Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1865-09-28

storation or even scmblance Of that union |
so much the worldly care Of these patriotic |
philanthropstsl IF a perfect union of
feeling and interest can again obtain between
the late unhappiy divided sections o. our
country, it will not be affected by an aggra-
waited assault upon therights and franchises
of the South which led them heretofore to
imperil their all in hopeless contest with
the power of the North; and it is only in
the restoration and maintenance of such
fraternal feelings and relations that true
union of the States can be preserved They
who desire anything else are not friends to
the Union and do not desire its perpetua-
ton, by whatever name they may delight to
make themselves known.
Not only is the policy sought to be pur
sued by the Republican leaders unjust to the
South, but it is equally ungenerous to the
brave soldiers of the Moth whose valor on
so many hard contested fields has enabled
the administration to fix plans of recon-
struction at all. 1t is proposed to reward
their devotion to the flag of their country,
evidenced by many weary march and tent
less bivouac, and in many instances sealed
with their blood, by degrading them to
social and political equality with the negro
race. And the reason for this elevation of
the status of the negroes is even more in
sulting than the proposition itself Henry
Ward Beecher, the acknowledged exponent
of the sentiment of the radical portion of
the republican party, says:
l think the blacks have deserved the right
Of suffrage. They are
more faithful than the white soldiers in
guard duty. The bread of the army under
the bayonet of the black man is safer than
under the bayonet of the white man. And it
is not long to be disguised or disputed that
these men make as good soldiers as need be-
And when, coming from the plantation,
without having the advantages of Ofcducation,
they are able to maintain themselves by
the side of white men who have been bro't
up in the common schools, how much do
they deserve of praise? 1t is
said too, IF he may vote, then he may be
voted for, and hold office. Why not, if
anybody wants to vote for him and wants to
put him in office.
Fathers, whose brave boys have shed an
undying lustre upon the arms of the nation
whose gallant achievements have more
than surpassed the daring acts of the i'm
mortal guards, whose tread was the
signal of victory on so many of Napolean'
fields of carnage-docs not the flush of in
dignation crimson your brow, when you are
a soldier, your sons were inferior to the de-
graded African race, and in that requisite
OF soldier, as well as of a man, common
honesty, the palm is conceded to the black
man, and that the advantages of education
so generously bestowed upon your children,
are more than compensated in the panta-
ton negroes, by the force of superior native
intellect? But if military services and SOL
diery qualities are the only conditions of
the elective franchise, why deny it to the
young white soldiers of less than twenty
one years of age, who, in the language of
MIR. Beecher, when speaking of the black
man, for their heroic military services have
deserved the rights of suffrage" 1t may
be said that these are only the expressions
of some of the more ultra men of the party
In the light of the history of the past, we
know that these are the very men who not
only indicate the policy of the Republican
party, but whose slightest bchests become
governing laws with their followers. That
portion of the party who claim to be Con-
servative, deceive themselves when they
imagine that they exert any controlling in
,, tluence in shaping its determinate action.
-Four years ago these same Conserva-
tives felt themselves insutcd in being call
ed Abolitionists, and denied, most strenu-
ously any intention to meddle with the do
nestle relations of the South Within a
less period in the future the doctrine of ne
gro equality and negro suffrage will be by
them as quietly adopted and as zcalously
contended for.
Gen. Morgan, in speaking of the magni-
tudc of the public debt, replied to some
structures of the Cincinnati Commercial on
his speech delivered at Elyria on the 18th
inst. He had fixed the amount at four bill
| Hons nf Inllnru Tho 4 ,,,T ,l.,;,
that it is only three billions General Nor
gan quoted from Thaddeus Stephens, of
Pennsylvania, showing that the ascertained
or liquidatcd debt alone amounted to four
billions; while the floating Indebtedness
would swell the amount far beyond that.
A large portion Of thisamount WAS found
ed IN bonds of the government and exempt
ed from Taxation. 1t was claimed that the
holders of these bonds had generously as
! sisted the government in its hour of need,
and for these services should by exemption
from all further responsibility in bearing
their proper proportion of the burden Incl
dent to the support of the government and
and the final extinguishment of this vast
Indebtedness. This creation ofa privileged
money aristocracy-this consolidation of the
great monicd interest of the country with
the general government-was one of the
evils attempted to be guarded against in
the broad and deep foundation of political
economy laid by our democratic fathers.
The bond holders may, nay, undoubtedly
did, assist the government at times of finan
Il cial difficulties-the generosity of the trans
action was not so apparent. With true
Shylock proclivities they had it nominated
in the bond that usurious interest, payable
in gol d semi-annually, and exemption from
taxation were the conditions precedent to
their services rendered. The brave soldier,
who too had rendered the State some SER
vice, returning home, wrecked in constitu-
ton, and manned of limb, is taxed upon
every dollar of his hard earned pay, and
even compelled in many of the avocations
of life to pay the government for the priv
. ilege of trying to support his dependent
family The widow of the soldier, who
with his life's blood sealed his devotion to
his country's flag and cause, as she gathers
around her cl e,rless freside her orphan
children listens with anxiety for the asses
sors steps, Her husbands services, her
, husband $ life will not exempt her scanty
pittance from its place on the tax duplicate
Surely, if there be any class in whose favor
special rights should be bestowed, the gal
? liant soldier, who periled his all for hi,
E country should have preference over the
millionaire who, living in comfort and lux
urv q hnma was nd1ipO 1nllar IN lnllar h\