Democratic watchman. (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1855-1940, February 27, 1862, Image 2

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(CONTINUED FROM FIRST PAGE.) itself by so ‘e political compensation, or|they voted in the Crittenden rssolutions as | ious friends of the Union. Already we have of Whaitly, wherein he proves tbat bisek is
first to have General Buel! get the Tennessee | Some act of rev ~geful confiscation; when, | the object to which the war should be de- | seen that Fremont became the recruiting of white : 73 .
railroad ; that for this end he has given all
his energies to aid him and hasten him in this
purpose. All that Buell asked for--arms,
transportation, troops—have been furnished,
When General Buell took command, he found
his troops straggling and scattered. He had
to gather them, and concentrate and form
them fn disisions. Fe has had bad roads and
bad weather ; but I speak knowingly, when
1 declare to this Congress and A people
that no delay of General Baell's movements
is ' attributable to any orders from MeClel-
lan, On the contrary, he has ordered him
to hasten with all dispatch; not to lose a
day or an hour in the accomplishment of the
design to seize tho Tennessee railroad, to the
end that not only shall Eastern Tennessee
be opened to the army of the Union; not
only to give relief to the Union men of Ten
nessee, about whom my colleague makes so
injudicious a jeremiad but to the grand aim,
to cut off this rebel army of the Potomac,
not alone from the line of their supplies, but
from the line of their retreat!
In Kentucky we have more than one hun-
dred thousand soldiers, ready, eager, active
and trinmphant whenever they have had
any chance in a battle. McClellan’s orders
ave for the speediest movement there possi-
e.
My colleague fruises the recent victory of
our troops at Mill Spring. 1 share with him
as my constituents did with his, the pride
of that hard fought encounter; but 1 will
not shame my State, which called McClel-
lan to her service, by plucking the laurels
from his I'row, when their is not a soldier in
that battle who will not rejoice to see him
svear them, as well for his conduct in Wes-
tern Virginia, as for the strategy by which
even the Mill Spring battle was directed
though at a distance. It was, asl said, a
part of his design upon the Tennessee rail.
road ; and there is no impediment, but every
enco uragement from him, for General Buell
10 Jernand the movement to that desired
end.
In Eastern Kentucky, Humphrey Marshall
has proved that while his spirit was willing
his flesh was weak—(laughter)— before the
Ohio soldiers under Garfield. Zollicoffer
has been killed and his forces routed ; and
nothing bnt the impediments of nature pre
vent cur soldiers from lifting our ensign up
on thc mountains of Tennessee, North Car-
olina, and Alabama. Tn fear for the fate of
Memphis, B.auregard is hurried out to Col-
ut us, Kentucky, to svert the northern aval-
snche which impends there ; while Buell
with consummate skill, is drawing his fatal
lines around the Confederates, as the lines
have been drawn in Virginia.
But it is said that the Potowac is blocka-
ded. Soitis, butit is of no practicable
disadvantage. For all the purposes of sup.
ply. we arc in communication with every
part of the North. There are compensations
perhaps unknown to my colleague for this
seemi'g disadvantage, Would that he
would exercise his faith in some things ih-
scrutable to him.
But is there no credit to be given for the
retention of Maryland ; the rescue of the
Virginia castern shore ; the constant prep-
aration aud discipline of an army of one hun-
dred thousand men here? And all this
with the late Secretary of War dabbling in
slavery questions and traflickingin contracts.
Western Verginia we have held against
the hostity of the disloyal. Floyd has been
compelled to decamp ; and from the moun-
tans to the Ohio our right there is none to
dispute.
But, sir, although General McClellan has
had charge of all these matters, and is enti-
tled to share their merit, it was not my
purpose to paint a picture of our successes.
We have gained as yet no great bloody bate
tle commensurate with the armies in the
field. Indeed, sir, I would prefer that the
war should Le carried en and ended by
bloodless tactics rather than by bloody car
nage, if it were possible. T would leave as
little hate as possible as the 'egacy of, this
conflict. Ifit were possible to elose this
war by the melting away or capitulation of
the Confederate army, the country would
prefer it ; General McClellan is not making
this a var of vengeance, but a war for the
restoration of the Union!
To this end he has, by bis comprehensive
energy, seized the coast from Ship Island te
Fortress Monroe. There is no example in
history ofa sea coast so extensive, and a
country of such area, surrounded and closed
mn by such a superior force, as is the rebel-
lious part of our land.
As the curtain lifts and this procession of
facts transpire. we shall see the Union ele-
ment of the South dilating and emerging
from its despondency. We shall see the
loyal men coming forth and gladly séizing
the musket to rally to the old flag.
The great mistake on the part of these
military fledglings who criticise the conduct
of the war, is, that they habitually under
rate the extent and strength of the rebellion
just as they underrated and condemned the
alleged or fancied grievances of the South
and their hold on the southern mind. I ven-
ture to say that this is thecapital delinquen-
cy of the administration, if they have been
delinquent. Had they realized the fact
++ that a considerable body of insurgents had
risen against the sovereign.” which Vattel
alleges is the test of a civil war; with all
its appurtenances of a humao code of war.
fare, the exchange of prisoners, &c.. we
might have had less difficulty and more hon~
or in the conduct of this immense ordeal by
battle. Those who do not recognize the fact |
of the immensity of this rebellion will tind
at every step difficulties about belligerent
rights on sea and land, and inhumanities
which would sicken the heapt of a savage, —
We must leayp by experience, if not a
priori.
Even my colleague, with his Bull Run re.
treat, is yet in his nonage. He must resort
to the Baconian system of induction, and
by experience learn, and begin to learn by
being a *“ child in arms.” (Laughter.) In
surveying this grand field of action, from
this capital to Santa Fe, he makes the mis:
take vn the savan made when he sup-
d the moon annihilated, bacause sn an.
imalcule had crept over the dise, of hia tel-
escope and obscured the view. Let him
take another glass and clear his vision.
This presumtuous dictation to our generals
is onty a small illustration of what we see
here in a Jarger measure. when gentlemen
undertake to interpret the inscrutable de-
signe of Providence to snstgin their finite
views.
These political ** cuckaos, wha breedin the
neat of another trade,” these civiligns, who
go ou chirping about war as if they were
trained to it, when, mn truth they are only
trained in the political convention and the,
talk of Congressional Globes cannot appre- |
hend that this revolution, which is the work
of years and the movement of millions, is
anything more than a little derangement of
the political machine, which will regnlate !
in truth, it can hardly be corrected without
breaking the machine orat least retarding
its motion. It is so stupendous. sir, that it
can only be likened to the ocean, which lifts
itself up under a darking sky and amid rol.
ling thunder, and resists the exercise of any-
thing short of Suprame power. with an ele
mental force that defies all the little expe-
dients of carping man.
complaints about the war are get
ting as common in the press and the Iiouse
aa they were before they produced the Bull
Run disaster. A few of these impatient
people ther learned a lesson from their in-
cautious impulsiveness ;: but here we have it
again. They belong to that class of skep-
tics who take everything incomprehensible
to their feeble sight as unknown -and non-
existent. They cannot see McClellan doing
anything ; therefor he does nothing. They
are not partners in his confidence ; therefore
he does wrong. He has not rushed about in
wild theatric style ; therefore he is unfit. —
He has no retinue, no laced and gilded su-
pernumeries, no blast of trampet and boom
of guns, to announce himself here and there.
He does not dress his child up like the young
Prince Imperial in the Tuilleries ; therefore
he lacks esprit. He has no clan, no dash
no plumed nonsense ; therefore the public
faith in him must be sapped, Most of all
he regards this as a great war for the Union
and the Constitution, for the salvaticn of the
white man’s free government of America;
and because he does not play General Phelps
in proclamations, or Fremont in deeds of
manumission, he is abused and maligned.
Who are those that thus question McClel-
lan’s ability ? Did they see and understand
his masterly strategy in Western Virginia,
the fame of which is the pride of the Wes
tern soldiery ? Do they know the calm
confidence and meritorious patience with
which he now pursues his schemes by sea
and land, by riyer and road, grouping whole
sections in his comprehensive combinations
of strategy, and striving without irritating
and inconsequential skirmishing, to end the
war by a ** sharp, though it may be a des~
perate struggle,” and thus restore the Un-
ion? He has pledged himself to the Presi
dent that if he live. and be allowed to carry
out ip action what he has matured in design
that we shall soon see our flag triumphant
and the rebellion crushed.
These ready military critics have not even
the militia training, which was so important
years ago, to make them experts.
A former colleague of ours, in the days of
1840, when the campaigus of General Harri-
son were discussed = a brigadier general of
the Michigan militia, with grotesque humor
held up to the ridicule of the American Con-
gress the peculiar military studies by which
the member from Michigan was fitted to the
subtle criticisms on strategy, and the care~
ful reviews of battles. He ventured to be-
lieve that the same militia general might
have studied the title page of Baron Steuben
enough to know that the rear rank stands
right behind the front. (Laughter.) Be:
sides the critic on that occasion had the for-
tune to have been in the toils, privations,
sacrifices, and bloody scenes through which
a militia officer in time of peace was sure to
pass. It is long since I read that graphic
picture of a muster day in the West touched
by the tints of Corwin’s facile humor. The
troops in motion ! the corn stalks, umbrel-
las. hoe and axe handles, and other like
deadly implements of war overshadowing all
the field, when lo! the leader of the host ap-
proaches! Far off his coming shines. I
need not deseribe his horse, the rising cloud
the rain, the retreat, the remorseless fury
with which the water melons are slaughtered
and the whisky drank in a neighboring gro
cery. (Laughter.) If withsuch experien-
ces the member from Michigan was regarded
then as the prince of military critics, what
shall we say now of the member of Ohio.
whose gentle life has been passed in the
green pastures by the still waters of peace
and whose every prospect was the milenni-
um, in which the lion and the lamb shall lie
down together, and the little child shall
lead them.
Oh! how it jars, to hear the voice so often
raised 1n benediction and prayer, and tuned
to the sweet accents of love and mercy,
5s Spiising with tremendous sounds our ears a s-
under,
©
With gun, drum, trumpet. blunderbuss and thun-
er.
[Here the bammer fell, Mr. Cox's hour
having expired. Leave was granted h:m to
print the Fuad]
If a militia general was so well fitted for
the task of criticism on war, a fortiori, what
heed shall we not pay to my reverend col-
league, whose only experience has been that
of a Bull Run retreat 2 Such critics ought
at least ought to know a spear from a prun-
ing-hook, or a sword from a plowshare, It
is doubtful if they cam tell an ambulance
from a caisson. They could not bite a car-
tridge without biting their tongue. The
only fuse they know of ig a political fusion ;
they can deploy around a convention or cau
cus, and fire their political thunder from the
batteries of a demagouge, masked with the
negro. If they fired a gun and should hit
they would do it, as did Winkle, when he
killed the rook—he shut his eyes and blazed
away in timid despair.
My colleague is one of those whose poli-
t128 and prayers have ever been to be deliv-
ered from the men of war. [In times past he
has thought more of Saint Peter than of salt-
peter. When the Mexican War was declar-
ed, the class to which he belongs echoed
Sumner’s ‘true grandeur of nations,” when
he said “there wasno war which was not
dishonorable, and no peace which was not
honorable.” They sang the ironical Yankee
slang of Hosea Bigelow to the recruiting ser. | P
geant of Col. Caleb Cushing ;
'* Fife away, you fifin’ feller,
You may fife till you are yeller.
"Fore you-get a hold of me.’
There, away down in some New England
village, *‘they kind o’ thought Christ went
agin war and pillage, and that eppyletts
wapn’t the best mark of a saint.” on
they are willing to swear “that the apostles
were rigged out in their swallow-tailed coats
an’ marched round in front of a drum and
fife.” Now, they agree to the ironical
verse :
“ John P.
Robinsen—he
Buys they didn't know everything down in Jy-
ee.”
These men whose lives have been dedicat:
ed to considering the horrors of war and sla-
very, and whose corsciences were very ten-
der about the down-trodden when they
wanted votes, now undertake, by congres-
sional committees, declarations, and milits-
ry diatribes here, to set squadrons® In the
field, and to show McClellan how he ig nat
doing it all, or how he might do it with the
aid of armed blacks so bravely and all at
onge. Not satisfied with the President of
their choice : not content with that which
voted ; not happy in the calm progress of a
campaign which. so far as General McClellan
is concerned, has been comparatively suc-
cessful, and certainly without blunders, they
want 2 movement ‘‘at all hazards,” even if
it moves the country and Government to se-
cession. dictatorship, chaos, or destruction.
Such political digpeptics ahd martial zanies
ought to be sent home to teach boarding
school misses the doctrines that brought
many members here—the beauty of John
Brown’s life, and the glory of his death.
Judging by the remarks made here, one
would infer that these gentlemen were all
ready to receive and provide for the four
millions of blacks who are to be freed by the
war power ; that the corn bread and fat
pork were all provided for the jubilee of
freedom. But where will they get the foed,
or where will they fix the locus ix quo for
the festive scene ¢ In Kentucky ?—Ohio ?
Some of our soldiers, who have Jost fought
80 nobly under General Thomas. have writ
ten complaints that they get clothes through
which they can put their fingers, and chick:
ory for coffee. We do not even feed de-~
cently our white braves ; but these gentle
men, who reason so lunaticly, that there is
some virtue in a colored child or woman, and
that the Lord somehow will provide for
them as he did by Elijah with the ravens,
Why, sir, the whole country will be
swamped and deluged by taxation, without
the double tax of having an exodus
ot four millions of blacks so tluently taked
of in this Chamber.
Why, do not these extreme gentlemen
know that they are, in some part, responsi.
ble for this war ? Does my colleague, from
Cleveland (Mr. Riddle) want me to prove it
by his own speech ? They are only fighting
what we advised them would come by their
action. We Democrats, with McClellan at
our head, are now helping them ; and how
are we met by these ingrates ? No, they
are not fighting it ; but they think they are
moving the wheels, when they only sit on
the axle and buzz their murmurs about Mc-
Clellan and the forces which move the char~
iot of war.
What good comes of this sort of debate
here and now ? Talk about mulkinga he-
goat in a seive—and it is sense to this.
Now, there is a little smack of propriety
in this latier idea ; but what can we say of
this exhibition in a deliberate body, whose
only duty it is to increase the Army and the
revenue ; discussing the’ disposition of the
slaves before we get them, and the move:
ments of General McClellan, with the blank-
est incapacity to understand then It is
too ridiculous for serious controversy. It
can only be ridiculed, Yet we have these
civil warriors, whose only fight is logoma-
chy, barking at General McClellan ; and for
what 2 Because he does not proclaim lib~
erty throughout all the land and to all the
inhabitants thereo’. Ah, there is the trou.
ble! Can you wonder that Wendell Phil-
lips, whose speeches are hailed so raptur-
ously by this class. declared that he should
deplore a victory by McClellan, because the
sore would be salved over, and it would
only be the victory of a slave Union; and
that he thanked Beauregard for marshaling
his army before Washington, because 1t cons
ferred upon Congress the Constitutional
power to abolich slavery 2 Nor would I
wonder to see my colleauge from the Cleve-
lard distict, who lectured us oun our duty to
the Union, upon the slavery question, re
hearsing again his contempt for the Union,
which he expressed in his printed speech
made at Cleveland on the day of John
Brown's obsequies, when he said that no
purer spirit than John Brown’s had ever en-
tered Paradise for the past thousand years ;
and that he would rend the Union to destroy
slavery, ‘though hedged round by the triple
bars of the national compact, and though
thirty three crowned sovereigns with arms
in their hands stand around it !”’
I did intend, Mr. Chairman, to review
some of the bills introduced here for confts..
cation and emancipation, and to discuss
their feasibility and constitutionality. But
I am glad to arnounce to the country that
there is no hope of such suicidal legislation
passing the present Congress. That an
nouncement, which the opinions here justify
will give relief to our Armv and to the Un-
ion men everywhere,
One of the bills of this black batch pre
tends to strike out the State of Florida, —
This bill has the paternity of my colleague.
(Mr. Gurley.) Itisa part of his military
plan. While striking for the Union and the
flag, with every star on its folds, he would
blot ou*, the Statehood ef Florida. He would
have its everglades and swamps devoted to
the business of negro apprenticeship, with
the Federal agents as task masters, and the
Republic as a cottor: producer and specula
tor. Hereis the spot where my colleague
would imparadise the African. He would
have a Federal master watch the negro sp-
rentice, and see to it that he produced a
wing from that soil, where dying is So much
easier. He would have us drop down ‘he
little pickaninnies amidst the haunts of the
alligator. He thinks he sees here an open
ing for the rising generations of colored
children ; knowing, as my colleague does,
that they will all be saved in the other
world he is willing to risk their sudden dis-
appearance here. [can well imagme the
holy horror wich wil! pervade the infantile
African mind, when it comes to understand
the confiscating character of my colleague’s
bill. 1 can well understand how the gen-
tleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Campbell)
must have started the people of his State by
his propo-ition to hang all the public plun-
derers, and thus depopulate so terribly his
own State, But that was humanity com-
ared to tnis scheme of my colleague, which
18 only paralleled in Dean swift’s plan to
et rid of Irish children by eating them.—
uicidal absurdity can go no further than
this ! All such schemes are in derogation
of our whole system of polity. Their au-
thors seem to be bent on prying away
mountains of granite with levers of straw !
Such schemes as are here discussed will
do no geod to the blacks nor the whites, un-
less a scheme of forced expatriation be at
once started ; and that is attended with for
midable phstagles, The North will become
in tupn the worge than masters of the slaves.
For very self protestion, and to prevent
such a rpinous and adplterous mixture of
society, the North will rise to drive the free
blacks from their soil, Interest, which is
stronger in society, in the end, than philag-
trophy, will issue its edict of expatriation,
and no good will accrue to the black or
white, If you would bgrbarize the war, un-
digpify its object, and indeed, make it a
failure in every sense, you may follow the
impractical schemes of New Kngland poli.
tics, and their neophytes of the country.
These emancipation schemes will divide
the North, and create new dissension and
rebellion in the border States. They will
paralyze the efforts of the army, and make
cold and indifferent the now ardent and anx-
ficer of Price, snd such camp followers as
the member from Illinois, whose speeches
are queted in Southern papers, hel. to
give aid and comfort to secession. This di-
vision of the North, now, when all are unit-
ed by State legislation and Federal action to
defend our flag and sovereignty, would ut:
terly destroy every hope which has buoyed
us in this great conflict.
It would be an act of fraud on the soldiers
and officers of the grand Army of the Re-
public. They were ealled out by a procla~
mation of the 3d of May, which was in har-
mony with the action of Congress.
The Crittenden resolutions were an ex-
plicit avowal of the only and iegitimate ob-
ject of this war. (House Journal of last
session, p 129.) They said :
*¢ In this national emergency we would
banish all feeling of mer2 passion or resent-
ment ; and would recollect only our duty to
the whole country ; and that this war was
not waged upon our part in any spirit of op-
pression, nor for any purpose of conquest or
subjugation ; ner for the purpose of over
throwing or interfering with the rights or
established institutions of the States ; but to
maintain the supremacy of the Constitution
and preserve the Union, with all the dignity,
equality, and rights of the several States un-
impaired.”
To divert it now into a warfare against the
institution of slavery will be to make it the
‘“ violent and remorseless revolutionary
struggle’’ which the President fears. Be-
sides, it would meke it 8 gigantic swindle
upon the people, upon our votes for taxes,
and upon the soldiers who imperil their
lives in defence of the Union amd its authors
ity. It would be a fraud only measured, if
not exceeded in atrocity, by the rebellion. —
The only object, if such a war 1s successful,
which would be obtained, would be the utter
aunihilation of the Union ; perhaps, worse
the destruction of the Government remam-
ing in the fragmentary Union.
This was not the understanding of a large
party in this country who rallied at the eall
of Douglas. He most distinctly disavowed
such an object. He would not by a Federal
army, any more than by a Federal Congress,
interfere with State laws and institutions.—
So he declared overand over again. This
forum 1s no place for its discussion, much
less for its enactment. If the State Legis-
latures, in their sovereign will, choose to do
this, its for them, not for us. We have no
right ; and it is none of our business to make
the Federal Government a moral reform so-
ciety. This attempt bas broken the Union ;
and the continuance of the effort will widen
the breach until separation is everlasting.
As most of our ills come by slavery dis-
cussions and laws, why may we not now
pause ? Why do not gentlemen on the oth-
er side, who have now before them the re-
sults of this most troublesome agitation,
cease their clamor ¢ Those whe keep it up
are disunionists. Their talk is treason.—
They deserve a traitor’s fate as much as
Davis or Wigfall. Is it notenough that a
million of men are employed in violence and
bloodshed ; not enough that our trade and
commerce are paralyzed ; that our revenue
has fallen off $32,000,000 ; that by I863
our national debt, as estimated by Mr.
Chase, will be $879,322,802 : not enough
that we are to pledge $150.000,000 this
year, of taxation to meet interest and ex-
penses ; not enough that my own State pays
one tenth of this ; is it not enough that our
currency is to be vitiated, and bankruptcy
to overwhelm us ; not enough that our high-
ways are closed, our flag insulted, our sov
ereignty derided, our whole nationality m
peril ; not enough that a dictator is openly
threatened ; not enough that it is declared
here that the Constitution shall be over-
slaughed. on the plea of necessity ; that all
its limitations shall be overleaped, ruthless
ly, and aimlessly 2 Are we to have added
the horror of an endless war of hate; the
hopelessness of all reconciliation ; the pros-
pect and fact of a disided North ; the bur.
dens of a taxation only equalled by the mon-
archies of Europe ? Heaven forbid! It
God in his merey wonld strike down, not
only politically but physically, the marplots
who are warring on their own Administra.
tion and Government, it would indeed be a
blessing compared with this prospect.
We nay differ here about our interior gov-
ment. e may have our parties of Admin-
istration and opposition. These difftrences
of opinion are privileges of constitutional
sanction and individual conscience, Matters
may go on 1 our Government as to which
we may have had a sad and painful reti-
cence, and as to which we may withhold our
denunciation out of regard to the common
weal. Even patriotism may for a time be
silent in the eclipses of a mismanaged ad-
ministration of a good Government. The
national feeling may still be paramount, and
all may go well. Thousands of our people
now regard with dampened spirit and sad
silence the condition of our country ; and
they are almost dismayed by our terrible
present and still unpropitious future ; yet
not altogether dispairing ; but seeking in
the unity of the people, yet loyal, the hope
of restoration, They will be patient in pay-
ing taxes, in trusting our commanders and
rulers, 1n giving their sons to the war, and
their daughters to the labors of beneficence.
But what shall be this sad yet undismay-
ed patriotism, if the hopes of Union are to
be quenched by this persistent and unreason-
ing fanaticism ¢ Are not such schemes
fraught with the very vital and permanent
principle of mischief ? If so, will not the
very essence of national existence be irre-
coverably lost by their success # We shali
lose our place among the nations, our rela-
tive importance on the globe, our physical
independence, our weight in the equilibrium
of powers, our frontiers, alliance, and geog
raphy. Those make up the immortality of
a nation. They are above the changes of
administrations and outlive dynasties, He
who remains silent when such interests are
at stake is treacherous to his lend and to
his God.
It is in this most vital point that these
movements here in Congress, which are the
continuation of Fremont’s contumacious fa-~
naticism, will do their mischief. To suec-
ceed in their bad schemes they undermine
the young general in command, deride the
m vements of the Army, create impatience,
distrust, and coldness, and will rejoice in
our ruin. On behalf of the tax payer, the
soldier, the citizen, the patriot, the section
1 represent, and the physical and moral re
lations of our Government, I protest against
that dangerons and horrible malversation
of our congressional office, which would
usurp the power of the States over their in.
stitutions, geek through the Army the fur
taer dieryption of the Government, destroy
the last vestiges of our confedera‘ion, and
etop its magnificent career among the na-
tions. :
17" Stormy March will soon be hers
@he Tl atch,
CT EXANDER, | Bites,
. T. AL
JOE W. FUREY,
BELLEFONTE, FEB. 27th, 1862.
Tae CAPTURED GENERALS. —It seems the
telegraph was mistaken in its announcement
of the capture of Generals Sidney Johnston
and Pillow. Gen. Pillow escaped from Fort
Donelson in the night along with Gen. Floyd,
and the only Generals captured at that bat~
tle, were Generals Buckner and Bushrod
Johnson, the latter being a Brigadier Gener-
alin the confederate service from Tennessee.
Our loss at Fort Donelson, in killed, wound-
ed and missing, foots up at about 1200, of
whom about 300 were killed. We took
13,000 prisoners. The enemy's loss was
not so great in killed and wounded as our
own, owing to the fact, that they fought be~
hind entrenchments. Our troops are stead-
ily following up their advantages, and ere
long we may expect to hear of the occupa.
tion of Nashville.
P. 8.—Since the above was writicn, news
has been received, stating that Nashville is
now occupied by our troops, the rebels re-
treating, and leaving the Federals sole pos-
sessurs of the city.
——— BO.
Mz. Cox's Speeor.—We call the attention
of our readers to the great speech of Mr.
Cox, of Ohio, which we publish in this
week's issue. The speech was delivered in
defence of General McClellan, against the
attacks of a set of political demagogues and
quack pretenders to military science,
amongst whom, and, indeed, the leader of
whom, was the Rev. Mr. Gurley, Republican
member of Congress from Ohio. The speech
is a complete vindication of the war policy
of Gen. McClellan, and abounds in argument,
wit and the most withering sarcasm. It is
a regular ‘‘stunner,’’ and cannot fail to con-
vince all who read it that the attacks of abeli-
tionists upon our gallant young general have
originated simply in the fact, that he has al-
ways and firmly, refused to lend himself to
their schemes to make this a war for the ex-
termination of the institution of slavery, as
it exists and has existed in the Southern
States since the formation of our govern-
ment, under the Constitution. Mr. Cox de-
serves the thanks of the people of this coun-
try for his triumphant refutation of these in-
famous abolition slanders, and we hope ev~
ery reader of the Watchman will give his
speech an attentive and interesting perusal.
“The People’s Union Party.”
The Presentment of the Democratic
Watchman by a recent Grand Jury of this
County, is evidence that that paper, with
its editors, does not belong to the People’s
Union party, but rather to the traitors of
the South, and to the enemies of the Ameri-
can Government. Why do they ask what
party the People’s Union Party is? The
Watchman and its editors voted for Breck-
inridge, therefore they are traitors likewise,
else why charge the Republican party with
abolitionism because Phillips, Garrison,
Beecher, Greely and a few others voted for
Lincoln. The Watchman editors voted for
the traitor Breckinridge, and the question is
in place : —should those editors be hung for
treason or not? Let the people judge
them !—Central Press.
How profound the wisdom, ard how forci-
ble the logic of the author of the above para~
graph 2 He has surely never been estimat-
ed by the people according to his rare abili-
ties, or we should have seen him, ere this,
placed by the people in some high position,
where his eloquence and his logic combined,
could have swayed the nation. The reason
probably is, that his wisdom is too pro-
found, and his logic so incomprehensible,
that the mass of mankind cannot appreciate
his grand and magmficent thoughts, clothed,
ag they always are, in such deep and signifi-
cant verbiage. It is the fault of most all
great men like the Sumners, the Greelys,
the Beechors, &o., and it would be strange
indeed should Consistent George prove an
exception.
The above quoted article is a reply by this
modern Cicero of the Press, to a question
we asked in our last issue—what political
organization is the People’s Union party 7—
How grand and deep-meaning the reply :—
«The presentment of the Democratic Walch -
man by a recent Grand Jury, is evidence
that that paper with its editors, does not
belong to the People’s Union party, but
rather to the traitors of the South,” &c.—
This reasoning is 80 profound, the mass of
the people cannot comprehend it, becanse it
is the languageof a great man and an inspired
thinker. To have his reasoning appreciat-
ed. we would advise him to simplify his
manner of expression, and to tell the people
by way of a supplement to the above, that
the Democratic Watchman was presented by
a Republican Grand Jury, fitted up express-
ly with a reference to the partioular business
that was to be transacted by them, and then,
George, they cannot fail to see the force of
your remarks, and the great conclusion
you so clearly prove. Tell them then, O,
Consistent George, that the editors of the
Watchman * voted for Brickenridge, and
they are therefore traitors likewise.’”
But to convince them of this, you must
use all of ycur master pieces of rhetoric, and
probably it might require an oath to give it
force, for the people know just as well as
you do, that this is not trae. But swear to
1t anyhow, it can’t hurt your reputation for
truth and veracity, evenif the people don’t
believe you. Swear to it, then, George. as
your reputation as a logician 1s at stake, and
without an oath your major premises in this
remarkable sylogism lack authentication. —
Then frame your sylogism like the following
Black is a color,
White is a color —therefore - ia
Black is white. Vas
Something like this might suit you :
Jeff. Thompson is a traitor, because he
voted for Breckinridge ;
The editors of the Watchman voted for
Breckinridge—therefore they are traitors.
likewise. ’
This argument would certainly convince:
them that we are traitors and should be
bung. After you succeed in this, you ought
to go to Congress ; you would be of infinite
benefit to Sumner, and Lovejoy, your politi
cal friends in their efforts to' prove General
McClellan a traitor, and succeed in having
him superseded by the loyal Banks. Just
inform the people that Gen. McClellan voted
for Breckinridge, and they would have to
conclude, on the force of the above reason.
ing, that he is a traitor. You would then
certainly succeed in having him removed,
and some loyal Abolitionist put in Lis place,
when you could succeed in sending the
country to destruction in a very short time
which is evidently the desire of s ‘great
many Kepublican members of Congress.—
But after you succeed in forcing your coms
clusion upon them, don’t do ss you did
with us ; don’tsay let the people judge
them. You referred our case to the people
last fall, and the people endorsed us. At
the last election you again said let the people.
judge them, and their verdict is again ren-.
dered in our favor. The people certainly do.
not perceive the force of your reasoning.
The Brown Investigating Com-:
mittee. URE
This remarkable body, consisting of John.
Tonner, Jacob V. Thomas, and William J.
Kealsh, selected by Col. Brown and his
sureties to investigate a supposed mistake.
in the Auditor’s Report upon the account of
W. W. Brown, late Treasurer of Centro
county, after a week's ardurous labor, have
finished their investigation, and have found:
the Auditor's Report correct as far as the ae.
count was audited by them.
This committee, like all others that has.
been instituted to investigate frauds of Re-.
publican office holders, has brought to.
light some very curious and astonishing
facts—one of which has been related to us
by a member of that committee. -
About two yearsago, the County Come.
missioners, in order to raise the wind, deers,
ed it prudent in the exercise of their finan-,
cial ability, to put their paper in Bank for.
two thousand dollars, at ninety days. In-
stead of paying this note at maturity, they.
had it renewed, and thus continued having
it renewed for eight different times, and
have thus carried it for two full years. The.
discount paid upon the first note and every
renewal, was in round numbers, $ 63.00
This sum in eight renewals, br
amounted to, y 504,00,
The Treasurer then charged com- :
mission upon $6000 of these re 3
newals at 5 per cent.. 300.00,
The commission of collectors in
collecting these $504, of bank
interest would be, 25,00
Making in all, 3809,00
that $2000 have cost the county in two
years.
The credit of Centre county must really
be in very sad repute if it can not borrow
money at six per cent., the legal interest.—.
But Centre county should not at sny time.
under proper management, be compelled to,
borrow money. The people ate able to pay-
taxes, and the rates are not so exorbitant
now that two thousand dollars could not
have been raised by additional taxation.—
There is, in fact more than this amount due
from defaulting collectors, which should
have been collected by processs of law. :
The Auditor’s Report shows that this
amount was due at the ime the first note
fell due, and why is it that the County has
paid such an exorbitant rate of interest—
nearly twonty-one per cent. under these
circumstances. The reason is plain. A
poor, miserable truckling at the expense of
the people by those having the interest of
the county in charge, in the hope of main<
taining a little popularity until after the Isat,
fall election.
The Rebel Enlistments.
A Washington correspondent corrects an,
impression thatis abroad, relative to the
time rebel enlistments expire. There was
not more than ten thousand troops—in the
South at the time that Sumter fell. The
present rebel army has been organized since
that time contemporaneously with our own.
A few regiments, which will disband bes
tween now and May will not sensibly dimin.
ish the efficiency of the army, so far as num-
bers are conoerned ; but it is known that
troops whose termof enlistment is nearly
expired will pot fight with the same ardor.
as those whose militrry career is before them.
This faot we Joginet to pug on fo Bu aw
If the yar sho prolon ay, the
defective organization of the Rebel army
will become of use to us, but until that time
we must expect to meet them mn as great
numbers as heretofore. In connection with
this matter it is well to state that now it is
known that the Rebel army can not exceed
three hundred thousand men. The Rebel
newspapers adwit that they have only arms
for two hundred and twenty five ‘thousatid
men, comprising old flinf-lock muskets’ that
were stolen from the United States srsenals
and not ‘more than fifty thousand English ri
fled muskets, which 'we know'aré fot ah ef- |
fective weapon, Against this Rebel force we
will have an army of six hundred thousand
wen, as well armed and equipped as suy
troops in the world, When the fight com- .
mences it will bs found not only that our
troops are better armed, but that we have
at least two canpons to the Rebel's one on .
‘every field we engage thew. . a
- Sere