The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1867-09-19
Not6 on the SituatlCn.-NO. II
BY HON. B. II. HILL, OF GEORGIA.

By HON. B. II. HILL, OF GEORGIA.
No nation or people ever realized
during the descent, how rapidly they
were rushing to destruction. If peo'
pie could only be made to see whittier
they were hurrying they would not 60
Those who do sec and raise voice Of
earnest warning, are generally consid.
cred as excitcd-sometimes as mad
People will not believe their own lead
ers will sell them or betray them until
the bond is executed or the treachery is
complete. Here is the trouble with our
Northern friends. The masses love
the Union and the Constitution. They
have shown that love. But they will
not see that the very men they send to
Congress are trampling on the Consti
til S6n and forever destroying the Un
ion. Those who undertake to lay bare
to people the corruptions of their own
leaders iassume task as difficult as it
is dangerous. The wicked become
their enemies and use every means to
destroy their power, and the good will
not believe their revelations or heed
their warnings. Yet no man who ever
undertook such task was ever able to
tell all the real truth. The realities OF
national misfortunes and downfalls are
always far greater than the descriptions
of those who, by warnings, sought to
prevent them. So the measures which
produce national ruin are never fully
understood until the ruin is beyond rem
edy. Denounce them as you may, and
they are always worse than you said
they were. History furnishes us many
sad illustrations Of these solemn truths.
To recite them would be instructive,
but will not now delay to do so.
The Military Bills will furnish one
of the most striking proofs, in the fu-
ture, of the truths I have uttered. /
am denounced as a calumniator be-
cause of what have said ofthese mea-
sures and their authors and supporters.
Time will prove my language to be
tame and feeble. Every day something
is developed which gives them more
infamous character than VIC ever sus-
pected before. Ihave denounced these
measures as being contrary to the Con-
stitution; as abrogating State govern
ment; as degrading the white race; as
calculated inevitably to beget war Of
races as destructive of all constitution
al liberty; as being enacted in fraud'
executed by force, and consumated by
perjury. Can anything be worse? you
will ask. reply, yes, these very bills
are infinitely worse. l find / have new
er fully-indeed but vaguely-compre-
hended their turpitude. l have all
along supposed that odious as they
were, tho people-a people-were at
least, allowed q semblance of right to
reject them and, of course, by rejecting
them escape the purposes and objects
of the measures. 1 had frequently call
ed attention to the fact that Congress
had devised a scheme ofrelieving them
selves of the odium of these measures
by at least seeming to submit to some
people the privilege of accepting orrc
jecting them. This, I supposed, also
exhibited q lingering, though farcical
respect for the once pure and great idea
that the people-at least some people
should have government founded in
their consent. And this had suppos
ed was the reason for permitting the
voters to express their approval or dis
approval of the scheme by endorsing
of their tickets "for Convention" or
against Convention" But in this l
have been greatly mistaken. The
whole country has been Mistaken
What / have been laboring so earnest
ly to prove was cheat turns out to be
a trap-a snare--a downright pit-fall!
This is one of the remarkable disclo-
sures made in Governor Browns last
article reviewing the notes. Hear him :
"If we reject and vote down the Con-
vention, when Congress again meets in
December, it will pass an act extending
the disfranchisement to every man who
votes against the Convention, whether
,uhite or black, and probably to all 9th
ers who voluntarily aided in the rebel
lion" If Congress never intended to
abide the decision of it's own selected
qualified voters, why ask for decis-
ionp But letus hear the Governor full
ly. will not initiate his example by
cutting sentences in two and changing
words to represent him as saying just
the reverse of what he does say:
"But it may be asked why disfran-
chisc man because he votes against
the Conventionp The reply is, Con-
gress, representing the conqueror, has
submitted its plan for reconstruction
and restoration of the Union, and the
vote of each man, white or black will be
looked to as q test of his loyalty and will
ingness to see the Un on restored and
peace once more established. The
tickets Of all, black and white, will, no
doubt, be numbered, and it will be an
easy matter for the Government 10 see
how each voted. The question is not
whether we will allow the freedmen 10
vote, That IL already estdk{isked kSond