Staunton Vindicator

We publish on our first page to-day, the President's veto of the Civil Rights Bill. Its searching analysis of the bill, showing up its [MISSING LINES], if not destroy the rights of the States will strike almost every one with amazement, that even the reckless Congress with which we are cursed, in the face of the veto if the Freedmen's Bureau bill, could have the hardihood to pass another bill, if anything more unconstitutional, unjust, and calculated to sap the foundation of our Government and destroy the liberties of our people. While the partizans in Congress are thus endeavoring by every means to over-ride the Constitution and subvert the policy of the Government, there is some consolation to the patriotic in the land, that there is at the head of affairs a man, who has the courage to oppose the mad schemes of the dominant party in Congress, who seem determined to "rule or ruin" and perhaps ruin if they continue to rule. The veto of this bill, from what we can learn, does not displease the Conservative Republicans. The New York Times (Republican) whose Editor, Mr. Raymond, is a member of Congress, thus speaks of the veto:

"It may be hoped that arguments so cogent as those employment in the message will not be thrown away. It is not every day that members have an opportunity of listening to reason and common sense. They may find this appeal a seasonable and acceptable change. Be that as it may, the President's message will be read and studied outside of Congress and everywhere throughout the civilized world; and wherever it is read and studied, the American name and character will be elevated in so far as Andrew Johnson is held to represent the American people."

The Washington correspondent of the same paper, says:

"Mr. Bingham, who is probably the ablest lawyer in the House, says that its legal objections to the bill are unanswerable; but he does not attach the same importance to its political positions. It shows the tenacity with which the President adheres to his political convictions, and demonstrates the futility of trying to coerce him into acquiescence with the radical theories concerning the condition and status of the Southern States."

While many in the North seem to have an unconquerable hatred to the people of the South, for their act of secession and attempt to set up for themselves, in which they conscientiously believed they were right, yet we must not conclude that all northern men are against us, and desire to see us humiliated in the extreme. There is still a number there, and not inconsiderable either, who would see us restored to our old position in the Union and contemn the Radicals and their policy as much as we. They are acting in concert and under the same old organization called Democracy. From them we get words of encouragement and cheer. Of this class are a number of our northern exchanges, none of which we read with more pleasure, perhaps than the Scranton Pa. Register. The Editor under the caption, "What more can we ask?" sums up in a nut shell, in his last, his sentiments in regard to our unfortunate people, he says:

The rebels have surrendered, laid down their arms, disbanded their troops, returned to their homes, taken the oath to support the constitution and laws, accepted the amendment abolishing slavery, and are now law-abiding citizens, engaged in the peaceful occupations of life, on their farms, in their workshops, &c. What more ought we to ask? What more can we ask? Taking the oath and acting in conformity to the Constitution and laws is the test of allegiance. We require nothing beyond this of Massachusetts? How can we demand more of South Carolina? To do so is unreasonable; is outrageously wrong. The States are all on the same footing. All are equal before the law."

THE CONFERENCE WITH PRESIDENT LINCOLN.

Outside of these matters of general inquiry there is one historical episode connected with the secession of Virginia and the outbreak of the rebellion, on which the testimony of three witnesses was taken. This was a conference sought for and held by Mr. Lincoln with a member of the Virginia Secession Convention, delegated by the Union members of that body, Mr. John B. Baldwin, prior to the opening of the Rebel batteries on Fort Sumter. The first statement on the subject came from Mr. John F. Lewis, an uncompromising Union man all through the war, and who had been himself a member of the Virginia Convention. He testified [MISSING LINES] 1861, he visited John Minor Botts in Richmond, and learned from him that Mr. Lincoln had informed him that he had had an interview with John B. Baldwin.

JUDGE SUMMERS.

Judge Summers, for whom a special messenger had been sent, not having been able to go to Washington, the Union members having delegated Mr. Baldwin, and had made a proposition that if the Virginia Convention would adjourn sine die [ITAL sine die], without passing an ordinance of secession, he, Mr. Lincoln, would take the responsibility of withdrawing the troops from Fort Sumter. Colonel Baldwin refused to accede to the proposition, and did not communicate it to the Convention. Next morning, after hearing this statement. Mr. Lewis prevailed on Mr. Baldwin, to accompany him to the house of Mr. Botts, who repeated the statement made to him by Mr. Lincoln, and asked him how in the name of God he could take the responsibility of withholding the knowledge of such an interview from the Convention. Mr. Baldwin looked at his watch and replied that it was then near the hour for the meeting of the Convention; that he had to be there, and that he would see him (Botts) again.

MR. BALDWIN.

The narrative of the same transaction given by Mr. Baldwin is this:

After relating the circumstances of a special messenger being sent to Richmond by Mr. Seward, with a request that Judge Summers or some other leading member should come to Washington to have a conference with Mr. Lincoln; of his (Mr. Baldwin's) being sent and accompanying the member to Washington on the same night; of his being introduced next morning by Mr. Seward to Mr. Lincoln; of Mr. Lincoln's taking him into a private bedroom that they might be the more free from interruption. He gave a narration of the conversation which was opened by Mr. Lincoln's remarking, Mr. Baldwin, I am afraid you have come too late.

Too late! For what?

I am afraid you have come too late, said he. I wish you could have been her three or four days ago.

Why? Replied Mr. Baldwin. Allow me to say, Mr. President, that I do not understand your remarks. You sent a special messenger to Richmond who arrived there yesterday. I returned with him by the shortest and most expeditious mode of travel known.

Why do you not adjourn the Virginia Convention?

Adjourn it! How? Do you mean sine die [ITAL sine die].

Yes, sine die [ITAL sine die]. It is a standing menace to me, which embarrasses me very much.

I am very much surprised, said Mr. Baldwin, to hear you express that opinion. The Virginia Convention is in the hands of Union men. We have in it a clear and controlling majority; we are controlling it for conservative results. We can do it with perfect certainty if you will uphold our hands by a conservative policy here. If we were to adjourn sine die [ITAL sine die], leaving these questions unsettled, it would place the Union men in Virginia in the attitude of confessing their inability to meet the occasion. The result would be that another Convention would be called, which would be under the exclusive control of secessionists, and an ordinance of secession would be passed in less than six weeks.-Our true policy is to hold the position that we have, and for you to uphold our hands by a conservative national course. The Union men in Virginia would not be willing to adjourn that Convention until we either effect some settlement of the matter or ascertain that it cannot be done.

Mr. Baldwin then went on to sketch out a plan of policy which he thought the President should pursue, embracing a conciliatory and issuing a proclamation, calling a great national convention, and the withdrawal of the forces from Forts Sumter and Pickens. This was about the substance of the interview Mr. Lincoln giving to Mr. Baldwin no pledge and no promise, and making no offer of any sort.

Mr. Baldwin visited Mr. Seward the same afternoon, and found him extremely earnest in the desire to settle the matter, and apparently, shrinking from the idea of a clash of arms, Mr. Baldwin went on to Richmond and reported to the gentlemen who sent him.

Further on in his testimony he added that he understood Mr. Lincoln had given a somewhat different version of the interview, representing that he had offered, if the Convention would adjourn sine die [ITAL sine die], to withdraw the troops from Sumter and Pickens. I am as clear, said Mr. Baldwin, in my recollection as it is possible to be, that he made no such suggestion as I understood it, and said nothing from which I could infer it.

VERSION OF THE HON. JOHN MINOR BOTTS.

Mr. John Minor Botts gave his version of the interview, as it was related to him by Mr. Lincoln. He says that on Sunday afternoon, April 7, 1861, being then in Washington, he received a note from Mr. Lincoln, saying that he would be glad to see him during the evening, and that he went the same evening to the White House and remained in consultation with Mr. Lincoln from 7 o'clock until 11 o'clock, during which time Mr. Lincoln related the particulars of the visit of Mr. Baldwin, substantially as follows:

"Oh! Mr. Baldwin," said Mr. Lincoln, "why did you not come sooner? I have been waiting and expecting some of you gentlemen of the Convention to come to me for more than a week past. I had a most important proposition to make to you, and I am afraid you have come too late. However, I will make the proposition now. We have in Fort Sumter, with Major Anderson, about eighty men, and I learn from Major Anderson that his provisions are nearly exhausted. I have not only written to Gov. Pickens, but I have sent a special messenger to him to say that if he will allow Major Anderson to obtain his marketing at the Charleston market, or will have it sent to him, I will make no effort to provision the fort, but that if he does not do that I will not permit these people to starve, and shall send a vessel he will fire on an unarmed vessel. But I shall at the same time send a fleet with her with instructions not to enter the harbor of Charleston unless that vessel is fired into; and if she is then the fleet is enter the harbor and protect her. Now, Mr. Baldwin, that fleet is lying in the harbor of New York, and will sail this afternoon at 5 o'clock; and, although I fear it is almost too late, yet I will submit the proposition [CORRECT proposition] which I intended, when I sent for Mr. Summers. Your Convention in Richmond has been sitting nearly two months, and all that they have done has been to shake the rod over my head. You have recently taken a vote in the Virginia Convention on the right of secession, which was rejected by ninety to forty-five-a majority of two-thirds-showing the strength of the Union party in that Convention. If you will go back to Richmond and get that Union majority to adjourn and go home without passing the ordinance of secession, so anxious am I for the preservation of the peace of this country, and to save Virginia, and the other border States from going out, that I will take the responsibility of evacuating Fort Sumter and take the chance of negotiating with the cotton States which have already gone out."

"Well, Mr. Lincoln," inquired Mr. Botts "how did Mr. Baldwin receive that proposition?"

"Sir,," said Mr. Lincoln, raising up his hands, "he would not listen to it for a moment; he hardly treated me with civility.-He asked me what I meant by an adjournment. Did I mean an adjournment sine die [ITAL sine die]? Why, of course. Mr. Baldwin said, I mean an adjournment sine die [ITAL sine die]. I do not mean to assume such a responsibility as that of surrendering that fort to the people of Charleston upon your adjournment, and then for you to return in a week or ten day and pass your ordinance of secession after I have given up the fort."

Mr. Botts was very much incensed, as he says, that Mr. Baldwin should have rejected the proposition, and asked Mr. Lincoln to authorize him to make it to the Union men of the Convention, assuring him that they would adopt it willingly and cheerfully. To which Mr. Lincoln replied: "Oh! it is too late; the fleet has sailed and I have no means of communicating with it."

Mr. Botts then asked permission to mention the circumstances for Mr. Lincoln's own benefit; but Mr. Lincoln said: "Well, not just now, Botts; after a while you may."

Mr. Botts' inference was that Mr. Lincoln was assuming a responsibility which would at that day have been extremely distasteful to those who had elevated him to the Presidency; but he thought it due now to history and to the character of Mr. Lincoln to make it known.

Mr. Botts was here asked:

Q. Are you perfectly sure, according to your best recollection, that Mr. Lincoln told you that he had made that proposition to Mr. Baldwin to evacuate Fort Sumter? A. I know it as well as I know you are standing before me and that I am answering your question.

Mr. Botts relates that some weeks afterward he returned to Richmond and mentioned one evening to Mr. John F. Lewis, a Union member of the Convention, the conversation he had had with Mr. Lincoln, and that next morning Mr. Lewis and Mr. Baldwin drove to his house and had an interview with him, which he narrates as follows:

Mr. Botts said: "Mr. Baldwin, is it true that Mr. Lincoln did propose to you, that if the Convention would adjourn and go home without passing the ordinance of secession, he would evacuate Fort Sumter?

"Yes," said Mr. Baldwin, "he did."

"My God! Mr. Baldwin," said Mr. Botts, "why did you object to such a proposition as that?"

The only answer that Mr. Baldwin made was by taking out his watch and saying: "it is only twenty minutes of the hour of meeting the Convention, when a most important vote is to be taken, (meaning the ordinance of secession). I am obliged to be there punctually at the hour, and I have not the time to make the explanation I desire; but I will avail myself of the earliest opportunity to make full explanation of the whole of it."

From that day to this Mr. Botts says he never laid his eyes on Mr. Baldwin, nor heard any explanation from him, nor had directly any communition [CORRECT communication] with him; but he had been informed that Mr. Baldwin gets very much excited whenever the subject is mention in his presence.

Further on in his testimony Mr. Botts was asked if this whole proposition had been communicated to the Unionists of the Virginia Convention, together with a call for a National Convention, would that have prevented the breaking out of civil war? A. I think that it would, for the reason that although the Democracy, which never meant to be satisfied with anything but war despairing of being able to carry the ordinance would have voted for the adjournment, while the union men, who wanted peace, would also have voted for an adjournment. The testimony in relation to this interesting historical episode is confined to the three witnesses, Messrs. Lewis, Baldwin and Botts. It is quite voluminous, but the foregoing extracts contain the pith and marrow of it.

THE Delegates to the Valley Railroad Convention assembled in Staunton on Wednesday last, and the convention was temporarily organized by calling judge H. W. Sheffey to the chair and the appointment of S. M. Yost as Secretary. Delegates reported from Roanoke,, Botetourt, Rockbridge, Augusta, Rockingham, Shenandoah, Allegheny, Berkley and Richmond City.

On motion a Committee on permanent organization was appointed, who reported as permanent officers of the Convention: Col. J. T. Anderson of Botentourt, President, Judge H. W. Sheffy of Augusta, A. S. Gray of Rockingham, J. B. Strayer of Shenandoah, Andrew Patterson of Rockbridge and Jno. Trout of Roanoke, Vice Presidents, S. M. Yost of Rockingham, S. H. Letcher of Rockbridge and A. M. Garber of Augusta Secretaries. Col. Anderson, on taking the Chair, made a few happy and appropiate remarks, of which together with the able speeches of Messrss Stuart, Christian, Echols, Baldwin and Harman of Augusta and Messrs Dorman and Yellott of Rockabridge, want of space prevents our publishing an abstract. Books were opened under the supervision of the Commissioners, named in the charter and over $100,000 subscribed, being more than was necessary to secure the charter. The Convention adjourned at 3 P. M.

At 5 P. M. a meeting of Stockholders was held, when an election for a President and a Board of Directors, (eleven in number,) took place, resulting as follows:

PRESIDENT.-Col. M. G. Harman, of Augusta.

DIRECTORS.-W. E. M. Word and Col. Pendleton, of Botetourt; D. E. C. Brady and J. T. Patton, of Rockbridge; M. H. Effinger and Dr. S. A. Coffman, of Rockingham; Dr. J. B. Strayer, of Shenandoah; Bolivar Christian, Gen. John Echols, Col. Wm. Allan and Col. J. B. Baldwin, of Augusta. An admirable selection both as regards the President and Directors.

Every disposition was exhibited to put the Valley Railroad into process of construction, at the earliest possible day, and, if the feelings exhibited by this Convention, and the prompt subscription of the stock necessary to secure the Charter, be an earnest of the determination of our people in this matter, the Valley Railroad Scheme, will, ere many years, be a realized fact.

A meeting of the Board of Directors was held at night and Jno. Wayt Esq. of Staunton, was elected Secretary and Treasurer.

A man calling himself Scott and hailing from the land of wooden nutmegs and white oak hams, who "teaches the young African idea how to shoot" in these parts, undertook on Sunday morning last, to give the young men of Staunton a lesson in gallantry. Selecting as the object of his especial attentions a young lady of African descent, he paraded down on New Street to the intense amusement of a few small boys and the extreme disgust of more elderly persons present.-With a brazen effrontery he played the gay gallant to his sable companion, at the crossings giving her the inside of the pavement, while the negress seemed ashamed of herself, and, at one or two stages of their walk, hesitated to proceed.-We do not care how much Mr. Scott fraternizes with negro wenches, if his taste runs in that line, but we advise him that such violations of public decency and decorum, as was exhibited by him on Sunday last, shall not go unscathed in this community, as long as we are permitted the free use of our pen.

WE are much pained to record the sad fact of the burning to death of a little daughter of Mr. Samuel C. Baskins of Staunton, which occured on Saturday last. The little girl, it seems, was playing at the stove in the Kitchen and by some means her clothes caught fire, when she ran toward the house, screaming, which attracted the attention of her father, one of the officers in the National Valley Bank, who ran to her assistance but did not succeed in extinguishing the flames until his hands had been severely burnt and the child so badly as to be beyond recovery. The little sufferer lingered from 10 or 11 o'clock in the morning till 9 o'clock at night, when death relieved her of her suffering. A sad fate for this interesting little child, and a dreadful calamity to her fond and devoted parents.

WE are pleased to see that Messrs. Geo. L. and Wm. H. Peyton are receiving their furniture for the Virginia Hotel, which they proposed to open about the 10th inst. They are furnishing it, out and out, with new furniture, which in style &c. will compare favourably with that of any Hotel in the State, and corresponds with the neat and tasteful manner, in which the enterprising owner, Mr. F. Scheffer, has repaired and re-modeled the Virginia Hotel. The workmen engaged on it, Mr. W. F. Rupp, Fresco Painter, Mr. F., Prufer, paper hanger, Messrs. R. Fisher, Wm. Gibson and Jas. Foster carpenters, and Mr. Samuel Davis plasterer, deserve credit for the excellent and substantial manner in which they have done the work.

THE Augusta Soldier's Cemetary Committee, composed of the ladies of Staunton, are endeavoring to raise a fund sufficient to enclose the Soldier's burying ground, near this blace, mark the graves, keep in repair and otherwise adorn the grounds. The have authorized Mr. Charles S. Turner, to receive contributions for this purpose. He has thus far met with very favorable success and it should be esteemed a privilege by every one, to contribute something to this very laudable object.

A few days since a small axe-box was found by some laborers in an out lot of Rev. Mr. Baird, near Mr. Stoddard's residence in this place, which contained some very neat infant's clothing, and part of the remains of a child. From all indications the box had been buried but a short time.-The query is, whose child was it? How did it come by its death? And why buried in such a place and coffin?

MESSRS HANGER & HOOVER have made arrangements for starting into active operation, a broom factory at Churchville, Augusta, about October 1st, which will furnish a ready market for all the broom corn raised in this County. We advise our farmers to plant an extra quantity. They also desire all the broom corn seed they can get and will pay an extra price for it, if delivered by May the 1st.

THE Election of Mayor, Councilmen and Chief of Police, for our city was held on the 4th inst., and resulted as follows: For Mayor, N. K. Trout, Esq., Councilmen: B. F. Points, J. B. Evans, W. B. Kayser, Jas. W. Crawford, A. M. Bruce, W. H. Wilson, J. M. Hardy, R. J. Hope, W. L. Balthia, J. B. Scherer and R. G. Bickle. Chief of Police, Jacob T. Parent.

THE Engine, which runs the saw mill at Elizabeth Furnace in this county, (owned by Messrs. Forrer & Dunlap) bursted on Saturday last, killing a white man named Sprouse who was attending the saw mill, and also a negro man who had come to the furnace on business and was merely looking on. Loss to the proprietors about $2000.