1 ; WEDNESDAY, MAY & 1888. i
.. /‘Tbe printing presses shall be free to every
person who undertakes to examine the pro
' oeedlngs of the legislature, or any • brdhon of
!oT6rhnlent: and no law shall ever be mode
o restrain the right thereof; The free comma*
nioatlonof thought and opinions Is one of the
Invaluable right*, of men: and every citizen
may'freely speak, write ana print on any Bub
-lect; being responsible for the abuse of that
liberty. In prosecutions for the publication of
papers investigating the official conductor offi
cers. or men In publlo capacities, or where the
matter published Is proper for public informa
tion, the truth thereof may be given In evi
dence.”
FOR GOVERNOR:
Hon. WESTER CITMEB, of Berks Co.
The Radical Plan Tor Preventing a Resto
ration of the Union.
The Committee of Fifteen, organized
and controlled by Thaddeus Stevens,
have at length agreed upon what they
are pleased to term a plan of Reconstruc
tion. After four months of wrangling,
the country is gravely told that the Ra
dical majority of the Rump Congress,
now in session at Washington, will only
agree to the restoration of the Union at
some future time and on certain condi
tions. The time is indefinite and unas
certained ; the conditions determined
and fixed are these:
A new article is to be added to tbe
Constitution of tlio United States con
taining tbe following sections:
Ist. A section providing that the negro
shall he made the equal of the white man
in ever)) State in the Union.
That is precisely what is meantby the
following initial words:
“No State shall hake on enforce
ANY LAW WHICH SHALL AIJRIDOE THE
PRIVILEGES OR IMMUNITIES OF ANY
CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES."
By tlio Civil Rights Bill, recently
passed over the veto of President John
son, negroes are declared to he citizens
of tlio United States. Heretofore they
have not been so regarded. All white
citizens have been on an equality in ail
the States of the Union. No one of
these lias enjoyed privileges nr immuni
ties superior to or different from those
enjoyed by any oilier white citizen.
Only negroes have heretofore been de
nied the privilege of voting, and of cer
tain other privileges, and what tlio
Committee of Fifteen are pleased to call
immunities, if the proposed amend
ment to the Constitution, on the adop
tion of which -tlio restoration of the
’Union is made to depend, does not
mean that hereafter the negro shall he
allowed to vote in every State In tlio
Union and to enjoy everywhere every
privilege and Immunity enjoyed by the
while man,.it can have no meaning at
all.
‘ld. A section imposing a penrdlg on
cvvrg State ii'hioh (loin not idiom nrgnns
to vote.
The penalty thus provided is to con
sist in lessening the representation in
Congress and in the F.lectorul Col
lege of any Slate which does not
confer the rigid of suffrage upon the
negroes within its limits. The second
section of the proposed new article is so
plain upon this point that its meaning
cannot by any possibility he mistaken
or misunderstood. It is so worded as to
apply toall States alike:’ Pennsylvania
is to ho affected and bound by itas fully
as South Carolina. Unless we confer
the right of sull’rage upon every negro
within tlie limit's of this Common wealth,
we are to lose representation both on the
floor of Congress and in the Klectoral
College. From that penalty' we cannot
escape, should the proposed amendment
he adopted. Until it is adopted, the Ra
dical IMsunionists in Congress boldly
declare that tlie Union shall not be re
stored.
licZ. A section providing that, while
negroes are to be miub voters at once,
almost the entire white population of the
South shall be. prohibited from voting
until after the next Presidential election.
Such is n clear und honest statement,
in as brief compass as we can give it, of
wliat the infarnonsCommittceof Fifteen
are pleased to term a plan of reconstruc
tion. There are some further provisions
of minor importance, as the reader will
see, ami among others one to render all
the prominent citizens of the South
ineligible to office; but the main
features of the plan are embraced
in the . three sections to which
we have alluded. Opposed to this
disunion scheme stands the wise
and stalesmnulike policy of President
Johnson. It is for the people of Penn
sylvania to say -which they will sustain
by their votes in the coming election.
• The Radical disunionistshopetocarry
nut their infamous projects, by
appealing to the prejudices of the masses.
The whole burthen of their song, during
the present campaign, will be a denun
ciation of the Southern people.
Tlieir constant cry will he, arc you
ivilling to allow rtbrl s to voted Upon
that the changes will be rung continu
ally. Thus, through a prejudice, which
they suppose to he all powerful in the
North, they expect to succeed in forcing
the adoption of the odious doctrines of
negro suffrage and negro equality upon
every Stale in the Union. Are the
maeses of Pennsylvania such consum
mate fools as to nid in carrying
out these radical and revolution
ary schemes? We do not be
lieve they are. ITc c.cjjccl to see the
white men of this great /State laying
aside party prejudice and rallying as
one man for the Union, the Constitution,
and the interests of the white race .
Tlic Negro above the Mechanic.
“Jput there is still another class for whom
“no one has yet spoken on this lloor, who
“have contributed to your success not less
“than the Roldier or the creditor, 1 wasat,-
“ MOST ABOUT TO KAV, NOT LESS THAN TIIE
“FBEEDMEN, I MEAN THE MECHANICS OE
“the country.” —(Senator .Sumner in the
U. S. Senate, April 18, 18U(i. See Congres
sional Globe.)
The soldier, the creditor, and the
white mechanic of America have in the
estimation of Senator Sumner, borne
equal burthens in the salvation of the
nation. He “ was almost about to say”
that the froedmau was equal with each,
but he fails to enunciate the sentiment,
and we. fairly infer that in his opinion
the sacrifices and privations of the former
surpass those of all others. This is the
deliberate language of the Senator, in a
studied attempt to Hatter and praise the
mechanic. It was called out during the
discussion upon a bill for the relief of
certain naval contractors, in which the
theme chosen for his elaboration, was
the value of the American mechanic in
the recent civil struggle. He believes
tbe Negro is equal to any white man,
and here he expresses his conviction
that his services are greater than those
( of the men who bore the brunt of the
' fight for the Union. The Negro above
the mechanic, the]Ni»grothe equal of all
•white men, the Negro entitled to vote,
to sit on juries, to travel with us, to eat
with us, to sleep with us, to enjoy every
social and political right that we enjoy,
are the Alpha and Omega of his daily
thoughts, they are the prominent traits
oftheNegro-lovingdisuniouists. White
men protect yourselves by your ballots.
The Democracy of Janliata,
The Democracy of Juniata county
held a large and enthusiastic meeting
■in the Court House on last Tuesday
©veiling. Addresses were delivered by
Cql. Mclntyre, of Bloomfield, and Gen.
W. H. Miller, of Harrisburg. The
Register sayß the Democracy of Juniata
•are fully awake and desperately in
earnest, .and that leading men from the
different townships promise to roll up
a largely increased vote to swell the ma
jority for Clymer in the coming elec
tion.
Geary’s Platform as Authoritatively
Explained by Forney.
The fact that John W. Forney is Clerk
to the Senate of the United States, and
the further foot that he was a chief
agency in the nomination of John, W.
Gaary give to the political sentiments
expressed by him a slgnifloance and an
importance to which they would not
otherwise be entitled. When he speaks
he may firmly be regarded as reflecting
the views of the radical majority of the
Senate. His utterances may also, not
improperly, be taken as explanatory
comments on the platform of the radical
disunionist of this State, upon which
John W. Geary now stands. The most
outhoratlve exposition of the political
creed of those whose mouth-piece For
ney Is, may be found in his recent address
before the Banneker Institution of Phil
adelphia, delivered on the 10th inst. In
that carefully prepared speech Forney
says :
lam unhesitatingly in favor of conferring
the ballot upon tko colored citizen—.nay, I
believe that the only principle upon which
our restored institutions can permanently
repose, is to confer the same rights upon tlio
loyal colored man that are returned to tlio
disloyal white man. Until wo recognize
and act upon this truth, we Bhull bo justly
taunted with having vuinly fought down
tho rebellion.
That is a bold avowal of the leading
political dogma of the party to which
Forney now belongs. AVe are here told
that the end and object of thd Radical
Republicans in the prosecution of the
horrible civil war through which we
have passed with so much of national
distress, was the elevation of the negro
to a perfect political aud social equality
with the white man. What will the
soldiers say to such an infamous doc
trine? Are they ready to admit that
such was tlie object for which they
fought? Will they agree to tlie asser
tion that all tlieirglorioiisacliievements
must he regarded as in vain unless uni
versal suffrage and entire equality is
granted to the negroes? There is to
lie no restriction of negro suffrage, for
Forney declares again:
If it is replied that a colored man should
not vote until he can read and write, tlio
unswer is ready lliat thousands of the white
men who fougiiL against the black could
neither reud nor write.
Lesl thore might be some misappre
hension of the objects and tlie design of
the party for which lie speaks, lie re
iterates tliesentiments expressed before.
Tlie equality is to be universal and tlie
suffrage equally os unlimited. He de
clares that the musses of the Republican
party are boing rapidly educated up to
that standurd. Hear him :
We (tint Republican party) art! boing won
derfully prepared, white and black, North
and South, least and West, for tlie results
of universal emancipation, viz: universal
equality and universal suffrage. The moral
revolution in the United States may really
lie called a grand religious revival. x Tho
destruction of long-cherished heresies is fol
lowed by Hit! ucecptaneo oflong-repudialed
doctrines.
Do tlie musses see where they are be
ing led blindfolded by party prejudice?
Can they doubt as to what will speedily
he required of them? Will they not
open their eyes to the true political con
dition ? Are they ready to be made tlie
pliant tools in tlie hands of designing
political demagogues in tlie hard task of
working out their complete degrada
tion? it is for them to say. But they
must act speedily or it will be too late,
if-they elect Geary at tlie coming elec
tion, they will virtually have decided
the contest against themselves in Penn
sylvania.
Forney draws quite a fancy sketch of
the negroes as they fondly muse over
the good time coming. He grows elo
quent and indulges in raptures worthy
the imagination ofa mail who has shown
his readiness to betray and degrade liis
own race for tlie sake of sordid gain.—
Tlie following extract will give some
idea of tlie dreamiugs of tlie negro in
regard to the good time coming, when,
ceasing to be the pets of the Freedmen’s
Bureau, they shall be made by law the
equals of the whites in all respects.
What white man cun read the following
extract without feeling tempted to kick
the degraded wretch who thus writes?
Clustering together at intervals of work,
and meeting after tlieir days ot toil in their
little cabins and wherever they can assem
ble; their industry is ut once a loving and a
holy sight. Teaching each other (he truths
long withheld and the great duties of Ameri
can citizenship which they wilt inevitably soon
be called upon to discharge, they find indeed
that this war has not been fought in vain.
As a fitting finale to this rhapsody a
great good is to be wrought in other
lands. The isles of the sea are to be
made glad. The yoke of bondage is to
be removed from the neck of the white
men of Jamaica. Generous, greasy ne
groes, are to be somovedjjyourcxumple
in making the negro the equal .of the
white men in the United States that in
a sudden impulse of gratitude they will
enfranchise those in that island who are
so unfortunate as to be born white. A
grand consumaiion truly. An event
worthy to be celebrated by the pen of
a Forney. Only hear him.
Tiie bestowal of civil rights upon our col
ored people will inevitably tench the blacks
of Hayti, to revoke their laws against the
whites, and, at the same time, appeal to all
their best instincts to imitate that mighty
brotherhood in this country, wiio, by the
wickedness of one part of tin* whites, and
wisdom and the bravery of another, have
been citizenized and equalized at the same
moment.
There is more of the same sort of stuff
in the address, but we think we have
already given enough to disgust every
reader, and wc forbear to quote further.
More Republican Testimony
The New York limes , in a leading
article published a few days since, bold
ly charges the Radical majority in Con
gress with laboring persistently to force
negro suffrage upon the country. The
Times is a consistently Republican
newspaper, butitstands by the policy of
President Johnson and by the white
race. Predicting in regard to the an
ticipated plan of restoration to be offered
by Thad. Stevens’ Committee of Fifteen,
it said:
“ We apprehend that, whim they can get
their courage up to the ‘stieking-point,' this
is precisely the course which the Radicals
in Congress will endeavor lo pursue: ‘ Um
versal negro suffrage,' as the condition .sine,
qua non of tiie Restoration of the Union, is
now, and has been from the beginning of
the session, the grand goal and object of all
theiretlbrls. They have cloaked it more or
less, partly from polity and partly from
tear; but the time is drawing nigh when
they can cloak it no longer. * * * * *
All thc|talk and all the excitement that has
been raised about Constitutional Amend
ments, equality of Civil Rights, status of the
Rebel States, Ac., Ac., has been simply
dust thrown in the eyes of the public
to cover the approach to the grand,
fundamental, indispensable principle of
universal negro suffrage, as the con
dition without which no Southern Stato
should everagain beadmiltedto the Union.
This is the secret of nil the elaborate legal
endeavors lo prove that tho Union is de
stnyed—that tin* States went out of it, and
that they can get back only on such condi
tions as Congress may prescribe. This was
tho reason why Stevens proclaimed them
conquered States, deprived of all rights, ex
cluded from the protection of the Constitu
tion, and to be dealt with as conqnered sub
jects, at the sovereign will and pleasure of
tho conquerors. This was tho object of Mr.
Shullabarger’s studied legal argument in
support of tho doctrine of State suicide, and
of Ills more recent effort to prove that, even
if tho Rebel States are in the Union, they
may rightly bo held to have forfeited all the
rights of citizenship under tho Constitution.
Tho feebler but still more zealous efforts of
Hart, Ward, Holmes, and other Radical
members from this Stato, have ull aimed at
tho same thing—imuioly, to lay a founda
tion for demanding, at the hands of the
South, universal negro suffrage as the con
dition of restoration.”
What further testimony can any sane
man need to prove that the Republican
party is irrevocably wedded to the
negro?
The overflow in Louisiana still con
tinues, and, to add to the general de
rangement of cotton growing, the seed
is now discovered to be defective.
Has Not Enough Been Bone for the Negro ?,
The chief objection urged by the Rad
ical disunionlsts, in and out of CoDgress,
against the restoratioirpollcy of Presi- !
dent Johnson is founded on the ossump* .
tion that injustice will be done ito the
enfranchised negroes' if the Southern
states are freed from the restraints now,
imposed upon them. To secure
privileges to the blacks, the infamous
and unconstitutional Civil Rights Bill
has been passed over the veto of the
President. The only plea which can be
made in its behalf is based upon the
assumption that the whites of the South
will deny the negro some rightto which
he is fairly entitled.■■ It has been taken
for granted by the Radicals that Buch
would be the case, and they have acted
precipitately upon that assumption.
They expect to be able, by suborning
witnesses, to keep up an excitemant over
the wrongs done to the negro. To
further their designs Sumner daily
quotes well-stated lies from his scrap
book, and newspapers which follow
where he and Thud. Stevens lead are
filled with stories of outrages perpe
trated on the freedmen. All these false
hoods are duly paraded for a purpose.
The truth is the negroes of the South
are being fairly and generously dealt
with by their former musters, and ac
corded all the rights and privileges to
which they are entitled. The sWants
of capital and labor M’ould necessarily
place the negroes in a position similar
to that of auy other working class.—
Interference by Congress with the legls
tion of the different States, and the
continued meddling of the Freedmeu’s
Bureau can only retard sucli an adjust
ment of the relations between the
negroes and their employers in the
South as would be alike beneficial to
both. The planter needs labor, the
negro needs employment. Self-interest
alone would be found sufficient U) in
duce the planter to deal fairly with his
employees, to say nothing of higher
moral considerations. The States in
which slavery recently existed are
deeply interested in such laws as will
give employment to the negro at fair
wages and ensure him iu all his rights.
There is no statesman in the South
who does not know and feel the neces- j
sity of adjusting the new relationship
between the whites and the blacks
upon a proper basis. This is being
done as rapidly and as fully as
circumstances will admit of. The
chief delay therein has been caused
by the disunionists in Congress, and by
the pernicious intermeddling of the
Frcedmen's Bureau. The injudicious
and unconstitutional legislation of Con
gress has created a feeling of distrust
which has prevented the proper em
ployment of capital, while the constant
interference of many worthless Yankee
employees of the Frcedmen’s Bureau
has kept up animosities between the
two races. Still, despite all these diffi
culties, the Southern States have done
all they could to adjust themselves to
the new order of affairs. They have
acted wisely and judiciously.
In tiie Stute of Maryland, for instance,
while slavery existed, it was considered
essential for the security of the institu
tion that the free negro population
should be subjected to many disabili
ties, and that the number of that class
should be restricted as far as possible.—
Hence the emietments which prevented
free negroes from going into the State,
the provisions in regard to the arrest of
vagrants, the regulations in .regard to
contracts of hiring, and many other re
strictions of the same class desigued to
carry out the general policy. All these
disabling laws were at once repealed by
the first Legislature which assembled
after the adoption of the present Consti
tution,by which slavery was extinguish
ed in Maryland.
To-day every negro there enjoys the
same rights and pri vi leges as any negro in
Pennsylvania with these two exceptions.
A negro in Maryland is not allowed to
be a witness in a case where white men
are parties, and if convicted of a crime
he may be sold for the same time and
term which he would have to serve iu
the penitentiary if he were white. The
people of that State are discussing the
propriety [of changing the law in regard
to those two points,and we thinkthere is
no right-thinking man in the North
who will not say the matter may be
safely left in their hands. In regard to
punishment for crime we think the
negro lias the advantage of the white
man very decidedly, at least so far as
physical comfort is concerned.
Other Southern States are keeping
even pace witli Maryland in their legis
lation in regard to the negro race. In
no one of them are the freedmen left
without legal protection in their rights.
Laws which were essential during the
existence of slavery have become ex
tinct by operation of the constitutional
amendment, and where they have not
ceased to exist, have been modified by
the Legislatures of the different South
ern States. Tiie truth is there was no
necessity for the passage of the Civil
Rights Bill, if its object was, what it
professes to be, the securing of the ne
gro in such rights as lie is entitled to.
He has been made secure in the rights
of personal liberty and of property
by the acts of the different South
ern States themselves. All through
the South liis status is now substan
tially similar to that which he
occupies in Pennsylvania. Has not
enough been done for him ? Must tiie res
toration of the Union still be retarded ;
the industrial resources of the South be
ruined; the financial system of tiie nation
beimperilled; the eommerceof thecoun
try be crippled ; a huge stauding army
be kept lip at an enormous expense ; the
treasury be drained to pay the waste
ful expenditures of the Freedmen’s
Bureau, and to salary the multitudi
nous employees provided for under
it and the Civil Rights Bill ? To
free the negroes has cost us half a
million of lives and plunged us into a
debt which will burthen our people for
generations to come; making living
dear and grinding the poor man to tiie
earth beneath onerous taxation in a
thousand shapes. The negro is now
free. He enjoys throughout the South
substantially the Bame privileges he
does in Pennsylvania. Has not enough
been done for him? Are all the best
interests of the nation to be imperilled
in order that especial privileges may be
conferred upon him ? It is for the in
telligent voters of Pennsylvania to say.
Let them throw aside party prejudice,
and speak out as freemen should in the
coming election for Governor and Con
gressmen.
Consistent In Disunion
In Congress on the 3d day of March,
1662, Mr. Holman, of Indiana, (Demo
crat,) offered the following resolution:
Resolved, That in the judgment of this
House, the unfortunate civil War into
which the Government of the United States
has been forced by tho treasonable attempt
of the Southern Secessionists to destroy the
Union, should not be prosecuted for any
other purpose than tho restoration of the
authority of tho Constitution ; and that the
welfare of tho whole people of the United
States is permanently involved in main
taining the present form of government
under the Constitution without modifica
tion or change. (
The disunionists defeated this resolu
tion by a vote of 60 to 59. Every Dem
ocrat Yoted for the resolution. Thad
deus Stevens and Mr. Speaker Grow,
by this bojd act avowed their deliberate
intention as early as 18G2, to carry out
, their radical and revolutionary pro
gramme of disunion. Did not Presi
dent Johnson -speak truthfully when he
said they were disunionists?
Tfairtj-foar out of Thirty-nine Republi
can Senators in Fam of Negro Suf-
frage, and the same Ratio in the Low*
er 'House of Congress.
Horace Greeley is the recognized lead
ing newspaper writer and thinker of the
Republican party. He was ita\ foster
father and is still its ablest defender.—
He understands its designs and its work
ings. In yesterday's Tribune the lead
ing article is devoted to defining the
position of the party in relation to ne
gro suffrage. Greeley says:
No one who knows anything of the in
terior workings of Congress can doubt that
a large majority of both Houses ax©at heart
anxious to establish universal suffrage.—
The decisive votes by which each Houbo has
affirmed the principle in legislating for the
District of Columbia; the open declarations
in its favor of many members, from whom
opposition was naturally to have been ex
pected; the known, though unavowed sen
timents of others, and, above all, the signifi
cant fact that Senators who have Been
regarded as special friends of the President’s
policy have lelt it necessary to propose equal
suffrage in some form as a measure of com
promise, make it perfectly clear that the
judgment of Congress is decided in favor of
the measure. The testimony of its friends
and its enemies concurs upon this point.—
It is the burden of the charges made against
Congress by the devotees of the President.
It is confirmed by all the confidential state
ments of members and their friends.
The truth of these remarks may bo es
tablished by a simple calculation. As a
matter of course, all the New England Sen
ators. except those from Connecticut, favor
equal suffrage, that being the rule in their
own Slates. In addition to these (ten in
number), Senutors Foster, Yates, H. S.
Lane, Kirkwood, Grimes, Pomeroy, Chand
ler, Howard, Ramsey, Brown, Henderson,
Nye, Harris, Wado and Howe, are on
record in its fuvor, as a matter of principle,
making 25 out of 49 Senutors as to whose
views there is no doubt. Messrs. Stewart
and James H. Lane have introduced propo
sitions in favor of some such measure, as a
necessary compromise. Messrs. Conness,
Trumbull and Sherman are understood to
be favorable, and Mr. Morgan has support
ed a proposition for the extension ot the
frunchi.se in his own State. In short, out of
39 Republican Senators, only five are clearly
understood to be opposed, on principle (or
interest), to an extension of the sujfragc. A
similar analysis of the Lower House would
show a similar 7'csult.
Only Jive out of thirty-nine Republican
Senators who are not in favor of negro
suffrage, and a similar ratio in the
Lower House! Is not that sufficient to
show where that party stands ? Greeley
knows all about what he calls “ the in
terior workings of Congress.” He speaks
cx cathedra. Let this fact be paraded
before the people ! In the present cam
paign in Pennsylvania, if the eyes of
the masses are not blinded, the Repub
lican party will be BWept out of exist
ence.
Geary’s Platform.
Thomas Marshall, Esq., of Pittsburg,
is a noted out and out Radical. He was
a delegate to the Convention which
nominated General Geary. No man In
that body denounced President John
son more bitterly or fought harder
against endorsing him and his policy.
After Geary was nominated, Mr. Mar
shall was called on for a speech. In that
speech he defined the position of Gen
eral Geary, in the following language:
I heartily endorso Lho nomination made
here to-night, though I preferred another.
I never knew General Geary until last week.
He called on me at my office in Pittsburg.
In the course of the conversation that en
sued, General Geary, hearing me express
admiration of my old friend Thad. Stevens,
declared that he "endorsed every act of Mr.
/Stevens, and every word he had uttered in
Congress except his remark about certain
parties being in Hell." . I, (said Mr. Mar
shal!,) can afford to endorse General Geary
when lie so fully endorses my old friend
Thaddeus Stevens.”
The Disunionists of Pittsburg had u
meeting on the night of the 20th. Mr.
Marshall made a speech there, in which
he is reported as having used the follow
ing language, by the Pittsburg Dis
patch :
“ As to Geary’s principles they wore these:
General Geary had told him, Mr. Marshall,
in his office, that his platform was Ihcfunions
sjiceeh uttered by Thaddcus Stevens at the
opening of the session of Congress. The only
objection he had to it was the last sentence.
That which referred to Roger B. Taney as
one who should expiate the wrong he had
doue the colored rueu in a very warm place,
General Geary thought in lmu taste.”
Thespeech alluded to by Mr. Marshall
has been extensively published. Iu it
Tlmddeus Stevens boldly announced
his disunion sentiments in the fullest
ami most unequivocal manner. He
ook the ground that the Southern
States must be kept out of the Union
until the negroes should be given the
right to vote, in order that they might
be |Used to secure the perpetual political
supremacy of tiie party now in power.
It was so grossly treasonable through
out as to shock every conservative and
right-thinking man iu the country.
Mr. Stevens is the avowed and open ad
vocate of negro equality. As such he
has been known for years.
Such is the man and such nrethesen
timentseudorsed by Gen. Geary. Every
disunionist in Pennsylvania stands by
Geary and Stevens. General Geary
boldly and voluntarily avows that they
occupy precisely the samepolitical plat
form. Let this be fully understood and
constantly kept in mind. A vote for
Geary is a vote to sustain the infamous
policy of the Lancaster amalgamation
istand disunionist, Thud. Stevens. No
decent white man can vote for Geary
without feeling his face burn witli the
hot flush of shame. No man who re
gards the best interests of his country
more than party can vote for him.
Agonizing Appeal from the 1). D.
Forney, 1). J)., having failed to con
vince a majority of the present Con
gress that our foreign representatives
ought to have the privilege of reading
his Chronicle at tlie public expense, has
resorted to anotherdodge forbuilding up
the fortunes of his shaky concern on
Seventh street. He has printed in legihie
type an abject appeal to the faithful, iu
the form of a circular, a copy of which
is attached to every copy of his weekly
with a dab of paste. These he sends off*
in large numbers, under the frank of
Ben Wade, to get up sympathy for a
“ bruised sentinel on the watch tower
of liberty,” as he calls himself. Report
has it that the receipts of the Chronicle
newspaper have fallen off'heavily since
the commencement of Forney’s daily
vituperation of the President, together
with the loss of the department patron
age. This falling off of the public sup
port is rather more than the Chevalier
can stagger under.
The Reconstruction Plan as Seen Through
the Eyes of an Honest Republican.
The Philadelphia Daily News, a con
sistent Republican newspaper, but one
which cannot be induced to endorse all
the infamous schemes of the Radical
Disunionists, thus speaks of the plan of
reconstruction proposed by Thad. Stev
ens’ Committee of Fifteen. It says :
After five months of severe labor the
revolutionary faction iu Congress has
at last brought forth what is called by
their journals “a plan of reconstruc
tion," the main part of which is a pro
posed amendment to the Constitution,
which, when stripped of verbiage, is as
follows:
Section 1. Negroes shall be made citizens.
Sec. 2. States which do not give negroes
the privilege of voting shall not count them
as population iu the apportionment of rep
resentatives.
Seo. 3. Only negroes and white men who
opposed tho rebellion shall vote at tho next
presidential election.
Sec. 4. Slave owners shall not be paid for
the loss of their slaves by emancipation,
and neither States nor the Federal govern
ment shall pay the rebel dobt.
Sec. 5. Congress shall have power to pass
any law it may see tit to pass, without re
gard to the constitutional rights of the peo
ple and of the States, and without fear of an
executive veto.
It will be seen that the first two sec
tions give equality and franchise to
negroes, whether they have been Loyal
or disloyal; and the tnlrd one deprives
a large number of white men, who have
not been convicted of any crime, of the
righto of citizens. This is something
more than negro equality, and it will
require more than ordinary acutenessof
vision to enable any one to see the Justice
of insisting that States shall give the
right of citizenship to negroes wholtave
given “ aid and comfort" to the rebels,
and deprive white men of it.
Impeaching the President.
The Commercial , the ablest Republi
can newspaper published at Pittsburg,
thus speaks in regard to the projected
impeachment of President Johnson by
the Radical Disunionists in Congress :
The Philadelphia Gazette refers to the
"proposition to impeach President John
son”.as an “imaginary” one,—a creation of
the Democratic Journals for ulterior pur
poses, having nothing of reality about it.
It Is maintained by our Philadelphia co
temporary that the whole thing is n copper
head plot, “ meanirfe mischieiby the arch
enemies of freedom,” but that there is “ no
danger the President will become a tool in
the hands ofplotters.” The plot is described
to be "to use the President to enforce d
bogus organization of Congress under pre
text that the existing organization is partial
und sectional.”
We quit© agree with our cotemporary
that there is little danger from such a plot,
and weshouldbe glatfto believe that it ex
isted only in the shape it sets forth. What
ever may be the fact in regard to this, wo
have no apprehensions that the purpose
of impeaching the President will be carried
to uny great lengths, or that there exists
any reason why we should treat it as a
serious matter, although we arc confident it
has been entertained seriously by others than
copperheads.
Here is an open avowal, and a distinct
and positive charge that the Radical
Disunionists do seriously entertain the
design of impeaching President John
son, in order to get him out of the way.
What matters it that the Constitution
expressly declares that the President
should only be impeached for treason,
or other high crime or misdemeanor?
Have not the Radicals Bhown an utter
disregard of our great charter on all oc
casions when it has interfered with their
infamous designs? If they stop shdrt
of the impeachment of President John
son it will be because they fear the peo
ple, and not because they regard any
constitutional barrier which stands in
their way. The Gazette lies when it
charges that the whole thiDg is what it
styles “a copperhead plot,” and the
Pittsburg Commercial teiLt the truth
when it says it is confident the design
has been Heriously entertained by the
Radical Disunionists.
What the South is Doing for the Negro.
We have alluded to the liberal legis
lation of the Southern States in behalf
of the negro. Everywhere he is grant
ed about all the privileges he is en
titled to enjoy. The following .com
prehensive enactment has been passed
by the Legislature of Georgia, and is
now the law of the State. Who that
reads it will believe that the restoration*
of the Union need be any longer de
layed for the benefit of the negro?
An act to define lho term “ persona of
color” and to declare the rights of such
persons:
Sec. 1. lie it enacted dec., That all ne
grooH,_inulutto<*H, mestizoes, and their de
scendants. having ono-oighth negro or
African blood in their veins, shall ho known
in this State as “ persons of color.”
Sec. 2. lie it f urther enacted, That persons
of color ahull liuvo the right to make and
enlbroo contracts, to sue, to bo sued, to bo
parties and give evidence, to inherit, to pur
chase, and to have full and equal benefit of
all laws and proceedings for lho security of
person and estate; and shall not be subject
to uny other or different punishment, pain,
or penalty, for the commission of uuv act
or offense, than such as are proscribed for
white persons committing like acts or
offenses. *
The third section simply repeals all con
flicting laws.
The biU was approved by the Governor,
March 17, 1801).
This gives to the negroes of Georgia
everything their friends can usk for
them, except the elective franchise;
and that is denied them in the greater
number of the Northern States. If any
Southern State shall treat them with
injustice or inhumanity, they can go
as freemen, wherever they please ; and
they will please to go where they are
best treated. As the Southern lands are
valueless without labor to cultivate
them, no State cau afford to see its ne
groes emigrating to States which bid
for their labor by better treatment. —
The mere fact of freedom and the need
of laborers will insure the negroes their
rights without federal interference. —
The great din and tumult that is raised
about their safety, is a dishonest device
of the Republican politicians for keep
ing the Southern States out of the
Union, aud preventing their participa
tion in the Presidential election.
The Last of the Provost Marshals.
By an amendment to the Army Bill
the office of Provost Marshal General
has been abolished. With the exit of
Fry from office, whose mathematical
calculations were one of the wonders of
the late war, we suppose the whole
lumbering machinery of the Provost
Marshal's office goes to the owls and
bats. May the good Lord grant that we
may never look upon its like again.
Mr. Conkling, of New York, having
moved to strike out from the Army Bill
the section providing for the continu
ance of the office of Provost Marshal
General, supported his motion by a
powerful speech, from which we extract
the following :
Mr. Conkling said :
Thero was one important thing for the
Bureau of the Provost Marshal General to
do, and that was to close its accounts and
allow the country toknow what lias become
of the twenty-six million dollars which
under the act of March 13, 18(53, went to its
credit. Ho protested in the namoofbiscon
stituents and of tho people of the western
division of New York against perpetuating
a power under which they had suffered be
yond his capacity to express. They had
sent to rule over them by the provost mar
shal a memberofthoVeteran Reserve corps,
a man who had never seen a battle or suffer
ed a serateli in tho service of the country—
a crony nnd confidant of Gen. Fry, and
who went on until tho business of re
cruiting in the western division be
came a paradise of coxcombs and thieves.
False quotas had been put upon the people,
and exaggerated telegrams aud orders sent
to tiie hoards of supervisors, and in his own
district, under one call, lour hundred and
thirty-three thousand dollars was stolen
from an outraged and groaning people.
Communities and individuals immeasur
ably the superiors of General Fry had pro
tested against it, and had been spurned
with magnificent disdain. Never had the
insolence of office been morestrongly illus
trated than by that man whom this section
lias proposed to make for life a brigadier
geueral. Ho (Mr. Conkling) had been di
rected by the government to prosecute tho
Assistant Provost Marshal, Major Haddock,
who was justified by his superior officer,
down to the time when his sentence was pub
lished, jhe having been convicted of tho very
basest forms of official atrocity. Every of
fence from highway robbery up and down
had been charged and proved against him ;
and although this man had disgorged $200,-
000 under the prosecution, helmdpurchased
the other day an establishmentin Philadel
phia for which he paid $71,000 down. And
that man’s case was not a .peculiar one.
There never had been a greater mockery, a
greater burlesque, or a greater fraud on’the
pretence of honest administration than the
rrovost Marshal's Bureau as arranged and
administered throughout the wholecountry.
It would turn out that of the six, or seven,
or eight hundred thousund men for whom
enormous bounties had been paid not two
hundred thousand had ever gone to the
front
What Forney Thinks of It.
Forney’s Press is the only paper we
have seen which fully endorses the pro
gramme of the Radicals for preventing
a restoration of the Union. He is said
to have had much to do with getting it
up. That he completely and fully com
prehends this infamous plan is well
evinced by his “Occasional" letter in
yesterday’s Press. In it he boldly avows
that the first great object of the project
ed plan of the Committee of Fifteen is
to enforce all the objectionable features
of the Civil Rights Bill; the second is
to qompelthe granting of suffrage to the
negroes; the third, and in his eyes the
most important, is to prevent the par
ticipation of the Southern States in the
next Presidential election. Such is this
abomination as seen through Forney’s
eyes.
The Government has sent a number
of employees up the Valley of Virginia,
with wagons, coffins, etc., to collect the
bones and bodies of the dead of the'U.
S. army who fell in the several battles,
and remove them to the Arlington
Cemetry, opposite Washington,
Great Hass Heeling In Brooklyn or Sup
porters of President Johnson.
The Union, The Constitution, The Laws,
Thecitizensof Brooklyn, N.Y.,in favor
of the restoration policy of President
Johnson, and of the immediate* admis
sion of the representatives of all the
States to the Congress of the United
States, met on Wednesday evening, in
mass convention, at the Academy of
Music, in that city. The building was
crowded in every part in a short time
after opening the doors, and thousands
who arrived after that time were unable
to obtain admission. Large crowds
assembled outside, and organized an ex
temporized meeting.
On the inside the building was finely
decorated by banners. Over the platform
was the motto:
“The restoration oftho Union, gentlemen,
is the first business in order.”—Andrew
Johnson.
The platform was occupied by several
hundred of the most prominent citizens
of Brooklyn, and the private boxes were
occupied by ladies.
The meeting was called to order by
Demas Burns, who in a few eloquent
remarks introduced as Chairman of the
meeting Mr. J. D. McKenzie.
Speeches were made by Mr. McKen
zie, Gen. Rousseau of Kentucky, Hon.
John Van Buren, Hon. Wm. Bnwson
of Georgia, and Postmaster Cleveland
of Connecticut. A letter was read from
Gen. Dix fully endorsing the object of
the meeting and sustaining the policy
of the President. The following admira
ble series of resolutions were unanimous
ly adopted :
RESOLUTIONS.
Whereas, The war which was waged to
restore the Union, and to vindicate the su
premacy of the federal Constitution, has re
sulted in the full and complete success of
the brave and devoted defenders of the re
public; and,
Whereas, The result of the war is accept
ed by the victors iu the full accomplishment
of their purpose, and bv the vanquished in
conforming their State laws to the amend
ed Constitution of the United States; in the
nullification of their ordinances of secession;
‘in the repudiation of the debts contracted
in support of the rebellion, and in accept
ance oftho Constitution of the United Stntes
as it now stands as the sovereign and su
preme law oftho republic; and,
ir/tcmta, The bravo defenders of the na
tion having laid aside their arms, wo hold it
to be an insult to them to maintuin, openly
or covertly, that the purpose for which they
took up arms has not been secured; and
further, that as wo joined with the late and
present Kxocijfrivo and with Congress in de
claring that the war was waged not for any
purposes of subjugation or conquest, but for
the restoration ot ! the government of our
fathers, justice to the soldiers and suilors of
the republic, and fidelity to our own de
clared pledges, demand of us the full and
immediate acceptance of the Union on tbo
basis of the Constitution ; and
Whcnuts, The President of tho United
States has adopted a policy of restoration,
under which all tho States can bo restored
to their old relations with tho general gov
ernment, on the conditions which we our
selves lmve luid down during the conlliet;
therefore,
Resolved, That wo stand by tho President
in tho exedution of this policy, and any
men or any party that stand in the way of
its success wo hold to no enemies of tho re
public, no matter what section they belong
to, or no mutter by what name they may
choose to be known.
Resolved, That we hold with President
Johnson that the government can bo sub
verted by contniij/ing at Washington tho
powers reserved to the States as ellectually
as by claiming for tho Stales prerogatives
which they do not possess, and that wo re
cognize in President Johnson's course, in
refusing the power sought to be forced upon
him in the bills recently vetoed by him, a
devotion to pure republicanism which en
titles him not only to tho support but to the
gratitude of every good citizen.
Resolved, That the returning loyalty of
tho South will be stimulated; that tho in
dustry of that section will be revived ; that
tbo national currency, by having a wider
area to circulate in, willapprociutein value,
thus enriching every man whoownsorwho
earns a dollar; that tho burdensoftaxation
will bo lightened by adding to the number
of those able to pay taxes; that our obliga
tions to tho public creditors will be more
certainly fulfilled and more speedily re
deemed by tho policy of immediato restora
tion of the Union on the basis of the Con
stitution, and to the President, in tho exe
cution of that policy, wd pledge, irrespec
tive of past political association, our most
cordial support, and totheopponentsof that
policy our uncompromising hostility a*, the
polls.
Resolved, That we hold, irrespective of
the past, all men now to be loyal who are
earnest in their efforts to bring the .States
together, ‘‘distinct like the waves but one
like the sea;” and that we hold all men to
be disloyal who, under any pretext, stand
in the way of this, the consummation of all
our efforts aW all our sacrifices.
Even Their Enemies Praise Them.
With to-day the terms of the present
Auditor and Surveyor General expire.
Hon. Isaac Slenker and James P. Barr
were elected in 1802. Their course has
been such as to extort high praise from
the bitterest opponents of the Demo
cratic party. The Harrisburg Telegraph ,
the bitterest Republican paper in the
State pays them both a very deserved
compliment. Of Mr. Slenker it says.:
Tiie position of Auditor General is one of
the most responsible now in the gift of the
people of the .State. During the hostilities
of treason, and the co-operation of the State
with the National authorities to crush re
bellion, the duties of the Auditor General
were meusurenbly increased. We are con
strained to write that Mr. Slenkor and liis
subordinates have been both faithful and
assiduous in the discharge of these duties,
and that they will go out of ofliee with the
well earned confidence and respect of those
who were brought in olllcinl contact with
them.
Of Mr. Barr it speaks thus :
Mr. Barr, the retiring Surveyor General,
lias won many friends whilo at the head of
liis Department. The impulse given to the
sale of State lands, by the oil developments,
added largely to the business of the Sur
veyor General’s ofliee, and it became neces
sary to a degree to reorganize that depart
ment, a duty which Mr. Barr most success
fully discharged, lie will go out of office
much respected.
Wo hope and believe that the gentle
men who are to take their places will
he found perfectly honest and compe
tent.
The Cincinnati Commercial on the
President's Change of Purpose.
The able and uncompromising Re
publican paper, the Cincinnati (bmmer
cial, differs fr,om the more rabid journals
of its party in regard to the change in
President Johnson’s feelings and inten
sions towards the Southern men against
whom he battled so faithfully for the
Union. It says :
“ The unreserved denunciation of
traitors by Andrew Johnson, supply
Korney and other persons interested in
making a disturbance, with favorite
material for quotations, when they un
dertake to show that the President’s
policy is not severe enough upon those
who conspired and fought against the
Republic. And yet the change in the
President is one equally natural and
honorable. The oppressive responsibil
ities of his high office, resting upon him,
caused him to forget his personal resent
ments ; and his steady opposition to a
policy of vengeance, notwithstanding
his own deep provocation, has been
recognized in all civilized countries as
the part of wisdom. Having passed
through this experience, conquering'tiis
own qmssions, and devoting himself, as
he believed, wholly to the good of his
country, it was a peculiar and cruel
wrong to charge him with treachery.”
This is a view of President Johnson’s
policy which cannot fail to commend
itself to the approval of men who will
allow themselves to consider it free from
passion. But how few persons who
have read during the past five years
none except Republican papers, will
consult anything but their hates in de
ciding how the Southern people should
be treated ! Unfortunately, papers of
that class worked so long and did so
much to arouse an unforgiving feeling
in the breasts of their readers, that what
they say now in the interest of wisdom
and humanity is likely to have far less
weight in the council of their party
than before they infused into the public
mind so much that was akin to the rage
of madness. v
R. H, Lee, Postmaster of Camden, N.
J., has been removed, and H. H. Gold
smith, a soldier, and a member of Gen.
Kearney’s staff, appointed in his place.
THE RADICAL PLAN.
Tbo Union made Subservient to tbo No*
ffro—Negro Huflrngo and Negro Equali
ty to be-Enforced by.an Amendment
to tbo Constltatlon~No Distinction to
be Allowed on Account of Color—The
' Whites of the South to be Disfranchis
ed Until after tbo next Presidential
Election.
The Committee; on Reconstruction,
after many agreed on a,
plan of Reconstruction on Saturday last.
It has been permitted to go to the public:
in advance of its presentation to Con
gress and is as follows :
A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT CONFER-'
.BUia POLITICAL AND SOCIAL EQUALITY
rrON THE NEGROES EVERYWHERE, AND;
PREVENTING WHITE MEN OF THE SOUTH,;
FROM VOTING UNTIL AFTER THE NEXT
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.
Be it resolved by the Senate and Ilousd
of Representatives of the United States of
America in Congress assembled , two-thirds
of both Houses concurring , That tho follow
ing article be proposed to tho Logislntured
of the several States as an amendment to
the Constitution, which, when rntitied by
throe-fourths of the said Legislatures, shall
be valid as a part of tho
namely: !
Article}—. Section 1. No State shall
make or enforce any law w hich shall abridge
the privileges or immunities of citizens of
the United States; nor shall any State dej
prive any person of life, liberty, or property
without clue process of law, nor deny to any
person within its jurisdiction tho equal pro
tection of the laws. I
Skc. 2. Representatives shall bo appor
tioned among the several States which may
be included within this Union, according
to their respective numbers, counting tho
whole uumoer of persons in each State, ex
cluding Indians not taxed. Bnt whenever,
in any State, the elective franchise shall bo
denied to any portion of its male citizens,
not less than twenty-one years of ago, or in
any way abridged,'except for participation
in rebellion of other crime, tho basis of rep
resentation in such State shall be reduced
in the proportion which tho number of such
male citizens shall beur to the whole num
ber of male citizens not less than
one years of age.
Sec. 3. Until tho 4th day of July, IS7O. all
persons who voluntarily adhered to the late
insurrection, giving it aid and comfort, shall
be excluded from tho right to voto for
members of Congress and for electors for
President and Vice President of the Uuited
Suites.
Sec. 4. Neither the United States or any
State shall assume or pay any debt or obli
gation already incurred or which may here
alter be incurred in aid of the insurrection
or war against the United Stales, or any
clnim for compensation for loss of involun
tary service of labor.
Skc. f>. The Congress shall have power to
enforco by appropriate legislation the pro
visions of this article
A HILL OK CONORKSK TO ENFORCE THIS EN
FRANCHISEMENT OK NEll ROES AM* THK
DISFRANCHISEMENT OK WHITE MEN
Wiikukas, It is expedient that the States
lately In Insurrection should, at the earliest
day consistent with the future peace and.
satety of the Union, bo restored lo full par
ticipation in all political rights; and j
Whereas, Thu Congress did, by join!;
resolution, propose for rulilieatioii lo tho
Legislatures of tin* several States, as an
amendment to the Constitution oft ho Cnituil.
Status, an urticle in the following words, to
wit: [The constitutional article recite)!
abovo Is hero inserted.]
Now, therefore, he it enacted, etc., Thill,
whenever tho above recited amundmuilL
shall have become a part i*f the Constitu
tion, and any State lately in insurrection
shall have rutilled tho same, andshall luivo
modified its constitution and laws in con
formity therewith, theSonutors and Repre
sentatives from such State, if found duly
elected and qualified, may, after having
taken the required oaths of alike, be ad
mitted into Congress as such.
And be it further enacted, That when utiv
State lately in insurrection shall have rail
tied tiie foregoing proposed amendment to
the Constitution, any part of the direct tax
under the act of August .7, isiil, which may
remain due and lyipaid in such State, may
bo assumed uyd paid by such Slate, and the
payment thereof, upon proper assurances
from such Stute to be given to the Secre
tary of the Treasury of tho United Slates,
may bo postponed for a period not exceed
ing ton years from and after the pussngo of
this act.
ANOTHER HILL DKCLARINU CERTAIN I’KH
SONS FOREVER INKLKHHI.K TO OFFICE
lie it enacted, etc.. That no person shall be
eligible to any ollioe under the Government
of tho United States'who is included in any
of the following classes, namely :
First, The President and Vice President
of the Confederate States of Amorica, so
called, and the heads of departments thereof.
Second, Thoso who in other countries act
ed as agents of tho Confederate States of
America, so-called.
'Third. Heads of departments of the
United States, ofliccrs of the army and nnvy
of the United Stales, and all persons edu
cated at tho Military or Naval Academy of
the United States, Judges of the Courts of
the United States, and members of either
Houso of the Thirty-sixth Congress of the
Uuited States who gave aid or comfort to
the late Rebellion.
Fourth. Those who acted as offieors of
the Confederate Statcsof America, so called,
above the head of colonel in the army or
master in the navy: and any one who as
Governor of either of the so-called Confed
erate States gave aid or comfort to the late
rebellion.
Fifth. Thoso who havo treated officers or
soldiers or sailors of the nriny or navy of
the United States, captured during the late
war otherwise than as prisoners of war.
Letter from South Carolina.
Charleston, South Carolina, )
April 17th, 1 Sf>G. j
Kditors of Lancaster Intelligencer:
Dkak Sins:—Before I left home for llic
South, I was frequently told that by going
there I would place my very life in danger
—that I would bo browbeaten and threat
ened with annihilation at every turn and
street corner—that cars, steamboats, omni
busses and nil other means of conveyance
•were infested by Southern bullies with
bowie knives and revolvers in hand, ready
to pick a quarrel with, and to extinguish
every Yankee they met with—that they
would not tolerate emigration from the
North, and related many instances where
Pennsylvanians bad been driven from the
plantations they had purchased, barely
escaping with their lives. These, and many
other stories ol'a like naturo were in the
mouth of every one, and they firmly be
lieved that all who bail the hardihood to
venture beyond Mason anil Dixon’s line
would never return alive. Now the ques
tion is, what has led the mass of our people
to believe that this state of affairs exists at
the South? It certainly has no foundation
in fact. This \ know from positive experi.
ence, as I have travelled through Georgia
aud South Carolina, and am now in the
very nest where secession was bred, and
upon the honor of a man who never held
ojjicc, declare Unit I have tints fur seen
nothing of bowie knives or revolvers, nor
met with anything but kindness and gen
tlemanly conduct. True! I did not come
here in a spirit of revenge, nor as a braga*
docia with insulting expressions to ro-open
wounds that now happily are boiug closed.
Why, sirs, the veriest worm iu existence
when trodden upon will turn in its agonyi
and with all the energy it possesses try to
infiiot a punishment upon the iron heel that is
crushing it to the earth. Can we then, under
the circumstances, blame tho people of
the .South for fooling soro under the
lash, or for using bitter expressions—when
aggravated and pressed to the wall
whore they can go no further I think
not; and as a people who feel that they
still have rights under the Constitu
tion, I should despise them if they had not
spirit enough to insist upon the same, and
to resist, by all legal means, the efforts of
any one to perpetrate a wrong. It is not
only a misfortune, but a burning shame
that such an outlaw as a political trickster
should be countenanced by a community
w-ho are in themselves perfectly honest and
well-meaning, but who do not look to facta,
and depend upon this class of demagogues
to do their thinking, and cry, amen ! to all
they say, aud do as they direct, regardless
of consequences that in tho end may involve
their own destruction, It is mainly to di?»
honest politicians that we are indebted for
the present unhappy condition of affairs,
and their misrepresentations were mado to
prejudice the minds of those who aro natu
rally and religiously disposed to do justico
even.to an enemy. I might point to indi
viduals who aro doing all this for power and
self-aggraudizemenl, but it is not pa'sons
that I want to condemn or tear with, but
tho principle and the cousequences which
are sure to follow, and positively aro now
distressing the poor negro oven more than
the slavery from which ho has just been
liberated. This is not a fancy sketch, but
a sad and melancholy truth, which tho
honest and well-moaning portion of tho
community should strive to realize. It.
may be a small matter to those who are
pleasantly|situated, prosperous, and are well
to do in the woi;ld, but is it not the impera
tive duty of every one to see that they do t
not , by negligence or a ono-sided policy, not
only aid selfishness and vassalage, but de
press still lower the scale of human exis- ■
tenee, tho 'improvident negro, whom ho has
just assisted to escape from bondage hut to
plunge Um still deeper into tho pool of
misery, at tho bottom of which ho will bo
suro to find nothing but disappointment,
penury and starvation.
Tho discerning oyo of a prophot Is not
needed to neo thnt If tho conservative por
tion of tho country is not Boon awakened to
a sense of theßo fucts, and to their duty as
men who desire to porpetunto the vital
principles of “ Lifo! Liberty! and tho pur
suit of happiness,” thoy wwsf proparo lo
renp tho fruits ot their folly, and perhaps
beforo tho “olovonth hour” of their exist
ence thoy may bo awakened to tho conse
quences and be drawn into tho whirlpool of
unnrchy their own nogligonco has created.
W. 11. F.
For the Intelligencer.
Ends for Making Partition Fences.
Few of the citizens of Lancaster, it is pre
sumed, have any historical or traditional
knowledge of tho origin of the ancient cus
tom, observed in tho primnry portion oftlio
place, in regard to tho cnxis, from which ad
joining property-holders are required to
make their respective shares of partition
fences. Though of tho originator, legends
have been handed down From father to son,
that are still fresh in tho recollections of
many of the old inhabitants.
The person referred to is Colonel Christo
pher Funk, familiarly known as “Stophel
1‘ link,” celebrated in his dny and genera
tion as an accomplished Land Surveyor,
who lived and flourished more than a cen
tury ago. Funk was a Virginian by birth
and education, and invariably travelled
where his professional business called him
on horseback, attended by two negro ser
vant men, each mounted on a good nag;
who, in addition to their other duties,
served as ehnin-benrers on such occasions.
I alike the Surveyors of the present day—
who are acknowledged patterns of morality
and temperance—Funk was somewhat pro
fane, and apparently aimed to improve St.
Paul’s advice to Timothy, to ‘‘take a little
1 wine for his stomach’s sake," as he took
considerable ot thnt vegetable extract and
took it ojtcn. His fame as a theoretical and
practical Surveyor caused him to bo em
ployed in different parts of the country, es
pecially in Lancaster county; where ho
soon discovered tho ability and readiness of
the people to pay promptly and liberally,
and consequently gave them the most of
his services. Amongst his otheracts in this
county, he laid out tho then town of Lancas
ter; and at tho request of tho proprietor,
prepared and published a code of regula
tions for tlie government of the town, em
liruelngono with respect to partition fences
in the particular alluded to. This one
varied according to the coincidence ol di
rection of the streets and alleys with the
sun, at its rising ami Netting, ami at noon
or 12 oYloek meridian.
Ntophol Ftmk was seated in his room at
the Hickory Tree Tavern, one afternoon,
about to broach tho second bottle of M ine,
when Ills servant announced u delegation
of citizens anxious for an audience. They
were admitted and Invited to join him in n
glass of wino, but all shook their heads.—
Funk frowning said, “Gentlemen, I mum
not aware of vour being Kceubitcs, which
must be my apology for tillering von wine,
bill with whut else can wo accommodate
you in tho Ws, nutter or irhiskey/" “Whis
key,” they all replied,and Funk ordered in
a bucket full of tho exhilerating beverage!
“Now, gontlemen^ >> ~said he, “by way of
introduction, wo will nil take a drink," and
they did so; immediately after, “lest we
should not be suillciently acquainted, 1
propose another drink,” and they all re
peated. The spokesman of the parly now
thought proper to introduce the object of
their call, ami began “ Mr. Stophel," Iml
broke down. “ I think,"‘said Funk," you
had better all lake another drink with M r.
Stophel, to brighten ideas," and they drank
again. Another of the party now said,
“ they had called lo see if lie would not
change his fence plan, us it answered well
enough in clear days, but in cloudy weather
thoy could not well get along with it." -
Funk after musing awhile, replied, “we
will determine what can bu douu for you,
gentlemen, after wo take another drink,"
and again they went through that inlorest
ing process. “Now,” inquired Funk, “do
you all think you could .sec your lots In
cloudy weather?" “Oh yes" was the re
sponse. “After 4 o’clock in tho afternoon ?"
queried Funk. “Yes, indeed,” they an
swered, “ we be sun' of that,” “ and at the
same time,” continued Funk, “ uro you
certain you could toll your///Miami from
your right/" Yos, indeed, they could do that
■in the dark, they all assured him, lhr said
they, "ue be all left /untders." “Then,"
resumed Funk, “ 1 have a plan that no
doubt you can readily comprehend and fol
low, whether the sun will deign to shine or
not; but with a view of enlightening the
understanding before discovering the pro
ject, I deem it highly advisable to take an
other drink;” and after some hesitation and
doubts of propriety, they again followed sui t
with Stophel.
“Now, gentlemen." said Stophel, “ 1 be
lieve wo will all ogree that this Ims been
an exceedingly pleasant interview, 100 much
so to be broken up without a parting drink,
and I therefore move wo have it." “ No,
no, Mr. Stophel," they all exclaimed, “ we
be full to tho top, and hail better go, while
wo bo able to go, besides the bucket is
empty,"
“ Then you infernal Itecahiles and Ben
jamlnltes,” (left handed persons), vocifera
ted Funk, “ hearken to what I have to }fro
claim, boforo you tnko your leave! Mich
one face the front of his lot, both on /hr strert
ant/ alley, and make, his share of fence from
cither point, on the left hand side, and all
will be well." This mandate was faithfully
obeyed by the individuals addressed and
their posterity, and, with some exceptions,
is still adhered to.
The venerable Jacob Dorwartj Esquire,
(several years deceased), fur many years
Regulator of Lois and Streets, from whom
the materials of the preceding narrative
were obtained, was wont to hold that Funk
either failed to make or destroyed his plot
or survey of the town from sinister motives,
and besides, was in the habit of running
“ fulso lines” whore interest prompted.
That for these, and perhaps other offences
committed in the llesh, after death Funk's
ghost, like that of Hamlet's father, stalked
abroad, or in other words “spooked," hav
ing been seen for more than 40 years in tb,.
present century, running linos at night
around Lancaster and Its vicinity ; but that
for tho la or 10 years unterior to his state
ment, it had notuppeared, and the inference
was that its wanderings hud censed audit
was then at rest. K. C. A.
What Office Holders must Expect.
The special Washington correspond
ent of the Philadelphia Ledger, who
has failed iu no prediction he has here
tofore made, sends the following im
portant dispatch to that paper:
Washington, April 27.—0 n Wednesday
I telegraphed you that it was an understood
thing on tho part of the majority in thoSen
ato to decline action on any of tho now ap
pointments of tho President in cases whero
an incumbent had been removed without
any other cause than being thought an op
ponent of tho President’s policy. This
decision of tho majority has ulready been
put in practice, and will, I hour, be iirmly
and unfiinchingly adhered to. It is asserted,
however, by tho friends of tho President
that this action of the Senate will not cause
him to waver an instant in the course lie
has seen fit to pursue, but that ho will go
on and make such removals as in his judg
ment may appear necessary. To a promi
nent gentlemen, yesterday, ho asserted
that he would appoint no man to office who
did not give a cordial support to his meas
ures for tho restoration of tho Union, and
he further intimated that no avowed oppo
nent of those measures now in office would
be allowed to remain there.
This is a bold stand to take, but those
who know tho President intimately say
that he is fully capable of maintaining it..
tircclcy Understands It.
Horace Greeley perfectly understand s
the object and design of the plan put
forward by Thad Stevens’ Committee
of Fifteen. In the display lines placed
over the published text of their propo
sitions he has this heading most prom
inently displayed:
NO STATE SHALL DENY ANY I‘EttSOK
EQUALITY 11KFOKE THE LAW.
Greeley knows negro suffrage and
negro equality is meant, and he Is not
afraid to say so. Koruey boldly says
,the same thing. After this It will bo
impossible for tho Republicans who
stand by Thad Stevens’ Committee of
Fifteen to deny that negro suffrage and
negro equality Is jmrt ami pareel of tho
platform on which Geary is running,