The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1866-03-16
THE MEETING AT ABINGDON.

we utenueO tue meeting ~ AOinBuou on pat
urday last. The turnout was good, and mostly
made up of the most prominent men in the dis
trict. We saw no offce-seekers; there were
none there-the meeting was made up of solid,
rejecting men, who have only the good of their
country at heart, men who were anxious to give
in their adhesion to the reconstruction policy Of
the President, and aid him, as far as they were
able to accomplish the great work which he has
so nobly and periodically undertaken. They, like
him, are anxious to see the country brought back
to its former healthfulness and prosperity; they,
like him, desire to see all the States again in the
Union, clothed with equal privileges, and with
oil their reserved rights unimpaired; they, like
him. understand that bloodess revolutions are as
dangerous to the liberties of people armed re-
bellion or revolution. They were not unmind-
full, that nations have been revolutionized with
out the shedding of drop of blood, and that
kings and emperoIs have in this way been man.
ufactured and hoisted upon kngly thrones, over
the heads of the people, who up to the consum-
nation of revolution of this sort, really thought
themselves the sovereigns. Why should any
man, who is lover of, and friend to liberty,
object to the course lately pursued by the Presi-
dent of the United States2 We can only answer
that We do not believe that there is any intelli-
gent man in this country who holds his country
above his party, who docs refuse bis support to
the Executive in the contest now going on be-
tween him and contemplate faction in the
present Rump Congress.
The President, in his veto on the Freedmen's
Bureau bill, stood between the people and their
oppressors. By his rejection of this bill, he threw
from him patronage and power that was attempt
ed to be cast upon him. Is this cause of COM
plant? Should we regret the refusal of the Ex-
ecutive of this great nation to suffer himself to
be wrapped in the imperial purple? We would
all say no, to this course. And yet it is just as
praiseworthy, and the President deserves Just as
much credit, for his refusal to have unauthorized
and unconstitutional power conferred upon him,
as if he had refused a crown. For had he accepted
this and other measures which doubtless would
have been brought forward and passed by the rad
ical faction in Congress, consolidation would have
been brought about, the reserved rights OF the
States would have been blotted ont, and in the end
the liberties of the people completely gone, as if
the President bad drawn around him the purple
All this was well understood by the people who
met in Abingdon on the 10th instant. We
knew most of them too well and too long to
doubt their thorough acquaintance with these
subjects and their enthusiasm and general de-
pertinent was abundant proof of their sincerity.
They knew and appreciated the issue between
the President and this Congressional cabal.-
The President contends that the rebellion
having failed, and peace being restored, the
States resume their original position in the
Union, while Congress insists that they are not in
the Union, and cannot become members of it,
without legislative action. This is one of
the differences between Mr. Johnson and the
radical members Congress- but after ALL it ia the
control of the eleven States which were in rebel
lion that this radical faction wants most; and
because the President contends that the people
of Georgia should control Georgia, these would
be Soomons have come to the conclusion that
they must in some way ''get rid of this presden-
tial obstacle" This is clear from Mr.. Davis's
Chicago speech, delivered not long before his
DEATH In that speech be said that the "negroes
under Yankee generals made good soldiers and
under Yankee leaders they will make good vo-
tiers; that 1t was not intelligence they wanted,
but numbers. Now, the Freedmen's Bureau bill
was one ofthe means of getting these numbers"
for it would have filled the South or helped much
to fill it, with Northern officers, all of whom the
radical faction intended should be sound radical
abolitionsts. Besides this, all controversies
with negroes would have to be settled by the
Bureau; and this being the case the white liti-
giant would always be sure of Judgment; but
1t would, under all circumstances, be against
him. Here is a specimen of Bureau trials, and
their manner of dispensing justice. The follow
ing facts are from reliable source, and show
with what impartality justice is melted cut by
the agent Of the Freedmens Bureau, in that
State: -Four negroes were arrested at Florence
South Carolina, lately for stealing conductors
box containing one thousand two hundred dol
lars and on their person, and in their posses
sion, was found six hundred dollars in money,
and three humid dollars worth of goods which
they bad bought, all of which was taken from
them. They were carried to Charleston, and
were tried by the Freedmen's Bureau, and sem
fenced to pay fine of fifty dollars, leaving two
hundred and fifty dollars of the stolen money in
the hands of the negroes. The Bureau also de-
termined that if these negroes did not pay the
fifty dollars, that they should go to jail for the
tedious period of sixty days. The negroes, we
suppose, paid the fifty dollars to the Bureau,
and the two hundred and fifty which they were
allowed to retain, may have been, and most like
ly was, paid over to or divided between them
selves and the distinguished Bureau-keepers.-
On the same train from which this money was
stolen, q baggage master gave a freedman
freedman's box, the value of which was fifty
cents. The negro failed to deliver it, and the
baggage master received notice from the Bureau
that he must deliver it or pay fine of forty dol
lars. This is the way the Bureaus dispense JUS
tice, and had they succeeded in getting their last
grand Bureau scheme through, they would no