: It is not necessa-
we should here minutely define the nature of the
Church. It is enough to say that it is a king
dom, though in the world, yet not of it; that it
is a body of which Christ is the sole head; pur
chased by his blood to the exclusion of all other
power; and that it is united to Him by the bond
of faith. From this living Head the members
receive all their vitality, control and protection.
It is therefore a spiritual body. Its sole commis
sion is to preach the gospel to every creature,
and it is called to that holy living which the gos
pel enforces.
It follows from this according to the admira
ble statement of our Confession of Faith, chap.
31, sec. 4, that—“Synods and Councils are to
handle or conclude nothing but that which is
ecclesiastical; and are not to intermeddle with
civil affaire which concern the commonwealth,
unless by way of humble petition in cases extra
ordinary ; or by way of advice, for satisfaction
of conscience, if they be thereunto required by
the civil magistrate.
It is equally clear'from this and what was be
fore observed, that the civil magistrate or milita
ry ruler has not the shadow ot a right to restrain
the freedom of the Church, by excluding its own
chosen pas tore and imposing others, or closing
its houses of worship, or visiting pains and pen
alties upon its ministers or members for using
tbeprivilege of worship.
Jww often both of these great truths have been
trampled into the dust within a few years past,
melancholy facts most fully attest. Of all such
utter confusion of the things of Caesar with the
things of God, it becomes our people to beware,
and against it to faithfully bear witness.
The events passing before us, bring up with
fresh power the importance of keeping iu mind
this very point,, this vital truth, that the Church
of Christ is indeed a spiritual kingdom, and is
therefore like Mount Zion that abideth forever.
The Church is safe through the deluge, but only
in her own ark, not in the ark ot the State. It is
owing to this fact, and to this only, that she can
ride out the storms that leave the' shores of this
world strewn with the wreck of everything
which the hand of man has constructed.
But it. is our desire, brethren, to counsel you at
present concerning the special relation you sus
tain to this part of the church with which you
are more immediately connected. Four years
ago we were constrained to organize a separate
General Assembly. This was done ‘because of
an attempt by a part of the church to impose a
yoke upon our consciences, “which neither we
nor our fathers were able to bear.” Our testi
mony upon this and other points of great inter
est, is before the Christian churches of the world,
in the address made to them by the General As
sembly of 1861; and we are willing the impar
tial judgment of men should be passed upon the
question, as to where the sin of schism lies, if
any exist. The organization was formed out of
elements among the oldest in the history ot the
Presbyterian church in this country. It carries
with it nearly one third of the whole original
church, embraces a territory of twelve States.—
It embraces 10 Synods, 47 Presbyteries, 1,000
ministers, and about 70,000 church members, and
was effected and has been continued with a una
nimity which has hardly a parallel in the history
of such movements. It was not made to sub
serve any political or secular interest whatsoever.
The reasons for its continuance not only remain
as conclusive as at first, but have been exceed
ingly strengthened by events of public notoriety
occurring each succeeding year.
It may be proper at this point to declare con
cerning other churches in the most explicit man
ner, that, in the true idea of “ the communion of
saints," we would willingly hold fellowship with
all who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity;
and especially do we signify to all bodies, minis
ters and people of the Presbyterian church,
struggling to maintain the same time-honored
confession, our desire to establish the most inti
mate relations with them which may be found
mutually edifying and for the glory of God.
But whilst earnestly exhorting you to walk in
love towards all your fellow-chnstians, peculiar
circumstances, well known, make it our plain
duty to put you on your guard against attempts
to disturb .and divide your congregations. We
are a branch of the church, as complete in our
oiganization as thoroughly distinct and harmo
nious, and secure In our prospects as any other
in the land. Appreciating this fact, we are sure
common self-respect, to say nothing of a jealons
care for the honor of the church will repel all
unworthy attempts of men who may lie in wait
to deceive and to cause you to fall-from your
own steadfastness.
III. Our relation to the negro population.
The extraordinary circumstances in which, by
recent events, this people are now placed, and
our relation to them, is a subject too immense to
be passed over in silence. The former relation
between our citizens and most of this population
was that of master and servant. The address of
our General Assembly, before referred to, con
tains a lull, unequivocal, and the only deliberate
and authoritative exposition of our views in re
gard to the matter. We here re-affirm its whole
doctrine to be that of scripture and reason. It is
the old doctrine of the church, and the only one
which keeps its foundations secure. That ad
dress contains, among other statements, the fol
lowing :
“We would have it distinctly understood that
in our ecclesiastical capacity, we are neither the
friends nor foes of slavery; that is to say, we
have no commission either to propagate or' abol
ish it. The policy of its existence, or non-exist
ence is a question which exclusively belongs to
Europe, and the despotisms of Asia, the doc
trines of republican equality, as to preach to the
governments of the South the extirpation of
slavey.”
This relation is now overthrown, suddenly,
violently; whether josQy or uqjustly, in wrath
or in mercy, for weal or for woe, let history and
the judge of all the earth decide. But there
are two considerations of vital interest which still
remain.
One is, that while the existence of slavery
may, in its civil aspects, be regarded as a civil
question, an issue now gone, yet the lawfulness
of the relation as a question of social morality,
and of scriptural truth, has lost nothing of its
importance. When we solemnly declare to you,
brethren, that the dogma which asserts the inhe
rent sinfulness of this relation is unscriptural and
fanatical; that it is condemned not only by the
word of God, bat by the voice of the church in
all ages; that it is one of the most pernicious
heresies of modem tunes; that its countenance
by any church, is a just cause of separation from
it, (1 Tim. 6,1—5.) We have surely said enough
to warn you away from this insidious error, as
from a fatal shore. -»
Whatever, therefore, we may have to lament
before God, either for neglect of duty towards
our servants, or for actual wrong while the rela
tion lasted, we are not called, now that it lias
been abolished, to bow the head in humiliation
before men, or admit that the memory of many
of our dear kindred is to be covered with shame,
because like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, they had
bond-servants born in their^wn house, or bought
with their money; and who now, redeemed by
the same precious bloed, sitWown together in the
kingdom of God.
The other consideration connected with this
subject is the present condition of this people.—
We may righteously protest that with their
wretchedness, already incalculably great, that
with their prospects, to human view, dismal as
the grave, our church is not chargeable; that it
may hold up its hands before heaveu and earth,
washed of the tremendous responsibility involv
ed in this change in the condition of nearly four
millions of bond-servants, and for which it has
hitherto been generally conceded they were un
prepared. *
But in this dispensation of Prov idence which
has befallen the negroes of nte Southern States,
and mainly without, their agency, your obliga
tions to promote their welffl^ though diminish
ed, have not ceased. Debtors before to them
when bound, you are still debtors to them free.
You are bound to them notjS?Ty by the ties of a
common nature, a common **in, but a common
redemption also. They have grown up around
and in your households, have toiled for your
benefit, ministered to your comforts and your
wants, and have often tenderly, faithfully nursed
you in sickness. They are still around your doors
and in the bosom of your cofBtnunity. Many of
them are your fellow heirs of salvation. To
gether with you they need it; greatly need it,
for time—for eternity. We are persuaded you
will not turn away from them in this day of their
imagined millenium—we fear of terible calami
ty. Do all you can for theirIbest welfare, and do
it quickly, for they already begin to pass rapidly
away. “By pureness, by knowledge, by long
suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by
love unfeigned, by the word of God, by the ar
mor of righteousness on thevight hand and on
the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report
and good report, let it be shown to all men tliat
nothing shall withdraw the sympathy of your
heart or the labor of your hand from a work
which mast of necesity and ever rest chiefly upon
those who dwell in the land, not upon tiie stran
gers who visit it. If their condition is made bet
ter, if souls are plucked as brands from the burn
ing, you will have the comfort of knowing that
you were under God instrumental in such happy
results. Should our worst fears be realized, and
their doom be sealed, you will have a pure con
science at the bar of the final judge.
We haye thought it important to re-9tate the
ters; you have had sorrow upon sorrow. It was
the path your Savior trod, and He wifi grant you
in it the comfort of his love, and the fellowship
of his spirit. Some of our dear brethren in Christ,
and some of them in the ministry, have bad cruel
mockings and scourging*, have suffered stripes
and imprisonments, and the loss of all things.—
Our prayer has been with you in your commu
nity. Cast your burdenon the Lord, and He will
sustain you. Pemember that the Church of God
has often passed through the heated furnace, bat
the form of the Son of God has been seen with
her, and she is still unconsumed. “The bush.”—
said Rutherford, that great light of the Church
of Scotland—“The bush has been burning these
four thousand years, -but no man hath seen the
ashes of that fire to this day.” Be faithful unto
death. Very soon -will all these troubles end,
and your home be reached where no enemv shall
ever enter, and from which no friend shall ever
depart. . . -
• We desire to tell you, dear brethren, and with
thankful, jovful hearts, liowgood we have felt to
be here. We liave taken sweet counsel together,
and gone to the house of God in company. We
are in peace and love one with another. No
strife distracts our beloved Zion. We depart to
our homes thanking God and taking courage,
resolved to stand in our lot and labor with a
more unreserved devotion for the upbuilding of
that only Kingdom that cannot be moved.
Receive the words of instruction and exhorta
tion, which in the fulness of our hearts we send
to you, greeting.
“And now, brethren, we commend you to God,
and to the word of his grace which is able to
build you up, and to give you an inheritance
among all them that are sanctified.”
“The God of all grace, who hath called us unto
his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after wlmt ye
have suffered awhile, make you perfect, establish,
strengthen, settle yoa”
“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love
of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost
be with you all. Amen.
The foregoing letter is to be read in all the
churches ou the second Sabbatii iu February
next, and published as a tract by the Committee
of Publication.
great principles here presented, not because your
faithful devotion to them is doubted, but because,
as those who watch for your souls, wc “ would
not be negligent, putting you always in remem
brance of these things, though ye know them,
and be established m the present truth,” and
because, to the reproach of religion in many
places, they have sunk out of , view and brought
the church into perilous times.
Bear with us now wliile we would, in faithful
love, counsel you concerning the solemn respon
sibilities resting upon you. _
Think, first, of the magnitude of the work
thrown upon our hands.
We find ourselves with our two theological
seminaries much shattered in their resources.—
Most of our colleges are financially disabled,
many almost ruined. Many of our houses of
worship are despoiled or laid in ashes, our peo
ple impoverished, our ministers scantily sup
ported. We are indeed deeply afflicted; but
shall we therefore draw back, sink down into
despair, leave our beloved cb£ck to sit in sack
cloth, and gross darkness to ixiver the people ?
Every heart cries out, “ This must never be! ”—
On the contrary* our church must invigorate and
extend all her present schemes of action, as well
as embrace new ones as they offer themselves.—
If so, then she must address herself to this work
with an energy she lias never yet known. But
how shall she be strengthened for it ? Allow
us, in a few words, to remiud you of old, well-
tried principles; for our rules* and plans need
keeping rather than mending, and there is ample
room prepared within the scope of our cherished
schemes for bringing out of the grave an untold
treasure of buried talent, and making it useful in
the Master’s cause. To effect this,
We must have a supreme consecration to God.—
“Ye are not your own, ye are bought witli a
price,” must be engraven more deeply upon our
hearts. The great practical drawback in the
church is, not that the consecration of its mem
bers is insincere, but that it is not habitually su
preme. It does not subordinate everything else
to the cause of Christ. Is it any wonder; then,
that the aim of life is 90 earthly, and the work of
life so feebly grasped ? If ever our Zion shall
arise and shine, it will be under the light of a
people intensely, constantly devoted to doing the
will of God. “Wherefore we beseech you, breth
ren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your
bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto
God, which is your reasonable service.
Remember that there is a <cork for all. One in-
fallable sign of a redeemed heart is a desire to
know and obey God. Its very birthcry is, “Lord,
what wilt thou have me to do ?” When you be
came members of the church, from the very na
ture of the transaction, some of its interest was
transferred to your keeping; you assumed a part
of its responsibility. In your profession, you
identified yourself with the Lord Jesus and his
cause.
Is this, however, a deep, or a very general im
pression? Is it not manifest that multitudes
come into the church with the feeblest conviction
of duty in view ? They seem hardly to know or
to care whether the Master has done such a thing
as to give to “every man his own work.” We
entreat you to remember that He has omitted
none of his servants in the great command, “oc
cupy till I come.” And it is only when in Him
the whole body is fitly framed together, and com
pacted by that which every joint supplieth, ac
cording to the effectual working in the measure
of every part, that it maketh increase to the edi
fying or itself in love.
If, then, contemplating the magnitude of our
work we shall consecrate ourselves supremely to
Him who gave himself for us, and then remem
ber that there is a work for all to do, what will
be the result ?
The treasury of the Lord will be full. There
will be such an outpouring by our people as has
□ever been known in our history. All experi
ence shows that the church has never been re
plenished in her operations by the ample bounty
of a few men, so much as by the collected mites
of her innumerable poor disciples. In this, as
in other respects, the history of the Free Church
of Scotland is full of instruction for us. Are we
poor ? So were they. But nobly did they bear
out with them, not only their grand testimony to
the supreme Headship of Christ as King in Zion,
but the burden also of sustaining every scheme
of benevolence necessary to the complete equip
ment of their organization. Are we afflicted as
well as poor ? So were the churches in Macedo
nia ; yet, “in the great trial of their affliction,
their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of
their liberty.” Let but this spirit thoroughly
pervade our people, and what shall we soon wit
ness? Yon will educate your ministry, and then
amply support them; and to do this you will
give a generous support to your colleges and
Theological Seminaries. You will supply your
people with the printed truth in every proper
form of it, and therefore you will give them the
Bible, the tract, and the religious volume. You
will plant churches where they are neededyou
will push church enterprise into every accessible
part of the land, until the wilderness shall blos
som as the rose.
And now, brethren, “if there be any virtue and
any praise, think on these things.” “Consider
what we say, and the Lord give you understand
ing in all things ” Strive to “stand complete in
all the will of God.” Strive to be “living epistles
known and read of all men.” Serve the Lord in
cheerfulness. Refrain from murmuring: pray
for a meek and submissive spirit. Desire more
that your trials should be sanctified than re
moved. So forgive your enemies that you may
be able to “lift up holy hands without wrath or
doubting.” Be humble, watchful, prayerful and
useful Do all in your power to minister to the
comfort of those who minister to you in holy
UrantW Report.
Headquarters Army United States, i
December 18,1865. f
To his Excellency, Andrew Johnson, President of
the United States
Sir—In reply to your note of the 16th insL,
requesting a report from me giving such informs
tion as I may be possessed ot coming within the
scope of the inquiries made by the Senate of the
United States in their resolution of the 12th inst.,
I have the honor to submit the following, with
your approval and also that of the Honorable
Secretary of War:
I left Washington on the 27th of last month
for the purpose of making a tour of inspection
throughout some of the Southern States lately in
rebellion, and to see what changes were neces
sary in the disposition of the military forces of
the country; how these forces could be reduced,
expenses curtailed, &c., aud to learn, as far as
possible, the feelings and intentions of the citi
zens of these States toward the General Govern
ment. The State of Virginia being so accessible
to Washington City, and information from this
quarter therefore being readily obtained, I hasten
ed through the State without conversing or meet-
ing with its citizens.- Iu Raleigh, North Caro
lina, I spent oue day, in Charleston, South Caro
lina, two days, and in Savannah and Augusta,
Georgia, each one day. Both in leaving and
whilst stopping I saw much and conversed freely
with the citizens of those States, as well as with
officers of the army who have been stationed
among them.
The following are the conclusions come to by
me: I am satisfied that the mass of thinking men
of the South accept the present situation of af
fairs in good faith. The questions which 'have
hitherto divided the sentiments of the people of
the two sections are slavery and State rights, or
the right of a State to secede from the Union.—
This they regard as having been settled forever
by the highest tribunal that man can resort to.
I was pleased to learn fromrthe leading men
whom I met that they not only accepted the de
cision arrived at as final, but, now the smoke of
battle has cleared away, and time has been given
for reflection, that this decision has been a iortu
nate one for the whole country, they receiving a
like benefit from it with those who opposed them
in the field and in the council. Four years of
war, during which law was executed only at the
point of the bayonet throughout the States in re
bellion, have left the people, possibly, in a condi
tion not to yield that ready obedience to civil au
thority the American people have generally been
in the habit of yielding. This would render the
E resence of small garrisons throughout those
tates necessary, until such time as labor returns
to its proper channel, and civil authority is fully
established. Th§ whites and the blacks mutually
require the protection of the general Government.
There is such universal acquiescence in the au
thority of the general Government throughout the
portions of the country visited by me, that the
mere presence of : military force, without regard
to number, is sufficient to maintain order.
The good of the country requires that the force
be kept in the interior where there are many
freedmen, or elsewhere in the Southern States.—
Those at forts, upon the sea coast, where no force
is necessary, should all be white troops. The
reasons for this are obvious, without mentioning
many of them. The presence of black troops,
lately slaves, demoralizes labor, both by their ad
vice and furnishing in their camps a resort for the
freedmen for long distances around. White
troops generally excite no opposition, and, there
fore, a small number of them can miintain order
in a given district.
Colored troops must be kept in bodies suffi
cient to defend themselves. It is not the think
ing men who would do violence toward any
class of troops sent among them by the General
Government, but the ignorant in some places
might, and the late slaves, too, who might be
imbued with the idea that the property of his
late master should by right belong to him—at
least, should have no protection from the colored
soldiers. There is danger of collisions being
brought on by such causes.. My observations
lead me to the conclusion that the citizens of the
Southern States are anxious to return to self-
government within the Union as soon as possi
ble ; that whilst reconstructing, they want and
require protection from the government that they
think is required by the government, aud is not
humiliating to them as citizens, and that if such
a course was pointed out they would pursue it in
good faith. It is to l»e regretted that there can
not be a greater commingling at this time be
tween the citizens of the two" sections, and par
ticularly those who are interested upon the law
making points. I do not give the operations of
the Freedmen’s Bureau that attention I would
have done if more time had been at my dispo
sal. Conversations, however, with officers con
nected with the Bureau, led me to think that in
some of the States its affairs have not been con
ducted with good judgment and economy, and
the belief evidently spread among the freedmen
in the Southern States that the lands of their for
mer owners will, at least in part, be divided
among them, has come from the agent of this
Bureau. This belief is seriously interfering with
the willingness of the freedmen to make con
tracts for the coming year. In sdme form the
Freedmen’s Bureau is an absolute necessity until
From we New York World.
Rabid. Bamput Radicalism as on the
Stool or Rnentaaee-Crockett Surren
der* to the Coon—The Joint-Committee
Resolution Emasculated in the Senate.
Washington, Dee. 12.
One of the most ancient of the old-time editors
of Washington used to think he had tied a hard
knot -in the snapper of his most lashing and
slashing articles, when he would up and gave
the final crack with nous tenons. Well, within
the last four and twenty hours, we have seen, and
are likely to see more. Rampant radicalism
seems to be on the stool of repentance.
Talking with a prominent Republcan Repre
sentative this morning, and referring to the fact
that Mr. Raymond was found among the faithful
From tho National Intelligencer.
The hate nr. Corwin.
The death of 'TIiomas Corwin, of Ohio, the
particulars of Which we give elsewhere, is an
other link broken in the chain that binds us to
the eminent men iu our past history. We intend
here no biographical sketch; but there are tilings
that come to the.heart when a man like Corwin
dies that may not be suppressed.
Thomas Corwin was not only an orator and
statesman, a wit, a wag, a proverbial humorist,
but he was likewise a philosophical thinker, and
a genial, true-souled, and everywhere respected
and beloved man. liis mind was deeply, imbued
with the poetry of sentiment, which had its
fountain in his broad and tender domestic nature;
forty wiio voted, yesterday, to suspend the rules ; rtu , t !, colored all his public speeches,
to introduce a resolution admitting pro tern, the ' v ^ l ‘ e 11 rendered his private intercourse most
Southern mepibers to the floor of the House, I
asked him which side of the Republican party
Raymond belonged to, any bow, the Conserva
tive or Radical ?
“My dear sir,” said the member, “we don't
know any such differences in the House; the
newspapers* alone make such distinctions.”
Shade of perambulating and still progressing
Old John Brown. I hpgin to believe it!
The conversion of Saul has generally been re
garded as one of the most “sudden” things in his
tory, sacred or profane. But a great light must
have broken in upon Raymond to induce him
to rise in the House and present the credentials
of the members elect from Tennessee, to refuse
to modify his motion till inquiry could be made
whether Tennessee was iu the Union, to express
“inclination” that the credentials should be refer
red as the rules and customs would ordinarily
refer them, and actually to press in repentant
Radicals enough to take notice of these credenti
als in some shape, by the handsome majority of
eighty-five.
And a great aud sudden change came upon old
Thad. Stevens, who, when Raymond first rose,
declared that the State of Tennessee was “not
known to this Houseaud a few moments after
wards the same old Tliad. Steveus moved that
the unkown delegation-from tho unkuown State
be admitted to the-floor of the House.
Consistency may be a jewel, but it is seldom
set iu such solid brass. These members change
front without apology, or even explanation to the
still stiff and unyielding Radicals. Iu the case of
the representative from New-York, far be it from
me to suppose that tills sudden surrender, this
evidently conciliatory course in accordance with
the presumed wishes of the President, has any
thing to do with the collectorsliip of New-York.
Nor, for a wonder, can this course have been
marked out by the caucus, unless in the sub-cau
cus of the New-York delegation. It seems to be
worth while, after all, to recognize the existence
of the Executive. If the President cannot be
made to bend to the House, perhaps a slight de
flection towards his policy is desirable. The
mountain would not come to Mahomet; and did
you ever think how the story would have been
told if, when Colonel Crockett summoned the
coon to come down, the old coon hadn’t done
anything of the kind ?
But on this question, caucus, conciliation and
conservatism were all strikingly manifest to-day
in the Senate. So prominent 'was caucus, that
the World had the amended, emasculated joint
committee resolution by telegraph, and in type,
word for word as it was adopted to-day, full ten
hours before the Senate “ratified” the proceed
ings of the caucus. I need only to refer to the
tact that the resolution as amended is concurrent,
not .joint, and does not need the signature of the
President, to show that the executive has not
even been asked to “come down.” There must
have been a very strong suspicion that, even at
tbs sacrifice of Stevens^ and Sumner’s affection,
he would not have done it, if he had been asked
—and the resolution, as emasculated, becomes a
mere eunuch of “inquiry.” That terrible resolu
tion, which was to preclude all debate on the
most vital issue now or ever before the country;
which was to destroy the constitutional right of
each House to decide upon its own elections;
which was to disgrace the Senate by making the
House majority of three in the committee the
judges of the claims of Senators to seats; which
was to make the executive succumb to the radi
calism of the other branches of. the administra
tion, turns out, after all, to be only a harmless
resolution of inquiry to learn the condition of
the late insurgent States and their claims to rep
resentation.
It is a wretchedly trite quotation—that partu-
riunt monies, etc.,—but our lately radical, now
repentant, Republican friends only want to know
if the Southern States are in the Union, and if
the credentials of the Southern Representatives
are in their breeches pockets. The time has been,
before now, when a seemingly sturdy highway
man has put a weapon to the head of a traveler,
with the full intention of demanding his money
or his life, but has “suddenly” thought better of
it, and has simmered down* with a resolution of
inquiry as to whether the unmoved traveler
“didn’t want to buy a pistol.”
Of course, the Radicals don’t know whether
the Southern States are in the Union or not; and
in answer to their earnest and innocent inquiry,
I trust all the necessary information will be fur
nished.
However it may be in the House, there is such
a distinction, such a difference, as there is between
the radical and conservative element in the Re
publican party, in the Senate. While Sumner,
to-day, was silent, Chandler expressed his own
rabid radicalism and that of other radicals who
are run in this Chandler’s moulds, when he de
clared that the Southern States are conquered
communities with no rights but thpse conferred
by the will of the conqueror. The-manly speech
of Senator Doolittle declared a true conservatism.
He declares truly, that if the Southern States are
not in t he Union the flag floating over the Capitol
which bears to-day thirty-six stars, is (quoting
from the poets of the Tribune,) a “hypocritical,
flaunting He.” Every conservative who heard
him, Republican or Democratic, enjoyed im
mensely his close and keen carving of the House
caucus,, and his discussion of that bitter, malig
nant opponent of the administration, old Thad.
Stevens. It was a genuinely good speech.
But Thad Steveus errs greatly in saying that
President Johnson is carrying out the reconstruc
tion policy that President Lincoln begun. This is a
stale repetition of the Seward slander uttered be
fore the sportive, ancients and sapient youths of
Auburn. Mr. Johnson’s plan of restoration, and
Mr: Lincoln’s plan of reconstruction, are no more
alike than the recovery of a sick child, and a new
and still birth in the family.
And now the resolution, no longer joint, but
concurrent, goes back to the House. It repiains
to be seen whether, in its emasculated, enfeebled
state, the House will recognize the strong, vigor
ous bantling set out with such promise ten days
ago.
The Position of toe President.—What
ever may be said to the contrary, the evidence is
conclusive that the President remains firm in
hia position, and has no idea whatever of chang
ing it to suit the radicals. Before he announced
Ins restoration policy, lie weighed the subject
carefuUy, and adopted the only course which he
considered justifiable under the Constitution.—
Having carefully, and after full deliberation, de
cided upon his course, lie will not now abandon
it, unless some greater obstacle presents itself
than, has yet been developed. He may yield on
some trivial points for the sake of harmony, but
in no case where it will affeet his general plan of
re-adjusting the country, and restoring perrna-
civil law is established and enforced, securing to | nent peace, harmony and prosperity to all sec-
! the State. We have no right, as a church, to en-
: join it as a duty or condemn it as a sin. Our
T „ „ „ i business is with the duties which spring from the
The Educational Jocbnal. We regret to jetton. duties of the masters on the one
state that the material of, this journal was en- i hand, and of their slaves on the other. These ; things. Try to do good in a Saviour’s church
tirelv consumed by the fire which occurred re- ’ duties we are to proclaim and enforce with §pir-and a world of sin. Let piety be shown at home;
itual sanctions. The social, civil, political pro- let the holy Sabbath be indeed a day for God,
bleins connected with this great subject transcend j and let your children be trained op in the nur-
our sphere, as God has not entrusted to His , ture and admonition of the Lord. Live daily
cently in Forsyth, Georgia.
Latest advices from Jamaica say the number
of executions
to four thousand,
corpses.
j as much right to preach to the monarchies of You have been called to pusthrough deep wa-
the freedmen their rights and full protection at
present. However, it is independent of the mili
tary establishment of the country, and seems to
be co-operated witli by the different agents of the
bureau according to their individual notions.
Everywhere General Howard, the able bead
of the bureau, made friends by the just and fair
instructions and advice he gave; but the com
plaint in South Carolina was that when lie left
things went on as before. Many, perhaps the
majority of the agents of the Freedmen’s Bureau,
advise the freedmen that by their own industry
they must expect to live, and to this end they en
deavor to secure employment for them, and to
see that both contracting parties comply witli
their engagements.
In some cases, I am sorry to say, the freed
man’s mind does not seem to be disabused of the
idea that the freedman has the right to live
without care or provision for the future. The
effect of the belief in the division of lands is .idle
ness and accumulation in camps, towns and
cities. In such cases-1 think it will be found
vice and disease will tend to the extermination
or great destruction of the colored race. It can
not be expected that the opinions held by men
at the South for years can be changed in a day,
and therefore the freedmen require, for a few
years, not only laws to protect them, but the
fostering care of those who will give them good
counsel and upon whom they can rely.
The Freedmen’s Bureau being separated from
the military establishment of the country, re
quires all the expenses of a separate organization.
One does not know what the other is doing, or
what orders they are acting under. It seems to
me this could be corrected by regarding eveiy
officer on duty with troops in the Southern
States as agents of the Freedmen’s Bureau, and
then have all orders for the head of the Bureau
sent through the best commanders. This would
create a responsibility that would insure a uni
formity of action throughout the South, and
would ensure the orders and instructions from
the head of Re Bureau being carried out, and
would relieve from duty and pay a large number
of employees of the Government
I have the honor to be, veiy respectfully, your
obedient servant, U. S. Grant, Lieut Gen.
In London an experiment as novel as it was
interesting was lately initiated by the dispatch of
a party of 20 patients from the consumptive hos
pital at Brompton to Madeira, for winter resi
dence in that salubrious climate.
tlons. If Congress desires that the country shall
be kept in an unsettled condition, and that one
section shall be threatened with anarchy, im
pairing our commerce and endangering our
financial interests, they can rest assured that
they can have the opportunity of taking the
whole responsibility. The President will so
play his card that it cannot in any way be
charged at his door. The evidence that be in
tends to remain firm is so conclusive that it
seems almost impossible to find the slightest
point upon wliich to hang a doubt. A promi
nent official, whose position and daily inter
course with the President gives him an oppor
tunity to know officially what Mr. Johnson will
do, remarked today, “ that the President had
designated his Southern policy, after due delib
eration, and had checked his baggage through,
and intended to stick fast to that train at all
hazards.” No authority in the city of Washing
ton is any better or more reliable than the per
son who made that remark, except President
Johnson himself— Washington Letter, Dec. 2-
-* *"—:
A Beautiful Queen.—Queens and literary
women are very seldom handsome, bnt there are
some exceptions to the general rule:
The Empress of Austria is one of the most beau
tiful of European princesses, and famed for her
kindness of temper, notwithstanding her rather
haughty bearing. She is tall, slender, graceful,
with a very white skin, a good deal of color, laige,
limpid blue eyes, and an amazing head of Ught,
hair, which she wears in eight massive braidst'
wound round and round her head, forming a
magnificent diadem of hair, such as very few
women could match from their own resources.
She is also said to be highly accomplished. She
speaks all the principal tongues of Europe, and
is particularly fond of the English language, which
she speaks as perfectly as though it were her na
tive dialect. She is an excellent musician, paints
and draws extremely well, and is one of the
boldest and most skillful horsewomen of Austria.
She possesses a stVd of veiy valuable horses, and
a pack of splendid hounds; and die is said to take
the warmest interest in the racing and hunting
of all Europe, and to know by heart the names
of the heroes of the turf, biped'and quadruped, of
all the countries of Europe.
A flock of wild geese kept pace with a train
of care on the Hudson River Railroad, going at
about thirty miles an hour, the other day, for ten
miles, when they changed their ^ourse,
private intercourse most
charming and winning. His social magnetism
was remarkable. Old and young were equally
attracted, interested, amused, and fascinated bv
liis inimitable original flow of conversation, in
which were blended anecdote, humor, tenderness,
argument, and narrative. Corwin would have
made a divine whose influence over the minds
and hearts of men wpuld have been unbounded ;
and—we say this with due reverence for the pul
pit, aud only to illustrate the idiosyncracies of
kis genius—if he lmd chosen the si age as liis pro
fession, lie would have rivalled Garrick himself.
To him belonged a weird power over the tears
of men, and he could play upon their sentiments
as a master fingers the strings of the harp. It
was thus that he became the most successful
popular orator of his day, and the worthy rival
of the greatest in this line that our country has
produced.
His more serion* efforts have a classic vein.—
His memorable speech in reply to a member of
Congress, wherein he indulged in a description
of the militia and of a militia general, will live
as long as Irving’s story of Ichabod Crane, as a
master-piece of good-natured satire and of liter
ary skill. His famous speech on the Mexican
war question, delivered in the Senate of the Uni
ted States, although unpopular and often illogical,
is nevertheless one of those speeches of our Sen
ate that will lie preserved.
Mr. Corwin was not a.great practical lawyer,
nor had his mind the grasp and power that.'dis
tinguish great original men, who are born to give
birth to ideas and to control the action of the pe
riod in which they live. His mind and heart
went together, and his sentiments and philosophy
curbed that will and fierce earnestness which al
ways mark men of absolute rule. Mr. Corwin
undoubtedly was a man of convictions, but these
were not earnest enough to force His eloquence
like a tornado through all opposition, unit so to
carry hisliearers, as it were, at the point of the
bayonet. His oratory was like the skiltull work
of the lapidary, that enhances and beautifies the
precious stones wliich lie cuts, so as to reflect
from them the most hues possible. Thus Cor
win enhanced simple subjec s until they glowed
and grew rich and sparkling, and seemed great
and precious in the setting of liis genius. But the
burning heart of the orator the interesting aud
f itted Corwin lacked. Those who will think of
lufus Choate and Thomas Corwin, and compare
them, even superficially, will at once perceive the
significance of our criticism iu this respect.—
While earnest orators like Choate grow prema
turely old,* the genial sous of genius, among
whom Corwin was foremost, walk cheerfully ana
gailv into age.
No public man iu all our history has been
more popular, in a certain sense, than Corwin.
Although always a party man, and a leader in
the fiercest times of party strife, still he disarmed
opposition of personal rancor, and he never failed
to make a breach in the heart of his adversary.
When in his prime there was no man who could
stand out long against Corwin’s humor and bril
liant illustrative tun. His political anecdotes anil
9tories, which were resistless weapons in his
hands, liave overthrown many a Goliali iu de
bate, and these are yet freshly remembered and
preserved throughout the whole country.
And Corwin was the idol of the young. Every
where young people followed him, courted him,
loved him, respected him, and came to him for
words of counsel and encouragement. His large
nature naturally attracted youths about him.—
The princely trunk was thus clad in verdure un
til it fell.
Naturally indolent, Mr. Corwin will live .more
in tradition—like Patrick Henry—than in his
works. His memory will be handed down from
lather to son throughout the great West, and
among the public men of the nation who were
cotemporary with him. He will never be forgot
ten while the country has a history; but, on the
contrary, (for he ■was a man of genius,) liis por
trait will be fresh among us throughout the years.
He was a statesman of influence, a thorough
conservative, an eminent patriot, and a man be
loved equally for liis domestic and social worth.
Many are the eyes that will grow dim witli
tears, many are the hearts that will sadden when
the news reaches them that “Tom Corwin, the
Wagon Boy,” (as his home-people loved to call
him,) is no more. Of late years politics assumed
a shape distasteful to him; but be stood deci
dedly, faithfully, aad patriotically by bis country.
Never a man of extremes, Ire strove with all his
force to avert the war, and while he deplored the
crime of the South, he mourned the desolation
of the land. We rejoice to know that he lived
long enough to see our torn country in the way
of hope and of health.
Now that Corwin has gone, how few remain of
the old regime, who elevated politics into a
knightly trade, and who brought up the senti
ments of the people to an American level by
their so-called “stump-speeches!” Among these,
his cotemporaries, we recall as bright lights as
haye flashed from our firmanent. But few yet
linger, bending under the weight of years, of that
right royal set of which Thomas Corwin was a
bright, particular star. The land is fast being
bereft of the old fathers! May we not hope that
those who now fill the places of such honored
names will catch the inspiration of'their pure
and useful examples, and thus, in their day, help
to perpetuate the blessings of that Union to which
the eminent man whose demise we so deplore
devoted the prime of his life and his entire
powers ?
The decease of Mr. Corwin fills the city with
a gloom that reminds us of the melancholy night
when the news of the death of Lincoln depressed
all hearts. He is universally mourned.
— ♦
- Confessions of a Suicide.—An old man,
who committed suicide by strangulation in Paris
on the 27th ultimo, left the following - document
among his papers, headed, “The Mysteries of
My Life,” with an introduction to this effect:
I belong to a veiy good family. I was well
brought up. Fatally for myself; I adopted as
my device the plain maxim, Chi va piano va sano.
I know now that, on the contrary, no man should
leave for to-morrow what he can do to-dhy. For
my part, 1 believe that before doing anything it
was necessary to deliberate long and maturely,
and the consequence was, that all I took part in
turned out unsuccessful. By this mania of post
ponement and this dilatonness of execution I
injured my fortune, I forfeited an important sit
uation, and I missed ten marriages. 1 have
broken with all my friends because I never could
return a visit in proper time, pay back an act of
politeness, nor keep an appointment; and I was
always an hour too late. I had excellent ser
vants, but I never was well served, because I
was never ready to be served. I thought myself
extremely prudent, and I always found myself in
a false or a difficult position. After long and
profound reflection, I am now convinced that my
constant habit of putting off everything was but
a pretext; that my real character was one of
selfishness and sloth, and that I sought to hide
or to cover that double vice witli a fictitious vir
tue. I was deterred by the fear of fatigue, by
my disgust to bodily and mental exertions, by
tbe indulgence of continuous and lethargic re
pose. Such is the true cause of the vexations
which I have constantly experienced. I believe
the judgment I now pass upon myself to be cor
rect. At my age I am on the brink of the grave.
The thought of self-murder has come upon me,
and as for once in my life I mean to take an en
ergetic resolution, and not to postpone, I hang
myself.
English Press on American Affairs,—
The London Daily News of a recent date re
marks :
The opening of the Congress at Washington
will bring before the eyes of the world the bear
ings of the war. It will settle the great question
whether the American civil war is really over, or
whether the causes of a conflict will remain to
cany the revolution forward into a second stage.
It -will determine whether the States can be re
united on equal terms, or under the inequality
of one section being tutelary and the other in a
condition of pupilage. It will decide tlie desti
nies of five millions of the colored race as to real
or mock freedom and welfare.
The morning Herald says the feeling in relation
American affairs is not altogether satisfactory,
though at present it is not supposed anv demon
strations of hostilities will be made.
The Neics, in an editorial on the Mexican ques
tion, says:
The Archduke Maximilian has been trying to
make the world believe that he is at the head of
a Government which has superseded that of the
Republic; but Mr. Johnson conceives tlias the
United States have a right to an opinion on that
subject, and the appointment of Gen. Logan is
an intimation that Maximilian is merely the nead
of a foreign invasion.
The American Government could not liave
adopted a cheaper or more harmless mode of de
fining its position. It is one which preserves the
neutrality of the United States, encourages the
Republican^ in Mexico, and prolongs a state ot
things in that countiy which can only end in the
downfall of the throne that has been set up at the
expense of so much blood and treason.