Newspaper Page Text
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ATLANTA, GEORGIA,
Wednesday, August 14, 1867.
The Federal Debt.
This is estimated at three thousand millions
of dollars—an enormous sum, representing a
very large portion, says the Intelligencer at Wash
ington, “of the earnings of our citizens alter
years of toilsome and prudent industry.” It
now stands, says the same journal, “ in the way
nf Radical supremacy, because the interests in
volved in it, daily rebuke and repel the advances
nl the Radicals towards the repudiation of all
public obligations.” There is doubtless much
truth in this assertion. When it is considered
that the capital accumulated previous to the
war, was invested to cany on that war for the
purpose of subjugating the South, it is natural
to suppose that its return will be demanded
with interest, and woe to the Radical party
should it fail to respond to the demand. Bat
is it in the power, or will it be in the power ol
that party, to do so? The three thousand mil
lions, it is admitted on all hands, have been ex
tended, for wbat ? To subdue and impoverish
the South. This is all that has been gained in
that vast expenditure of treasure, the earnings
and savings of the Northern and Western peo
ple for a long series of years. Bays the same
journal,“slavery is gone: commerce is gone;
navigation is no longer a leading pursuit: cot
ton-growing is denounced and proscribed as a
heinous iniqnity.” From whence, then, is to
flow that prosperity which is to restore the capi
tal squandered in the conquest of the South ?
We fail to see any promise of it in the North
and East, through the manufacturing interests
< if those sections, who arc, even now, clamorous
for high protective tariffs, and we fail to see it in
the great agricultural West. From whence, then,
we repeat, are the three thousand millions to
come, or even the interest thereon. The Radical
Party will have to answer these queries. The
people of tue North and West are becoming clam
orous in relation to the public debt. Labor de
clares it will not be taxed to pay it—that it en
dures too much already ; it will repudiate rather.
With every interest of the country prostrate,
what will, what can that Party do, that has
•lone so much to bring about the present state oi
things upon the country? Should it resort to
luxation, its days ot supremacy will pass away ;
should it repudiate, its days are numbered.—
“ Verily, the way of the transgressor is hard ! ”
It seems, in the midst of the impending finan
cial crash, that Congress has thought very litjic
of husbanding the public resources and making
them available for the gradual payment of the
public debt. That it has been most recklessly
extravagant, is not even denied by its partisan
presses of the North and West. Political ques
tions have monopolized its attention. Financial
ones have received but little thereof. Certainly
the great one involving the “ Federal Debt” lias
been allowed to pass, leaving it, as It stood over
a twelvemonth past, with no satisfactory enact
ments to bestow confidence ia it, either at home
or abroad. Like a huge monster,it stares aland
frights the people. Three thousand millions of
dollars! when will it be paid, and who will
pay it ?
The President and Stanton.
A Washington datcot the 7th has some gossip
about the President and Secretary Stanton,
which did not occur in our dispatches of that
day:
The President’s note is very brief, only four
lines in length, and simply states that grave pub
lic considerations constrain him to request Mr.
Stanton’s resignation. Mr. Stanton’s answer is
also very brief, and intended to be very cuttiug
and severe. It is not decided what step Mr.
Johnson will next take, but I think he will notify
Mr. Stanton that ho is no longer Secretary ol
War, and must vacate forthwith.
After the adjournment of the Cabinet meeting
the President was cloBeted with his Secretary
until 10 o’clock at night. It is supposed it hud
reference, to the Stanton imbroglio. The subject
of Stanton's removal has been the absorbing
topic of conversation to-day in every circle, and
there has been much speculation to learn wlmt
will next transpire. Among prominent officials
it seems to be the general opinion that the Presi
dent has power to remove Mr. Stanton under
the provision of the first section of the tenure-
ol-office bill.
Mr. Stauton kept himself almost completely
shut up in his private office to-day. It is said
that Secretary Seward is not altogether in favor
«•< the President’s action in this matter, and that
he aud Thurlow Weed are about to strive to
save Stanton’s head again. A year ago when
there was serious thought of removing Stanton,
Weed aud Raymond’s influence, coupled with
Seward’s entreaties, induced the President to
abandon the Idea. It is now said by the friends
of the President that Stanton’s offenses amount
to a deliberate system of thwarting the President
and obstructing his policy in every wav, aud in
sulting him repeatedly in his official intercourse.
The President, it is claimed, has determined to
tolerate this no longer, and has put his foot down
firmly. '
Tennessee.—We have no doubt at least a
portion of the readers of this paper desire more
details of the late elections in Tennessee—of the
manner and way in which the farce was conduct
ed, and the comments ot the press thereon.—
While we would like to gratify them in this, as
in all other respects, our limited space prevents
it—nor, indeed, is it necessary. There is nothing
cheering in the result, nor a single feature attend
ing the whole affair to comfort the patriot or
give him-a ray of hope for the future. But as
bad as the condition is there—and we can’t well
conceive bow it could be worse—it is simply that
to which Georgia ia tending and to which it
must soou arrive, unless the whites harmonize
auU adopt some prompt aud energetic measures
to defeat the Radicalsand prevent the State from
passing exclusively into their hands.
The following paragraph covers the result of
the Tennessee election. It is copied from the
Chattanooga Email, of Thursday :
The Nashville Union <£ Dispatch, of Wednes
day, gives the returns from all parts of the State.
Brownlow’s majority is stated at 37,-189. Out ol
tlic-tweuty-five Senators not one is a Conserva
tive and only four Conservative Representatives
ont of eighty-four tue elected. Such a Legisla
ture has never assembled, aud as we ot the Con
servative party are eutirely without representa
tion, we have only the satisfaction of knowing
that whatever divisions ol opinion arise, will
have a tendency to disturb the present strength
<>f the Radical party in Tennessee.
Sentenced to be Hung.—The Cartersv’.lle
Repress of the 9th says:
“ The lreedman who was convicted of murder
by the Superior Court of this county last week,
was on Saturday morning last sentenced by
Judge Milner to expiate his crime upon the gal
lows within one mile of the depot in this place,
between the hours of 10 a. m. and 2 p. m on
Friday, the 30th instaut.
The lreedman had a fair, impartial trial by a
sworn iury, and was ably represented by (Jen.
Wm. T. Wofford, aud Cols. Wm. II. Pritchett
and John W. Wofford, Col. J. R Parrott, Soli
citor General, for the prosecution.
The other lreedman, who had been convicted
of an attempt to ravish a little white girl nine
years old, was sentenced to twenty years’ Im
prisonment and hard labor in the penitentiary
of the State.
Governor Jenkins.—The paragraph follow
ing is from the Macon Journal <£ Messengtr.—
These reports originate with a little clique whose
headquarters are in Atlanta, aud who are anx
ious to get hold ot the public offices that they may
serve, not the State, but their owu interests.
They are playing a low down game, but will
hardly win:
\\ e have learned from a gentleman from At
lanta that the rumor ot Governor Jenkins’ re
moval is entirely false, and without any founda
tion. It is to be regretted that there are men, so
contemptible as to start such unwarrantable
tales. We mentioned the affair because it was
town talk, and much interest manifested in the i
matter.
No Fruit.—The Athens Republican, McMinn i
county, East Tennessee, says: The fruit crop
will prove almost a total failure in this section
of country. Scarcely sound peaches enough to j
make a family pie, in McMinn county, or apples j
sufficient for a barrel of cider. i
What CouUfate* m State.
* * * “Men,high-minded men;
Men who their rights do know, and knowing dare main
tain;
These constitute the State.”
Those who were present at the recent Press
Festival, in this city, will scarcely ever forget
the eloquent manner in which the Hon. Eras-
tus Brooks, of the New York Express illustra
ted the foregoing expressive and beautiful quota
tion from the writings of one of the most popu
lar of the British poets. How sadly defective in
all the attributes ascribed by the poet to a State,
Georgia and her sister States of the South will
become, should they pass over to the “ Radical
Republican ” rule, under the reconstruction en
actments of Congress^ no intelligent, patriotic
citizen of either of them can fail to anticipate!
He must be wilfully blind, indeed, that does not
do so, and will fail to discharge the solemn obliga
tion due his State, should he fail, in view of the
dangers that threaten it, to use every effort to
w ard them off. We have before said to our read
ers that the great danger to Georgia lies not so
*ir. uch in the reconstruction enactments as it does
in that which may follow—what we conceive to
be inevitable—their adoption by the Convention
that will soon assemble. In reference to those
enactments onr opinion has been made known
to our readers on many occasions since their pas
sage by the Radical Congress. Every day’B ob
servation and experience, since then, satisfy us
that they will become part and parcel of the or
ganic law of our State, however distasteful and
oppressive their several provisions may be to our
people. Disfranchisement and enfranchisement
will accomplish the work. The extent of the
former, we apprehend, has not even yet been ap
preciated by our people. The registration pro
cess, through which the Stale is passing, will
soon disclose it, so that “ he who runs may read ”
the actual “ situation.” Neither has the extent
of enfranchisement and tbe results, that, in all
probability, will flow from it, been properly esti
mated. Suffice it to say that k is onr deliberate
opinion, tbe “ Convention ” will be called by a
majority of the votes cast at the polls, and that
all efforts to promote a different result will prove
lutile. With this comiction resting upon our
mind, we would prove derelict in our duty to the
people aud tbe State, to delude them, if wecould,
with vain imaginations to the contrary. What
then is the duty of our people ? The following
extract from the Augusta Chronicle dt Sentinel
plainly indicates it. Says that paper:
“We have stated repeatedly within tbe last
few mouths our counviction that tbe true men
of the South could not aflord to divide upon any
minor issue. We repeat, to day, the great ques
tion which the people of the South have to de
cide in the approaching elections is whether the
Radical party shall, by corrupt manipulation of
the negro vote, secure the control of the State
government. If they should succeed iu this
effort we confess that we see but little hope for
the future welfare of our section. Every well-
wisher of pear good order aud free government
must exert hi iself for the overthrow of the
Radical organization which is now permeating
every section of the State.
We believe that there are many good and true
men, thoroughly conservative in their views and
bitterly opposed to the Radical programme, who
honestly and concientiously believe that the
speediest, if not the best and only means of re
lief from our present or perhaps a worse condi
tion, lies iu the assemblage ot a convention and
the adoption ot a State Constitution in accordance
with the provisions of the Military bills. These
men are thoroughly Southern in their feelings
and sympathies and are as true to their section as
any oi those who are opposed to a convention.”
This journal has assumed the position assigned
in the concluding paragraph of the foregoing
article, to “ many good and true men.” who- are
“ thoroughly conservative in their views,” &c. r
and has endeavored to persuade its readers to-
do so likewise. It has felt that the future pros
perity of the State depended largely upon such
action ou the part of the white race within its
limits—that civil liberty, equal privileges, the
rights of person aud to property, depended upon
it, lienee its previous course.
With the following sentiments of the same
journal we agree, and commend them to our
readers :
“ We know that all menare-notexactly alike,
either in their physical stuucture or mental or
ganism. One sees danger arndwith prudent fore
thought takes steps to avoid or parry its effects,
while auother with equal integrity of purpose
but less discretion, rushes madly on, heedless of
the brewing storm. In such cases neither should
be denied the association of gentlemen or de
nounced ou the one hand as timid time-servers,
or on the other os as reckless desperadoes.
Controlled in our views by such considerations
as these, we shall make no war against those
who honestly differ with us on the subject of j
Convention, only requiring from all that they
shall unequivocally oppose and condemn the at
tempt to set up in our midst a Radical organiza
tion, and lend their cordial assistance in. the at
tempt which, we shall, by the blessings of Heav
en, continue to make, to overthrow and destroy
it.”
By such course of action, the State may be
saved, and left in the keeping of
* * * “Men, high-minded men;
Men who their rights do know, and knowing dare main
tain ”—
Otherwise Georgia will fall into the keeping of
another Broicnloic, a late more sad and deplor
able than any military government that could
be imposed upon her. Let our people only
“ wake up ” to the actual situation, anjj we have
uo fears but that their intelligence and patriot
ism will stimulate them to proper action !
“Dead Isaacs.”
The speech of Hon. George H. Pendleton, of
Cincinnati, delivered recently at St Paul, Min
nesota, is one of remarkable power and elo
quence. We invite the dose attention of our
readers to the annexed extract from the conclu
sion of Mr. Pendleton’s speech:
“ They tell ns we Democrats will cling to
dead issues.” The integrity of the republican
government, the preservation of liberty, the
maintenance of our constitution and government,
the happiness of mankind! Are these dead is
sues? Our love for them may be dead, our
fidelity may be dead, but the issues will live till
they are settled in their fall fruition and the
principles which underlie them are as dura
ble as the eternal throne. They tell us that,
like the Bourbons, we will forget nothing,
and learn nothing; we will not submit to
accomplished facts. It is a mistake. It were
wicked folly to resist the inevitable. We
would bow reverently in its presence. But
who shall open the book of fate andsay of-any
course of events, or of any condition of things.it
is fixed forever. Who shall, with prophetic
power, read the secrets ot the Almighty, and re
peat in another connection the words which only
once uttered throughout all the ages reverberate
along the course of eighteen centuries: “ It is
finished. 7 ' The human mind has no power to
discern the uucbangable. The decrees of des
tiny are hidden from its view, that its aspirations
may not be checked, its efforts may not be palsied.
\\ hen William Pitt came back to the ministry, he
formed with incredible energy and exertion the
Continental Alliance. It required the labor of
two years. Napoleon broke up hia camp at
Boulogne, marched his heroic 'legions to the
Danube, and in one hundred days captured an
army at Ulm, and shattered the coalition on the
bloody field at Austerlitz. The great states
man was bowed to the earth is hope was
gone— his courage broken—his efforts at an end.
Broken-hearted, he exclaimed, “Roll up the map
of Europe for half a century," and died, believ
ing that Napoleon had attained to universal do-
lniuifin. Austria was despoiled of her fairest
possessions. Jena followed, and Prussia was
humbled to the dust; Friedland followed, and
the monarch of the North bowed liis.haughty
head before the Imperial eagles. Napoleon was
mighty. His fiat vacated tbe throne of Naples.
He - pronounced the sentence, “ The House of
Braganza has ceased to reign,” and that family
went fugitives from Portugal to Brazil.^ Louis
was King of Holland; Joseph was King ot
Spain—Murat was King of Naples. The Con
federation ot the Rhine guarded his frontier.
The Dukedom of Warsaw and the Kingdom of
Westphalia were the props of his throne. Here
seemed to be an accomplished fact. But Eng
land reiused to “ accept the situation,” and
in less than three years Austria was in
arms, Prussia was recuperated, Russia had be
come hostile, and in less than six years tbe em
pire of Napoleon had passed away—the fabric of
bis power had been dissolved—Europe was re
established within its original limits, and he him
self languished a prisoner in tbe Island ot St.
Helena. Iu 1850 the compromise measures were
passed. They consisted of the admission of
California, the amendment of the Fugitive Slave
law, the establishment of government in the ter
ritories. They commanded the support of the
leading statesmen of both great political parties
They were declared to be an honest, honorable,
final* settlement of the issues ot slavery as con
nected with the Federal government. The na
tional conventions of 1852 both approved them
The people thoroughly endorsed them. But
Chase, and Sumner, and Hale, and Giddings, re
fused to “accept the situation,” and on the repeal
of the Missouri Compromise they recommenced
the agitation, which ended in war, and has ob
literated from the statute book not only those
laws, but the very principles upon which those
laws were based. Who shall dare to say
what facts are accomplished?" Who shall
predict the “ways which are past finding
out V” To “ accept the situation,” if it be
wrong, is the cowardice of a timid spirit,
or the weakness of a wearied one. Error is
never fixed, wrong is never established, the
courses of evil are never accomplished.—
Truth wages against them perpetual war.
It never wearies. Its strength never fails. Its
spirit never flags, and it is immortal. “The
eternal years of God are her’s.” Let us be her
soldiers and emulate her virtue. Let us accept
nothing as accomplished unless our judgments
aud consciences approve the result as right. Let
us stand by our constitution which we believe to
be right, and maintain our form of government
which we have found to be beneficent. Let us
accept no result as final which accomplished
their overthrow. Let us be unwearied in this
contest; and I believe we shall save our institu
tions to bless our children even as they have
blessed our fathers. If we fail, we shall at least
have deserved well of our countrymen, and shall
have done that which, like the seed after being
hidden in the frosts and snows, and darkness of
winter, shall bear fruit; and if this land and
government must follow the footsteps of the past,
we shall be able then to comfort ourselves with
the reflection that if nations, like individuals,
are not destined to immortality, and if in their
virtues equally as their vices, in their grandeur
as in their weakness, they bear in their bosoms
the seeds of mortality, nevertheless, “in the pas
sions which elevate them to greatness equally as
those which hasten their decay, is to be discern
ed the unceasing operation of those principles at
once of corruption and of resurrection which
are combined in humanity, and which, universal
in communities as in single men, compensate
the necessary decline Of nations by the vital fire
which has given undec&ying youth to the human
race.” [Loud and long continued applause]
[FOB TB IBTXXAAGKKCKB.]
Aerlcaltml A«**UU«».
In view of the great importance of promoting
the interests of their own section of our State,
a goodly number of the citizens of Clayton
county, Georgia, recently formed an association,
at once for the enhancement of social intercourse,
and the promotion of improvement in agricul
ture, stock-raising, the mechanic arts, and the
diffusion of useful knowledge. The said organ
ization takes the enphoneons name of the “Phil
adelphia Agricultural Association of Clayton
County, Georgia.”
This is a timely and admirable movement in
tbe right direction; and the example thus set,
should be followed by the citizens of other sec
tions of the State. Improvement is the order of
the day. For its rapid and successful advance,
combinations are needed; *They promote social
enjoyment, give stimulus to thought, secure in
vestigations, create emulation, and, at little cost,
diffuse au immense amount of valuable informa
tion. Scientific principles well understood, and,
in all the varied localities and changes of cir
cumstances and conditions, applied practically,
cannot fail, under the direction ot such associa
tions, to change the drapery of the past plod
ding age into the delights of elevated intellec
tual exercise, and crown our whole land with a
profusion of improved productions unknown to
its early settlers.
Men are public benefactors who devote their
time and energies to the promotion of improve
ments. The true use of “fertilizers” and their
proper applications are best ascertained through
local, systematized experiments, from year to
year continued.' -There is no end to improve
meats. Our implementsof husbandry call for
renovation, as much as gur soils, our stock, and
our modes of culture. A wide field for investi
gation is before us. But let Ml our citizens do
their part, and the most beneficent results must
follow. These “ Philadelphians ” have set a no
ble example. Emulated by the great body of
those whose aim is to “till the ground, 4 ’ tbe
fabled Elysium ot tbe ancients would soon be
realized in these fair lands and delightful climes.
Agricola.
“We have it on the highest authority, that the
w orst enemies of a man are those ot hisown house
hold. The greatest obstacles against which any
people, who have struggled for political freedom
and independence have had to contend, were the
traitors born aud nurtured among themselves.
Heartless and treacherous, vile in their instincts
aud cowardly by nature, they seek confidence
aud trust only to betray. Dead to every sense
ot honorable, manly feeling, they are swayed by
a sordid aud mercenary selfishness, which prin
ciple, and truth and honor arealike powerless to
check or restrain. Rotten and corrupt, base ami
depraved, they attach themselves to the cause or
the party that jMys most, and paying tnibule
only to success, they follow and worship it in all
its changes. To them Power aud Weakness
are the syuonymes of Virtue and Vwe, aud
Truth aud Constancy meaningless words.
It is the misfortune of the South that she has
had so many of these miscreants, who, while the
brave and houorable were fighting her battles,
accepted of her favors only to betnay, and now
basely seek among her enemies the rewards of
au abject and truculent “ loyalty.” "We can pity
the faint-hearted and the desponding, but we
have only conic pt and loathing for the creature
who cringes to injustice installed in power, aud,
spaniel-like, licks the hand that smites the weak
aud helpless.”
Alabama and Tennessee.—TLe result of
the late election in Tennessee seems to have en
couraged radicalism in their designs upon the
Southern States. The New York Tribune says:
There are many white Union men in Ala
bama who would alone carry the north counties
for the Republican party, and with the aid ot
the colored voters, there is no doubt of the re
sult. Thus far 103,574 voters have been regis
tered, pt whom 41,809 are white and 61,765 col
ored. Of the whites at least one-third may be
counted in the Republican vote, while the elec
tion in renuessee shows that the black vote will
be almost unanimously Republican. With this
opportunity, we of. the North should not neglect
the canvass in the boutb. It is our duty to see
that the organization of the party is perfected in
every State, aud the means to inform the people
arc liberally supplied.
The British West Indies.—The condition
of some ol tbe British Islands in the West In
dies is anything but satisfactory. In Jamaica
the public chest is empty, and most ot the Gov
ernment employees were not paid their salaries.
Labor was abounding, but the governments,
nevertheless, were warmly patronizing Coolie
immigration. That of Jamaica paid £14 per
head, that of Demerara only £9.
What is oceuring in the British West Indies—
the supplanting ol the negro by coolie labor—
will follow in the Southern Stales. There are
some things which even political parties cannot
control.
We transfer to our columns from the Au.
gusta Constitutionalist the following correspond
ence in reference to a time-honored university
of which every Georgian is proud. The local
application of the correspondence will also in
terest our city readers:
THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA.
Athens, August 6,1867.
The Sophomore Declamation took place yes
terday in the Chapel of the University. As on
the occasion of Dr. Lipscomb’s sermon, the hall
was crowded to its utmost caps " l The speak
ers were; I. T. Callaway, Macon; W". H. Fish,
Oglethorpe; H. M. Green, Macon; J, T. Nim-
bish, LaGrange; R T. Hull, Athens; T. W.
Baxter, Texas; B. H. Hill, Athens; A. P. Adams,
Savannah; Emory Speer, LaGrange; J. T.
Oglesby, Alabama; A. C. Rucker, Athens; W.
MacFinley, Alabama; J. G. Dent, Athens; B.
\V. Barrow, Athens; H. A. Harralson, La
Grange ; S. Jordan, Washington Co.; J. "W.
Walters, Albany; H. B. Van Epps, Atlanta; J.
L Gallaway, Oglethorpe Co.
The uniform excellence of the declamatory
attainments ot the young orators was peculiarly
gratifying to the friends ot the institution, and
reflects great credit upon the professor who has
had them in training. I might, under other cir
cumstances, refer especially to the efforts ot one
or two who seemed to excel, but the decision of
the umpires has given general satisfaction, and I
forbear.
At four o’clock yesterday afternoon the literary
societies of the University met in their respective
halls and marched in procession to the chapel,
when the Rev. Dr. Brantly pronounced an ora
tion upon the Mfe and character of the late Chief
Justice Lumpkin. Few of our readera will re
quire to be informed that the oration was chaste,
truthtul and polished. For one hour and twen
ty-five minutes the speaker held the unflaging
attention ot his auditory.
To-day the Junior exhibition took place.—
After which Rev. Bishop Pierce distributed the
prizes to the Sophomores.
I must not omit mention of a musical festival
which occurred last night at the Town Hall. It
was the “Flower Queen,” and rarely have 1 seen
on snch .occasions a more regal looking queen
than the stately Miss H n. The whole affair
passed off admirably: the ball was filled will*
beauty indigenious and exotic, Augusta vicing
with the Gate City and Athens for the palm,
while the belles from other portions of the State
need not tremble for the result, for the question
will remain undecided. * * *
The rebels who have migrated from the South
ern States to Brazil are said to be numerous, and
are described by a correspondent to be of tbe
bitter, blatant, pot-house-politician stripe, and,
although laboring under a slight aberration of
memory when questioned as to their regiments
or brigades, have astounding military titles; none
of them owning to less than Major. They es
pecially delight to dwell on the beatific state of
gentility in which they lived in “Loosyanner,”
before this “unfaietehnit icatc, sir. Yes, sir; had
me hundred and fifty niggers; and me sugar
works alone, sir, cost me a hundred and fifty
thousand dollars.”
Tbe above is from a paper printed out West
and edited by a down-easter who fled his native
State some years ago for having robbed a turkey-
roost on the night preceding Thanksgiving day.
Another Move.—Tbe Radicals North, the
extreme men, are said to be making a move to
bring out Gen. Sheridan against Gen. Grant for
the Presidency. Neither of these men have
ever given any evidence of statesman-like capa
city. Grant is said to be a clever old gentleman,
who is fond ol a cigar mr! a glass of grog now j
military vs. Civil Law.
The following explains more fully the conflict
between the civil and military law in North
Carolina, alluded to in our telegraphic dispatches
a few mornings since. We find it in the Wil
mington Post :
The first case which has arisen in this county
of a conflict iu court between the civil laws of
the State and the published orders o! the general
coramauding, occurred here yesterday. Before
the Criminal Court, which is in session at this
place, Judge Meares presiding, two colored men
were arraigned on the charge of fighting. The
counsel for the prisoner, Major J. L. Rhodes
challenged the whole array of jurors, on the
grounds that the panel had not been formed in
accordance with the Military Reconstruction bill
and with General Sickles’ order. The court
overruled the plea of the challenger, asserting
that it knew no law but that of the State of North
Carolina.
The defendant on trial was convicted, and was
sentenced to pay a fine and the costs. The
counsel then asked tltat an appeal be granted
from the judgment of the court to that of the
Post Commandant, or until the will of General
Sickles could be known. This was refused by
the court with the reply that it knew of an ap
peal to no power but to that of the Supreme
Court of Law.
In this matter it must he stated that Judge
Meares acted in perfect conformity with his oath
of office.
The tolowing telegrams passed last evening,
and need no explanation t
telegram to general sickles.
Captain J. W. Clous, A. A. General, Charleston.
South Carolina:
The Jurors of the criminal court now in ses
sion here were challenged today, not being
drawn in accordance with Par. II. G. O. No. 32
and the challenge overruled. Have you any in
structions? * '"laSI
(Signed) R T. Frank,
Brevet Lieut. CoLCommanding.
general sickles’ reply.
Telegram received: If ypu are satisfied that
the jurors have not been drawn and summoned
in compliance with paragraph second (2d) of
General Order 32, you will require all jury trials
to be suspended by the court until the order is
obeyed, if it appears that the proper officers
have neglected to comply with the requirements
of the order in relation to jurors, you are fur
ther instructed to report their names and make
suitable nominations to supersede them.
(Signed) J. W. Clous, A. A. A. Gen.
From tbe Plaint,
So far, the efforts to wipe out the hostile In
dians have failed, and it seems likely to turn out
to be a more difficult job than had been antici
pated. Last advices state that General Sherman
was en route for home, and the Indians sloshing
round pretty much where they phased. The
following comes from St. Louis under date of the
6th, and is the latest:
The Republican's special dated Fort Hays, says
Captain Ames, with fifty men, who went in pur
suit of the Indians who murdered the seven men
yesterday, and stole the stage stock, caught the
savages on Saline river, and fought them eight
hours. The Indians were two hundred strong,
and had two white men as leaders, evidently de
serters. We lost one man killed, and Captain
Amos was wounded. Five savages were slain,
but the balance of them escaped with tbe stage
stock. They were all armed with rifles, and
used no arrows.
Two large bodies of Indians appeared near the
fort this morning. There is hardly a corporal’s
guard of troops in the country, and the Gov
ernment will have to take some action or give
np the plains entirely.
A sergeant and thirty men, who went out yes
terday to reinforce Captain Ames, are still absent,
and much uneasiness is telt about them.
Another account says Capt. Ames found tbe
Indians too strong, and he fell back to the fort
with six or seven men wounded. It is reported
that Fort Wallace will be abandoned unless more
troops are sent there. The Cholera has abated
at Fort Harker and vicinity. Brevet Col. McGill,
whose wife died some days before, died on the
26th of July, near Fort Lyon, ot cholera. Dr.
A, M. Squeirs, assistant surgeon, serving with
the Kansas battalion, died oi the same disease,
near Fort Lamed, on the 29th ultimo, and Mrs.
Maj. Douglas died at Fort Dodge, also of the
same disease, on the 2d instant. The death of
Capt. Bloodgood, previously reported, has not
yet been confirmed.
Gen. Sherman was in Chicago yesterday en
route home. '
“Mr. Llucolu’l Dream.”
We find the article below in relation to a re
markable dream of President Lincoln, in the
Washington Chronicle oi the 6th instant:
In the course of Judge Pierrepont’s argument
yesterday afternoon, he alluded, with most im
pressive effect, to & dream of Mr. Lincoln, which
on several occasions had occurred to him be
fore great national calamities. This dream he
had the night before his assassination, and the
next day he mentioned the fact to Gen. Grant,
among others, saying that he feared some great
evil, and expressing a strong desire to hear from
Sherman, who was then in North Carolina, and
whose army was the only one not in telegraphic
communication with Washington. Judge Pierre-
K nt did not relate the dream itself; but Mr.
a coin related it before his death, and like
everything in any way connected with that sad
tragedy, it cannot fail to have a most pathetic
interest. He seemed to be at sea in a vessel,
tltat was swept along by an irresostible current
toward a malestrom, from which it seemed no
power could save her. Faster and faster tbe
whirling waters swept the fated ship toward the
vortex, until, looking down into the black abyss,
amid the deafening roar of the waves, and with
the sensation ot sinking down, down, down an
unfathomable depth, the terrified dreamer awoke
The same terrible dream Mr. Lincoln had foor
times; first before the first battle of Bull Run,
again before the second disastrous defeat at the
same place, again before the battle of Murfrees
boro’, and finally, as above mentioned, on the
night before his own assassination. Mr. Lincoln
had at last come- to recognize the dream as a
portent of some grave disaster, and one can
hardly consider his so regarding it a mere super
stition. Whether we attribute it to some su
pernatural agency or not, it is certainly one ol
tbe most interesting of psychological mysteries,
and reminds us forcibly that “mere are more
things in heaven and earth than we have dream
ed of in our philosophy.”
[published by rwjuwt.I
Review of B. H. Hill’s Motes on tue Sit
uation-No. 7.
BY JOSEPH E. BROWN.
The Result nr Kentucky.—The Louisville
Courier of the 7th says: Helm’s majority in the
State, as indicated by the returns received, can
and then, and might be made an available can- j not possibly fall short of 50,600, and- it is very
didate. But the idea of placing the barnburner j probable it will be 75,000.
of the Shenandoah valley in nomination for the : The Radicals and j party .will not Meet more
position, could only have originated with some j than fifteen or twenty members nf tbe Legiala-
one pretty far advanced towards lunacy. j tore.
To the Editors of the Chronicle <& Sentinel:
To recapitulate in a few words the remedy
discussed in my last: Mr. Hill advises the peo
ple— -
1. II need be, before God and the country,
to renew the fight and die for their lost rights.
2. To sue, or indict General Pope, and all act
ing under tbe authority of Congress, in case
they of any of them, arrest any citizen or seize
his property.
3. To maintain tbe existing State Government
independent of the act of Congress, and in defi
ance ot the power of General Pope, who is sus
tained by the act of Congress, and the army ol
the United States.
People of Georgia, this is the remedy, the
whole remedy and every part of the remedy,
that can be found in, or extracted from, the four
teen numbers of “ Notes on the Situation by B.
H. Hill,” and iu his Atlanta speech. It is the
only grain of supposed wheat to be found in the
entire bushel of chaff, and when examined it is
found to be & defective grain of cheat.
As the champion ot words in Georgia can
suggest no practical relief against “these Military
bills,” and as your rejection of the terms pro
posed by them will again bring down the power
of the conqueror upon you, and entail upon you
the same disfranchisement and disability under
Which Mr. Hill chafes, w ith confiscation of your
property to pay the war debt added; what is best
for you to do? Will you renew the fight with a
certainty ot being whipped, and defy the Gov
ernment, which has the control over you; and
thereby provoke it to make your burdens still
mors grievous ? It you do this in the hope ot
maintaining the right of Mr. Hill and others who
are disfranchised to hold office, you will find it a
vain hope. You may cause yourselves to be
disfranchised when Congress again meets, but
you can relieve none who are now disfranchised
till it is the pleasure of Congress to grant the re
lief. Those who accept tbe terms prescribed by
Congress, and support them In good faith, if they
have not held high- political position in connec
tion with the rebellion, will, I have no doubt, be
relieved very soou ‘after the reconstruction is
completed. Those who do not, cannot expect
relief.
You who have never held office have doubt
less observed that the former office-holders are,
as a general rule, the most bitter of all others
against the present plan of reconstruction. As
all men are more or less ambitious for power
this is not unnatural. They have had the bene
fits in the past, and as the fortunes of war have
been against them, they must now stand aside,
for a time at . least, and live as you have always
lived—without office. And while they are ex
cluded, such of you as may be selected from
your owu number, must come forward and fill
the positions of honor and trust in their places.
As society would still have existed, and pros
perity and happiness might still have been hoped
for, if all of us who are now disfranchised had
died when these acts of Congress were passed,
we may still expect the country to exist, and the
offices to be filled after we are disfranchised.
Judging from the past, it is natural to conclude
that if Congress had required a further sacrifice
of the people's property, without interfering with
the rights of the leaders to hold office, as the terms
of settlement, it would have been as “promptly
and cheerfully” yielded as they yielded slavery.
But when Congress required the leaders to yield
this right, to settle the question, and save to the
people the balance left them, how few have been
willing to make this sacrifice for the public
good. Those who have been accustomed to oc
cupy the positions of honor and profit, seem to
think the country is ruined beyond redemption
if they are deprived of this right. Doubtless
other men will rise up in the places ot many of
them as honest and as capable as they were, and
the country will still prosper after they are f or _
gotten.
It is much to lie regretted that many of our
former leaders seem to employ all their powers
in widening the breach, and stirring up our pre
judices against the people of the North. When
the war raged, this was natural. But when hos
tilities ceased, it became unnatural. Enemies
in war should in peace be friends, is the precept
of high authority. Suppose the leaders of the
North had all been as active in arousing the bit
ter prejudices of the masses against us, what
would have been the result ? Before this time
our whole property would have been confiscated
to pay the war debt, and all who voluntarily
aided in the rebellion would have been forever
disfranchised. If we had been the conquerors,
and the people of the North the conquered, do
you not believe the same Southern leaders who
now labor so faithfully to keep alive our passions
and our prejudices against the people of the
North, would have favored the dictation of as
hard, nay, harder terms to them than they now
prescribe to us. Mr. Hill, in his Savannah
speech, above referred to, before the war began,
laid down the terms upon which we were to
allow them to come into our Union or Confede
racy ; after we had “ burned their cities and de
vastated their country.” If they “ came humbly
enough as hewers of wood and drawers of water,
they might come.” These are the terms upon
which he and others, as Radical Southern lead
ers, proposed to allow them to come back into
our Union after we conquered them. And many
ot the same men, who tbeu entertained this re
vengeful spirit, are now the men who denounce
the governing men ot the North as peijured
traitors for proposing milder terms to us; and
all our people as perjured traitors who accept
milder terms.
Again, the masses of the Northern people
have shown none of this relentless spirit toward
us since the war. Our cities were burned and
our country devastated by the war. This was
followed by drought and a very short crop.—
Thousands of our people were on the very verge
of starvation. We had not the means of relief
among ourselves. We appealed to the human
ity of the people of the North and they respond
ed with noble and generous sympathy. Our
agents who went among them to represent our
destitution, distress and suffering, were not turn
ed empty away. The people ot the North lent
a listening ear and they opened their hearts,
their, houses, their granaries, and ILair purses
and contributed hundreds of thousands of dol
lars in valne to the relief of our poor—to feed
the hungry and clothe the naked—who, but a
short time previous, were enemies in arms
against them. Even the Congress—that “ frag
mentaiy conclave of peijured traitors,” as Mr.
Hill calls them, appropriated a large sum to the
relief of the suffering poor ot the South, as well
those who had been rebels as those who were
Union men. In view of these considerations, I
most respectfully submit that all these mischiev
ous, malignant efforts of such leaders as Mr.
Hill, and others actuated by like motives, to
arouse passion and influence prejudice against
the people who have acted in this spirit toward
us since the war, is in had taste, unjust, unrea
sonable and ungrateful. Jt is true the people of
the North claim to dictate the terms "of peace,
and it is equally true that if we had been the
conquerors we should bare maintained the same
position. The question has been submitted to
the arbitrament of the sword. The decision is
against us in this high court of our own selec
tion, and we are bound l>y the judgment and
compelled to submit.
Then, why all this fustian, and rant, and. non
sense, alter we are whipped and are at the feet
of the conqueror, perfectly powerless? Why
whimper and whine and snarl continually about
what we have lost ? Why not yield to our late,
hard as it’is, like men, and go to work and try
to build up again ? Why continue to irritate
those who have absolute power over us, and
provoke them to become more exacting ? Why
should leaders so obstinately resist their own
disfranchisement, when their success in the de
feat of the Convention will not, in the end, re
lieve a single one of them, but will terminate in
the general disfranchisment ot the people who
are their deluded followers.
Leaders now say they had rather remain under
military government than submit to the require
ments of Congress. This will not be allowed us.
Rely upon it, the 40th Congress will Dot finally
adjourn till theae States are all reconstructed
upon some terms and re-admitted to representa
tion. The people of the North demand this,
and it will be done. If we reconstruct upon the
present terms about nine-tenths of the white
men will remain voters. If we reject and vote
down the convention, when Congress again meets
in December, it will pass an act extending the
disfranchisement to every man who votes against
the convention, whether while or black, and
probably to all others who voluntarily aided in
tbe rebellion.
But it may be asked, why disfranchise a man
because he votes against the Convention. The
reply is, Congress, representing the conqueror,
has submitted its plan for reconstruction and re
storation ot the Union, and the vote of each
man, white or black, will be looked to as a test
ot his loyalty and willingness to see the Union
restored and peace once more established. The
tickets of all, black and white, will no doubt be
numbered, and it will be an easy matter for the
Government to see how each voted. The ques
tion is not whether we will allow the Jreedmen
to vote. That is afready established beyond re
vocation. He is already registered, and the army
stands at his back to see that he is not deprived
of this right conferred by Congress. When I hey
have once exercised this right, who is so blind
as not to see that we cannot take it from them
without a_ war of races. Having once exercised
it, they will fight for it or continue to exercise
it; and they will have the sympathy and sup
port of a large majority of the people of the
North. It is not wise to deceive ourselves on
this point. Universal manhood suffrage is a
fixed fact, however much we may deplore it The
whole question, then, is in a nutshell. ^ It is not
whether the freedmen shall vote,but it is how ma
ny of the white men shall vote ? It may be said
this will fasten negro government upon us, and we
shall, therefore, vote down the Convention to
avoid it How does this help us? R we vote
for a Convention about nine-tenths of the white
men of Georgia will still be voters. If we vote
down the Convention Cong: ess will extend the
disfranchisement till probably not exceeding
one-tenth will be voters. Which will be the
worse government for us, that in which nine-
tenths of our own race retain the right to vote or
that in which only one-tenth have that right.
Take Tennessee as an instance. Her govern
ment was set up before the war ended, and by
her Constitution none but test-oath men and a
few other favorites ot the powers that then ruled
her are allowed to vote. Of about 150,000 white
citizens, only a little over twenty thousand are
voters How gladly would the white people ot
Tennessee accept the terms tendered to us by the
Military bills, which would put the ballot-box in
to the hands of nine-tenths ot the white men,
when, at present, about one-seventh only are
voters. What sensible man desires to exchange
position with them? And still Mr Hill and
other leaders advocate a mad policy that must it
successful, place Georgia in a worse condition
than Tennessee now occupies; as our rejection
of the terms will cause the disfranchisement oi
probably a larger proportion ot our white people
than the proportion now disfranchised in 1 en
nessee.
It was with a view of doing all in my power
to save our people from this alternative, that 1
took position in advance for the acceptance, in
good faith, of the terms prescribed by Congress.
I very well know the advantage which an un
scrupulous opponent would have by appeals to
the passions and prejudices of our people, who
have just passed through the war, with but little
time tor reason to resume its control. 1 was
well aware of the ease with which the wounds
could be re-opened by inflammatory appeals and
denunciations. The detraction and abuse winch
have been heaped upon me was not unexpected.
But whatever may have been our errors m the
past, I entertain no doubt that our best interest
in the future inquires the prompt acceptance of
the plan dictated by the conqueror. Having
taken my position in favor of the-acceptance ot
ihe terms, after mature consideration—despising
the vile slanderer whose delight is detraction
and abuse, and defying tlfc surging, resistless
tide of passions and prejudices which designing
men are attempting to lash into fury for selfish
ends, I shall stand immovably by my position.
And I warn the people to beware how they sub
ordinate their reason to their prejudices, which,
if persisted in, will bring utter ruin upon them
selves and their children. If you vote down the
Convention, preferring military government,
how long may it be before Congress will direct
the military commander to assess a tax upon
you, in addition to your present burdens, to sup
port this military government, which seems at
present to command your admiration ? What
guarantee have you that General Pope, who has
shown himself a wise, humane ruler, possessing
the qualities of the statesman as well as the
General, will be continued as your commander ?
He may die, or be called to some other field of
labor, and his successor may be destitute of the
high qualities of head and heart possessed by
him.
But however this may be, mark it—be not de
ceived. If you vote down the Convention, in
less than two years Georgia will be reconstructed
with a representation in Congress; the great
mass of white men in Georgia, including all who
vote against the Convention, will be disfranchis
ed ; and there will be a very general confiscation
of property to pay the war debt aud pension the
Union soldiers who were disabled in the war.—
Tell me not that this will be no worse than the
present state of things. It will be infinitely
worse than every candid man, controlled by rea
son and common sense, is obliged to admit.
It is no escape to say, as Mr. Hill and others
have said, that Congress has no power to pass a
confiscation act after the war is over, or that con
fiscation is a war measure only. There is an act
now on the statute book, passed in July, 1862,
while the war was raging, that confiscated al
most the entire property of Georgia. This act
has never been repealed. Mr. Stevens arraigns
the President for having failed to execute it.—
Continue to show a rebellious spirit, and it is
only necessary for Congress to pass a resolution,
or. act, directing that the property already con
fiscated be seized and, instead of its appropria
tion by the President to the use of the army, as
directed by the original act, that it be applied
in payment of the war debt and to pension
wounded soldiers, and the work is done. If it is
said, as has been charged, that my course is in
fluenced by fear of the confiscation of my pro
perty, I reply, as will every honest man who
reads this, that I have no wish to lose my pro
perty. But it confiscation must come, I can
bear it as well as others can. I have a good
profession by which I can make an ample sup
port. And this is more thau can be said by
thousands of Georgians. The home of a farmer,
if it is his all, is as much to him as wliat I have
is to me, and I can live as comfortably without
mine as he can without his. My warning, then,
is against a common calamity, in which 1 should
only be a common sufferer with hundreds of
thousands of others.
In conclusion, I beg the reader to dismiss pas
sion and prejudice, malignity and hate, and sum
mon his reason to his support, and think calmly
ot what I have said without reference to his
like or dislike of me personally, and judge for
himself, in view of our couditiou as a conquered
people, and in the light of all the circumstances
by which he is surrounded, what is best for him
to do to promote his own interest and the public
welfare.
Correspondence between tbe Hon- H. H.
Bfghiim and Certain Citizens or Carroll
County.
[published by request.]
Carrollton, Ga., July 29,1867.
Hon. B. H. Bigham, LaGrange, Georgia:
Dear Sir —We, in common with many of
onr citizens, are in favor of complying, iu good
faith, with the terms prescribed by Congress,
hoping thereby to secure, at an early day, our
State to a political existence in the Union, and
peace and prosperity to our common country;
and believing you agree with us, and that your
opinions will have great weight in bringing
about this desirable end, respectfully request you
to give the people the benefit of your views,
at length, through the press, on the questions
now agitating the people.,
Yours respectfully, W. W. Merrej.l,
J. W. Stewart,
B. M. Long,
aud many others.
LaGrange, Ga., August 3, 1867.
Gentlemen—Your kind and patriotic letter
is before me, and I reply promptly.
I am tor peace. 1 feel no inclination to im
pugn the motives ol men, or to arraign their past
records; nor shall any one put me down as the
advocate of any peculiar dynasty, or ol any
party. The fate of the people of Georgia is my
fate; and looking upon the si era realities that
surround us, I have tried to decide what is best
for my countrymen and for bur posterity. No
doubt can lie entertained Ity the dispassionate
mind but that it is our duty to accept the tacts ol
the situation—weigh them with prudent judg
ment as they are, and not as we may desire to
have them, and, in co-operation with every
power and influence at work for our rehabilita
tion, to make the best government we can with
the materials at our command.
I am well aware tltat in coining to this wise
conclusion, there are many prejudices fn our
own bosoms which we have to conquer. We
have been told that the people of the North are
so much our enemies, by both tradition and
practice, that we cannot live in the same govern
ment with them. This cruel work of sowing
dragon’s teeth was carried on through years of
crasade, until we were called upon in the name
of constitutional liberty, to abrogate the Consti
tution of our fothers and make a new one; and
the name of Stale rights and State sove
reignty, to inaugurate a dynast which soon
immolated liberty, and which, in the name
of the dethroned goddess, and supported with
paradoxical devotion, by a virtuons people,
dragged men in conscript chains, to defend
its unlawful seizures, its forced loans, and
other measures of tyranny. The true state
ment of the matter is that the people of the
North have committed errors in the past; so
have we. Since, then, none of us are totally
without fault, why shall we not admit it—profit
by experience, and address ourselves to the pres
ent and to the future.
But the enemies of reconstruction would still
have us believe the heresy above referred to, and
in their anxiety to present the sum of alleged
grievances, they have'Tailed to notice, or neglect
ed to advert to some important facts which de
serve consideration. To some of these I will
briefly call attention.
When the war closed there was a sufficient
debt dae by people of the South to people of the
North to have brought the whole mass of South
ern society to penniless bankruptcy. This, too,
was well known to Northern merchants who
mainly held the huge debt. They did not press.
They did not even avail themselves of legal ad
vantages, whilst thousand of Southern creditors,
many of them, too, hitter anti-reconstructionists,
who-say they love their Southern brethren too
well to be willing for them to live under the same
vine and fig tree with the Yankees, rushed into
the courts to secure first liens, and plied their
in their settlements as Southerners have. I
challenge the business men and the merchants
and the lawyers ot Georgia to deny it. And 1
would, with the most tender delicacy, suggest to
the women of my country, many ot whom have
refused either to be comforted or to reflect, that
these men have had it in their power to deprive
them of even their homes, and have known it,
and from motives of fraternity and of admira
tion for a gallant, courageous and suffering peo
ple, have exercised forbearance. The many thou
sand of magnanimous settlements made by North
ern men constitute a great social fact which is for
them a monument, and is for us an unanswerable
argument against the further continuance of strife.
There is another equally as potent. Our peo
ple were impoverished at the close of the war,
and the horrors of their situation were increased
by the unpropitiousness of tue seasons of 1865
and 1866. Famine thus found its way to many
a door where plenty had previously kept her
constant abode. It even put in its long arms
and pinched the inmates of all our homes, so
that instead of the cornucopia, there was the
groan of misery throughout our much loved
South. There is not a community in the North
which did not contribute something to relieve
our distress. They sent the means ot subsistence
to us along tbe ready railway routes, and by the
river steamers. They sent corn, and flour, and
bacon, and lard, and clothing, and all that sus
tains life; and when they were uncertain wbat
would do us most good, they sent checks ou
their banks through the mails so promptly re
established for our accommodation by the gov
ernment. No avenue of communication was
spared: no organization, social or benevolent,
but what lent its aid. The government itself
entered upon the good work, and its officers
have been planning the relief of our poor and
distributing rations to the hungry. Even the
mighty ocean bore their bountiful offerings, and
its willing waves murmured tbe praises of the
generosity they were contributing to assist;
whilst, in many instances, citizens far in the in
terior were surprised with consignments of food
tor distribution from men whose names they
never before had heard. Does this look like
enmity ? Does it look like plotting our destruc
tion ? My countrymen, do not let politicians or
your own passions deceive you. Such works
as these ape fruits of peace. Those who thus
signalize pur misfortunes are not enemies. We
should know more of each other, both North
and South, and we should judge of each other
with fairness and mutual respect. This was
what Washington meant when he recommended
a national spirit. Have the hearts of our people
become so small that we cannot love our whole
country? Is not a good deed good, though done
by a descendant of Green, who Georgia delight
ed to honor in his day, notwithstanding he was
a New Englander ? Is the land of Webster, and
Douglas, and Jay, different from the land of
Clay, and Berrien, and Marshall ? Is the coun
try of Washington, and Crawford, and John
Adams, and Jackson, to be forever divided, and
must political gamblers unceasingly cast lots for
its garments and speculate on its Constitution ?
It is worthy of notice that the men who have
plied us most actively with arguments, appeals,
and diatribes against reconstruction, have uni
formly and in every instance failed to refer in
terms of consideration to any of these sublime
acts of kindness aud fraternity. Take the whole
range ot our history from the magnificent collo
quy between General’s Grant and Lee at the sur
render of the latter and his noble army, in which
General Grant had the sensibility to soothe the
mortification of a brave man whom he respected
in his misfortune, to the present moment when
United States troops are protecting the law-abi
ding men of Tennessee against the worst vio
lence with which the extremists on both sides,
unrestrained would deluge the country, and it
will be seen that these opponents of reconstruc
tion have ignored the benevolent attentions ot
government to the general welfare. They even
ignore the fact which presents itself to every-day
observation, that bitter as is the idea ot living
under military rule upon which they carp con
siderably, at all events, in the administration of
General Pope in this district, instead of tyranny
there is a mild firmness mingled much with for
bearance. The greatest freedom of speech is al
lowed, and he even shows so much of indulgence
as to leave the reins of our local governments in
the hands of those inimical to reconstruction.
There has already been too much pinchbeck
martyrdom for the lost cause palmed off upon us.
The real heroes of the recent struggle, are the men
who suffered in the battles and tedious marches,
and weary bivouacs, and who have returned
home wounded or shattered by disease. The
greatest sufferers are the widows and orphans ot
the humble dead. These should be cherished
by us as we love the memory of the worthy ;
but those who are endeavoring to lead public
opinion against peace, and who, in the name of
the Constitution, would ravish liberty of her
charms and sacrilegously invoke anarchy, can
not complain if they find themselves scrutinized.
Their extraordinary omissions, to which attention
has been called above, demonstrate that they
are either selfish or the victims of blind autl pas
sionate prejudice. Time will develop wlijch.—
If seeking to serve themselves, I predict that
they will either leave us and go somewhere else
where the paltry capital ot notoriety they may
be enabled to center upon themselves may be
coined into gold or social consideration; or they
will be foremost in the advocacy of reconstruc
tion when it shall have become an accomplished
fact; but I take them to be sincere, and in that
event their failure to advert to any facts of the
kind above referred to by me, is irresistibly con
clusive that they are the victims of their own ill-
goverued feelings aud jaundiced sentiments, and
are to be pitied instead of followed. We need
no sophisms now. Neither do we need sopho-
moreisms. We need" plain, solid food, and it
is important for us not only flint we look all
the facts of our situation in the face, but also
that we let the people of the.North know that
these reckless intellects are their own expon
ents, and not the exponents ot the true ex
isting sentiment here; for it is not the least"
of our misfortunes that the extremists in all parts
of our country are yet converging, as in the past.,
though actuated by rank hostility to each other,
to issues that continuously threaten the peace.of
society. The extremist editors here will not pub
lish arguments of the kind given abovevin lavor
of reconstruction, but every dirty diatribe against
the Union, and the complete rehabilitation of the
country, which Washington and his compatriots
established, they print, and praise, and imitate.
And they rejoice and feel complimented by no
tices Which journals, alike inimical to reconstruc-
tiion, edited by extremists," North make of their
congenial labors, if I could got tbe ear ol the
whole editorial fraternity, would respect fully re
mind them of the dignity of their calling, and
ot their immense power. In behalf ot the wo
men and children who have sortie interests in
this question, I would exhort them to wield that
power for good and in behalf of law and order.
I w ould remind them that ever since the days of
Junius, who was ashamed to put his name to
what be wrote, weak men like him have had the
folly to thiuk bullyism, and vulgarity, and insult
synonymous with wit, sarcasm and logic; whilst
true journalists have riot withheld facts, but have
stood by the law, advocated principle aud com
batted passion, carrying the tastes of the gentle
man even into party gladiation. 1 would further
remind them that there is no party 7 now but our
country, and earnestly urge upon them the ad
vocacy of reconstruction, so that tbe expression
of opinion would be worth something. Now it
is mere bratum fulmen—then it would mold des
tiny 7 at the ballot box.
This much I have said, because, as we all well
know, when our hearts get right, the Work of
reconstruction is almost entirely accomplished.
Whenever we decide that having laid down our
arms and agreed to have peace, we will, in that
spirit of frankness and sincerity which distin
guishes the Southern people, inquire how can
our relations with tbe federal government he
fully resumed. The reply is plain and palpable.
The plan of reconstruction contained iu the
Sherman bill, and acts of Congress supplemen
tary thereto, is the only way. If it fails we can
only get one involving severer terms. By the
Constitution of the United States, tbe Govern
ment is confided to three separate bodies of
magistracy. The President has said he will exe
cute it; the Congress passed it aud will enforce
it; the Supremo Court lias been appealed to and
refused even temporary injunction. Thus the
Government is a unit; and let quid-nuncs say
what they will, these sworn custodians of the
Constitution say it shall be enforced, and recon
struction will take place. Therefore, to stay out
is not to prevent the work, but to leave others
to do it. To register and then vote against Con
vention is madness. For even it you succeed
in defeating Convention, you incur the proba
bility of further disfranchisement, for, according
to the term of their election, the present Com
gress will dispose of these matters before anoth
er can be elected. The truth is, the only seusi
hie course left us is to deal fairly with ourselves,
and with posterity, aud to advocate reconstruc
tion, vote for the best men we can got as dele
gates—let them meet aud make us a Constitu
tion which the Goveromct will guarantee, and
then live under it.
My countrymen, Providence is smiling upon
us. The plentiful harvests of wheat and corn
and promising crop of cotton, show the good ef
fects of faithful labor and ot the early and later
rains. Let our own conduct illustrate those no
ble virtues thus typified. Let us thank God
for what we have—envy not our neighbor—
multiply the blessings ol peace—work. Let pa
not permit any man to stir up in our bosoms the
blasts of passion or the strifes of party; but,
debtors with merciless legal processes whenever | ever mindful to cultivate peace and good will to
and wherever they could. 1 have been, and am ■ wards all men, let each man seek after individual
now extensively engaged in the practice of law.
I know what I say is truth, and weigh my words
deliberately when I declare that the men of the
North have been at least as much like brethren
prosperity, and when each shall have attained it,
our country will be prosperous.
I remain, gentleman, with great respect, your
friend, B. H. Bigham.