VOLUME 4.
WHAT MEN WILL DO FOR MONEY.
BY EEV. HENRY WAID BIECHES.
When the welfare of men, their vir
tue, their intelligence and their happiness
is weighed in the scales against money,
avarice is the stronger. It is true, re
garding the whole enlightened communi
ty, and political economy, that, the inter
ests of property are identical with the
interests of virtue, and that whatever
promotes virtae is a good investment, and
whatever destroys virtue in the end in
jures property. Comprehensively, in a
large view, intelligence and religion are
good for the lowest interests in a commu
nity, as well as for the highest. They
are not alone beneficial tin men in their
family relations and in their higher so
cial connections and future osteite; though
they are prominently beneficial in these.
It would bo to the interest of every man,
even if he looked only at his pecuniary
advantage, that there should be integrity,
purity, disinterestedness, elevation of pi
ety, true godliness. Vice is • corrup
tion, not of morals simply, bot of prop,
erty as much. It is not only a burden
its victims, bat it is destructive to the
whole community as well. It is a tax
gatherer and oppressor. It wrongs the
poor, it wrongs those who are next to the
poor, it wrongs those who are next to
them, it wrongs you, it wrongs me, it
wrongs every body. Kvery single moral
influence that is put forth in the commu
nity, doing good to the actor, does gpod
more or less to the whole community;
-and every single evil infiueuce that is ex
crtod in the community, doing harm to
the actor and victim, also does harm to
the whole community. We are so bound
together, our social connections and sym>
pathies and liabilities are sueh, that re
flectively the good of one is the good of
all, and the evil of any part afflicts the
whole. Such is the moral oonstitution
of this world, that Godliness is profitable
in all things. But to those classes of
men who do not understand or care for
any good except immediate good, and
good at that, it does not seem
so. The profitableness of virtue, in are
mote way, incidentally, is nothing to men
who have no faith to morrow or of next
year, who live by their scutes for the tin
mediate moment, and to whom living
means some pleasure in the uerve aud
some gratification of the tnuscle. They
do uut bositatc, therefore, to make money
at the expense of human purity, and hu
man happiness, and life, itslelf.
It will not do, then, for us to be sen
timental, aud exclaim against moU de
grading views of human nature There
iis nothing more potent an! nothing more
melancholy, .than that a was will make
money out of his iollow man —literally
out of his blood «4i4 bones—if he Cau.
There is no measuer of cruelty, there is
bo depth of wickednean, there is no de
gree of meanness, that uioii will not come
to practice for the sake of getting mon
ey? I hope at first with scruples and re
luctances; but at last without sensation
or delicacy. There is nothing gigantic
in fraud; there is nothing base andit reach -
erous and heartless, that man will not do
for the sake of realizing pelf-
If you should take the treatment of
the emigrants that lnnd on our shoics; ifi
you should take the deliberate deceptions,
the fleecing, the overwhelming ruin bro't
upon families, their beggary, their com
pulsory degradations ; if you should call
from mute lips histories now suppressed
and unknown, of unutterable anguish
suffered by those who can not speak the
tongue of the land to which they have
come; if you should know that these
things were reduced to a business, and
that heartless flceoings were carried on
by men that oared neither for tears nor
anguish, nor separation, nor the deep
damnation that they heaped on the ric
tim's head, you would not doubt that men
would do any thing for the sake of money.
Strangers that sojourn in our midst find
themselves watched for, as men watch
for game in the woods. The trapper does
not more aunningly spread his snares aud
traps than do gamblers and soul-destroy
ws saMfceir trape iormen j and witfi no
..tfeought or desire except their
txen.ifld omt jiAbat distraction nt>* end
except to make their temporary gain.
respect to the treat- 1
ment of sailors; in respect to the lairs
jrod 4*»s into which »rjf|nflc«*,; in
reepect to the outrages which they suf
fer ; in respect to the utter abominations
,<rf inhumanity that, from year to year,
for a long time, have remained unexplor
ed and untouched ; this is one of the
prolific chapters of bottomless lust and,
avarice.
¥du know very well tow all the power
of «h*jQorarfiiMAt, and all the tßhsrpo
sitkiauf Uene&oient organized wtmens, in
thejatKVK*' were .not able to •&*• the
AMERICAN CITIZEN.
soldier from the most audacious robber
ies How many of them, after having
gone through summer and winter in the
camp and on the battle filed, and faced
death and sick neon, and endeared them.
selves to the imagination and the heart
of every true man, have drawn their
bounties and hard earnings, and started
for home, and on their way thither been
robbed of their little pittance, and ren
dered bankrupt, and that by those who
had the shapo of men, and would deny
it if we said they were monsters!
It strikes the imaginatiog when Jt is
one who wears the uniform of the sol
dier; but this villainy is carried on un
der circumstances more trying still, where
it is a 'oman instead of a mau. A man,
if he is stripped of his possessions, can
repair the damage again. If he is thrown
down to-day, he is on his feet again to-,
morrow. There arc endless resources
open to him. But a woman, what can
slie do ? There are thousands and tens
of thousands in these cities who are de>
pendent on one or two sources of sup.
port; and they olten fall into the hands
of men the most unprincipled and avari
cious. There are thousands of sewing
and laboring women who are driven down
to * point of poverty, beyond which one
single step is starvation—oh ! starvation
is the door of heaven in comparison—•
damnation ! And into that, with utter
indifference and remorseless greed they
arc thrust, as sheep ara thrust into the
shambles for butchery. You know it.—
Wo all know it. It is no time, there
fore, to be sentimental, and say, <' Men
can not commit such wickedness." It is
no time to say that men can not, in civ
ilized society, be guilty of cannibalism.
I tell you, there are more cannibals in
New York than in the isles of the Pa*
citic ! And if you were to take away
this night the support that comes from
eating men, there would be thousands and
thousands of empty maws to-morrow in
that city 1
Now vast sums, millions and millions,
are invested in a way which directly and
obviously result in the utter destruction
of men. All the forces of huge capitals
are invested in ways so notoriously de
peudent upon the morbid tastes of men,
•»nd classes, that every step you take to
correct those ways is understood to be an
attaok oo oupital.
There ar« haunts of thieves through
out the cities without which robbery
would almost bo paralyzed. They are
known ; vigilant eyes have watched them;
there is no doubt in respect to their char
acter ; and yet the robberies goon be
cause these places are often all secretly
maintained in the interest of capitalists.
There are dens of orgies. Nothing
this side of hell jan equal multitudes of
these j.laeos. We d« not need t<> goto
Vesuvius to see volcanoes. We have
them all around us, in spite of the po.
lice, and the common sense of the com
munity ; anil it is only because capitalists
have an interest in them. They may not
be known. You can not tell by the way
a tree W>£s where its roots are sucking
tap l'rorr. There is mart} infhn that
wears clean linen, and hns good associi.
ations, and appears regularly at the house
of God, and sits down at the communion
table, and munches the bread, and drinks
the wine, and seems to be a CthHstian
man, who, if you follow down his roots,
you will find to be sucking sap out of the
common sewers. And these dens are.
kept open and are sustained in spite of
law and publio sentiment, because capi
tal is intere ted in them and is at the
bottom of tbem.
Palaces of pleasure there are where
death is double-edged. Hundreds and
thousands aro traveling in ways irhich
are oelled ways of pleasure, but which
are ways of damnation ; and there is great
capital invested therein. These
of miscalled pleasure are winked at and
encouraged by thousands and thousands
besides whp are ktrawn te be di
rectly responsible for their. If it were
not for what may be called re*pectdble
hyp.crttic&t rafitaluu t&*yj:««kHc6>ex
ist as Ibg&rj j err
Saloons and gambling dens, which ar*
never fir apart, are eaAteoad ip-wadrous'
profmioOi <k^|OWtfct cwiea.,: Why, if
there were such means for moral culture •
if schools were as thick; if provision for
refinement, or solace, or auocor, or relief,
were as great, aieo would marvel. They
would raise the cry of prodigality. Not
Hies in summer we thicker than these sa
loons for depravities. ►«'" >
Loojjthe way wif) siflt their living,
by adulterations ip food. We who are
in cijaHiusbalNtcirouuistanees may by vig*
"Kites save ourselves from the evils of
thfts-r practice of- «dalter«tieg J odd ; but
the poor, that must buy wfauu they can
put uj,on them ! Ten thousand wretched
i tale have Sighed, and sou»wed,>ad
"Let us have Faith that Right makes Might; and in thfct Faith let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it"--A. LINCOLN
BUTLER, BUTLER COUNTY, PENN'A, WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 1867-
prayed to God, saying, " Lord, why has
my babe died ?" It was killed by foul
milk, drawn from the r oul udder of foul
animals, that were fed to disease, fever
and rottenness And there are men that
goon furnishing the community with
such milk, just because there is a good
deal of money mada by it. Buppose it does
slay five hundred children in a year, what
are five hundred children compared with
money in the pocket ? To such an ex
tent, in every civilised land is it carried
that governments are obliged to inter
fere and make inquisition by means of
mechanical testa and in other ways, in
to the frauds that are practiced in this
direction. And it is fonnd that men
learn to cheat faster than their cheating
can be detected. Men tell me that they
never think of patenting an invention in
cotton machines; that when they dis
cover an improved process they put it in
use and use it all they can, before others
can get it; that by the time others get it
they have another ready and that they
depend on keeping ahead in that way.—
It is certainly so In knavery. You never
come up with one method of cheating
before men have another fresh coined and
ready.
As if it were, not enough to destroy
human life by the adulteration of the
supports of life, flour and meat, and all
articles of luxury, medicine itself, that
should restore us tp some degree of health,
when sickness has thus been brought
upon us, is adulterated to such an extent
that doctors hardly dare proscribe, unless
they know the brand and arc certain of
its genuineness. Doubtless thousands of
lives are lost at critical stages of disease,
beftanse the potion failed to produce the
desired effect, on account of its having
been adulterated. And do you suppose
that these men, who are adulterating
food and medicine, and corrupting the
slay and staff of life, do not know that
they sre spreading sorrow and trouble and
mischief? They know it perfectly well,
but they do not care. They are making
money; and that is the main thing to
their minds. And all human comfort,
and life itself, putin one scale, with mon
ey iu the other, does not weigh a particle,
so far as they arc concerned.— Herald of
Health.
GEN. SICKLES AND THE FLAG.
The notion of General Sickles in ordering
the National ting to tie carried and respects
ed by the Firemen's pr toession in Charles
ton tins been severely criticised by the cop
perheads as the " iro«i heel," and by some
Union papers as an unnecessary and there
fore impolitic strstch of authority. Now,
it is precisely such details of conduct which
cannot be judged at a distance. The wis
dom or impolicy oC such an order depends
ontirely upun the TriforWSTion of the cora
mandei ilpon the spot. _ Of course it seemed
at first sight harsh that the General should
have ordered the ling to be borne in a pro
cession which, as it was rep irted. never car
ried any flag. It appeared to be as arbitrary
as an order to any private person or corpo
ration to display the flag upon his dwelling
house or offlae. Bur if ihe General hud is
sued such ah order as that, have we not had
experience enough, tJ know that it would
not have been without reason?
So it proves in t!ie»present case. It ap
pears that nt the Firemen's ]>aradc of last'
year the American flag -was not seen the
General expressed hi* rggrets and the omis
sion was reported to him by the authorities
and citispns as an inadvertence. When the
column was assembling upon this occasion,
instead Vt appearing wrttrmrt flstgw-or em
blems, which was stated to he the rule, the
companies carried various emblems, but the
Amerloon flag was omitted. The Stonewall
Fir* Bogiua company appeared iu the rebel
gray uniform, and with a full sised portrait
of Stonewall Jackson suspended over their
engine. It was plain that the parade was
to be a covert ovation in memory of the res
bellion, and the of the Uni
ted States commanding the district therefore
said to the proper authorities : " I shall not
forbid the honOr you wish to show in this
way to a man whom you respect, hut it oer-.
i Uiuly should not be done at the expense of
the h -nor of the United States you will
also carry and respect tfceUnited States flag."
Such an act of firmness shows to the
mourners of the "lust cause " that the Uni
ted States are in tamest When a State is
under military rule, it is so because the
State is in a condition in wbieh words and
forma are deeds. The commanding Gen
eral, who understands exactly what public
demon -traliou* mean, is tk* bees judge of
what shall be allowed to be said and done.
Harper 'i Weekly.
A modest young lady whs was a pass
enger on board a packet ship it ia said,
spraog out of her berth and jumped over«
board uu bearing the captain, during
a storm, order the mate to haul down the
•beets- The saase lady one* left the the
atre indignantly, because the scenes shif
ted
»« m «»-
A lady leaving home was thus ad.
dr&ssed by her .little boy will
you remember and buy me a,whistle,
and let it be a religious one so that I can
;MM it UkSOfttfA*"'
THE MOBILE RIOT.
Accounts From Mobile Papers.
AN "UNPROVOKED ATTACK."
TH« MOBILE PRESS ON THE RIOT.
The Mobile Advertiser and Regutrt
and the Ne m, while stating that the re
cent ri#t at Mobile, and 4he attempt to
assassinate Judge Kelley, was the "re
sult of the merest accident," at the same
time charge Judge Kelley with being the
cause, from the language he used, which
tbey style "inflammatory remarks."—
Coroner Delchams, a Justice of the Peace
in Mobile, however, testified before a
Coroner's jury that he "listened atten
tively to the remarks of the speaker, Mr
Kelley, and I must say that I heart! noth
ing which in ordinary circumstance would
be considered wrong," and that the col
ored peoplo would not have used their i
weopons "had it not been that the opin
ion prevailed among the crowd that an
unprovoked attack had been deliberately
made on this meeting."
The following is an extract from the
leadiug article in the Mobile Register on
the riot:
•'The disturbance that occurred at the
meeting to hear Judge Kelley was the
result, as we have statftl, of'the merest
accident. First, a citizen who had been
drinking made several loud comments on
portions of Judge Kelley'g remarks that
did not p'easc him. This happens at ev
ery public political meeting. It was very
imprudent and improper to have been in
dulged in at this meeting. In truth, th»
best thing that the white people call' do
is to keep away from these —
The police endeavored to quiet the tipsy
citizen, and, failing in that, tp arrest liFin
The arrest provoked a scuffle, and about
the same time a carriage and horses rau
off through the outskirts of the crowd,
producing a rush to get out of tho way.
The two circumstances created the im
presnion in the body of the crowd that
there was a fight begun, and the Whole
mass broke up and dispenod nt double
quick. Meuntims the freedmcn com
menced firing their pistols, and, as we
learn, in the air, at they ran. The la»t
account must be true, for as there were
from 150 to 200 shots fired, if they had
been aimed in the crowd, nearly as many
hundred men must have been hit. As
As it was, the shot casualties do not ex
ceed six oi eight, aud most all of thoso
to white men.
It has been charged thai shots were
fired in the morning from the residence
of John Forsyth, the editor of tho paper
tVom which the above oxtract is taken,
but the Register denies this.
From the Register we extract the fol
lowing sworn testimony of Coroner J. J.
L elchamps :
On Tuesday evening, at about 74 o'-
clock, I wa9 on the corner of Goveru
nient and Itoyul streets, where a large
number of black men and some white
uien. were assembled. I mingled anu con
versed freely with the colored men, aod
was strongly impressed by their remarks.
I had occasion tQ discuns with them tho
momentous questions of the day, aud
was more than pleased to hear from them
that they wished to live in amity with
their old aud tried friend, and deal hon
cstly and honorably with all who were
willing to treat them in a like manner.—
One of the number had a discussion with
me, and see.j:ed to hold at heart Wrongs
which he asserted had been done him ;
he argued ably, and I must admit once
turned the laugh of the crowd against
me, but afterwards I did tbe same to him;
and he afterwards stated that there was
one Southern man in whom he had full
confidence, and"for whom he would shed
his heart's blood against any one living."
We parted friends, and I, on my part,
fully impressed that all the black men
wanted was to hear and judge for them
selves ; that they were peaceably dispos
ed towards all Southern men who would
treat tbem fairly and honorably. My
conversation ended when the speaking
began. I listened attentively to the re
marks of the speaker, Kelley,and
I must say that I heard nothing whiah
in orJinary circumstances would be con
sidered wioujif, "yeAiuder existing ones I
thought them highly injudicious, believ
ing, as I do, that what i» needed now is
not high flown political ha'fangues, but
plain, common sense remarks, calculated
to promote harmony among a 9 classes,
lead feeling and educate the Bias -
es of all tolors to act right, lawfully and
honorably towards all men without dis
tinction.
My position was on tbe sidewalk near
tbe stfnd. The spesker had not spoken
long before some injudicious remarks wera
beard proceeding from the outskirts of
th« assemblage. I remarked to the eol
ored sea sroaad jot that We ought to pay
ao attention to thai., and one answered
me and said : "No, that's soma fool that
aia't gut good sense." A few momeats
after a slight disturbance occurred at or
near the spot where th* first objectiona
ble remark* had prooaeded from, and at
the same time a street car or carriage, as
I could not see, going down the street
caused the crowd to jaai to together in
Ihe direction of the street. The erjr wss
at owea raised near me, "there's a fight,"
and a number of sticks were raised by
bkek men. I, -With many others, wss
forced by the rush to the foot of tbe steps
ef tbe okl Qoart House, when shots were
Aaard*.proofing i* the first instance
/WJMte. &£«*»?<» *%? M* distutb»Bce
im occored 4. w
men near me laid down flat on the ground
aDd one said to me, "Malta, lay down."
I took him at his word, replying; "Yea,
boys, very flat." By this time the firing
was very rapid, but from the flasliM I
aui satisfied a laige majority of the shots
were fired in the air in all directions sev
eral probably toward the speaker's stand,
but I am almost certain comparatively
few. The crowd having scattered, I arose
and in company with some black men
walked to the corner of Koyal and Church
street*. Afterwards I went up as far as
about >Vilkinson street in company with
a number of black men and two white
men; from that point I went home alone.
From what I saw and heard at the
meeting, and previous to the speaking,
my honest conviction was, aud is still,
that most, if not all the citizens
bile, black and white went, to that meet
ing with a spirit of good will toward all
honest and fair dealing men, and with no
iutention of creating a riot or any dis
turbance whatever. I am still of the
opinion that the citizens of Mobile,black
and white, are actuated by the same
spirit, and that the unfortunate distur
bance last evening was occasioned by the
ill timed remarks of one or more foolish
persons who were about to be arrested
by the police whon the passing of the car
or carriage causing a jam of the crowd,
induced the belief that there was a fight
or riot, and pistols were fired.
Subsequent to the scattering of the
crowd several gangs of meu, colored en
tirely, so far as I could see, were formed
and seemed to chase white men down
Government and lioyal streets, firing at
tliem; but 1 am convinced that most, of
them hastened quietly off to their homes.
Nor do I believe that these fjanga would
have been formed had it not been that
the opinion prevailed among the crowd
that an unprovoked attack had been dei
liberately made on the meeting.
My opinion is in nowise changed by
the unfortunate disturbance of last night;
but 1 still firmly believe that the great
mass of the black, as well as the white
citizens of Mobile, are anxious to live in
p*ace and harmony with all men, and to
avoid all difficulties or riotous conduct.
A REHKI SKETCH OF ME. KELLEY.
As some apology, we suppose, for the
attack on Judge Kelley, the Advertiser
gives the following sketch of him.
He belongs ?o a party that has, first,
denied us by brute force those rights in
I the Union which it proclaimed during
the war we should have if we would lay
down our arms; second, that he belonged
to a party that had reduced this people
to military subjection; and third,that he
had come out to insnlt and traduce a
people helplessly pinned down by bayo
nets which he had set at their throats.
Who will say that this is not a brave act,
all worthy of his party ? Shooting pris
oners of war in cold blood ii only a little
less chivalrio than abusing them to their
faces, with manacles on their bands and
feet.
MR. KELLY'S DEPARTURE.
Of his manuer of leaving mobile the
Register Bays;
A good deal was said in the streets
yesterday touchiug the departure of Mr.
Kelley from the city. That he left a
littlooutof the regnlar way of doing
things of that sort Was generally under
stood, but the information as to how it
was done was not so extensively diffused,
lie did not take the regular passenger
boat for Texas, but left on the Annie for
the trip, while others bint that she was
pre-ssed into service in spite of her smoke
stack. The firs' assertion is most prob
ably the truo one, as Mr. Kelley could
have had neither the right nor the power
to lay violent hands on a steamboat and
force her to oarry him wherever he had
a mind to go.
Always Tell tub Truth—Tho
ground work of manly character* ve taci
ty or the habit of truthfulness that vir
tue lies at tin foundation of everything
said* 11 JW common it is to hear parents
say, I have faith; in my child so long as
'it speaks tho truth. He have faults
but I know he will Apt deceive. I build
on that confidence they are right. It is
lawful and 3*<l3t ground to build upon so
1 long as the truth remains in a child
there is somthinx to depend on but wh«n
truth is gone all is loot unless the ebilde
is speedily won back again to veracity.,
Children did you ever Utll a lie ? If so
you are in imminent danger. at
once, little reader, and enter thf strong
hold of truth, and from it may you never
depart again.
Good milch cows sell in N. Orleans
for two hundred and fifty dollars each;
milk ip twenty cents a quart; straw
berries tow dollars and fifty rents a
quart, and turkeys fivo dollars a pair.
—A Western editor lately married
one of his ooaspeeiters, another compos*,
iter acted as bridesmaid; the officiating
clergyman being a retired printer, and
the local editor giving the bride any.
Where was the devil? Distributing pi.
An iiapertineat fellow asked a gentle
man at a pabM.e gathering why he had
shaved off his side whiskers, and was
answered, "that to meet some men be
required mor# elioek "
Dioinot. —One of the most important
point* of life in deoeney. Which is to do
what is proper where it is proper; for
many things are proper at one time and
at one place which are extremely improp
er at another. This deoeoey whioh shines
in lite, assuers the approbation, of those
with whom we live—by the regularity,
point and modesty of our opinions and
actions.
Thi Agricultural Depart thinks
the comiug w) eat crop will be the finest
_
REGTJLATIONOF SUFFRAGE.
One of the most acute of living politicnl
writers in England says of our constitution:
"The primary element in a free government,
the|determination of how-uinny people shall
have a share in it, in America depends not
upon tho government, but upon certain sub
ordinate local, and sometimes, as in the
South now, hoetile bodies." And tbe wri*
ter easily shows the danger of such a sys
tem. There is ao doubt that it is a cardi
nal defect in tbe constitution that it does
not exactly define the qualification for the
suffrage, and in leaving it to tbe various
States to determine who should be the voters
io the nation, the convention of 1789 exposed
the country to the peril through which it
has recently passed. Yet there can be liU
tie doubt that if tho constitution had made
every innocent male adult in all the States
of the proposed Union a voter, it wonld not
have been ratified by the necessary number
of States. This, however, does not disturb
tbe fact that the omission was a radical er
ror ; nor the other fact, that Die constitu
tion may oontain in otbei clauses a remedy
for the omission.
Senator Sumner has written a letter sug
gesting three methods by which the eonse,
quenees of the omission may be obviated
under tbe constitution and tbe laws as they
now exist. He thinks that the necessity for
equalizing suffrage before tbe Presidential
eleotion ia so pressing that it ia impossible
to wait for the usual method of amendment
by State Legislatures, which, in this in
stance, also, he thinks i> too uncertain to be
trusted. His propositions are : First, That
Congress is bound Io secure to every State
a republican form of government, and the
wat has settled that political disability by
reason of color is unrepublican. Second,
The amendment abolishing slavery gives
Congress power to enforce emancipation by
proper legislation. It has, consequently
passed tbe Civil Rights bill for the whole
country, and it can equally pass a Political
Rights bill. Third, The amendment pro
posed by the Reconstruction committee, and
adopted by three-fourths of tbe loyal States
defines citizenship, and forbids any State to
abridge the privileges of citizens.
The second of these proposition seems to
us untenable. The amendment abolishes
chattel slavery, and authorizes Congress to
enforce emancipation with proper legislation.
But it cannot be fairly asserted, in the or
dinary meaning of the words, except by a
! rule of interpretation which is wholly inad
missible, that equality of suffrage ia New
York is necessary to maintain emancipation
in Florida.
The third proposition is equally untena*
ble. The amendment was indeed adopted
by threo-fourtliß of tbe States; and thai
should of course, under the oircumstances,
be sufficient. But Congress has not made
it so. It is tbe opinion of Mr. Sumner, it
is our opinion, it is the opinion of many
othors, that tbe States which maintained
their interpretation of the constitution and
were competent to legislate through the war,
were equally and of necessity competent to
amend the constitution. But they did not
decide that they were. They have not pro
claimed the amendment adopted by three
fourths of tbem as part of the constitution ;
and until that is done nobody to
act upon it as if it were a part of the consti
tution. *
But the first 3f these propositions is un
questionably correct. Congress must be the
of tbe republicanism of tbo State gov*
ernment which it is bound to guarantee,
just as it must determine in a conflict be
tween two elaimitig governments—as in
Rhode Is)nnd in 1843—which is the lawful
government. But how and when shall it
exercise this power are purely questions of
expediency. Insisting even upen an un»
doubted authority is often the extremestffbl
ly. Burke never denied that Great Britain
had tbe right todax the Colonies, but he de
but be declared that it was wrong, under the
oircumstances, to exercise tbe right. So it
would be very inexpedient Cor Congress,
merely because it has a right, to assert that
republicanism required the voting of all
girls between the ages of ten and fifSen,
and then call upon all the States to make
their constitutions conform. Yet Congress
is the final and undoubted judge of what
constitutes a Republoan Government. Tbe
constitution does not require it to ask the
supreme court or any other authority to de- '
fine such a government" In the nature of
the case it must dooide for itself, and from
its decision there is no appeal except to the
people at the Therefore Congress
must decide to exercise the power discretely,
which controls it will be tbrust from power.
It will be said that the framers of the
oonstituiiou, by leaving tbe suffrage to be
settled by tbe various States in whioh the
electoral qualifications differed, and in many
of wiiicb slavery existed, conceded that sla
very and politioal excluiion by reason of
oolor were compatible wiib a Republican
Government; and it trill be urged that as
tba intention of the makers must coosirue
ths instrument, we oannot fairly suy that
authority to guarantee a republican form of
government empowers us to call tbo disabil
ity of co'.or unrepublican. To this there
are two replies. In tbe first place the po
litical disability of tbe colored people in the
States that formed the Union did pot spring
from their color but from their oondition.
In other words, they were not freemen be
cause tbey were slaves. ' But when slavery
was abolished in any State, it oannot be
fairly shown that poll heal exclusion for oolor
oaly was republican in tba sense of the
framers of tbe constitution- Indeed, Mr.
Sumner «js that South Carolina was tbe
■fcaty ftWamstig thebriginal thirteen wfatjtf*
NUMBER 24.
constitution established political disability
reason of color. Slaves did not vote, bat
colored freemen did. The fathers of ths
constitution followed the English precedent,
whioh was, tliat whenever the disqualifies*
tion of s'avcry was removed the slave bs
«an,e. » subject. So Hamilton says k> ths
h.iierqliit l N O . j t , g n j ß) jn #( j ,^ at ;j
tlm laws were to restore the rights which
have been taken away, the negroes oould BO
longer be lefoeed an equal share of repre
sentation with the other inhabitants." It is
therefore not true that the fathor. held po
litical exclimii n for color to be compatible
with a republican form of government. And
when New York imposed a political disa
bility by rent en of oolor on a part of her
citizens, tbo United States in Congress bad
aright, ho* ever impolitic arvd impractical
hie it may have been to exercise it, to pro
test and interfere.
But even were this not so—it it weff in
disputable that tbe fathers did think exclu
sion for color republican-it it both unwise
and perilous, upon proper oecasioa, not to
use every opportunity afforded by a written
constitution to adapt it to th« changing fun
damental opinion of tbe country. This is to
be done in two ways: by express amend
ment. and by interpretation. If fairlj', and
without wresting plain words from their
meaaiug, authority can be foood in tha con
stitution even for object, not specifically con
templated by tha frame™, but wbieh ( ia the
course of time, and by radical ebaages of
opinion, have become of tbo moat obvious
neoessity for the attainment of those objects,
Congress, tbo immediate representative of
the people, may justly exorcise it. It was
this whioh justified many of tbe measures
of Congress and the Government during the
war. It was upon what ia called " striot
construction " that the rebellion relied for
succes?, and it was in the achool of atrict con
struction that treason wns nurtured. Tbo
fundamental law must be ae flexible aa pos
sible to the eonviction of the nation. When
it is written like ours, and when the method
of amendment is so cumbrous aa ia ours, tho
moat liberal and elastic interpretation is es
sential to tbe national welfare.
It ia in this spirit that Senator freling
huysen. of New Jersey, said in a late speech:
"Tbe States may regulate suffrage; but can
the States destroy tbe elective franebise sc?
far as a Million of aativt born eitisens are
concerned on account of tbeir ancestry T
And, if tbey can nut, can Congress by a law v
forbid the exelusioa of citiaens from voting
on acooant of their raoof That is a ques
tion that I am not now prepared to answer.''
—Harper's Weekly.
JEFFERSON DAVIS.
When Jefferson Davis was caught run
ning away in his wife's pettiooats, if be bad
been summarily tried, oonvicted, and exe
cuted as a rebel in arms against ths Govern
ment, the public opinion of the oountry and
of mankind would probably have justified
tha act. We are glad that sueh was not his
fate, although it very soon became olear that
nothing remained but to allow bins togo at
large untouched. .
l'bat result is now reached. After tho
most dignified delay upon the part of the
Government he has been surrendered to the
civil authorities, and by them arrested for
high treason and bailed ia the sum ol one
hundred thousand dollars, precisely tho
amount of the award offered by -the Presi
dent for his capture as an accessory in tbe
assassination of Mr. Lincoln. In maintain
ing a consisteney of folly tbe Government
not only has not formally withdrawn tha
charge of assassination, but after two years
of preparation announces that it is not ready
to proceed with the trial for treason ; and
the prisoner is released with the moat per
fect understanding on all sides that he is not
to be tried at all. When the Government
saw that it could not sustain the charge of
complicity in tbe assassination, and had de
cided that Davis e<>uld not wisely be tried
for treason, it should have released bim on
his parole as it had released Alexander 11.
Stephens.
Before these Hues are read Jefferson Da
vis will probably have arrived in New York,
and the same feeling which lifted the hats
of many in tbocrowd at Richmond will offer
iiiir respectful homage here. But while wo
rejoice in tbe strength and nobility of a pop
ular government which can properly do an
act so unprecedented as the virtually uncont
ditional release of such an offender, let no
American citizen forget for a moment, or
fail to teach his children how wiaked the
crime was.and how enormous the moral
guilt of (hi criminal. It wns a crime meas
ured bv which the offences for which every
day men are sent to the penitentiary and
hung are trivial and unimportant ; a cause
less and cruel crime, for which hundreds
ef thousand* of hearths are desolate and
countless hearts are broken.
Jefferson Davis, add his associates, to
gratify a fierce politioal ambition, sought
to destroy a mild government which they
had always controlled,not 'oecauspit threat
ened tbeir libeity and property, but b'cause
they feared it might prevent their destroy
ing the liberty and stealing the property of
other men. l'bev attempted this w-jrk bv
fire and sword and untold and unimngin •
ble tortures. For fcur years they waged
bloody war sga'nst a government which
they did not allege liaj ever injured or was
then irying to injure them- The flower of
noble youth wua .tut dowu. Liko
Rachel the laud mourned her d rlings be
cause they lay dead npoo ths field or fctarir
inic and mad in the pent of Andersouville
and Salisbury.
F<>rthe«e crimes—whioh in thoir nature
and by the means necessary to subdue tbem
transcend the f»rins of human law—for theao
crimes, committed not in the hope-that jus
tice might be done, but with the purpose of
perpetuating the most revolting ipiustice
forever, God himself will be the Judge.—
And so long as A mericans love liberty, and
respect law. and honor manhood—so long as
truth and justice are swoeter io them than
cruelty and wrong, their sense will
pierce" the sophisms of Davis and bis aaso<-
oiates to tbeir foul and ghastly purpose,
which was not only the overthrow of tbe
Government but the degradation of human
nature, and to accomplish whieb tbey slew
eur dearest and oat beet.'— Harper's 'Weekly.