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all oases adviulae, •
OFFICE-i3O .1.111111.11. COHN= QV MOSTIKEI
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fariA.u.lett.rs ,ox:L -iudiseem should ND od
dressed:to Coorszo„ SAisuassoit .3: Co.
AIL FOR THE NIGGER!
We are taxed on our clothing, our meatand
- our bread,
On-our carpets and dishes, our tables and bed,
On our tea - and our coffee, otir fuel and lights,
And we're taxed so severely we can't sleep
o'nights. -
ClstOntrS—And it's all for the nigger, great God
can it be,
The home of the brave and the land of the free?
We are stamped on our mortgages, checks,
notes and bills,
On our deeds, on our contracts and on our last
wills
And the Star Spangled Banner in mourning
doth wave,
O'er the wealth of the nation turned into the
grave.
Cnonus—And It's all for the nigger, &c.
We are taxed on our offices, our stores and our
shops,
On our stoves, on our dishes, our brooms and
Our mops,
On our horses and cattle, and it we should die,
We are taxed on the coffin in which we must
lie.
CHciaus—And it's all for the nigger, &c.
ape are taxed on all goods by kind Providence
given,
We are taxed for the Bible that points us to
Heaven;
And when we ascend to that Heavenly goal,
They world, if they could, stick a stamp on our
soul.
Crron.us—And it's all for the nigger, dc.
But this Is not all, not the money alone,
Does the Rail Splitter claim to build up his
throne,
If you hav'nt three hundred your body must
tell,
And if killed In one month, it's all very well.
CUORITS—And it's all for the nigger, &c.
Now, boys, will you tell me just what it has
Cost,
To elect old Abe Lincoln and all his black host?
Just live hundred thousand our country's best
blood,
Have been slain, and their bodies lie under the
sod.
Cfroßus..nd It's all for the nigger, &c
then there's TWO THOUSAND MILLIONS and
.
More,
Has been stolen and spent in this unholy war;
And poor men who have worked for.ten years
that are past,
And have saved up three hundred—'tls stolen
at last. •
TILE DESPAIRING LOVER.
Distracted with care,
For Phyllis the fair;
Since nothing could move her,
Poor Damon her lover,
Resolves in despair
No longer to languish,
Nor bear so much anguish ;
But mad with his love,
To a precipice goes;
Where a leap from above
Would soon finish his woes. '
When in raqe he„came there,
Beholding how steep
The sides did appear,
And the bottom how deep;
His torments projecting,
And sadly reflecting,
That a lover forsaken
A new love may get;
But a neck, when once broken
Can never be set.
And.that he could die
Whenever he would;
Hut, that he could live
Hut as long nit, he could ;
How grievous forever
The torment might grow
He scorn'd to endeavour
To finish it so,
But bold, unconcern'd
At thoughts of the pain
He calmly returb,'d
To his cottage again.
rLeznemt, Joiernal,,S'eptember 23, 1796.
Democratic Congressional
Address.
" You have not, as good Patriots should do,
studied
The public good, but your particular ends;
Factious among yourselves, preferring such
To office and honors, as ne'er react
The elements of saving policy;
BUT DEEPLY SKILLED EN'ALL THE PRINCIPLES
THAT USHER TO DESTRUCTION !"
ITimoleon to the Citizens of S'yrarnee.
As members of the Thirty-Eighth Con
gress, politically opposed to the present fed
eral administration, and representing the
opposition Union sentiment of the country,
we address ourselves to the people of the
United States; and our object will be to
show (as far as may be done within the lint
' its of an address) that there is good reason
for changing the administration and policy
of this general government through the in
strumentality of suffrage in the elections of
the present year.
It is a settled conviction that men now in
public station, who control the policy of the
government, cannot or will not perform
those duties which are necessary to save the
country and perpetuate its libertieS. Many
of them are engrossed by political and per
sonal objects which do not comport with
the public welfare, and will not subserve it ;
others have false or perverted views of our
system of free government, or are inspired
by passions which continually mislead
them; and the opposition in Congress are
powerless to check the majority, and are
unable even to secure such investigation of
the executive departments and of the con
duct of goveimment officials as will prevent
abuse and secure honesty, economy and ef
ficiency in the public service.
Profoundly, painfully impressed by pass
ing events, we turn from the President of
the United States and from the majority in
Congress, upon whom all remonstrance
against misgovernment would be wasted,
to address ourselves to our fellow country
men at large; and we appeal to them to in
terpose in public affairs, and by a proper
exertion of their sovereign electoral power,
to decree that these United States shall be
justly governed, reunited, tranquilized and
saved!
E'SGROS.SIiTENT OF POWER
- - •
What we propose to notice in the first
place, as introductory to our examination
of public affairs, is the consolidation of all
power in theggoverrunent of the United
States into the hands of a single political in
terest. The party of the administration has
not been subjected to any efficient check
, upon its action from an opposing interest or
party, since its attainment of power in 1511.
Carrying all the Northern, Western and
Pacific states, with a single exception, at
the Presidential election of 1860, and being
relieved from all Southern opposition in
Congress by the withdrawal of the States of
that section, it Was able to do its will and
pleasure without check or hindrance in the
government of the United States, All pub
lic patronage was subsidized to its uses; all
government outlays (and they were enor
mous in amount) were disbursed by its of
ficials; all public power was wielded by
its arm ; and this condition of things has con
tinued to the present time. It has reveled
in power, and of inevitable necessity, from
its very nature and from the opportunities
presented it, it has abused its powers; it
has forgotten, or despised, or trampled un
der foot the duties imposed upon it by the
people, and the objects announced by it in
the outset have been supplanted by others,
which now inspire its action and occupy its
hopes.
No truth is more certain, none better es
tablished by history, than this, that political
power is aggressive; that it will always
seek to enlarge itself and to increase its
domination, and that no free government is
possible where,
by the very constitution of
the government itself, power is not made, a
check to power. Freedom is secured by the
action and reaction upon each other uf po
litical force, so organized and so limited that
no one can absolutely dominate over or con
trol the rest. And hence the necessity of
constitutions which shall divide and ar
range the powers of Government that no
single interest, class, or individual shall be
come supreme, and engross the whole mass
of political power. Now the capital mis
chief (or rather, source of mischief and evil)
in the government of the United States dur
ing the past three years and at this moment
is, that a single political interest or party,ol
evil constitution, has obtained and exer
cised the whole mass of government pow
ers, free from all check or limitation what
soever. The fatal results are obvious. It
has been false to its promises made as the
condition upon which it obtained power; it
has broken the Constitution shamefully and
often; it has wasted the public treasure ; it
has Suspended the ancient writ of liberty,
the "habeas corpus," rendering it impossi
ble for the citizen to obtain redress against
the grossest outrage; it has changed the war
into a humanitarian crusade outside of any
constitutional or lawful object; it has gross
ly mismanged the war in 'the conduct of
Military operations ; it has degraded the
currency of the country by profuse issues of
paper money, and confiscated private pro
perty by a legal-tender enactment; and, to
retain its power, that it may riot in plunder
and be subjected to no check and rro re
straint front public opinion, it has under
taken to control State elections by direct
military force or by fraudulent selections of
voters from the army. These are some of
the results already achieved, and "the end
is not yeti" Isin impartial observer can con
template the future without apprehension
of stall greater evils, or can doubt that some
real division of public power or its lodg
ment in new hands is necessary, not merely
to the success but to the very existence of
free government in the Thaited. States,
TILE DEMOCA4TIO.P4RTY,
The evil of uncontrolled party domination
goverruzient - pill be greater Or ac
cording.'M the character and objects; of the
party ppoower. The "Demobratle-liil#l.
whicii:ordMarily -has administered the gor e
United States, eyepin the
utmost . pleiditutte. ofits power; • dtd — not
into grows &bus* or threaten the Liberties of
VOLUME 65
the country. Although it required to be
checked-upon occasion, and that its policy
and conduct should be subjected to rigid
scrutiny by . an active opposition, there was
great security againt its abuse of its powers
m the principles and doctrines to which it
held ; for its creed was established for it by
men of the most sterling virtue and pro
found wisdom, who justly comprehended
the nature of free governments and the dan
gers to which they are exposed. Strict con
struction of the Constitution, a sparing use
of the powers of government, moderate ex
penditures and equal laws, became the ar
ticles of political creed which preserved the
government from abuse and degeneracy . ,
kept the States in harmony, and secured
the growth and development Of a material
prosperity unexampled in the history of
nations. Its great merit was that it was a
constitutional party (in the true sense of
that term,) subjecting itself cheerfully, thor
oughly and constantly, to all the rules and
limitations of the fundamental law. Its
principles themselves checked it and kept
it within bounds. As its contests for
power were upon the very ground that there
should be no over-action of government, but
only a due exertion of its authorized pow
ers, there was the less necessity to confront
it with a powerful opposition. Yet such
opposition always existed, and was no
doubt necessary to the safe and successful
action of the Government under its man
agement.
THE PARTY OF THE ADMINISTRATION.
But with the party now in power the ease
is widely different. Its main strength lies
in States which voted against Mr. Jetlbrson
in 1800, against Mr. Madison in 1812, against
Andrew Jackson in 1.828, and against Mr.
Polk in 184-1; and it embraces that school of
opinion in this country which has always
held to extreme action by thegeneral Gov
ernment, fa,voritism to particular interests,
usurpation of State powers, large public ex
penditures, and, generally, to constructions
of the Constitution which favor Federal au
thority and extend its priljensions. Besides,
it is essentially sectional and aggressive—
the very embodiment of that disunion par
ty ism fbreseen and denounced by Washing
ton and Jackson in those farewell addresses
which they left on record for the instruction
of their countrymen, and by Henry Clay in
a memorable address to the Legislature of
Kentucky-. That it could not safely be in
trusted with the powers of the Federal gov
ernment is a concluSion which inevitably
results from this statement of its composi
tion and character. But the question is no
longer one of mere opinion or conjecture.—
Having been tried by the actual possession
of government powers and been permitted
to exhibit fully its true nature, it has com
pletely justified the theory which' condemns
it; as will plainly appear from considering
particular measures of policy pursued by
it. From among these we shall select sev
eral for partkular examination, in order
that our general statement of Republican
unfitness for the possession of government
powers may be illustrated, established, and
made good against any possible contradic
tion.
MILITARY INTERFERENCE. WITH ET.EC
TIONS.
This has taken place in two ways:
First. By the selection of soldiers of the
army to be sent home temporarilyto parti
cipate in State elections.
This practice, in connection with sending
home on such oreasions large numbers of
government officers and employees in the
civil service, has changed the result of many
State elections, and given to the party in
power an unjet aflvantagc. With the large
powers possessed by the administration tin
the purposes of war; with the la rg ,
iii
creased appointments to civil office, a n , l the
employment of vast numbers of persons in
all parts of the country in the business of
government, the administration and I its
party have been enabled to influence elec
tions Man alarming extent. The powers
conferred by the whole people upon the
government, and the revenues derived by
taxation from the whole people or derived
from loans which become charged upon the
whole mass of individual property, have. ,
been used in an infinite number of ways
ibr party purposes, and to secure LO the Re
publican interests, in the Federal and State
governments, the continued possession of
power. The injustice and corruptive ten
dency of this system cannot b., damiod afffl
alone should be held sufficient to condemn
the party of the administration. It is noto
rious that time after time, on the eve of
doubtful elections, thousands of voters have
been sent home from the army to turn the
scales between parties, and to secure an lid
ministration triumph. And this has been
done, not upon the principle of seniling
home citizen soldiers indiscriminately and
without reference to their politica i opinions
and attachments, (which would have been
just,) but upon the principle of selecting
Republican soldiers, or of granting fur
loughs upon the condition of a promise
from the persons favored that they would
support administration candidates. • We
mention elections in New Hampshire, Con
necticut and Pennsylvania, as instances of
such most base and unjust proceeding, , by
which unscrupulous power has defeated the
true expression of popular opinion, and oh
taMed political advantages which were ,
skim eful to it and deeply injurious to the
c try. Will a free people consent to have
their system of elections thus perverted and
corrupted, and expect to enjoy, in spite
thereof; the peaceable fruits of good govern
ment and honest rule?
Second. A still more grave offense against
the purity and indepondence of elections
has been committed by the administration
in the states of Missouri, Kentucky, Mary
land and Delaware. The particular cir
cumstances of government interference
were somewhat different in each of these
states, but the substantial facts in all were
these: .
I. That the military power of the general
government was directly applied to control
the elections, and that officers and soldiers
of the United States were openly used for
the purpose.
2. That the States in question were at the
time in a state of prollamd peace and quiet,
and that with the exception of a single con
gressional district in Kentucky, no rebel
raid or invasion into them was then in pro
gress or expected.
3. That in each of them there existed an
adhering State government, exercising com
plete and unquestioned jurisdiction under
Governors mid other State officials whose
devotion and fidelity to the government of
the United States were unquestionable.
4. That there was no official call upon the
Federal Government by the Executive or
Legislature of any one of those States for
protection against domestic violence, ( under
the particular provision of the constitution
of the United States authorizing such call,)
but that' the interference in most cases was
against the desire, and notably in the ease
of Maryland against the protest, of State
authorities.
5. That thousands of qualified persons
were prevented from voting at those elec
tions, and in most of those States the result
of the election was changed from what it
would have been without military inter
ference. The aged and timid were deterred
from attending the elections ; many who
attended were kept from approaching the
polls; and, in many eases, actual outrage
prevented the legal voter from- exercising
his right. The full proof of all this appears
in a number of eontested-election cases in
Congress, in official papers from the Gover
nors of the States in question, in reports of
the committees of the State Legislatures,
and from other reliable sources ; and we
recommend the whole subject, as one of
fearful importance, to the examination and
judgment of our countrymen.
CREATION OF BOGUS STATES.
The steps taken toward establishing a
system of false and unjust representation
in the Government of the ' United States
should also be carefully considered.
In the first place, let us consider what has
taken place in regard to the State of Vir
ginia. In 1860, Virginia had a population
(including slaves) of 1,596,315; Pennsylva
nia a population of 2,906,215; New York a
population of 5,8 , 80,735. While the two
States last named adhered faithfnlly to the
Government of the United States, and have
since borne on its behalf their proper share
of the burdeps, of the war, Virginia re
volted, and two-thirdS of her population
was thrown into the scale of the enemy.—
What result followed as to the representa
tion of that State in the Congress of the
Union? The comparatively small part of
the State which adhered to the Union was
recognized as constituting, for political pur
poses, the State of Via adhering an improvised
Legislature of this fragment of
the State elected two senators, who were ad
mitted to the Senate of the United States,
and representatives from the same territory
were admitted into the Federal House of
Representatives, The liberal principles of
construction upon \Thiel this was done may
stand justified by the peculiar circum
stances of the case. But there was a fur
ther proceeding for which no warrant of
power or pretense of necessity can be shown.
A part of the adhering Virginia territory
was permitted to form itself into a new
State, was admitted into the Union under
the name of West Virginia, (although the
Constitution of the United States declares
that no State shall be divided for the forma
tion of . a newone without the express as
sent of the Legislature thereof,) and sena
tors therefrom were admitted into fhe Uni
ted States Senate. A very small part of the
old State, not included within_ the .bounda
ries,of the-new , ona remained .within- our
Miljtar ylinesp±o , ,be ' .sa,well,al, - , the ;'lnew
SPate,lia zw esert teditydernotienibenaDinuthe4
Senate. Thus, under Republican manipu
billion, one-third of the ancient State of Vir
.
ginia has four votes in the Senate of the
United States, and mayiteutralize the votes
of both New York and . Pennsylvania in
that body. The "Ancient Dominion," with
a population a little exceeding one-half that
of Pennsylvania, is represented by four
senators in the Congress of the tnited
States, and by two in the Confederate Con
gress at Richmond: Pennsylvania, with
her three millions of people, remains true
to the Union, and retains her former vote
in the Senate; Virginia turns traitor, sends
two-thirds of her population under the con
federate flag, and forthwith has her repre
sentation doubled in the Senate of the Uni
ted States, and that, too, in defiance of a
constitutional provision forbidding it, and
avoided billy upon a strained construction
or implication totally at variance with the
plain fact. Against the plain truth of the
case, and without necessity, it was assumed
that the Legislature of a fragment of the
State represented the whole for the purpose
of assenting to its division and the erection
therefrom of a new member of the Federal
Union.
We pass from this case to speak of matter
more recent. A State government luis been
set up in Louisiana, under the supervision
of a major-general of the United States
army, which, although it holds the allegi
ance of but part of the population, we sup
pose is to have the former representation of
that State in Congress; and in Tennessee
and Arkansas there have been proceedings
of a similar description. The indications
are clear and full that in these cases, and in
others of similar character which may fol
low them, the President of the United States
through the officers of the army in the
States to be represented, dictates, and will
dictate and control, the whole proceeding
for renewed representation, and upon.prin
ciples most unequal, unjust and odious.
A recent attempt to set up one of these
bogus States in Florida, under a presidential
agent, must be fresh in the recollection of
the country, as must also be the military
disaster by which that attempt was rendered
abortive.
But why refer to particular cases? Why
reason upon events that have happened, or
upon probabilities which present them
selves before us? The President of the
United States has himself; in his message
at the opening of the present session of Con
gress, and in his proclamation appended
thereto, announced his programme for the
reconstruction and consequent representa
tion of the States which may be rescued in
whole or in part from the Confederates dur
ing the existing war.
The proclamation extends a pardon to all
persons in the rebellious States (except cer
tain Confederate officers, tt.c.,) upon condi
tion that• they shall take, subscribe, and
keep a prescribed oath, one provision of
which is, that they will abide by and faith
fully support all proclamations of the Presi
dent made during the existing rebellion,
having retbrence to slaves, so long and so
far as not modified or declared void by de
cision of the Supreme Court. And it further
proclaims, that whenever in any one of the
Confederate States, " a number of persons
not less than one-tenth in number of the
votes cult in such State at the Presidential
election of 1860, having taken and kept the
aforesaid oath, 6ze., shall re-establish a State
government which shall be republican, and
nowise contravening said oath, such State
shall be recognized as the true government
of the State?"
This presidential paper must be regarded
as the most remarkable one ever issued by
an American executive. The one-tenth part
of a population are to exercise the powers
of the whole, andb if Congress concur, are
to be reprosente(Pin the government of the
United States and in our electoral colleges
tin• the choice of President, as if they were
the whole! And this one-tenth is to be made
up ot• men who solemnly swear that they
will obey and keep all the President's proc
lamations upon a particular subject, issued
during the present war; not proclamations
which he may have issued already, hut
future ones also. A more abject oath was
never framed in the history of the whole
earth. Was a religious obligation over be
fore required of citizen or subject, in any
age or country, It) obey and - keep the future
and unknown edicts of the executive will ?
And if usurped authority can accomplish
its object, a handful of men in a State, de
graded by such an oath, are to wield repre
sentative votes in the government of the
United States, and enter electoral colleges
to extend the power of the master to whom
their fealty is sworn.
_ .
The lawless and dangerous character of
the administration must most evidently ap
pear from the foregoing review of its policy
and conduct regarding popular elections
and the organization of States.
But its incapacity if not profligacy( will
as clearly appear Irma an examination of
its measures in the prosecution of the war,
and to some of those measures we will now
(lirect attention.
RAISIN - 0 OF TROOPS
- - •
In April, 1581, at the outbreak of hostili
ties, the army of the United States was
small and wholly inadequate to meet the
exigency of the war which had arisen. The
President called lbr'seventy-tive thousand
troops from the States to serve for a period
of three months, and subsequently made
Other calls. Finally, in the latter part of
1863, drafts were ordered in several States
to till up their quotas, mid the proceeding
for that purpose was under the State au
thorities, pursuant to State laws and some
,general regulations of the War Department
framed for the occasion. Thus the ease
stand as to the raising of troops at the com
ment of lstt3, and the troops in service at
that date consisted of the regular army of
the United States us it stood at the outbreak
of hostilities, with subsequent enlistments
added, and of volunteers and drafted militia
of the States. organized and offivered as
companies and regiments by State authority.
Volunteering, had at one time been checked
by the Administration, upon a statement
by it that all the troops needed.were already
in service. Soon, however, the demand for
Men was renewed, and at the beginning of
1863 the number called for and raised had
become enormous. But for the after pur
poses of the Administration it was perfectly
feasible for it to call for additional troops in
the manner heretofore practiced, which in
volved State assistance and co-operation
and secured to the troops raised their regu
lar organization as State militia under the
laws of their respective States. The army
bore, mainly, the
.character of a public three
contributed by the States under the fifteenth
and sixteenth clauses of the eighth section
of the first article of the Constitution, which
authorize Congress "to provide for calling
forth the militia to execute the laws of the
Union, suppress insurrections, and repel
invasions," and "to provide for organizing,
:inning and disciplining the militia, and for
governing such part of them as may be
employed in the service of the United
States, reserving to the States respectively
the appointment of the officers," ,te.
The power of t Federal Govenment to
rail for troops, and he
the power of the States
to supply them, organizing them into com
panies and regiments and appointing their
officers, were unquestionable, as was also
the power of the States to select those troops
which they were to contribute, by draft or
CONSCRIPTION
•
But early in 1863 a new system for the
raising of troops was established by act of
Congress. This was a system of conscrip
tion (the word and idea being borroWed
from the French), and was without example
in the history of the United States. Passing
by the State authorities, and by the clauses
of the Constitution above mentioned, it put
the general government in direct communi
cation with the whole arms-bearing popu
lation of the country, and assumed for the
general goverment exclusive and absolute
control over the whole proceeding of raising
troops. The validity of this enactment has
been questioned, and it is one of the debata
ble points which belong to the history of the
war. For it has been argued with much of
three and reason that the power of Congress
to raise armies, although a general power,
is not unlimited, and that laws of conscrip
tion by it are not " necessary and proper "
when the forces required can be raised with
perfect certainty and convenience from the
militia of the States under the provisions of
the Constitution above cited. But, passing
this point, the inquiry arises, why was the
former system, involving State co-operation,
abandoned, and a new and questionable one
substituted ? so clear and adequate reason
fort the measure appears in the debates of the
Congress Which passed it, unless the sug
gestion made by one of its leading support
ers in the House of Representatives, that
it was inhostilitv to "the accursed doctrine
of State rights,''' be accepted as such reason.
We must, therefore, conclude that it was
the policy of the authimi of the law to de
prive the States of the appointment • of the
officers of the troops raised, And to absorb
that power into the hands of the Federal
Administration; that the act was the meas
ure of a party to increase its influence and
power, and to prevent the possibility of any
participation therein of the governments of
the States,
We believe it to be certain that this meas
ure has entailed great expense upon the
treasury of the United States ; that it has
created unnecessarily a large number of
Federal officers, distributed throughout the
country ; and that, while it has been no
more efficient than the system which re
quired State co-operation, it has been much
less satisfactory.
If- a necessity for-raising troeps by (-roil
scription be asserted,_then it would . follow
that the revolutionary polkas' iyf the
Istration has alarmed and disgusted the'
people, and chilled that enthusiasm which
In the earlier days of the eontest filled our
LANCASTER, PA., THURSDAY MORNING ; JULY. 28, 1864.
patriot army with brave and willing volun.
teem.
What is farther to be mentioned in this
connection is the payment. of bounties by
the United States, by the State govern
ments, and by cities, counties, and other
municipalities. In their payment there has
been great want of uniformity and system.
The policy of the general government has
not been the same at all times, and in the
States there has been infinite diversity.
Upon the whole, the system of bounties has
been costly and unequal, the amount of in
debtedness created by it is enormous, and
unequal sums have been paid to soldiers of
the same grade of merit. Under any sys
tem of local bounties to avoid conscription,
the wealthy parts of the country enjoy an
advantage over others, and especially where
manufacturing and other interests find it to
their profit in providing the supplies of the
war to retain their laborers at home substitut
ing payments of money in their stead, unless
each state shall be firmly required to fur
nish the substitutes to fill up its quota from
its own citizens. But the general govern
ment has permitted the agents of such in
terests in a State to go into other States, and
into the southern country, and obtain en
listments for bounties, both of white and
black troops, to be credited upon the quota
of the Statenf the agent. If it shall happen
hereafter that local payments of bounties,
whether by States or municipalities within
them, be assumed by the Government of
the United States, the inequalities of the
system, and its extravagance in many cases,
will become a matter of concern to the
people. And it is just matter of complaint
against those who have held authority in
the Federal government, that by their policy
and want of policy on this subject, the
burden of the war has been vastly increased,
and been distributed irregularly and un
fairly.
The pecuniary outlay and indebtedness
caused by payment of local bounties, being
mostly incurred by powerful and influen
tial communities, it is quite possible that
they may be recognized hereafter by Con
gress as a legitimate object of national as
sumption ; and if this happens, those com
munities that have retained their laborers
at home, and thereby secured their prosper
ity during the war, will cast a part of the
burden of their exemption upon other sec
tions.
Obviously what has been wanting has
been wisdom and foresight in those who
have controlled the public measures of the
war, and who have resorted to one expedi
ent after another without a fixed policy;
who have acted where they ought not, mid
have failed to act where action and regula
tion aro demanded.
ljut a subject which requires particular
notice is the employment of negro troops in
the war. An act of Congress passed the
17th day of July, 1862, authorized the Pres
ident "to receive into the service of the
- United States, for the purpose of construct
ing intrenchments, or performing camp
service, or any other labor, or any military
or naval service for which they be found
competent, persons of African descent; and
such persons should be enrolled and organ
ized under such regulations, not inconsis
tent with the Constitution and laws, as .the
President might prescribe ;" and further,
that they "should. receive ten dollars per
month and one ration, threo dollars of
which monthly pay might he in clothing."
Without any other law on the subject
prior in date to the present session of Con
gress (except an imperfect provision in an
act of 15132) the President, in his message of
December lslti, an noudwed, that "of those
who were slaves at the beginning of the re
hellion, fully one hundred thousand are
now in the United States military service,
about one half of which number actually
bear arms in thin ranks."
At the present session, on the 14th of Feb
ruary, an act amendatory of the conscrip
tion law of 1.863 was approved, the twenty
fourth section of whith provides for the en
rollment of colored persons between twenty
and forty-five years of age; that slaves of
loyal plasters enrolled. drawn and mustered
into the public service, shall be tree, and
One hundred dollars earn shall be paid ha
the master; and that in the slave States
represented in Congress, the loyal master
of a slave who volunteers into the public
service shall be paid a sum not exceeding
three hundred dollars, ont of the military
commutation fund.
_ .
By the Army Appropriation bill, approv
ed June 15, 1864, it was further provided,
"That all persons of color who, have been
or may be mustered into the military ser
vice of the ITnited States shall receive the
same uniform, clothing, arms, equipments,
camp equipage, rations, medical and hos
pital attendance, pay and emoluments other
than bounty, as other soldiers of the regu
lar and volunteer forces of the United States
of like arm of the service, front and after
the first day of January, 1864 ; and that
every person of cdlor %vim, shall hereafter
be mustered into the service, shall receive
such sums in bounty as the President shall
order in the different States and parts of the
United States, not exceeding one hundred
dollars leacht."
This enactment is similar in terms to a
bill which passed the Senate in March last,
upon the consideration of which it was an
nounced that at leaSt two lituidred thous
and colored troops would lie raised. Adding
to this number the number stated by the
President to be in service in Ilcrvvutcr last,
would make one quarter of a million of
troops of this description.
The measures above mentioned would es
tablish the following points in the policy of
the Government : First, The employment
of black troops generally, both slave and
free. Second, The equality of black troops
with whites as to compensation and sup
plies ; and, Third, The payment to the loyal
master of a slave of a bounty of one lion
ilred dollars when the slave is drafted into
the service, or a bounty not exceeding three
hundred dollars when he volunteers. _
The practical results of this policy are, to
obtain an inferior quality of troops at the
highest rate of expense ; to impose upon
the treasury the support of an enormous
number of undisciplined :Ind ignorant ne
groes; to recognize the principle of buying
negroes from their masters, whether public
interests require it or not, and to incur the
risk of breaking down in the war because
of the inefficiency of the forces employed
in its prosecution ; besides it is notorious in
pursuing this policy the negro women and
children must to a great. extent he thrown
upon the government for support, or be left
to perish. There has never been an exten
sive objection to the employment of negroes,
under the act of 1862, in those war employ
ments for which they are tilted as laborers
and teamsters, and for camp service. In
the warm parts of the country, especially,
they could he thus usefully employed, and
a reasonable number doubtless might also
be employed for some sort of service in the
navy ; but to employ an unwieldy number
of them at such prodigious expense is most
evident folly and wrong, and it will be well
if a signal disaster does not result from it.
We know no reason for this extravagant,
ostly, and dangerous policy, except de
sire of the majority in Congress to establish
(if indeed their enactments could accomplish
such object) the equality of the black and
white races with each other. But doubtless
the employment of blacks in the war is to
be made the pretext tbr extending to them
the right of suffrage and also social posi
tion, and to be hollowed, probably, by the
organization of a considerable body of them
into a standing army.
INCREASE OF SOLDIERS' PAY.
The immedaite result of this policy of
negroism in the war has }peen to postpone,
and at last to limit, the increase of compen
sation to our citizen soldiers. Bills provid
ing such an increase were permitted to lie
unacted upon in Congress for more than
five months of the present session, and the,
bill finally adopted for that purpose was in
adelluate and made to take effect only from
the first of May, 1864. It increased the fiay
of privates from thirteen to sixteen dollars
per month (without distinction of color) and
the pay of officers in somewhat similar pro
portions. But the smallness of this increase,
as well as the delay in enacting, was occa
sioned by the extravagant measures above
mentioned. The treasury, strained by the
payment of enormous sums to negroes by
reason of their employment in increased
numbers and at increased rates of expense,
could illy respond to the just demands made
upon it in behalf of our citizen soldiers.
Besides it is instructive to observe that in
this legislation by Congress, while increased
pay to white troops begins on the first of
May, an increase to colored troops dates
from the first of January. And a provision
contained in the act of kith of June author
izes the Attorney-General of the United
States to inquire whether increased pay un
der former laws cannot be allowed to ne
groes emplOyed in the public service before
the beginning of the present year, who were
free on the 19th of April,.lB6l, and if he de
termine in favor of such allowance his decis
ion shall be carried into effect by orders of the
War Department. The majority in Congress,
in pursuing this phantom of negro equality,
are as improvident as they are impassioned.
The decision of the War Department (in
accordance th the opinio of its solicitor
as to the com wi pens.alion of n
negroe under
former laws, is to be opened. and subjected
to review.by the Attorney-General, in. the
hope that soma additional meaning may be
wrung out of the old statutes justifying ad
nitional Oxiiendintre upon; alayorite.
VIl
°Mack.
It 6414 to ho manifest to, evigir.,r4i--
ble eVirabeitiaekiTie"TrA lerii4l - should -be
-1
paid' rasa tharCivi),iite troops, and that the in-
or** of their pay from ten to sixteen dol
BOUNTIES.
This expenditure and the accunmlation
,:f debts, public and private, cannot go on
indefinitely, or fir any considerable time.
rri , day of payment, which will be also the
day of trouble, will surely come. Great
suffering will tall upon the people. Those
who suppose themselves independent of the
frowns of fortune will realize the retribu
tion which always tbllows upon excess, and
even those wholly innocent of any com
plicity with financial mismanagement, or
other evil feature of public kolicy, will be
smitten equally with the guilty.
The vast debt, created in great part by
profligacy and mismanagement, is a source
of profound anxiety to the people, who
mnst pay it, and to the capitalists who hold
it. Its obligation rests upon the security of
the national ability and honor. But to pre
vent its growth beyond the point where
bankruptov threatens it with destruction,
the folly and corruption which now waste
:ind devour the wealth of the people must
meet with speedy and condign overthrow.
- •
Another danger to he apprehended under
our present rulers—one which has been
speculated updn often since the war began,
and which is possible hereafter—is the in
tervention of some foreign nation in the
pending struggle. There is an example of
such intervention in our history, which
deserves contemplation by those who ' would
justly judge our present situation, and
make provision against future dangers.—
Our fathers revolted and were sorely chas
tised I herefor by their monarch. The sword
smote them in all their coasts; their wealth
was dried up, their cities occupied by their
foes, tliei r land ravaned. They were pushed
to the extremity of ' endurance; they be
came spent and exhausted by the conflict.
But in their hour of extremest
France, at the instance of a Pennsylvania
Diplomatist, extended 'them her powerful
assistance, and they emerged from the
m
struggle triumphant and independent. Is
this war to be mismanaged and perverted
and protracted, until a foreign power may
be induced to assist our antagonist, as
France assisted the revolted colonies of the
third George? Unquestionably the feeble,
changeful, arbitrary, and unwise policy of
the Administration begets this danger of
intervention, and will produce it if it ever
take place. Nor has its diplomacy abroad
been calculated to avert the evil conse
quences of its action at home. That diplo
macy has not been wise, judicious, and
manly, but feeble, pretentious,. and offen
sive. It should therefore be one of the
leading objects, in selecting an administra
tion for the next four years, to' avoid this
danger of intervention by the selection of
rulers who will not provoke it, and whose
policy will command respect at home and
abroad.
DA NDERS BEYOND THE WAR.
But other dangers menace us under Re
publican rule, even if success in the war be
secured. And as these, in a still greater
degree . than those already mentioned, de
serve careful and earnest attention, we pro
cewl to state them distinctly.
OPPRESSIVE GOVERNMENT.
If already we have experienced the arbi
trary disposition and unlawful practices of
our rulers, what may we not experience
after some time has elapsed, and when
military success has rendered them still
more insolent? If their assaults upon law
and upon right be so numerous and flagrant
while they are subjected to opposition and
struggling to maintain their position against
an open foe, what may we not expect when
all constraint upon them is removed ? In
considering what they have already done
in opposition to liberty and lawful rule, we
may exclaim, " If these things be done in
the green tree, what shall be done in the
dry?" Let no one-he deceived• by the as
sertion that the arbitrary and evil acts of
the Administration indicate but a temporary
policy, and are founded upon necessities
which cannot long exist. Not only is the
excuse that .this policy of the Administra
tion is necessary in view of the public in
terests, false in point of fact, it is equally
untrue that if unopposed, if not put down,
it will be of short duration and expire with
the war. If it be necessary now to do un
lawful things and trample upon individual
rights in adhering comminutes, the same
pretended necessity will exist hereafter.—
Will it not be as necessary to uphold arbi
trary government in order to subdue exist
ing rebellion? When did a ruler who had
deprived his country of its liberties ever
voluntarily 'restore them? That people
who will accept excuses for tyranny, will
always be abundantly supplied, with them I
by their rulers, and especially will they be
furnished with this argument of necessity
which will expand itself to the utmost re
quirement of despotic power under all cir.
cumstances.
Our ancestors. who settled this country
and established the. government of the
United states, fortunately did not admit
tips doctrine of necessity,, butproceeded,
under the guidance of a most wise and just
policy, rodastutiithe liandivaf tifflcial,-power
bby constitutional limitations, by checks and
balances established in the very framework
of goverrunant, and by inoulfating among
lars per month - was unnecessary and profli
gate. The market value of their labor Is
kmown to be less than that of citizens, and
it,s equally clear that their services are
much less valuable in the army; -
We have but to add under this head that
additional pay to our citizen soldiers is but
just and reasonable, and ought long since
to have been provided. The great deprecir
ation in the value of currency in which they
are paid, and the increased rates of price
in the country affecting all their purchases
and outlays, have demanded the notice and
consideration of 'the Government It is
upon their exertions that reliance must be
placed for success in war, and even for the
preservation of the treasury from embar
rassment and the country from from pecu
niary convulsion ; and whatever differences
of opinion may exist as to measures of gov
ernment policy, their merits and sacrifices
demand recognition and gratitude from the
whole mass of their countrymen.
This gigantic scheme for the employment
of negro troops at full rates of expense is,
therefore,. unwise as regards the prosecution
of the war, and operates unjustly as to our
citizen soldiery in service. In other words,
it is dangerous, profligate and unjust.
But limited space requires us to forego
further examination of particular points of
administration policy, (however instructive
and useful such examination might be,)
and to confine ourselves to some general
considerations which may be more briefly
presented. And these will relate to the
dangers which will threaten us (as results
of administration policy) during the war
and afterwards.
DANGERS CONNECT/O.N WITH THE WAR.
Under this head may be mentioned- the
state of our
FINANCES AND CURRENCY
- - •
The unnecessary waste of the public re
sources in the war ; the enormous sums ex
pended upon foolish and fruitless military
expeditions, (sometimes badly executed and
supported,) and the other enormous sums
corruptly or unwisely expended in obtain
ing supplies and materials of war, would,
of themselves, have been sufficient to
deeply injure the public credit, and to
create fears of our future ability to hear the
pecuniary burdens created by the war.—
And what ought to sting the minds of re
flecting men, is the consideration that the
general political policy of the administra
tion has been such that it has prolonged the
war by depriving us of allies and sympathy
in the enemy's country, and frittered away
the public energy upon other objects 'be
sides military success.
In addition to which stands forth the fact
that this occasion of war has been seized
upon to establish a system of government
of paper money, which has caused the pub
lic expenditures and the public debt to be
one-half greater than they would otherwise
have been, and introduced numerous and
most serious evils and dangers into all the
channels of commercial and business life.
The crash of ,this system, and the failure of
all the delusive hopes and arrangemenLs
based upon it, is not merely a possible, but
a probable event in the future. 'Phe ruin
and suffering which such an event would
entail camiot be overstated, and to avert it,
or to mitigate its force, is one of the main
objects which should be had in view in
settling our future policy. Upon questions
of currency and finance, we must revert to
the - ideas of former times, in' which alone
can safety be found.
In speaking of financial prospects and
future pecuniary conditions, we do not
overlook the fact that opinions very differ
ent from ours are expressed by the friends
of power. But the appearances of pros
perity to which they refer us, are delusive.
Production in the country is now decreased,
for great' umbers of laborers are employed
in the war, and abstracted from industrial
pursuits.
Increased rates of value
,press hardly
upon persons of fixed incomes, and upon
all who are disabled, or engaged in un
profitable employments.
The war does not create wealth but eon
comes it, and consumes also the laborers
by whom it is produced. It devours the
products of past and present industry, and
checks the growth of poptilation, upon
which future prosperity depends.
.thd the inevitable evils of a state of war
--the injury and destruction of material in
terests, the waste, spoliation and improvi
dence that characterize it—are aggravated
by profuse issues of government paper
money which incite to reckless expenditure,
public and private, and disguise for the
time the fearful consumption of wealth and
the sure approach of a day of suffering and
retribution.
FORED:N INTERVENTION
the mass of the people, in whom was to be
lodged the ultimate or sovereign power, a
prolomid repect for all private rights, and
for the lairs by which they are secured and
vindicated; and we will do well to act upon
their policy and follow hi their footsteps.—
They trod the road of safety and made it
plain before all succeeding generations, and
we will be recreant to duty and false to our
lineage if we surrender the principles to
v
which they held, or permit ourselves to be
deluded by those arguments of power
which they despised and leieeted.
Success itself in the odie, is policy now
urged by the Administration, of the subju
gation of one-third or more of th e st a t es of
the Union, were itpossible, could he so only
at the price of the liberty of the whois coun
try ; for our system would not admit of
military rule over them. Necessarily, popu
lations within them must conduct local
governments, and exercise the proper por
tion of power pertaining to them in the
Federal Government. In short, they could
not be held as conquered territories unless
`-we should change our whole constitutional
system and abandon altogether our experi
ment of freedom ; and therefore the impera
tive necessity of changing the issue between
the sections from one of conquest to one of
restoration. Men must be chosen for pub
lic station who will know how to save to a
bleeding country what is left, and restore
what is lost, by securing peace on constitu
tional and just terms.
CORRUPT GOVERNMENT
- -- •
Another danger to be considerpd is, cor
rupt government, the necessary conse
quence of urbitary principles practically
applied in the affairs of the nation, ur rather
an accompanying principle. The vast in
crease of officers in all branches of the
public service; the administration of a great
public debt, including the management of a
revenue system of gigantic proportions, will
create numerous avenues of corruption,
and when the government is administered
upon principles of coercion, it must neces
sarily subsidize large numbers of Persons
in order to maintain its authority. It is
ever thus that strong governments, as they
are called, must be corrupt ones, and the
interests of the great mass of the people be
sacrificed to the interests of classes or indi
viduals. A truly free government, where
the authority of the rulers is supported by
the free and uncoerced action of the people ;
where the laws are kept in perfect good
faith, and individual rights perfectly re
spected, is the only one which can he pure.
INSECURITI
But it is equally true that a free govern
ment, not one free in form merely, but in
Met, is the most secure, both as regards
danger from external three and from in
ternal convulsion. If it be established for
a people not base minded but civilized and
honorable, it will impart to them enormous
force for resisting foreign aggression, while
it preserves them from internal revolt. I . ii
questionably, under ordinary conditions,
that government is most secure which is
most free. But in the hands of a sectional
party the future of this country is not secure.
Not only is the danger of renewed rev, it
possibility of the future, but the dangers of
a foreign war are immensely increased. A_
disaffected population weakens-the govern
ment in resisting invasion, and if such dis
affection be sectional, then the.vountry has
a weak part tlinaigh foreig,n foe
may strike its effectual and fearful Mows.
CORRUPTION OF RACP
A still more important consideration re
mains to be stated. We mean the social
question—tlfe finest ion of the relations of
race—with which our rulers are so little
fitted to deal, child upon which. such ex
treme, offensk cc and dangerous opinilins
are held by their prominent scipporters.
Whatever may be determined as to the lleM,
nice among us, it is manifest it is unlined
• I ,
to participate n the exercise of pcmcieal
power, and that its incorporation, socially,
and upon a principle of equality with the
mass of caur countrymen, constitutes a dan
ger compared to which all other dangers
are insigmiticant. We suppose the men who
established. suffrage in this country, and
from time to time have subjected it to nett
regulation, proceeded upon the principle of
vesting it in those who were lined for its
exercise. Political powers being in their
nature conventional, it is proper that they
be established upon a basis of utility and
convenience, anti in such manner that they
will not be subjected to abuse. Pursuing
the same line of action pursued by our
fathers, suffrage is to be withhold from those
members of the social body who are mani
festly unfit to exercise it, and whose partici
pation therein must necessarily lead to
abuse. Manifestly, a race of mankind who
cannot support free institutions, regular
government, productive industry, and a
high degree of civilization, of Ulm uselves,
acting in au independent capacity, are unlit
for performing the functions of freemen in
conducting the business of government
among us. The argument of equality of
rights for all men fails in their case, because
of the absence of the conditions
it is tint-titled. In the organization of a
state, it is perfectly manifest that the social
body rannot be idattical With the 1101itleal ;
that vast nuMbers comprised within the
former are not to be included in the latter,
We do not, in this country, include females,
minors, unnatundized foreigners, particular
criminals, nor the insane ' among those who
exercise the right of sutfrage. incapacity
or unfitness exists, to a greater or less extent,
.with 1111 t hese extensive divisions of human
beings, and the same ground of eXelilSiOn
• preciSely exists in the case of the negro or
other inticrior race, who may be casually or
permanently placed among us. Chinese,
Malays, and the uncivilized Indians, WI
within the smile principle of exclusion.
There is 110 reason why any general ilea
pacity or insufficient capacity for clectorid
action should be ignored in the ease of one
of these classes and not in another. Our
governments were established by white
men and for white men and their posterity
forever, and it is for the common advantage
of all states and conditions of human beings,
that the exclusion of the inferior races from
suffrage should be permanently continued.
Thus only can this great experiment of
freedom, begun by our ancestors and con
tinued by us, be carried forward success
fully, and be made to accomplish the great
and beneficent results of which it is capable.
But the social aspect of this subject of the
" relations of race" is equally important with
the political, and intimately associated with
it. It is of the highest policy, it is of the
greatest necessity, that the races should be
kept distinct, socially ; that they should not
blend together to their mutual corruption
and destruction. 'fan example were needed
to admonish us upon this high point of policy
it would be furnished by the Spanish
Ameri
can republics, who have run their troubled
and inglorious career under our Misery:it ion,
and whose present condition may well
awaken the pity or contempt of mankind.
The Spaniard in the new world had nbt self
respect enough to keep himself uncontam
inated from the negro and the Indian, and
he inflicted upon his colonies all the curses
and horrors of hybridism, until their social
state has become degraded and poisoned
beyond apparent redemption. Throughout
all those extensive countries brought under
control by-the arms or policy of the Spanish
crown, and which, within the present centu
ry, anti in imitation of our example, have
assumed republican forms of government,
this disregard of natural law, this ignoring
of the differences of race, has been the pro
lific cause of the social. and political evils
which scourge and afflict those unhappy
countries. Social vices prevail to a fearful
extent; society is enfeebled and eaten out
by them; there is no steady, productive
labor, no increase of population, no uniform
and just administration of law ; but constant
revolutions and insecurity of all those rights
which governments are established to pro
tect and defend.
OPPOSITION TO BE ORGANIZED.
In view of the foregoing considerations,
and of many others which might be men
tioned, an appeal for popular action against
the evils of the time and the dangers which
threatens us, must be thought timely and
proper. The sure restoration of the union,
and of a true administration of our system
of constitutional government, await the
success of a great opposition party, actuated
by just aims, and inspired by an earnest,
patriotic determination to save the country
and perpetuate its liberties.
The idea of ignoring party in the accom
plishment of great public objects cannot be
accounted one of wisdom. Great masses of
men in a free country can act usefully and
steadily only through sorne organism which
combine their power and gives it direction.
Without organization, their strength Call
powerful when concentrated) is dissipated
and wasted, and the adventurous few seize
upon the powers of government, and pervert
them to their own sinister designs.
No truth is more certain than this, that the
destructive elements of society (for instance,
fanaticism and rapacity, by both of which we
are now afflicted) can be held in permanent
check in a republic only by uniting patriotic
and just men against them in some endur
ing association, which shall act steadily and
powerfully upon government and preserve
it in its due course.
The problem for us now to solve is this:
Are the people of the United States compe
tent to organize themselves in defense of
their system of free government and volun
tary union, or must they resort to a dictator,
armed with large powers, who will crush
faction and restore peace and union at the
sacrifice of liberty? Evil in the state will
not die out if left to ithelf...Soineinstrentent
adequate to its extirpatidn-tnest ratniglif
and found, in the direction of either dicta
torial or popular power.
Instead of looking to a dictator, to the
NIJMB.ER 29.
despotic principle to a strong executive
government of large and concentrated
powers, those who have faith in our Ameri
can principles will look to the people, and
will seek to rouse and organize them and
direct their united strength against the evils
of the time. Thus we believe the nation may
be saved, and saved by itself, and be prepar
ed to resume its career of posperity, rudely
interrupted by the war.
A great opposition party, made strong
enough to carry the elections of 186.1, is now
the appropriate instrument for national
redemption, and its success will be the
triumph of free government and will extri
cate us from the jaws of destruction.
That the party of the Admiuistration is
both vicious and incapable has been most
abundantly proved, and ought no longer to
be denied. It has failed to restore the Union
after three years of trial, though possessed
of all the powers of govenunent and of all
the resources of the country. And mean
tints it hits struck heavy blows at liberty-,
and is carrying us away from all the old
landmark s of policy and ailministration._
We are literally drifting towards destruc
tion, with use knowledge that those who
have charge of our vessel of state are unfit
to direct its court,.
But there is yet time to avert much of
calamity. The rutin, at least may be made
secure. To all who realty desire the Union
restored, and along
with it honest, constitu
tional
government, the appeal may now be
made to assist in elevating a party to power
which will be faithful to the Coastitution,
which will unite together the Union ele
ments of the whole country, will chastise
corruption and fanaticism from the public
administration, and will secure the future
from convulsion and despotism.
Let the fact sink deeply into the hearts of
our countrymen, that the great obstacle to
peace, to re-union, to integrity in public
affairs, and to the renewal of prosperity, is
the presence at the capital of the nation of
the chiefs of a sectional party, who have been
instrumental in plunging the nation into
"a sea of troubles," and who are both in
capable and unwilling to save it.
POLICY OF THE OPPOSITION.
Having already spoken with just, free
dom of the Administration and or its poi
icy,and conduct, we proceed to indicate the
- position and views of the opposition, who
contend with the Administration (hr the
possession of popular favor.
We hold that all laws duly established
and existing shall be kept, and kept as well
by persons in official station as by the mass
of the people. Disregard of law and of
rights established and guaranteed by it is
one of the great evils of which just Com
plaint must now be made. A' change of
Administration and of party power will se
cure throughout the whole country subject
to our jurisdiction, a just, faithful and uni
form administration of the laws by the
courts and Icy the Pr.esident and his subor
dinates, audit will secure in the Congress
of the United States, faithful obedience to
Ihr I'inst itut Wu and an honest construction
of the powers conferred by it upon the leg
islative authority. The interruption of jus
tice caused by an unnecessary suspension
of the /(when.( corpriN in the no revolted States
thrthwith terminate; arbitrary arrests
(Ir pots, /11:. iu civil life will become unknown,
told a pretended necessity overriding justice
and right, and made the pretext for various
ferias of oppression and injustice, will dis
appear before a returning sense of obliga
tion and duty in our rulers.
In the policy of. the get leral tiovernment
there wit] be no recognition of doctrines
which tend to the social debasement and
pollution of the people. The profligate and
pernicious theories which, antler the garb
of philanthropy . and a regard for human
rights, would overthrow the natural barri
ers between different races, and ignore
w Sol ty organic laws of dithirence between
them, will not be promoted or thvored in
th e policy of the government of the United
States.
There will he an earnest and proper effort
trade to retrace the steps already taken in
debasing the currency of the United States
Icy large and unnecessary issues of paper
money.; a system at 011(13 unauthorized and
injurious, winch impoverishes rho country
;old distributes the earnings of labor to
lauuls that have nut earned it, will invite
immediate revision and ultimate removal
from lire statute book of the 1 nited States.
The troops raised for the public service,
wheicver a necessity ibr raising them shall
exist, will taa rightfully obtained through
t he .igency of the State Governments and be
of Mred by State authority; thus securing,
in the IMsing of armies [Or extraordinary
occasions, the true intent and meaning of
the Constitution, and preserving the armies
of the [nit -a States limn undue political
control of the Federal Executive.
The action of the Government in its finan
cial disbursements and other features of its
administration, will be thrown open to full
investigation, and an earnest effort be made
to purge it in all its branches corruption.
Economy of outlay, so much spoken of
by those who now hold power previous to
their election and so little regarded by them
since, will be reinstated in the practice of
the Government as one of the essential rules
Hof its action.
The doctrine that the States shall possess
and exercise all ungranted powers, and
shall be free within their jurisdiction from
the encroachments of Federal authority,
shall be rigidly maintained. The system
of public revenue shall be adjusted so as to
bear equally upon all sections and inter- ,
ests, and the unnecessary increase of ()Bi
ters in collecting it, as well as in other de
partments of public service, shall he
avoided.
The exertion of public force in the war to
be exclusively for the object for which the
war was begun, to wit : the restoration of
the f and the jurisdiction of our laws
over the revolted country; and being con
fined to that object, and relieved from the
incumbrance of other objects, to be brought
to a speedy and honorable conclusion. But
further, it may be confidently asserted, that
an opposition triumph in our elections will
cull into existence moral forces more pow
erful even than physical force fur securing
peace upon the basis of reunion. And it
may lie the only means for securing that
great object, hitherto unrealized, and post
poned and prevented by the policy and in
capacity or our rulers.
Beside the revision of our domestic policy
and the restoration of constitutional princi
ples therein, the great objects Lo which we
look, are, the conclusion of the war and the
just determination of the questions con
nected therewith. The burden of this con
test has become intolerable. Patience has
been exhibited by the people of the United
hates to the utmost extent of tbrbearauce.
'Phey were told thu war would last but sixty
days; they were told that the south were
not united; they have been deluded through
iul contest, now more than three years
in duration, by promises of speedy success;
they have been told to trust mar applaud
military chieftains who were afteftwards re
tired from the service, and denounced and
calumniated by those who had !inculcated
their praise; they have seen a variety of
enterprises, both by land and water, mis
carry outright, or fail in securing the objects
for winch they were undertaken ; they have
seen the pt - ices of all the necessaries and
comforts of life go up to enormous rates be
yond the ability of all who are not rich, or
tavored by Government Patronage; they
have undergone domestic bereavement and
bitter sorrow hi all their homes, from losses
incurred in the war ; they have been con
stantly supplied with wise information
about current events, and have still offered
thenn promises of speedy and completestni
cess quite unwarranted by the past achieve
ments of their rulers, which ignore all the
real, indubitable difficulties, original and
created, which attend the struggle. But one
thing they have not been told—one great
and important fact has not been dissemina
ted under Government censorship, nor ap
peared anywhere in official documents—to
wit, that success in the war and the speedy
return of peace, have been all this time
prevented, and will be hindered if not pre
vented hereafter, by the evil and odious
policy and the incapacity of the Adminis
tration
These have united the South; these have
nerved the arms of Southern soldiers in the
field, and inspirited them to united, earnest,
determined resistance to our arms ; these, in
the darkest moments of the contest, have
rendered their s u bmiss ion impossible. They
and the populations they represent, have
seen before them the alternative of complete
independence on the one hand, as the possi
ble result to be achieved by valor, skill, and
endurance ; and on the other, as the result of
submission, confiscation, emancipation'.
disgrace, and the iron rule of the conqueror ;
and viewing their position as presenting'
only a choice between these results, they
have girded themselves up to herculean and.
desperate etlbrts, and still stand defiant and
unbroken.
It is not for us to foretell the future, but it.
is possible to conceive its dangers and to
matte reasonable provisions against them_
Certainly-, it is possible for the people ofthe
'United States, by selecting new rulers ,r t 6 put.
their publionitairs i including this business
of the War, upon a new footing—to remove
the main obstacle to peace and reunion,
which has impeded their great efforts
hitherto, and rendered their sufferings and
sacrifices unavailing for the objectfor which
they were incurred: This is. the great and.
nees,..ary work to be _done by Ahern in
regaii 'ng the road of safety, and to its_per
fornsVice.they are earnestly invited.
When the members of the presentadmit
istratiOn areiMileVed hone ,ppover r and pa
triode and jftefifert *Eire made Adsfill - ther
plaees, the people of the adhering sections of
the country will have done their part in re
moving the cause of war and the obetaala tR
- ItATESof ADYEAElnspiist.:
Bum:alma 'Am - v*erysiimzem• $n -a year - per
square of ten Use(' • ten per cent. increiasefOr
s r:Psosontriiruid - exti--
ste.AL: 7.an k ti se - for Jae
first, suid , 4 - anstefte sects sersrequent Mawr. •
Aoltimll morr•klinsnix andt . O Cher advar'sloyt
k r is coictinn,l ma,
column,4 ...... 00 MB
st ins
Third column, 1 year,- .... • 40 no
I=OlU/11ti,..; M-4114
Canoe one year , . •
Business CazG;lfieilliseior less, one _
•
AND mama NOTICZEEF-
- 6
Executors' notices.- SLOO
Administrators' notices, ZOO •
Assignees' notices, ZOO
Auditors' notices, 1.50 'f, -4
Paler J.Wotices," tetr.lines, or less,. .. •
Three times, /.50
- - _
peace, and will be represented by men oonx,
petent alike to conduct war and to secure
peace, who will call into existence, for the
redemption and reunion of the country
moral influences more potent than physical-.
force, and who will achieve their mission'
before exhaustion and intolerable suffering'
have been incurred.
RE COIN'STRUCTION
The propositions which should obtain the
'reconstruction of the Union are not difficult
of statement, and when contrasted with the
policy of the administration will appear Ao
peculiar advantage.
The first is, that the States shall stand as
before the war, except as to changes which
may be agreed upon between or among them-
The Constitution of the United'States is the
rightful and only bond of union for the States
composing the confederacy, and it is to
stand as it is, in its full intensity, until the
parties who are bound by it shall change its
terms or add to it new provisions. Any
other doctrine is revolutionary and destrnc
tive and to be utterly rejected, whether
founded upon Presidential preclannitions
or statutes enacted by Congress. The pow
ers of the Federal Government in all its
branches are confined within the provisiow,
of the Constitution and cannot transcend
' them. Therefore the Constitution as it is,
including its power of regular amendment,
is the leading doctrine of the great party
whichproposes to save the nation in this day
of its sore trial. Let the false and guilty
doctrine that the President of the United
States by proclamation, or the Congress
thereof by statute, can prescribe, alter, add
to or diminish the conditions of union be
tween the States be discarded at once and
forever, and most of the difficulties which
appear to attend the question of reconstruc
tion will wholly disappear. Those depart
ments of the Government are confined to.
particular legislative and executive duties,
and cannot touch or determine the relations
of the States with each other. That field of
power is sacred to the great organized Com
munities by whom the
can
was formed
and by whom alone it can be subjected to
modification or change. We have fought
to restore the Union, not to change it, much
less to subvert
,its fundamental principles,
and the accomplishment of its restoration is
the compensaffiffi we propose to ourselves
fur all the cost and sacrifices of the struggle.
But what is impossible to the President or
to Congress it is competent for the States, in
their sovereign capacity, by free mutual
consent, at the proper time, to perform.
The American States required a compact
of union to go through the war of the revo
lution, and it was made. Subsequently
they required an amended compact, crea
ting a mon: intimate union, to secure to
them the -. fruits of independence. From
their deliberations on the latter Ocea2l.oll
there resulted that most admirable instru
ment, the Constitution of the United States,
under which the republic has existed and
prospered for more than seventy years.—
And now, under our experience of revolt
and war and misgovernment, we may con
clude that additional securities for liberty
and Union should ho established in the
fundamental law. But these securities
must consist of limitations rather than .of
extensions of Federal authority, and must
not invade those fields of power which were
loft sacred to State jurisdiction in the origi
nal scheme of Union.
The constitution should provide against
the uncontrolled domination of sectional
parties, South or _North, in the Government
of the United States, as the most indispen
sable and vital regulation possible for our
safety and continued existence as a repub
lic. We refer upon this point to our re
marks at the beginning of the present ad
dress, as exhibiting the grounds upon which
this most important proposition may stand,
and as illustrating in its utility and neces
sity beyond all cavil or question. An ade
quate, real, and efficient cheek in govern
ment, securing a balance of power between
politic interests, is unquestionably the high
est and most important point in constitu
tional science; and it is most evident that
because our system has been found defec
tive in this particular, we are now involved
in war and scourged by misgovernment in
its most intolerable, odious, and lawless
forms. Tile checks already provided in our
Constitution, and which have been so salu
tary in their action and influence upon the
Government, must be supplemented by
some proper provision winch shall More
perfectly perform the office and function for
Willett they were designed. Fur it is now
proved amid the blood and tears of this na
tion, that all balance in our Government
may be lost and all its checks be found in
sufficient to curb the insolence and guilt of
faction and secure obedience to those fun
damental principles of liberty, law and
right, which were established by our fath
ers. We are at war, and blood Mows, and
wealth is wasted, and fanaticism runs riot,
and the Constitution is broken, and we are
bowed down by bitter grief and sorrow inall
our homes, because a sectional faction rules
the government of the United States, free
from restraint, or curb, or limitation of its
powers. And it should be made impossible
that this condition of things can again ex
ist, after we have once extricated ourselves
from the grasp of calamity.
There should also be a judicious limita
tion upon the distribution of federal patron
age. The prodigious growth and present
extent of that patronage in official appoint
ments, constitutes a fertile source of corrup
tion and danger. Nearly the whole mass of
federal appointments are poised every four
years upon a presidential election, intensi
tying and debasing the struggle for power,
and sowing the seeds of corruption broad
cast throughout the land. Purity, economy
and justice in government become almost
impossible under this system, and their re
storation and maintenance demand its
amendment. A change by which the great
body of public officers would hold for fixed
terms, and be removable only for lawful
cause, would bo one of great merit and
wisdom, and is among the most desirable
objects to be sought in our public policy.
MU=
Another proposition pertaining to recon
struction is, that as to individuals there
shall be amnesty except foritt.articular
offences. All the excesses of a State can
not be visited with judicial punishment.
Both necessity and policy require that, at
the conclusion of such struggle, the mantle
of oblivion shall cover the past. A nation
torn by civil war demands repose at its con-.
elusion, that society may' be reorganized
and that the passions and demoralization
produced by war may disappear before the
renewed action of moral forces. Laws of
confiscation and treason may be politic and
necessary to prevent, insurrection or to
check it in the outset, but they become inap
plicable when revolt has ripened into public
war, and one entire people are organized
against another. Penal enactments when
directed against a whole population are
odious and useless, and their tendency is to
prolong and intensify war, and to embar-.
rass or prevent its just conclusion. Their
office is to chastise individual offenders
within government jurisdiction, and not
entire communities contending for indepen
dence or other public object. Tee laws of war,
necessarily and properly obtain between the
parties to a war pending the contest, and
displace or supersede those of municipal
enactment. Amnesty therefore,, within the
limit of public salety, follows of course the
termination of such a contest as that In
which we are now engaged.
It may be added that clear justice requires.
that unionists who have dad from the re
volted country should be restored to their
estates, and that the particular wrongs in- •
dieted upon them should as far as possible
be redressed.
DEE=
- We have thus taken notice of several •
questions connected with the subject of re
construction and indicated our views upon
them. How mncb opposed those views are
to the policy of the Administration will ap-
pear upon the- most cursory examination.
They point to the determination and settle
ment of disputes upon a just and reason- • -
able basis, and to the security of the country
against the recurrence of war hereafter;
while the policy of the Administratkin.
points to a simple alternative between' the
subjugation and independence of the South. .
If we succeed in the war, we have a con- .
quered country to hold and govern as we: -
hest may ; and if we titil in the war, a rival-- •
and hostile power will be established beside:
us. The Administration has no instrument..
for national redemption, except physical: —
three (which it has shown itself hitherto in
competent to wield), and whether it suo-..L
ceed or fail, the future is encompassed with
danger. Representing radical and violent
elements of population among us, its party •
interests require of it an uncompromiams
and hostile attitude, not only , toward-Mal -
Confederate government, but to the whole,
southern people. In fact, the President
virtually announces to us in his bogus State •
proclamation, that he can trust no men irt,
the South, except under most stringent.- :
oaths of approval of his policy, and within
the direct military influence of the army.- -•
Under the present Administration, there
fore, each party to the war strives for 11-
clean victory or an utter - defeat, arierig:' -
agreement between them, except one ofitlis%-- , -
union, is proposed or is possible. We initti
mit to our countrymen t h at. this _statement
of fact pronounces the utter condemnation
of the Adm inistration, and establishes •
ly the argument for its removal from power •
and this, too, independent of the - other amp:23l
sideXatiouP Which we - /likYO , P3e*lntect.
poteiiwar, s iii - Capiihle of sec t ilt Az
and speedy peace, competent w aste '
the blood and resources of the people it
stands as fully condemned in its policy '
[Gbrisiudsd on tin /Vara Rio.]
'""