VOLUME 2. LATER FROM TEXAS. AdJress by Governor Hamilton. The Union Association of Gavleston appointed a Committee to wait upon Gov. A.J.Hamilton, and requested him to deliver an address to the citizens of Gal veston on Thursday evening last at . p. in., at the Court-lloUso. The Governor assented. lie appeared at tha hour ap pointed, when an address was delivered on the part of the Committee by Judge C. Caldwell of Navasoia, to which the Governor responded. ADDRESS TO THE COMMITTEE GOVERNOR : We have been solicited „ g a committee of the Loyal Union As sociation of Galveston and vicinity to ex tend your Excellney a cordial greeting and welcome, in their behalf. Many of them, like yourself, have long been ex iles from the endearments of home, and nil those associations which render life gweet and agreeable. You are not unac quainted with their sufferings and their wrongs. Others again, from circumstan ces over which they could exercise no control, were prevented from leaving the scenes of their misfortunes. You have not failed, however, to learn from fugitive patriots the story of their persecutions —how hundreds were cruel ly treated, and many murdered for their devotion to the Union of their fathers.— It is, therefore, with no ordinary emotion they welcome you back to the State heartily rejoiciug in your selection as our Provisional Governor. Wo have an abiding faith, Governor, that under your Administration Union sentiment will be fostered and maintained, and Union men find in you a protector and friend. Now that the terrible strife is over, your wis dom has been verified by the result. — Your patriotism by the tenacity with which you cling to the emblems of your country's sovereignty and power, which now proudly floats over all armed oppo sition. The sacrifice upon the altar of liberty has indeed been great, but coming gene rations will regard it as not having been made in vain, if we are but true to the obligations that lay so plainly before u.s. With the mind unfettered, a free press and free speech, with civil governments restored to us upon the basis of a just re ward for labor and human liberty, its natural progress we may in all confidence look forword to a career of unparalelled prospects for our common country. Wo tender you, Governor, our cordial and zealous support in the discharge of your duties, and in upholding the nation al authority. J. 11. Romaine, A. Allen, S. Murrison, —l'rosh, J. Burk, Committee. HESI'ONEF. OF GOV. HAMILTON. JUDGE CALDWELL : For this kind welcome by the Union Association and citizens of Galveston, I have no language that will adequately express my feelings I can only say to you and to those you represent —I thank you. Fellow-citizens, to be permitted once moro to stand upon Texas soil iin d thus address you, fills me with emotion. I well remember when, and under what circum stance, I last addressed a public audi» once in this city. It was in November, 1800, when organized Rebellion was first beginnittg. Even then I was informed it would not be pleasing to those who were in favor of a disruption of the Gov ernment for me to speak at all. But in the hope of effecting some good, I did speak at the Market-House all public halls being refused me—and those here now who can testify how earnestly, on that occasion, I labored to dissuade the people of this city from any participation in the proposed Rebellion. But the teachings of the dominant party in the ! South had done its work—reason was powerless, passion was in the ascendant. To such lengths bad perverted doctrines of States Rights gone, vhat in the pre ceding Spring the Democratic party of Texas held a convention in this city, in which, among other things, it was sol emnly resolved that Texas, in annexing l herself to the United States, surrendered none of her original sovereignty, but only orcutcd her an agent for the purpose of exercising certain powers for her during her pleasure ; that she was a mere attor ney, in fact, acting under the authority of, aud revocable at the pleasure of Tex as. The revolutionary teachers not only claimed a legal and political right to se cede, but asserted that it would be peace ful in its character and would not inyolvc war. The argument was that, inasmuch as the compact of union was between in dependent States voluntarily entered into, they could in the exercise of the same independence, secede from i.t at pleas ure. The very reason urged an unans werable argument against the right claimedj When parties do contract, be AMERICAN CITIZEN ing lie 2 to contract or not, they are held to their contrtct, otherwise they are com pelled by force. If this be the rule, un der the laws of all civilized governments, with regard to individual contracts, how much more necessary is it to apply the rule to the highest and most solemn of all contracts that man can enter into— that of a people each agreeing with each and all the others to the formation of a government for the protection and benefit of all. Such a contract can never be violated or disregarded upon any defensi ble principle, except that of resistance to such an abuse of power as has changed the character of the Government and made it a curse instead of a blessing. No one has ever yet charged the United States Government with a wrong to any State or citizen. But the theory of the right of a State to secede was utterly un practicable. If it is true that one State could, with or without cause, withdraw from the Union, it is necessarily involved the right of all the others to withdraw from any one, and thus kick her out of the Union without cause. Suppose that the other States of tlje Union, actiqg ijpoi) this theory, had determined to withdraw from Tennessee, 'l'hey could have said, Wc withdraw from you ; henceforth you are nn independent Government, foreign to us. We will form with you no treat ise of amity or commerce; we will not allow your citizens the light of way, ei ther for themselves or commerce, across our territory ; we hero you in; you arc free and independent, but you shall live and die independent upon your own soil, cut off from all the outer world. What would have been said of this by the civilized world ? What would we of Texas have srid if we had been thus treated by the United States ? Who were the parties to the contract which brought Texas into the United States? Two Governments were the parties to the solemn agreement —Texas anil the United States. Were the obligations of that contract not mu tual ? were the rights resulting fiom it not reciprocal ? Surely no sane and dis passion mind can dispute or doubt it. Then if, according to the doctrine of secession, Texas could disregard the con tract and withdraw from the Union, the United States could have done the same thing and driven Texas out of the Union at any time since annexation. It will also be admitted that while oth er States were going out, Texas had the light to remain in the Union if she tbo't proper, nay more, that none of seceding States, in such case, had any right to in terfere with any privilege or interest of hers, resulting from her membership in the Union. But after the withdrawal of Louisiana, Arkansas and Kansas, what would have been the condition ? Still in the Union legally, but in fact out of it. Bound to the other States of the Union, both by solemn contract and in heart and hopes, but territorially dissevered and dcuicd the right of way to her sister States. But the assertion of the Democracy of Texas before alluded to—that Texas by annexation yielded sowp of her original sovereignty. Shc was acknowledged and recognized among the nations of the earth with whom sho made treaties of friendship and commerce. She could and did make war--rai.se armies—equip navies—regu late trade and commerce, emit bills of credit, appoint ministers to foreign Gov ernments, aud do and perform all other acts pertaining to national sovereignty. But when sho entered the Union she agreed to do none of these things, but resigucd such powers to the United States Government, of which she became a part, and whose Constitutiou rj-j>res>/i/ forbids the exercise of any such powers by the States. But it is needless to pursue the argu m;nt further. New that the blood-let ting of a terrible civil \rar has brought the people ouce to think and reason, all will be able to perceive how pernicious and wicked such doctrines are. Hereaf ter let truth be the object of our political arguments and conclusions. I have re ferred to these things because they were the means used to delude a people who had neyer bwu wronged by their Gov ernment, to engago in armed resistance to its authority. Thd Southern heart must be fired, and hence the people must be made to believe they were in some way wrouged, although they were prosperous aud happy. They piust be prepared to tear up the Government, if only to pbov that they had the right to tear it up. They must fight for their right—thoir right to tear down a Government that had never wronged ; but had always blessed them; to ruin themselves and of people, if only to prove that a free and chivalrous people have a right to destroy as well as to institute governments. You " Let us have Faith that Right makes Might; and in that Faith let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it"~ A - LINCOLK BUTLER, BUTLER COUNTY, PA., WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 16 1865. would have it tiud have got it, and now the question is. What will you do with it ? By reason of your rebellion you have impaired no right of the Unitpd States, but you have sadly changed your posi tion and standing with that government. Under the law defining treason and providing for its punishment, without the clemency of the President, unable to take any step or do or perform any act in reorganizing State Government. The former State Government having been overthrown by rebellion and the citizens generaljy laboring under such disabilities as to render them powerless to act, the question presented itself to the President "what is to be done ?" The Constitution of the United States declares that "the United States shall guarantee to every State a Republican form of government." There being no Government (State) in Texas and the people not* in condition to act without the aid of the President, it became his duty to provide the means whereby they ijiay re-establish their for mer rpla(.ions with the General Govern ment. To tliat end lie lias, to all but a few offered amnesty for the past, and to this few he has said present your claims for special amnesty, and if you show merit, your petitions will be refused. lie has appointed me Provisional Governor and made it my duty to take such steps as may be necessary to give the people an opportunity of availing themselves of his amnesty upon the terms proposed, and then, when thus prepared, to provide the means for the assemblage of a convention of delegates to a convention to be elected by the people to alter or amend the present State Constitution, or frame a new one, as to them shall seem best, to bo submit ted to the people of the State for their action. In the discharge of the duty as signed me, I can only say, 1 have but one object, that is to carry out as 1 under stand them, the views of the Government at Washington, in enabling you once more to occupy your proper positions in the Union. Officially no feeling of ma lice or spirit of revenge, will cause me to swerve to the right or to the left. I came as an humble instrument in the name of the President and Government of the United States, to tender faith, friendship and Union to those who have it in their hearts ta accept the offer. All else depends upon the people. Henry S. Foote 011 Negro Suffrage. Henry S. Foote has written a long let ter to Hon. A. 0 P. Nicholson on the question of Negro suffrage. It is pub lished entire in the Montreal papers. Mr. Foote declares that slavery is dead, find its future revival impossible. As late fts last December, if proper counsels had prevailed, the South might have made terms with the National Government upon the basis of gradual emancipation, uni versal amnesty and reasonable compensa tion to owners of slaves. The opportuni ty was lost. "We have been compelled to ( surrendcr at discretion.'' In relation to the duty of the South in enfranchising the freedmen he says: We must, in order to assure our return to liberty and happiness not only recog nize the colored denizens of the South as now free, but we must allow them the same means of preserving their freedom that we ourselves desire to possess. They must be frecdmen in fact as well as in name. We must consent to their beiug invested with the elective franchise; anil this must be done, too, no matter what cherished notion we may entertain in re gard to the mental inferiority of those whom some of us have heretofore regard ed as the doomed posterity of Ham.— Nor can we now safely talk about carry ing them through a course of special tu telage and probation surh as I understand you to recommend,ere we make them our own equals before the law of the land.— These are not at all matters for our regu lation, but we are to be attended to by those who hold in their hands exclusive ly the sword and the purse of the na tion. I tell you, my dear Sir, and, thro' you, I wish to urgo upon the whole mass of ray fellow-couutrymeu of the South, that tho«e things must be done by us, else our States wili wot be allowed to have Representatives and Senators in Congress, or even be permitted, without molestation, to administer their own municipal con cerns. lie states the reasoas why the Northern people require it to be done, thus : The people of the North are not will ing lo trust us of the South with the ex clusive control of this affair, because they believe, and wo cannot possibly convince them to the contrary, that, should tiey permit fls to become represented ajiain in the two Houses of the Federal Congress, before we shall liave carried into opera tion fully the arrangements which they hav.e heretofore stipulated in lehj.it' of the colored race, we should afterward either openly resist the execution of the compact or at least attempt to evade its provisions; and some imprudent move- roeuts which have recently occurred in the South have greatly tended, I fear, to aggravate this unfortunate feeling of dis trust. Moreover, the people pf the North are almost the exclusive holders of the bonds which represent the vast debt which has grown out of the prosecution of the war,- and they are apprehensive that if the exercise of the elective fran chise is limited to the white population of the South, the whole voting power of our sectiou may be hereafter wielded in favor of repudiating that debt. We shall never be able to satisfy them that this debt will be safe without the eounterpoiso of negro suffrage. He has no doubt of the success of the new system of labor in the South, nor does he think that any injury can arise from extending the elective franchise to both races alike. Southern plantations will be as prosperous under the new as they were under the old agricultural sys tem. lie is decidedly of opinion that there will be as little fraud in elections hereafter as there was formerly, and as judicious an exercise of suffrage. Since it is a fixed fact that the negroes jnust be free, ''it will he far better to make friends, and neighbors and brethren of them, than to retain them iu our midst as l'ariahs or Ilelotes. 1 ' Our true interest lies in assimilating our whole Southern population in politi cal rights, in sentiment, in mental cul ture, in a just and affectionate neighbor ship, and in a true and loyal brotherhood. We have to deal with a race whom we knew to be mildly affeutioned, docile, and readily subject to all high and command ing influences, and it will be greatly our own fault if we do not get along with them iu the relation now in process of in stitution far better than we ever did be fore. He intimates the duty of the South to be sincere in their regard for the Nation al Government in the following reference to the preseut relations of Canadian peo ple : 11 Before I conclude, permit 1110 to say that here in this beautiful city, I daily and hourly witness the friendly associa tion, personal and official, of gentlemen who less than twenty years ago were ar rayed against each other in a political contest, aggravated into actual war. This happy effect has been produced by the patriotic submission of the defeated Ca nadian insurgents, and the liberal and christian policy of the Government, which not only granted a general amnes ty, but generously remunerated even "de nounced rebels" for losses incurred in the conflict. What a glorious example for the emulation of our country 1" Labor at the South. There is no surplus of Labor at the South—-far from it. Southern staples never before commanded such prices in peace as they do now; and they are cer tain to be high for the next eighteen mouths, and probably much longer. And, as half the arable land in the South now lies fallow, arjd can be bought very cheap ly, Labor ought to be in great demand there and to be well paid. And the la borers are there, willing to work, if only assured of fair wages, good treatment, and honest payment. Industry at the South remains disorganized and Produc tion deficient, mainly because the late slaveholders, in too many instances, are not reconciled to the idea of paying ne groes for work as they would pay Whites. They still cling to the hope that Slavery —in essence, if not in name—may some how be restored. In proof of this, we extract the following from the leading editorial of the Memphi* Argus of the 29 inst. — N. I*. Tribune : " The number of free laborers lost to the country in the Southern States, in consequence of the rebellion, is very great; besides, there has been no emigration whatever for four years or more, abd idle ness aud dissoluteness have grown to an alarming liight among all classes. It will be impossible for the white population al ready in this .country to bepome at once active aud zealous laborers, though we have no doijbt., it may and will do so in time; for we altogether reject the theory that the white man cannot labor in thg malarious regions of the cotton States, though we are willing to admit that he may not be so well qualified for this kind of labor as the black. Emigration has never yet doqe much to increase the pop ulation of the South, but should its prin cipal flow change to