Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1863-06-25

was never in West Tennessee until scnt
from this city on his official errand; but
ho no doubt knows by intuition tho true
value OF tho goods and chattcls. lands and
tcnoments, DC. DC, of people he never
knew, and country in which he nevcr
lived. But he is so loyal-so much SO
that doubt not he is better fittod for the
office than any one OF the native born sons,
brothers or fathers of the thousand of
soldiers who, before the 22d Of last Sep
tembcr, West Tennessee had furnished to
the Federal army. Let the committee
initiate the Loyal Leagues" of Baltimore
and resolve that you not only approve all
the present wise and patriotic Admins
tration has done, but that you will sus-
tain and uphold it in everything it may
hereafter do. Let the committee make
an elaborate report, accompanied with
resolutions denouncing all who find fault
with our most excellent President. For
instance: The last Congaess lin July,
1862 passed law to confscatc the prop.
erty of certain rebels. The Congress.
though very wise body, did not possess
as much aggregate wisdom as our great
and good President. In proof Of this we
need but refer to the fact that tho Con-
gress aforesaid provided that, under this
law, trial should precede conviction and
forfeiture, and that guilt should be proven
not presumed. Worse still, it offered an
amnesty to repentant rebels; it mercifully
gave them sixty days in which to accept
it; and provided, further, that our most
ohto prasst ant ,phk Co.
riod the operation of this law as our
armies edvanced southwark, so as to af.
ford all an opportunity to accept pardon.
Worse, still, this law actually applied to
no one but the rebels. And it is aston
ishing that it applied to them everywhere
North as we'll as South--in Springfield,
Illinois, as we'll as Springfield, Tennessee.
But, worse still, it did not effect the
rights or property Of union men. women
children, or lunatics, in any section Of
country. That Congress, strange as it
may seem, did not preceive that the way
to end tho rebellion and restore affection
ate relations between the sections was to
place the Union men, women, children,
and the insane'upon a perfect footing Of
equality with the vilest traitors in tho
land. That Congress believed that the
crime Of refusing obedience to the usurpa-
ton of Davis & Co. in Mississippi, Ar
kansas, North Carolina and elsewhere,
amid the terrors of military despotism
did not merit the same or worse punish
ment than that they had denounced
against titled and official traitors. That
Congress spared the women and children
it also shielded from harm the Union mer
who still adhered to the national sym bo
of protection. What weakness! But
Congress has adjourned. What was tc
be done? Thank Heaven, our sagaciou,
President was found equal to the occasion
Yon will preceive that on the LIST of jan
uary last, under this so called confiscation
law, the slaves of every rebel in the Uni
ted States who had not accepted the am
nesty therein provided were 3e .jure free.
But how were we to end this rebellion il
Uuion mon, women and children in the
so called Confederate States were left in
undisturbcd possession of all their legal
and Constitutional rights. If this poll
cy were adopted the rebels might become
angry with thesei i''monuments of Federrl
mercy" and in that event the spared
monuments aforesaid might cling more
closely to the Federal flag. This division
among the people m ight cause still m orc
unhappy state of affairs in Dixie; oui
friends there might have to bear addition
| al indignities. AS before remarked, oul
: merciful and considerate President wa.
, found equal to the crisis. In long con
versation with some inspired apostles
from the sanity city of Chicag place
were Onderdonking and other worldly
amusements are unknow-the President
caadidly confessed that he was cndeavor
ing he did not state the means) to as
certain the will of tho lord upon this diff
ficult question; that so soon as he learned
the divine pleasure ho verify would dC
the will of the Master who sent him. Th
revelation came doubtlss "by due cours
S of mail" Judging from "that which i.
, written" it amounted to this: that in
4 portion of Virginia and louisiana, in Del
D aware, in Maryland, in Tennessee anc
r Missouri, it was lawful for traitors VIII,
had accepted the amnesty provided b.
u. the con6scation law and all other persons
: to hold slaves; but that in the tidew ate
# regions of Virginia. and in that part c
. louisiana which had not been consecrate
= to slavery by the military occupation G
y Gen. Butler, as also in North Carolina
o Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi
: Arkansas and Texas, it should no longe
= be lawful for the Union men, women and
. children to hold our African fellow citi
n zens to service or labor. And yet there
: are those of the "copper persuasion" VIII
s profess not to see the wisdom of thi
= great master stroke OF our most noble an,
Q exalted President. Sirs, did il not i'm
= mediately divide the South and unite tn
J. North? Were no. our camps forthwith
o crowded with countless myrials of boil
@ and ardent recruits? Have not "ou
Il American brethren of African descent
d crowded by thousands into our ranks, in
y spring our soldiers with wild enthus
o asm and rendering night vocal with III
y songs of enfranchised Dinahs and new
y ling and puking Sambos? and have nc
d our arms been victorious everywhere sine
1t the dawn of the negro millennium {
n 1868?
10 l know that men like Gen. M. Bray
= man, who commands in you vicinity (a
It Bolivar, Tennessee) are guilty OF absurt
b tiles ofspeech which afforded the enemie