Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1867-10-12

We extract the following from Gen.
Sickles' speech before the Republican
Soldiers meeting at Philadelphia
1t has been said that Congressional ac-
tion and military protection were un-
necessary. Let us see about that for
moment The Legislature of South Car
olina in 1865, passed law approved by
Mr.. Perry, Provisional Governor, organ
izing the militia of the State. By that
law any officer of the militia was author
lied i'll the exercise Of his own discretion
to call out his command and shoot down,
disperse, kill and destroy any assemblage
Of freed people Of co.or found anywhere.
Under the circumstances that meant mis-
chief. That law was suspended by mill
tary authority, and Congress prohibited
all such militia. Cheers for Congress
and General Sickles.) In North Carroll
la, in 1865, law passed legalizing all
transactions of guardians, executors, and
trustees, by which property Of widows
and orphan children were turned into
confederate money-confederate bonds
and went to bolster up the rebellion and
impoverish the women and children to
whom it belonged. a worthy citizen of
New York whose name is Mclaughlin,
went to South Carolina soon after the
war, and hired an abandoned plantation
from the Freedmen's Bureau, in whose
charge it was placed by law. McLaugh-
lin planted and raised a crop, when along
came returned rebel, who claimed the
land, had him put in PRISON until he could
find forty thousand dollars bail for tres
pass, and took possession of the land and
crops. (Cries of Shame, shame" That
is specimen of the treatment northern
settlers would have received in the alb
sence of military protection, since Civ
en- by Congress-~~fn Caswell county, n.
c., during The war, loyal student, while
escaping from the enemy's lines to ours,
where he afterwards did good service,
took without leave, one night, piece of
bacon for his subsistence on the march.
When he returned home after the war
was supposed to be over, he was arrest
ed, tried on charge of burglary, and
sentenced to be hung and pay the costs
daughter and chcering.) While he was
awaiting his trial and pending the exccu-
GlOll VI cSnIOHNCs lilC pI lSOHGl w dr.
chained inside an iron cage and kept there
for year, without blanket even in
winter. His case was undergoing inves-
tigation, when the Governor of North
Carolina, in exerci. Of the power grant
ed to him by the Military Commander,
pardoned the man. The costs not hav-.
ing been paid on account OF poverty, he
was confined for some time afterwards
in the same place until released by mill
tary authority. Here is an illustration
of what must have been the fate of loyal
refugees if the government had not af
forded them military protection. Three
thousand schools for the education of the
freed people have been established under
the protection of our bayonets. Two
hundred and fifty thousand colored peo-
pie attend these schools and has our
presence aided only our loyal friends,
whom we were bound in honor and hu-
manity to protect? Assured of Justice,
free labor has produced this year $780,
900 bales of cotton, and the largest crop
of grain raised in many years. The val
ue of this crop in money is more than
S200,OOO,0OG its value to the population
of the south can only be, measured by
the estimate to be put on their lives, for
without it they must have perished by
famine, and yet without military protec-
tion the freedmen would have fed from
their old masters, and sought security
and employment in the free states. Con
gress did not send US there to compel the
rebels to pay the expenses Of the war, as
Bismarck would have DONE The North
is paying the costs of the rebellion after
winning a victory, and we have been
helping our former adYersaries to feed
and clo:he themselves, and to recover
from the ruin in which they have inyolv-
ed themselves.