She• , gantastir .. PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY BY H. G. SMITH CO. A. J. STEINMAI: H. G. .SMITH TERMS—Two Dollars per annum, payable all oases In advance. OFFICE_SOUTHWEST CORNER OF CENTRE SQUARE. sa-All letters on business should be ad dressed to H. G. Sawn'. & Co. - Xiterram. Memories or Moscow. BY EDWARD DICEY Russia is a country about which it is very hard to avoid exaggeration. You may dwell upon its splendor, you may dilate upon its squalor; and each de scription will be literally true. But yet neither the color of the rainbow on the one hand, nor all the shades of sepia on the other, will suffice to paint Russia faithfully. You have to nse both in turn, and avoid all neutral tints, if you wish to produce anything like an accu rate portraiture of this extraordinary land. If, indeed, I wished to give any one a view of Russia under its fairest aspect, I should recommend him to travel straight from London to St. Petersburg, making no stoppage on the way ; to drive from the Western to the Southern TerMinus without casting a glance around him ; to take a ticket direct to Moscow, only peeping through the frost covered window-panes from time to time, to see that all around was cold and bleak and cheerless; and then, if he could find a closed carriage awaiting him at the station, to driveto the Krem lin Terrace, timing his arrival so that he could see it, as I saw it the other day, in the still glare and pale glitter of a northern sunset. If he failed, looking on the scene, to feel that the toil and cost and weariness of the journey were more than repaid by that wondrous spectacle, the Telemachus to whom I had acted as Nester must be devoid of the true roaming spirit. You pass through the Holy Gateway, raising your hat from your head as you do so in obedience to the custom of the place, and then find yourself upon a broad wide terrace. All around you, on every side, there rise minarets and domes of gold. Behind you is a con fused mass of battlements and towers and spires, which you know can be none other than the Kremlin Palace. At your feet, some two hundred yards sheer below the spot on which you stand, there flows the narrow Musk owe, down whose rapid streams great blocks of snow drift and float sparkling in the sunlight; far away on the flat plain upon the other side of the stream the city of Moscow lies stretched beneath you. There is not a house in this vast mass of buildings like anything on which you have looked before. The flat green iron roofs are interspersed with countless turrets and domes. Hardly a puff of smoke rises from the silent city ; the air is clear and cold and still ; the only sounds seem to come from the clanging of the church-bells, wafted by the wind across the river. In the dim west is the long low range of the Sparrow Hills, across which Napoleon's armies advanced on Moscow. If the French legions looked ou Moscow for the first time ou such an evening as that on which I saw it last, when the sky was tinted with a hundred shades of color, fading from warm crimson to cold gray, and when the green roofs shone like emeralds, and the gold domes dazzled your eyes with their exceeding brightness, they must have felt much as the Ten Thou sand did centuries ago, when at last they caught sight of the longed-Mr sea and laid down their arms, and shouted " Thalatta! Thalatta!" There are old men still living iu the city who can remember what Moscow was before the great fire, in which not only the "Grande Armee" but the for tunes of Napoleon came Lo ruin; and they say that the town as we see it now is nothing to what it was in the days of their fathers. But old men are apt to see anything through a sort of moral inverted telescope ; and I doubt myself whether threescore years ago the bar baric splendor of the Muscovite capital could have been greater than it is to day, or i qhe contrast between its gor geousness and its shabbiness more marked than now. The wooden houses, as you see them in this year of grace, must be very similar to those in which Russians dwelt of old. The walls of thepalaces were left standing by the fire, and the wealth of the empire has been employed to make the new Mos cow as splendid as theold,—not, I think in vain.. Certainly the view of Mos cow, as I have attempted to describe it, is of its kind unequalled. The views of Prague from the Hradschin Palace, of Pesth from the Blocksberg forts, are similar, but to my mind far inferior. As long as you keep within the Kremlin, the glitter of enchantment hangs over you. The very ground you tread ou is holy ground. About you, you may see peasants turning, time after time, towards the East, crossing themselves with au infinity of signs, kneeling before pictures of the Saviour or the Virgin, lying at times prostrate upon the cold hard stones which sur round the sacred shrine. And here it is not as in Catholic lands, where the way-worshippers are chiefly women and children, where grown ,up men kneel but seldom in public, and where the prayers recited are gabbled over, like a lesson learnt by rote. Here, as else where in Moscow,—and to a great, though a less extent, iu St. Petersburg, —the major part of the population, no matter what their sex or age or rauk, seem to share in this open-air worship, and pray aloud with a fervor whose ac cents are unmistakable. Entering • the Kremlin shrine, the sense of glamour,of which I have spoken , increases on you. The building you look upon is the kind of edifice you see in dreams, and do not . expect to meet in real life. Criticssay it isof depraved style,false to every true principle of art, uusightly in construction, barbarous in ornamen tation. It may be so; Ido not dispute the verdict of experts; I can only say that I do not envy persons who are not carried away at first by its overwhelm ing gorgeousness. From the pavement to the summit of its lofty domes, sup ported on its vast porphyry pillars, it is one mass of gold and color. You can hardly put your hand upon a place not decorated with stones and jew Amethyst and onyx, jasper and opals, and all the stones whose names are re corded in the adornment of Solomon's Temple, seem to have been employed to make the shrine more splendid still. Upon the dusky portraits of the Virgin Mother and her Child, with which the walls are covered, you see hanging necklaces of diamonds, strings of jewels, each one of which must be worth a fortune. It is a common saying that all the wealth of all the Russias could not suffice to buy the treasures in this the cathedral church of Moscow ; and I suppose that, if purchasers could be found to buy all the articles contained there at their nominal price, the amount realized by the sale would be something fabu lous. The very walls are wrought of sil ver ; the roof is of solid gold. The odd thing is, that all this gorgeous splen dor harmonizes with itself. There is nothingtawdry orgewgawish about it at all : the dim twilight in which the churck is always sunk subdues the glare of its colors; and when at times, as 1 chanced to see it, a ray of the setting sun shines through the windowsof the lofty cupola ' golden beams shoot through the gloom ' and are reflected back again by the burnished walls. I recollect a lady telling me once, that she found, in read ing the Bible to the paupers in a work house, that the only parts which served to wake their languid interest were the stories of the New Jerusalem, with its golden gateways and jewelled thrones. And so, I fancy, to the poor, hungry, half-clad peasants, who crowd day by daydrito the sacred shrine, the glimpses of Its glories must have a charm not altogether of the earth, earthy. Not a stone's throw from the Krem lin, at the foot almost of the castellated walls with which the palace is sur rounded, you pass into an open square, which appears to belong to another world from that you have just left be hind you. That immense low block of one-storied buildings, faced with gaud ily-painted stucco, peeled and broken from the walls, is the Gostinnol-Dvor, the great mart of Moscow. En tering by any one of the gateways, and you see before you a very labyrinth of dark passages, and bear a confused jargon of many Voices. If you have ever been through Leadenhall Market, ' r ill ealle ' 4fr ._ . . .. - ---- ----•• , .4 ' • :. 1.,.. • . .:, . :41.1. ili • . ' .; ..., . - ... i.: . ~,..) • ~ . a - ..., 0 ‘ 1 , ::' II ' 3 1,1: I T , .: • t ....) . - • r. . A VOLUME 68 and can fancy that the passages were made of stone, and. that the place was darkened, you will have some slight Conception of the look of this, the great est bazaar in the whole of Russia. On to the dark corridors, crammed with a dense crowd, pacing constantly up and down, open the shops of the merchants. A picture of the Saviour hangs when ever the corridors intersect, and the glare of the lamps suspended before it only serves to make the general gloom more visible. Each corridor is more or less strictly reserved to one class of traders, but there is not so much out ward display on their open counters ; and the interiors of the vault-like shops are so dark that it is difficult to see what sorts of goods are piled up on the long lairs of shelves. But as you pass along, the merchants call to you from their doorways, and offer you wares of every form and class and fashion. I suppose there are not many articles in the world you might not obtain in this enormous depot; and the traders are ready to do business with you for a kopeck or a million roubles, just as you choose one row there are furs enough to clothe all St. Petersburg ; in another there are as many shoes and boots as would be found in Northampton and Staiffird. There are yarns and cottons and Manchester goods, and Sheffield cutlery, and French silks, and German leather ; and every article, in .fact, which can possibly be smuggled across the frontiers. Then there are the Per sian stalls, where Armenians in high dark fur caps sell Astrakhan wool and Persian silks and arms studded with stones. On other counters there are displayed all sorts of Circassian silver ornaments, cigarette cases, match boxes, filagree caskets, crosses, and amulets; and, if you ask for anything better, and look like a possible purchaser, tbeshopman will take from some queer hiding-place concealed beneath his clothes, little dirty papers, which, on opening them, are found to contain tur quoises and pearls:mil diamonds. There also are the money changers, seated be hind desks covered with immense piles of silver roubles and copper kopecks, ~ would think that in this column y of traders,.who do business with all its or the world, you would find no ....fieulty in making yourself under stood in some one of the Western tongues with whieli most travelleN are aemtai n ted. But the impression wou Id prove, on putting it to the test of expe rience, to be a rash delusion. You are here in Russia proper, and nobody knows any language except the native tongue. With the aid of fingers, and chalking numerals upon the counter, you call with difficulty arrive at the price asked for any article ; and then if you need it, you offer a third of the price demanded, as a mere matter of course. Supposing you are a real Rus sian, you walk away at the first refusal, pretending not to look behind you ; the merchant watehes you all the time, try ing to look as if he never noticed you ; and then you return and walk off again, till at last the game of hide-and-seek is played out, and you and the vendor have come to some satisfactory compro mise. It so happened that, while I stopped in Moscow, 1 was present at the completion of a contract between an English manufacturer and alt im mensely wealthy Moscow merchant. The terms which could alone he ac cepted were stated by our countryman at the commencement of the interview The purchaser was resolved to buy from the beginning, and yet nearly two full days' negotiations were required before the contract could be completed. When ever any demand the buyer made was not acceded to, he left the room, de claring he would break off the negotia tion, hut he invariably returned to say he had thought better of the matter when lie discovered the vendor did not send to fetch him back again. Yet, according to my friend's statement, this customer was less; roublesome than 'most of purchasers he had to do business with. Supposing you wish to see a yet more elementary phase of commerce than that of the Gostinuoi-Door, you have only to step across a street or two ; and, right in the heart of the town, you find yourself in Jewry-land. There, in a couple of open streets, the old-clothes men of Moscow carry on their trade. The place has a family likeness to Pet ticoat Lane, or the Juden-Gasse in Frankfort, or the Ghetto at _Rome, or any other of the Israelite exchange marts scattered throughout the world. But yet it has a character of its own. Except that the poor Russian Jews are a shade dirtier, if possible, than their Christian fellows, they are, in dress and manner and look, the counterpart of ordinary Monjiks. Everybody isscream hor ; everybody is gesticulating; every body is bidding down everybody else. The street is so crowded that you can hardly make your way through it; half a dozen hucksters at once pull you by the sleeve, or catch your coat-tails, or stand right in your path, or resort to any possible expedient to attract your at tention to the quality of the slops they have for sale. You must want some thing, or else you would not be there at all ; and, acting on this preconceived theory, the rival pedlers think that your resolute refusal to look at old hats as good as new, or greasy furs, or patch ed coats, covers the intention to make some more imp,:rtant purchase. However, old clothes and fleas have a natural affinity for each other; and it is a luxury to be taken from the noisy stle of the market into any one of the great traktirs which surround the mart. A traktir is not exactly a restaurant, nor exactly an exchange; it is some thing between the two,--a place very much in its purport likeGarraway's or the Baltic Coffee House, if you suppose eating to be the principal, and business the subsidiary, object of these establish ments. But, though our lands have houses where busincsS is transacted, nowhere that I know of except Russia can you find a traktir. Take the great Moskovski Trak tir as an example,—the piece e here the chief tea-merchants in Russia have, as it were, their hoase of call. You go upa broad flight of stairs from the street, have the folding-doors thrown open to you by a servant in livery, and find yourself in an atmos here of delicious warmth, after quit- ting the cold, bleak air without. Ser vants are waiting at the head of the stairs to take on: your furs ; and then you look around you. You stand in a long, vaulted room, filled with sofas antiwith tables. On one side is an im mense cur; at the end is a monster organ, The place, with its arched roof, and rich hangings, and lamps swinging from the (Tit ng, and snow-white divans, has an Arabian Nights' air, which is heightened by the appearance of the servants, who move swiftly and silently about. All dressed alike in white tunics and trousers, all tall, strong-built men, with long, smooth hair parted in the middle, they look like the slaves of an Eastern Sultan, such as one used to fancy them in the days when the Three Calenders and Sinbad the Sailor used to people one's dreams by night. You might eat or drink anything iu this traktir, and the cooking is renowned; but tea is the staple article of consump tion. Before you have been a day in Russia you learn the words of "a cup of tea;" and indeed the attendants would take it for granted you wanted tea, if they did not understand your pronunciation of the "stack an tchai," —this, on the principle of the defunct " Fonetic Nuz," being the nearest ap proximation I can form to the probable spelling of the words in question. You are brought forthwith two white teapots—one large, the other small; the former containing water, the latter tea. You first—if you wish to follow the proper routine—till your glass tumbler half full with water; then, when the glass is thoroughly warmed, empty the water, put in a couple of lumpsof white sugar; then pour out half a tumbler full of tea, and weaken it with water. Then insert a slice of lemon; and, if your mouth is fireproof enough to drink the beverage while it is scalding hot, you will get better tea than it has ever been my fortune to drink else where. There is no doubt the glass re tains the heat much longer than a porcelain crockery cup would do; but then, as there is no handle, and as the glass is as hot as hot can be, it is not easy to lift it. To avoid this difficulty, you must either put your head down to the glass, or hold the bottom in the hol low of your hand, neither of which methods of imbibing is considered ele gant at home. Everybody around you sips his tea placidly ; most of the com pany cross themselves before they raise the glass to their lips ; and almost all sip between puffs of smoke. Those who do not, you may be pretty sure, belong to the old Russian Church, which, on the strength of the text that " not what goeth into the mouth, but what cometh out of the mouth, defiled" a man," regard smoking as a deadly sin. Cigars, if you choose to pay fifteen pence apiece for them, are to be had, of good quality enough. Cigarettes are smoked more than any other form of tobacco; but the raostluxurious mode of smoking, to my mind, is to be found in earthen pipes, with their long cherry-stick stems. The servant brings oue to you, fills it in your presence with the fra grant Turkish yellow tobacco, lights it, inhales a whiff or two to set it well alight, - and then, having wiped the mouthpiece carefully, passes it to you. If you draw in your breath steadily and slowly enough, you may make one pipeful last half au hour or more. And, when you are tired with sight-seeing or following in the footsteps of princes out upon a tour,—than which I know of no occupation more vexatious to the mind and body,—you can hardly, I think, pass time more pleasantly than iu sitting on a sofa, sipping tea, and watching the wreaths of smoke curl upwards iu the air. The people about uo not, as in the eating-houses of all other countries, dis turb you by the jingle of their knives and plates, and the chatter of their voices. Russians, I fancy, are not amongst themselves a talkative people. The peasants—so one who knows them well assures me—sit habitually silent when they are at home. Aud the Rus sian accent is by no means a harsh one when spoken. .In listening to it, it sounds somewhat like English, with all the hard sounds taken away. Though soft as Italian to the ear, it has nothing of it. fulness or its strength. It would not, I think, be teckoned well-bred to talk verylff loudly iu a traktir ; but indeed the buzOng of such conversation as there is, is overpowered by the peal of the organ. No true Russian restaurant, however humble, can be without must, of some kind. The merchants and brokers and the factors who frequent Li,. " .tdositttv ski," would transfer theircustom at once to another establishment if any one in Moscow could boast a better organ. The one at this place was built expressly for it in \Vurtemberg, at a cost of sortie three thousand pounds, and plays at least a score of opera tunes. So all day long and any day thisgreat barrel-organ grinds forth airs front " Faust" and Winoralt" and the " Traviata" and "La Belle Helene." I think, if I were an habitue of the establishment, I should grow tired of hearing the air '' Di l'ro venza it mar it sol" played two or three times every evening ; and it is ruttier contrary to English notions of the busi ness. But, after all, if the Russians had no worse failing than a child's love for musical boxes, nobody—except per halt, Mr. Babltage—would Mild this trait to be a prow of national depravity: When you have seen the Kremlin, and the churches, and the bazaar, and the traktirs, and the hospitals,— for which the city has a high, and I be lieve deserved reputation,—you have pretty well exhausted the actual sights of Moscow. But, to anybody fond of wandering about anywhere in general, ' or nowhere rtt particular,—it comes to much the same iu the long run,—Mos cow is a town you do not easily get tired of. It is true that a thermometer long below freezing, and an icy cold wind which seems to drive ail the blood out of your face, are not favorable circum stances for lounging about an unknown city. But the experienced lounger ac commodates himself to necessity, and makes the best of it. The charm of Mos cow to the fiancto• consists iu its never failing contrasts. The churches are splendid; thatof the Kremlin being only themost brilliantof a brilliautcompany. The theatre, so Muscovites say, is the handsomest in the world. Without al lowing thus much, it may be fairly said to be one of the handsomest. Of colos sal size, standing alone in the centre of a vast square, it seems to belong of right to a city of palaces. So also the Found ling Hospital, barrack-like as it neces sarily is, is still worthy to rank high amidst European public edifices. Scat tered about the streets there are a num ber of grand palaces, all built since the great fire, and all therefore placed in their position at a recent date ; yet these very palaces are surrounded by the low squalid dwellings of which Moscow is mainly composed. There is not, somehow, any air of absolute_ misery about the shabby streets and the rows upon rows of dilapidated barn-like dwellings which run at every angle, and in every direction, right up to the Kremlin itself. Judging simply from an outside glance, I should say the in habitants had clothing enough to keep them from severe suffering by cold, and bread enough to fill their stomachs, and vodka enough to get drunk upon at all appropriate periods. The strange feature about Moscow is the utter absence:of the bourgeois houses you see in other towns. If you are a prince, you can doubtless get lodged luxuriously enough ; if you are a peas ant, you can pig beneath a roof not more wretchedly than your class does in other countries,—better perhaps than you could do in Dorsetsh ire ; but if you were neither a prince nor a peasant, and required an eight-roomed house or a small flat foryourself you would hunt about Moscow a long time before you found your want satisfied. In Russia generally, and in Moscow especially, a middle-class hardly exists, awl there fore no preparations are made to sup ply its wants. The only persons with moderate incomes in the whole country are the officials, and they are miserably underpaid and poor. Au officer of 114. t, rank, v, lean I met traveling the other day, informed me that his pay of !.1.50 was utterly insufficient to support him, and that he should literally be in want, if he did not carry ou a private business as a sort of nondescript broker. Rightly or wrongly, every official in the coun try is regarded as prima facie corrupt ; and, considering the price of living, and the scale of government pay, it is im possible they should be regarded as otherwise. It may giveyou some notion of Moscow prices to say that, at a se cond-rate hotel, my bill, not including extras or attendance, was f:1 a day ; and yet the hotel was frequented by English travelers because it was considered to be moderate in its charges. But I am wandering from the streets. One is the very image of every other. The houses are whitewashed, lined with great strips of red and blue paint, deco rated with gilt sign-boards, showing the nature of the articles sold within. Shops and trades are jumbled together in the oddest juxtaposition. Here there is a French coiffeur, where you have your hair brushed by machinery, and can buy Pivot's gloves ; next door there is a cobbler's stall. Close to a print-shop, where you see all the pictures one knows so well by sight in Regent Street or the Rue de Rivoll, is a shed where colored prints of the lives of the saints—prints in the very infancy of pictorial art—flutter in the wind A milliner's establishment, where modes de Paris are advertised for sale, is flanked by a wodka store and a sthisage shop. The streets are intersect ed with ruts, dotted over with holes; and yet the small-built Russian horses drag the droshkis over them at a speed which would astonish a London cab man. Except in the great streets, there is no gas, and even here it is brought round in immense cans, and pumped into the lamps. Some day or other, soon, Moscow is to be supplied with gas works; but Russia is a country where improvements without end are about to be introduced some day or other soon. In a queer, odd, shiftless way, the trade carried on here must be enormous. Every afternoon you see immense strings of one-horse carts, heavily laden with packages, going out into the country. The profit on retailtranseetions is enor- LANCASTER PA. WEDNESDAY MORNING, JANUARY 16,1867 mous, and people who understand how to deal with the peasants make fortunes rapidly. It would be absurd for aman who has only been a couple of weeks in Russia to undertake to express any opinion about the national character. Nobody, I think, can avoid feeling the charm of the manners of the educated Russians ; nobody, on the other hand, can avoid the sensation that the common people belong to a lower grade of civilization than any we are accustomed to in the West. If you are to make an objection to the higher classes, it would be that they are too well-bred and too cosmo politan in manner. I have heard it said by a friend, given to paradox, that a mutual acquaintance talked too like a clever man to be really clever. And, in much the same way, j have some times felt a passing &ma whether the Russian gentlemen I have wet with could possibly be so polished, so sensi ble, and so liberal as I should suppose from their conversation. Proverbs about nations always lead you astray ; but still, when you are conversing with educated Russians, you cannot help feeling a desire, provided you are at a safe distance, to see what would be the result of administering the proverbial scratching process. On the other hand, even the most ardent of philo-Russians cannot attempt, in describing the peasantry, to say anythini , higher than that they look dirty and degraded. It is curious to any one who has heard much about the incapacity of the negroes for freedom in consequence of their facial development, and their unwil lingness to work except under compul sion, and their inevitable relapse into barbarism if left to take care of them selves, to hear exactly the same argu ment applied in conversation here to the Russian peasants, whose defects, whatever they may be, do not arise from the! being descendants of Ham. I ant told • here constantly that the emancipation has proved a failure, and that the peasants would be glad to have the old system restored. On the other hand, the foreign resident merchants I have met, who have come here to make money, and are by no means dis posed to sentimentalism of any kind, are line and all in favor of the eimineipation, because it has al ready, given such an impetus to trade. f we Wit the two accoun ts together, the real state of the case seems not difficult to explain. Both parties agree that the will work very hard for a time; and both agree that they have tits of in superable indolence and drunkenness. ne truth is, their wants are exceedinff ly few, and easily gratified. They work hard enough to keep themselves in what they consider eonifort, and then, like workmen, in all parts of the world, they decline to work wore. As they be come educated and civilizeo, their wants uci,.,se,tlicirnotionofcomfortisraised, and, iu cont,iilehee, they work harder The old proprietors, who can no lon ger gel their work done below the mar ket price of labor, complain that the country is going to rack and ruin. The foreign employers, who pay wages, and have 1,0 longer to compete with unpaid labor, are Weil satisfied with the new state of things. ._\leanwhile, I heard UV() facts Conn reliable sources, which seem In, tile to show, as far as they go, that the einancipation is not working badly. Since the abolition of serfdom, the populati4 loscow has increased by ty thousand souls. This influx is solely due to the crowds of serfs who, as soon as they are set free to go where they will, have come into the great cities, where they can get higher wages litr their labor. Again, a manufacturer who employs some twenty odd thousand workinen assured me that, since the abolition of serfdom, he finds it difficult to get la;,or during harvest-time, be cause all the peasants have taken to cultivate small plots of ground of their own. Curt co II side rations like these lie rather out of the province of au article Con taining a few random reflections of soma three days spent in Moscow. if you want to keep up your illusions about Russia, you should not, I fancy, look much below the surface. If you want to retain your impression of Moscow in all its splendor, you should look down upon the city from above, not descend into its streets. Petersburg is strange at its first aspect, and unlike the cities which we know in the West ; but when youcorne Inch to St. Petersburg from Moscow, you seem to have come back to a com monplace European city. A foretaste of the East hangs about Moscow : you feel that you are standing on the ex treme threshold of European civiliza tion. In St. Petersburg, Europe has conquered Asia; but in Moscow the struggle is stilt undecided. The water carriers still ply their trade about the streets ; Turks and Americans and Persians may beseenamongstthecrowd at the market places, looking more at home than the Merman traders in hats and trousers. And, when you leave Moscow behind you, you feel that you have caught a glimpse of a new and un known world ,—of a civilization that is other than our own. An Apostrophe to Woman At the great Bigelow banquet in Paris on the luth ult., perhaps the most beau tiful specimen of dinner speech-making was that of Parke Goodwin in response to the maidt laudatory of woman : The late President Adams said wittily on a ceidain ocicasiou, that once in his life he had found it so difficult to ad- dress a single woniau effectually, that lie had never afterwards got heart enoucii to address several of them to• gether. His experience then is mine now; and if one with talents so emi nent and flexible was embarrassed un der similar circumstances, what must be my condition amid this galaxy of glancing eyes, in the presence of this flowery purtoy , of beaming faces? I shrink, then, abashed and impotent from the daring ta,k, which this relent less and inexorable committee has im posed Ilpwl ine,oispeaking to the ladies. But ii one way not without an un heard of awl unblushing presumption speak to then}, he isnot prevented from speak ing of' them ! ! that is another thing! Ah, then the blood rushes im petuously to the heart, the thoughts come unprompted to the mind, the words How thick and fast from the lips ! All that historians have ever described of fait and good ; all that painters have drawn of the graceful and lovely ; all that poets have dreamed of the golden ages to conic, more resplendent and happy than the golden ages of fable and the past—all has been drawn from that inspiration. For the Muses, whom poets and historians alike invoke, are women, are they not? For the Graces, to Nr ho m the artists make their homage, are women, are they not? For the highest ideals—our emblems of Liberty, and Justice, and Peace and Plenty, and Hope, in which nations seek to express their thoughts, are women, are they not? All the sovereign virtues that crown our temples now, and that are destined to crown our lives in the future, are women, are they not ? In short, the human fancy, or rather the fancy of genius, which is the highest humanity, when it would construct for itself some matchless and perfect form to embody its aspirations of whatever is sweetest and best, unconsciously moulds it in the shape of her who is our mother in in fancy, and so forever sacred—who is our mistress in youth, and so forever lovely —who is our wife in maturer age, and so forever dear—who is always our wisest counsellor, our safest providence, our tenderest nurse ; who in life is the light of that dwelling of which we are only the rough supports ; and who in death, beyond the tomb, becomes the guardian angel, that leads, or ever lives to lead us upward to Heaven, which is her source and her home. . . I have it to-day from the very best au thority that General Grant heartily endorsed the President's veto of the District negro suffrage bill. Mr. Washburne, of Illinois, (General Grunt's intimate personal friend,) has never intimated that the General was opposed to the veto. All reports to that effect aro incorrect. It is well known here that Grant is with the President, not only on the negro suffrage question, but on al• most everything else. General Grant's Views. ANOTHER VETO MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIbENT Colored Suffrage in District or Columbia. THE PRESIDENT'S OBJECTIONS. To the ,Senate of the United Stales I have received and considered a bill en titled "An act to regulate the elective fran chise in the District of Columbia," passed by the Senate on the 13th of December, and by the House of Representatives on the succeeding day. It was presented for my approval on the 26th ultimo—six days after the adjournment of Congress—and is now returned, with my objections, to the Senate, in which house it originated. Measures having been introduced at the nommen ement of the first session of the present Congress for the extension of the elective franchise to persons of color in the District of Columbia, steps were taken by the corporate authorities of Washington and Georgetown to ascertain and make known the opinion of the people of the two cities - upon a subject so immediately affect ing their welfare as a community. The question was submitted to the people at special elections, held in the month of De cember, 1865, when the qualified voters of Washington and Georgetown, with great unanimity of sentiment, expressed them selves opposed to the contemplated legisla tion. In Washington, in a vote of 6,556 the largest, with but two exceptions,_ ever polled in that city—only thirty five ballots were cast for negro suffrage; while in Georgetown, in an aggregate of 813 votes— a number considerably in excess of the average vote at the four preceding annual elections—but one was given in favor of the proposed extension of the elective fran chise. As these elections seem to havebeen conducted with entire fairness, the result must be accepted as a truthful expression of the opinion of the people of the District upon the question which evoked it. Pos sessing, as an organized community, the same popular right as the inhabitants of a State or Territory, to make known their will upon matters which affect their social and political condition, they could have se lected no more appropriate mode of me morializing Congress upon the subject of this bill than through the suffrage of their qualified voters. Entirely disregarding the wishes of the people of the District of Columbia, Congress has deemed it right and expedient to pass the measure now submitted for my signa ture. It, therefore, becomes the dutx of the Executive, standing between the legistation of the one and the will of the other, fairly expressed, to determine whether he should approve the bill, and thus aid in placing upon the statute-books of the nation a law against which the people to whom it is to apply have solemnly and with such unani mity protested, or whether he should return it, with his objections, in the hope that, upon reconsideration, Congress, acting as the representatives of the inhabitants of the seat of government, will permit them to regulate a purely local question as to them may seem best suited to their interests and con dition. The District of Columbia was ceded to the United States by Maryland and Vir ginia, in'order that it might become the permanent seat of government of the United States. Accepted by Congress, it at once became subject to the "exclusive legisla tion" for which provision is made iu tho federal constitution. It should be borne in 7•' - - mind, however, that in exercising its func tions as the law-making power of the Dis trict of Columbia, the authority of the na tional legislature is not without limit, but that Congress is bound to observe the letter and spirit of the constitution as well in the enactment of local laws for the seat of gov ernment as in legislation common to the entire Union. Were it to be admitted that the right "to exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever," conferred upon Congress unlimited power within the Dis trict of Columbia, titles of nobility might he granted within its boundaries; laws might be made "respecting an establish ment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press ; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to peti tion the government for a redress of griev ances." Despotism would thus reign at the seat of government of a free republic, and, as a place of permanent residence, it would be avoided by all who prefer the blessings of liberty to the mere emoluments of official position. It should also be remembered that in legislating for the District of Columbia, under the federal constitution, the relation of Congress to its inhabitants is analogous to that of a Legislature to the people of a State, under their own local constitution. It does not, therefore, seem to be asking too much that, in matters pertaining to the Dis trict, Congress should have a like respect for the will and interests of its inhabitants as is entertained by a State Legislature for the wishes and prosperity of those for whom they legislate. The spirit of our con stitution and the genius of our government require that, in regard to any law which is to affect and have a permanent bearing upon a people, their will should exert at least a reasonable influence upon those who are acting in the capacity of their legisla tors. Would, for instance, the Legislature of the State of New York, or of Pennsyl vania, or of Indiana, or of any State in the Union, in opposition to the expressed will of a large majority of the people whom they were chosen to represent, arbitrarily force upon them, as voters, all persons of the Afri can or negro race, and make them eligible for office, without any other qualification than a certain term of residence within the State? In neither of the States named would the colored population, when acting to gether, be able to produce any great social or political result. Yet, in New, York, be fore he can vote, the man of color must fulfill conditions that are not required of the white citizens; in Pennsylvania the elective franchise is restricted to white free men, while in Indiana uegross and mulat toes are expressly excluded from the right of suffrage. It hardly seems consistent with the principles of right and justice that representatives of States where suffrage is either denied the colored man, or granted to him on qualifications requiring intelli gence or property, should compel the peo ple of the District of Columbia to try an experiment - .which their own constituents have thus far shown an unwillingness to test for themselves. Nor does it accord with our republican ideas that the principle of self-government should lose its force when applied to the residents of the Dis trict, merely because their legislators are not, like those of the States, responsible, through the ballot, to the people for whom they are the law making power. The great object of placing the seat of government under the exclusive legislation of Congress, was to secure the entire inde pendence of the general government from undue State influence, and to enable it to discharge, without danger of interruption or infringement of its authority, the high functions for which it was created by the people. For this important purpose it was ceded to the United States by Maryland and Virginia, and it certainly never could have been contemplated, as one of the objects to be attained by placing it under the exclu sive jurisdiction of Congress, that it would afford to propagandists or political parties a place for an experimental test of their principles and theories. While, indeed, the residents of the seat of government are not citizens of any State, and are not therefore allowed a voice in the electoral college, or representation in the councils of the nation, they are, nevertheless, American citizens, entitled as such to every guarantee of the constitution, to every benefit of the laws, and to every right which pertains to citi zens of our common country. In all mat ters, then, affecting their domestic affairs, the spirit of our democratic form of govern ment demands that their wishes should be consulted and respected, and they taught to feel that, although not per mitted practically to participate in na tional concerns, they are nevertheless under a paternal government, regardful of their rights, mindful of their wants, and solicit ous for their prosperity. It was evidently contemplated that ell local questions would be left to their decision at least to an ex tent that would not be incompatible with the object for which Congress was granted exclusive legislation over the seat of gov ernment. When the Constitution was yet under consideration, it was assumed, by Mr. Madison, that its inhabitants would be allowed "a municipal Legislature, for local purposes derived from their own suf frages." When, for the first time, Congress, in the year 1800, assembled at Washington, President Adams, in his speech at its open ing, reminded the two houses that it was for them to consider whether the local pow ers over the District of Columbia, vested by the Constitution in the Congress of the United States, should be immediately ex ercised, and he asked them to "consider it as the capital of a great nation, advancing with unexampled rapidity in arts, in com merce, in wealth, and in population, and possessing within itself those resources which, if not thrown away or lament ably misdirected, would secure to it a long course of prosperity and self government." Three years had not elapsed when Congress was called upon to determine the propriety of retroceding to Maryland and Vh.g.lnia the jurisdiction of the territory which they had respectively relinquished to the government of the United States. It was urged, on the one hand, that exclusive jurisdiction Was not necessary or useful to the government ; that it deprived the inhabitants of the Dis trict of their political rights; that much of the time of Congress was consumed in legis lation pertaining to it ; that its government was expensive; that congress was not competent to legislate for the D,striet, be cause muse the me rs were strangers to its _ concerns; and that it was itn example of a government without representat ion— an experiment dangerous to the liberties of the States. On the other hand it was held among other reasons,pudsnet,etirful ly. that the constitution, the acts of cession oi V ir _ ginia and Maryland, and the act of Congress accepting the grant, all contemplate : t...e exercise of exclusive legislation by Con gress, and that its usefulness, if nut its ne— cessity, was inferred from the iucou venionce which was felt for want of it by the Cot igress of the Confederation; that the people them selves, who, it was said, had been deprived of their political rights, had not complained, and did not desire a retrocession ; that the evil might be remedied by giving them a representation in Congress when the Dis trict should become sufficiently populous, and in the meantime a local legislature; that if the inhabitants had not political rights, they had great political influence; that the trouble and expense of legislating for the District would nut be great, but would diminish, and might. in a great measure, be avoided by a local legislature; and that Congress could not retrocede the inhabitants without the r consent. out n uing to live, substantially, under the laws that existed at the time of the cession, and such changes only having been made as were suggested by themselves, the people of the District have not sought, by u local legislature, that which has generally been willingly conceded by the Congress of the nation. -_Asa general rule, sound policy requires that the legislature should yield to the wishes of a people, when not inconsistent with the constitution and the laws. The measures suited to one community might not be well adapted to the condition of !M -other ; and the persons best qualfied to de termites such questions as those whose interests are to be directly affected by any proposed law. In Massachusetts, for in stance, mule persons are allowed to vote witheut regard to color, provided they possess a certain degree of intelligence. In a population in that State of 1,231,060, there were, by the census of 1860, only 9,602 persons of color; and of the males over twenty years of age, there were 339,086 white to 2,602 colored. By the same official enumeration, there were in the District of Columbia, 60,764 whites to 14,316 persons 01 the colored race. Since then, however, the population of the District has largely in creased, and it is estimated that at the present time there are nearly at hundred thousand whites to thirty thousand negroes. The cause of thejaugmented numbers oi the latter class needs no explanation. Contig uous to Maryland and Virgiuni, the Dis trict, during the war, became a place of refuge for those who escaped from servi tude, and it is yet the abiding place of a considerable portion of those who sought within its limits a shelter front bon dage. Until then held in slavery, and de nied all opportunities for mental culture, their first knowledge of thegovernment was acquired when, by conferriu upon them freedom, it became the benefactor of their race; the test of their 'mentality fur itn provemeut began, when, for the first time, the career of free Indus ry, and the itvoktues to intelligence were opened to them. Pos sessing these advantages but a limited time —the greater number perhaps having en tered the District of Columbia during the later years of the war or since its deternii natiou—we may well pause to inquire whether, after so briet a probation, they are, as a class, capable of an intelligent ex ercise of the right of suffrage,- and qualified to discharge the duties of official position. The people who are daily witnesses of their mode of living, and who have become fa miliar with their habits of thought, have expressed the conviction that they are not yet competent to serve as electors, and thus become eligible Jor office in the local gov ernments under which they live. Clothed with the elective franchise, their numbers, already largely in excess of the demand for labor, would be soon increased by an influx from the adjoining States. Drawn front fields whereemployment is abundant, they would iu vain seek it here, and so add to the embarrassments already ex perienced from the large class of idle persons congregated in the District. Hardly yet capable of forming correct judg ments upon the important questions that often make the issues of a political contest, they could readily be made subservient to the purposes of designing persons. While in Massachusetts, under the census of 1866, the proportion of white to colored inales over twenty years of age was one hundred and thirty to one, here the black race con stitutes nearly one-third of the entire popu lation, whilst the same class surrounds the District on all sides, ready to change their residence at a moment's notice, nod with all the facility of a nomadic people, in order to enjoy here, after a short residence, a privilege they find nowhere else. It is with in their power, in one year, to come into the District in such numbers as to have the supreme control of the white race, and to govern them by their own officers, and by the exercise of all the municipal authority —among the rest, of the power of taxation over property in which they have no inter est. In Massachusetts, where they have enjoyed the benefits of a thorough educational system, a qualification of intel ligence is required, while here suffrage is extended to all, without di, I ;initiation, ;is well to the most incapable, woo can prove a residence in the District of one year, as to those persons of color who, comparative ly few in number, are permanent inhabi tents, and having given evidence of merit and qualification, are recognized as useful and responsible members of the corn muni ty. Imposed upon an unwilling people, placed, by the constitution, under the exclusive legislation of Congress, it would be viewed as an arbitrary exercise of power, and as an indication by the country of the purpose of Congress to compel the acceptance of negro suffrage by the States. It would engender a feeling of opposition and Mitred between the two races, which, becemiug deep rooted and ineradicable, would pre- vemthem from living together in a state of mutual friendliness. Carefully avoiding every measure that might tend to produce such a result, and following the clear and well ascertained popular will, we should assiduously endeavor to promote kindly relations between them, and thus, when that popular will leads the way, prepare for the gradual and harmonious intrialue tion of this new element into the political power of the country. It cannot be urged that the proposed ex tension of suffrage in the District of Colum bia is necessary to enable persons of color to protect either their interests or their rights. 'I hey stand here precisely as they stand in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana. Here, as elsewhere, in all that pertains to civil rights, there is nothing to distinguish this class of persons from citizens of the United States; for they possess the "full and equal benefit of all laws and proceed ings for the security of person and property as is enjoyed by white citizens," and aro made "subject to like punishment, pains and penalties, and to none other, any law, statute, ordinance, regulation or custom to the contrary notwithstanding." Nor, as has been assumed, are their suffrages neces sary to aid a loyal sentiment here; for local governments already exist of undoubted fealty to the government, and are sustained by communities which were among the first to testify their devotion to the Union, and which during the struggle furnished their full quotas of men to the military ser vice of the country. The exercise of the elective franchise is the highest attribute o ftudo eu ofr antthat, at,governmentAmerican a as a c eunc i amir t dps l ci z l k tll eiaa years, a n t hsnnt o , sodef and when guided by virtue, intelligence, patriotism and a proper appreciation ofour institutions, constitutes the true basis of a democratic form of government, 'in which the sovereign power is lodged in the body of the people. Its influence for good neces sarily depends upon the elevated character and patriotism of the elector; for if exer cised toy persons who do not justly estimate its value and who are indifferent as to its results, it will only serve as a means of placing power in the hands of the unprin cipled and ambitions, and must eventuate in the complete destruction of that liberty of which it should be the most powerful conservator. Great danger is therefore to be apprehended from an untimely eaten slim of the elective franchise to any new class in our country, especially when the large majority of that class, in wielding, the power thus placed in their hands, can not be expected correctly to comprehend the duties and responsibilities which per tain to su ff rag e. yesterday, as it were, four millions of persons were held in a eon dbettitinthi ht i t e Theeeg iy o pl av n rbe It: o ot eea, f mu inn: en s , et l a onre dt v oeo ai e fa sr et h, y t t ahifeg. nri t reso h hwma a a re Encer t rhle h ee t ilwd It a nht h d e ehtde oi e teien. or x nrm i opt he keelovypfeei d t f dr ifiosh o vneo r s g e e e o n e n r d a oi f tions; to-day ttley are freemen, and are In e assumed by . law to he citizens. It cannot t th io e n na o t f ur se e k et n itn ow ti l o ed n, ge of our institutions which andthe the s upon which he can be admitOd to citizen ship. He must prove, in addition, a good moral character, and thus give reasonable ground for the belief that he will be faithful to the obligations which he assumes as a citizen of the republic. Where a people— the eouroe of all polititoat power—speak, by NUMBER 2. their suffrages, throughthe instrumentality of the ballot-box, it must be carefully guarded against the control of those who are corrupt in principle and enemies of free in stitutions, for it can only become to our political and social system a safe conductor of healthy popular sentiment when kept free from demoralizing influences. Controlled through fraud and usurpation, by the de signing, anarchy or despotism must inevita bly follow. In the hands of the patriotic and worthy, our government will be preserved upon the principles of the constitution in herited from our fathers. It follows, there fore, that in admitting to the ballot-box a new class of voters not qualified for the exercise of the elective franchise, we weaken our system of government, instead of adding to its strength and durability. In returning this bill to the Senate, I deeply regret that there should be any con flict of opinion between the legislative and executive departments of the government in regard to measures that vitally affect the prosperity and peace of the country. Sin cerely uesiring to reconcile the States with one another, and the whole people to the government of the United States, it has been my earnest wish to co-operate with Con gress in all measures having for their object u proper and complete adjustment of the questions resulting from our late civil war. Harmony between the co-ordinate branches of the government, always necessary for the public welfare, was never more de manded than at the present time, and it will therefore be my constant aim to pro mote, as far as possible, concert of action between them. The differences of opinion that have al ready occurred have rendered me only the more cautious, lest the Executive should encroach upon any of the prerogatives of Congres, or, by exceeding, iu any manner, the constitutional limit of his duties, de stroy the equilibrium which abound exist between the several co-ordinate depart- ments, and which is so essential to the harmonious working of the government. I know it has been urged that the Executive Department is more likely to enlarge the sphere of its action than either of the other two branches of the goverunaent, and es pecially in the exercise of the veto power conferred upon it by the constitution. It should be remembered, however, that this power is wholly negative and conservative in its character, and was intended to operate as a check upon unconstitutional, hasty, and improvident legislation, and as a means of protection against invasions of the just powers of the Executive and Judicial Departments. It is remarked by Chancellor ent that " to enact laws is a transcendent power ; and, if the body that possesses it he a full and equal representation of the people, there is danger of its pressing with destructive weight upon all the other parts of the machinery of government. It has, therefore, been thought necessary by the most skilful and most experienced artists in the science of civil polity, that strong barriers should be erected for the protection and security of the other necessary powers of the government. Nothing has been doomed more lit and expedient for tits pur pose than the provision that the head of the Executive Department should be so consti tuted as to secure a requisite share of inde pendence, and that he should have a nega tive upon the passing of laws; and that the judiciary power, resting on a still more permanent basis, should Kaye the right of determining upon the validity of laws by the standard of the constitution." The necessity of some such check in the hands of the Executive is shown by refer ence to the most eminent writers upon our system of government, who seem to concur in the opinion that enrcoachments are most to be apprehended from the department in which all legislative powers are vested by the constitution. Mr. Madison, in referring to the difficulty of providing some practi cal security for each against the invasion of the others, remarks that "the legislative department is everywhere extending the sphere of its activity, and drawing all pow er into its impetuous vortex:' "The founders of our republic 4 • • scent never to have recollected the danger from legislative usurpations, which, by assembling all power in the same hands, must lead to the same tyranny as is threat ened by Executive usurpations." "In a representative republic, where the execu tive magistracy is carefully limited, both ut the extent and the duration of its power, and where the legislative power is exer • ised by an assembly which is inspired by a supposed influence over the people, with an intrepid confidence iu its own strength, which is sufficiently numerous to feel all the passions which actuate a multitude, yet not so numerous as to be incapable of pur- suing the objects of its passions by means which reason prescribes, it is against the enterprising ambition of this department that the people ought to indulge all their jealousy and exhaust all their precautions." The legislative department derives a su periority in our governments from other circumstances. Its constitutional powers being at once more extensive and less sus ceptible of precise limits, it can, with greater facility, mask, under complicated and in direct measures, the encroachments which t makes on the co-ordinate departments." "on the other side, the executive power being restrained within a narrower com pass, and being more simple in its nature, and the judiciary being described by land marks still less uncertain, projects of Tustin patio!' by either of these departmentswould immediately betray and defeat themselves. Nor is this all. As the legislative depart ment alone has access to the pockets of the people, and has in some constitutions full discretion, and in all a prevailing influence over the pecuniary rewards of those who 1111 the other departments, a dependence is thus created in the latter which gives still greater facility to encroachments of the fornier.•' " have seen that the tendency of republican government is to au aggrandizement of the legislative, at the expense of the other departments." Mr. Jefferson, in referring to the early constitution of Virginia, objected that by its provisions all the powers of government —legislative, executive and judicial—re sulted to the legislative body, holding that "the concentrating these in the same hands is precisely the definition of despotic gov ernment. It will be no alleviation that these powers will be exercised by a plural ity of hands, and not by a single one. One hundred and seventy-three despots 'would surely be as aggressive as one." "As little will it avail us that they are chosen by our selves. An elective despotism was not the government we fought for, but one which should not only be founded on free princi ples, but in which the powers of govern ment should be so divided and balanced among several bodies of mag,istracy as that no one could transcend their legal limits without being effectually checked and re strained by the others. For this reason that convention which passed the ordinance of government laid its foundation on this basis, that the legislative, executive and judiciary departments should be separate and distinct, so that no person should ex ercise the powers of more than one of them at the same time. But no barrier was pro vided between these several powers. The judiciary and executive members were left dependent on the legislative for their sub sistence in office, and some of them for their continuance iu it. If, therefore, the legisla ture assumes executive andjudiciary powers, no opposition is likely to be made; nor if made, can be effectual, because, in that case, they may put their proceedings into the form of an act of assembly, which will render them obligatory on the other branches. They have, accordingly, in many instances, decided rights which should have been left to judiciary contro versy, and the direction of the Executive, during the whole tune of their session, is becoming habitual and familiar." Mr. Justice Story, in his commentaries on the constitution, reviews the same sub ject, and says: "The truth is, that the legislative power is the great and overruling power iu every free government." " The representatives of the people will watch with jealousy every encroachment of the executive magistrate, for it trenches upon their own authority. But who shall watch the encroachment of these representatives themselves? Will they be as jealous of the exercise of power by themselves as by others?" "There aro many reasons which may be assigned for the engrossing influence of the legislative department. In the first place, its consti tutional powers are more extensive, and less ca' able of being brought within precise limits than those of either of the other de partments. The bounds of the executive authority are easily marked out and defined, It reaches few objects, and those are known. It cannot transcend them without being brought in contact with the other depart ments. Laws may check and restrain and bound its exercise. The same remarks ap ply with still greater force to the judiciary. The jurisdiction is, or may be, bound to a tew objects or persons; or, however general and unlimited, its operations are necessa rily confined to the mere administra tion of private and public justice. It cannot punish without law. It cannot create controversies to act upon. It can decide only upon rights and cases as they are brought by others before It. It can do nothing for Itself. It must do everything for others. It must obey the laws; and if it corruptly administers them, it is subjected to the power of impeachment. On the other hand, the legislative power, except in the few cases of constitutional prohibition, is 'unlimited. It is forever varying its means and its ends. It governs the institutions, and laws, and public policy of the country. It regulates all its vast interests. It dis poses of ail its property, Look but at the • aims or AurviumniWm.! r sonfornsa Any Trextinfs,'4 l2c a yew , s4ir 'square of ten Linea; ten per cent. inuressetbr Motto= of a_year. ./frAx. Malay, PWonax. P8.03412rt, and, IN, 7 cents a Une Or the nest, and 4 AIMI:I oenta MIT fo G r each subsequent Mier. • ' tion. al. sCr BP Naricas inserted in Local Column, omits per line. Etna Ai. IScrriasa preceding marriages and deaths, 10 oents per line for drat insertion. and 5 cents for every en bee insertion. BUSEMIEs CARne, of ten noes or Less, fluidness Ave Unes iess7One fl LadAz. AND OTII s Ncrnoms— Executors' 290 Administrators' n0tt0e5,....—...-.—. 2.1X1 Assignees' notioes,--.-.--...—... 2.00 50 Auditors' notices,... „ 1. Other "N0t.1038,” tenllaes, or less, exercise of two or three branches of its or dinary powers. It levies all taxes; it directs and appropriates all supplies; it gives the rules for the descent, distribution, and de vises of all property held by individuals. It controls the sources and the resources .of wealth. It changes at its will the ,wholo fabric of the laws. It moulds at Its pleasure almost all the institutions which give strength, and comfort, and dignity to society. In the next place, it Is the direct, visible representative of the will of the peo ple in all the changes of times and ottani:o - It has the pride, as well as the power of numbers. It is easily moved and steadily moved by the strong impulses of popular feeling and popular odium. It obeys, without reluctance, the wishes and the will of the majority for the time being. The path to public favor lies open by such obedience ; and it finds not only support, but impunity, in whatever measures the majority advises, even though they tran scend the constitutional limits. It has no motive, therefore, to be jealous, or scrupu lous is its own use of power: and it finds its ambition stimulated and Its arm strengthened by the countenance and, the courage of numbers. These views are not only those of men who look with apprehen sion upon the fate of republics ; but they are also freely admitted by some of the strong est advocatesfor popular rights and the par manency of republican itratitutions. "Each department should have a will of its own." "Each should have its own independence secured beyond the power of being taken away by either or both of the others. But at the same time the relations of each to the °trier should be so strong that there should be a mutual interest to sustain and protect each other. There should not only be con stitutional means, but personal motives to resist encroachments, of one or either of the others. Thus, ambition would be made to counteract ambition; the desire of powerto check power; and the pressure 01 interest to balance an opposing interest," "The judiciary is naturally, and almost noces sarity, (as has been already said,) the weak est department. It can have no means of influence by patronage. Its powers can never be wielded for Itself. It has no command over the purse or the sword of the nation. It can neither lay taxes, nor appropriate money, nor command armies, or appoint to office. It is never brought into contact with the people by constant appeals and solicitations, and private inter course, which belong to all the other de partments of government. It is seen only in controversies, or in trials or punishments. Its rigid justice and impartiality give it no claims to favor, however they may to re spect. It stands solitary and unsupported, except by that portion of public opinion which is interested only in the strict ad ministration of justice. It can rarely secure the sympathy or zealous support either of the Executive or the Legislature. If they are not (as is not unfrequently the case) jealous of its prerogatives, the constant ne cassity,of scrutinizing : the acts of each, upon the application of any private person, and the painful duty of pronouncing judgment that these acts are a departure from the law or Constitution, can have no tendency to conciliate kindness or nourish Influence. It would seem, therefore, that some addi tional guards would, under such circum stances, be necessary to protect this depart ment from the absolute dominion of the others. Yet rarely have any such guards been applied; and every attempt to intro duce them has been resisted with a perti nacity which demonstrates how slow pop ular leaders are to introduce chocks upon their own power, and how slow the people are to believe that the judiciary is the real bulwark of their liberties." ' If any de partment of the government has undue in fluence, or absorbing power, it certainly has not been either the executive or ju diciary." In addition to what has been said by these distinguished writers, it may also be urged that, the dominant party in each house may by the expulsion of asufliciont number of members, or by the exclusion from representation of a requisite number of States, reduce the minority to less than one-third. Congress, by these means, might be enabled to pass a law, the objec tions of the President to the contrary not withstanding, which would render Impo tent the other two departments of the gov- ernment, and make inoperative the whole some and restraining power which It was intended by the framers ~ f the constitution should be exerted by them. This would be a practical concentration of all power In the Congress of the United Stales—thin . in the language of the author of the Declara tion of Independence, would be " precisely the definition of despotic government." I have preferred to reproduce these teach- ings of the great statesmen and constitu tional lawyers of the early and later days of the republic, rather than to rely simply upon an expression of my own opinions. We cannot too often recur to them, especi ally at a conjuncture like the present. Their application to our actual condition is so apparent that they now come to us as a liv ing voice, to be listened to with more atten tion than at any previous period of our history. We have been and are yet in the midst of popular commotion. The passions aroused by a great civil war are still domi nant. It is not a time favorable to that calm and deliberate Judgment which Is the only safe guide when radical changes in our institutions are to be made. The measure now before me is ono of those changes. It initiates an untried experiment for a people who have said with one voice, that it is not for their good. This alone should make us pause; but it is not all. The experiment has not been tried, or so much as demanded by the people of the several Sates for themselves. In but few of the States has such an innovation been allowed as giving the ballot to the colored population without any other quadfication than a residence of one year, and in most of them the denial of the ballot to this race is absolute, and by fundamental law placed beyond the domain of ordinary legislation. In most of those States the evil of such suffrage would beit , partial; but, small as it would be, guarded by constitutional barriers. Hero the innovation assumes formidable propor tions, which may easily grow to such an extent as to make the white population a subordinate element in the body politic. After full deliberation upon this measure, I cannot bring myself to approve it, even upon local considerations, nor yet us the beginning of an experiment on a larger scale. I yield to no one in attachment to that rule of general suffrage which dis tinguishes our policy as a nation. But there is a limit, wisely observed hitherto, which makes the ballot a privilege and a trust, and which requires of some classes a time suitable for probation and preparation.— To give it indiscriminately to a new class, wholly unprepared, by previous habits and opportunities, to perform ,the trust which it demands, is to degrade it, and finally to destroy its power; for it may be safely assumed that no political truth is better established than that such indiscrim inate and all-embracing extension of popu lar suffrage must end at last in its destruc tion. ANDREW JOHNSON Washington, January 5, 1867. Pittsburgh. It a most infelicitous locality, itrtth res pect to weather and all meteorological phenomena. In winter we have so many home made clouds hanging perpetually over the city, that we almost forget what sunshine is before spring returns. And when the clouds of smoke are driven away, it is by a northwest gale, and then it is so cold that the sunshine transiently loth], has no chance to cheer and warm us. Astrono mers tell us wo can have but five eclipses in the year. This is nonsense, to Pitts burgh, for we have more than that practi cally every week. Who has seen the sun for days, or the moon for months? And then the almanac eclipses—no account is made of them, for In the first place, wo never see them, and, in the second, our daily darkness is deeper than a total eclipse of the sun, in the natural way, could pro duce. Learn All You Can. Never omit an opportunity to learn all you can. Sir Walter Scott said that, even in a stage coach, he always found somebody who could tell him something he did not know before. Conversation is frequently more useful than books for purposes of knowledge. It is, there fore, a mistake to be morose and silent among persons whom you think to be ignorant; for a little sociability on your part will draw them out, and they will be able to teach you something, no mat ter how ordinary their employment. Indeed, some of the most sagacious remarks are made by persons of this description, respecting their particular pursuit. Hugh Miller, the Scotch geolo gist, owes not a little of his fame to ob servations made when he was ajourney man stonemason and working in a quarry. Socrates well said that there was but one good, which is knowledge, and one evil, which is ignorance. Every grain of sand goes to make the heap. A gold-digger takes the smallest nug— gets, and is not fool enough to throw them away because he hopes to find a huge lump some time. So in acquiring knowledge ; we should never despise an opportunity, however unpromising. If there , is a moment's leisure, spend it over good or instructive talking with the first yoU meet.
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