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About Weekly chronicle & sentinel. (Augusta, Ga.) 1866-1877 | View Entire Issue (March 17, 1869)
OLD SERIES, VOL. LXXVI. Chvouicle k Sentinel AUGUSTA. <.A : W KD.VK.SOA Y H 17. Tax Returns of Richmond County.— The following return - have been given us by Mr. Matthew Sheron, the tax a--e«6or of Richmond county,and we publish them, believing they will he found of general in terest to our readers: Number of colored polls in the county, 1 ,552; number of white polls, 1,501 ; total number of polls, 5,053 ; number of profes-ioi. , beventy-two; Den tists, nine; Daguerreaus, Photographists, Ambrotypistg, and other similar artists, four ; Billiard tables, eight; Auctioneers, three ; Ton I’m Alley, Bagatelle Tabic or other stand or table for public, play, three ; number of children between the ages of sixteen and eighteen, nineteen hundred and thirty ; number of road hands, two hundred and forty-six ; total number of acres of land in the county, one hundred and sixty eight thousand six hundred and ninety-one ; aggregate value of land sll,- 257,131 ; aggregate value of city and town property, $5,897,570; amount of money aud solvent debts ot all kinds $1,663,270; capital invested in merchandizesl,27o,49o; capital invested in shipping and tonnage $1,200; capiia] invested in stocks and bonds $1,579,105 ; taxable capital invested I in cotton manufactories $250,000; capital: invested in iron-works, foundries, etc., $2,000 ; capital invested in ruining $5,000; value of household and kitchen furniture $256,975; plantation and mechanical tools above the value ol ssuo, $51,600; value of all other property not before enumerated, except annual crops, provisions, etc., $198,138; value of wild lands owned by residents of this county $35,325; aggre gate value of the whole property of the county $12,300,769; aggregate value niter deducting S2OO, $11,953,368. In this connection it may not be utiinler { e -iting to give the following statistics of Richmond county and the city of Augusta, taken from the labt census report of the United States—that of i860: at that tirno the population of the city was in the first Ward (including whites anil blacks) 3,164; Second Ward, 2,383; Third Ward, 2,218, Fourth Ward, 4,728—t0tal popula tion, 12,493; of this number, 8,830 were free whites, 8,841, colored, 386—and 3,663 were slaves. The population of Rich mond county wus 12,405 whites, 440 free colored, and 8,389 slaves; total population 21,284. The number of acres of improved lands in farms was 51,313; unimproved lauds in farms 159,272; cash value of farms, $2,105,079; value of farming implements and machinery, $62,911; number of horses, t,484; mules, 914; milch cows, 2,122; working oxen, 1 HO; other cattle, 3,622; sheep, 2,220; swine, 11,489; total value ol live stock, $417,325. The number of slave holders was 901, and the slaves 8,389. Os manufacturing establishments Rich mond county had 47; capital invested, $1,057,200: cost of raw material, $844,- 4(H); hands employed, males, 591, females, 259; annual cost of labor, $234,696; an nual value of products, $1,362,642. The number of churches was 20; aggregate accommodation, 10,050; value of" church property, $304,500. The real and personal estate in the county was valued at $26,- 921,119 real estate, $8,931,660, and per sonal estate, $17,987,459. Important Arrest. —A notorious char actor, known at Athens, (!a , as Edward Franklin MeManuman, was brought to this city Wednesday afternoon on the Georgia Railroad day (ruin, from Athens, in charge of two officers named John Bird and If. Hood, also ucoctnpanied by 11. Dempsey, Asst. Hupt. of the Southern Express Com pany. On the night of the 28th of February last, the office of the Southern Express Company at Cairo, Ua., was broken into and robbed of a paekago of three hundred dollars or thereabouts, belonging to the Company, also of some money bel nging to the Atlantic & Gulf Railroad Company, and a pistol belonging to the agent of tho ! Express Company. On Monday, March j Ist, this man McManaman purchased a i suit of clothes in the town for forty dollars | j and seemed flush of funds beside. Suspi- ! cion at once pointed to this man as being ; tho thief. Ho was a comparative stranger in that neighborhood and seemed not to l belong to or hail from any particular place, yet appeared to be acquainted every- 1 where in Georgia; particularly at Athens, i where ho claimed to ho a blood relation of ! every respectable family there, aud named i as 1 1 is aunt a Mrs. K., with whom he had j lived for some time, and acted lor her as : overseer on her plantation. Suspicion was strengthened against him ; by Ills strange movements on Tuesday , morning. He purchased a ticket to go to Savannah, by rail, Tuesday afternoon, but by that time tho Express Agent had taken ; out a warrant for his arrest, and had it oxceuted. After this was effected he was j searched and one hundred aud thirty dol lars in greenbacks found on him; this, with forty dollars paid for the suit of clothes, making one hundred and seventy dollars. No papers were found on him, as he was seen to burn them before being arrested, together with some leaves from his memo randum hook. The Agent being a young man, and not having much experience iu such matters, allowed tho prisoner in some manner to make his escape. After this occurod, however, other and more positive proofs of guilt were adduced against him; then it was the agent telegraphed to the Agent in Savannah, giving a descrip tion of MeManuman, or as he was known at Cairo, K- F Franklin. In the mean time, Mr. Dempsey, Asst Superin tendent. and Mr. Cronin, Route Agent, arrived in Savannah iron) Florida, and . got wind of the little a’ air at Cairo, and j Mr.* Cronin was dispatched to Cairo to in vestigate the case and report to Mr. Demp sey immediately. His report came to Augusta on Friday night, sth inst , when measures were taken to find the man Franklin, alias McManaman, alias River, alias Wilson. The Agent at Athens, Captain Williams, received a telegram descriptive of the man of many aliasts, and at 4 o'clock p. m , Sat urday, 6th, he made his appearance at the Express office, in charge of the two efficient officers. Hood aud Bird, to whose cool courage the public is indebted for this valuable service—the arrest of one of the most daugerous characters about Athens, a perfect terror to the colored population of that p]a,v and the surrounding coun try. Mr. Frankiin-MeManaman Rivers- M ilson is now safely put away iu charge of Mr. Bridges, the man who never lost a prisoner, and where he will remain until ordered to Thomas county, where the offeuce was e minted for which he stands charged. Ftie attempt to ar* rest this man was attended with great risk to those who effected it, from the fact that he (MeM.) had killed a negro near Athens in 1667, for which he was indicted aud a true bill for murder found against him. A warrant was issued for his arrest on said indictment bearing date January -od, 1666, which has been iu the hands of the Sheriff of Ciark county ever sinoe without any pros pect of being executed, for MeM. bid de fiance to Sheriff and posse. Then a de tachment of U. S. negro troops from Athens was sent after him; those he also laughed at and eluded. About this time he left Athens and next we find him operating on the Express Company, whose vigilanoe, however, he could not so easily escape. From this little sketch it will be seen that a Tartar is caught, aod the law abiding public is, in a degree, indebted to the officers of the Southern Express Com pany for their indomitable energy and per severance in following up the desperado aud, spite of all obstacles, effecting his arrest. President Johnson's Address. Whatever else may be said against Andrew Johnson, his honesty ; f character and integrity of purpose cannot be im peached. There is no man liiing who un ■ derstands more thoroughly the principles upon which this government of co-equal, sovereign States was founded and adminis tered by the Fathers of the Republic and their successors up to the late war. Com prehending fully the theory, principles and precedents which underlie the Union, he made an honest, but unsuccessful, effort to stop tho tide of wild fanaticism, which his own first steps in recon struction had instigated, and restore all the States to their rightful and constitutional relations to the General Gov ernment. His policy and his recommenda lions were frustrated and ridiculed. We believe that the motives of Mr. Johnson were honest and for the good of the whole country. But he has failed. Histheoriesand his experiments and his acts belong to his tory,and the impartial historian should find no difficulty io approving the conservative and constitutional acta of Mr. Johnson while he condemns the revolutionary and unconstitutional actions of Congress, which is responsible for a dismembered Govern ment. President Johnson has issued a farewell address to the American people on the eve of his retiring from the Presidential office. His address we publish this morning. It is a review of tho history of the country for the last four years, embracing the true principles of Republican government.— Like all of Mr. Johnson’s State papers, it is clear, forcible nnd logical, and presents suggestions and admonitions to the Ameri can people, an observance of which can alone save the Government from decay, anarchy and despotism. The Secretary or the Treasury. 11 is not very strange that Gen. Grant should have nominated aud appointed as his Secretary of the Treasury, a gentleman who is disqualified by law to hold the office, hut we do think it very remarkable that the nomination should have been unanimously confirmed by the Senate. It was to he presumed that some member of the Senate was sufficiently acquainted with the laws of the land, to know that slr. Stewart was ineligible. But when we consider that tho law which disqualified Mr. Stewart was the original act creating the Treasury Department of the Govern ment, which has been in force since the foundation of the Government itself, our surprise is increased that not a single mem ber of the Senate showed any familiarity with or knowledge of this general law. The Bth section of the Act, passed the 2d September, 1789, organizing tho Treasury Department of the Government, is in these words: “No person appointed to any of “fice instituted by this act, shall directly “or indirectly be concerned or interested “in carrying on the business of trade or “commerce; or be owner in whole or part “of any sea vessel; or purchase by himself “or another in trust for him, any public “lauds or other public property; or be con “cerned in the purchase or disposal of any “public securities of any State, or of the “United States; or take or apply to his ■‘own use any emolument or gain for ne gotiating or transacting any business in “the said Department, other thm what “shall be allowed by law. And if any per son shall offend against any of the pro hibitions of this act, he shall be deemed “guilty ofa high misdemeanor, and for feit to the United States the penalty of “three thousand dollars, and shall upon “conviction be removed from office, and “forever thereafter incapable of holding “any office under the United States, etc.” Under the provisions of this act, if Mr. Stewart accepted the position tendered by Gen. Grant, ho has rendered himself liable for a high misdemeanor, and is forever barred from holding office under the United States, as it is admitted he comes within the tc> uis of exclusion con tained in the law. Hois directly “con cerned in carrying on the business of trade or commerce;” he is doubtless “part owner of a sea vessel,” and is, likewise, we sup pose, a dealer to some extent “in govern ment securities.” The reasons which induced the laviug of these restrictions upon the head of the Treasury in 1789, exist with tenfold great er force to-day. We can see no good reason why this section of the act of ’B9 should be repealed, hut in the present con dition of affairs we can see many strong reasons why it should be strictly enforced. Since the passage of this act our customs receipts have increased more than fifty-fold, and tho traffic in Government securities has become a regular business. Mr. Stew art pays more customs duties, perhaps, to the Government of the United States than any man in the country. He is the largest impor er of foreign goods that lives on this continent, and has a greater personal interest in the Revenue laws than any man in America. We do not pretend to insinuate —for we do not believe it—that on account of his personal interests in that direction, that his public acts would be , unduly or improperly influenced, but wc do say that it was a wise provision ot the fathers of the Government which excluded 1 from this office gentlemen having such large pecuniary interests involved in its faithful administration. Since writing the above we have received our Washington telegrams, which state that tho Republican Senatorial caucus failed to recommend the repeal of the law in accordance with General Grant's re quest It seems also that Stewart has resigned and that it was thought that Boutwell would be named in his place. We very much doubt if General Grant will view this action of his party friends with much serenity. It shows that the Re publican Senators, under the lead of Sumner, are determined to continue their control ’over the Executive Department whioVi they began and used to such effect over Mr. Johnson’s administration. General Grant must feel keenly this refusal of the Senate to comply with the first recommendation be has made to it. Wc shall expect stirring times in a few days. The Senate, like blood-hounds who have the taste of blood on their tongues, will hold on to tho power which they have tasted, over the Executive. Graut will not meekly submit. The South Carolina Raii.road and the Columbia and Augusta Railroad Com pant.—We learn from the Charleston Nines that Chief Justice Moses and Jus tice Willard, of the Supreme Court, have agreed that the Supreme Court has not the power to grant the trial in prohibition asked by the South Carolina Railroad to prevent all proceedings under the orders of Judge Platt. The Chief Justice and Justice Willard, as we understand, have distinctly, however, refused to decide any question of legal right, as the same was presented on the discussion before the Su preme Court, and have oonfined them selves simply to the mode of relief asked for in this case. We understand that at the ensuing term of the Supreme Court the question will be presented in such a form as will render necessary the decision of the question of legal right. And we trust that it will be so, tor without expressing any opinion as to the legal question in the case, all will agree that it is far better to have the ques tion of right decided, and all the corpora tors of these two roads to understand their rights and the value of their property. Good John Bunyan was once asked a question about heaven, which he oould not answer because the matter was not re vealed in the Scriptures, and he thereupon advised the inquirer to live a holy life and go and see. President Grant’s Inaugural. We have already expressed our opinion of President Grant’s inaugural. We here present in brief the views of leading jour nals ; The Herald (Bohemian) says : “Here then, inclining to economy, retrenchment, and a faithful collection of the public rev enue, we have the sailing directions of the new administration. What is the general prospect? It is full of promise, prosperi ty, progress, development, and power at home and abroad, and so opens the new , hook of American history.” The Wt,rld( Democratic)says “the inau ! gural shows too much confidence and self i sufficiency, lac ts that grave and sustained i propriety of expression befitting the Chief j Magistrate. Has no original ideas, and everything in the message which is not 1 flat is crude, and it is a mere echo of the tritest common place of the Republican press.” The Tribune (Radical), says “the em -1 phatic declaration of President Grant that ; wc should pay our national debt to the [ uttermost farthing is worth countless mil lions to the laborer, commerce and pros perity of the republic. It says Grant will be the champion of the Monroe doctrine and direct his policy toward consolidating and extending Republican institutions upon the North American continent. It hopes to receive from President Grant a splendid administration.” The Timer (Republican) says “the inau gural touches great wants, indicates great duties, and propounds a policy with a dis tinctness that leaves nothing in doubt, and Grant had something to say and he has said it strongly and well. It says no one doubts that Gen. Grant will aim to meet the just wishes and expectations of the Republican party, not by conceding the demands of its individual members, but by promoting the welfare of the coun try and building up its prosperity on the principles of tho party, as the only prin ciples on whieh it can safely and perma nently rest.” Forney’s paper, the Philadelphia Press, says: “Gen. Grant’s inaugural is very' much just such a paper as the American people expected of him. Ho talks with them precisely as tho head of a firm would talk with his partners concerning the business of the firm, in a plain, practical and intelligible way.” The Journal of Commerce (Independ ent) criticises it “as a literary composition, as more forcible than elegant; but its chief excellence is in tho fact that it is direct and explicit. It gives anew definition to his oft quoted promise to execute “the will of tho people.’ He does not, according to the doctrine of some modern theologists, j ao.-ept the majority in Congress as the au thorized, infallable exponent of that will; j but promises to interpose a veto to defeat measures to which he is opposed. “Asa parly document it will be far more acceptable to pronounced Republicans than anything they had dared to hope for, and will be almost equally well received by the more moderate portion of the opposition.” The Memphis Appeal (Democratic) says; “It is brief and to the point. Every word suggests Republicanism, so much of i it as treats of tho ‘suffrage question,’ par taking of the most ultra Radicalism. He hits the retiring President by an allusion as ill-timed as it is in bad taste, and courts the most extreme legislation by the state ment that he‘knows of no method of se curing the repeal of obnoxious laws so ef fective as their stringent execution.’ He warns us of new ideas of reconstruction, and hints of measures of settlement such as preceding administrations have never had to deal wit!'.. He suggests ‘political freedom without regard to local prejudice,’ and therein foreshadows an extreme Rad icalism that many Democratic journals be fore his.inauguration would have us believe was foreign to his principles and purpose.” The Cincinnati Enquirer (Democratic) says : “The parasites who are expecting office will declare the address a stupendous affair, that it glitters in sound philosophy and political wisdom. But there is nothing in it from which the people will derive any satisfaction. Negro suffrage in ail the States is not very attractive, nor is it the finest prospect imaginable for the laboring men to know that the principal of the National Debt, as well as the interest, is to be paid in gold. There is nothing in the address which affords a reasonable hope that our taxes will be reduced or the South pacified under the new Administration.” The New York Democrat says : “The document is not remarkable for its length, and when it is known that it contaius not a single new or original proposition, nor any well defined plans or suggestions for relief from the present overwhelming em barrassments, there is no reason why it should have been.” The Washington National Intelligencer (Conservative) says: “Our views have been so distinctly and fully expressed in opposition to the new fifteenth amendment that we cannot be expected to do otherwise than regret that General Grant should havo given it even a cautious aud gratified endorsement upon tho idea, apparently, that io this way the vexed question of suffrage is destined to receive a final adjudication and settlement. With such an impression it is easy to un derstand how he would be willing to waive tho other objections to its adoption ; but it will not, wc are sure, take long to convince Genera! Grant that this new amendment will create a bitter and prolonged agitation if it shall be pressed seriously iu those great Western and Middle States where ! the people have already expressed their repugnance for negro suffrage in their borders by majorities not less emphatic than those by which they called General Grant to the Presidential office, upon the express pledge of the nominating conven tion that the question of suffrage in the loyal States ‘properly belonged’ to them for settlement.” The Cincinnati Gazette (Radical) says : “Gen. Grant, in his address, adopts all the principles of the Chicago platform, and on the question of suffrage, he has, with the Republican party in Congress, moved forward. This is the question which the Democratic party will try to make the issue in their next campaign. The Democrats of the West will also make an issue on the debt question, but the Eastern section of the party will not act well iu the traces on that. In the Repub- ! liean party there is no difference as to the ] obligation of the Government to pay the j debt to the last dollar, according to the j letter and spirit of the contract ; but there ! are those who believe that bonds not spe j eifically payable in coiD, may be paid in greenbacks. This, however, is not a practical question, unless greenbacks are manufactured to pay the debt. “On the suffrage question there are dif ferences of opinion iD the Republican par ty. Some are opposed to negro suffrage in the Northern States. Others are op posed to it, not because it extends the suf frage, but because it would enable the Southern States, by adopting a property ■ qualification, to disfranchise a large pro portion of the colored people who now have the ballot, “But on the amendment as it stands the Republican party will meet their Democrat ic opponents in the next campaign, as it is not likely that the requisite number of States will ratify in time to take it out of the canvass of 1669.’’ The number of acres employed in tobaoco in 1867 throughout the country was 494,333. Thirty-two States raised the weed, all except Maine, Rhode Island, and the Pacific States and Territories. There were 313,731,000 pounds produced, the value is estimated at $51,334,431. AUGUSTA, GA., WEDNESDAY MORNING, MARCH 17, 1869 The “Loll” People. In Petersburg, Va., yesterday, the car pet-baggers and apostates —the so-called “loilists”—had a Convention for the pur pose of nominating a Governor; but before the meeting was organized, the factions of Tucker and Wells—all loil men to be sure, seeking only their country’s good —got into a fight while shifting for the advantage of position, and the whole concern broke up in a glorious row. Now these “loil” scoundrels of Virginia are of the same breed as the “loilists” of Georgia, and every one of them would see this countiy to destruction if they could be pecuniarily henefitted. And yet these are the “loil” people par excellence of the Southern States, in whom the Radical Congress takes such special interest We can only account for this upon the principle of a fellow-feeling which sometimes exist even among the jmost degraded of earth. If the Radical Congress Lad any sense of right or justice, this miserable farce of bayonetting “loil” men into office would cense, and the people of the South would be left free, like the people of the North, to direct and control their internal affairs of State. Then our people would cease to be outraged by carpet-baggers and scal awags, who, under the plea of “loilty,” are elevated to offices of trust and honor, which arc perverted from their legitimate purposes to selfish and partisan ends, whereby the public money is stolen and appropriated by the loil incumbents. Per haps the people of the country North of 1 Mason and Dixon's line will find out be- ! fore long that the “loil” people of the South care very little about the Union, i but that they have an all powerful love for the spoils of office. So long as it pays to ; be “loil,” the Radicals can depend upon their Southern hummers, than whom a more unprincipled and Judas-like set of j rascals never disgraced any country, Important Decision. The case of Maxey, Jordan & Cos. vs. Berry T. Dighy et al., from Jasper Supe rior Court,recently decided in the Supreme Court of this State, involves principles of great importance to the public. The question made by the record was whether the wife of an insolvent debtor was entitled to have the sum of five hun dred dollars worth of real property in a town exempt from levy and sale in satis faction of ajudgment obtained on the 28th of October, 1861, under the provisions of the Code, or whether she was entitled to have only the sum of two hundred dollars exempted under the act of 1845. The debt was contracted and the judgment ob tained after the passage of the act of 1845 and bejore the adoption ol the Code. The Court held that the wife was en titled to the amount fixed in ihe Code, against the pre-existing judgment cred itor. This decision covers a large class of cases which are daily spring ing up in the several counties of the State under the Homestead exemption fixed by the Constitution of the State. Many learned gentlemen of the law have expressed the opinion that the Homestead exemption of 2,000 dollars worth of real property, valued in coin, secured by the new Constitution, could not be claimed as against judgments which had been obtain ed prior to the adoption of the Constitu tion. There are hundreds of cases pend ing now, in which this is the only issue in volved. The decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Maxey, Jordan & Cos., covers the whole ground, and estab lishes the principle that the new Home stead exemption can be claimed, and must be allowed even (hough by so ruling a prior judgment lien is divested. We do not propose to review this decis ion, nor to intimate what our own views on the question are. Onr purpose in call ing attention to it is simply to let the peo ple—our readers—know how the law has been decided. It is but just before clos ing that we state that Judge Warner de livered a dissenting opinion. The Upper and Nether MUi-Stone. When the Radical scheme was first inau gurated Georgia Radical leaders told con fiding citizens that anew era was to dawn upon the State. It was affirmed that the Radical party was the party of progress, and under its benign rule and beneficent legislation the good old Commonwealth, putting off sack-cloth and ashes, and re deemed and regenerated, was to start out upon anew career ; peace was to reign within her walls, and prosperity in recon structed palaces. Reconstruction was to prepare the way and make the path. straight. A noble, high minded, generous, benignant Congress, was to step forward, and in all the excellence of magnanimity, full of good feeling and kindly charity, and with all the grace befitting noble deeds, was to lift up a prostrate, wayward sister, restore her as a beloved though erring one, back again to a proud position in the resplendent galaxy of Federal or Confederated, or what not, loyal constellations. Our desert earth was to blossom as the rose and the Government known to us for its strength, and power and prowess was to be a guar dian angel, a foster mother, directing us in its care and attention and in all its symbols of strength and tenderness. How have these delusive promises been kept? We have been taxed to the utmost of our resources; but neither has represent ation been permitted nor a voice as to our wants listened to. True, we have had the mails, and we have had Government of ficials; but not a cent expended to make the civil arm of thp Government anything else but known to us in a form closely al lied to carpet-baygism. Our Democratic Legislature, too, has a keen eye to the impecuniosity of the wants of its members, who seem to relish reconstruction of the Code and other local matters at $9 per day and mileage. We don’t see what good is to be accomplished by prolonging the present session. A deceut regard for the wishes of the people would call for an early adjournment, as there seems to be nothing important to be done. It looks as if the State were in a fair way to be crushed and crippled by the upper and nether millstone—a Radical Congress on the one hand, which refuses representation, and a Democratic Legisla ture on the other, which refuses to adjourn so long as there is a prospect of nine dol lars per day and mileage. Odd Fellowship.—The Odd Fellows of Augusta had quite an interesting time at their new and beautiful hall in this city Monday night. It was the occasion of the visit of the Most Worthy Grand Sire of the United States, and the hall was well filled with the members of the Order to bid him welcome to Augusta. He addressed them for some time in a most eloquent, earnest and impressive manner on the tenets of the Order, the immutability of its princi ples, and the duty of Odd Fellows to them selves, to the Order, to the community in which they live, to the world at large- He was listened to throughout with the most profound attention, and has made a deep impression on all who bad the pleasure of hearing him. He also explained the new adjunct to Odd Fellowship, viz: Life In surance. He was followed in a highly interesting, eloquent, and earnest address from P. G. Woodruff, of Macon, Ga., who was still speaking when we were compelled to leave, to our great regret. His tone, his manner, his utterance bespoke the deep significance of every syllable he uttered, and that he was terribly in earnest. And from what we saw and heard, the members must have had a real treat—one that will be relistied as long as memory shall retain her seat j (HR TRAVELLING CORRESPONDENCE. On the Wing, March 8, 1869. Deal Chronicle & Sentinel ; —The Spring: term of the Morgan Court opened cn the Ist instant, Judge Robinson presiding. In j the charge of his Honor to the Grand Jury a strict construction of the law was given, and its enforcement invoked as the only security of the citizen and peace of so ciety. Judge Robinson is a Christian : gentleman, conscientious in the discharge of his official duties, courteous and polite to the Bar, and an affable and agreeable companion. Our intercourse was pleasant and profitable, and I most heartily thank i him for the cordial invitation to a seat ; always within the bar at his courts, and : every attention from his attendants. On Tuesday three young gentlemen. Messrs. G. Foster, Seaborn Reece, and P. S. Burney were examined in the various branches of the profess on and and admitted to the Bar. On the _ following day these young men made their debut before the court and the public in the d< fence of a negro charged with the offence of bur glary, and although they had apparently nothing upon which to found an argument, the evidence being conclusive, they ac quitted themselves with great oredi\ | Young Foster made a very good speech, and bids fair to equal, if not surpass, his father in his ability at the Bar. These i young men arc the sons of former Judges j of the laws, and all promise success in the profession. Besides the resident gentle men of the Bar, we had the very agreeable j presence of Messrs. McDaniel, of Monroe, j Loftin, of Monticello, Lewis, of Green, and Winfield, of Eatontou. There were no j criminal cases of importance lor trial, the j business of ihe court was mostly confined i to the civil docket. On Tuesday a quantity of perishable j property, stools, &c , was sold. A body of 1 848 acres of land brought sixteen hundred and ninety-seven dollars. Other property, it was thought, hro ght about its average value. I find in Morgan, as in most other counties, a perfect mania upon the subject of fertilizers, and the production of cotton. Whether this is an omen of prosperity and happiness to the country or not is, to my mind, highly questionable. I fear that cotton will have all the advantages of soil, fertilizers and cultivation, to the neglect of grain, and, in the event of a de cline of price in the former, and a failure in the production of the latter, an utter and dire prostration will befall the agri- j cultural interests of the country. The planters in the cotton region have I it in their power now to make this one of the greatest and most desirable in the j world, if governed by moderation, j judgment and forecast in pitching their j crops. If they will raise an abundant I supply of produce for the country, and a j partial supply of cotton, just enough to J keep it up to 25 or 30 cents per pound, ! and let the money stay among us for the ■ still greater development of our resources, j instead of going West to pay for bread, ! meat, and stock, a most glorious future 1 will await us. No doubt a large amount of tho money realized from the past crop has already gone in this way. And I cannot believe that any degree of permanent prosperity will attend us so long as this is the case. Traveller. Railroad Meeting in Hamilton. The People of Harris Thoroughly Aroused —5165,000 Subscribed in Three Hours The LaGrange and Columbus Rail road a Certainty- Hamilton, March 2, 1869. Many of the citizens of Harris county met at the Court House to-day for the purpose of considering the construction of the Columbus and Hamilton Railroad to the city of LaGrange, when on motion, Col. James M. Mobley was called t.o the chair, and C. If. C. Willingham,of'Troup, was requested to act as secretary. The Chair explained the object of the meeting in a few forcible and pointed re- ] marks, urging the people to take hold of the enterprise with energy and without de lay. On motion of Col. L. L. Stanford, the following committee was appointed to pre pare business for the consideration of the meeting, to wit: Col. L. L. Stanford, Chairman; Maj. Flynn Hargett, Hon. W. I. Hudson, Capt. J. W. Murphey, Hon. H. D. Williams, William Holland Mart. Ely, Capt. W. C. Johnston, Elijah Brakefield, Jesse Rob erts, J. S. Goodman, D. K. Breedlove, Henry Livingston, A. Weldon, Esq., H. C. Blackman. Jas. Livingstone, William Nelson, Sr , Judge M. Spence, J. W. Kimbrough, Henry Dean, 11. C. Kim brough. The Committee having retired, Colonel W. 0- Tuggle, a delegate from Troup, was called upon to address the meeting, which he did in his usual eloquent style, showing the propriety aud practicability of building the proposed road at once, “as he who dreams oo the bed of the Solway may awake in the next world,” pledging that Troup will do her duty in building said road. The Chairman then read the proceedings of the meeting held in Troup on tho 27th ultimo, at LaGrange, pledging themselves to do all in their power to build the con templated road. Mr. J. T. Johnson, made a practical speech, urging the people to go to work and construct the proposed road, saying that he would be one of the City to build it through the country. Dr. W. W. Bruce a few remarks, urging prompt action in the matter, and giving many reasons for decided action now. The Committee returning, reported the following resolutions : Resolved, That we, the citizens of the county of Harris, living on the line of survey, will give the road the right of way through the county. Resolved, That the corporators of said Railroad be requested to call a meeting at an early day, for the purpose of thorough ly organizing said Company, according to the provisions of the act incorporating said road. Resolved, That we, the citizens of Har ris county, pledge ourselves to do all we can to build the road through our county if Troup and Muscogee will meet us at the county line, North and South. Resolved, That the Chairman of the meeting be authorized to take subscrip tions to-day, to be transcribed in the book kept by the corporators of said company. Resolved, That this meeting tender to Col. W. 0. Tuggle and C. H. C. Willingham and the citizens of Troup our thanks for their co operation and sympathy iu our railroad project. Resolved, That our Representatives in the Legislature be, and they are hereby requested to ask the aid of the State in building the Columbus and Hamilton Railroad. Resolved, That Col J M Mobley, Hon W I Hudson, L L Stanford, T S Mitchel, J M Nelson, W W Bruce, W C Johnston, J H Lovelace, M Spence, Wm Copeland, H 0 Williams, F Hargett, C H Bedell, | W J Gorham, Joseph Miller, J L Good man, A W Redding, Jos Bray, Jos Boyd, 1 J W Murphey, M B Roberts, C L Dendy, | G W Mullins, and S C Goodman be ap i pointed delegates to attend the Railroad j meeting, in the city of LaGrange, on Wed ; nesday, the 24th of March, inst. Col. L. L. Stanford supported the adop tion of the above resolutions in a truly eloquent speech, demonstrating conclu sively to the mind of each person present the great importance and utility of the Road. Cob Stanford is emphatically an impressive speaker, and a Railroad man. The Hon. W. I. Hudson, the able Rep j resentative from Harris, followed in one of his happy efforts, mingled with humor and I sound logic, evincing much argumentative ability in setting forth the many superior advantages of railroad facilities. He made a stirring speech, which resulted in much good, calling on the people to do their i duty, &c. After which the resolutions were unan j imously adopted by a standing vote. The book for subscription was then opened, and the handsome sum of $165,- 000 was immediately subscribed. (It is proper to add, this is the first meeting held, and a great many of the moneyed citizens were necessary absent) On motion, the proceedings of this meet ing were requested to be published in the ■ LaGrange Reporter, and that the Augusta, ' Columbus ana Atlanta papers be requested to copy. On motion, this meeting adjourned to meet on Saturday, the 20th inst J. M. Mobley, Chairman. C. H. C- Willingham, Secretary. Death of Mr. Richard M. Orme, Sr., of Milledgeyille.—We have just seen a telegraph dispatch from Milledgeville, which states that this venerable gentleman departed this life on yesterday morniDg at 9 o’clock. We have neither the space nor the time at present to pay that tribute to his memory which is due to him from the Press of Georgia, as one who was an orna ment to it for nearly half a century, and which is due also to him_ as one of Geor gia's best citizens. Suffice it now to say, that he was one of of God’s noblest works, an “hoDesl man,” and that his every-day walk in life illustrated the Christian gentle man. — Atlanta Intelligencer. OUR NEW YORK CORRESPONDENCE. J ram cotospotdetci or thi easoxicLi a sixtik-i . New York, March 6tb, 1869. Editors Chronicle A Sentinel: In a prior letter it was stated that Grant's hobby was-economy and, from the tone of the inaugural, the exactness of this information can be seen. The main point is that the bonds should be paid, principal and interest, in gold and this when for the dollar in gold of principal to be paid but fifty cents in gold were origi nally loaned, and when the interest in gold, though nominally six per cent.,is in reality 12 per cent. The crude idea that there is gold enough in California and Nevada to 1 pay the three thousand millions outright will, no doubt, excite the reader’s just scorn for the mediocre capaoity that could conceive it. Business, as we all kuow, is conducted by the circulation of money and not its accumulation. Were it otherwise, and the business of a country at any given moment equal to, say, $1,000,000,000, then it would take just that exact amount of money to carry it on, whereas the truth i is that even a fractional part of that much money is quite sufficient to carry on that | full amount of business, as the money cir- ; culates from hand to hand according to the | immediate requirements for use. So obvious a commercial principle seems to have en- | tirely escaped Mr. Grant, whose idea is i that you must actually hold out of the mine a taugibie sum equal to the total j value of human transactions. As to the Cabinet, it is easy to see t at it is a fusion of the Sword and the Purse, of military and moneyed men, ior the pur pose of erecting a close corporation to rob the people and murder them if they resist. On the same day certain millionaires are put in possession of the civil functions of government, and certain successful soldiers raised to supreme command of the army. The league is most ominous. Taking up the Cabinet separately, \\ ashburne is a swarthy, square-faced, bilious, irritable man, who understands no language but his own, and cannot either write or speak that with respectable cor rectness. lie has been once abroad, where report has it he was asservile a flunkey as was ever seen at court, but beyond this trip is not known to have the least qualifi cation for the State Department. His manners, that highly important item in a diplomat, are exceedingly bi orish, and his special aptitude heretofore has only been to oppose in buncombe speeches appropria tions for which he would afterward give his vote. A. T. Stewart in the Treas ury is a bitter pill to business men in this city especially, and, so far as heard from, throughout the country. It is urged that ho is not eligible to the Secretaryship under the taw of 1789, the one establishing the Treasury Department, by which no person having any interest, direct or indirect, in trade or commerce, or in auy way concerned in a traffic in Federal or State securities, is allowed to hold a Treasury office. It is understood that if Grant can procure the repeal of this act which he has recommended —rather a sharp commentary on his inaugural declaration that he would execute all laws whether he approved them or not —he will re nominate the canny Scotch-Irish speculator in bonds, merchandise and gold. Wall street is much disgusted with Grant’s Treasury ap pointment and the importers swear the Custom House will now be made an instru ment to crush out all opposition and erect a giant monopoly for the new Secretary. Perhaps there is something of business pique in all this but to have it believed is almost as bad as to have it nearly so, the result being in either case a total loss of confidence, and consequent bickerings and intrigue that must'have a highly deleterious effect. The Secretary of the Navy is a native of France, who won Grant’s heart by his liberal donations to the Philadelphia Loyal League in the late election. It was this conclave that carried Pennsylvania by sheer money for the lladicais at the State elections in October last, and secured the wavering States in the month following for Grant. Beyond this Borie is unknown, so much so, indeed, that even Grant has not known him six months, the acquaint ance which has ripened so suddenly for the Frenchman only beginning in Octo ber or November last. Hoar, the now Attorney General, is a straight-out, una dulterated old blue-light Massachusetts Puritan, one of the original old abolition breed, and as fierce and hateful a Radical as can be found in America. In personal ap pearance he looks just what he is, a sullen, dyspeptic, cold-hearted, merciless bigot. When a law is to be twisted to the persecu tion of those who detest Radicalism, this man will do the work con a more. Cox, of Ohio, the Secretary of thelotcror,is an Eng lishman, or, rather, a Canadian, a gradu ate of Oberlin college,that Se uinary famous for its rank negrophilism, was a loil Gen eral in the crusade, and afterward Governor of Ohio. He has shown inui cations since of moderation in politics and is the only one in the Cabinet of whom that much can be said. The Postmaster General is Cresswell, of Maryland, a rank secessionist in 1861, and soon thereafter just as rank a loil bloodhound, of the Joe Holt stripe. Such is the Cabinet —Schofield holding over in the War Department for the present. The elements in it, as you will see, are three : first, subserviency to the money interest, as represented in Stewart and Borie; second, subserviency to nig gerism, as represented in its Eastern form by Hoar, and its Western by Cox; and third, a bid for the scalawag support, as typified by Cresswell. The Wastiburne ap pointment is merely personal gratitude of a man toward his creator. The Grant ad ministration is, therefore, but a combina tion of Shylock and Suwarrow—of the vampyre and the bull-dog—the greedy speculator and the bribed bravo. What then is to be done? The answer is evident. This league is at present a party in power. Like all parties in power, it has the inevitable drawback of those who fight behind fortifications; it must remain on the defensive and cannot assume the offensive, unless it leave its bulwarks and come out into the open field. The proper course,then, is plain. It is to attack, attack, attack. To defend nothing, and assail everything. To let loose every weapon of scorn, contempt, contumely, ridicule, argumeut, excitation and reproach. To expose each inconsisten cy, explain and insist on each evil prece dent, dissect every measure and impugD ) every plan. The popular susceptibilities,so : easy to arouse against power because it is : power, must be fanned into fury. In one word, the only safe thing to do is to fall ' hammer and tongs on this Radical party and this Radical administration in every possible way, and on every possible occa sion that may be presented or made. These creatures have no right to oppress the South. God never made them our j masters. If they have beaten us iu arms j that is no reason but what we should beat ' them with imponderable forces. WheD j a man is shot dead in battle that is the : | end of him ; when a citizen is overthrown at one election he still lives and can try it again, and may triumph at another. It is all stuff, and bosh, and nonsense to talk about this party being irresistible. Any thing is irresistibe if you do not oppose it. Face your mountain, and nine times in ten it dwindles to a mole-hill at la-t. Take 1 one practical consideration: There is a great row and hubbub made about this Grant. Well, what can he do in conjunction with Congress that Congress could not do be fore ? His insertion in the political prob lem does not change the nature of the equa | tion that we have to meet. It is the same ! old thiDg on this the sth day of March that it was on the 3d day of March. Con fress holds the game now as it did theD. n the one case the power of President Johnson was impotent to decrease, and in the other the power of President Grant is impotent to increase, the Congressional in tensity of purpose. But this is a train of thought that will at once suggest all the necessary inferences, and need not be en ! larged on here. When thf Cabinet was read out at the i Stock Exchange, which happened yester day at 8, P. M., there was entire silence until the list had been read through, and then the crowd broke into a derisive laugh. All manner of sport was made of the nomi nations and some rude jests passed on the exceeding smallness of the mouse whereof ! the mountain had been delivered with many pangs. Among the more sober and reflecting men, the sentiment was almost universal that the final settlement of the financial issue would depend on circum stances as they might develop themselves, and that the inaugural and composition of the Cabinet, would have almost no weight at all in the matter. The lack of any cordial endorsement of the new administra-ion in the Radical press is quite significant. The Sun, Times and Tribune are all non-com mittal, the intensity varying in the order named. The Uercdd has less than its usual amount of buncombe adulation; the World thinks Grant shows crudeness, as surance and bravado, and warns him to expect constant opposition from the Dem ocratic party; and the tone of the press otherwise throughout the country, so far as here received, is likewise either very fiat and tame in approval or open in criticism. Taken, all together, the new 1 scene in the drama is dull. I It should be mentioned that the World publishes, with strong editorial endorse ment, a communication urging the assem bly of a Federal Convention of the States, to cheek Congress and restore the im perilled balanee of governmental power. As you are aware, two thirds of the States have concurrent power with Congress, under the fifth article of the Constitution, to propose amendments and this power, it is proposed, to set in motion by a direct appeal to the people to elect State Legis : latures pledged to its exercise. Tyrone Powers. TKEbIDEJiT JOHSSON’S VALKDHTOBT. 1 Farewell Address of the Retiring President to the People of the United States. I REVIEW’ OP THE CLOSING ADMINISTRATION. Tli« Polls* of the Poor, etc. I To the People of the United States : j . The robe of office, by constitutional | limitation, this day falls from my sttmlders, l to be immediately assumed by my sueces sor. Jbor him the forbearance and co- I operation of the American people, in all | bis efforts to administer the government ! within the pale of the Federal Constitution, j arc sincerely invoked. Without ambition j to gratify, party ends to subserve, or per | sonal quarrels to avenge at the sacrifice of the peace and welfare of the ountry, my I earnest desire is to see the Constitution, as i defined and limited by the fathers of the republic, again recognized and obeyed ns , the supreme law of the land, and the whole people—North, South, East and West—prosperous and happy under its wise provisions. In surrendering the high office to which I was called four years ago, at a memorable j and terrible crisis, it is my privilege, I trust, to say to the people of the United States a few parting words, in vindication of an official course so ceaselessly assailed and aspersed by political loaders, to whose plans and wishes my policy to restore the Union has been obnoxious. In a period j of difficulty and turmoil almost without precedent in the history of any people, consequent upon the closing scenes of a great rebellion and the assassination of the then President, it was perhaps too much, on my part, to expect of devoted partisans, who rode on the waves of excitement which at that time swept all before them, that degree of toleration and magnauimity which I sought to recommend and enforce, and which I believe in good time would have advanced us infinitely farther on the road to permanent peace and piosperity than we have thus far attained. Doubt less, bad I, at the commencement of my term of office, unhesitatingly lent its pow ers or perverted them to purposes and plans "outside the Constitution,” and be come an instrument to schemes of confisca tion and of general and oppressive dis qualifications, I would have been hailed as all that was true, loyal and discerning—as the reliable head of a party, whatever I might have been as the Executive of the nation. Unwilling, however, to accede to propositions of extremists, and bound to adhere, at every hazard, to my oath to de fend the Constitution,! need not, perhaps, be surprised at having met the fate of others whose only reward for upholding constitutional right and law have been the consciousness of having attempted to do their duty, and the calm and unprejudiced judgment of history. At the time a mysterious Providence as signed to me the office of President, I was by the terms of the Constitution, the Com mander in-Chiof of nearly a million of men under arms. One of my first acts was to disband and restore to the vocations of civil life this immense host, and to divest my self, so far as I could, o! the unparalleled powers then incident to the office and the times. Whether or not, in thisjstep, I was right, and how far deserving the approba tion of the people, all can now, on reflec tion, judge, when reminded of the ruinous coudi ion of public affairs, that must have resulted from the continuance in the mili tary service of such avast number of men. The close of our domestic conflict found the army eager to distinguish itself in anew field, by an effort to punish European in- I tervention in Mexico. By many it was believed and urged, that aside from the assumed justice of the proceeding, a foreign war, in which both sides would cheerfully unite to vindicate the honor of the Nation al Flag, and further illustrate the National prowess, would be the surest and speediest way of awakening National enthusiasm, reviving devotion to the Union, and occu py a torce concerning which, grave doubts existed as to its willingncs-, after four years of active campaigning, at once to return to the active pursuits of peace. Whether these speculations were true or false, it will be conceded that they existed, and that the prodileotions of the army were, for the time being, in the direotion indi cated. Taking advantage of this feeling, it would have been easy, as the Command er-in-Chief of the army and navy, and with all the power and patronage of the Presidential office at my disposal, to turn the concentrated military strength of the Nation against French interference in Mexico, and to inaugurate a movement which would have been received with favor by the military and a large portion of the people. It is proper, in this connection, that I should refer to the almost unlimited addi tional powers tendered to the Executive by the measures relating to civil rights and the Freedmen’s Bureau. Contrary to most precedents in the experience of pub lic men, the powers thus placed within my grasp were dccliued, as in violation of the Constitution, dangerous to the liber ties of the people, and tending to aggra vate, rather than lessen, the discords nat urally resulting fiom our civil war. With a large army and augmented authority, it would have been no difficult task to direct at pleasure the destinies of the republic, and to make secure my continuance in the highest office known to our laws. Let the people whom I am addressing from the Presidential chair during the closing hours of a laborious term, consider how different would have been their pres ent condition had I yielded to the dazzling temptation of foreign conquest, of personal aggrandizement, and the desire to wield additional power. Let them with justice consider that, if I have not unduly “mag nified mine office,” the public burdens have not been increased by my acts, and other and perhaps thousands or tens of thou sands of lives sacrificed to visions of false : glory. Much as I venerate the Constitution, it must be admitted that this condition of affai'S has developed a defeat which, un der the aggressive tendency of the Legis lative department of the Government, may S eadily work its overthrow. It may, how- j ever, be remedied, without disturbing the 1 harmony of the instrument. The veto power is generally exercised upon constitutional grounds, and whenever it is so applied and the bill returned with the Executive reasons for withholding his j signature, it ought to be immediately cer- I tified to the Supreme Court of the United States for its decision. If its constitu- i tionality shall be declared by that tribunal it should then become a law ; bu‘ if the decision is otherwise, it should fail, with out power in Congress to re-enact and make it valid. In cases in which the veto rests upon hasty and inconsiderate legislation, and in which no constitutional question is in volved, I would not change the fundamen tal law ; for in such cases no permanent evil can be incorporated into the Federal i system. ! It is obvious that without such an i amendment the government, as it existed j under the Constitution prior to the rebel | lion, may be wholly subverted and over ; thrown by a two-thirds majority in Con- I gress. It is not, therefore, difficult to see : how easily and how rapidly the people may j lose—shall I not say have lost?—their | liberties by an unchecked and uncon trollable majority in the law-making power, | and, when once deprived of their rights, I how powerless they are to regain them. Let us turn for a moment to the history i of the majority in Congress which has act ! ed in such utter disregard of the Constitu' tion. While public attention has been carefully and constantly turned to the past and expiated sins of the South, the ser vants of the people, in high places, have | boldly betrayed their trust, broken their oaths of obedience to the Constitution, and | underminedjthe very foundations of liberty, j justice, and good government. When the rebellion was being suppressed by the vol unteered services of patriot soldiers amid the dangers of the battle-field, these men crept, without question, into place and power in the national councils. After all danger had passed, when no armed foe re mained, when a punished ai.d repentant people bowed their heads to the flag and renewed their allegiance to the Govern ment of the United States, then it was that pretended patriots appeared before the nation, and began to prate about the thousands of lives and millions of treasure I sacrificed in the suppression of the rebel -1 lion. They have since persistently sought 1 to inflame the prejudices engendered be j tween the sections, to retard the restora j tion of peace and harmony, and, by every ! means, to keep open and exposed to the ! poisonous breath of party passion the ter rible wounds of a four years’ war. They ! have prevented the return of peace and the 1 restoration of the Union, in every way NEW SERIES, YOL. XXYIII. NO. 11. ' ] rendered delusive the purposes, promises and pledges by which the army was mar shaled, treason rebut cd, and rebellion crushed, and made the liberties of' the peo ple and the rights and powers of the Pres ident objects of constant attack. TLey have wrested from the President his constitu tional power of supreme command of the army and navy. They have destroyed the strength and effici.mcy of the Executive Department, by making subordinate offi cers independent of and able to defy their chief. They have attempted to place the President under the power of a hold, de fiant and treacherous Cabinet officer. They have robbed the Executive of the preroga tive of pardon, rendered null and void acts of clemency granted to thousands of per sons under the provisions of the Constitu tion, aud committed gross usurpation by jegislative attempts to exercise this power in favor of party adherents. They have conspired to change the system of our government by preferring charges against the President iu the form of articles of im peachment, and contemplating, before hearing of trial, that he should be placed in arrest, held in durance, anu when it became their pleasure to pronounce his sentence, driven from place and power in disgrace. They have in time of peace in creased the national debt by a reckless ex penditure of the public money and thus added to the burdens which already weigh upon the people. They have permitted the nation to suffer the evils of a deranged currency, to the enhancement in price of all , the necessaries of life. They have main- I tained a large standing army, for the en forcement of their measures of oppression, i They have engaged in class legislation, and i built up and encouraged monopolies, that i the few might bo enriched at the expense j of the many. Thev have failed to act I upon important treaties, thereby endanger ! ing _ our present peaceful relations with foreign powers. Their course of usurpation has not been limited to inroads upon the Executive De partment. By unconstitutional and op pressive euactuients, the people of ten States of the Union have been reduoed to 1 a condition more intolerable than that from which the patriots of the Revolution rebelled. Millions of American citizens can now say of their oppressors, with more truth than our fathers did of British ty rants, that they have “forbidden the gov ernors to pass laws of immediate and press ing importance, unless suspended until their assent should be obtained;” that they have 1 “refused to pass other laws for the accom- i modatiou of large districts of people, un- ! less those people would relinquish the right of representation in the Legislature— a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only;” that they have “made judges dependent upon their will alone for the tenure of their offices and the amount and payment of their salaries;” that they have “erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance;” that they have “affected to render the military independent of and superior to the civil power,” “combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution andj unacknowledged by our laws,” “quartered large bodies of armed troops among us,” “protected them by a mock trial from punishment for any mur der which they should commit on the in habitant of these States,” imposed “taxes upon us without our consent,” “deprived us in many cases of the benefit of trial by jury,” “taken away our charters, excited domestic insurrection amongst us, abolish ed our most valuable laws, altered funda mentally the forms of our government, sus pended our own Legislatures, and declared themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.” It cannot, therefore, be charged that my ambition has been of that ordinary or criminal kind which, to the detriment of the people’s rights and liberties, ever seeks to grasp more and unwarranted powers, and, to accomplish its purposes, panders too often to popular prejudices and party aims. What, then, have been the aspirations which guided me in my official acts? Those acts need not at this time an elaborate ex planation. They have been elsewhere comprehensively stated andfully discussed, and become a part of the nation’s history. By them lam willing to be judged, know ing that, however imperfect, they at least show to the impartial mind that my sole ambition has been to restore the Union of the States, faithfully to execute the office of President, and, to the best of my ability, to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. I canuot be censured if my efforts have been impeded in the interests of party'faction, and if a policy which was intended to reassure and conciliate the people of both sections of the country was made the occasion of inflaming and dividing still further those who, only recently in arms against each other, yet, as individuals and citizens, were sincerely desirous, as 1 shall ever believe, of burying all hostile feelings in the grave of the past. The bitter war was waged on the part of the government to virdicate the Constitution and save the Union ; and if I have erred in trying to bring about a more speedy and lasting peace, to extinguish heart burnings and enmities, and to prevent troubles in the South which, retarding material pros perity in that region, injuriously affected the whole country, I am quite content to rest my case with the more deliberate judgment of the people, and, as 1 have al ready intimated, with the distant future. The war, all must remember, was a stu pendous and deplorable mistake. N ither side understood the other, and had this simple fact and its conclusions been kept in view, all that was needed was accom plished by the acknowledgment of the ter rible wrong, and the expressed better feel ing and earnest endeavor at atonement shown and felt in the prompt ratification of constitutional amendments by the South ern States at the close of the war. Not accepting the war as a confessed false step on the part of those who inaugurated it, was an error which now only time can cure, and which even at this late date we should endeavor to palliate. Experiencing, more over, as all have done, the frightful cost of the arbitrament of tho sword, let us in the future cling closer than ever to the Consti tution as our only safeguard. It is to be hoped that not until the burdens now pressing upon us with such fearful weight are removed will our peoplojforgct the les sons of the war; and that, remembering them from whatever cause, peace between sections and States may be perpetual. The history of late events in our coun try, as well as of the greatest governments of ancient and modern times, tenches that wo have everything to fear from a depart ure from the letter and spirit of the Con stitution, and the undue ascendancy of men allowed to assume power in what are considered desperate emergencies. Sylla, on becoming master of Rome, at onee adopted measure to crush his enemies and to consolidate the power of his party. He established military colonies through out Italy ; deprived of the full Roman franchise the inhabitants of the Italian towns who had opposed his usurpation ; confiscated their lands and gave them to his soldiers; and conferred citizenship upon a great number of slaves belonging to those who had proscribed him, thus creating at Rome a kind of body guard for his protec tion. After having given Rome over to slaughter, and tyrannized beyond all exam ple over those opposed to him and the legions, his terrible instruments of wrong, Sylla could yet feel safe in laying down the ensigns of power sodreadfully abused, and in mingling freely with the families aDd friends of his myriad victims. The fear which he had inspired continued after his voluntary abdication, and even in retire rnent his will was law to a people who had permitted themselves to be enslaved. What but a subtile knowledge and convic tion that the Roman people had become changed, and utterly broken in spirit could have induced this daring as sumption ? What but public indifference to consequences so terrible as to leave I Rome even to every calamity which subse- j quently befell her could have justified the conclusions of the dictator and tyrant in his startling experiment ? We find that in the time which lias since elapsed human nature and exigencies in government have not greatly changed. Who, a few years past, in contemplating our future, could have supposed that in a brief period of bitter experience every thing demanded in the name of military emergency, or dictated by caprice, would come to be considered as mere matters of course; that consumption, confiscation, loss of personal liberty, the subjection of States to military rule, and disfranchisement, with the extension of the right of suffrage mere ly to accomplish party ends, would receive the passive submissionjf not acquiescence, of the people of the republic? It has been clearly demonstrated, by re cent occurrences, that encroachments upon the Constitution cannot be prevented by the President alone, however devoted or determined he may be, and that unless the people interpose there is no power under the Constitution to check a dominant majority of two tnirds in the Congress of the United States. An appeal to the na tion, however, is attended with too much delay to meet an emergency. While, if left free to act, the people would correct, in time, such evils as might follow legisla tive usurpation, there is danger that the same power which disregards the Constitu tion will deprive thqm of the right to change their rulers, except by revolution. We have already seen the jurisdiction of the Judiciary circumscribed when it was apprehended that the courts would decide against laws having for their sole object the supremacy of party, while the veto power, lodged in the Executive by the Constitution for the interest and protection of the people, and exercised by Washing ton and his successors, has been rendered nugatory by a parti? an majority of two thirds in each branch of the National Legislature. The Constitution evidently contemplates that when a bill is returned wiili tho President’s objections it will be calmly reconsidered by Congress. Such, however, has not been the practice under present party rule. It has become evident that men who pass a bill under partisan influences are not likely, through patriotic motives, to admit their error, and thereby weaken their own organizations by solemn ly confessing it under an official oath. I ride of opinion, if nothing else, has in tervened, and prevented a calm and dis passionate reconsideration of a bill disap proved by the Executive. This catalogue of crimes, loug as it is, is not yet complete. Ihe Constitution vests the judicial power of the United States “in one Supreme Court,” whose jurisdiction “shall extend to all cases arising under this Constitution” and “the laws of the United States.” Encouraged by this promise of a refuge from tyranny, a citizen of the United States who, by the order of a military commander, given under the sanction of a cruel and deliberate edict of j Congress, had been denied the constitu tional rights of liberty of conscience, free dom of the press and of speech., personal freedom from military arrest, of being held to answer for crime only upon presentment and indictment, of trial by jury, of the writ of habeas corpus, and the protection of civil and constitutional government---a citizen, thus deeply wronged, appeals to the Supreme Court for the protection guaran teed to him only by tho organic law of the land. At onee a fierce and excited majori ty by the ruthless hand of legislative power stripped the ermine from tho judges, transferred the sword of justice to the Gen oral,and remanded ’.he oppressed citizen to a degradation and bondage worse than death. It will also be reeoraed as one of the marvels of the times that a party claim ing for itself a monopoly of consistency and patriotism, and boasting, too, of its un limited sway, endeavored, by a costly and deliberate trial, to impeach one who defended the Constitution and the Union uot only throughout the war of the rebel lion, but during his whole term of Office as Chief Magistrate ; but at the same lime could find no warrant or means at their command to bring to trial even the chief of the rebellion. Indeed, the remark able failures in his case were so often re peated, that for propriety's sake, if for no other reason, it became at last nee. ssary to extend to him an unconditional pardon. What more plainly than this illustrates the extremity of party management and in consistency on the one hand, and of faction, vindictiveness, and intolerance on the other? Patriotism will hardly be en couraged when, in such a record, it sees that its inslant reward may be the most virulent party abuse and obloquy, if uot attempted disgrace. Instead of seeking to “make treason odious,” it would in truth seem to have been their purpose rather to make the defence of the Constitution and the Union a crime, and to puni h fidelity to an oath of office, if counter to party dictation, by all the means at their com mand. Happily for the peace of the country, the war has determined against the as sumed power of the States to withdraw at pleasure fom the Union. The institution of slavery al-o found its destruction in a rebellion commenced in its interest. It should be borne in mind, however, that the war neither impaired nor destroyed the Constitution,but on the contrary preserved its existence, and made apparent its real power and enduring strength. All the rights granted to the States, or reserved to the people thereof, remain intact. Among those rights is that of the people of each Slate to declare the qualifications of their own State electors. It is now as sumed that Congress can control this vital right, which can never be taken away from the States without impairing the fundamental principles of the government itself. It is necessary to the existence of the States, as well as to the protection of the liberties of the people, lor the right to select the elector in whom the political power of a State shall be lodged, involves the right of the State to govern itself. When deprived of this prerogative, the States will have no power worth retaining. All will be gone, and they will be subjected to the arbitrary will of Congress. The government will then be centralized, if not by the passage of laws, then by the adoption, through partisan influence, of an amendment directly in conflict with the original design of the Constitution. This proves necessary it is that the people should require the administration of the three great departments of the government strictly within the limitations of tho Con stitution. Their boundaries have been ac curately defined, and neither should be allowed to trespass upon the other, nor, above all, to encroach upon the reserved rights of the people and the States. The troubles of the past four years will prove to the nation blessings if they produce so desirable a result. Upon those who became young men amid the sound ofcanuon and din of arms, and quietly returned to the farm >, the factories, and the schools of the land, will principally devolve the solemn duties of perpetuating the Union of the States, in defence of which hundreds of thousands of their comrades expired, and hundreds of millions of national obligations were in curred. A manly people will not neglect the training necessary to resist aggression, but they should be jealous lest the civil bn made subordinate to the military element. We need to encourage, in every legitimate way, a study of the Constitution for which the war was waged, a knowledge of and reverence for whose wise checks by those so soon to occupy the places filled by their seniors will be the only hope of preserving the republic. The young inen of the na tion, not yet under the control of party, must resist the tendency to centralization —an outgrowth of the great rebellion—and be familiar with the fact that the country consists of united States, and that when the States surrendered certain great rights for the sake of a mere perfect union, they retained rights as valuable and impoitant as those which they relinquished for the common weal. This sound old doctrine, far different from the teachings that led to the attempt to secede, and a kindred theory that States were taken out of the Union by the rash acts of conspirators that happened to dwell in their borders, must be received and advocated with the enthusiasm of early manhood, or the people will be ruled by|corrupt combinations of the commercial centres, who, plethoric from wealth, an nually migrate to the capital of the nation to purchase special legislation. Until the representatives of the people in Congress more fully exhibit the diverse views and interests of the whole nation, and laws ceam to be made without full discussion at the behest of some party leader, there will never be a proper respect shown by the iaw making power either to the judicial or executive branch of the government. The generation just beginning to use the ballot box, it is believed, only knew that their attention should be called to to these con siderations to indicate, by their votes, that they wish their representatives to observe all the restraints which tho people, in adopting the Constitution, intended to im pose upon party excess. Calmly reviewing my administration of the government, I feel that, with a sense of accountability to God, having conscien tiously endeavored to discharge my whole duty, 1 have nothing to regret. Events have proved the correctness of the policy set forth in my first and subsequent mes sages: the woes which have followed the rejection of forbearance, magnanimity, and constitutional rule are known and deplored by the nation. It is a matter of pride and gratification, in retiring from the most exalted position in the gift of a free people, to fel and to know that in a long, arduous aod eventful public life, my action has never been in fluenced by desire for gain, and that I can in all sincerity inquire, “Whom have I de frauded? whom have I oppressed ? or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind my eyes therewith?” No responsi bility for wars that have been waged or blood that has been shed rests upon me. My thoughts have been those of peace, and my effort has ever been to allay contentions among my countrymen. Forgetting the past, let us return to the first principles of the government aod, un furling the banner of our country, inscribe upon it, in ineffaceable characters, Ihc Constitution and the Union, one and m : separable.” A-ndhkw Jobhwn. Washington, D. C., March 4, 1869. Acknowledgment.—We tender thanks to P. H. Langdon, Esq., General Agent, for complimentary passes for 1869, over the Wilmington & Manchester, and Wil mington & Weldon Railroads. Such favors aye always acceptable to the editorial fra ternity.
