CD.rropintbnut.
°UR LONDON LETTER.
LoNnorr, April, 1866
VISIT TO SCOTLAND.
MY Dram Sia:—" Oar own corres
pondent" has been in Scotland since he
Mast wrote to you. I told you in my
`last letter that the Free Church of
Scotland had agreed to give aleneral
collection through all their churches for
the promOtion of PresbytOinn'Chttrch
Extension in England. That collection
%was made on the lest, Sabbath of the
month of March. We sent down del:m
-41es to preach in all the more important
'congregations of the large towns in
:Scotland. We held public meetings in
lEdinburgh, in Glasgow, and in Aber
deen, 'which were attended by large and
mil' • 1-‘ ------ -tWenty — deputies - ctrerm......., le We had
?labors were spread over two or three
-Sabbaths. Ir. is of the very greatest
Amportance thit we bad thus an,oppin ,
-- Unity of fully stating our• case to a
large part of the religious , community ;of
Scotland. I have not. yet - heard the
cash result; but it will doubtless reach
to some thousands of pounds, which we
will make to go a very far way.
Whilst in Scotland I had the opportu-.
mitt of being present at 'a meeting of
444 THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON UNION."
This Committee is composed of kur com
mittees appointed respectively by the
'Free Church, the United Presbyterian
- Church, the Reformed Presbyterian
.9hurch, and the Presbyterian Church of
England. Each of these committees
sits and prepares matters for the Joint .
Committee, which meets from time
time, to dim:lasi-anti consolidate, and
prepare it final report 9 fit their'respective
chateThes. 1 - Tbe meeting to which! I
refer, and it which 1 4 . was present, was
held on Wednesday, March Vint. It was
",tell attended. •It asiembhitlin the Free
Church OfficeS,-aluAilding gewly erected
close by the Free Church College*and
Assembly Hall, - on what is called "'The:
Yound," an eminence which overlooks
the deep valley which ;divides the new
town of Edinburgh from the old. The
apartment in which we met was every
way worthy the men and the /occasion.
It is a noble and lofty hall, fitted up: in
ache finest taste, and most elegant style.
'l. large window behind the chairmarris
filled with" stained glass, and loOking
.-,down on us from the painted, panes were
the fathers and founders of the Church
of Presbyterian Scotland—there were
Knox and Melville, Dr. Andrew Thom
son, and Chalmers, and Welsh, and Cun
ningham, men of might and majesty, who
seemed to smile silent approval on their
mot unworthy successors .
It was a goodly sight to see all that
was holiest, and best, and ablest of the
Presbyterianism of Scotland, and ,of
.England, gathered together beneath the
-shadow of the mighty dead. There
was Candlish, and Guthrie, and Dr.
.James Hamilton ; there was Dr. Mar
ehall, the Moderator of the United Pres
lyterian Church; and Dr. Goold, editor
of Dr. Owen's works ; there was Dr.
Andrew. Thomson, and Dr. Buchanan,
of Glasgow ; there was Sir Harry Mon
erieffiworthy and
there was• the, able:it theologian cif our,
tikes, Cairlisii Beriifck, land - silraost
every man ormark in the four churches.
Mr. Robert Buchanan, of Glasgow, took
the chair, supported on the right by Dr:
Marshall, on the left by Dr. Candlish.
He opened the business with the reading
, of the word and praise, and then he
called on Dr. Thomas Guthrie to engage
in prayer. It• was a choice privilege to
have joined in that comprehensive pray
er; so •full of the spirit of brotherly love.
The deep, fall tones of Dr. Guthrie's
`Voice reach, move, and 'melt all hearts.
I never heard anywhere a voice of such
power; it melts one to tears.
I need not go s into the discussion that
followed. Suffice it' to say that - though
there was considerable difference of
opinion, it was, no other sort of differ
deli may be =seen any day in any
meeting of Presbytery, Synod, or Assem-
bly. It was no difference of one com
mittee against another committee. It
was man against man, and, by .a little
iliscussion, arriving at a harmonious
conclusion. It was right pleasant to see
two or three Free ChurChmen and two
or three United Presbyterians agreeing
AS against a , similar amalgamation of
-opposites;:and the discussion left it in
delibly fixed 'on the mind of an all but in-
active spectator, as I was, that there
could be no possible difficulty in union
. between men who agreed in so much
and differed in sio little. It was pleasant,
too, to note an act of prompt courtesy
and brotherly love in Dr. Buchanan.
After the meeting had progressed a little,
Dr. James Hamilton, of London, entered,
when Dr: Buchanan, taking , notice of the
!act in a short and gracefal utterance,
vacated the chair, that Dr. Hamilton
mighi, take possession of it, which he did
_amid the applause of all present.
_IMPORTANT PROPOSAL
1 - You know that one of the rocks ahead
has been the question of a British or a
Scottish Church. Some of all sections
of the Church contend earnestly for a
British Church to comprehend all the
Presbyterian (non•established) of the
three kingdoms ; others would exclude
the Irish portion only; and yet ethers,
and they by far the most numerous,
say "we cannot think of going one jot
beyond Scotland." At the meeting to
which I refer, a proposition was tabled
by Dr. Marshall, of the United Presby
terian Church, which seemed to meet
with all but universal and cordial ap
proval the moment it was stated. It
was to the following effect :—.First, Let
that portion of the U. P. Church in Eng
land be dissevered from the part in Scot
land. Second, Let there he union in
Scotland between the three Churches,
the Free, the U. P., and the Ref. Presb.,
on a suitable basis. Third, Let there be
union between the English Presbyterian
Church and that portion of the U. P.
Church which is in England. Fourth, Let
the two Churches so formed be united thus
far only : let membership, discipline, &c.,
be common to, both. Let there be one
common board to , deal with all the mis
sions and missionaries of all the Churches.
Let,the Church irt,Scetland charge itself
with helping lorward with men and
means the Home ; Missions of the Churth
in England. Let there be a given
number ; of men, chosen each J r • • •
e, and
frOm each Church to sit, ._„1 I.e ) erat
the other.
vote in the Supremar ra
5 01, i n + 44 .„.. , %-a conference each
five
• yearictie fdlnat and arrange all mat-
tern of detail that may need reformation
or adjustment.
These are the general propositions.
The paper was,' tabled, not discussed ;
but it called forth the warm approval of
all who heard it, as a remarkable out
gate for what seemed an insuperable
difficulty:. In,my opinion,,thereis still a,
difficulty:= It lies in thia, that the ;United
Presbyterian brethren in, England might
not agree with these proposition's. They
love Mother -Church at home; they
look forward to their annual visit to her
Synod as the eupieme,event of ,the year ;•
and many of their better men_ look for
ward to the daY'when they may happen
to be chosen moderator of their Supreme,
Court as the crowning event• of their
life. It' may be that, with s a union, our
Church here would o :110 SO, large and
respectable thatAo be , closen .moderator
of it •may= soon become as - great an
,honor as , in the other ; for with union we
should number,upwards of two hundred
churches, and. might soon double that
number With the help of Scatland---but
it is a painful thing to break rudely= in
on the cherished dreams of the ambition
of a long life Mine. We shall soon see
what the results of these conferences are
to be; the Synods and Assemblies meet
shortly, and then the' mind of the re
spective churches will be more clearly
brought out.
GREAT CHANGES AND MOVEMENTS IN SCOT-
Scotland is greatly changed since I
first-knew it. All things are'effervescing
there,' in the ecclesiastical world, with a
singular force. When I knew it, fifteen
years ago, it/was the most conservative
of all countries, ecclesiastically. Now,
all is in " movement." Organs are
erecting everywhere ; hymn-books are
taking the place of the time-honored
Psalms ; dissatisfaction with the confes
sion of faith, with subscription to creeds
of all sorts ; a desire to render the wor
ship of God externally more " attract
ive"—these and other modern notions
have gained vast ground and stability
since I left the country. I found, too,
some of the older ministers not disposed
to put forth very much energy to stay
the movement party. One old minister
said to me, -" Sir; the pot is boiling fast ;
but it is Christ himself that is stirring
the fire; Tet it..alone-J-'-he will bring
purity out of it, in his own good time and
way." Instead of union, I should not
be very greatly surprised to see more
disruptions tlere.
CASE. OF DR. MILROD
After all the noise that was made in
Glasgow about Dr. McLeod and his fa
mous speech ~on the Sabbath, the end
has been a puff of smoke. The Estab
lished presbytery'of Glasgow met, and
after various speeches and motions, with
closed doors, the result was a whitewash
of Dr. McLeod, and the dismissing' of
the whole vith some " grave con
,
sure ;"- and this, too, after that reverened
gentleman had repeatedthe substance of
his speech and reasserted all • his worst
parts: It may be enough to say that
'the course pursued by the Presbytery
has met with the warm,,,approval of
The Edinburgh Scotsman. That news
paper bas long been known and noted
for its decided enmity, to all evangelism,
to all that is peculiarly sacred or Scot
tish ; it is, in fact, as Hugh Miller once
said to me, in a joke, " It , is wrongly
named," said he, "it should have been
called the Irishman ;" but at all events,
the Scotsman thinks the Glasgow Pres
bytery has 'done well in setting Dr.
McLeod free.
Last week there was a long debate in
the Free Presbytery of Edinburgh, on
an overture introduced by Dr. Candlish
for the purpose of adding twenty-five
new hymns to the Paraphrases presently
sung in our churches. ' After a keen de
bate? Dr. Candlish carried the transmis
sion of, his ,overture to- the Assembly by
the narrow majority of 25 to - 20. I ex
pect, the subject will be.warmly debated
in the next Assembly. „
CARLYLE EXTEMPORE
Edinburgh is all astir jatnow. Mr.
Thomas Carlyle has just been there ata
monster meeting of the University, to be
installed as Lord Rector. 'Seldom has
Edinburgh seen' each a crowd as was
that day gathered to greet the great
writer and' thinker of modern times.
He spoke extempore. I am very sorry
for this. I think; it a great pity he had
not written his address and, read it; for
he writes better than he speaks. In
speaking he is constantly led into all
sorts of digressions, and often goes off
finally into a siding from which he never
returns to the main line. He spoke an
hour and a half, and was listened to
THE AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN, THURSDAY, MAY 3. 1866
with intense eagerness by a dense mass
of people congregated in the main ball,
the largest in Edinburgh. I am sorry
to say his health is far from good. I
bad a long walk with him a week oNtwo
before be left for Scotland; and he was
complaining much. He is dyspeptic, as
is the wont of most literary men. All
the papers have full reports of his speech,
with leaders on the man and his works.
I hardly think the address was worthy
of him. It was not up to his; mark. I
have often beard him discourse more .ably
and more eloquently by far with . "' no
other auditor but my own solitary self.
He is, beyond all doubt, the most, able
and fluent talker to , whom I ever lis
tened:;. and how he does kindle up as
be goes on flashing and corrnscating in
all directions!
HARD-WOBKING BISHOPS
ArinAtenai4.ool4.-T.0 3 12 4 4 3 .4 _hag
aside from ill health. After pr eac hi ng
St. Paul's, he fainted away, and was con
sidered, for some days in a critical state
of health. He has now so far recovered
as to be able to be brought down to the
drawing-room ; but it is thought he can
be able to perform no duty for months
to come. The work of a Bishop, in a
diocese so large as his, is very hard and
constant. And in the season," which
is., now in fall flood, it is more difficult
still; as the calls of fashion are very
many and constant. A man - pays dearly
for the wealth and honor of such a post.
The opening of his daily 'letters, alone,
and the directions for answering them,
occupy him many-hours daily. A friend
once told me he traveled, in a railway
carriage with a fat, full, ecclesiastical
looking man, who, so soon as he entered
the carriage, fitted up a " sort of extem
pore traveling writing-desk before him,
took a huge ; bundle of letters, selected
first one and then another from the heap
to which .he wrote replies,' :sealed,
stamped, and laid them aside. Before
they. yeached the close of the journey,
he had finished off about a dozen in , this
way, some short and some long., ,which
be coolly put into a pciet-box when he
reached the station. He asked SR official
who that was—" Sir," said the man,
"that is the 'Bishop of Oxford." 'Yes,
the Bishop of Oxford is, perhaps, one
of the hardest wrought men in all/Eng
land. • I •
The Church of England gets rap
idly 'worse. One, of the most emi
nent of her ministers in this West End
said to me, the other day, " There is a
great, a very great number of our clergy
who want now only to acknowledge the
Pope as their spiritual head, to be com
plete and perfect Papists." In the week
that past—" Easter Week," as they
call it, they have been taking full swing;
incense, altar lights; elevation and ado
ration of the Host, full Popish vestments,
are now quite common every-where. And
Parliament will not interfere. They are
busily engaged in discussing and guar•
reling over a Reform • Bill, and leaving
the ancient landmarks to be swept
away. And Keble, too, John lieble;
the poet of the party, the author of the
Christian, - Year, has 'gone' to htif
He is mourned by a very large circle of
true friends ; and yet I suppose his
poetry has done as much to- feed and
foster this Popish movement as any
single cause that could be named. Vale.
Yours ever, PHILADELPHOS.
[This article has been accidentally
mislaid and deferred.]
The work of the Holy Spirit still con
tinues in this community. The interest
is not only kept up but increasing. Re
ligion is the common subject of conver
sation, even on the street. A gentle
man came to the city to buy goods, but
found it difficult to carry out his pur
pose, for he said nearly eveiy. , One was
talking about religion. The owner of 11
distillery, who was stopping at .a bete*
declared that this was the, work of the
Spirit, and he wished that his own soul
might. receive a blessing. Crowded
audiences still fill the hall where services
are held.
Last Sabbath evening the exercises
were peculiarly solemn and impressive,
and at the close of the meeting nearly
five hundred persons rose for prayer.
The hearts of Christians in Peoria have
been greatly encouraged by the work
Of grace in the neighboring town of
Pekin, Illinois, ten miles from here. -On
Friday last, about fifty Christians and
young converts accompanied Mr. Ham
mond to that place. He could only stay
long enough to hold three meetings, and
many were fearful that very little good
would result from so short a period of
labor ; but God wondeKfullyldes i sed the
effort. At first the prospects were very
discouraging ; -the children's meeting in
the afternoon was not a very large one,
bat in the inquity-meeting it was found
that quite a large number had been led
by the Spirit to feel their own sinful
ness, and were anxiously inquiring the
;way of life. In the evening the hall,
which was quite a large one, was filled
to overflowing; and those present tes
tified that seldom had they seen such a
solemn assembly, such an intensely in
-terested audience. At the morning
meeting next day, about one hundred
and fifty declared that they had found
the Saviour. Those who went there
fearful of the results, came home rejoic
ing because of the great things God had
wrought, and with faith greatly strength
ened thereby, asking still greater , bless
ings for Peoria.
Some of the leading men Id Pekin
expressed great interest in thticonver
sion of Judge Gale, Mr. O'Brien, and
others who were well known in that
THE AWAKENING IN PEORIA.
city. They could scarcely believe the
eport, .and wished to bear it from their
'wn lips ; then they said they would be
;onvinced of its reality. After Mr.
lammond's return several of these gen
tNnan went to Pekin and told what the
Lohad done for them. On their re
turn y reported the good work still
A eting was held here last night
for m only. The hall was filled, and
the sting
accomplished much, especi
ally, ong those who for want of room
and c iher reasons had never attended
bat. Christians visited the saloons
and kops . and Conapelled men to come in;
yet rcl•e than all it was the Holy Spirit
that , rew together that multitude of
meDiver a thousand,'representing all
nla: and professions'. -1,. number of
in men, who have heretofore de-,
n laid, tided upon their morality, despising
I
- •
due blood of Jesus; have been brought to
see that their own righteousness is as
nothing, but only the righteousness of
Jesus will avail with God: - Strong wills
are being ',broken, and proud hearts
humbled,; new cases of interest are oc
curring almost every day.
Mr. Hammond leaves on Friday for
Springfield, Illinois. We trust,' how
ever, that the Spirit of God will not
leave as, but. that the : labors of hiS,
faithful servant 'may bring forth fruits
after his d'epaitnre. ' J.
LETTERS ON RECONSTRUCTION,
NCO. IX.
DEAR Sin:—Turning.from the Presi
dent, who has policy without jurisdic
tion, and following the subject Into Con
gress, I find with concern, that at the end
of a four-montirs' consultation', abounding
in jurisdiction as they do, they have , as
yet no policy definitely matured. With
some dozen of law-projects before them,
mostly right
_in general purpose, but
each preferred. by a few, the strength of
the body seems swamped in a little sea
of small antagonisms. Why should it
be so? Why should noble-minded men
.(the majority), be pertinacious about
forms, when in substance so well agreed?
I am afraid none of their proposed
forms is quite the thing; for things ex
actly right are' apt conciliate the ap •
-
probation of all.
May it not be doubted whether the
best order of business has been followed,
to secure the largest unanimity ? Were
a council , of physicians called upon a
case of physical disease, I fancy their
first step would be one of diagnostic
scrutiny, to find out the true nature and
character of the malady to be dealt with;
after which hey could jaardly fail to
agree upon something proper to be done.
Our case is, indeed, political, bat yet a
case of disease. Oar public order has
been shattered by an earthquake. Not
simply traitors, but traitor States of the
Union have made war upon us, becom
ing national enemies, if ever there were
such. And now that they are conquer
ed, and their slaves liberated, how is
OUT' system to be readjusted so as to be
safe against the recurrence of past evils?
The President would take the rebels
habil just as they are, " unhouselled, unan
nealed." He tells us they have not been
enemies at all, nor anything worse, fia
grante Bello though it were, than friends
in disguise. Do Congress agree with
him ? Some of them do, of course; some
do not; some hold directly opposite opin
ions; some are undecided. Would it
not haye been well to try, by friendly
discussion, to wilt down these differences
into as large a consistency of views as
might be, touching the legal conse
quences of the war; and the existing re
lations of the parties that were involved
init?
Had the conclusion been thus arrived
at, that the rebel States are actually
selMegraded to the rank of mere terri
tchries, (the honesttruth, in Any judgment)
what , a world of trouble it 'Would have
saved us in resolving specifically what
,to do with them. It is• fashionable, I
know, to 'talk of wishing to get them
_back intd Federal-fellowship as speedily
as possible ; as if this were called for by
the people, which Ido not believe. At
any rate, I am not in the fashion : I pre
fer delay, as both safer and pleasanter.
Yes, sir, and .1 would like to see put upon
them for a season the wholesome harness '
of a territorial organization, to serve as a
harness of discipline, till they shall learn
anew the proper style and manners of
State rank. It is bad enough to have
been betrayed once; let us not be in
haste for a repetition.
Unfortunately, (for so it strikes me)
Congress, waiving all preliminary ques
tions, have One directly forward to the
gOal of ultimate redonstruction ; balking
sadly, however, in the approach, as we
have seen.
Two things press heavily on their at
tention: one, the impenitent disaffection
of the South, which the President's
"whitewash" refuses to conceal ; the
other, the • precarious condition of the
Freedmen. If the rights of the Freed
men can, be thoroughly secured, there
will be a loyal majority everywhere, and
possibly a sufficient counterpoise against
the virulent disloyalty of most of the
whites, till time shall tame them into
better, principles. As well on this ac
count as from obvious duty to the colored
people, the effectual guardianship of these
colored people is, perhaps, the grand de
sideratum. To adjust the form of such
a guardianship is, therefore, the main
scope of the various plans of reconstruc
tion that have beedbiought forward.
• Now, sir, I am but a private citizen,
and my,opinion is of no public import
ance; yet, with all deference to the
many wise, able, and good men in the
National Legislature, I shall use the re
publican liberty of saying what I think.
And first, I think the law-projects of
reconstruction now before Congress are
too many of them in the form of Consti
tutional amendments. I agree with Mr.
Sumner, that no such amendment is
needful to the purpose in hand, though
perhaps desirable.
In the next place, so far as those pro
jects bear ostensibly upon the franchise
of elections, I regard them as both im
politic and wrong. We cannot hope to
meddle successfully with that great
branch of State-rights sovereignty; and
every indication of a desire to do so, will
only-weaken our cause with the people.
Thirdly, I regard the projects in ques
tion as unnecessarily prolix and verbose,
With a too formal scaffolding of " where
as" recitals. There is, of course, a great
difference among them in this respect;
but none of them has seemed to me as
terse and simple as could be wished.
Let us go straight to the mark, and -let
our measures stand or fall by their, awn
merits,;, without a profusion of verbal
apologies in their very structure, calcu
lated rather to excite suspicion that to
obviate objections.
A good deal has been said about Sen
ator Stewart's scheme in particular, and
in favor of it. Among other things; I
believe he vonches* for the President's
concurrence ; an argument Ido not feel
the force of at all. Like the too great
literary volume of the scheme itself, it is
rather a circumstance of distrust, consid
ering what has lately happened. No,
sir, I do - not like the thing. I would
not have Congress stoop to a conven
tion with rebels, though the President
desire it. Mr. Stewart's scheme is vir
tually such a convention ;- it virtually
says to the disloyal States, " if you will
make the blacks equal to the whites, we
will do as much for yob, by making you
equal with ourselves, and uncondition
ally so.'i The measure would be rather
a treaty than a law. This is one 'objec
tion., And the terms of the proposed
treaty is another. I want conditions;
or at least ,this one condition, that in all
questions of , idlegiance in time to come,
Federal allegiancebe held paramount.
If a qualification of this nature were ad
ded to the test oath, it might suffice ;'
though it would be safer in the Cciristi
tution ; for the copperheads, should they
come again into power, would, of course,
repeal the test oath. .
As regards the Freedmen, we have
law enough already—fundamental law.
And first, the Constitutional provision
for, republican forms of government in
all the States of the Union. What this
provision requires, is and can be no
secret. We know, from the etymological
meaning of the word republic, and from
the long continued historical application
of it that it means a goVernment for:the
equal benefit of a whole community with
out distinction of classes ; and we know,
from the origin and progress of our own
republican institutions, that in our mod
ern conception of this style of polity, it
must be administered by the people for
whose benefit it is intended, through re
presentative agents of their common
choice, and not simply , of the choice of a
preferred class or classes among them.
Such is our grand axiom of political lib
erty and-manhood. For a time, by an
unwilling and deplorable compromise,
there was an exception to the rule, in
our practice ; but it exists - no longer;
and henceforward let Us be consistent,
as well as just. -
Now, sir, I should like to see a con
current resolution of Congress, declaring
their understanding of the Constitution
in this all-important point. would
have it in the fewest possible words ;
and 1 would let the. South know . at once,
that they will be expected so to model
their local •politics as to conform to it,
honestly, by way of necessary prepara
tion for their return to Union privileges.
This would content me. It covers the
whole ground. The colored people would
be then in full possession of this self
government principle, and that would
afford protection to their civil rights—
the only adequate protection. It is the
proper office of political rights to take
care of those that are civil.
There is another part of the Constitu
tion under which the same end might
be very fairly reached. I mean the late
amendment, which in effect, if not in
terms, (for I do not remember the
language) raises the freedmen unreserv
edly to citizenship. They were citizens
in fact before. Chancellor Kent's defi
nition of the word is, free inhabitants,
born within the United States, or natu
ralized under the laws of Congress."
(2 Comm., 258.) They were citizens,
then, by the two attributes of American
birth and freedom. Of which latter
quality the new amendment is record
evidence.
By-the-by, is it not curious that one
of President Johnson's objections to the
" Civil Rights" bill was, that it declares
the freedmen citizens? He had himself
compelled the Southern Legislatures to
adopt the amendment securing their
citizenship ; but when Congress Offered
him a statute to make the security
practical, he was greatly shocked I
Citizenship, sir, is a result of jural re
lationship to the Constitution and Gov
ernment ofthe country. And there are
three ways of acquiring it: by birth, by
naturaliiation, and by - territorial acces
sion. I know of none besides.
Which again reminds me of the Presi
dent, and of his feeling of unhappiness
lest the citizen-making rights of the
States should be interfered with. The
States! and pray, how do they make
citizens? Not surely by annexing
foreign territories to the national do
main, and not by naturalization. How
then ? By having citizens born to them
Alas, citizenship by birth is also na
tional, and not local ; for go where
he will throughout the land, the birth
right citizen is at home everywhere—
no State can claim him in special pro
perty ; none can refuse to receive him.
I hope Mr. Johnson will be comforted
by these considerations.
At any rate, the freedmen are citizens,
and such in absolute phrase. For words
of popular endowment are always to be
taken largely, liberally. It is ,a -law
principal. The ancient Greeks• , . had
several grades of citizenship; only- one
of which embraced the privilege.
There are two or three in England, with
alike discrimination as to popular suf
frage. Even in England, citizenship,
without words of qualification, means al
ways the highest degree of general politi
cal endowment.. And that it means no
less in this country, may lie affirmed for
the additional and unanswerable reason,
that here, Ar citizens are all of a class,
with no acknowledged "difference of legal
grades among them. ,
Well, sir, what follows?, Not that
all, citizens may vote at our elections,
for we have testa of fair and well
grounded discrimination by whiCh to
determine who are fit for the electoral
trust. No, sir, but it follows that every
citizen is entitled to , vote, whose charac
ter find circumstances' will bear the ap
idication, of those tests of electoral fit
ness and competency.
Now the freedmen are citizens, abso
lutely such, and the• white "men of the
Smith are nothing more. The franchise
ought therefore to be dealt out to both
races by a common rale, and Congress
have an unquestionable right to say it
must be so.
Still, I think it wont(' be better for
them to act under the other clause, the
republican polity clause'of the Consti
tution. A measure of respect is due to
popular prejudices, and the less we seem
to bear upon the franchise of election,
the less reaction will oppose our pro
gress.
Upon the whole, my ; essentials of re
construction are .but two
1. A provision (by Constitutional
amendment, if possible), making Federal
'allegiance paramount; and .
2. A declarative announcement' that
the State Governments of the South
must in future be of and for the whole
people, without distinction of classes,
and administered by agents popularly
chosen as their representatives,
The test-oath of uninterrupted loyalty
should of course be perpetuated_ as re
gards all Federal offices of mucl import
ance. Once a rebel, always a rebel, in
my estimate of character. I can forgive
treason, but I caa never venture into
political fraternity with traitors.
I am, dear sir, etc.,
H. W. WARNER.
AN EXAMPLE;
DEAR. BROTHER MEARS :—There is in
Northern Illinois a Minister of Jesus
whose 'manner' of life and labor may be
made quite instructive. Be it premised
that he has, already passed by three
years the allotted three score and ten of
human life, that he has no regular charge,
and that what be does is done volun
tarily and freely.
The record of a part of one, of his
recent missionary excursions was as
follows :—Leaving home at daylight on
Friday morning he traveled about forty
miles by railroad; then: he walked in
the coarse of the day twelve miles,
visiting five families. On Saturday he
walked seven miles, and visited seven
families. On Sunday he rode on horse
back four miles, walked three miles,
visited . three families, and preached
twice. And this was done in extreme
cold weather in the last of March. Does
not such a story rebuke the laziness
and luxury of many younger men in the
ministry and the Church ? .E. Y.
PUTTING OFF REPENTENCE.
A hermit (so runs the fable) was con
ducted by an angel into,a wood, where he
saw an old man cutting down boughs to
make up a burden. When it was large, he
tied it up, and attempted to lift it on his
shoulders and carry it away; but finding it
very heavy, he laid it down again, cut more
wood and heaped it on, and then tried
again to carry it off. This he repeated
several times, always adding something to
the load, after trying in vain to raise it
from the ground. In the meantime, the
hermit, astonished at the old man's folly,
desired the angel to explain what this
meant. " You behold,", said he, "in the
foolish old man, an exact representation of
those who, being made sensible of the bur
den of their sins, resolve' to repent, but
soon grow weary, and instead of lessening
their burden, increase it every day. At
each trial they find the task heavier than
before, and so put it off a little longer, in
vain hoping that they will by-and-by be
more able to accomplish it. Thus they go
on adding to their load, till it grows too
heavy to be borne; and,then, in despair of
God's mercy, and with their sins unrepent
ed of, they, lie down and die. Turn again,
my son, and behold the end of the old man
whom thou rawest heaping up a load. of
boughs." The hermit looked, and saw
him in vain attempting to remove the pile,
which was now accumulated far beyond his
strength to raise. His feeble limbs tot
tered; the poor remains of his strength
were fast ebbing away. After a convulsive
attempt to lift the pile, he fell down and
expired.
BEAUTIFUL was the reply of a venerable
Inan to the question, whether he was still
in the land of the living :—“No, but I am
almost there."