SPIRIT OF THE PRESS.
JDITOBIAL OITKIOffS OF TBI LBADIHO JOURNALS
pros OTRB1STT TOPICP OOMPILKD ITEBT
DAT FOB THE IVKNIWO TKLEOBAPH.
An
Kp"t "RevuUlon of Feeling"
A goaltitrn Blunder.
lYom the Timet.
Mr. llenschel V. Johnson, in his recent con
versation with onr speoial oorrespondent.Jgave
utterance to a sentiment which wideljr pre
vails in gome parts of the South. "Oar only
liope," he said, "is in a reaction at the North.'
IVith this as their reliance, a party in Georgia
are prepared to vote against the projeoted
Convention, with the purpose of defeating the
Congressional scheme of reconstruction. A
ret more considerable party in Beveral of the
States are acting on the ad nee of Mr. Hill and
abstaining from registration. They will not
recognize the law V voluntary compliance
with any of its provisions, 'ihey, too, place
their trust in 'a reaction at the North."
15oth Mr. Herschel Johnson and Mr. Hill pro
ceed on the hypothesis that the great object
to be Just now attained is the frustration of
the plan of Congress. Beyond that, their phi
losophy and prophecies are at fault. All else
centres in a vague hope of help from the
Korth. Why that help should be rendered,
except with the view of enabling the South to
dictate the terms of reconstruction, neither the
Georgia Johnson nor Mr. Ilill has attempted
to explain.
Similar opinions are zealously cultivated in
8outh Carolina under the leadership of the
Charleston Mercury. For some time after its
reappearance, the Mercury displayed a whole
some moderation. It seemed inclined to accept
the situation with all its realities, and to favor
getting back into the Union in any way which
the North might indioate. Gradually, how
ever, the ante-war spirit has developed itself,
and now the Mercury declaims as furiously
against the authority and measures of Con
gress as though both were subject to the will
cf the Southern people. The Mercury, too, is
preparing its readers for "a revulsion of feel
ing" at the North ; arguing that sooner or
later it must oome, and that the present duty
of the South is to stave olf reconstruction
until the "revulsion" actually occur. The
argument in support of this conclusion is, that
the continued supremacy of the Republican
party is contingent on the acquisition of the
votes of the Southern States. Prevent this
the Mrcury contends and the Republican
party will be defeated ; then all will be right.
Jlere is the statement of the case, as it is seen
ly this opponent of the law :
'Kentucky, as was expected, will send a
Democratic delegation to CoiiRress. and an in
crease of six thousand conservative votes In
each of the States of New York and Pennsylva
nia, at the coming elections, would throw their
delegation and their ntiy-ulne electoral votes
agalust the radical party. This is the reason
why the radicals exult over the victory that
Urownlow and his militia gained for them in
Tennessee. They have acknowledged that they
expect to lose the Middle States, and they say
frankly that their continued power can only be
secured by the solid Totes or the Eastern States,
with those of one or more of the Northwestern
Btates, added to tbesolid radical vote of the ten
Southern States. They admit that they will be
defeated unless theSouUit-rn States be ad milted
to Congress with radical delegations which will
Support, through thick and thin, the measures
of the radical party. If the Houinern Slates are
not readmitted, or if they are not readmitted
With radical representatives, the sun of the
radical revolutionists has set forever. In every
Bontbern State but two the whites cau insure
that the call lor a convention, or the ratifica
tion of the amended Constitution, shall be de
feated, and il they do this the South is saved."
' The assumption with which the Mercury
starts that the Republican party is losing
ground in the States it now controls is gra
tuitous. An accession of strength from the
South would, of course, add to the perma
nence of its sway. But on its present baai3,
with the strength it possesses, and the assu
rance of renewed success which it enjoys, the
continuance of its rule over a period suffi
ciently long to complete the work of recon
struction does not admit of reasonable doubt.
Truly stated, then, the case amounts to this:
The defeat of reconstruction now by the South
will not deprive the party in power of the
opportunity of carrying out reconstruction on
the basis laid down by Congress. Delay may
lead to new and more harsh conditions. For
these, however, the Congressional majority
Lave time. On some ground, therefore, and
on conditions certainly not less stringent than
those of the present law, the South will be
reconstructed under Republican direction,
whether the Conventions be voted down or
not. Delay may occur, entailing injury upon
the country, especially on the South. But
the final result will be as far as possible re
moved from that which the Charleston journal
predicts for the encouragement of its malcon
tent friends.
Another fallacy which all these opponents
of the law cherish is, that they may, without
further inconvenience, frustrate the operations
now in progress. Mr. Herschel Johnson and
the Charleston Met cury alike err in this re
spect. Both suppose that by defeating the
law as it stands, trouble will be brought to an
end; the North will rush to the rescue, and
the South will be "saved" by which proba
bly is meant "saved" from the measures of
justice and safety which Congress seeks to
establish. The idea does not occur to either
that perhaps the North will speak in another
tone, and will demand the stern punishment
of men whose rebellious aspirations have
thriven under a policy of comparative modera
tion. On the contrary, the Mercury allirms
that the growth of friendly feeling at the
Korth is evidence of the repudiation of the
principles on which Congress has legislated.
"The loading radical members of Congress,"
It declares, "have given up for the present"
cherished notions of vengeance confiscation
among the number.
"The publio press of the North Is far more
moderate in lu tone than it has ever been
l)6fore. It deprecates harsh or severe measures,
It advocates a restoration of the Union, and it
Shows plainly enougu that, although it Is not
yet ready to break with the radical party.it
does feel that the continuance or radical do
minion is the continuance of discord and dis
union, the encouragement of revolution, aud
the continued decline of political power and
commercial prosperity."
These alleeationa furnish pretexts for the
assertion that "a revulsion of feeling" in favor
of the demands of the unreconstructed South
Vna already bet:un. But there could be no
more palpable mistake. "The leading radi
cal members" have been overborne by more
ungrate Republicans, because the feeling
inant in the party is adverse to greater
severity than is essential to the completion of
thoroueu reconstruction, .uei ue geuiiijr
,,,Watnod. however, that other and severer
nltia are necessrry to perfect the work
ir,A avtiniruish Rebel resistance, and these
penalties will be promptly enacted and sternly
enforced. If confiscation of the estates of Rebel
landowners be found necessary, confiscation
Ln i,a carried. It has been resisted thus far
Ti l.i.m.naa it has not appeared indispensa
1 le The same spirit which led Congress to
L" ,.! verv mild Constitutional
b the listing laws, will com
Jet adoption of more radical schemes, so
THE DAILY" EVENING TELEGRAPH PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY,
soon as the failure of the present law shall be
come apparent.
The more frlondly tone of the Northern
press admits of a similar interpretation. That
which the Charleston Mercury hails as a proof
of change, the result of fear, is the effeot or a
belief that, despite all opposition, the loyal
elements in the South, bfack and white com
bined, will prove strong enough to insure
compliance with the law. This belief is pre
dicated on observations and reports akin to
those of Senator Wilson, touching the rapid
growth at the South of a disposition to abide
by the law in good faith. We hazard nothing
in saying that if this belief thus fostered be
not verilied if the anticipations of reconstruc
tion which have grown up within the last few
months be not fulfilled "the publio press of
the North" will, under the twin impulses of
duty and self-interest, quickly dispel the de
lusions cherished by those who imagine that
they may defy Congress and its laws with im
punity. We do not accept Mr. Herschel Johnson as
more than the exponent of a certain class of
Georgia politicians not of the Southern
people; nor do we regard the Charleston
AJtrcury as a representative organ of Southern
newspaperdoin. Both are noticeable only as
indexes of particular dimcultiea to be en
countered at the South, as well before as after
reconstruction. They are reasons lor making
the work thorough, rather than for despairing
of its success.
"We, the People."
i'V ofn the Washington Chronicle.
When a distinguished member of the Con
vention which framed the Constitution of the
United States was congratulated upon the
prospect of happiness and prosperity appa
rently secured by it, he replied, "That de
pends upon the construction that may be put
upon the Constitution." The sentiment in
favor of a National Government was by no
means unanimous. There were local reasons
of State power and policy, and jealousies of
State politicians, as well as fears of the novelty
of this new Government, of great but untried
powers, that arrayed against it a powerful
minority, many of whose members had been
leaders of the revolution for independence.
The necessities of the situation proved supe
rior to their arguments. The confederation
was powerless and contemptible at home and
abroad. State jurisprudence was very un
satisfactory, creditors complained that jus
tice was not secure; commerce languished; the
States refused to obey Congressional requi
sitions, and there was no power to enforce
them; civil war was imminent, and could
only be prevented by the organization of a
National Government. The Government of
the United States then was the offspring of
an exigency, the legitimate sequence of the
war of independence. The Declaration was a
charter of principles, the Constitution an at
tempt to organize government in accordance
with them. Abstract theories must take the
shape of law before they can become effective
in government, and the obstacles interposed by
vested interests frequently place governments
in an attitude of hostility to the accepted faith
of the nation they represent. This arises espe
cially from the habit inculcated aud perpetu
ated by monarchical and aristocratic govern
ments of regarding time-honored privilege as a
right, and sanctfying property over man. Free
dom and progress are in constant struggle to
break through the inorustrations of ages of
despotism to which men have become habitu
ated. It is much harder to secure intellectual
emancipation, to get men's minds out of the
old habits of thought, than to win victories
upon the battle-field. Hence the rarity of
revolutionary triumph and the tendency to
reaction. The war of independence had been
made successful by a united effort of the peo
ple of all the colonies; their unity had been
cemented by a common danger. When the
danger was passed, the "spirit of America,"
as it was called, subsided, and local jealousies
interrupted the harmony and threatened the
existence of the Union. The Convention wa3
therefore a necessity the Constitution was its
consequence; and that was made to conform as
nearly to the principles of the revolution as
State rivalry and other obstacles would
permit.
Great objection was made by the opponents
of the National Government to the sentence
with which the preamble begins, " We, the
people." It was the object of constant attack,
and it is, therefore, well to keep in mind the
importance of that sentence in establishing the
character of our Government. If we look at
the debates of the Virginia Convention, we
will find that nearly all of the distinguished
men in that body earnestly participated in the
discussion regarding the term "we, the peotile
and their deliberations enable us to come to a
just conclusion as to the construction put upon
it. Patrick Henry, a leader of the revolution,
and the most effective orator of his day, having
become imbued with the idea that extent of
territory was dangerous to liberty, that liberty
could only be secure in small commonwealths,
vehemently opposed the adoption of the Con
stitution, vi ttis mtie clause, "we, the peo
ple," he said, "What right had they to
say, we, the people? My political curiosity,
exclusive of my anxious solicitude for the
public welfare, leads me to ask who autho
rized them to speak the language of we, the
people, instead of we, the States f States are
the characteristics and soul of a confedera
tion. If the States be not the agents of this
compact, it must be one great consolidated
national Government or the people 01 au tne
States." This was as strong a method of
presenting the obnoxious feature of the
Constitution as this great orator ana advo
cate of State sovereignty could devise, 10
minds constituted like his own, to men of
similar faith, it was startling and conclu
sive. But how was it received by the
friends of the Government? Did they
shrink away from the issue, alarmed at the
prospect of creating a grand consolidated
nationality f No. Governor Randolph re
plied: "The gentleman then proceed, and
inquires why we assumed the language, 'we,
the people.1 1 ask, why not r ine govern
ment is for the people; aud the misfortune was
that the people had no aeency in ine uovern-
ment before. What harm is there in
consulting the people on the construction of a
uovernnif-nt by which they are to be Douna r
Is It unfair? Is it unjust? If the Govern
ment is to be binding on the people, are not
the people the proper persons to examine its
merits or defeots?"
Assailed again by Mr. George Mason, who
denounced it as creating a national Govern
ment, Mr. Pendleton followed in its defense,
especially against Mr. Henry's assault. He
said: "Who but the people have a right to
form government ? The expression is a com
mon one, and a favorite one with me; the
representatives of the people, by their autho
rity, is a mode wholly inessential. If the ob
jection be that the Union ought to be not of
the PoPle. tot of the State Governments,
then I think the choice of the former very
happy and proper. What have the State
Governments to do with it? Were they to
determine, the people would not in that case
be the Judges upon what terms it was
adopted." .
Here we find the startling force of Henry's
ncurecrow of "consolidated nationality" met
by a defiant query as to what the States had
to do with it. The 'people had the right to
make a Government if they wished to, and
the States, whioh were the creatures of the
people, not their makers nor masters, had no
right to intervene. If the sovereignty which
was vested in the people gave them power to
make State Governments, it also gave them
power to make a National Government, and
Mr. Tendleton, who thought that the confede
ration was "no government at all," said of
the Constitution: "Suppose the paper on
your table dropped from one of the
planets, the people found it, and sent us
here to consider whether it was proper for
their adoption, must we not obey them ?
Then the question must be between this
Government and the confederation." Here
was an unequivocal adoption of popular sov
ereignty against State sovereignty, such as
must have shocked the nerves of the Confede
rationists very much indeed; but was followed
up by the declaration of Mr. Lee, of West
moreland, that the expression, "We, the peo
ple," was introduced into the Constitution
with great propriety. "This system," said he,
"is submitted to the people for their considera
tion, because on them it is to operate, if
adopted;" and after he had strengthened his
position by lengthened argument and illustra
tion, Mr. Henry renewed his attack by again
proclaiming the Government created a "con
Folidated Government." He evidently
thought the declaration of that simple truth
enough to warn his hearers away from it ;
but they were not all as much afraid of
consolidation as he was, and were quite
willing to accept it as the only escape from
growing and threatening evils. "The
question turns," said Henry, "on that poor
little thing the expression, We, the people,
instead of the States of America."
"Here is a revolution as radical as that which
separated us from Great Britain." The coun
try could hardly be frightened by the revolu
tionary agitator himself raising the cry of
revolution anew. Neither did the usual catch
penny epithet of "radical" answer his pur
pose. The Government was a necessity, and
all his assaults upon it were fruitless. It was
adopted by the people, whose Government it
is; and his delineations of its character and
powers may now be properly invoked by its
friends to carry out those measures necessary
to perfect its operations. The State sove
reignty party gained ground after the adop
tion of the Constitution, being helped thereto
by many adventitious circumstances. They
came into possession of the Government, and
so organized its dillVrent departments as to
emasculate it and make it powerless before the
btates.
As Alexander II. Stephens said they always
insisted upon a majority of the Supreme Court,
and having a majority of Congress, and nearly
all the Presidents; the interpretations put
upon the Constitution were made chains
wherewith to bind the arms of the nation.
They ran the Government down the inclined
plane of inimical construction for eighty years
into the pit of rebellion aud civil war, thus
proving that its beneficencedependedmaterially
upon the construction it should receive at the
hands of those who administered it.
This method having nearly ruined the
Government and the nation, it is time to
reverse the engine and run it upon the track
of true construction; that construction which
was given to it by its friends and not by its
enemies. It is quite sure it can no longer be
permitted to drift along dishonored as the
creature of sovereign States. Its permanency
can only be secured by its legitimate supremacy
over the States, and to enable it to exercise
the powers conferred upon it by the Constitu
tion, a law must be passed to enforce the
guarantee clause thereof.
The President aud Ills Cabinet-What
Does the Kinergemcy Kiulrel
From the Herald.
Mr. Stanton in retiring takes care to make
up his case, evidently with a view to the
future action of Congress. He seems, indeed,
to have bad the double purpose to fix his own
position and at the same time the position of
General Grant; trying, of course, in the latter
to hold the General responsible in some part
for what he esteems a violation of his rights,
and this even while exchanging with the
straightforward soldier expressions, hollow
enough on his part, of admiration and respect.
This will recall characteristic conduct of a like
nature memorable in the earlier history of
Mr. Stanton's official life. He is careful not
to assent to any step in the President's course;
to protest that it is all wrong, and that he
does not yield of his free will, but only retires
because assured that General Grant has
accepted the appointment to his position, and
that this implies "superior force." Doubtless
all will agree that the retiring Secretary should
save his wounded dignity and cover ignomini
ous dismissal from a high position with this
poor plea. As to ultimate right, we suspect
that here, as in many other great cases, the
act will be judged in relation to its results; in
other words, if the President carries hid move
ment so far as to commend it to the people
to make it a popular success it will be right;
while otherwise, if he halts and fails, he will
be held as having been desperately in the
wrong. His fate before the nation is now in
his own hands, and the result of the steps
already taken will depend upon what is in the
future.
If Mr. Johnson stops with the mere removal
of Mr. Stanton, he will have taken no advan
tageous step. He may get secretaries quite
as. efficient and quite as acceptable to the
country; but that is not enough. Mr. Stanton
had a definite position in this case, as repre
senting the policy of the nation, and with this
has also done so well in the proper discharge
of his duties as to call from a man of such un
questionable candor as General Grant an ex
pression of appreciation for his "zeal, patriot
ism, firmness, and ability." Mr. Johnson
must therefore make the case so clear that it
cannot possibly be supposed that he acts
against Stanton merely, whose position is re
spectable as an efficient official and upholder
of the national polioy of reconstruction in
its broader sense. The President must show
that his action does not intend a mere re
opening of his former issues with Con
gress, and that this present action is not to
be classed and confounded with such former
obstructive steps aa the nullification of the
Reconstruction law by Stanbery's opinion. He
must render it impossible that this step shall
be classified in that category of obstructive
acts which irritated the country and gave all
its power aeainst him to Congress and made
the clamor of impeachment what it was. He
will have only reawakened that dormant spirit
if he does not now show distinctly that he
moves to counteract, to control, to checkmate,
if possible, that particular tendency of the
Republican party which threatens to throw
the destinioB of the country into the hands
of the nigger; to give a dominant voice in
the councils of the nation to those newly
made voters that have just come out of a
barbarous coudition, and in their ignorance
are the toola of the dangerous extremists, the
theorists 8nd demagogues who stand as their
peculiar friends in virtue of the extravagant
promises made promises that can only be
fulfilled at the expense of the rights of the
white man.
As a blow against the negro policy a blow
in behalf of the rights of white voters North
and South the removal of Stantou is signifi
cant; for he was, during the war, the great
leador of the negro clamor the man who
rpent an undue amount of national money
in putting into the national uniform some
thousands of niggers'who never fired a shot,
and who were only intended to be used as
capital for future nigger legislation, to pave
the way to this very supremacy of nigger
voters. He was, therefore, a good man to
begin with; but the President must not stop
with him. He must go through the entire
Cabinet oust Seward, Welles, Randall, and,
more than all, Stanlery, the man who is, per
haps, more likely than any other to compro
mise the President before the nation; the man
whose interpretations of laws and whose decla
ration in the Supreme Court of Democratic
pympathies make him a political millstone.
All these must be driven out; and the Presi
dent must then reorganize his Cabinet with
wen whose very names will convince the
country of the honesty of his purpsse will
f-how that he is fighting the dangerous ten
dencies of a faction, not opposing the will of
the people. He must reorganize with men
vfhose history, and, more especially, recent
t areer, show them to be in sympathy with
the great national movement; who were in for
the war, heart and soul; who cannot be sus
pected of any disposition to betray the great
principles for which the people fought; but
who have the wisdom and the courage to
oppose a firm front against that evil and
dangerous policy of extreme Republicans that
can only end in giving the political balanoe of
the nation into the hands of half a million
negro voters. This is the issue. If the
President meets the necessity boldly, he will
have the sympathy and support of the nation;
if he goes half way, and stops, he will only
have made matters worse.
The Proscription of Republican Voters
From the Tribune.
Nobody has ever thought it amiable to
snatch bread from the starving, or polite to
pull his bed from under a dying man; but, it
seems to us, akin to these attentions is the
attempt to bully a freedman out of his vote.
There was a little too much of this for patience
in the late Tennessee election. We can pass
over the passion of that retired marine war
rior, Admiral Semmes, for the right of an old
I salt to swear is as prescriptive a3 his right to
chew tobacco; and we cannot be sufficiently
thankful that he did not burst a vessel on
election day, but survived the aggravation with
his arteries in their usual order. We can also
pass over the mournful wails of the Avalanche
newspaper, which hints at going to war again,
if not day alter to-morrow, at least in the
course of a month or two. It is quite another
matter when we find the Clarksville Chronicle
advising citizens to withhold work from all
colored men who voted for Brownlow not
immediately, mark you ! but whenever labor
ers can be lound to take their places.
Now, threatening to discharge a man from
employment unless he votes with his em
ployer, is the most shameful sort of bribery
conceivable, and the wretch who succumbs to
such inlluences might just as well be a slave
as a so-called freedman. His freedom is merely
nominal. The best part of him belongs to the
political trader who buys him at the poor price
of permitting him to earn a living by the
sweat of his brow. Whether an employer
thinks negro suffrage expedient or otherwise
does not in the slightest degree affect the
moral question. There are those who do not
understand the use cf money, aud when they
get it, unwisely squander it; but does this give
anybody a right to pick their pockets ? Shy
lock justly said that those who took the means
whereby he lived, really took his life; and to
abandon a man to pauperism and starvation
simply for exercising a plain legal right, is no
better than knocking him on the head. Then,
again, what difference does it make whether
the biibery of a voter is effected by a sum in
hand or by prospective wages ? by cajolery or
by threats I by thrusting a spurious ballot
into his fist, or by promising to starve him
into political orthodoxy ?
In every country in which anything like
general suffrage prevails, this purchasing of
votes, while it may not seldom be resorted to,
is held to be disreputable. In England,
bribery proved unseats a member of Parlia
ment. In most of the respectable States of
this Union there are laws guarding the
liberty of the voter to vote as he pleases; and
these measures are taken to protect men
who do not and cannot need the protection
which is absolutely vital to the freedman.
Now, intimidation, for many reasons, is vastly
worse than a plump purchase. The fellow
who sells himself out-and-out is probably lost
to all feeling of the unspeakable degradation
of his position, and no doubt would dispose of
his grandmother's body to the anatomist. Of
course, he who can only be secured by
threatening to deprive him of bread for him
self and his wile and children, is better
worth saving from a shameful oppression
and an insidious temptation. The fact
that he must be reached by such means
presupposes a certain degree of honora
ble feeling on his part, and the very
desire for work is in itself praiseworthy. Play
ing, therefore, upon domestic love, taking ad
vantage of pressing necessities, availing him
self of an accidental superiority, the employer
who bullies a dependant out of his most sacred
privilege, and wheedles him into becoming a
mere tool, is guilty of a moral larceny, and as
souls are of more importance than bodies, per
haps he may be declared guilty of a moral
murder. It is extortion, and extortion under
aggravating ciroumstances. It is merely an
attempt to starve a voter's opinions and pre
ferences out of him. It is worse than bread
and water, with the grave instead of a
dungeon.
But we do not mean to insult the intellects
of our readers by arguing this matter. We
can better employ the space at our disposal in
warning the people of Tennessee. If bribery
be once established as a system, they may bid
a long good night to the prosperity and re
spectability of the State. Those who buy or
bully blacks will soon be buying or bully
ing whites; and the inevitable consequences
of this will be the domination of dollars, and
the gradual transfer not only of poor people,
but of mechanics, laborers, aud shopkeepers of
small means, to the hands of those who are
able to pay for them. The white working man
who rejoices over the attempted degradation
of the black workman will find that petty
tyrants are no respecters of color. His turn
will come next. The want of daily bread has
nothing to do with the tint of the cuticle.
Man, of whatever race, eats or digests, or
else dieB. We predict that, if the intimidation
of the blacks is successfully kept up, in a few
years the advocates of confiscation will obtain
a power the friends of the South will find it
difficult to resist.
AUGUST 15, 1807.
OldMye
THE
FINE
LA 11 G EST
OLD
IN THE LAND IS
HENRY S. IIANNIS & CO.,
Nob. 218 and 220 SOUTH FBOTST STREET,
WHO OFFER THE SAME TO THE TRADE IN I.OTS OK VERT ADVANTAGEOUS
TEB9IS,
Their Stock of Bye Whiskies, IN BOND, comprises all the favorlta braao's
slant, and runs tlnough the various months of 186S,'06, and of this wear, an tl
)i nt date. v
Literal rontrarts mtdi for lots to arrive at Pennsylvania Railroad Deoot
ferrlsson Line Vtharl.or at Uonriert Warehouses, as parties may elect. '
Nat. Turner's Massacre.
lom the Richmond Dispatch.
We regret to see that, in the Association of
the Shiloh district of colored Baptists, held in
Manchester a few days since, the horrid maa-
acre set on foot by Nat. Turner in Southamp
ton in 1630 was alluded to with the appearance
of much e'clat and parade. The delegates from
'hat county were referred to as coming from
i he county "where Nat. Turner struck the
first blow for freedom," and they were marched
forward, and there was much shaking of hands
find general felicitation upon the occasion.
Now this was all very bad, and very much out
of place. Nat. Turner's massacre was the
most barbarous and brutal of all the human
butcheries of this century. Studying the moon
more than ho did the Hible, and the fantastical
shapes in the clouds more than the principles
and sentiments of justice and humanity, the
poor monomaniac Turner set on foot the bloody
and savage massacre, in which men, and wo
men, and innocent girls, and even helpless
babes, were slaughtered by his insensate fol
lowers. It was a horror of horrors, a brutal
and frenzied shedding of human blood, such
as has never been exceeded in its unprovoked
and brutal character.
It was a bad-hearted act in the Moderator,
Williams, (colored) to call up suoh a horrid
reminiscence as worthy of special commends
tion. We suppose that a lew persons of the
colored congregation present were aware of the
true nature of the Southampton feast of blood.
That very year the people of Virginia were
strongly inclined to the abolition of slavery.
Mr. Jefferson had exerted a powerful influence
on the public mind by his views against the
practical benefits of slavery, and his serious
apprehensions as to the injury it would inflict
upon his State. The Convention of 1829-30
came near adopting a measure for the prospec
tive abolition of slavery; and but for the effi
ciousnesa of Messrs. Arthur Tappan, Ins
brother, and Garrison, and others, it was then
believed such a measure would have passed
the Convention. The horrors of Southampton
reversed the tide of sentiment in the Legisla
ture which succeeded the Convention, and
abolition was postponed indefinitely. " First
blow for freedom," indeedl It was the dead
liest blow to kind feeling for the blacks and to
the growing sentiment in favor of abolition
which could have been inflicted. It was an
event horrible to all men, civilized and savage,
and which should not be revived by any one
save for deprecation and regret.
The Rev. Mr. Williams would much better
subserve the cause of Christianity would
much better advance the interests of the
colored people and inculcate the kind and
conciliatory feeling which is indispensable to
peaceful and prosperous relations between the
blacks and the whites if he would refrain
from reviving such bloody and revolting, re
collections, lint to revive them only to en
dorse them is an act of hostility. It can re
ceive no other interpretation. The Rev. Mr.
Colver, of Massachusetts, who is reported to
be a kind-hearted and philanthropic man, was
present, and would have done himself credit
and subserved the cause of justice by except
ing to the use made of that horror of horrors
the Southampton massacre.
The bad teachers of the blacks of Virginia,
who find it to their interest to separate them
from the great body of the people for party
purposes, are weaving in with their'orations
such reminiscences as may accomplish their
objects; all of which tend to foment bad feeling
and suggest distrust in the minds of the freed
men of the people amongst whom they live,
and upon whom they must depend for employ
ment the people with whose welfare theirs is
clearly identified.
Hut these things will pass away. The blacks
will find ont the shallow-heartedness of the
unscrupulous and selfish persons who are
widening the breach between them and those
whose prosperity is theirs, and whose peace
aloHe can give them repose; and they will
curse the day when they listened to the cun
ning and heartless stories of the hypocrites
now misleading them.
The President and his Cabinet.
From the World.
The statement that President Johnson
will
appoint " a New England ex-Governor,"
meaning Governor Andrew, & Mr. Stanton's
successor, is probably one of those unfounded
rumors to which conjecture gives wings when
ever publio curiosity is excited to a high
pitch. It is against all reasonable probability
that Governor Andew would accept this ap
pointment, if it should be tendered him. He
is a radical, warm in his approval of Congress,
and being a man of talents aud ambition, he
would not break with his party to aid the Pre
sident. Nor would the President regain any
influence by such an attempt to conciliate the
radicals. Nothing so completely prostrates a
BtateBman in publio estimation as to play fast
and loose either with political parties or pub
lio questions. The removal of Stanton is a
defiant declaration of hostility to the Repub
licans, and the President cannot now afford to
court them by inviting into his Cabinet men
who are known to disapprove of his policy.
We have no great confidence that President
Johnson will manage this, or any similar
matter, with wisdom and skill qualities of
which ho has shown bo little heretofore. We
can see how, at the outset, he might have ap
pointed a strong radical Cabinet, and have
gained by it. When he found that Congress
inclined to be less liberal to the South than
himself, two courses were open to him,
either of which would have been more favor
able to the success of his policy than the one
he adopted, which was the wornt possible. He
might Lave formed a strong Democratic Cabi
net, and have precipitated his quarrel with
Congress before they had time to bring the
publio opinion of their party up to their mark;
or he might have appointed a radical Cabinet,
who would have given him efficient aid in
managing Congress. With amazing want of
tact, he has pursued a system whi"h combined
the evils of both these methods and seoured
the advantages of neither. Ha has inflamed
Wliislcies.
AND BEST STOCK OF
RYE 7 H I G K I E 0
NOW POSSESSED BY
Congress Into as virulent exasperation 83 he
could have done by filling all the offices of the
country with Democrats, and he has secured
no body of attached and strenuous supporters
in either party. t
President Johnson has misconceived the
relative importance of argument and action la
the executive head of a great Government.
We are indebted to him for many sound and
admirable arguments against the polioy of the
radicals; but they have been of no more ad
vantage to us, nay, of loss, than would have
been the same arguments from a private citi
zen. There are hundreds of men in the coun
try who can reason as cogently as the Presi
dent; but he was the only man who, by vigor
tempered with wisdom, could have saved the
South from the oppression under which it
groans. We do not complain that Democrats
have not had the offices, although, by aid of
them, they could have turned the tide in criti
cal elections; but what we do complain of is
that the Presidency has sunk, in his hands,
into a nullity. Even by a method distasteful
to Democrats, the President could have
arrested a vast amount of evil. Ilia Cabinet,
from the first day until now, has been a clog.
It has been composed of men who would not
fight Congress, and could not manage it in the
interest of his policy; of men whom the Demo
crats disliked and the Republicans distrusted.
A President who thus wastes and neutralizes
his power, only makes matters worse by tha
inflammatory vigor of his language.
If, in the autumn of 1805, the President,
with a keen perception of the approaching
hostility of Congress, had dissolved his Cabi
net, he would have had no difficulty in filling
every place with a prominent radical. By this
means, he could have taken out of Congress
some of the talent which has been exerted
against him, and he could easily have pledged
the men, before he appointed them, to a policy
of moderation. He could at least have fixed
the Republican demands at the stage they had
then reached, and, by the moral weight he
would have acquired with the extremists,
have secured a smooth reception for his first
annual message. Besides the aid he might
have derived from such a Cabinet in moulding
the opinions of radical Congressmen, he could
have prevented the turning of the Republican
party against him by accusations of his having
deserted it. By thus keeping the confidence
of that party, he could have moderated, if not
entirely controlled, its aotion. Hejcould have
got it pledged to something rather milder than
it then demanded, instead of enabling Congress
to bring it up to the tyrannical enormities
which are now insisted on.
We, of course, could indioate a mode of
action with which the Democratic party would
have been better suited; but of three possible
schemes the President adopted the very worst.
As he decided on a Republican Cabinet and a
Republican administration, it was a great mis
take not to take such Republicans aa coull
exert an influence over Congress and keep
him the confidence of the party. By one course
which the President could have adopted, but
did not, he might have moderated Congress
ana prevented ine enormous extension of it3
demands. By another course which he oould
but did not adopt, he might have carried the
people against Congress. But, by a want of
skill to w hich it would be diffioult to find a
parallel, he has managed to have no effective
support either from Cabinet, Congress, or the
people. President Johnson presents the sur
prising spectacle of the head of a great Govern
ment almost as isolated and powerless as a pri-'
vate citizen. -
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