Staunton Vindicator

The following is given, in the Norfolk Journal, as the conclusion of Fred Douglass' speech in Norfolk, on the 4th of July: "Had the Southern Confederacy not been blinded by prejudice, she would have used the means which were in her power to employ, of achieving a lasting independence. That is, the Confederate government would have unshackled every slave, and as freemen, armed for the fight, marched them, shoulder to shoulder with the whites, to the field of battle. Had this been done, said he, to-day you would have been a free and independent people. Mr. Lincoln struck the key-note of success just in time, when he issued his emancipation proclamation."

A friend who has been residing in the peninsula for some months past, informs us that there are about 28,000 negroes between Williamsburg and Hampton--a distance of thirty-six miles. These people are sustained with rations furnished by the Government, at a cost of $60,000, monthly, while five companies of cavalry are required to patrole the country to prevent depredations. Every effort has been made to induce a portion of them to remove to Florida, the officers of the Government offering them free transportation. There is a standing offer of this nature made by Gen. Armstrong, of the Freedmen's Bureau, to convey the men, with their families, to any point they may select, with the view of engaging in useful labor. But they have persistently refused every offer of the kind and rejected every overture made to get them employment. Under the provisions of the Civil Rights bill it is impossible to do anything contrary to their wishes, and so they remain huddled within this limited area and are a heavy tax under the Government. Some of them have taken to highway robbery, and, but for the presence of a large cavalry force, a residence in that country would be intolerable. How long, we wonder, will the people submit to this enormous tax to support such idle and worthless pots of the Black Republican party? Verily! Radicalism is a dear experiment, taxing the patience and pockets of the people to a degree unprecedented in the history of any country.--Lynchburg Virginian.

On Friday last the President returned to Congress the Supplementary Reconstruction bill with his reasons for not approving the same.

It is clear and concise, and with conclusive reasoning shows its entire unconstitutionality.

He asserts that the section declaring the intent and meaning of the prior acts fixes upon them a meaning at variance with their language, which made the government of the Southern States subject to military authority, in some especial particulars, or as they expressly stated, "as hereinafter presented," while this declaratory act makes them subject to unlimited military authority, and declares that it is impossible to conceive any state of society more intolerable than that to which the twelve millions of people in the Southern States are reduced by the United States Congress. He says the power given a military officer to remove any civil officer of a State is greater than all the Departments of the Federal Government, separately or collectively, have ever dared to exercise and shows, by the appointment of U. S. military officers to perform civil duties in the Southern States, that the United States assumes the civil government of these States, and makes patent the folly of the United States attempting to carry on governments which are declared illegal by military officers, who must perform the duties imposed by illegal State authority. He calls especial attention to that section which provides that military commanders and their appointees shall not be bound "by the opinion of any civil officer of the United States" and exhibits the folly of requiring officials appointed, who may be totally ignorant of their duties, to ask information solely from military officers who may be equally ignorant.

He points to the assumption of Congress that the ten communities are not States and have no legal governments, while in the acts of Congress from 1861 to 1867, by the action of the Supreme Court, and by the assessment and collection of the Revenue they are recognized as States of the Union, and successfully does away with the argument that these States are conquered territories.

Finally he alludes to the vesting of the power of removing from and appointing to office in the Southern States in a military officer, subject only to the approval of the General of the U. S. Army, thereby depriving the President of a Constitutional and essential power, he being responsible for the faithful execution of the law and yet deprived of the power to do so, and expresses his inability to give his assent to the surrender of this trust to any one, high or low, and says in conclusion:

"If this executive trust, vested by the constitution in the President, is to be taken from him and vested in a subordinate officer the responsibility will be with Congress in clothing the subordinate with unconstitutional power, and with the officer who assumes its exercise. This interference with the constitutional authority of the executive department is an evil that will inevitably sap the foundations of our federal system; but it is not the worst evil of this legislation. It is a great public wrong to take from the president powers conferred upon him alone by the constitution, but he wrong is more flagrant and more dangerous when the powers so taken from the President are conferred upon subordinate executive officers, and especially upon military officers. Over nearly one-third of the States of the Union military power, regulated by no fixed law, rules supreme.

Each one of these five district commanders though not chosen by the people or responsible to them, exercises at this hour more executive power, military and civil, than the people have ever been willing to confer upon the head of the executive department, though chose by and responsible to themselves. The remedy must come from the people themselves. They know what it is, and how it is to be applied. At the present time they cannot, according to the constitution, repeal these laws; they cannot remove or control this military despotism. The remedy, nevertheless, is in their hands; it is to be found in the ballot, and is a sure one, if not controlled by fraud, overawed by arbitrary power, or from apathy on their part too long delayed. With abiding confidence in their patriotism, wisdom and integrity, I am still hopeful of the future, and that in the end the rod of despotism will be broken, the armed rule of power be lifted from the necks of the people, and the principles of a violated constitution preserved."

The bill however was passed over the veto by a large majority in both Houses.