naiot4 Nuttltinfmat isTESDAY, sitTLY 5, 1865 'Mae printing presses shall be free to every person who undertakes to' examine the pro ,. eaddings of the legislature shallany branch of government; and no law ever be made to restrain the right thereof. The free commu nication of thought and opinions is one of the Invaluable righ of men; and every citizen may freely speak, write and print on any sub ject; being responsible for the abuse of that liberty. In prosecutions for the publication of papers investigating the official conduct of offi cers or men in public capacities, or where the matter published is proper for public. informa tion, the truth thereof maybe given in evi dence." THIS number of the Weekly Intelli :geneer is issued a day in advance of our usual publication day, in order to enable all connected with the establishment an opportunsty of properly celebrating the Fourth. The Fourth or July. The preparations for a general and enthusiastic celebrition of the National Anniversary on to-morrow are more extensive than have been known for years past. Throughout the North the day will be observed as a holiday, and there will be more than the usual amount of burning of powder, and of speech-making. This is all right and proper. That is a beautiful custom vhich consecrates certain days as sacred o the memory of our hero dead, and iets apart others as occasions of public ejoicing. It is a pleasant thing to see L nation's millions gather in grateful oemembrance of great deeds about the onseerated tomb of him who has justly von the proud title of a nation's bene actor. It is delightful to witness the ejoicing of a whole people, assembled D commemorate some great event in heir past history. The Fourth of July 3 our great national holiday. It should lways be properly celebrated by all vim can appreciate aright the grandeur )f the occasion, when, amid doubts, ind darkness and danger a': great na- Lion had its birth. We hail the uni versal disposition which has been ex hibited to make the celebration of to morrow more imposing than usual as a good omen. The day will be one of joy, but the rejoicings will not be unmixed with sadness, nor will the minds of thought ful men be free from anxious fears for the future.. With our shouts of glad ness will mingle deep sighs of regret for the ruin wrought by four years of the most sanguinary civil war. How many, many thousands of those who were brethren, children of a common country, born of a kindred blood, have fallen within the lust four years. They bat tled as heroes for what they believed to be right,. and they died with a heroic bravery which has never been sur passed. To-morrow we will think of those who laid down their lives to main tain the Union ; but if we are wise we will ask ourselves whether their lives might not have been spared to them selves, to their families, and to their country by a judicious spirit of compro mise? The present Fourth of July will be a good time for self-examination, a proper occasion for individual and national self-abasement. If we are truly patriotic we will show ourselves ready to sacrifice passion, and prejudice and all manner of selfish feelings upon the altar of our country's good. The war is over. We should all re joice that the bloody struggle has ended. It has left us weaker than we were. A half million of brave men lie stark and cold in their graves as its bleeding victims. Many think it might have been avoided, and there are multitudes who cannot see the good which has been accomplished by it. A huge national debt rests upon us, which must hang for a long time as a heavy weight upon the arm of industry, retarding our material prosperity. Oue section of the country lies wasted and almost destroyed. There is not a little f bitterness mingling with the nation's "oy in the great national holiday of to .. orrow. Wise men, Joking forward to the uture with anxious and patriotic hearts, :ee but dimly what is to be the result. I here are very many important ques ions staring us in the face, andimpera ively demanding to be met and answer -41. How shall we meet the great issues .f the day ? That is the question for s now Will we show ourselves able a rise above all partisan feelings, and o act as patriotic men, who know no iotive but the controlling one of the ountry's good, should do. If we can o this, all may yet be well with us, ad, by the time the next anniversary : our nation's birthday comes round, - e may be able to rejoice, without the ixieties and the fears that oppresS us w. May God grant that wisdom and toderation may guide our people in the iture; that the bonds of our glorious uion may be firmly cemented by the nly bond that ever firmly united us, le tie of love ; and that for all future :me, on every recurring anniversary of e Fourth of July, a united, prosper us, and happy people, knowing no orth and no South, may hail with y as their common inheritance, Amnion of laltes and a union of lands, A Ulllo o l2 none can sever, , Atanlon of hearts and a union of hands 2Utd the flag of our Union forever The lowa Republican Platform. :The Republican party of lowa have ut themselves very squarely upon the .rd in favor of negro suffrage and eg,ro equality. The fourth resolution reported from the Committee of Reso ‘tiono and adopted by the Convention, as follows : 4th:..Resolved, That with proper safe ards to the purity of the ballot box, le elective franchise should be based I .ort. loyalty to the Constitution and nion; :recognizing and affirming the ally of all men before Me law. Even that was not regarded as strong Xi. Russell, editor of the. Davenport zette, offered the following amend tent to the 4th resolution, which was lered as a minority report from the •mmittee on Resolutions : I" Therefore we are in favor of amend g the Constitution of our State by riking out the word " white" in the - tide on suffrage." The vote on the amendment was 513 i !a5 . ..244- nays. Thus ,it will be seen by what an im ense majority the Convention voted !erase the word white from the State institution of lowa. Conservative piiblicans of Pennsylvania can see bere the party with which they have ted,novi stands. The radical leaders !Isi',9* : England and the Northwestern 4tes have always controlled the party, given expression to its sentiments. tear word has been law for it in the ist: So it will be in the future. Every ke.cp.s.for that party from this day i bs.s. vote in favor of negro suffrage negro equality. It will be so ateil and so intepreted, no matter !I at sort of, a milk and water platform y be put forth to gull the people of nsylvania. ' '`'lmportant Decision. dge Miller, of the United States Su , e Court, rendered a very important -'on the other day, in St. Paul, He discharged a man who aid- Securing fraudulent exemptions, •'ho was indicted therefor, on the i that the provision of the draft as void, as it not fix a certain term s• , hment. The penalty provided , litriaonment. during the existence rebellion, and the court held that , hrtiamasibicf.tri ascertain any dell tingth of 'tide Nl impriSonment such a law. . The Hamilton Roads Conterenee. Statements of what took place at the celebrated peace conference in Hamp ton Roads, where President Lincoln and Secretary Seward met Alexander H. Stephens and other prominent rebels,. were published at the time. It appears that, as is not unusual in cases of this kind, some things that passed between the parties were kept back from the public. A Georgia newspaper (the Augusta Chronicle) has, published recently what purports to be a detailed statement of the conversation that occurred between President Lincoln and Mr. Seward on the one side, and Vice President Ste phens and Messrs. Hunter and Camp bell on the other. The materials for this statement, which is remarkable in some of its points, are said to have been furnished by Mr. Stephens himself, and to consist in part of oral communica tions made by him to the writer, and in part of the confidential written re port (never before published) furnished by the rebel commissioners to President Davis. From the report, which was signed by all three of the commission ers, the following significant extract is taken. It is illustrative of the liberal temper manifested on that occasion by President Lincoln: Mr. Seward then remarked : Mr. President, it is as well to inform these gentlemen that yesterday Congress act ed upon the amendment of the Consti tution abolishing slavery. Mr. Lincoln stated that was true, and suggested that there was a question as to the right of the insurgent states to re turn at once and claim aright to vote upon the amendment, to which the con currence of two-thirds of the states was required. He stated that it would be desirable to have the institution of slavery abolished by the consent of the people as soon as possible—he hoped within six years. He also stated that four hundred millions of dollars might be offered as compensation to the own ers ; and remarked: " You would be surprised were I to give you the names of those who favor that." The Chronicle also makes, on the au thority of Mr. Stephens, the following statement : Mr. Stephens came home with a new cause of sorrow, and those who said he talked of coming home to make war speq&hes and denounce the terms offer ed, go, ply lied. Before Mr. Lincoln's death, he thought he was doing a favor to him not to include that offer of four hundred millions in gold for the South ern slaves, in the published report, for it would be used to the injury of Mr. Lincoln lby those of his enemies who talk about taxation and the debt. The World says these remarkable statements, which, if true, are impor tant materials of history, raise two ques tions to which public curiosity willseek an answer; 1. It is probable that the main state ment—that relating to the offer by Pre sident Lincoln of the tour hundred mil lions—is true ? Supposing it true, who are the parties referred to by Mr. Lincoln whose ap proval of the offer would have surprised the rebel commissioners? The fact that the statement was made in a confidential report prepared by the commissioners for the information of Mr. Davis, and signed by all their names, creates a strong presumption of its truth, which can be rebutted only by evidence of its intrinsic improba• bility. If there be such improbability it certainly does not lie in any conflict between the offer and the tenor of Mr. Lincoln's antecedent views. In his second annual message, Mr. Lincoln said: "It is none the less true for hav ing been often said, that the people of the South are not more responsible for the introduction of this property than the people of the North; and when it is remembered how unhesitatingly we all use cotton and sugar, and share the profits of dealing in them, it may not be quite safe to say that the South has been more responsible than the North for its continuance. 1:1', then, for a common object, this property is to be sac rificed, is it not just that it be done at a common charge ?" A comparison of this passage in the message with the statement of the commissioners, ren ders the alleged offer entirely credible. The next question is, who Mr. Lin coln probably referred to in his dark intimation respecting those who ap proved of the offer. As he used the plural number, we can lift only one corner of the vail. Whoever may have been the surprising indorsers of 4 this offer, it is certain that Mr. Horace Greeley was its original proposer. In his letter to President Lincoln recom mending the Niagara Falls negotiation (surreptitiously published about the time of the Hampton Roads conference for the purpose of defaming Mr. Gree ley) he suggested, as one of his six points to constitute the basis of peace, the payment of four hundred millions in United States five per cent. bonds, as a compensation to the loyal owners of slaves, to be distributed among the States in the ratio of the slave popula tion; the share of each State to be at the absolute disposal of its Legislature. The paternity of the four hundred mil lion offer made by President Lincoln clearly belongs to Mr. Greeley. It would seem, from the statement of Mr. Lincoln, that when he showed it to others, it had the fortune to be indorsed in some very unexpected quarters. The facts here collated have only a historical interest ; but they throw a curious light on one of the most remark able transactions during the war. We dare say it was hardly surmised by those who violated confidence to pro cure the publication of Mr. Greeley's letter, that President Lincoln was, at that very time, giving the most scanda lous part of it the highest sanction it could possibly receive. Commerce of the United States Pursuant to the proclamation of the President, all the ports of the United States were reopened to the commerce of the world on Saturday last, the first of July. The past four years have witnessed a great decline in the commerce of this country. The ll'or/d is disposed to think that this decline is in a greater degree attributable to the Morrill tariff than to the Confederate cruisers ; but, without discussing this point, it sets before us the results of the period above mention ed on our commercial prosperity. It ap pears that in the year 1860 the commer cial movement of the United States stood as follows : Importations. Exportations. $400,122,29ti $362,163,041 making a general commercial move ment of more than $761,000,000. Three years of war sufficed to reduce this move ment to a little over $583,000,000, divid ed as follows Importations $252,187,587 By this fall of about thirty per cent. in the amount of the commercial activ ity we were put back to the point reach ed by us in 1853, makMg just about the same progress in a backward direction in three years of war which it had re quired ten years of peace for us to make in a forward direction. The results of the last year of the war, when fairly and fully tabulated, will show, we think, a still more unsatisfactory state of things as to our absolute commercial losses under the war, and the commercial policy which has prevailed in conse quence of the war. TILE NEW YORK FIRX Of Mellen & Co., soldgoods last year to the amount of over forty-two million dollars —542,000,000 A. T. Stewart's whole sale department sold over thirty-nine millions—s39,ooo,ooo. The amount sold in Stewart's retail department is not stated in the paper from which the above figures are obtained. On last Tuesday the Democratic State Convention of Vermont metat Burling ton, nominated a full ticket, and laid down a platform for the party in the present'eampaign. The reconstruction policy of President Johnson was. in dorsed as wise, proper" andjudicious.— This the Convention did from no Inter ested motives, and in so doing they gave utterance, not only to the views of the Democracy of Vermont, but of the party throughout the whole country. On the following day, last Wednes day, the Republican State Convention of Vermont assembled at Montpelier, nominated a ticket, and put forward a platform. That body refused to indorse President Johnson and his policy of re construction. The stumbling block in the road was the doctrine of negro suf frage. On that question the following resolutions were adopted by the conven tion : Resolved, That looking back to the happy experience of our own State in extending the largest liberty to native or naturalized citizen of quiet and peaceable behavior, irrespective of color or race, and forward to the inestimable blessings that will flow to the late slave States from a free, industrious, intelli gent, virtuous, peaceable and patriotic population ; we do respectfully and earnestly counsel the people of those States that they blot out forever from their statutes all laws pertaining to the late condition of slavery, and to con cede to all of their native and naturalized citizens, by Constitutional guaranty, equality of civil and political rights, leaving to each to reach.his proper so cial position by the character he bears and the merit lie fairly wins. Resolved, That on the failure of any reorganized State to give the guaranty named in the preceding resolutions, we insist that Congress shall use all its con stitutional powers, so as to secure a Re publican Government, both iu form and essence, to the people of such State. The meaning of those resolutions is too plain to be mistaken or misinter preted. The first resolution insolently demands that each Southern State shall confer entire political equality upon the whole negro population ; the second in sists that Congress shall, despite the acts of President Johnson and iu defi ance of the Constitution of the United States, and of the rights of the several States, refuse to allow a return of any State into the Union, except upon con dition of its accepting the fanatical idea of entire negro equality, as part of the fundamental law of its future existence. And this Congress, is urged to do, in the exercise of some imaginary power con ferred upon it by that clause of the Con stitution which says, " the United States shall guaranty to every State in this Union a Republican form of govern ment." Was there ever a more absurd con fusion of ideas. Here we have the as sembled wisemen of the Abolition party in one of the New England States, urg ing Congress to assume absolute and ar bitrary control of the local affairs of the Southern States for the purpose of forcing them, by pains and penalties, to adopt the ideas of a set of Yankee fanatics as part of the fundamental law of those States. And it is gravely sug gested that authority for thus institut ing a centralized despotism is to be found in the clause of the Constitution guaranteeing to every State in the Union a Republican form of govern ment. Such ridiculous reasoning, con clusions so widely dissevered from all connection with the premises laid down, could not be looked for in the public de liberations of any body except a Yan kee Abolition State Convention. To expect a rational set of resolutions from such a political gathering would be too much. The disposition to make a light upon President Johnson upon the subject of negro suffrage does not surprise us. The lowa State Convention led off in that direction. In Ohio there was much artful dodging for the purpose of evad ing the issue, but the N. Y. Tribune, and other leading Republican papers, claim that both the platform and the candidate in that State are all right on the great issue. Vermont comes out very plainly. It serves timely notice on Andy Johnson that what he declines to do will be done through the revolution ary agency of Congressional interfer ence. There will be storms - times in Congress during the next session.— We shall see fanaticism making its last fierce fight. It will be the struggle of New England ideas for uni versal rule. That the impracticable crack-brained philanthropists, who would plunge the nation into a new war for the furtherance of impossible theories will be defeated in the end we believe. But they will not give up the ghost without a desperate struggle and an immense amount of clamor. They know that the last hope of power for their party in the future hangs upon the doubtful thread of negro suffrage, and they will leave no stone unturned to ac complish their purposes. The real leaders of the Republican party are irrevocably committed to the doc trine. It is a party measure now, and by it, as a party, the organization must stand or fall. That the days of its po litical existence are numbered,we verily believe. All conservative men will speedily turn their backs upon it. Thou sands who have acted with it will speedily desert its ranks, and will find a resting place in the bosom of the great conservative political party of the coun try. At the Mayor's election in Norfolk, Va., on Saturday last, 824 votes were polled, of which Thomas C. Tahb, con servative Union, received 621, and Col. Stone, regular Union, 203. The Norfolk Old Dominion alleges that Col. Stone was defeated because the radical portion of the Union party who sustained Col. Stone advocated the extension of the right of suffrage to the colored popula tion. The radicals, it further alleges, were composed mostly of the old resi dents of Norfolk, while thesettlers from the North who were entitled to vote op posed giving the right of suffrage to the blacks, and either cast their ballots for Tabb or kept away from the polls. The same paper adds ; "A. majority of the voters understood that to vote the Stone ticket was voting in favor of negro suf frage, which is certainly very distasteful` to nine-tenths of the men who gave their votes for Col. Stone. No man, no matter how popular he may be as a good citizen or upright man, can succeed as a nominee with this incubus resting upon his ticket or party." The picture of Southern exhaustion presented almost surpasses belief. The Augusta (Ga.) TranBcript says, for in stance, that " the system of plunder (by disbanded and hungry rebel soldiers) inaugurated in some of our Southern cities will, unless speedily arrested, bring the whole people to starvation," and then mentions the sacking of Cam den, South Carolina, after this fashion : "The mob began with attacks upon the public stores, then private stables were sacked, then the supplies gathered at the depots for the suffering and starving poor of the city were carried off, then the wagons which brought in the chari ties of other cities were emptied, and evea the mules were taken from them, and then the cows upon which poor widows and orphans depended for sup port." Similar scenes are reported in various other places, from the Carolinas to Texas. To both races, whites and blacks, from the potomac river to the Gulf of Mexico, the all-engrossing ques tion is uow the queption 9f subsistence, the question of;food; riot. only fof next winter, but.for the present day, Exportations $331,609,459 Oppbsing President To The Election at Norfolk Starvation in the South BEnlieit On'the P 11166. That great embodiment of original sin andwickedness ' 'James Gordon Ben -nett, orthe *ew York Herald, who has devoted his energies for Ihe last . four - *ears to the work , mangrking the chaincterof Mr. Buchanan and other psting4ished Democrats, ha's just been place4.o a pillory which will afford the whole 'country an opportunity of seeing him as he is. Standing on this pillory and looking back over a long life devoted to the ac quisition of wealth at the expense of truth, honor and justice,: well plight he exclaim with 316kanna— "Here ! judge Intel), with all its power to damn, Can add one blot to the foul thing I am!" The Richmond Commercial Bulletin, of the 22d instant, contains the follow ing statement of a fact: , " James Gordon Bennett not only the implacable foe of the South, but likewise of the United States entire ; in fact, the enemy of all who do not offer to reward him. This is the editor who has taken a most active part in the past war. He was the first to agitate secession; and at one time absolute-. ly advocated the secession of New York city in 1861, as an independent city,' but the abolitionists, both of New England and other Northern States, knew his weakness, and he was, therefore, easily converted to their bloodthirsty views by the sight of gold. " It has been whispered that in the be ginning of the war, this self-same `old man' wrote a letter to Mr. Davis, then the Presi dent of the Confederate States, offering to support the policy of his government for the sum of fifty thousand pounds sterling—this is reported to be a tact by men of influence who are presumed to know ; and as Mr. Davis is now a prisoner in the hands of the government, we most respectfully suggest that he be called upon to acknowledge whether or not our assertion is correct. Mr. Davis refused this disgusting proposition, a.s all gentlemen would have done, and hence the malignity of this poor old man' to the South." The New York World confirms this charge of the Richmond paper, It says : That Bennett asked Mr. Davis to give him 150,000 to support and advocate the rebellion, and that Mr. Davis declined the offer, we have known for some months. The fact was stated to us by a gentleman to whom Mr. Davis himself alleged it—a gentleman whose word would not be doubted were we at liberty to mention his name, and who, although politically opposed to him, yet enjoyed his personal confidence, and between whom and the rebel president there was such intimacy that to him first, Mr. Davis communicated the dispatch of General Lee urging the evacuation of Richmond. If our recollection serves us, Bennett, in his offer to Mr. Davis, stipulated that this £50,000 should be deposited to his credit abroad, and also that the rebel government should make good any losses he might incur in advocating its cause. Mr. Davis declined the offer, preferring to establish an open, honest organ, the Index, in Loudon, and there by showed a very correct appreciation of the Hera/l's utter lack of political weight and influence, its probable treachery, its certain cowardice, as shown when it was compelled to hoist the stars and stripes, and its capacity to make ktuy cause odious by its support. A Result of Partisan Bitterness The Radicals have been making des perate efforts in many of the prominent towns throughout this State to capture the Fourth of July for partisan pur poses. In getting up celebrations they have generally insisted upon making a prominent display of their extravagan cies of opinion, for the purpose of po litical effect. They have ignored Dem ocrats wherever they could manage to do so, and have kept up the warn-out slang about Copperheads, disloyalty, &c. The result is, that the Democrats have resented the insults thus attempted to be put upon them ; and in many towns in the State each party will celebrate the day after its own fashion. It is safe to predict that there will be more gen uine love of country, and more unselfish patriotism exhibited at Democratic cele brations thanat those of their opponents. The Democracy will celebrate the day as their fathers did, with unalloyed de votion to the Union, and unbounded love for one common country. General Sherman at home 6eneral Sherman reached his home at Lancaster, Ohio, on Saturday, June 24th. He was warmly welcomed by his old friends and neighbors, and his re spouse among other things, read : " The past is now with the historian, but we must still grapple with the fu ture. In this we need a guide, and for tunately for us all, we can trust the Constitution which has safely brought us through the gloom and danger of the past. Let each State take care of its own local interests and affairs, Ohio of hers, Louisiana of hers, Wisconsin of hers, and I believe the best results will follow. You all know well that I have lived much at the South, and I say that though we have been bitter and fierce enemies in the war, we must trust this people again in peace. The bad men among them will separate from those who ask for order and peace, and when the people do thus separate, we cau en courage the good, and, if need be, we can cut the head of the bad off at one blow. Let the present take care of the present, and with the faith inspired by the past, we can trust the future to the future. The Governmen tof the United States and the Constitution of our fath ers have proven their strength and power in time of war, and we can safely trust them now in peace, and I believe oor whole country will be even more brilliant in the vast and unknown fu ture than in the past.'' Missouri An immense meeting was held at St. Louis, on the 19th instant, to denounce the action of Governor Fletcher in re moving the Judges of the Supreme Court of that State by military force. The result of the deliberation of the meeting was the declaration that " the most dangerous and guiltiest of crimi nals " was theman who, entrusted with power, abused that power " for pur poses of lawlessness and tyranny." It was charged that Governor Fletcher was that man ; that his outrage upon the majesty of the law is not to be par doned until those who were lawlessly placed in power were by lawful means ejected from their places. Finally, those present at the meeting solemnly pledged themselves not to rest or slum ber until, with all the ceremonials of criminal justice, sentence is passed upon the chief offenders. Organization of Invalid Companies for the gegular Army Discontinued. The necessity for the services of the invalid companies of the regular army, authorized by paragraph five of General Orders No. 245, of 1863, baying ceased, the War Department has ordered those organizations to be discontinued. Com manding officers of depots are ordered to at once cause a careful medical exami nation to be made of the enlisted men composing them. All men who are not now, or who are not likely to become, capable of performing field duty, will at once be discharged on the usual medical certificates. The remainder will be for warded to their companies as rapidly as their condition will permit. The Russian Plague The following copy of a letter, address ed to the Acting Secretary of State, has been received at the custom-house in New York : UNITED STATES CONSULATE PORT MAHON, May 31, 1865. 5 Hon. W. Hunter, Acting Secretary of State to the United States: SIR: I have the honor to inform the department that, front various sources, information has been received here that the Russian plague is extending west ward more rapidly than is generally sup posed. Some of the faculty call it con tagious, others do not. I would respectfully suggest that all cargoes arKivipg in the United States from Russian of Turkish ports be sub ? jpcted to a rigipi scrutiny before landing,, oppecially hedding, clothing, rags, etc. The ,disease is said to be the same as that *doh yisited over. a century I have the honqr to be your.obedient spivant, H. 13. RUT/CSC:ON; COIISUIe Are tbe'Sen rs-regroes nestlned to Extlnetton? From,ther N 7 ' .. York World.] Thiff efftioe, which has been started grave.‘e public journals , is of such grave *melt es to deserve adliquato.4bli-, cussitl. it firdoubtless impossible ,i'.iap pros*l it-in a spirit of independence, without hocking great numbers of IR°- . pie. The same kind of shallow eeati mentalisrii that raised a general 'Outcry against Mr. Malthus when he first pro mulgated the true theory of population, will be even more offended at the idea of the extinction of an existing race of people. - But as all living Must die; why should anybody be:startled at the idea that now existing negroes•willeertainly die too? Extinction will come, if stall, by fewer and fewer negroes being born. The arguments applicable to this sub ject are simply an extension of the Mal thusian theory; and there is no more reason why humane people should be shocked by what we have to offer on this question than at the well-establish ed principles of Mr. Malthus. The vigor of the procreative principle will cause any population (bating ex ceptional conditions) to overtake and press hard upon the means of subsist ence. At the present rate of increase, the white population of the United States would, in a century from this time, amount to three hundred millions ; and then, if it continued to double every thirty years, it would quickly outstrip the capacity of the country to support it. Before the end of this century the checks which prevent the populations of Europe from multiplying at the same rapid rate as ours, will begin to operate with some vigor in this country; and they will become constantly more effi cient. Now, as births of some kind must be prevented, in virtue of the irresistible law demonstrated by Malthus, why not the births of negroes as well as the births of whites? And as the negroes are an inferior race, why not the births of ue groes rather than the births of whites? Will it not be better that the country, when fully settled, shall be peopled from the stook of white Europeans, confessedly superior to all others, than by an intermixture of whites and ne groes? If there are tears to be shed over the doomed race, let them be re served till the extinction of the aborigi nal inhabitants of the country has been duly wept. In this preliminary stage of the dis cussion we will confine ourselves to a statement and elucidation of some of the facts which will form the basis of subsequent reasoning. It is a fact sus ceptible of conclusive proof, that the free negroes of the United States are more subject to disease, more given to vice and crime, and less prolific in births, than negroes in a state of slavery. At tention was first drawn to this subject after the census of 1840. By that cen sus, it appeared that the number of in sane, deaf, dumb, and blind among the negro population of the free States was far larger, in proportion, than either among the slaves of the South, or the white population of the free States.— The facts then disclosed were made a ground for impeaching the accuracy of the census and representations were made to the Department of State, which then had charge of the Census Bureau, the Department of the Interior not hav ing yet been created. The Secretary of State thereupon opened communica tions with the state governments, and instituted other inquiries, the result of which bore out the statements of the census. It was ascertained, among other things, from the prison records of the several free States that the number of negroes undergoing penalties, in 1840 and the two or three subsequent years, uniformly bore a much larger propor- tion to the whole negro population of those states, than the number of white criminals did to the white population. Each census since taken has enlarged the subjects of inquiry ; and since that of 1860, it may be considered as settled, that the physical, moral, and sanitary condition of the free negroes is not only inferior to that of the white population (which is evident withoutstatistics) but inferior to that of negroes in a state of slavery. As we can expect little atten tion to our inferences on this subject without a complete authentication of the facts from which they are drawn, we shall make copious extracts of inter esting matter from the census of 1860: In the interval from 1850 to 1860 the total free colored population of the Uni ted States increased from 434,449 to 487,- 970, or at the rate of 12.33 per cent. in ten years, showing an annual increase of above one per cent. This result in cludes the number of slaves liberated and those who have escaped from their owners, together with the natural in crease. In the same decade the slave population, omitting those of the Indian tribes west of Arkansas, increased 23.39 per cent., and the white population 37.97 per cent., which rates exceed that of the free colored by two-fold and three-fold, respectively. Inversely, these compa risons imply an excessive mortality among the free colored, which is partic ularly evident in the large cities.— Thus, in Boston during the five years ending with 1859, the city regis trar observes : "The number of colored births was one less than the number of marriages, and the deaths exceed ed the births in the proportion of nearly two to one." In Providence, where a. very correct, registry has been iu operation under the superintendence of Dr. Snow, the deaths are one in twenty-four of the colored ; and in Philadelphia, during the last six mouths of the census year, the new city registration gives 148 births against 306 deaths among the free color ed. Taking town and country together, however, the results are more favorable. In the state registries of Rhode Island and Connecticut, where the distinction of color has been specified, the yearly deaths of the blaCks and mulattoeshave generally, though not uniformly,exCeed ed the yearly births—a high rate of mor tality, chiefly ascribed to consumption and her diseases of the respiratory sys tem:, The striking and instructive facts here stated will be perceived to have an inti mate bearing on the great problem of the ultimate destiny of the American freedmen. Although the ranks of the free negroes were recruited, in the ten years, by those manumitted by their masters and those who escaped by their own enterprise, they did not increase half so fast, in proportion, as the negroes in slavery ; and only one-third as fast as the white population of the country. It is fair to infer that whenever the checks on procreative vigor shall come into full action in this country, they will operate with far greater force in the pre vention of negro than of white births. They were already operating as power fully on the free negroes, in this land of good wages and abundance, between the years 1850 and 1860, as among the crowded and half-pauper populations of Europe. The cause of this fact will hereafter be reinforced and intensified by new influ ences, which we will specify in a subse quent article. One of the most import ant of the causes heretofore in operation, is so well demonstrated in the following extract from the last census report, that, we need not make no apology for its length : One great cause of the declension of the free people of color in some portions of the country, and their slow increase in other parts, arises, doubtless, from their greater indifference, as a class, to virtuous moral , restraint, attributable, in part, to the, fact of the entire free colored population corning, not very re motely, from a state of slavery wbere tut little respect was paid to parental rights, or to the conjugal •relation, and perhaps, in part; to a condition or estate which tends to depress those : ambitious aspirations wilicb are not barren pf effect in the promotioa of virtue. That - ii - tatti - of slavery here, from a country without history, literature, or laws, whose peo ple rennin in barbarism, should not have beim able to attain to an equality in morabiwith their intellectuaisuperi ors, ittqint sttrPriaing.' - . itts - faet, When vwcontdder 'the ohstaclei which haVo: interposed to impede their advanci‘i r ment, it mint lie admitted th at their: .. ppgress as aclass has been atiTreat as circurnatancekv-rould allow. The extent to which they are susceptible of culthre must be left for the future to determine. That an unfavorable moral condition has existed and continues among the free coliired, be the cause what it may, notwithstanding the great number of excellent people included in that popu lation, no one can for -a moment doubt who will consider that with, them an element exists whieh 'ls' to sotriettent positive, and that is the factor there be ing more than' half as many mulattoes as blacks, forming, as they do, thirty six and one-fourth per cent. of the whole colored population ; and they are maternally descendants of the colored race, as it is well known that no appre ciable amount of this admixture is the result of marriagp be i tween white and black, or the progeny of white mothers —a fact showing that whatever deterio ration may be the consequence of this alloyage is incurred by the colored race. Where such a proportion of the mixed race exists, it may reasonably be inferred that the barriers to license are not more insuperable among those of the same color. That corruption of morals pro ceeds with greater admixture of races and that the product of vice stimulates the propensity to immorality, is as evi dent to observation as it is natural to circumstances. These developments of the census, to a good degree, explain the slow progress of the free colored popu lation in the Northern States, and indi cate, with unerring certainty, the grad ual extinction of that people the more rapidly as, whether free or slave, they become diffused among the dominant race. There are, however, other causes, al though in themselves not sufficient to account for the, great excess of deaths over births, as is found to occurin some Northern cities, and these are such as are incident to incongenial climate and a condition involving all the exposure and hardships which accompany a peo ple of lower caste. As but two censuses have been taken which discriminate between blacks and mulattoes, it is not yet so easy to determine how far the ad mixture of the races affects their vital power; but the developments already made would indicate that the mingling of the races is more unfavorable to vitali ty than a condition of slavery, which practically ignores marriage to the ex clusion of the admixture of races, has proved--for among the slaves the natural increase has been as high as three per cent., while the proportion of mulattoes at the present period reaches but 10.41 per cent. in the slave popula tion. Among the free colored in the Southern States the admixture of races appears to have progressed at a some what less ratio than, at the North, by the longer period of their freedom in the midst of the dominant and more numerous race, and the supposition of more mulattoes than blacks having es caped or been manumitted from slavery. The extinction of slavery, in widen ing the field for white labor and enter prise, will tend to reduce the rate of in crease of the colored race, while its dif fusion will lead to a more rapid admix ture, the tendency of which, judging from the past, will be to impair it phy sically without improving it morally. With the lights before us, it seems quite rational to conclude that we need not look forward to centuries to develop the fact that the white race is no more favorable to the progress of the African race in its midst than it has been to the perpetuity of the Indian on its borders, and that, as has been the case in all othercountries, on this continent, where the blacks were once numerous, the colored population in America, wher ever, either free or slave, it must in number and condition be greatly subor dinate to the white race, is doomed to comparatively rapid absorption or ex tinction. How this result is to be avert ed, partially at least, we leave to the de termination of others, feeling our duty accomplished in developing the facts as the figures of the census reveal them respecting the past. We suppose the great number of mulatoes among the free negroes results from the fact that the bulk of the slaves lived on rural plantations, and a large proportion of the free negroes, in cities. The consequence is, tbat the free negresses come oftener into contact with beastly, profligate whites, who become fathers of their offspring. The general licentiousness which pre vails among the free negroes is unfavor able to procreation, for the same physio logical reasons that prostitutes are not prolific. This terrible vice, which is rapidly exterminating the Sandwich Islanders, and slowly wasting away our Indian tribes, is the common curse of inferior races in contact with civiliza tion. But it is principally the powerful causes that will now reinforce it, that lead us to apprehend the speedy extinc tion of the freedmen. New England The Middle, Western and Southern States have but little reason to love New England. It has always been the hot bed of fanaticism, and the fruitful source of hurtful political excitement. Its rep resentation in the United States Senate, being so disproportionately large, has given to it an undue preponderance of power in the national councils. Had this power not been so frequently misused, no complaints would ever have arisen ; but, it is a fact that there is to-day a growing feeling of discontent in regard to that matter. The great States are be ginning to ask why New England, with her comparatively diminutive terri torial extent and meagre population, should be allowed so large a representa tion in the Senate and the Electoral College ? It is not likely that this feel ing will decrease with time. It is pos sible, nay quite probable, that before five years this matter of representation in the Senate and Electoral College, in proportion to population, will become a political issue. Some of the conserva tive journals of that section see indica tions of the coming struggle. The Man chester (New Hampshire) Union has the following excellent editorial on the sub ject: Robert Dale Owen has published a letter on negro suffrage, in which he takes ground something like this : If only the whites are allowed to vote at the South ; it will take only about half as many voters to elect a member of Congress there as here, inasmuch as the apportionment is not upon the number of voters, but upon the population. The federal constitution guarantees to the States a republican forma government, and the basis of republicanism is the equality of all citizens; and to fulfill this guarantee it bas the power to impose ne gro suffrage upon the South—to establish an equality, not between the blacks and whites, but between white men North and white men South. The theory is absurd enough in itself, but see how it would work if impartially applied : New England has twelve Senators, and New York, with a greater population, has only two. Why should not this in equality be rectified as well as the other? New England will suffer most from the working of her own theories, if they are carried out. The abo lition of slavery, if it is abol ished, gives the Southern States about fourteen additionfdrepresentatives ; va rious causes set in operation by the war, will tend inevitably to diminish the population and in fluence of this section ; the clamor for " equality" prevalent here in so many forms, if it amounts to anything, will " equalize " her worse than anybody else; and in the end shorn of her political and .commercial influence, she will stand only as a monument of her own folly, a wariAillg to meddlers in other people's busi ness, and a sink of moral, social, political and religious infidelity and rottenness. Another ten years like the last, and this language will notaeem too strong. Iler only salvation is to subside into decent humility, purge her self of her own corrnptiOns, and leave the chief part in national affairs to those whose temper has not been soured, nor their conscience seared, nor their hearts hardened by a life-long crusade against all men's sips—actual and hypothetical -.except their own, Tllie PresAtTailvii Piney: Interview between Mr. Johnson and Gen. Logan—A Discussion of Policy, in witielt Negro Suffrage is Touched triton.. [Springfield Correspondence Mow Bea.l ()Ntlie,Olst of Iday,.while at Wash ington, Gen. Logan calledtopay-,bis te spects to President. Johnson, and was most cordially . received. I am able to giva the:#illoaring of: the con virsatioitivhieh took place at the inter view, through the politeness of a gentle man who was present: General Logan commenced by con gratulating the President upon the con servative policy which he hadinitiated, and which was already productive of such excellent results. Hesaid that the era of war was necessnrily closed, and that of reason and conciliation opened ; and that it was essential to peace that the passions of both sections should now be allayed by kindly and considerate, yet firm, action on the part of the Ex ecutive, and he looked upon the Presi dent's as such. President Johnson replied that he de sired to have the seceded States return back to their former condition as quick ly as possible. Slavery had been the cause of the war. That cause was now, most happily, removed, and consequent ly he desired to see the Union restored as it was previously to the war, or, as the President laughingly remarked, us our Democratic friends used to say, " the Constitution as it is, the Union as it was," always saving and except slavery, that had been abolished. The war has decided that and forever. A gentleman present spoke of negro suffrage, and suggested that, in recon structing the Union, it would be neces sary to disfranchise some leading rebels and enfranchise others (meaning loyal colored people,) or that the case of the Virginia legislature reassembling would be repeated over again. The gentleman is a strong advocate of negro suffrage. The President replied that the case of the Virginia Legislature was easily dis posed of; that it had no power as a legislative body, and that it could do nothing anyhow. With regard to the extension of suffrage, the sentiment of the country at present appeared to tend towards a restriction rather than an ex tension of the right of suffrage generally. Gen. Logan seconded the views of the President on the above, arld then said that it might not be politic to give the rebels the right of suffrage immediately. He thought that it might be found ad visable at first to hold them in a sort of pupilage, by military force. As soon as they could be trusted, then give them the same power they possessed before. The general also remarked that the wheel of reconstruction was a large and ponderous one, and that many who would take their stand upon it would be ground to powder. He had been fight ing for four years to save the Union. He now proposed that those who desired to reconstruct it might go in and see what they could do. For his part he felt inclined to be rather a looker-on than an active participant in the contest which would naturally grow out of it. The President said : " General, there's no such thing as reconstruction. These States have not gone out of the Union, therefore, reconstruction is unnecessary. I do not mean to treat them as inchoate States, but merely as existing under a temporary suspension of their GOvern• ment, provided always they elect loyal men. The doctrine of coercion to pre serve a State in the Union has been vindicated by the people. It is the province of the Executive to see that the will of the people is carried out in the rehabilitation of these rebellious States, once more under the authority as well as the protection of the Union." General Logan responded, " That's The President then passed on to the question of the public debt. He said that the finances of the country were in a hopeful condition ; that probably it was possible to resume specie payments immediately, were it not for the com mercial distress it would create through out the country generally. As to the public debt of the country, he was in favor of paying it to the last dollar, and would never countenance any man, party, sect, or measure that even squ i nt ed at repudiation in any form. The debt was incurred to save the country. It was a legacy of the war bequeathed to us for good or evil. It was not possi ble to shirk it. On the other hand, the great question would be to make it, if possible, an instrument of good, not evil, to the public generally. The above is the substance of the con versation between these two distinguish ed men, brought up in the same party, and it seems to me that its purport is re assuring to the loyal masses of the country. On the question of negro suf frage the President appeared to be some what non-committal, probably, like Mr. Lincoln on emancipation, waiting to feel the public pulse upon it, and then acting as he thought they would desire him to act. Platform of the Vermont Democracy The following series of resolutions was unanimously adopted by the late Democratic State Convention of Ver mont : Resolved, That we have renewed con fidence in, and veneration for, Demo cratic principles. Because those princi ples were disregarded we have been af flicted with one of the worst civil wars that the world has ever known, destroy ing probably half a million ofour citizens in the prime of life and the vigor of health, and oppressing us and our pos terity with a national debt of more than four thousand millions of dollars and the consequent taxation to provide for the same ; and, deploring these and other evils to the country which have come upon it in consequence of a disre gard of the principles of the national Democratic party, we have to-day re newed devotion to that party and its principles as the only basis of national liberty and self-government. Resolved, That armed resistance to the general Government having ceased in all the States, civil law should im mediately be restored, not only in the States which have been true to the gen eral government, and which have been arbitrarily and unjustly deprived of it, but throughout the whole country. Resolved, That this being the military condition of the country, the control of the several States, as they existed before the rebellion, should at once be given to the white citizens thereof who have borne true allegiance to the general gov ernment, and those who will now take an oath to hereafter bear true allegiance to the national government. Resolved, That believing with theim mortal Douglas that the government of the country was organized for, and should be controlled by the white race therein and the good of all will best be promoted by confining the right of suf frage to the white citizens thereof, we are unalterably opposed to conferring the right of suffrage upon the ignorant negroes of the country. Resolved, That we congratulate the men composing the Democratic party upon their patience and patriotism dur ing the crisis through which the country has passed. They have done their duty as good citizens, and no amoCmt of party misrepresentation will prevent the country and the world from extolling a misrepresented and oppressed party for those virtues. Resolved, That in the wise and con stitutional policy of President Johnson to restore all the States to their consti tutional position, reinvesting them with rights and corresponding duties, and cementing anew the integrity of the Government, we discern a most happy augury that the malignity which strife and collision have engendered may be utterly supplanted by the fraternity which enabled our fathers to form the Constitution and create the Union; and if with Jacksonian firmness he will maintain his policy against the plot tinge of treason on the one hand and the raving and ribaldry of fanaticism on the other, we tender to him our earnest and undivided support. Resolved, That our grateful thanks are due, and are hereby tendered, to the gallant soldiers of the army, who, by their bravery and self-sacrificing labors • in the field, have subdued the rebellion, and thereby have i►obly vindicated the declaration made by the immortal Jack son—" The Union shall be preserved !" APPointnient of Provisional Governor for South Carolina. President Johnson has appointed Ben jamin F. Perry Provisional Governor of South Carolina. The, proclamation is similar to that issued in relation to the other iittltes. Florida is the only State hi which similar action has not been taken. Its case will be attended to speedily. Wisdom and moderation are all that are needed to insure the speedy restoration of all theas States to the 1:7149a. 1, • YOrGollstifor-Welbrottouletantre, e vernor, J:eig 1 iNyellii:of • •Xiouisiana ' who •as heralded to theivorldas agood Unio man when' elected, has , brought• down upon hie! head the.- wrath :,of Greele by a speech he recently . deliver: at New OrleMis. The speech is so litt • compliinentary to the radical Abolitio ists, and so truthfully severe upon the , that we, do not wonder at the ire Of he white-hatted.philoiiiipher. But, whil Horace fumes and frets, the conservati e masses of the country will indorse th views of Governor Wells.— He said: . • . . • "It must e perceptible to every one who is at . conversant with the,Roliti cal history the country;That - the radl; cal•abolition arty is brglien, up, disor ganized and emoralized, despite their ci apparent sue during the present war. ' The offici corruption, unequalled by any partywhich has ever preceded or may ever s teed it, has rendered them obnosio to the American people. • " The heavy ation which muSt,ne cessarily follo to pay the enormous debt of this wa ; and which must con tinue for the n -t half-century, fixes an odium upon th party which will out live the party its .j. "Then to wh are we to look for the healing of tin national wounds? Is it not to those who have taken national conservative grcemds, and who have ever, during this war, advocated con servative principles—those principles advocated in past rears by the old Whig party, and more rently by the conser vatives of the Reptblican party and of the Democracy, and under whose be nign teachings wee, have grown and prospered as a nation? "Our President, Andrew Johnson, has ever been a conservative. Democrat. In his hands is plated the destiny of this nation, and from hini we have nothing to fear, but Oeuthing to hope. I bespeak for his Administration one of the brightest pages iu our history; - and under this Administrttion, fellow-citi zens, looking to him far protection and taking his policy as our guide, must we organize our State Government. Every effort will be made by the radical Abo lition party to prevent the return of power to the conservatives of the South, and all the elements of 'opposition will combine to prevent their success ; and one of their formidable auxiliaries, as they suppose, is to extend the right of suffrage to that class of persons recently in possession of their freedom. "This has been too clearly fore shadowed by the political adventurers who have come among us to have es caped attention. • " This, then, will be a question for your future action ; and if, after having taken this country from the Red man, and holding it for more than a century, you have become so charitable as togive it to the black man, I can only subrait, and bow to the will of the people. The• power granted to the several States by the Constitution of the United States to. regulate this question of suffrage is plain to all. " It clearly belongs to the people . Oil I shall abide their decision." Letter from General Ewell Giving Ills Reasons for 'Deserting the Old Flag. [From the St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer.. A gentleman of St. Paul, who was formerly a non-commissioned officer in General .(then Captain) Ewell's com pany of the regular army, wrote a friend ly letter to his old commander a few weeks ago, and has received the follow ing reply, which he has permitted us to publish on account of theexplanation it affords of the motives and inducements which led General Ewell to embrace the secession cause. The letter is as follows: FORT WARREN, B. H., 1, June 13th, 1865. J DEAR SIR—I was highly gratified at the receipts of yours of the 30th ult. Long experience has given me very dif ferent views in regard to the responsi bilities of an officer from those with which I left West Point. where a few mathematical formulas, never used afterwards, and abstruse branches of science, were dwelt upon, to the utter exclusion of the duties and responsibili ties that were to occupy our lives. It is therefore highly gratifying that I have the testimony of one companion in arms that I made some friends among the soldiers—a portion of humanity where the treatment of the best is measured often by what the worst deserve, and whom kis easier to govern by the harsh est rules than to take the trouble to dis criminate between good and bad, and to make the profession easier when possi ble. After the time of which you writo tuy health suffered terribly for years, not much tothe improvement of my temper, mid I remember with regretmuoli harsh language and conduct towards men who. showed themselves better able to control. themselves than I could control myself. However, I always tried to be just in the long run, and while the discipline and good behavior of my company was notorious, I hope I may say no man, was made worse by service with me„ and many of the boys discharged from my company became valuable and in dustrious citizens. I never heard of one turning out badly during many years New Mexico, and I learned that kind— ness gives a far more perfect control, over the hurnln as well as the brute races than harshness and cruelty, That you may have as little as possible to be ashamed of serving with me, I will give you a short account of how I came into the Southern cause : I came from Arizona, sick, in the spring of 1861. Staid in the country, in Virginia, my State, trying to get well, and found the war, to my bitter regret, was being started. All the highest United States army officers were resign ing, except General Scott, and he pub lished a letter that the United States would divide into four parts, thus show ing that he thought all was over. A United States Senator said he would march a Northern regiment to help the South for every one sent against her. Nothing was done with either of these men, or with others whose deeds were treasonable. A member of Congress, from California, made a public speech calling upon the South to resist the• election of Mr. Lincoln. ~.rs • Now I found myself forced to fight against my brothers and all my nearest and dearest relatives—against my own State, when many abler men than my self contended she was right. By taking up.tbe side of the South I forfeited a, handsome position, fine pay and the earnings of twenty years' hard service, All the pay I drew in four years in the South was not as much as one year's pay in the old army. The greatest political favoritism against me I ever had was from Mr. Davis after the Mexicarewar. It is hard to account for my course., except from a painful sense of duty---1 say painful, because I believe few were more devoted to the old country than myself ; and the greatest objection I had to it was because of my predilection for, a strong one. Now I see persons win) did what they could to bring about the war, in high favor in the North, holding high office, It was like death to me. En route here from New Mexico, in 1861, I volunteered my services to fight. the Texans, threatening a United States post, and was careful to do nothing against the United States before resign ing. I have asked to be allowed to take the oath of allegiance and return to my du= ties as a citizen. I see, though, that many persons, active in the first steps in bringing this war about, are at lib erty, while I am here with no very good prospect of getting out; while my wife is under arrest in St. Louis, and has been since April, but up to this time has ut terly failed even to find out why she is arrested. Neither she or myself have the slightest idea of the. cause of her arrest. I have giVen you a long letter about myself because of the friendly tone of your letter, and because I feel naturally drawn toward those with whom I have served. I remain very respectfully, , 4c, R. S. EWELL. Trial , of the Conspirators. A telegraphic, despatch from Wash- ' ington says all the prisoners arraigned were found guilty by the Court. The President is now deliberating on .th& verdict of this military commission; , and will examine the voluminous Vast'. mony closely before rendering adeeision It is understood that the President. is , by no means pleased at the . responsi-• ; bility imposed• upon him of endorsing• the proceedings, and it is nob improba ble that he maynb,,. the , affair, andi order a new trial by I the•olvil courts That is.what he *Quail°, for the mike,' of his own rt 3 patation<;arid the future.'" fair. fame e;9141417, , , They alikut",: de . lnand . • .•:•, -
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers