Weekly Atlanta intelligencer. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1865-18??, September 18, 1867, Image 1

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Newspaper Page Text1 •ERItOIi CEASES TO BE DANGEROUS WHEN REASON IS LEFT FREE TO COMBAT IT.'Wiffcoon. VOLUME XIX. ATLANTA, GA., WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18,186 NUMBER 38. IPrekli) JutfUigcnccr. ATLANTA, GEOBGIA, :Wednesday, September 18, 1867. Cabinet Change*. It appears from the most reliable information we can obtain, and from the latest, that changes will be made in the Cabinet of the President ere long. The Intelligencer at Washington, of a re cent dale, confirms the rumors afloat as to these changes, while the other journals of respecta bility and reliance, in their statements, announce them as certain events of an early future. Not long since, we noticed the announcement, that at a Cabinet meeting, every member of it present announced their willingness to retire whenever the President deemed it best for the country anil his administration, for them to lake such a step. The latest rumor now is, that Mr. Seward and Mr. McCulloch will be the first to tender their re Hi^naUima, both of these officials desiring to n turn soon to private life. In some of our ex changes we notice that Mr. Black, ot Pennsylva nia, is designated as the successor of Mr. Seward, while the Washington correspondent of the New York Herald, states that either Mr. Cisco, or Philadelphia banker somewhat known to fame, will succeed Mr. McCulloch. It is well known that President .Johnson never had a Cabinet of his own nomination as whole. The motives that influenced him to re tain the Cabinet of Mr. Lincoln, were honorable. Circumstances and the times justified the act.— Experience, however, has doubtless taught the President that it would have been better for himself and the country, had he made his own appointments and called into counsel with him self men whose political views were more in consonance with his own past political record— men who had not during their whole political lives entertained and advocated doctrines—like Mr. Seward—the opposite ol those which he had ever maintained and ever advocated. An drew Johnson was a Democrat—Mu. Seward, a Federalist. The former a Democratic leader in Tennessee ; the latter a Federal leader in New York. Both were wedded to the peculiar tenets of their respective parties. They were us oppo site to each other in the political world, as it was possible to conceive two men to be; and when, by the action of the President, the two came together in council, it would have been almost a miracle had they agreed either iu relation to men <>r measures. We opine that they have ever since their political connection, agreed to disa gree, and this has become tiresome to both. A change, therefore, has become necessary, and Mr. Seward, we have no doubt will soon retire. [Ton THE INTELLIGENCER ] Hurrah fur California. The voice of encouragement is re-echoed from the Pacific coast. California Haights Radical ism ! Connessmust fall from “his pride of place.” Following so closely upon the emphatic rejection by Kentucky of the lunkhead party, the great West surely furnishes matter tor a renewal of hope! SrF.RO. Marietta, Sept. 7,1807. We echo the foregoing cry of our correspon dent, “ Hurrah for California!” as we did for noble “ old Connecticut” Haights majority for Governor is not far short ot ten thousand ; but this is not all the good news; the entire Repub lican State ticket is defeated, and the Democrats have a majority in the State Assembly. It would have been a clean sweep, but for the fact that four teen of the Bute Senate hold over, and unfortu nately they arc all Radicals. It is, however, im- |K*ssiblo to elect, or re-elect a Radical U. S. Sena tor, while it is certain that Conness will have to take leave of the Senate. California in the receut election lias declared that henceforth he shall be no Senator of hers as emphatically as Othello dismissed Ins erring Liculenant.— “Straws show which way the wind blows,” so do the recent popular elections—the one in Connecticut the only sound spot in the heart of New England, the other on the Pacific slope— indicate the downfall of the radical party ; the rule or ruin party, bused :is it is upon no prin ciple of good government, maintaining and striving to maintain its supremacy with the spoils of office and public plunder. The day however lor retribution is fast approaching. We see it and feel it. No people on earth have ever submitted long to such rule as the Radical Party have inflicted upon the country. Our readers may rest assured that the day of deliv erance is hastening on. The “sigin of the times” were never more portent of the downfall ol any political party, than they now are of power be- iug wrested from the Radicals, who have only exercised to abuse it, and tyranise over South. Negro SuHYaire In the North. Notwithstanding its vagaries and inconsisten cies, it cannot lie denied that the New York Herald has exhibited in it3 journalistic career a wonderful capacity to “ smell danger afar ofl," ami has not hesitated in promptly sounding its note of alarm whenever the occasion required it. Negro suffrage it now sees is not designed alone tor the South. That “ poisoned chalice,” the Radical leaders ot the North design to present to the lips of their own people. Sumner, Wendell Fhillips, and others of the Radical t ribe, have so pronounced, aud the question at least will be forced upon the Northern people. “ As soou,” says the Herald, “as the strong arm of central power shall have finished the work of African! zing the South, then these revolutionists will in sist that the same power be applied to force ne gro suffrage upon the loyal States, whether the people wish it or not. It remains to be seen how tar these crazy destructives can go. It may be that the Republican party wili go with them to any length in overriding the Constitution, com mon sense and everything else; but tin re are now indications of a split up in the party.— The views of Seuator Trumbull, as published in a Chicago paper, show that he does nut endorse the Sumner negro programme with regard to the loyal States. Mr. Trumbull is one of the most powerful men ot his party, and very radical in many respects, but he cannot swallow quite such a large revolutionary dose. We are inclined to believe, from the views ol this leading Senator, which are ably expressed that a re-action and a spiff. will take place iu the Republican party on die negro question. The more sensible and conservative begin to think that negro fanaticism has been carried quite far enough, or too far. The sooner this re-action oomes the better for the peace and welfare of the country, North and South.” There is every indication that the “split” in the Republican party referred to iu the foregoing will soon come. Negro fanaticism has well nigh run its race. The receut elections iu Connecti cut, California, and even Maiue, are demonstra tive of this. The South has only to be patient under the despotism that is upon her. Her day of trial and suffering will soon be over. “IV horn the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad, anu it madness has not seized the radical party, w hat is the same thing in effect, something worse Iimu, or tlie “signs Of the times" are indicative ol nothing. Re-action—the re action to which the Herald refers—must come, ar.d the sooner it comes, we agree with that paper, “the better lor the peace and welfare of the country, North and South.” [FOR the intelligencer.] Banquo to General Pope. Militant Dmtbict No. 3, 1 HEADQUARTERS UNDER THE SADDLE, - September 10th, 1867. ) lire ret Major General John Pojie, U. 8. A. : General—Since I had the honor of address- ing you, more than one week ago, important events have transpired. We are informed by telegraph that the King oi Prussia has refused to meet Napoleon at Baden-Baden ; that General Canby has relieved Sickles, the incestuous satrap of District No. 2; that General Griffin’s only child is dead, the same who denied a Christian burial to the remains of General Albert Sidney Johnston; that Sheridan, the upstart, the valor ous and veracious hero of Trevillian Station, has gone to visit your old friends, the red skins. And, also, the newspapers say that Old Thad the veteran leader and club-footed imp of your party, has boldly announced that the President still has the power to supervise, by removals and appointments, the Five Military Districts. Gen Grant has asked to withdraw his letters of “pro test,” aud luiH promised to obey the orders of the President, his superior officer. General Grant, however, has enunciated a new dogma—a new political faith—a faith doubtless exhumed from he lead mines of Galena, as it has heretofore been unknown in the free Republic of Washing ton and Jefferson. General Grant, in his letter of “protest” to the President, says: “This is a Republic where the will of the people is the law ot the land.” “The will of the people”— indeed ! i lave the people of ten Southern States iny will ? Are you not in our midst, surrounded by mercenary bayonets, oppressing, harrassin and insulting the very people whose heroic sons drove your plundering and incendiary battalions routed and disgraced from tbe classic soil of Virginia? Are you not here to prevent the peo pie from a free expression of their “ trill?” Are you not engaged in removing men from civil po- itious who were placed there by the free “ will” of the people ? Areyou notengaged in the tyran nical practice of forcing civil officers of Georgia, Alabama and Florida, to advertise their official business in journals hostile to aud defamatory the President? and whose columns teem with insults and degradation to the Southern people? Are you not engaged in dissolving private contracts that your satelites may pi otit thereby ? Were you sent to District No. 3 to reconstruct the newspapers? to pull down respectable Southern organs and build up a class xpressly to impregnate the South with the reek- ig tilth and poisonous slime of a Puritan Con gress? My dear General, this part ot your Re- nslruction programme will surely fail. Civil Ulcers should publish their official business in the ohl way—hy hand bills and posters—rather than he forced hy abolition tyranny to support a press which is not only seeking our degrada lion, and the destruction of our common country, but is laboring to place the Southern people he lical li the heel of the ignorant negro, and the unscrupulous Yankee. Such is the working >1 the Grant dogma—that, “this is a Republic where the will ot the people is the law of the land.” It is with mingled feelings of disgust iud contrition, my dear General, that I am forc ed to notice your many official aberrations and erratic flounces. You may not kDOw the fact, but it is nevertheless true, that until recently you had in District No. 3, many doating friends; not office-seeking friends and obsequious mendi cants, but those who had naught but kind and sympathetic feelings for you. It was those who believed you had been very badly treated by Lincoln aud Stanton alter the second battle of Manassas. It was their desire to promote you to some distinguished civil office—after “Recon struction” was delivered of her colored babe.— Our fear, however, is, at present, that you will bring about an abortion, and, consequently, en danger the life of the abolition harlot, and there by subject your congressional friends to tbe pro crastination of convalescence and a secondary or tertiary gestation. District No. 3 would like]}’ have sent you to the Puritan Senate; and once there, money could have been got to build a second monumental Stonewall, that surely would have “Ministered to a mind diseased ; .Iqi/ pluck-ej from the memory of rooted sorrow ; Ras-etf out the written troubles of the brain ; And with some sweet oblivious antidote, Cleansed the stntTd bosom of that perilous stuff, Which weighs upon the heart f” But, my dear General, you have heeded not the warnings of your true friends; Blodgett, Gaskill, and Markham, are bad advisers. You believe it not, and in your angered frenzy, ex claim : “ I'll light, ti.l front my bones my flesh be hack’d. Give me my armor; Order Forty-Xine will not save me.” Markham.—“’Tie not needed yet.” Pope.—" I'll put it on ; Send out more horses, skirr the country rouud; Hang those who talk of fear—away with Gaskill and with Markham. How is ' Reconstruction,' General Dunn ?” Dunn.—" Pretty sick, General; 'Reconstruction' is troubled with thick coming fancies. That keep from their rest Potash Farrow, The disiuteresied Gaskill, the facile Bard, the lyux Eyed Scruggs, and the patriot Markham.” Pope.—'* 1 see now the way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle ! Life’s hut a walking shadow ; a poor player. That struts and frets his hour upon the stage. And theu is heard no more; it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fnry, Signifying nothing.' R. H. Hill.—‘‘This tyrant, whose sole name blisters my tongue, Was once thought honest; I never likea him well. He hath not touched me yet. I scorn hie threats ; Dastards threaten—brave men never do. 1 think my country sinks beneath the yoke ; It weeps, it bleeds : and each new day a gash Is added to her wounds. I think, withal. There would be hands uplifted in my right ?” Pope.—“ Avaunt I and quit my sight I Ye insolent 'Rebel,' Thy bones are filled with treason ; I hear thy seething blood. Aud eau'st see murder in those eyes Which glare like fiery halls.” Hill.—General, “ this is only a thing of custom, 'Tis no other.” Pope.—Yon “ Rebels” are a curious race. Your room's preferred to death's embrace; My firm nerves do tremble at thy devilish look. Whose presence I never more can brook ! O, horrible, horrible, Mr. Hill. Do save me from the Johnson pill. For no more letters will I publish. Unless you trap me in a “ skirmish.” Hill.—Stonewalls “ have been known to move, and trees to speak.” Pope—You'd thought so if Stonewall Jackson had ever got after you. Hill.—Stonewall sent yon to fight the Indians. I be lieve ? Pope.—Yes; bnt I got my revenge. Hill.—How ? Pope.—I hung the Chief of the Sioux, Medicine Bottle. Hill.—Is that allr Pope.—No; I issued Order 4S>, and removed the Deputy Sheriff of Bartow county. Hill.—Great achievements : you will live in history, General. Pope.—I fear history. Hill.—It will do yon justice. Pope.—Yes ; that is what I am afraid of. Mr. Hill is the gentleman, I believe, my dear General, you styled “this person” in vour cele brated letter to Gen. Grant. To the day this let ter appeared in the public press, you well know that neither Mr. Hill, nor any other citizen of District No. 3, h«ul uttered one wortloi disrespect in regard to yourself; but on the contrary, you were everywhere, and by everybody who came in contact with yon, treated with the utmost re spect and consideration. You have reciprocated with tyranny, and with the grossest insults to those who sought to show you that respect and courtesy due your rank as a regular officer of the United States Army. Despite tliis attention and the advances made upon you from the kind est intentions anil from the best of motives, you have proclaimed to the world iu your letter to Gen. Grant, that “in five years the intelligence of the South will be in tbe possession of the negroes.” In plain English you declare that the Southern ne gro is intellectually the superior of the Southern whites. Yet, the party of which you are a zeal ous member complains that they have been gov erned for the last sixty years by these same white Southerners whom you have just discovered are intellectually the inferior of the Southern negro. If, then, the Southern negro is the superior in in tellect to tlie Southern whites, and these inferior Southern whites have governed tlie couutry for the last sixty years, where, I ask, does it place the intellectual status of the Yankee? The logical sequence is inevitable, that the intellectu al scale of the Yankee is not only inferior to the while Southerner, but to the negro. This is your own reasoning, my dear General, and speaks very badly for your people and their boasted civilization. There may be much truth -Jo your reasoning, if results of a physical character are to be considered. You well remember that these igDorant Southerners, during a four years’ war, had about six hundred and thirty engagements with the intellectual Yankee and their hired Hes sians; that the “boys in blue” were soundly thrashed in not less than five hundred aud ninety of the six hundred and thirty encounters. You had, finally, to call to your aid the superior miud and muscle of the Southern negro, before the little affair at Appomattox Court House transpired. Again, my dear General, according to your own argument, the Yankee Puritan must not expect to govern the country much longer, for both the white and black races of the South being the superior of the Yankee, will not permit them selves to be governed, gulled, and swindled much longer by an inferior race of cod fish mongers and onion eaters. If you fail to respect and treat with common decency your own sub jects, how do you expect them to respect and honor you? Human nature is the same every where, when not crystalized by Yankee chi canery. But “The poor wren, the most diminutive of birds, will fight. I dare not speak much further; But cruel are the times, when we are traitors, And do Dot know ourselves; when we hold sorrow From what we fear, yet know not what we fear; But float upon a wild and violent sea, Each way. and move. I bike my leave of yon. Shall not be long but I’ll be here again ; Things at the worst will cease, or else climb upward To what they were before. My pretty ‘General,’ Blessings upon you 1” Your faithful sentry, Banquo. From the Augusta Chronicle & Sentiuel. Notes on the Situation—No. 21. BY B. H. HILL. To General U. S. Grant: General Pope made one great mistake, and out ot this many other mistakes have growD. He supposed be was sent here to carry out tbe Military Bills. He feels, therelore, that if he does not carry them out lie is defeated. He acts like a man in a battle, lie fights. Eevery man who does not help him carry out those Bills he regards as an enemy—his enemy—fighting for his defeat. He fails to comprehend the differ ence between the ballot and the bullet. He does not understand that bis business is to keep the peace, aud afford the people—some people—an opportunity to determine whether, in their judg ment, the Bills ought to be carried out. No; tbe “great principles of government” are gone, and every man is “turbulent and disloyal,” and the poor negroes are worse off than ever before if General Pope does not Win a victory. Con stitutions, laws, rights, honor—what are all these ? Merc words—nothing ; General Pope must have a victroy. It being, therefore, in his view, no question of judgment, lie cares nothing for opinions or motives. A man has no right to think the bills are wrong. He is disloyal if lie does think so—or rather if he acts so. He cares not what a man thinks about the bills ; if he inly helps to carry them out, he helps General Pope win the fight. This is exactly why he esteems all men as patriots who help him, aud all as disloyal who think the bills are wrong and will not help him carry them out. Therefore, those who help, however they violate their con victions of right, aud will be faithful hypocrites for “the next six months,” lie is going to recom mend for promotion—disabilities to be removed ind then—office! But those who honestly think the bills are contrary to the Constitution, and will ruin the country, aud destroy tlie negro race, and cannot conscientiously forbear saying what they honestly think, and, acting upon such honest couvictious, such men are terrible creatures; caused all the past troubles; will cause more troubles; will never let General Pope win a clear victory ! These must be kept down, disfranchised, frightened, slandered, and banished ! How gracious lie lias been to bis enemies. He lias permitted and encouraged tlie widest latitude of speech and ol the press !” Wonderful ! He permitted what the Constitution savs sha'l not be denied—shall not even be abridged! That old Constitution has higher rank and an older commission than Gen. Pope and quite as much wisdom. The Constitution commands the continent and protects the people. All hsse r commanders are sworn to support that one. Better remember that oath. Bui light breaks ! Our military commander lias stumbled upon oue constitutional idea—freedom of speech and of the press— though he tillers it like it was original and hurt him very much. In the previous note, General, 1 classified the white people who accept the Military bills, aud gave their own reasons for such acceptance. I repeat, I know of none who approve, those bills. I will now classify those who reject them, with their reasons for such rejection. 1. Original secessionists on principle. These are men who sincerely believed that the States,- as sovereign members to a compact of Liiiod, had a right to withdraw from that Union when ever interest or necessity required, and of which each State was tbe sole judge for itself. They infd been taught so to believe by some of the most active framers of the Constitution, aud hy many of the wisest men of each generation smee in every section ot the country. They did not regard secession by the State, therefore, as any violation of the Constitution or of good taith.— These men also believed that owing to the many sectional antagonisms, tlie Northern and South ern States could not continue membersof the same Cuion in peace and as equals, and that the in terests of both sections would be promoted by a separation. They believtd. again, that suchsepa ration would be peaceful. Therefore, they thought secession was right, wise and would secure peace, and that longer Union was war and the ultimate oppression of the South as the weaker party. It is well known I differed with these men. I belonged, always, to a different school of politi cal thinkers. It is uot in order now to define the difference. But I can truly say that, in my opinion, more sincere men, better citizens, and truer patriots have never lived in any country Their doctrines were wrong, as I think, and therefore, very dangerous; but their convictions were sincere, their minds enlightened, tlieir pur poses patriotic, and their actions manly. The unprincipled portion of their followers have very much injured their good name. These men regarded that the right of secession at wili, as a constitutional remedy, was the great issue in the fight. They defended it heroically. But they tailed. Arms decided the issue against them. They accepted the decision. And now they agree that, by the judgment finally ren dered, that the Union has not been dissolved, and thai secession at will by a State is not the true construction of the Constitution. But they still insist on the Constitution, and pledge them selves to live iu ibe Uuion. under that Constitu tion, without the right of constitutional seces sion. Being sincere, they are entitled to trust Being honest, they deserve to be believed. Being brave, they will prove true to trust and faith. And being sincere, honest, and brave, tiiey are compelled to reject these Military bills, as con ceded to be Contrary to the terms of the fight, the conditions of surrender, the sacred pledge of tbe natiou, dishonorable to the government, de grading to tiie white race, and destructive of the black race. The issue in tlie war was as to what the Constitution did really mean. The difference was honest, and neither party were or could be rebels. But the issue made by tbe Radical party in these Military bills is, whether we shall have a Constitution at all; whether constitutional liberty shall Continue; whether tlie nation shall keep its faith and preserve its honor; whether, under pretence of punishing rebels, the government shall lie subverted whether, in the name of loyalty, the Union shall be forever broken; whether, in tlie name of philanthropy, the white race shall be dishon ored, aud the black race exterminated; and whether Federal legislation shall promote the “general welfare,” or shall promote and increase hatred between the sections ot tbe nation until the natiou itself shall cease to exist, or take re fuge from anarchy in despotism ! Ah! General, that clear-sighted, honest hearted, truth-telling chronicle called History, will lie at no loss to de termine who are tlie rebels—are the traitors— and w ho the patriots in this issue. Be not de ceived. Radicalism is canonizing secession ! Press this Radical programme through, and you will indeed, as Thnddeus Sievens says,. “create a new government,” but lli it government will not be a “political paradise.” No paradise can he created by force, fraud, and perjury. But weeping mourners from Northern Suites will deck the graves of the Confederate fallen'; a monument to Jefferson Davis will one day lift its sunward summit from Bunker Hill; Appo mattox will be visited as theffspot where Liberty surrendered its sword to Power; and Fortress Monroe will become the political Mecca whither sorrowing patriot-pilgrims will wend their way to see the room in which “the last defender of constitutional government in America” was op pressed, insulted, and chained. 2. Union men vp to secession.—A large number of our people resisted secession earnestly aud faithfully until, in spite of them, it was au ac complished fact. They then deemed it tlieir duty to go with tlieir section. Some did so to restrain excesses and prevent, if possible, war; some to watch a favorable moment to bring about a reconciliation of tbe sections; some be cause they believed they owed their allegiance to tlie State and were compelled to go; and some, because they believed that the Uuion once dissolved, could never be restored, and they in tended to live in tlie South. But all these loved the Constitution and the Union under it. They lament the subjugation of their section and the misfortuues of their people, but they aecept the result of the fight; agree to re union, aud earn estly desire to restore the prosperity aud harmony of all the country. These necessarily oppose and reject the Military bills, because they regard them as more unconstitutional than secession, as prolonging the bad passions of the strife, and as surely making disunion permanent, and future good will hopeless. 3. Allrthe-time Union men.—These never be lieved the North ever would oppress the South. They loved the Constitution and the Union. They could see no good in secession; they hated secessionists of all classes; they begged our peo ple to stop the fight, and either stood aloof, or did all they could to end the strife. All this they did, sincerely believing that the only object of the war on the part of the North was to preserve the Union. They endured all the obloquy of be- 4. Those who accept the bills say we can thereby at least save our property, and, as for the government, that is gone any how. It is all a question of power now, and not of law right. Those who reject the hills say that no people are fit to have property who consent their own dishonor, and that at all hazards w will save our honor as a people. If the North rob us further that is their ac t. If we consent to our dishonor that is our shame. That law and l ight will ultimately be restored,aud then rob hers and oppressors will be attended to, aud will receive sympathy from no side. 1’will not continue this contrast. Iu every re spect, I ask you if those who reject are uot right Who are the pernicious, disloyal, aud danger nus ; and who are the manly, worthy, and true 1 Will you lead the Radicals iu further war upon such men with such principles ? Is he a con queror who invades the helpless ? Is he a Gen eral who leads the assault on the unresisting ? Are these “the cardinal principles of our Gov eminent ?” against their own people, firmly believing Union, that results, in a restored Union, would vindi cate tlieir wisdom, and demonstrate the error of those who differed with them. Of all our people these last have the greatest cause to complain of the bad faith of the Gov ernment and the ungenerous and destructive ac tion of the Radicals since- the surrender of tlie Southern armies. These Military bills make their wisdom madness, their promises lies, and tlieir hopes the bitterest gall. They would lose tlieir own respect and the respect of all men if they did not denounce and • reject these bills, as embodying the most infamous treachery to the national faith, and the most ungrateful contempt lor Union fidelity in the South. They oppose Radicalism for the same reason they opposed secession—because they loved and still love the Constitution and the Union under it. But now they fiud the United States Congress laughing at tlie Constitution as a “ghost,” and they find Gen. Pope blindly loving the most unprincipled ot tlie secessionists, and denouncing true Union men as “turbulent and disloyal reactionary lead ers,” who must be banished from the country before peace can be secured under Radical recon struction. Now, General, you have a fair and complete catalogue of the white men in the South, who reject the plan of reconstruction under the Mili tary bills, and the reasons that control them.— They embrace the reliable, sincere portion ot the secession wing of the old Democratic party, and most of the Jackson or Union wing of that party, aud the great body ol the old Whigs—the fol lowers of Clay aud admirers of Websters. In my opinion Gen. Pope will fiud them largely— very largely—overwhelmingly—in the majority of the white voters, and fully four out of five of the white people of the Southern States. They have never done anything deceitfully, and they are incapable of being false to their pledges, and are the very best protectors of the negroes on the continent. Every charge made by Gen. Pope to the contrary is simply gratuitous slander, prompted by unprincipled men who have never fieen faithful to any Government, nor true to any promise, nor settled in any good principle. Contrast tlie reasons of these men for rejecting these Military bills with the reasons of those who accept them. 1. Those who accept these Bills concede they are unconstitutional, but justify them by saying the Constitution is dead at the North aud does not apply at the South, who are conquered foreign States. Those who reject the bills deny that the Constitution is dead anywhere. Love for it at the North seems to be cold, but as tbe passions >f the war die out this love will revive, and it is the duty of every man to aid in warming it into life. That the Southern States are not foreign States, because tlie result of the war decided that secession was void, and this decision was accept ed by the South as made by the North iu the fight and according to the surrender. That, be sides, if conquered foreign States.it is a univer sal law of nations, well established, that the fundamental law of the conqueror extends over the conquered, aud that in this case that funda mental law is the Constitution. Now, General, which parly is right on this question V Is the Constitution dead ? Has it no lorce in the South ? Then why sicear to support it? Why did you swear to support it? Why swear every man, who registers to vote on these very bills, to support it? When you pledged protection to the gallant men who took your paroles on condition that they obeyed “the laws of the States in which they resided,” did you mean States out of the Union? Did you preserve Hie Union broken ? 2. Those who accept these military bills con cede they are wrong, unjust and oppressive; but they say Congress has uo iespect lor right, no re gard for justice, and is glided by a spirit of ven geance and that every tine we reject a proposi tion they put worse conditions on us, and that if we reject these bills, they will provide a plan to take all our proparty ami disfranchise nearly ev er}’ white man ; and Hid the Northern people, in this spirit of vengeance, are ahead of the Con gress and will sustain tkem in every measure of oppression. Those wb* reject the bills admit the Northern people have acted in a manner we did uot expect, but iuiist that they Tiave been misled by their leaders rad blinded by the pas sions of the war. That the masses really love the Constitution and theUnion, and that as soon as the excesses of the Cbugress open their eyes to the great fact that theie extreme measures are putting at still greater lazard everything they thought they had saved hy the war, a reaction will take place and the people will repudiate the Radicals as they did th: secessionists, and with more fierceness, since tley will discover them to tie the most treacberoui enemy, not only to the Union but to Constituional liberty itself. We have faith, General, in tie ultimate justice of the Northern people. Are te deceived? 3. Those who acceptthe bills, say they do not approve them, aud are no Radicals, but they veiil seem to go with lb) Radicals until they get in the Union, and then ^ill undo all they have done and defy the Radeals. Those who reject them say no plan of s4tlement can be reliable or peaceful or lasting, rhich is not sincere and liouesUy approved. Tiey will be no party to a deception. Besides, th deception will fail. The Radicals and negroeswill get the power and hold it nntil a war of rices destroys tbe negro— destroys the governmet, and precipitates anar chy and final despolitn over all the United States, ll the white v^ers do not give their con cent to this uneoustituional usurpation, it never can have validity, ad they are determined, therefore, never to givethat consent. And they will exhaust all legal jmedies to expose its in validity without that efisent. NUMBER twenty-two. Tiie American people have been destroying each other because of differences of opinions. These differences exist and have existed chiefly because the people ot flic respective sections have not understood and do not understand each other. Everything has been managed by policy and deception. Our statesmen have been mere strategic partisans. If tlie people of the North could now he made to see the real desires and purposes of the people of the South, they would become ashamed of that deceptive Radical catch word rebel, and all distrust and bitterness would disappear, and disunion would not continue one hour. The people of the South never did desire to get rid of the Constitution. They were made to believe the North intended to deny tlieir equal rights under that Constitution, and to oppress them. They seceded, as they believed, from op pression, and not from the Constitution. They may have been deceived. Were they? lias the oppression come ? Can Union and oppres sion live together and restore prosperity ? If the North can be assured that Union can be secured without oppression, will they not abandon the oppression and repudiate the oppressors ? I be lieve they will. Therefore, I write. Therefore, I write most plainly and without any conceal ment. Bad men in both sections keep up false impressions, aud encourage mutual hatreds. Bad men, like certain animals, live on the car case, ot good things. They fatten on ruin. If the people were virtuous and wise, bad men would be officeless aud powerless. Now, then, do the people of the North really desire to understand us? If so, do not let them be blinded by epithets—as “rebels,” “traitors,” and “men who desired to break up the govern ment,” for these things are said by bad men, aud are said to keep up passion, and not to in form the mind. Understand motives, and judge acts in the light of motives. For this reason, General, I have made known to you the men in the South who accept the Mili tary bills, aud the motives which attract them.— 1 have also made known to you those who reject those hills and the motives which actuate them. The first class can yield—all but the desperate ones wo.uld be glad to yield—because they accept against their convictions of right, and from horrid motives of fear and policy. The latter never can yield, because to yield they must violate their con victions ot right, and of duty to llie country, to the Constitution ; violate their oaths; degrade the white race; bring a war of extermination on tlie black race, aud destroy free constitutional gov ernment iu America. No man has answered— General Pope does not try to answer—the argu ments by which they prove the correctness of their convictions. If, with these convictions, they were to yield, would they not be rebels in deed, and would not you despise, them, and would not they despise themselves? Would an honora ble man ask them to yield against such convic tions, much less denounce them as “ turbulent and disloyal and deceitful,” because they opeuly, aud in Ihe most patriotic utterances possible, avow them ? But there is a way to reconcile all these differ ences; to end strife; to restore harmony and good will; to perpetuate the Union; to build again, as never before, national prosperity; and to secure freedom and equal protection to all sec tions, races and colors. Now, then, if the North will still their passions long enough to hear and fully comprehend what the South is willing to do; and will meet the South in a like spirit of frankness aud honest purpose, Eureka ! Eureka ! will burst in loud acclamations of joy from the lips of thirty-five millions of people rescued from bloody anarchy aud perpetual despotism; and bonfires and illuminations will blaze iu a com mon light from the Atlantic to Pacific, and from the Lakes to the Gulf, revealing the grand jubilee of the nation over constitutional re-union. An humble citizen, claiming uo merit save a life, during which, no man can truthfully say I ever sought or desired to deceive a living thing, 1 tender you myself, my all, for a hostage, that what I now say in behalf of the deceived and unfortunate, but gallant, noble and ever honora ble people of the South, is as true in fact as it is fearless in utterance. 1. The Southern people are willing, anxious to obey the Constitution and to live in the Union under it. They admit that the construction which they lionestlv placed upon that Constitu tion, of the right of a State to secede from the Union at will, has been decided against them by arms, aud they accept that decision, and will live by it, and maintain it, if necessary, with arms. 2. They concede and will maintain the freedom of the African race in the United States. To this end they will maintain and delend the legal ity ot the State governments, by which that free dom was made a part of the Federal Constitu tion, and by which it was guaranteed in the State Constitution. Whatever may have been their opinions of the right ot slavery, and its benefits to the Afr ican race, they discovered that it cost more to main tain slaves, as a property, than it was worth.— Therefore, for peace and for interests they yield ed, and will never, by their act, restore it. More over, the negroes being free, they concede and will maintain, shall have and receive in the law, before tbe law, aud by tlie law’, equal protection iu all tbeir rights with the white race. So, also, being members of society, and society being benefitted by intelligence and virtue, and injured by ignorance and vice, the Southern white peo ple will do all in their power to educate, improve and elevate the Africau race. And any state ment or intimation, whether from “official head quarters” or malevolent informers, that those who oppose the military bills are wanting in will to do justice—full, equal justice—to the negro, or have a secret purpose to discriminate against the negro in the making, or administering, or executing of the law’s, is a gratuitous calumny upon a peaceful, honorable, but unoffending and helpless people, which no honorable man would originate, which no brave man would fail to re call, and which no virtuous white people will be lieve. And not only will rights be secured, but trusts will be conferred on the African race, when and as, hy improvement and culture, sc encouraged and fostered, they shall develope a capacity, moral, social and intellectual, which will satisfy those to be affected thereby that such trusts, beingso conferred, will promote the good of society and the stability ot government, or will not damage either society or government.— The Southern people believe that office and suf frage are uot rights born with a man, but are trusts conferred by society and solely for the good of society, and uot for tlie profit of the individ ual. 3. But the Southern people will never consent to be governed by the colored race whether with or without the aid of the mischief-making adventurers from abroad, or selfish apostates from their own blood at home. They will not consent to the abrogai ion of their Slate govern ments by Congress. They will help in the ele vation of the black race, but they will never consent to the degradation of tlie white race! Nevei! Never! Never! They will never con- Sjnt to abandon the right of citizens to trial by jury; and will never fail to regard as tyrants and murderers those who dare oppress or exe cute a single citizen, black or white, without such trial. They will never consent to surrender the glorious heritage of free government under wnt- ten Constitutions, nor agree to erase one single syallable of the people’s Bill of Rights so plain ly set forth in those written Constitutions. All these wrongs and outrages, and many more, they see attempted in these Military Bills, and, therefore, they never will censent to the plan of reconstruction so falsely pretended to he proposed by the^e Bills. They admit that all these things ruay l>e forced upon them. They are not able to resist. They are'tired off war. They are helpless.— They have no arms. They surrendered them to you, sir, as to an honorable foe ! They are poor. Little Bureau officers daily insult them. Little sergeants daily oppress them. Little assessors and collectors daily rol) them. Iligh-tilted gen erals daily slander them. Black and white spies daily dog them. A mighty nation, which pledged them protection if they would lay down their arms, dominates in vegeance over them, and will not so much as hear tlieir wrongs nor permit them even to make complaint of their grievances. Sn, force on! You have the power. But know this : ff’hc force which thus oppresses us, breaks your own Constitution; tramples in the dust your own pledged faith as a people; is accomplished by the perjuring of all those who execute it, and to the shame of all those who oppose it or permit it. If you think it honorable to inflict, we shall deem it manly to suffer; aui!, inflict as you may, one tiling you can never force : You shall never secure our consent to our own dishonor ’ Aud if you, too, of the North, shall finally tall, ! is, persisting iu such sius, fall you must, you will feel all our woes, and a keener sling than any which inis ever yet pierced the Southern people—tlie sting of dishonor. You will fall, not contending in manly fight for what you beiieve to be your own endangered rights, but you will fall in tlie work ot degrad iug your own race, and by tlie iniquity of op pressing those who surrendered to you their arms, trusting to your own magnanimity to re deem your own pledged faith according to your own written law! Tlie South may lie poor Mordecai at the royal gate of our imperial Constitution, but take care the Nortli do not be come the humbled Hainan at the scaffold ! It is now’ quite certain that if this Radical pro gramme is persisted in these States must become the victims of negro rule, unless we shall sue ceed in arresting it with legal remedies, for we do not propose armed resistance. Even those of us whom Gen. Pope denounces as “turbulent and disloyal,” urged the white people to register! 1 con fess, for one, it required considerable sacrifice to give this advice. My judgment and desire was to have no decent man touch, taste or handle the unclean thing. But 1 became satisfied that registration did not commit to the legality of tlie act, and might enable us to defeat the whole scheme at once and without strife between tlie races. And if the military commanders had re spected tlie will of tlie people, and not consider ed themselves as ordered, to carry out tlie bills, we might have succeeded. But it now seems that tlie purpose is to force through tlie plan without regard to the will of the people, and to strike from the lists registered until this cau be done. Tlie large white disfranchisement, tlie arge negro vote, and this fraud on tlie election will, iu all probability, accomplish the call o! Conventiou. But I give my opinion now that no decent while man can go to that Convention and retain character. There is an effort to get respect able men to go to the Convention. Why? Not shape its proceedings, for these are dictated from Washington and no discretion is permitted. lie purpose is to make character for I he wicked movement! It will fail. It ought to tail, if on annot purify or polisli a sink by throwing a diamond into it, bnt you will certainly cover .the diamond with filth. These will he the first Con ventions called lor tlie express purpose of dis franchising white men, anil enfranchising ne groes, and for putting tlie odious discrimination in the Constitution ol the nation. Every white man Who engages in it will inevitably lose the respect of his race, and would do well to pray God to change the color oi his skin. Let the negates go. They have the power, and it is. iiiet'/’Ciinvention. Every white man who en gages in this work will find black stains all over him which will be harder to wash off than the bloody stains on the hands of the guilty Mac beth. Murder if you. dare, the equality of the white race! Your policy for managing the Con vention might save from disgrace, it there was room for discretion, and a fair vote permitted.— But the scheme is now stripped naked, and it is nothing but a triple-shaped monster of force, fraud, and perjury. Lei. it alone, or you will sell yourself to social infamy. This course I press on some whom I have a] ways esteemed and vviio, I know, imagined they could possibly do some good by accepting tlie Military bills and control- ing the Conventiou. Of the correctness of one legal principle there can be no doubt: Unless a majority of the legal white voters—qualified by existing laws—give their consent thereto, this negro Constitution can never be valid. Let us, by all means and under all trials, withhold that consent. Then, if tlie force ot law is ever restored, Hie whole proceed ing will be set aside as void from tlie beginning, and every officer under it will be declared a criminal. If the law is never enforced again, we cannot possibly lose anything by refusing our consent to usurpation. No white man can, therefore, ever be excusable for giving his con sent to this Radical scheme of universal ruin. General Pope represents to you, General Grant, as his official opinion, that “unless some measures are adopted to fre<: tiie country oi tlie turbulent and disloyal leaders of the reactionary party, there cau be no peace.” I feel it my duty to say to you, and to the government., and to the Northeen people, that in this statement General Pope is correct. His only mistake is in giving so much importance to leaders, and calling those “disloyal” who oppose tlie Military bills as a plan of reconstruction. While the application he makes is wrong, the principle lie announces is correct, and is of far more general importance than he represents. Peace, under tlie Radical programme, is impossible, if decent, intelligent and manly white people are permitted to remain in this country. General Pope says the wisest provisions ot the Military hills are those which disfranedise men of ability. It this scheme is to succeed lie is also right in this proposition. The scheme will commend itself to nothing hut igno rance and vice. Its very purposes and effects are to degrade virtue and intelligence, and de nude the country of all true manhood. Bad, designing men are seeking to get elevation un der these bills. They cau only succeed through negro votes. They are anxious to get rid of the men of intelligence, truth and worth, and are engaged in teaching the poor, ignorant negroes to bate such men as their enemies. Aud in this work they are protected by the military, aud it is the only protection I know of tlie military "ex- tendiug to anybody. Good men need no pro tection, but how long they will not need it is tlie problem to be solved. They will never get it from the Radical military, because they are al ready denounced by the commander as unsafe to tlie couutry and ought to be gotten rid of. But tlie men to whom General Pope refers will never consent to tlie scheme of destruction in these Military bills. They will never advise the people to consent. Tlie people will never consent, whether Hie leaders advise it or not. They are not going to consent to negro govern ment They intend to exhaust all remedies known to the law to defeat, obstruct and set aside the pretended government under these Military bills. They will resist nothing by vio lence ; they will bear every oppression ; but. they will never consent to dishonor, and they will make it tlie business of tlieir lives to tiring to just legal punishment, as criminals and trespass ers, all those who, under pretended authority of unconstitutional Military bills, oppress tlie peo ple of this country, or seek by force to usurp the State governments now existing. We see despotism and a war of races, if these bills suc ceed, and we see it all for no purpose but to keep a mere party in power, and we shall never consent to it, nor submit to it, except as tlie courts may compel, and we have faith that tlie time will come when the courts will do tlieir fluty, and Hie now iioastiul violators of the rights of States and of freedom will tremble. All these evils can be prevented by simply re turning to the Constitution—simply obeying the Constitution we are all sworn now to support according to its fixed construction. If the gov ernment of and people of tiie North will not consent to this, but will persist in forcing upon these States these degrading, destructive, and universally hated bills, then tlieir duty i3 plain. Banish or behead ever}’decent, honorable,.and intelligent white person. Build your guillotines and get ready your escorts, for tlie doomed are miUjpriS? And when the intelligent and noble are all buried or exiled, tlie Africanized whites and the negroes, like the mulaltoes and tlie blacks in Ilayli, will go to war among them selves. So, then, if you will have negro Radi calism, and insist upon having it in peace, you must make this fairest domain of God’s bounty to man a desolated wilderness, or define peace to consist in tiie bacchanalian rebels, miscegena- ling orgies, and bloody lawlessness of negroes, adventurers, and apostates. . The issue is in the hands of the Northern peo- tions of tlie Union, from New Hampshire to Arkansas, and from soldiers and citizens. I be lieve passion is subsiding and reason is returning to the people everywhere. If so ability need not fear disfranchisement, nor candor banishment, nor jwitriotism war. Lieutenant J. C. Braiue. About thirteen months ago ex-Lieutenant J. C. Braiue, of the Confederate Navy—an English man by birth and a Southerner by adoption, a man distinguished for exploits in the legitimate naval warfare conducted by tlie Confederate States—was arrested by the United States au thorities upou charges of murder and piracy, in carcerated in King’s County Jail, New York, and there remains to this day in close confine ment, denied a trial, and with but little prospect either of obtaining a hearing or a release. lie is the last and only prisoner now held untried for his participation in the late war. In vk? mean while, as thougli he had beeu entirely forgotten by our people, by those for whom he sacrilied do mestic tranquility, fortuue and comfort, anil in tlie defense of whose liberties he carved out a reputation which will not easily perish, he has received not one word of good cheer, one mor sel of assistance, or a friendly visit save from five individuals, Colonel James Gardner, of Augusta, Georgia, General Loring, of Virginia, Mr. Waller, of the same State, Mr. Woods, of New York, and Major Edward Willis, oi this city. These gentlemen, whose services in his behalf deserve honorable mention, have contrib uted, as far as circumstances would permit, to re lieve the severity of his situation, and enable him to bear with fortitude tiie punishment wliieh is being so inexplicably visited upon him, aud they nmv desire to inaugurate measures which will conduce to the “speedy trial” guaranteed by the Constitution of the Government in whose power lie lies, or to the restoration to liberty, which cannot fail to follow an impartial hearing of his ease. We most earnestly hope, for the sake of the hero whose cause they espoused, for the sake of tlie wife and children lrom whom lie lias been so long aud cruelly separated, for the sake of in jured innocence, and last, but not least, for the vindiction of tlie gratitude which tlie adherents of the “lost cause” must feel for a gallant man, that these gentlemen will be liberally aided by South Carolinians in tlieir righteous cause, and that we may soon, for tlie credit of the Govern ment and the justification of an unfortunate but innocent man, be enabled to chronicle his restora- ion to his family and friends.— Charleston Cou rier. Tlie California Kleetlon. Tlie St. Louis Republican says of the Radical defeat iu California on Wednesday last : California, speaking first, repudiates Radical ism in the present national emergency. There reason to ltope that the result of this first State election tins fall will operate powerfully : n stimulating the Democracy of Iowa and ither States soon to hold elections, to united and most resolute efforts to carry those States. Tlie Radical party is tumbling to pieces. It the k’onservatives of tlie country present a united front, they can sweep the field. Radicals will undoubtedly seek to persuade themselves that defeat overtook them iu California because of ivisions in their party. Those very divisions, •reconcilable in tlieir nature, are tlie decisive ndications of tlie approaching dissolution of the party. There is no hope of preserving the in.egrity of a great party upon a basis so tho roughly wrong as that upon which extreme Radicals have driven the party and compelled for a time to stand. That basis is not the Constitution ol the republic—it is not justice nor l ight. The signs have been clear lor a year that the people have tell, deep concern and fear about the end to which the Radical revolutionists were driving tlie country. The moderate and judicious among tlie Republicans have protested against the measures of the reckless associates, but the revolution has advanced till serious complications are discovered in tlie near future. This California victory over Radicalism will infuse more boldness into Conservative Repub licans, and widen tlie separation between them and the revolutionists. There will be a broad, open split between them that cannot be closed. That split is their destruction. Let the Democ racy lie united aud judicious, displaying a proper expediency and sagacity and Radicalism is dead. ^ The Indian War—A Vlgoroo* Policy to be Pursued. Tlie Washington correspondent of the Cincin nati Enquirer, writing on the 4lh, says: Yesterday General Grant was engaged all day in the transaction of very important business connected with the Indian war in the West. Re ports on the subject have just been received from Geueral Sherman and General Hancock, which render it evident that the Indian war which we have upon our hands is going to assume larger proportions than any one supposed, and that it will last for years, unless it is quelled this year ; and, furthermore, that its successful prosecution will reqire very large and immediate reinforce ments to the troops already on the ground. All that has been done up to this time has been merely preliminary, and with tiie lingering hope that peace might yet be secured. This hope has now been abandoned by General Sherman, and he states that the war must be prose cuted at once and with tlie greatest vigor. Tlie hostile Indians are not numerous, but their pe culiar manner of carrying on hostilities renders one Indian more than a match for ten white sol diers. They have been supplied with rifles of the most approved construction, which carry a ball with accuracy to an almost incredible dis tance, and whenever they fire a while soldier falls. They generally prefer, however, to use their bows ami arrows, and these weapons are as ranch dreaded by the soldiers as fire-arms, for the ar rows always hit tlie mark, aud the wound which they inflict is generally fatal, and always exceed ingly painful and dangerous. In consequence of the bitter hostility of tiie Indians, and the ferocity with which they make tlieir attacks, work upon tlie Pacific railroad is greatly impeded, if, indeed, it is not virtually suspended, and all travel across tlie plains is at the risk of life. General Grant is determined that this state of things shall not continue. General Sherman is to be at once furnished with all tlie troops he requires, and the war is to be carried on with such vigor as may insure its termina tion, it is hoped, during tlie present year. The Enlarged Amnesty Proclamation. The following sensible.view of the recent pro clamation of tlie President we find in the Co lumbus Enquirer, of Tuesday last. An “im pression,” says that paper, “has somehow been produced that those pardoned by it, and by it de clared to be restored to all their former rights, are thereby enfranchised though proscribed by the acts of Congress. This, as we have said, might be the legal effect—indeed it may be ques tioned whether Congress has the Constitutional right to disfranchise any man until convicted of crime, and then oniy as an elector of Federal officers. But tlie work of reconstruction has been taken from the bands of tlie President. Con gress, in selecting persons for disfranchisement, paid no regard to the exceptions made by tlie President in bis former proclamation, of pardon ; anil in its very latest Reconstruction act it expressly provided that no amnesty of the President should affect in any man ner tiie qualifications of voters prescribed by that act. We are, therefore, not greatly en couraged by the declaration of the Washington reporter of the New Orleans Times, in his dis patch of tlie 6th instant: ‘It is the opinion of every member of the Cabinet present to-day, that, under the Constitution, the legal effect of tlie proclamation will he to relieve persons in cluded within its terms from all disqualifications and penalties incurred by reason of complicity in tiie rebellion, and, of course, so far as the ac- lion of the General Government is concerned, from disability as to the exercise of the right ot suffrage.’ “The reader will observe that the reporter says ‘under tlie Constitution.’ But the Radical leader, Thad. SteveDs, says that his party acted ‘outside of the Constitution’ in its dealings with the people ot the South. “The amnesty may be of practical benefit hereafter—not now.” pie. They can have tlie Constitution, Union, Bry Tortns**. jieace, good-will and prosperity, now, and have j Late accounts from this barren and cruel them forever. Ur, they can force Radicalism, i prison spot stale that ihe persons sentenced to discord, devastation, hatred,' disunion, blood l>e confined iliere, as implicated in the assassina- and ruin without hope aud without end tiil t ’a- ar tion of tiie late President Lincoln, are all living comes. This number ends Hie series of “ Notes on tlie Situation.” I again return thanks lor the many encouraging letters I have received from all pur- tolerable health. .Arnold is employed as a clerk ; Spangler and O’Laughlin work at their trades as carpenters, and Dr. Mudd is in the car penter’s shop.

Georgia Historic Newspapers

Weekly Atlanta intelligencer. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1865-18??, September 18, 1867, Image 1