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About Weekly chronicle & sentinel. (Augusta, Ga.) 1866-1877 | View Entire Issue (July 31, 1867)
(I'hvomtlc & frntincl. WKDJIKSHT koKMMi, .11 l\ .11. The stnct Kailua). We have seen a letter from tin imitrac; <>rs, Messrs. Ilay & Kennedy, explaining the delay in the commencement of the work. By the contract entered into be tween those gentlemen and the coidpany, it was stipulated that the kind of iron used in laying the trwk should be that known ns the “ Philadelphia Pattern.” Owing to the faet that but very few ot the rolling mills inako this style of rails, the con tractors have been delayed in getting their supply. The mills are now engaged on the work and the whole will be ready and shipped by the 28th inst. The sob-contractors for furnishing the cross-ties and stringers, luAber. <kc.. have nearly completed their work, and all will lie ready for delivery in a few days. The building of the cars, ten in number, is in rapid progress, the contract for the same having been taken by the celebrated Stephens, car and coach bnilders, whose work is to he seen in the streets of all the principal cities. North and South. The work of laying the track will be commenced in Broad street, at the intersection of Lincoln, and will be con tinued up Broad to Kollock, and thence, ac cording to the original plan. Those croak ers who lsavebeen throwing cold water on this important enterprise will now have to stop their croaking. The road is a fixed fact. The people of Augusta are mainly indebted to Col. Cole, the efficient and energetic President of the Company, for the success of the enterprize. He has labored under many difficulties in carrying out the work, not the least of which has been the course of some of our leading property owners who have, from the first, attempted to kill it off by throwing cold water upon it. We are rejoiced to know that In- lias surmounted not only these obstructions, but lias also succeeded in enlisting foreign capital in aid of the Hoad, vvliwi the people most interested In it failed to give it the material aid so neces sary to secure success. The line to the Sand Hills has not yet been definitely located, though we learn that it will be fixed within the noxt few days. A few property owners on the pro po-i il line are not disposed to make liberal grants of the right of way, and it may be necessary, in locating the road, to leave the lands off the line. Lovai. Lbaocbs. —The uninitiated will find an interesting exposure of Loyal Leagues on our Fourth page. Robbert. —The residence of Mr. J. Stubbs, on Fenwick sfroet, in the rear of the Jail, was broken into on Wednesday night, and clothing and other articles stolen. Commission Merchants. --Attention is invited to the card of Messrs. Martin A Young, Kingston, East Tennessee, which will he found in another column. They offer very good references, anil propose such terms as well satisfy all who may patronize them, that they will receive prompt at tention. Registration.— The District Hoard met at the Court House yesterday. The number registered is S‘.)---. r >fi blacks and 113 whites. Those of our citizens who have heretofore neglected to register should avail themselves of this last opportunity. Registration in tiik District. —The following is the number registered by the District Board : Whites. Hindis. Richmond 034 1,087 ' Glasscock 240 128 Jefferson 592 1,032 1,300 2,247 Majority of colored registered 881. A Correction. —In our notice of the sad death of the Rev. Thomas D. Key, which appeared in this paper on Thursday, we stated his resilience in Burke county. This is a mistake. Mr. Key was a son of (he Rev. Joshua Key, into of Burke county, hut ho has resided in Jefferson county for the last twenty years. lie was a large planter, and before the war owned a very <• onsidarable estate. In 1800 he was or dained a minister of the Gospel and since I lint time he has been an earnest and zeal ous laborer in the cause of Religion. We have seen him several times within the last, year, ami found that, while he was con siderably depressed on account of the con dition of the country, he showed no signs of inetal aberration. We have not received any of the particulars in relation to his sad ami tragical death, but feel assured that his mind was overclouded or he would not have committed the lamentable act. South Carolina Radical Conven tion.---The South Carolina Radicals are holding a Convention at Columbia. Only sixteen Districts are represented, the num ber of delegates being between fifty and sixty. Judging from the published pro ceedings, the whole affair is redioulous, the chief object being a squabble for office between the leaders. One of the promi nent lights is a white man named Bowen, from Charleston. This individual was imprisoned at Castle Pinkey for swindling, and it is said was released to attend the Convention. Bowen is chairman of the Executive Committee, and it is, therefore, proper to consider him a n fair specimen of the respectability of the party. A few buncombe speeches were made during the day, and at night the gas was turned oil’ in the Convention Hall, which produced a big scare, and nothing more. Heaven forbid the reins of power falling into the hands of such precious | rascals. In such an event Brownlow’s j terrorism would he eclipsed by the out- i rages perpetrated on the people of South Carolina. Southern llotki.s. —It is the concur rent test imonv of the travelling public, that Raleigh litis the best Hotel in the South— the Yarborough, kept by Major Blair. \Ve have heard this opinion frequently ex pressed of late ; and we believe in giving eredit where it is so justly due. — Raleigh Sentinel. Not so fast if you please, Brother Sen tinel. The “Yarborough" is doubtless a good Hotel, but your reporter has never been a guest of the “Planters Hotel' in this city, or he would never have said that the “Yarborough” was the best in the South. The “Planters,” under the man agement of that Prince of landlords, the ■well-known Nickerson, is not inferior to any in the South, or as to that, of any in the United States. Make a note of that, and tell your friends when they “pass this way" to call on Nickerson and prove what we say to be true. Killed by Lightning.— During the I heavy shower on Friday afternoon two colored children residing in Canaan, were struck by lightning, one of whom was kill- j ed instantly and the other seriously in- J jured. Too Mean Rain.—The Americas Citi- i ~m says copious and continued rains have ! been falling in that section for several days and weeks past, and great apprehensions are felt as to the effects upon cotton. The j low lands planted in corn have been par tially submerged and are badly damaged —but a magnificent crop of this eereal is safe on the uplands. The Weather. —During the week the weather has been inumsely hot; but this js for the information of outsiders, as it is presumed our city readers are aware of the scorolling process. On Friday, how ever, the “pressure was relieved” by the descent of heavy showers at intervals, ■which rendered the atmosphere agreeable. The judications are that there will be more train duriag the night. Crops, etc., JN Elbert.—A eorres- Bpondewt, writing us from Elberton, states that the crops of corn aud cotton are look ing well, but that rain is wautod. Registration is proceeding end the people ■are taking an active part. When ,wm (pleted the indications are that the whites will have a mail majority. The feeling is |0 vote against a Convention. The Radical Programme. The Republican party has declared that I i qual -uffrage shall exi.-l in the Dialriet of j Columbia and the Southern States. Now | they must do for the North as they have | done for the South, and impose suffrage j upon every State. Thus it is that lie- j publicans must accept the situation. The above extract we clip from a speech j made by Senator Yates in W ashington on the night of the 2i»th, on the occasion j of a serenade to Thad. Stcyens. It will be seen that Mr. Yates is in favor of recon- j st meting the Northern States, at least so | far as the question of suffrage is concern- j ed. We have more than once warned the j Northern people against the revolutionary j action of the Radical Congress. We have urged the view, and which, we believe to be correct, that by yielding to Congress the j right to interfere with the internal regula tions of the Southern States they ac knowledged their right to shape and regu late the like questions in the Northern States. We have been convinced, from the history of the past, that the overthrow of the State governments of the lately seceded States would be followed by the destruction of the Northern State govern ment-.. Hence, we have repeatedly m ai ted that the people of the North were as directly interested in the overthrow of the Radical party as we of the South. Mr. Yates is righkin the position which hr; takes that Congress is bound to do for the North what they have done for the South. If it is right to give the ballot to the Southern negro, upon what grounds can the like privilege be denied the Northern negro ? If Congress has the right, under the Constitution, to require of the South ern States a recognition in their State Constitution of full political rights, in cluding the elective franchise for the negro, it cannot lie denied that they have the right to insist upon the incorporation in the Constitutions of the several Northern States of the like privileges and franchises. 1 laving exercised this right, in regard to the Southern States, is not Congress hound to insist upon the adoption of these principles by the Northern States? How can they fail to carry out, to their fullest i extent, their great idea of universal j suffrage. If they are honest in their de clarations that the ballot is one of tne rights ot man, and that to deprive any human creature of this privilege is an out rage upon humanity, and a violation of the great principles of'republican govern ment, there should be no delay in forcing the offending Northern States to remove the restrictions upon the ballot which now exist in all their constitutions. The Northern people have been willing to see the South degraded and oppressed by the revolutionary legislation ofOongress ana our constitutions, and the State gov ernments organized under them, crushed to powder under the iron heel of a military despotism, fixed upon us by the Radical Congress, without scarcely a word of dis sent or reproof. Now that the same legis lation is to he applied to them, wo should expect to hear a howl of indignation and defiance raised against Congress throughout the North and West, were it not apparent that for the pur pose of gratifying their hatred to the South they have already submitted to scores of revolutionary measures, as clearly unconsti tutional as the interference with the right of suffrage would he. A reaction must take place at the North sooner or later j upon those questions. W o trust that the j ground-swell has already begun, which will shake the foundations of the Radical party J to their base and precipitate its leaders and | advocates into the deepest abyss of infamy and disgrace. Wo think we already per ceive the silent, but nevertheless certain, under-current of popular opinion setting j against the revolutionary party. If the South will remain firm uud united against the approval of the Military Reconstrue- 1 t.ion Bills, such a course will strengthen and consolidate the elements of opposition in the Northern States. Let us show to the Conservative mind of the North that while they have left us at the mercy of Congress, that we have the moral courage to suffer yet a little longer in the hope that ultimately our sufferings may be the means of restoring a broken Union and of renewing the bonds ot fraternal affection and regard between the two sections. Hot Hi* Wander Up. Col. DeGraffenreid, of .Macon, lias writ ten a letter to an Atlanta paper, in which he says “we have been quiescent toe long. We must now be militant.’ This look, very much like fighting something or some body. “One of Georgia’s truest and most chivalrous sons” (as he is described by the Atlanta man) evidently has blood in bis heart, and if there be meaning in his “big words” will soon have it on his hands. But who is the chivalrous Colonel going to fight? We dont see the enemy. We remember that a lew months since there was a vandal enemy marching through the State, laying waste our property, burning our dwellings, and driving defenceless women and children from their roof trees— then there was afforded a splendid oppor tunity for all “Georgia’s chivalrous sons'' to go into the blood-letting business, but. ive have forgotten if the Colonel destroyed a very great many of those barbarous invad ers. Keep cool, Colonel; the time for fighting is passed; the Yankees have subdued the South and disarmed her people. We are sorry that the vety short period of the late war prevented the chivalry from getting a chance to “pull a trigger” for their coun try’s cause. A few foolish fellows did stand out with scant supplies ot food and cloth ing for four years in the face of an enemy more than five times their superiors in numbers, but they gave way so soon that scores of “chivalrous Georgians' were prevented from taking a hand in the little sh rim mage. The Iron Clad Oath. For the benefit of some loyal people in I the South we publish the following “Oath of Office," which alt Registrar* anti other United States officials arc required to take as a prerequisite to the holding of office. The copy before us is one which the Post master tieneral has sent out to the differ ent offices in the South. It is nothing but the regular “iron clad” as applicable to the officers of that Department. A slight, change in the first portion of the following form adapts it to all classes of officers: I. , being “employed in the care, custody, and conveyance of the mail." on route No. , from to wiii faithfully perform ail the duties rc l quired of me, and abstain from everything forbidden by the laws in relation to tho establishment of postofliees and post roads within the United States: and that I will i honestly and truly account for and pay over any moneys belonging to the said United | States which uuy come into mv possession or control : and l further solemnly swear that I have never voluntarily borne arms against the United States .-fineo I have j been a citizen thereof; that i kav« volun j tarily given no aid, countenance, couusN, lor encouragement to persons engaged in armed hostility thereto; that I have neither ; sought nor accepted, nor attempted to ex . ereise. the functions of any office whatever ! under any authority or pretended author ity in hostility to the United States ; that I have not yielded a voluntary support to any pretended government, authority, power, or constitution within the United States, hostile or inimical thereto. And I I do further sw«ag that, to the best of my knowledge and shitty, l will support and j defend the Constitution at the United States against all enemies, foreign or do mestic ; that I will bear true faith -wi allegiance to the same ; that I take this j obligation freely, without any mental reser- ' vatiou or purpose of evasion ; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the du ties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God. Registration at the Court House, i The number registered at the Court House j on Friday was D2—whites 2s, blacks C 4. Registration in llai.l.— The Athens 1 iVatehviau. learns that in Hall county the 1 number of whites registered is 1,152, color ed IT3. Southern Macon Telegraph learns that D. Redmond, Esq., the former editor of this excellent agricul tural journal, will take charge of that pa per, now that Mr. W hite, late editor and proprietor, is dead. ; The Chicago. Burlington & Quincy Rail j road intend to extend their double track as i lar as Mendota the present year. A Kentuckian's Opinion of Mr. Hill. Judge Nicholas, of Louisville. Kentucky. » one of the ablest statesmen in the west, in a letter to the Courier, gives the following opinion upon the “ Notes” of the Bon. B. H. Hill. Judge Nicholas is himself one of the best writers and essayists in the United States —is not an office holder or I seeker—and ha always been a firm and j consistent disciple of the Henry Clay school j of polities : My opinion tli.it they contain the most thorough, all-sufficing, exposure yet made of the tyrannical usurpations at tempt’ and in the terntoralizing acts for non conv.ruction. A single casual reading, as they appeared from day to day in our new.-papers, would not justify me in now saying that ali.the opinions uttered or legal principles advanced coincide with my own, but I do not recollect to have met with any that did not seem to be substantially, if not entirely, orthodox. If there is anything in them, which I do not remember, in justi fication of the. to me. abhorrent dogma of secession, that has to be excepted from this approval. The force of the logic, the beautiful finish oi the composition, the i statesmanlike views, and the eloquent de nunciation of the tyranny have received my unqualified admiration. A reprint of them I by the ten thousands and sent broadcast through the North, would, if anything of t he sort possibly can do it, reach and arouse the Northern conscience, ltisamostun generous surmise that our Northern coun trymen have no political conscience to he operated on, or are reckless of the destruc tion of American liberty so long as they themselves remain unscathed in the pro gress of its destruction. Such an unchari table imputation is to be referred to-the apathy of those who use it, as their pretext for non-action, rather than to a veritable belief in such unworthiness. Upon the Radical leaders of a minority parfy that has got the control of Congress, and upon all of their followers who are partaking or hope to partake of the spoiis, all argument or remonstrance is, of course, thrown away hut numerous as they are, they do not constitute near the half of those who elect ed the destructives to Congress. First Ease In Bankruptcy liider the Late Law. W e are indebted to the Marion (S. C.) j Star, for the following account of a recent ease in Bankruptcy, which occurred in the United States District Court of South Carolina. This is the first ease, so far as wc have seen, under the late law. and as the points raised and decided are of inter est to our commercial friends, we copy it in full. The case of Daly vs. Flaum—a petition for involuntary Bankruptcy, is the first case that has occurred in the State since the promulgation of the Bankrupt Act. One Flaum, doing business on King street, in April last, executed to Edward Daly, A vent, proprietor of a large shoe house in Meeting street, some notes a part of which were paid at maturity, and others not. In 1850, the said Flaum confessed two judg ments, one in favor of S. Abeles, of Phila delphia, and the other to Magdalene I. Lewith, of Charleston (his mother-in-law, I believe). In May, toe property of the I defendant in question, was to be levied on under these executions, and with a view to : prevent the usual sacrifice attending such 1 sudden conversion of effects iie executed an i assignment for the benefit of his creditors, ! protecting the rent and the two judgments. : Subsequently, Daly filed a petition to i make the said Flaum a bankrupt against ! his will; and based the petition on the fol j lowing points of argument, viz. : Ist. That the defendant had suspended payment of his notes, and hail not resumed payment of the same within a period of I fourteen days. j 2d. That any assignment of a trader’s i effects, although in trust for the benefit of i all of his creditors, was invalid in law, as defeating anil hindering the operations of j the Bankrupt Act, and that these two I facts, whatever the nature, whether honest or otherwise, constituted the defendant in law as involuntary bankrupt. The defendant Flaum made his defence in these paragraphs, viz: Ist. That the notes were to Edward Daly, Agent, and not in his own right. That as agent lie hail already sued the de fendant at law, and that he could not main tain a petition in his own right, anil as if the debt was due to him individually, when ho had'‘already, in Lis bail writ at law, sworn it was due to him in Lis capacity as agent, and that, therefore, the petition was without legal status 2d. That no person could ho made an involuntary bankrupt without fraud. 3d. That tlie mere suspension of the payment of a promissory note for fourteen days was not sufficient to constitute a case of involuntary bankruptcy, tint that tlie stopping and suspension must have occur red with a fraudulent intent, and that the creditor who petitions against any hanker, merchant, or trader for adjudication in bankruptcy, must charge and establish the fact of the fraudulent intent. 4th. That in order to constitute an as signment .fj.il net of bankruptcy, it must lie shown to have been made, not hona fide, lmt with intent to delay, defraud or hinder Lis creditors. The case was thoroughly and ably argued Ly the Honorable Henry Buist and Thos. Y. Sinufjons, for the defence, and J. W. Wilkinson, for the petitioner. His Honor Judge lirya;; charged the jury against the defence, and tudij., 1 st. That although the note* W6TP ex ecuted to the petitioner or agent, he could petition them in bankruptcy in his own name find 8.? of his own individual right. 2d. That the suspension of a hanker, or merchant, or trader, to meet his ewpiper cial pep«?!' at maturity, and his non-ro sumption of payment within fourteen davs, although without fond, created an act of involuntary bankruptcy, /Jo, therefore, charged the j'ayy that if the ilc&jidunt, being insolvent, wiik no power to ciisjmcnce again, allowed hir. notes to pass witWjt payment, this made him under the law gutify of bankruptcy. Ad. That if on the lath May, the de fendant was insolvent, he could make any disposition of his property or atieiup' to govern it. because the law considered him dead and as holding that property for the benefit of his creditors, under the Bankrupt law, and that it was *jr. neces sary for sii-J.i au assignment to bit - lent. ; The jury then retired and after a short absence, found the said Fhv.ni an in voluntary .Bankrupt. Fasting and Prayer.— The Bishops of the Methodist Church South have issued an order to their mcmliership, proposing ; that Friday, the 10th of August next, be observed as a day of fasting, humiliation ! and prayer in all of the churches; and also that the day of special fasting and prayer be preceded by religious exercises, begun ou tho previous Sabbath and con tinued daily utili! the Sabbath next. The Murderers op the Late J. W. ; Price.— ln our notice yesterday morning of the examination of the murderers of the late Mr. J. W. Price, wo Stated it took place before Judge MeLnvs. This is an error. The examination was had before Hon. Foster Blodgett, John Reynolds and Robert M. Phiuizy, Esq. The examination was continued yester j day and resulted in John Driver and Lewis Jones beinu remanded to jail for trial at the next term of the Superior Court, i Colonel John Milledge made an able speech for the defence, which elicited the congratulations of his frien'ds. Alabama. —The Greenville Advocate j of yesterday says that a good story is told in reference .to registration in the western j portion of that ooooty; “ When tho Registrars wore ip a certain ■ ; beat the freedmen wanted to know the ' i cause of their having ‘to put down their names;' they were informed bv a rather smart individual, that it was for the pur pose of ascertaining their numbers prepar atory to sending tfaftu to Brazil, to fight i to free their brethren in baadage there.— | The idea took : that night they skedaddled j to the swamps, and did not return until the recistrars left. — Corn for the Destitute in Southern Georgia.—Tke following announcement from Mr. H. S. Haines, General Superin tendent of the Atlantic and Gulf Railroad, explains itself: Editors of the Savannah Mews & Herald : Gents : There arc 700 sacks ot corn in our <ist*ot in this city, intended by the State authorities for distribution through southern Georgia. It is consigned to the Justices of the Inferior Courts ot Appling, Berrien. Brooks. Clinch, Deeatur, Echols, Pierce, Thomas and Wayne counties, and although these officers have been requested to furnish information as to the stations on our road to which they desire the corn to be shipped, we have not yet heard from them. Please give this publicity through your paper, in order that the information may reach the parties for whom the corn is in tended. Very respectfully, yours, H. S. Haines, General Superintendent. The great libel writ between Gerrit Smith and the Chicago Tribune, with l damages laid at 560.G00, was amicably settled on Saturday. The Tribune charged i Smith with feigning insanity to escape the consequences of the John Brawn raid. Smith showed the medical depositions to his real insanity, and the Tribune will pub lish a full retraction. Alexander H. Stephens. a visit to ms home —I!is characteristics j —view ox the w.-.i:,\ axl> national ! POLTICS. Ceawfordville. Ga., July 10, 1667. It hardly awoke a gbipee of drowsy in- j difference for my fellow-passengers by the | Georgia Railroad as at a village station, j some hundred odd miles from Atlanta, the I train catiic to a momentary halt and the conductor announced “ Orawfordville." j But letting it sweep onward to Augusta, I ; here debarked, for i, had come many a j : long league with no other object in the j I world than to make a pilgrimage to this i same Crawfordville. It is a poor oid tumble-down Georgia! village of three or four score wooden ! houses, which strangle over the sad and ! silent street or two, mildewed and weather- i : worn, and given over for a generation j past to mere somnolence and decrepitude : ( placed atnid a sterile and unpicturesque I country, and inhabited by a people doll, i homely and prosaic. To me, to yon, per ! haps to itself, it has but one purpose or i meaning—it is the home of a fine spirit, of a shining intellect, of an'illustrious states -1 man. It is the home of Alexander H. Stephens. ; That is justification enough of Crawford tille. I had sent my letter of introduction to precede me, as it was in the gray dawn when we reached Crawfordville, and after a while walked to the house, which was pointed out to me by a uegro as that of “Massa Aieck.” It is but a stone's throw from the depot, and stands in the midst of a piece of ground of three or four acres. The grounds are surrounded by a paling and embellished by some magnificent oaks of a great growth and age, and half hidden in this grove is a plain and modest wooden house, the home of Mr. Stephens. On tny approach he came out to greet me with a gentle, winning smile and a warm welcome to “Liberty Hall,” which is the familiar name of his home. Hav ing sent for my luggage ho established me chez Ini, with the pressing entreaty to stay a week, a month, as long as possible. An j open-hearted hospitality is one of the prominent traits of his character. PERSONNEL OF ALEXANDER 11. STEPHENS. ! I had never seen Stephens before nor from his poitraits should I have known j him. Imagine to yourself a figure slight and fragile, nearly six feet high, hut with the student’s stoop in the shoulders, and a pale, wan, careworn, wrinkled face, on which no sign of heard appears—that would be what first strikes the eye. But this would fail to give the impression of the ensemble of the. mau. There is in his whole personnel a certain unearthliness that moves one partly with awe and partly with pity ; awe at what seems almost a disembodied spirit, and pity wheu you see that it is humanity after all, and suffering humanity, too. I have frequently seen Stephens’ face described as the face of a boy, hut a hoy has not a face covered with the furrows of grief. To me, it is rather the face of a woman —of a mother who has borne many sufferings, who has met these sufferings with gentle resignation, and whose resignation heaven lias rewarded by that inward peace which illumines the countenance with an evanescent light from beyond the tomb. In his physique he has just enough of the material to make him subject to the law of gravitation. There is a pair of scales on the balcony ; I took the fancy t* stand on it and weigh my self. Stephens, with a little laugh, step ped on after tne—how much do you sup pose he weighed ? Ninety-four pounds avoirdupois ! Perhaps there are some traits that I might mention. Ilis head, without being imposing, is very fine in its contour, as though modeled by the hand of the sculp tor, and the brain laid deftly where it best belongs. His hair is of a silky fineness, brown originally, and now growing gray. Finally, he has a pair of marvellous eyes, dark and liquid, and full of intensity and power. lie is 55 years of age. Stephens’ life, as you well know, haS been one long story of pain and travail, through which the struggling spirit has, in its workings, “Fretted the feeble body to decay, Aiul o’er informed the tenement of elav.” Os late he has been rather ill, and though 1 found him much better and up and around, he was still suffering—a fact | which he attributed to the east wind, for he is subject to all the skyey influences. He finds that ho has better health here, at his birthplace, than anywhere else, and he tells me that he enjoys the air of Craw fordville more than that of any place at which he ever was except Fort Warren, the Summer climate of which he spoke of' as enchanting; and this is the only im pression his six months’ imprisonment there seems to have produced on him. 1118 OHARACTERISTII IS. In this frail body dwells a very rare spirit. 1 willingly allow myself to forget, for the notice, the Vice President of the Confed eracy ia whose making he had no hand, and remember only that here is a man who hAs led a guileless life. I believe I got very close to his inmost nature, and I can say I never saw a more pure, gentle, love able human soul. He is as free as we ever get to be in this world from the frailties and passions and selfishness of our earthly nature, and he has laid up treasures yon der by a life filled with good deeds. He lias, for many, many years, spent the \ greater part of the largest professional in- I come of any man in Georgia, in helping the needy, in educating poor young men, and in other multifarious benevolences, and I have heard from Lis neighbors in j nwigtjrable stories, that bring tears to | one’s eyes, of how lie has befriended and defended, and upraised the wretched and the ignorant and the criminal. Though i far from rich (the value of his estate ( jyould be under ten thousand dollars), ha | yet epsr.es, by abridging his own modest wants, a wonderful deal for charity, and is the almoner of unnumbered poor people, j and especially, as I have seen, of poor, helpless, shiftless blacks, who ssein natur ally to flock to “.Massa Alex” in every liiiia of need. This much 1 have said of Lis moral na i tore, because 1 fancy there is good even in I the report of a .noble life, Os his intel ■ iectual traits there is no call for me to i apeak, since the quality of his mind is»l --! ready uijiyersally known. What is aston ishing, however, is to see such mental j vigor, such sustained and subtle thought, I associated with a body so feeble, so worn t V disease. The relationship subsisting between the physical and moral parts in man forms of tlieobsoure and intricate problems in physiology and psychology, , .and certainly one of the strangest phe j vtoittoiL' 1 in this problem is the off-witness- ■ 1 rd associate,'.’ l of extraordinary mental pow- I ers‘ with bodily disease. Perhaps if we were toaccept that philosophy which holds that men are subject to supernal influences, , ;ve might say that these liiflmii’-ces require ti: act through organizations which, from some abnormal tendency or some excep tional nerve, are what we may call nega tive. Such beings dfgv on sources ; of inspiration beyond the pjgjms of j conscious intellect, and arc guided jby unseen powers. Well, Stephen* j is one of tiu-u* rare organizations: so, ! that in place of theiv hying any occasion to wonder at what seems tlie purgdox of so ' pi. iverful a mind joined to so feelne ufcoiiv. [ one may rather conclude that there is u j necessary eoHiicetjpii between the two. I shall end this brief , rterizntion by saying that the same tiling licit endows him with the power of speculation the quality of action. He was out ofpiac.e as a leader in the rebellion, as indeed soon appeared ; for after a while he spent- most of his time quietly here in Crawfordville, making only rare fend rarer visits to Rich mond. Not the type of m&y fitted to rule the elements in tlie storm arm sir,ess of that tremendous revolution, lie was ruit..e» tlm seer who first of all seized its central meaning, .and then the Cassandra, who in his brooding xud prophetic soul, read the omens of its doom downfall. CONVERSATION, Mr. Stephens has never been law neij, i The result is that life in “Liberty Hall ” j takes on a very free and easy character. There are no pestering (pardon, charming ; iy pestering) w omen folks around to claim , attention and iw.e&k the composure of a | pipe. He is a greai swokaft as I am myself somewhat of a votary of the weed, j we soon fell in a pleasant rapport, and I passed the day sitting on the piazza, smok i ing and chatting, under the shadow of the I great oaks. Mr. Stephens immediately ] opened the subject of the war by some kind j allusions to cert a-a *wtO,r contributions to its history by the present writer. From the military part of the war, in wbioL J:a takes a great interest, he diverged to its civil and political aspects, to secession, its rights and wrongs, to the nature and his tory of the American Government, to the conduct of the rebellion, to his own rela tions thereto. As yea may i.,e aware, he is engaged in writing a work ou the “War Between the States.’’ It is, however, us t gather, to be a monograph rather than a history, and will treat only of special points in the causes, conduct and results of the war of secession. He shrinks from ! the amount of morbid anatomy that ] would be required in 3 complete j history. “No right-hearted Confederate,’' j he observed to me, “can write the history i of the war ; it would be like a man raking j up and exposing to view the follies and j errors of his brother.” Stephens is per : haps the only man who could, if he would, write the secret, internal history of the : Confederacy, and as he is not so minded, a great deal of it will (lie with him. The work on which he is now engaged cannot fail to possess a very high value ; it need not, however, be looked for soon, as it is ■ yet in no considerable degree of forward ; pegs. TEE errors of the south. ! I may generalize the conclusion of a long, wide-spreading talk regarding 1 the conduct of the South in this way : The South of two great mistakes ; —the first was s-ecssion itself, and the second the object for which the war was { made, tu-wit: independence. Add to these i a third, namely' the errors in the civil and I military management of the war when it i was once begun. I shall endeavor in tlie subsequent part j of tins letter to develop some of the lead- j ing points he made in regard to these I several matters, and first of all as to Stephens’ position on secession. As I have -eel, be regard, and secession as a prodigious political blunder. I must now add that he believed in the perfect right of secession. This brought up in otir talk the whole vexed question oi ! the sovereignty,of the States, ' a theory firmly held by Mr. Stephens and believed by him to be the sole conservative principle in the Ameri can Government, without which it runs into a mere government of the numerical majority, and ending one easily sees where, since aii simple forms ot government ul timate in despotism. I will certainly not report my feeble attempt to break a lance, I on this high issue, with this master of i logical fencing. He went over the whole subject, tracing it through the debates in the Constitutional Convention of 1787, and so down through the earlier and later times. Among the authorities he brought up was Calhoun and Webster, whose great debate he asked me to read. He looks upon these two speeches as the most per fect presentation and summation of the whole question, and as such he intends to | print them entire in his book. Calhoun he thinks utterly annihilated his antagonist, who, indeed, never replied, and he says that Webster afterward, while at Capron Springs, in Virginia, confessed that the States were sovereign. I ventured to say that if it be ■ conceded, as \\ ebster con cedes, that, on the revolt of the Colonies, the entire sovereignty lapsed to the States, then one is caught in the meshes ol Cal houns logic and must accept his conclu sion ; for if we grant with Webster that the States were sovereign under the Cou federation, then they remained sovereign under the new Union; but perhaps the ! truth is, that the States never were sov- I ereign even under the Confederation— j that on the revolt there inhered in the j States only such partial sovereignty as they shared with the other members of the British Empire, and that all that other | paramount sovereignty which had before ! resided in the British Government lapsed, on the revolt, to the people of the United States as a whole. But he replied that “to prove that you would need to upturn whole mountains of history and, to after a long dissertation the matter ended where that debate generally ends. But while Stephens held clearly to the right of secession, he was convinced that at the time it was made it was a prodigious folly; and these two views lie regards as justifying as well his support of secession, when the deed was once done, as his opposition to it at the begin ning. I brought this matter up in refer ring to his famous Union speech before the Legislature at Milledgeville, in November, 18(10, for he had given me a copy of his speeches, and 1 was glancing again over that one, which always struck me as the -I dying swan song of Unionism in the South. “People are greatly mistaken,” said he, “in regard to that speech. When I went North my friends said : ‘Oh, if you had only held to the sentiment of that speech ; but we suppose you were overslaughed,’ &c. But there was no inconsistency be tween that and my action. They Ibrget that while I opposed secession as bad poli cy, I fully believed in the right, and ex pressed my determination of sharing the fortunes of my State. 1 thought the Gov ernment of the United States was, as I then said, 1 the best Government the world ever saw.’ There was no oppression, only anticipated evils, and 1 thought it was better to boar the ills we had than fly to others that we knew not of. But the peo ple were infatuated, and I was bound to go with them, if all went to destruction. You might as well have tried to stop the swine possessed by tlie devils from rushing into the sea as to keep the people from rushing into secession.” Then, after a little pause, he added: “I did ,jnst as I should have done had I been in the Convention tliat formed tlie Consti ! tntion in ’B7. Though I should then have | wanted union, yet if it, had been rejected, j I would of course have been compelled to yield.” lie then gave me an interesting account of tlie circumstances under which lie made Lis Milledgeville speech. At the time of tlie election of Mr. Lincoln, the Georgia Legislature was sitting. The secession spirit ran very high in South Carolina, and had infected Georgia. Tlie most inflam matory speeches were made night after night. Tlie invitation to address the body came from its more conservative portion, and in response lie went, down from here to Milledgeville, 'where lie spoke on tlie night of the 14th of November. There had been an organized opposition to pre vent bus speaking; nevertheless, lie spoke. The speech was extemporaneous, tlie inspi ration iff tlie noment, not fully reported and never revised by him. It produced a pro found impression, North and South, and gave rise to an interesting correspondence between Mr. Lincoln and Stephens. At the close of the speech, Mr. Toombs, his warm personal friend, but bitter political opponent, wiio had the night before de livered a powerful and impassioned speech in favor of secession, called for three cheers for Stephens, “one of the brightest intel lects and purest patriots that now lives.” The Legislature, rampant on secession, wanted to take the State out of the Union without a Convention ; hut, by Stephens’ influence they were persuaded to submit it to the people. So finally the resolution was adopted for an election to be held on the first of January, 1861, to send dele gates to a Convention. But here again luck wtis against the Union men, and in illustration of this, Stephens went on to give me a curious account of . IIOW A RAIN-STORM TOOK GEORGIA OUT OF TIIE UNION. Mr. Stephens had wanted a Convention of tlie people to lie held about the 15th of December. lie knew that Georgia would not secede, and he was also sure that South Carolina, which had not yet seceded, would not, hot though she was, go out alone. But lie could not effect this pur pose. Tlie election for delegates was or dered for the Ist of January, which was after South Carolina lead taken the leap. “Well,” he went on to say, “on the Ist of January, there was a rain-storm more violent than tlie oldest inhabitant remem bered—not since the flood in the Yazoo had there been such a storm. The result was that the Country.people could not get out to vote, and this gave a preponderat ing influence in the election of delegates to tlie towns and villages, where,you know, political epidemics are always* stronger than ‘elsewhere. We lost at least twenty Union members by this. Even Rome, up in the Cherokee country, where tlie Union sentiment was vastly in the ascendant, sent a secession delegate, i went over myself to tlie Oogrt-house yonder to vote, anil the room was filled with dripping people, with wet saddles in their Lands, who had come fbroygh the flood and mire with immense diiiicqßy, I made them a little speech there, uud sail} then that I feared the rain would lose us tlio election, And so indeed it did.” SPIRIT OP THE GEORGIA CONVENTION. Mr. Stephens was elected to the Con vention—ol couivz; as a Union delegate. The Union sentiment was at first considera bly in the majority, but the disunicnigfs the fight a Von trance. “The dis appointed ambition of- , who had ex pected to succeed Buchanan, carried him to great length;-. The l mio could have saved Georgia. In the Gotjjrei iliof} if was urged that we must secede—that there would be intestine strife if we did not — that the young men (who were mainly deuscriapists.) would regard the old men as traitors! And .then there was the great fact that South CarothG JV?? out > and she must lie sustained. But had wc ppt lost our Union delegates by that wo, would have been strong enough to dictate our own terms to the secessionists, and in stead of supporting Carolina on the line of secession. *c would have been able to say ‘you must see hi vs fh-’f South Carolina comes back.’ lu times,’ he continued, “a phrase is often a grggf power ; well they got up the phrase ‘we can etalte better terms out than in, and that egrped .Georgia into secession. ’ “W as the question submitted to the popular vote .' 1 ’ “No.’' “Do youtJbu£ there was Union sentiment enough to have dpjratfi? ordinance? ’ “I think very lisoly ; ‘oJr we were swept along by the swift advanc ing realities of war. ” GLIMPSES OF THE EARLY WAR-DAYS. Much to his surprise, Mr. Stephens was selected as pec of the delegates from the State of Georgia u> Jfiontgcmery. He hesitated two days, and finally cqjjsc-Rted to 20 only from a dictate of duty to aid in saving what could be saved of constitution al liberty in the pendinggeneral disruption whiefi seemed to be determined on by one side, and col seriously objected to on the other. He took an petiy.; part in the for mation of the Constitution for the C J , ional Government. _ The day before the adjournment of the Convention the different delegations had meetings at their rooms to consult in re gal’d to the important question of a choice of Executive. Stephens was present with the Georgia delegation. It was there -rated that South Carolina did not wi-m to bring forward any name, and thoug.it Georgia should have it. Mr. Stephen? persona! choice was Toombs, whom he regarded as the most powerful intellect ol the South- There was, however, some mention made of Stephens himself for the office; but he then stated that he “wished to he counted out—that even should he be chosen unanimously, he would not accept, uuless he saw that he could form a cabinet that would agree upon the line of policy on which he thought the war should be conducted.” Hitherto the name of Davis had hardly been mooted 5 but at this point some member came in and said he under stood that four States had agreed to present Mr. Davis. This was something new; for Davis" aspiration had been to be at the head of the army rather than in the Presi dential chair. It was proposed to send out and ascertain if the report were true. The case was found to be as stated. The dele gation then said they wbnld wish Mr. Stephens for the second office, and to this he (being absent- from the hall) was unani mously elected. ‘‘The office.” he observed, "was not unpleasing to me; it was free from responsibility, and I thought might afford me some means of doing good." In speaking of Davis be remarked that there was great popular misapprehension in regard to his character. "He was, said he. "not at all what people suppose —not at all a fire-eater; and though he was of course a State-Rights man, he could hardly be called a secessionist.” " Then he does not deserve to be count ed with the conspirators—with the Cobbs and Yanceys and Wigfalis!" “ Certainly not. He was opposed to secession, but did not have the courage to come out against it. His course was simply the result of timidity, of the desire to keep the inside track and step into the shoes of Calhoun.” Then among other points Mr. Stephens mentioned that Davis w as very averse to having Fort Sumter tired on, and only yielded after it was known that a fleet with reinforcements and supplies was oft the harbor. “ That, we regarded, after the promises made, as the beginning of hostilities, and held, therefore, that it was uot we that commenced the war." It was universally thought that the war would be .a brief holiday affair. “ Most of the prominent politicians, when we got through the work of the Convention, has tened to enter the army, fearing that if they did not get in quick they would lose the opportunity of making some capital for the future. “Mr. Davis,” lie went on to say, “ob served to me soon after we got established at Montgomery, that ‘it would not be a question of brains who should win," and the remark was so just that I thought there must be a great deal where that came from. But there was manifested from the start of a wonderful lack oi statesmanship, and even of mere ordinary good sense.” I asked him to give me some illustra tions of this. “Well,” said he, “there is the subject of finance —the sinews of war. Never was a people in position to start with so mag nificent a basis of credit as we. They said Cotton was king. Nonsense ! It was in deed a commercial king, but no political king. I alwaj’s regarded the prevalent notion that England would intervene in our behalf on account of cotton as the most chimerical of fancies; and I told them at the time that the only effect of locking up our cotton wquld be to stimulate its production elsewhere. Now observe,” he continued, “ what a foundation we had for credit, which Chat ham calls the plumage of the bird.’ I proposed to take all the cotton—say four million bales—at ten cents, paying for it with eight per cent, gold interest-bearing boiuls.By shipping it to Liverpool (which we might readily have done, for there was no blockade to speak of during the first year) and holding it there till it rose to fifty cents, we would have had $800,000,- 000. Well, I early called Mr. Davis’ at tention to it, but ho told me he knew nothing of finance, and said ‘go to Memmin ger.’ Memtninger and i talked it all over one day, and we were to have another, meeting two days afterward, but in the meantime he came out in the newspapers with an article showing the unconstitution ality of the proposed measure, and 1 never went near him on the subject afterward. But had we acted as I have indicated, we might readily have bought fleets in Europe and might even have hired mercenaries to fight our battles. I proposed to have fifteen iron-clads constructed in Europe, and to have three out by the following March. We might, in this way, have kept at least one or two ports open, and if the portal system is kept open the organism can live. A man will live if he can breathe through a quill even; but when, one after another, we lost all our ports, even to Wilmington, the game was up.” SOUTHERN INDEPENDENCE AND DELUSION. The dominant tone running through the whole of Mr. Stephens’ utterances on the war, is the egregious folly of the South in waging it with the view to independence, instead of conducting it with the view to an accommodation of existing difficulties and a settlement on a continental liasis. “The very physical features of the con tinent,” he remarked, “necessitate politi cal unity, and even had the South won its independence, it would not have kept it for ton years.” Os course this opinion set Stephens’ theory of the conduct of the war in sharp antagonism with that held by the Richmond Government. He believed, for example, that diplomacy should ac company the war step by step. Ho be lieved that “a very large portion of the people of the North was on essentially the same line with the people of the South ; that both wished the preservation of Con stitutional liberty,” and his view was that the Confederate Government should have so conducted its policy as to foster and aid and support that sentiment, instead of alienating and repelling it. “But the gods, designing to destroy us, first struck our rulers with madness.” STEPHENS’ FIRST EFFORT AT PEACE. Prompted by his ruling idea of losing no opportunity of seeking to accommodate matters between the warring sections, Mr. Stephens proposed immediately after the battle ot Chancellorsville to open negotia tions. “The Union army.” said he, “was at that time greatly demoralized and I thought it a good time for a conference. The Hunter affair had caused a suspension of the cartel, and my design was to open negotiations by discussing the prisoner question. I wrote a letter in this sense from here to Mr. Davis, and I received no reply for six weeks, when on the 29th of June I got a dispatch asking me to come on. to Richmond. On doing so I found that the military situation was greatly changed. Going to the War Office I as certained that Vicksburg was hopelessly ! besieged, and that Lee was in Pennsylva ilia. I then saw clearly that nothing would come of it”—as indeed, it will be re membered, nothing did, for though Mr. Stephens went down the James River to Fortress Monroe, he was not received. FATE OF A PEACE MISSIONARY. In connection with the peace question and the reluctance of the Richmond au thorities to give any countenance to efforts looking in that direction, Mr. Stephens told me a strange story, which I believe lias never been published, of the fate of an unfortunate peace emissary from the North. It appears that in the Spring of 18G4 a person named Cabal!, from one of the Western States, was taken prisoner at the battle of Olustee or Island Pond, in Florida, whither he had gone for the pur pose of being taken prisoner and thus gain ing admittance within the Confederate lines. On his capture Caball was taken to j Andersonville, from which place he wrote j a letter to Stephens, who was then at his I home here, setting forth that the writer Had come, after consultation with the leading peace men in the West and in Washington, with the view of opening negotiations for a cessation of the war, and that he desired to be allowed to visit Mr. Stephens. “I got this letter in April and immediately wrote to Richmond, asking that he should be permitted to come up and sec me. In reply I received word that an officer would be sent to ascertain what Caball had to say. But this was never done, and in J une I received another fetter from Caball, stating that he was dying, find begging intercession on bis be half. I sent ns' indignant protest to Richmond, but heard nothing further ot the matter till July, when I got word from the .commandant of the post at An dersonville that Caball was dead !” THE CHICAGO PLATFORM. | fstepioto; hailed the Democratic move : ir.ent chat- found isink-qiijjaijt in the Chica go platform as “the first ray of Ujj&* that came to illumine the darkness of the war.’’ And following out his line of | policy, namely, that ofaiding and fostering : the peace sentiment ol the North, his de : sire, of course, was to give a hearty re : sponsc to this o&rt. ‘ 'The Democratic j Party,’ said he, “was pledged to make ; proffer of a proposition for a convocation of all the States. It is true it was rather j a kangaroo ticket, and they would have done better to have taken an out-and-out ■ peace i*on. But whatever might have been McClellan's personal views, he would have represented the State-rights Party, i To be elected, be would have had to have : such number of the States that with those ; ! of the South there would have been a two-thirds majority. _ Together we might j ! hayi, .eaffrmed the \ irginiaand Kentucky ! | Resolutions a.uif established peace on a ! permanent basis." He, himself, ip a j 1 speech at Augusta, made some remarks j favorable to meeting the proposition of the i Democratic Party; but he was condemned ! by the whole Press. The South sincerely , wanted Mr. Lincoln re-elected, and Mr. j I Davis, at this tjpie. in a speech at Macon, j i expressed his views in the saying tjjat “the j only way to make spaniels love you was to | whip them !’ the confederacy a despotism. I had, in the course of our talk, many . interesting revelations of the inner work- j ings of the Richmond Government, and , 1 of'its civil and military polios;. Its war j j measures, especially, were animadverted j l on most severely; and prominent among ; these conscription, which Stephens re- ! o-arded as an enoripous blunder, and a fla- | erant violation of the very principle on j which the wav was waged on the part ol j the South. “ The result was, be ob- j i served, “ that as the war went on, deser- | j tion, absenteeism, assumed prodigious pro- j j portions. Mr. Davis, in his Macon speech, j stated that there were 150,000 deserters! from the army. Now the men had not j grown lukewarm in the cause.” “But they found anew cause?” L'bey found a new cause. They had i seeded for State Rights; they found a 1 centralized despotism, aiming at a dynasty. : before the end, thinking men began | t lealize that there would have to boa 1 revolution within the revolution. As for tno manner in which supplies were raised, i by impressment, that was more robbery, and was attended with the most gigantic corruption the earth oversaw.” ' ' .. A ,k * y® u had arbitrary arrests, too?” ~ ! ! \\ri 10 , most T shameful, shocking . ,;. , W ] lcn 1 eavae out to Georgia in 18b-o l iounu 1,1 t>o persons in prison lI P Atlanta, without shadow of law. Then, recurring to forced conscrip tion, he added; “It was a satire to see free citizens dragged in chains to fight for liberty !” “Do you think, then, it would have been possible to have conducted the war purely on the voluntary iaissez alltr principle ? “Most assuredly. Ifitwasnot a free will war it was a crime- Before Caesar crossed the Rhine, when he was about to enter the wilderness, he put it to his sol diers whether they would follow him, and only wanted such as were willing to go. The result was that, though the great body of the army had been opposed to the expedition, yet scarcely one refused to go. It is one thing in such enterprises to coerce, and anot her, while really command ing, to seem to follow the popular impulse. All statesmen understand this'; and war without statesmanship and diplomacy is mere stupidity.” A BCESK IN THE SENATE. In December* the proposition came up for a second suspension of habeas corpus. After a protracted debate in the Senate it came to a tie, and it remained with Mr. Stephens, who as Vice President of the Confederacy, was President of the Senate, to decide the matter by giving the casting vote. “I rose to announce my vote, and stated that I fejt it to lie my duty to ex plain the reasons that influenced me in what I was going to do, when a Senator objected to my speaking—,—” "They all knew you were going to vote agai 11st the bill ?” “Oh, yes! They had heard me a hun dred times speak in private against the suspension of habeas corpus." The Sena tor objected to Mr. Stephens speaking be cause he was Vice President, and, after some sparring, another Senator arose and declared his desire to change his vote to the affirmative, which would have carried the bill. Mr Stephens ruled against- his so doing, seeing that the debate was con cluded; but the members appealed, from and overruled his decision and passed the bill. Upon this Mr. Stephens declared to Secretary Hunter his determination of re signing ; and this probability got to the ’ ears of the Senators, for, a few days after ward, they invited him to address the Senate in secret session. Accordingly he did soiu an elaborate speech, reviewing the internal and external policy of the Con federate Government, lie took the ground that an entire change in the conduct of the war was demanded, and urged that such overtures should be made as would call to thciraiid the conservative sentiment ot the North and lead to a settlement of the diffi culties. Notwithstanding the injunction of secrecy, it seems bis views got to the ears of the members of the House, and when the bill for the suspension of the habeas corpus came to a vote before that body it was killed b\ r a majority of 67. “If it had then been brought before the Senate it would not have roc ived three votes.” Mr. Stephens’ views on the proper policy to lx pursued were afterward thrown into the form of a bill, which was to he brought forward for consideration the following week. Meantime, however, the whole matter was suspended by THE BLAIR MISSION. And this part of the secret history of the war, as well as what occurred during the Fortress Monroe conference, Mr. Stephens holds as confidential. There is, however, a bit of history regarding the Blair mission, which I had from a distinguished Con federate officer in Virginia, and which, as it was freely communicated, I mention here. It appears that one of the proposi tions which Mr. Blair carried to Richmond was that the Union army should make a landing on the coast of Texas in a position menacing to the French in Mexico, that the Confederate army should offer a show of following it up, hut that the two should unite in common'cause in vindica tion of the Monroe doctrine. The wur meanwhile would bo an adjourned ques tion, and ont of this probably a settlement would arise in the end. After the failure of the Fort Monroe Conference in January, ’OS, Mr. Stephens returned to bis home fully impressed with the conviction that the collapse of the Confederacy was nigh. It was reported in the papers that he went to Georgia with the object of making speeches to arouse the people, but this is nonsense, though indeed, ho was urged to do so. When Mr. Davis asked him what lie was going to do in Georgia lie told him lie was going to do nothing, but stay quietly at home and wait for the end. RECONSTRUCTION. In reply to my question as to his view of what would have been the best method of restoring the Union, he stated that he would have been glad to have seen the Sherinan-Johnson capitulation ratified. President Johnson, he thought, had the power to do it, for Mr. Lincoln had ren dered the Executive omnipotent, and Johnson might have done almost anything with that prestige before Congress pricked it and found it a bubble. He was oppos ed to the Constitutional Amendment, for the reason that if Georgia was not a State in the Union she could not act on the question at all, and if she was a State in the Union the measure was not prepared in a constitutional form. He, however, made a full expression of his views on re construction in a speech delivered on the 22d February, 1865, before the Georgia Legislature, by the request of that body. The key-note ho struck was that if liberty was to be preserved and the Government to be perpetuated, it must he by bringing it back to the principles on which it was made. On that foundation he thinks it might be made to embrace the continent and endure for all time. SLAVES AND FREEDMEN. Mr. Stephens freely admits that nogro suffrage is a necessary result of freedom. “To take them from under the protection of their masters and leave them without the protection of law would he most un just.” “Rut will the syste/11 work?” “I sincerely hope so; and if it does I shall believe the long expected millennium has arrived.” Thereupon he got dowrr De Tocqueville from the library, read the views of that distinguished political phi losopher touching the fate of the negro on this continent, and agreed with him that the blacks were destined to go down before the Saxon race. After this he diverged to a disquisition on Slavery, which had al ways been grossly misunderstood, and which he regarded as a misnomer for the Southern institution. “Our system,” lie remarked, “was not at all ofthe character of Roman Slavery; it was the natural sub ordination of an inferior race. I should have certainly been an Abolitionist, had I believed in the equality of the black spe cies, and thereanent he entered into a long ethnological disquisition. “It is true our system needed many improvements and ameliorations, and these would have j come. For example, the year before the j war the Georgia Legislature came within ! one vote of removing from the negroes the ! disability in_ regard to readme/. It was | only outside interference that retarded the j necessary ameliorations, for when there is foreign intermeddling in social changes the : friends of reform are always put in the at- : titude of sympathizers with the enemy. “Then the ‘corner stone’ speech, which always seemed to mo a gigantic piece of irony, truly expressed your views on Slavery ?’' “Surely ; but that speech too has been misunderstood. I did not regard our system as establishing any new Govern ment; the Government remained exactly as it was under the Constitution, and all that t did was to define Dip fprnj ofour social hierarchy.' ■ Then iio added ; - 'The world, however, would have given us a bad name ; there was a great deal of talk at Montgomery about what name we should give the new' Government; but I told them ‘you need not trouble yourselves about that—the world will give us just the name you call your enemies; they will call us the Black Republic.' ” THE PHILADELPHIA CONVENTION. “Did you go to the Philadelphia Con vention,” I asked, “and what did you think of that movement ‘‘Yes,” he rejoined, “I went to Philadel phia, for I had many urgent letters from the North. But as soon as I got to Washington, I saw the movement was doomed to failure. It had not the elements of success in it. It should have been made as free as the Gospel and thrown open to all —old rebels, Copperheads, and what not—all that favored a return to the Constitution as it was. But in the form the movement took, I clearly foresaw that it was doomed to fall between the ridge of the two great parties—the Radicals and the Democrats.” AS EPISODE. While we were sitting on the porch dur ing the afternoon, the negro member of the Board of Registration came up to see Mr. Stephens. He is a bright fellow named Ned, who lives in the adjoining county, and is well acquainted with Mr. Stephens. lie gave us the statistics of the day s work in the registration of Taliaferro county, which is going on at the Court House here. The result showed that 4TO persons had registered, and that the blacks had a majority of 75. Massa Aleck,” said Ned, “I was look ing to you to come down to the registra tion, and was waiting to help you up the steps.” “ Would you have let me register, Ned ?” “ I would have done iny best, Massa Aleck.” “ W ell, Ned,” r-aid Mr. Stephens, “ ] have never voted sinceT voted against se cession.” Then to me, " I never voted during the Confederacy.” Mr. Stephens to day made all his negroes go and register. “ I>v and bye,” said he, "they will come and ask me bow to vote. AY bat can I tell them hut to go with their race ?” A VISIT TO THE FARM. Before tea, Mr. Stephens gave me a j drive t» his plantation, which is a couple of miles from his residence. It is a tract of a thousand acres, and is the place owned by his father and grandfather before him. Tin; old homestead has long since disap peared, and though there is a good farm house on the place, lie never occupies it, but has given it over to “Bob,” his princi pal negro man. All of Mr. Stephens’ former slaves (about thirty, I believe) have remained on the place. He has di vided out the plattatiou into five farms, which he lets to the five heads of families, j who live in separate houses, each one on , his own place. The arrangement he makes i with them is somewhat peculiar: they j furnish everything, and he. for the rent of the land, receives one-quarter the crop, which is a very generous arrangement for the negro, lhe relations they bear to him is that of a most aftectionate reverence. Mr. Stephens told me with a good deal of glee that under the tree labor system he is making some money out of liis farm, which is something lie never did before Last year he- realized S7OO, and as lie does not value the place at above $5,000, this makes fourteen per cent, on the invest ment. He went on to contrast this with the small yield of Northern lands, and mentioned that several fanners from New York and New England had been down to see him and stated that three per cent, is as much as they can make. Stephens is an excellent farmer, and during our ride pre lected loug and learnedly 011 the mysteries of agriculture, on rotation and manuring, on ploughing and phosphates. But as it was not to hear about such things that the present writer came to see Alexander 11. Stephens, there shall 110 report thereof bo made by him.' SPECULATIONS, POLITICAL AND PHILOSOPHIC. After supper, as wo sat- smoking on the pi azza, Stephens talked till long into the night 011 a great range of speculative and histori cal themes. Here are two or three mere fag-ends of my reminiscence. “In the development of human society,” said he, “actualites often outrun nomen clature. It was so when the United States Government was formed, for it was a Government of a novel type, for which there is no precedent, and consequently no appellation. De Tocqueville had a glim mering insight of this, lie saw the im mense change made in the federative sys tem by allowing the Government to act on individuals; hilt he falls into error when lie says, ‘Evidently this is no longer a Federal Government, but an incomplete National Government.’ It was in no re spect a National Government—all tliat happened was anew development of the Federal system. The Federative charac ter was in no sense disturbed by the fact that the United States Government was accorded the power of acting on individu als, for between Governments mere treaties often operate in the same way.” He then got down and proceeded to quote from Calhoun’s ‘Discourse on Government.” “it is ail acknowledged principle,” says that writer, “that Sovereigns may, by compact, modify or qualify the exercise of their power, without impairing their .sovereign ty”—and so on at length; and when he closed the book lie added, “This I have always regarded as one of the few books that will outlive the language in which they are written.” Still more interesting, but still more difficult to report, are his views on repre sentation. lie had not seen J. Stuart Mill’s work on that subject ; but from what I could tell him of the scheme in re gard to a plurality of votes, the representa tion of minorities, &c., he did not seem to think much of it. His own system con templates the representation of society in its organic structure through the repre sentation of its different classes and orders and interests; but it is much too subtle for me to attempt any report. About wars he said they were generally a mistake, and aggressive wars he regard ed as almost always unjustifiable. “I doubt,” said he, “if war ever accomplished any good. Even in the case of the Ameri can Colonies, if they had waited twenty years they would have had their inde pendence without fighting. The Mexican war demoralized the whole country, and brought about most of our latter troubles— the names made there were the pestilant politicians that bred our late troubles.” “Will history adjudge secession as you did in your Union speech ?” I fancy not — it will look to principles. Historians do not take account of the five nerves of so ciety ; they are rough surgeons. Mr. Greeley deals with the issues in American history as a conflict throughout—a method of treatment that would he in place in discussing English free-trade or the corn laws, but entirely inapplicable if we have regard to the nature of the American Government.” Os the moralists, he qoutod Paley be cause he did not recognize a “moral sense” in man, and he thought if Paley and Way land were burned and Cicero, De. Ojficis substituted in their place, it would he a great improvement. lie spoke highly of one or two of Swedenborg’s books that he had been reading. “His idea of future punishment is the only rational one, for it is against reason to believe in a vindictive deity.” I asked him if he had known Lincoln, and he said, “Yes, very well, we were in Congress together, and Lincoln was one of the Seven Young Indians.” To my query who they were, he said they were seven members of Congress, consisting of Stephens and Lincoln, together with Toombs, of Georgia, Flournoy, Pendleton and Prestons of Virginia, and Cabell, of Florida, who, in 1847, banded together for the purpose of making Gen. Taylor President, and who received the name of the “Seven Young Indians,” from their alertness and adroitness in political skirm ish-work. “Our people during the war,” said he, “had a wonderfully erroneous notion of Lincoln’s intellectual ability. To he sure, he had very little idea of the nature of the Federal Government, but he was a wise man and knew the heart ofthe people well—a trait in which he resembled Andrew Jackson. He taught in fables, like iEsop ; and in Congress liis speeches were mainly a string of anecdotes—an anecdote and then a point. He invented most of them ; but they were generally extremely apt, and a full collection of them would bo oae of the most interesting of books. ’ ’ To my question if he believed that there are supernatural influences and inspira tions that move certain men (a question that grew out. of a little discussion we had as to Stonewall Jackson’s character), he replied that, according to the doctrine of probabilities held by the Stoics, lie thought it at least likely. “I regard man as ; tripartite,’ ’ said he—body, soul and spirit. ’ ’ i “That is the doctrine of Epictetus?” j “Yes,” he rejoined, “and of Pythagoras, j before him. Ido not see why the spirit j ual sense, that which reaches out toward I the Unseen, may not be cultivated as well ; | as the bodily senses or the intellectual ■ j power.” And from this he went onto : tell me some remarkable phenomena that had come within the range of his ownex- I perionce, accompanied with anecdotes j j which, from their ghostly character, be fitted the hour in which we were, for it r was not the very witching time of night j when graveyards yawn. Finally the talk i fell away altogether and we to bed. j Such is a most inadequate account of a I j day’s converse with this remarkable man. ! L sincerely trust that while the report may ! not be uninteresting to the reader, it will | j not have violated that courtesy I owe the \ gentle-hearted speaker, Libra. I The President’s Theory Vindicated. ! —The Washington correspondent of the | Commercial writes: “ThePresident’ssug-I I gestion that the denial of political rights to the Southern States, and iho overthrow of j tueir ro-peotive governments according to ; the Reconstruction Aots, render the I 'uited j States liable for their debts, is regarded as possessing great force by able Republican jurists in both Houses. “The demands of the English Govern ment for indemnity for losses from the de funct Confederacy are based on the theory of the absolute conquest of the Southern States.” Registered Letters.—The new syi : tom of transmitting registered letters went into operation on the Ist instant. Anew style of canvass envelope, of large sine and | of an appearance to attract the attention j of distributing clerks, lias boon introduced. The printed directions on these envelopes read as follows ; “Postmasters, route agents, railway postoffice clerks and receiving clerks, hand ling this registered package envelope while in transit, arc required to keep a record of its number, post-mark (with date), address, date of its receipt, and the description made of it by them on blanks and books furnished for that purpose. Route agents and railway postoffice clerks will also take a receipt for it (tobe careful ly preserved) when it leaves their hands, and when such receipts cannot be obtained at the time, there will be placed in the pouch with this envelope a receipt to be signed by the postmaster of the office at j Wiiich the pouch is first opened. This receipt the postmaster will sign, and return 1 it (directed to the route agent or rail ray postoffice clerk) by next mail.” Many a girl thinks she can do nothing without a husband, and when she gets ouc finds she can do nothing with him. The League. Full Exposure of the Ritual — What, they Printed Book The Devi/ lhe rL7, ojJ T‘ /er^ I HP a^lkr ■ ; if*;} ' L \ lic B/m/c thing tum my inside out. The Montgomery Advertiser says the following is nuauthentic copy oftheprinted ritual ot the Loyal League ; FORM OF COUNCIL-OFFICERS ANI) Tmyß STATIONS. The officers of a Council of the U L A. are : A 1 resident, Vice IVoAfoni Assistant A ice President, Treasurer, Sec retary, Marshal, Herald, Sentinel •„,,l Chapiam : The P. occupies the principal station in the room ; v. P. an j £ y y, at the opposite end and in front of the P T. at the left baud of P.; Sec. at the richi hand of the P.; M. near the V. P within the inner door ; 8. within the’out er door, and the Chaplain at the centre of the room, on the right. EMBLEMS. Altar, Holy Bible; Declaration of Inde pendence . United States Constitution ■ Flag of the Union ; Censer of Sword; Gavel; Ballot-box and Sickle 1 Shuttle ; Anvil; and other emblems of industry. OPENING A COUNCIL. (The P. assumes the chair and gives one rap with the gavel.) P., lam about to open this council. If there are any persons present not members of the Union League of America, they will please Tetire to the ante-room. The officers will take their respective stations. [The doors is closed.] P. Mr. Marshal, you will satisfy your self that all present are duly qualified, and report. 1I he M. makes a careful exam ination and reports.] P. [ proclaim this council open for the transaction of such business as maybe lawfully brought be fore ft. [Members respond.] “So'be it.” P. The Marshal willdrape the altar. The M. will then proceed to place the fia<r etc., upon the altar, the books heim' open and the sword laid across them. These must so remain while the C. is in session and will he left in the care and custody of such" officer as the P. shall direct durin ' 1 the adjournment. Each C. should pur chase these articles for its use. , ORDER OF BUSINESS. 1. Calling the roll of officers. 2. Read ing the minutes of preceding meeting, and approval of the same. 3. Examina tion of candidates elected by the A. V. P. and M. Initiations. 4. Elections of offi cers at such meetings as the same mtv properly occuj-. 5. Propositions for mem bership, and balloting for candidates. 7. Report of Committees. 8. Unfinished business. 9. New business and the coed of the order. INITIATION. P. The Marshal will proceed to the ante room and ascertain if there are any can didates awaiting admission into our League, and instructing the Sentinel to admit no persons except members, until those in waiting have passed into the council room, or departed thence. The Marsha! will then report the names of ap plicants. P. The Secretary will read the list of names Tim Secretary reads them. P. Mr. Secretary, have the names of these gentlemen been duly presented in open council and balloted for and elected ? The Secretary will answer according to the facts. I*. The Assistant Vice-President, with the Marshal as a witness, will retire to the ante-room and make known to the candidates the object, o! this Jjcagnc, and propound to them the necessary interroga tions, as provided in the ritual. The A. V. P. and M. retire to the ante-room, when the A. \ . P. makes known the fol lowing : OBJECT OF THE LEAGUE. A. V. P.— Gentlemen : lam directed to state to you the object of this organiza tion. It is to preserve liberty, perpetuate the Union of the United States of Ameri ca, maintain the supremacy,of the laws and Constitution thereof against enemies, for eign and domestic, to secure the ascendancy of American institutions on t his continent, to protect, defend and strengthen all loyal men and members ofthe Union League of America in all their rights of person and property, to demand the elevation and aid in the education ofthe labor and laboring men of the whole country, (0 make our councils for the prompt and proper in struction ol all men in the duty of Ameri can citizenship, and for the inculcation of sentiments ot true charity and brotherly affection among the members of onr order. J laving informed you of the purposes of our order, 1 now expect from you a promise of secrecy before proceeding farther. Have I your solemn pledge to keep secret what ever may transpire in your presence ? Answer must be in the affirmative. To the questions now propounded you will answer upon your honor and under your pledge of secrecy. Ist. Do you fully sub scribe to the principle set forth in the Declaration of Independence? Answer ~—~ Ad. Do you acknowledge that, your first and highest allegiance under God is due to the Government of the United States of America ? Answer ——. 3rd. Are you willing to pledge you'elt to resist, to the utmost extent of your power, all attempt to subvert or over throw the Governineniol the United States? Answer- . 4th. Will you strive to the extent of your ability for the maintenance of liberty ; the elevation ol labor; the edu cation in the responsibilities and duties of American citizenship of all the people of this country ; the practice of a true friend ship and charity toward each and all of the order, of which you are alsiut to be come a member, and for the election or appointment to all places of public trust of such men only as are reliable support ers of these principles and measures?— Answer . sth. Are you willing, and do you desire to bind yourself by a solemn oath to the maintenance of the principles and policy indicated in the interrogatories to which you have now affirmatively re plied? Answer . Gth. Doyou pledge your honor that, you will obey all rules and orders of the Union League of America which shall not conflict with your lawful rights and privileges as a loyal citizen, and keep..inviolate all secrets and ceremo nies of the league, when communicated to you as such? Answer . (Should.'the candidates answer all of the foregoing questions in the affirmative, the A. V. J'. shall report to the J’. and C., as follows :) A. I'. P.—Mr. President, i have made the proper examination, and find ali the candi dates worthy and willing to proceed. Un less the report is objected to by the Mar shal or other person, the President will direct as follows: P.—The Marshal will i conduct the candidates to our council. The j Marshal, coming to the door with candi dates, makes the usual alarm. If— who j comes hero under the private signal of our league? M.— Candidate:', who, having been duly elected and examined, desire admission 10 our loyal band. If ft,- President, tile Marshal sum urn: :s omidi | date.-, who, having been duly elect el an 1 | examined, desire admission j,, < mr |„ ya | j hand. P. — The loyal and worthy are al ways welcome. Admit them. The door is opened, and candidates, preceded by the M., enter in double file, arm in arm, and \ passing around the altar are presented in ft'ont ofthe P.'s chair. As tiny enP r the door the P. gives three raps wan the nav el, which will call up the O. The dent rising, the M. will introduce Me: can didates by name. While the Candida;.* are corning in and taking their places around the altar, the P. may direct the G. to sing a verse or more of some patriotic song, “ Hail Columbia,” “Star Spangled Banner,” which may be printed on cards for the C. By a signal from the P. the members take their seats durim' the delivery ofthe address. M.—Mr Vice President, I have the pleasure of pro out ing these candidates for membership in our Union Iscague. address. \ . P. —Gentlemen (or Sir). We rejoice that you have come forward voluntarily to unite with us. The cause we advocate is that of our country. Banded togetht r tor the purpose of perpetuating the liberlDs tor Which our father ; fought. w . |,„ve sworn to protect them. In time of peril to our Government and the Union, it became the sacred duty of all true patriots to unite their efforts for the preservation of consti tutional freedom, and in thwarting the | designs of traitors to destroy the tree of liberty, planted by our patriotic fathers, and watered by their blood. Neither do mestic traitors, or foreign foes must be per mitted to destroy this nation, nor tocircum i scribe the influence and progress of Ameri j can institutions on this continent. The first I grand purpose ofour organization has been j accomplished, through the combined efforts of our order and the gallantry and perse : veranee of our citizen soldiers, to whom | our grateful acknowledgements and con j tinued appreciation is everdue. The legit imate fruits of this triumph are yet to be j secured in the complete ascendancy of the true principles of popular government; the | establishment of equal liberty ; the eleva j tion and education of the toiling masses jof the republic; the preservation of the national honor and faith ; the inculcation I of a brotherly affection and true charity ! toward all; the complete and final over throw at the ballot-box, as in the field, of ! the oligarchy of political leaders, who | sought to ruin when they could not rule, ' and through whose errors and wrongs our country has been baptized in blood ; the establishment here of an asylum for the distressed of other lands, and of a beacon I light so prominent and enduring as to be 1 seen by all nations for all time, and so un erring as to guide all people to the certain possession of national and true liberty. By means of this Loyal Hague these grand purposes may be realized. We ask none of you to join us who have not the noble sentiment of patriotism deeply implaiited in their hearts, for such -only are capable rising above the level of the mere parti zan, and claiming and defending the boon
