Valley Spirit

Now, when to go wrong would be hopeless folly, the SPIRIT crawls in under the shadow of a Union President, and like all new converts, seems more Union than Union men themselves. --Repository

We always claimed to be better Union, if not "more Union," than the "Union men themselves." The SPIRIT "crawls in under" no strange shadows being content to rest in the refreshing shade of Democracy. If the "Union President" has determined to take a seat under the Old Hickory Tree, we have no disposition to crowd him out, but on the contrary, will make room for him, and assist in keeping the flies and other vermin of abolition fanatacism from annoying him.

A MEETING of persons who have belonged to the army, was held recently in New York, to organize an association for political purposes, under the title of the "United Service Society." The objects of the society are to organize a separate party from either of the two in existence, which shall cast its vote for the candidate which it deems to be of most advantage to its purposes. Gen. Warren officiated as President. Among the resolutions adopted, the two following are the most significant:

8. That the time has come when the application of martial law and trial before military courts should cease wherever civil law and government exists under the authority of a loyal State of the Federal Government, excepting as to persons in the military and naval service of the United States. 9. That the interest of the industrial classes demand an equalization of the taxation which shall bear alike upon all and specially upon none; and that no particular kinds of property, whether it be government securities or otherwise, should be exempted from the burdens which we all owe to a common country.

Advices from Washington say that the regular army, or permanent military organization of the country will be organized upon the following basis:

General officers-One General, five Lieutenant Generals, fifty Major Generals, and seventy-five Brigadier Generals. The regular army proper to be composed of nineteen regiments of infantry, six regiments of cavalry and five regiments of artillery, all filled up to the maximum number; besides these, fifty thousand colored troops will be retained with the regiments filled up to the maximum number.

Hancock's corps will be increased to a full corps of three divisions, about thirty thousand men. The veteran reserve corps, twenty-five regiments filled up to the maximum number.

The medical staff will be increased to one hundred full surgeons, with a corresponding number of assistant surgeons.

The infantry and cavalry regiments of the regular army comprise three battallions of eight hundred men each.

Under the proposed arrangements the total strength of the army will be nearly as follows: Regular infantry, 45,000; regular cavalry, 14,400; regular artillery, 12,000; colored troops, 50,000; Hancock's corps, 30,000; veteran reserve corps, 25,000--total, 177,000 men.

The cost of keeping up such a huge standing army as that will not be less than one hundred and seventy-five million dollars annually. The people will not submit to be taxed to raise that amount for a single day longer than they believe it to be absolutely necessary. Indeed it will be hard to convince them that any such burthen upon the industry and the wealth of the ocuntry is at all necessary even now. They know very well that our volunteer system will supply any needed number of soldiers at ten days notice, if the emergency should demand it. Would it not be wise then to reduce the propsed standing army one-half, or even more, at the same time to arrange for reducing it still further at the earlierst period possible. The people of this country will never support a large standing army in time of peace.

In the development of events, three theories appear to loom up as to the restoration of the Union. President Johnson proposes to restore the States by rebuilding or remodeling through the appointment of Provisional Governors, who shall say, by instructions received, who shall be the future electors of these States. They reconstruct the States de novo [unclear]. After these States are so formed they may say whether negro suffrage may exist or not.

The Radical Abolition theory is that the seceded States are out of the Union and must be re-admitted upon such terms and conditions as Congress shall prescribe, and as they now have the majority in Congress, this will enable them to regulate their admission and institutions as they may prescribe.

The Democratic and true Constitutional theory is that the rebellion having subsided and the authority of the Constitution being restored, the States remain, with all their rights unimpaired, under the Constitution of the United States and all that can be necessary, therefore, is for these States to place themselves into their former practical relation in the Union. This latter is certainly in accordance with the unanimous resolution of both houses of Congress as passed in July, 1861, and for which President Johnson must have voted, as he was then inthe United States Senate. The resolution is as follows:

Resolved, That this war is not waged on our part in any spirit of oppression, or for any purpose of conquest, or interfering with the rights or established insitutions of the States, but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution, and to preserve the Union with all the dignity and rights of the several States unimpaired--and that as soon as these objects are accomplished the war ought to cease.

The difference in these theories is that the first is a concentration of power in the hands of the President; the second, in Congress, and the last leaves the States in the hands of the people under the Constitution of the United States.

President Johnson shows excellent wisdom in appointing loyal Southern men to official positions int he South. Those Northern citizens who think the safety of the country depends on their getting such places and enriching themselves by speculations in cotton and tobacco are naturally much aggrieved, and will be among the loudest howlers of the new radical opposition. But the country is satisfied. Everybody sees that nothing could tend more to perpetuate the alienation of the Southern people than to send a lot of greedy Northerners to rule over and plunder them. The disappointment and vexation of such men is the cief secret of the present hullabaloo against the President.

BEAUFORT, S.C., July 1, 1865.

Messrs. Editors:--At last writing I was at Richmond, and was loth to leave it. --Reared among huckleberry bushes, wild flowers and stately oaks, I was taught to love nature. The handsome shade trees, shrubbery and vines of Richmond made it like home. I left there on Monday, June 26, on the Thos. Collyer, for Fortress Monroe, and after the necessary red tape maneuvering there, I was placed on board the tug Gen. McClellan and run out the Roads to the Empire, which was to sail for Brazos the same evening. Owing to a stiff gale, we lay in the Roads till Tuesday morning. This is the last vessel but one of the Texas Expedition. We have on board 64 horses, about 35 colored soldiers and 5 officers--with water, forage, rations, &c. Our vessel is a steam propeller with three masts, and is by no means a good one. Until we passed Cape Hatteras we were in sight of land, but after that I saw only the rolling waves. Of all the disagreeable things I ever experienced, the first two days on the ocean was the most. Talk of riding in a stage coach over mountains, getting off an Ale spree, or settling up your last boarding bill, none of them compare to sea-sickness. The vessel rolled and rocked, moving like a "see-saw" until my head sounded like a machine shop. We have been on shore for 20 hours and still my head is swimming, in and out doors, although I have been thoroughly cured of sea-sickness. On the eve of the second day we put on full sail and the vessel became steady which was the first of my cure. I saw hundreds of hog fish three and four feet long, shooting along the top of the water, ever and anon jumping up two or three feet out of the water. Lt. Oviatt dispersed a "school" of them instantly by shooting at one.

After a voyage of 74 hours from Fortress Monroe we landed at Port Royal, S.C. to coal up. The place afforded no facilities for coaling and we were obliged to run up here, 15 or 20 miles for that purpose. Port Royal is a place of no real importance--a small military point, garrisoned chiefly by colored troops.

Arrived at Beaufort, S.C., I started out to see the city. Population about 2,500, chiefly colored. There are only a few good houses here, but the shade trees make it a perfect picture. The squares are regular, and at regular intervals of about twelve paces shade trees are planted, such as sycamore, live oak, weeping willow, a species of ash and wild plum, &c., on both sides of the street. If half the care had been taken to build regularly as was taken to plant, Beaufort would be a perfect Eden. The 32d, 104th, 128th U.S.C.T., and two batteries are doing duty here. Col. Baird's, 22d Regt. was recruited at Philadelphia, and in it I found a number of Mercersburg men. The residents here possess some mechanical enterprise, but a more independent, impudent race I never saw. The soldiers are a glorious exception, dressing tidily, speaking in mannerly and assuming a soldierly bearing. I think favorably of the colored soldiers. The intelligence of the people is unquestionable. At a saloon having for its sign "Soder Warter, Buiskit and Yanky Cakes," I stopped to get a small plate of ice cream at 25 cents, and a claret punch at 30 cents. Watermelons, green corn, apples, &c., are plenty in market.

The thermometer in the shade, yesterday, stood at 93. My Lockwoods last about twenty minutes. The mail leaves here every eight days--July 6 being the next mail day.

We sail to-day intending to coal again at Key West, Florida, and stop no more till we reach Brazos, on the Rio Grande. I learn from one of the officers aboard that we shall hardly have a mail for two months. More anon.

127-11-5.

This is the only delegation that has appeared in Washington from South Carolina having anything like a representative character; and this was confessedly disloyal. Yet they received the impression from the President that the work of "restoration," since that is the word he prefers, would be practically entrusted to their hands. Dr. Mackay, representing the decisive Union element, of which he was always a solitary representative, came to Washington, but it was not to ask for a governorship. Dr. Crowly presented to the President the compliments of those who were in favor of colored suffrage there; but it was only to ask for the privilege of free discussion, which had thus far been denied to them. Only those who had a hand in the rebellion have been publicly consulted on the subject of the future political relations of the State to the Union. In this respect South Carolina is not an exception. Neither Governor Holden, nor Judge Sharkey, nor Judge Parsons, nor Governor Johnson had a clear record, or could take the oath required by the laws without perjury.

The Secretary of War directs that all volunteer organizations of white troops, in the Army of the Potomac, whose terms of service expire between this date (May 17) and September thirtieth, (30th,) next inclusive, be immediately mustered out of service.

All men in the aforesaid organizations, whose term of service expire subsequent to October first, (1st,) 1865, will be transferred to other organizations from the same State; to Veteran regiments, when practicable, and when not practicable, to regiments having the longest time to serve.

It is proper to add that this order will discharge as follows:

First, The three (3) year regiments that were mustered into service under the call of July second, (2d,) eighteen sixty-two, (1862,) and prior to October first, (1st,) of that year.

Second, Three (3) year recruits mustered into service for old regiments between the same dates.

Third, One (1) year men for new and old organizations, who entered the service between May seventeenth, (17th,) and October, (1st,) eighteen sixty-four, (1864.)

In addition to, and explanatory of the above, the Provost Marshal General says, "Men drafted in the last draft, who reached the field before the Order suspending all further drafting will be held to service until dishcarged under the regulations governing the muster out of troops."

On Friday, the 30th ult., at Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court rendered a decision that the act of the Legislature, passed April 25th, 1864, authorizing the levying of a bounty tax to raise volunteers, by township and corporate authorities, was in accordance with the State constituion and legal. The question arose originally in a suit started in Indiana county, where the lower court decided the act to be legal. It was thence carried up to the Supreme Court, where it was argued by some of the most eminent legal talent in the Commonwealth, and after a long interval, a majority of the judges have rendered the decision mentioned.

This case has been watched with more interest perhaps, than any brought before our courts. Upon its issue millions of dollars were pending, and there is scarcely a township which is not affected by the decision. Many persons have refused to pay their bounty tax until the case had been fully tested, and they will now be compelled to settle with the collector without further delay.

The Court in this case, as in a number of others, since the war commenced, divided according to partizan sympathies. The two Democratic judges, Woodward and Thompson, gave opinions contrary to the legality of the act; the two Republican judges, Reed and Agnew, pronounced it entirely constitutional; and Justice Strong, who was elected by the Democrats to the place he occupies, but who has in all political issues during the rebellion, co-operated with the Republicans, cast his decision alongside of Reed and Agnew, as was predicted.