Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1864-12-22
PQlltiGal,
TO J. DEWITT, ESQ.

DEAR SIR Il had no idea when replying
to your address to the Wings, that it would
lead to a controversy and still, am not
aycrsc to a friendly talk on politics, so
long as it remains friendly The gentle
manly tone Of your rcjoinder induces re-
ply
Your surprise that should controvert
tine position You assumed in your first ar
ticic. that it was not whether the people
had the Courage but whether they had the
intelligence to preserve their institutions,
does not aStonish me- On the contrary, it
is what would expect, as it is somewhat
natural to an intelligent, and honest mind
cd young men. \ quarter of a century ago
thought as you do on the general question
Of intelligence Now do not and there
fore, meant Just what | said in my form
cr cpIstIc, VIZ that it was the Intelligent
men Of the South who rcbellcd, and not the
ignorant. That many ignorant men have
been made use of to sustain and carry
out the rebellion, is not questioned but
that they were in any way instrumental in
projecting it, can not be shown. Nor is
their subsequent labor in and for the rebel
non, 10 be attributed to their ignorance
HE Intelligent people Of the south, women
worse than men, and the learned clergy as
bad as the worst, led off III this outbreak,
ana made simultaneous efforts to fire the
southern heart against the government
Dung chlvalry, the educated, the elite
young men Of the South, almost to man,
joined their army as officers, and cavalry
men These facts can not be successfully
controvertcd. These people believed a lie
and labored under a delusion as to the mr.
poses Of the general government towards
them but that they believed the lie, and
adopted the delusion and the less readily
because they were the less intelligent. l
deny They believed it before, and were
as much inturiatcd against the North by it,
as the more ignorant people So their in
tcIIigcncc was no protection to them or
their institutions. The southern people
know that we do not like slavery, and hence
they are offended and because of this Of
fence, winch blinds them, they are ready to be-
Iicve any thing badi iof US The ambitious poll
tlcians among them, who concocted the CON
tcdcracy, in order to secure to themselves
perpetuity in Office took advantage Of this
state Of the public mind, and aggravated
II, by all manner Of ISLANDERS of the North.
our quotation from President Lincoln con
The debauching Of the public mind" is cor
roboratlon Of this but you appear to over
LOOK the fact, that it was the reading puJlic
and not the 'laiettered people, that was de-
nauchcd ana that the former more than
the latter, "laborcd to sacrifice their liber-
ties IN this contest" Whilst | readily ad-
init that we as people cannot well guard
too carefully against the entertainments yof
power, yet, it does appear to me- that YOU
are undply exercised in regard to the ty-
ranny Of the administration
The present Secretary of State has no
more power over the citizen, than any of
ms predecessors had and you mistake me
IN anticipating that would plead the ne
ceSSltles Of his situation. No, no | plead
me FOLLY Of those who subject themselves
TO 1ls power; because, it is only as man
makes themselves liable to the charge of
IGrlme' that he has any power over him. So
iohg as they stand above this, they may de-