Valley Spirit

To the Senate of the United States:-- I have examined with care the bill which has been passed by the two houses of Congress to amend an act entitled, and act to establish a bureau for he relief of freedmen and refugees, and for other purposes. Having with much regret come to the conclusion that it would not be consistent with the public welfare to give my approval to the measure, I return the bill to the Senate with my objections to its becoming a law. I might call to mind, in advance of these objections, that there is no immediate necessity for the proposed measure.

The act to establish a bureau for the relief of freedmen and refugees, which was approved in the month of March last, has not yet expired. It was thought stringent and extreme enough for the purpose in view in time of war. Before it ceases to have effect further experience may assist to guide us to a wise conclusion as to the policy to be adopted in time of peace. I share with Congress the strongest desire to secure to the freemen the full enjoyment of their freedom, and their prosperity, and their entire independence and equality in making contracts for their labor, but the bill before me contains provisions which, in my opinion, are not warranted by the Constitution, and are not well suited to accomplish the end in view.

The bill proposes to establish, by authority of Congress, military jurisdiction over all parts of the United States containing refugees and freedmen. It would by its very nature apply with most force in those parts of the United States in which the freemen most abound, and it expressly extends the existing temporary jurisdiction of the Freedmen's Bureau, with greatly enlarged powers, over those States in which the ordinary course of judicial proceeding has been interrupted by the rebellion.

The source from which this military jurisdiction is to emanate is none other than the President of the United States, acting through the War Department and the Commissioner of the freedmen's Bureau. The agents to carry out this military jurisdiction are to be selected either from the army or from civil life; the country is to be divided into sub-districts, and the number of salaried agents to be employed may be equal to the number of counties or parishes in all the United States where freedmen or refugees are to be found.

The subjects over which this military jurisdiction is to extend in every part of the United States includes protection to all employees, agents and officers of this Bureau in the exercise of the duties imposed upon them by the bill in eleven States. It is further to extend over all cases affecting freedmen and refugees discriminated against by local laws, customs or prejudice. In these eleven States the bill subjects any white person who may be charged with depriving a freedman of any civil rights or immunities belonging to white persons to imprisonment or fine, or both, without, however, defining the civil rights and immunities which are thus to be secured to the freedmen by military law.

This military jurisdiction also extends to all questions that may arise respecting contracts. The agent who is thus to exercise the office of a Judge may be a stranger, entirely ignorant of the laws of the place, and exposed to the errors of judgement to which all men are liable. The exercise of power, over which there is no legal supervision by so vast a number of agents as is contemplated by this bill, must, by the very nature of man, be attended by acts of caprice, injustice and passion. The trials having their origin under this bill are to take place without any fixed rules of law or evidence. The rules on which offenses are to be heard and determine by the numerous agents are such rules and regulations as the president, through the War Department shall prescribe.

No previous presentment is required, nor any indictment charging the commission of a crime against the laws, but the trial must proceed on charges and specifications. The punishment will be, not what the law declares, but such as a court martial may think proper, and from these arbitrary tribunals there lies no appeal, no writ of error, to any of the courts in which the Constitution of the United States puts exclusively the judicial power of the country. While the territory and the classes of actions and offences that are made subject to these measures are so extensive, the bill itself, should it become a law, will have no limitation in point of time, but will form part of the permanent legislation of the country.

I cannot conceive a system of military jurisdiction of this kind, within the words of the Constitution, which declares that "no person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the military when in service in time of war or public danger," and that "in all criminal proceedings the act used shall enjoys the right to speedy and public trial by and impartial jury of the State or district wherein the crime shall have been committed."

The safeguards which the experience and wisdom of ages taught our fathers to establish as securities for the protection of the innocent, the punishment of the guilty and the equal administration of justice, are to be set aside, and for the sake of a more vigorous interposition in behalf of justice, we are to take the risk of the many acts of injustice that would necessarily follow from an almost countless number of agents established in every parish or county in nearly a third of the States of the Union, over whose decisions there is to be no supervision or control by the Federal courts.

The power that would be thus placed in the hands of the President is such as in time of peace certainly out never to be intrusted to any one man. If it be asked whether the creation of such a tribunal in a State was warranted as a measure of war, the question immediately presents itself whether we are still engaged in war. Let us not unnecessarily disturb the commerce and credit and industry of the country by declaring to the American people, and to the world, that the United States are still in a condition of civil war.

At the present there is no part of our country in which the authority of the United Sates is disputed. Offenses that may be committed as individuals should not work a forfeiture of the rights of whole communities. The community has returned, or is returning, to a state of peace and industry. The Rebellion is at an end. The measure, therefore, seems to be inconsistent with the actual condition of the country, as it is at variance with the Constitution of the United States.

If, passing form general considerations, we examine the bill in detail, it is open to weighty objections. In time of war it was eminently proper that we should provide for those who were passing suddenly from a condition of bondage to a state of freedom, but this bill proposes to make the Freedmen's Bureau, established by the act of 1865 as one of great and extraordinary measures to suppress a formidable Rebellion, a permanent branch of the public administration, with its powers greatly enlarged.

I have no reason to suppose, and I do not understand it to be alleged that the act of March, 1865, has proved deficient for the purpose for which it was passed, although at that time, and for a considerable period thereafter, the Government of the United States remained unacknowledged in most of the States whose inhabitants had been involved in the Rebellion. The institution of slavery, for the military destruction of which the Freedmen's Bureau was called into existence as an auxiliary, has been already effectually and finally abrogated throughout the whole country by an amendment of the Constitution of the United States, and practically its eradication has reached the assent and concurrence of most of those States in which it at any time had an existence.

I am not therefore able to discern in the condition of the country anything to justify an apprehension that the powers and agencies of the Freedmen's Bureau, which were effective for the protection of freedmen and refugees during the actual continuance of hostilities will now, in time of peace and after the abolition of slavery, prove inadequate to the same proper ends. If I am correct in these views, there can be no necessity for the enlargement of the powers of the bureau, for which provision is made in the bill.

The third section of the bill authorizes a general and unlimited grant of support to the destitute and suffering refugees and freedmen, their wives and children. Succeeding sections make provisions for the rent or purchase of landed estates for freedmen, and the erection, for their benefit, of suitable buildings for asylums and schools. The expense to be defrayed from the treasury of the whole people.

The Congress of the United States has never heretofore thought itself empowered to establish asylums beyond the limits of the District of Columbia, except for the benefit of our disabled soldiers and sailors. It has never founded schools for any class of our own people, not even for the orphans of those who have fallen in the defense of the Union, but has left the care of their education to the much more competent and efficient control of the States, of communities, of private associations and of individuals, it has never deemed itself authorized to expend the public money for the rent or purchase of houses for the thousands, not to say millions of the white race who are honestly toiling from day to day for their subsistence.

A system for the support of indigent persons in the United Sates never was contemplated by the authors of the Constitution. Nor can any good reason be advance why, as a permanent establishment, it should be founded for one class or color of our people more than for another. Pending the war many refugees and freedmen received support for the Government, but it was never intended that they should henceforth be fed, clothed, educated and sheltered by the United States. The idea on which the slaves were assisted to freedom was, that on becoming free they would be a self-sustaining population, and any legislation that shall imply that they are not expected to attain a self-sustaining condition must have a tendency alike injurious to their character and their prosperity.

The appointment of an agent for every county and parish will create an immense patronage, and the expense of the numerous officers and their clerks, to be appointed by the President, will be great in the beginning, with a tendency steadily to increase. The appropriations asked by the Freedmen's Bureau, as now established, for they year 1866, amount to $11,745,000, and it may b safely estimated that the cost to be incurred under the pending bill will require double that amount, more than the entire sum expended in any one year under the administration of the second Adams.

If the presence of agents in every parish and county is to be considered as a war measure, opposition of even resistance might be provoked, so that to give effect to their jurisdiction, troops would have to be stationed within reach of every one of them, and thus a large standing force be rendered necessary. Large appropriations would therefore, be required to sustain and enforce military jurisdiction in every county or parish from the Potomac to the Rio Grande. The condition of our fiscal affairs is encouraging, but in order to sustain the present measures of public confidence, it is necessary that we practice not merely customary economy, but as far as possible, severe retrenchment.

In addition to the objections already stated, the fifth section of the bill proposes to take away land from its former owners without any legal proceedings being first had, contrary to that provision of the Constitution which declares that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty property without due process of law. It does not appear that a part of the lands to which this section refers, may not be owned by minors or persons of unsound mind, or by those who have been faithful to all their obligations as citizens of the United States. If any portion of the land is held by such persons, it is not competent for any authority to deprive them of it. If, on the other hand it be found that the property is liable to confiscation even then it cannot be appropriated to public purposes, until, by due process of law, it shall have been declared forfeited to the Government.

There is still further objection to the bill, on grounds seriously affecting the class of persons to whom it is designed to bring relief; it will tend to keep the mind of the freedmen in a state of uncertain expectation and restlessness, while to those among whom he lives it will be a source of constant and vague apprehension.

Undoubtedly the freedmen should be protected, but he should be protected by the civil authorities, and especially buy the exercise of all the constitutional powers of the courts of the United States and of the States. His condition is not so exposed as may at first be imagined. He is in a portion of the country where his labor cannot well be spared. Competition for his services from planters, from those who are constructing or repairing railroads and from capitalists in his vicinage or from other States, will enable him to command almost his own terms. He also possesses a perfect right to change his place of abode and if, therefore, he does not find in one community or State a mode of life suited to his desires, or proper remuneration for his labor, he can move to another, where that labor is more esteemed and better rewarded.

In truth, however, each States, induced by its own wants and interests, will do what is necessary and proper to retain within its borders all the labor that is needed for the development of its resources. The laws that regulate supply and demand will maintain their force, and the wages of the laborer will be regulated thereby. There is no danger that the exceedingly great demand for labor will not operate in favor of the laborer, neither is sufficient consideration given to the avidity of the freedmen to protect and take care of themselves.

It is no more than justice to them to believe, that as they have received their freedom with moderation and forbearance, so they will distinguish themselves by their industry and thrift, and soon show the world that, in a condition of freedom they are self-sustaining, capable of selecting their own employment and their own places of abode, in insisting for themselves on a proper remuneration, and of establishing and maintaining their own asylums and schools. It is earnestly hoped that instead of wasting away, they will, by their own efforts, establish for themselves a condition of respectably and prosperity. It is certain that they can attain to that condition only through their own merits and exertions.

In this connection the query presents itself, whether the system proposed by the bill will not, when put into complete operation, practically transfer the entire care, support and control of four millions of emancipated slaves to agents, overseers or task masters, who, appointed at Washington, are to be located in every county and parish throughout the United States, containing freedmen and refugees. Such a system would inevitably tend to a concentration of power in the executive, which would enable him, if so disposed, to control the action of this numerous class, and use them for the attainment of his own political ends.

I cannot buy add another very grave objection of the bill. The Constitution imperatively declares, in connection with taxation, that each State shall have at least one representative, and fixes the rule for the number to which in future times each State shall be entitled; it also provides that the Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, and adds with peculiar force, that no State, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate. The original act was necessarily passed in the absence of the States chiefly to be affected, because their people were then contumaciously engaged in the Rebellion.

Now the case is changed, and some, at least, of the States are attending Congress by loyal representatives, soliciting the allowance of the Constitutional right of representation. At the time, however, of the consideration and the passing of this bill, there was no Senator or Representative in Congress for the eleven States which are to be mainly affected by its provisions. The very fact that reports were and are made against the good disposition of the country is an additional reason why they need and should have representation in Congress, to explain their condition, reply to accusations, and assist by their local knowledge in perfecting measures immediately affecting themselves, while the liberty of deliberations would then be free, and Congress would have full power to decide according to its judgement, there could be no objection urged that the States most interested had not been permitted to be heard. The principle is firmly fixed in the minds of the American people that there should be no taxation without representation. Great burdens have now to be borne by all the country, and we may best demand that they shall be borne without murmur when they are voted by a majority of the representatives of all the people. I would not interfere with the unquestionable right of Congress to judge and act for itself of the elections, returns and qualifications of its own members, but that authority cannot be construed as including the right to shut out, in time of peace, any State from the representation to which it is entitled by the Constitution at present.

All the people of eleven States are excluded; those who were most faithful during the war not less than others. The State of Tennessee, for instance, whose authorities engaged in rebellion, was restored to all her constitutional relations to the Union by the patriotism and energy of her injured and betrayed people. Before the war was brought to a termination they had placed themselves in relation with the general Government; had established a State Government of their own, and as they were not included in the Emancipation proclamation they, by their own act, had amended their Constitution so as to abolish slavery within the limits of their States.

I know no reason why the State of Tennessee, for example, should no fully enjoy all her constitutional relations to the United States. The president of the United States stands towards the country in a somewhat different attitude from that of any member of Congress chosen from a single district or State. The President is chosen by the people of all the States. Eleven States are not at this time represented in either branch of Congress; it would seem to be his duty, on all proper occasions, to present their just claims to Congress.

There always will be differences of opinion in the community, and individuals may be guilty of transgressions of the law; but these do not constitute valid objections against the right of a State to representation, and would in no wise interfere with the discretion of Congress with regard to the qualification of members, but I hold it my duty to recommend to you in the interests of peace, and in the interest of the Union, the admission of every States to its share in public legislation when, however, insubordinate insurgent or rebellions its people may have been, it present itself not only in an attitude of loyalty and harmony, but in the persons of representatives whose loyalty cannot be questioned under any existing constitutional or legal test.

It is plain that an indefinite or permanent exclusion of any part of the country from representation must be attended by a spirit of disquiet and complaint. It is unwise and dangerous to pursue a course of measures which will unite a qery large section of the country against another section of the country, however much the latter may preponderate. The course of emigration, the development of industry and business, and natural causes will raise up at the South men as devoted to the Union as those of any other part of the land. But if they are all excluded from Congress, if in a permanent statue they are declared not to be in full constitutional relations to the country, they may think they have cause to become a unit in feeling and sentiment against the Government. Under the political education of American people, the idea is inherent and ineradicable that the consent of the majority of the whole people is necessary to secure a willing acquiescence in legislation.

The bill under consideration refers to certain of the States as though they had "been fully restored in all their Constitutional relations to the United States." If they have not, let us at once act together to secure that desirable end at the earliest possible moment. It is hardly necessary for me to inform Congress that in my own judgment most of those States, so far at least as dependent on their own action, have already been fully restored, and are to be deemed as entitled to enjoy their Constitutional rights as members of the Union.

Reasoning from the Constitution itself, and from the actual situation of the country, I feel not only entitled but bound to assume that with the Federal courts restored, and those of the several States in the full exercise of their functions, the rights and interests of all classes of the people will, with the aid of the military, in cases of resistance to the law, be essentially protected against unconstitutional infringement and violation.

Should this expectation unhappily fail, which I do not anticipate, then the Executive is already armed with the powers conferred by the act of march, 1865, establishing the Freedmen's Bureau, and hereafter, as heretofore, he can employ the land and naval forces of the country to suppress insurrection, or to overcome obstructions to the laws, in accordance with the Constitution.

I return the bill to the Senate in the earnest hope that a measure involving questions and interests so important to the country will not become a law, unless upon deliberate consultation by the people it shall receive the sanction of an enlightened public judgment.

ANDREW JOHNSON

Washington, D. C., February 19, 1866.

The Legislature on Wednesday last passed finally a bill imposing a tax on the Stock of the banks of the Commonwealth, and also on the gross receipts of Railroad Companies. The revenue expected from these sources it is thought will be sufficient to meet he wants of the Commonwealth, and real estate is exempted from taxation for the State purposes in the future. The following is the Act as passed:

SEC. 1. That from and after the passage of this act, it shall be the duty of the cashier of every bank in this Commonwealth, whether incorporated under the law of this State or of the United States, to collect, annually, a tax of one per centum upon the par value of the stock held by said stockholder, and to pay the same into the State treasury on or before the first day of July in every year hereafter, commencing on the first day of July Anno Domini one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, and the said stock, shall be exempt from other taxation under the laws of this commonwealth.

SEC. 2. That in addition to the taxes now provided for by law, every railroad canal and transportation company incorporated under the law of this Commonwealth, and not liable to the tax upon income under existing laws, shall pay to the Commonwealth a tax of three fourths of one per centum upon the gross receipts of said company; the said tax shall be paid semi-annually, upon the first days of July and January, commencing on the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six; and for the purpose of ascertaining the amount of the same, it shall be the duty of the treasurer, or other officer of said company, to transmit to the Auditor General, at the dates aforesaid, a statement, under oath or affirmation, of the amount of the gross receipts of the said company during the preceding six months; and if any such company shall refuse or fail, for a period of thirty days after such a tax becomes due, to make said return, or to pay the same, the amount thereof, with an addition of ten per centum thereto, shall be collected, for the use of the Commonwealth, as other taxes are recoverable by law, form said companies.

SEC. 3. The revenue derived under the second section of this act shall be applied to the payment of the principal and interest of the debt contracted under the act of 15th May, 1861, entitled. An act to create a loan, and to provide for arming the State.

SEC. 4. From and after the passage of this act, the real estate of this Commonwealth shall be exempt from taxation for State purpose: Provided. That this section shall not be constructed to relieve the said real estate from the payment of any taxes due the Commonwealth at the date of the passage of this act.

The fact is becoming more and more apparent every day, that in the selection of Andrew Johnson for the Vice Presidency the Radical Republicans have "caught a tartar." They find to their sorrow and the discomfiture of their finest hopes, that the President will not lend himself as a tool for the accomplishment of their unconstitutional purposes. He stands as a wall of fire between them and the Constitution. Chosen by the people to administer the Government, he fells that he is acting as a trustee for the nation. Bound by his oath to se that the laws are faithfully executed, he is determined to fulfill its obligations, but not one step will he advance beyond his duty. Not one provision of the Constitution will he allow the Rump Congress to violate without his solemn protest. Not one amendment will he allow to be incorporated in the Constitution which tends to destroy the equality and dignity of the States, if he can prevent it. He has with heroic patriotism planted his foot firmly upon the written law of the land, the Constitution of the United States, and the Radicals know well that they can not bring a pressure to bear upon him, strong enough to move him a single inch.

His utterances have the old Jacksonian ring. The fiat of his indomitable will has gone forth. The bold, intrepid spirit evinced in the veto of the iniquitous Freedmen's Bureau bill, has awakened a feeling of admiration for the President all over the country. Even men who do not agree with him in sentiment, can not refrain from commenting in terms of praise upon the heroism which he has exhibited in refusing to be bound by the trammels of party, and in rebuking the reckless majority of Congress who are riding rough-shod over the interests of the white race in order to give undue prominence to the negro. They must feel that Andrew Johnson is the champion of the white race; that he will not allow this negro-mania which has taken such fast hold of the Radicals, to subvert the fundamental principles of the Government--in short, that if laws are to be passed for the benefit of the black man, they must be in accordance with the Constitution of the country. With the skill of a first-class surgeon, he lays bare in iniquitous provisions of this bill. His dissecting knife cuts clear through it.

And yet he does it in no spirit of factious opposition. Impelled by a stern sense of duty, he examines the bill carefully, he scrutinizes it closely and then points out clearly and succintly his weight objections to its passage--weighty, because no careful reader of the Constitution of the United States can fail to come to the conclusion that the bill is in direct conflict with that old-fashioned and time-honored document. The President has exhibited the antagonism between the two with such a master hand that the most careless observer must acknowledge it. Why it were enough alone to damn the bill in the opinion of all true lovers of liberty that it ignores entirely that provision of the Constitution which guarantees to every citizen the right of trial by jury. Through the terrible period of carnage through which the nation has just passed that right has frequently been invaded and swept away at the bidding of fanaticism. It was excused or rather over-looked by the American people, who "are tolerant of usurpation," on the ground of military necessity. But that earnest, liberty-loving people fondly looked forward to the day when the fierce clash of arms would cease, so this dearly-bought right might again be restored and firmly established. They know how dear, how invaluable that right is; they blushed with shame and hung their heads in mortification when a fanatical party set it aside to give place to irresponsible military commissions who were always ready and willing to do the behests of arbitrary power. The day so long-looked for, has at last come when the Executive of the nation, with the warm blood of liberty running through every vein and artery of his body, has boldly denounced in unmeasured terms the still further attempted infraction of this right. Let the American people remember that this great right, which the President has thrown himself into the breach to define, is theirs, purchased with rivers of blood, and if they would preserve it for themselves and their children they must sustain the President.

Another objection of the President to the bill is that Congress has never heretofore thought itself competent to legislate for the subsistence of the white men of the country and he can not see what entitles the black man to a preference in this respect. Soldiers! ought Congress in your opinion, to feed, clothe and subsist the freedmen and black refugee of the South, while you, who perhaps have lost and arm or a leg in the struggle for the preservation of the Government, are obliged to earn a living for yourself, and to support your family by hard labor? The President says not; the Radicals in Congress say yes. Choose ye. Are you willing that you should be taxed for the support of the negro and for the support of swarms of commissioners and office-holders whose duty it would be to provide for the maintenance of these negroes? Andrew Johnson says it would be unjust to the heroic dead, fallen upon the field of battle, whose widows and orphans have entirely escaped the attention of the present Congress.

Another serious objection to the bill is that it proposes to tax the people of the Southern States for the purpose named without allowing them representation in Congress. This objection brings directly before the country the President's views as to the right of the States which had seceded to be represented in the National Councils. The President utters his condemnation of the odious sentiment, in opposition to which the thirteen original colonies sprang to arms--taxation without representation. It is well known to the country that the great majority of the members of Congress are opposed to the admission of Senators and Representatives from the Southern States. The President says that the rebellion is at an end--that the Southern States have reorganized their State Governments and are now in a condition to participate in the legislation of the country.

Taxation without representation is the principle which the British Government sought to impose upon the colonies. Our forefathers resisted it and triumphed over it. Let the sense of justice of the American people speak out and inform those Radical leaders in Congress that we are not in favor of retrogression--that the principle is as odious to us as it was to our forefathers--and that if this Union is to be restored and the harmony of the people North and South to be preserved, we must reiterate our opposition to it--we must "let by-gones be by-gones" and extend the hand of fellowship; friendship and good-will to the people of the South.

The issue is made. The President and the Radicals are at daggers' points. The people must decide between them. With the utmost frankness the President has staterd the issue and no man need be in ignorance of it. It is one of vital interest to every American citizen. Every man should consider it well, and throw all the weight of his influence in support of the President.

The Democratic party comes up with a solid front to his support because it is the party of the Constitution. They will encourage and strengthen any man who stands upon that platform. They have recognized in the President since his elevation to the Presidential chair one who desires to preserve the integrity of the Union and the life of the Constitution. They appeal to the conservative men of the country of whatever shade of political opinion, to join with them, and by one spontaneous, overwhelming expression of opinion to show the radicals, how contemptibly small is that portion of the American people who would elevate the black man over the ruins of the Republic.

Stevens, Sumner & Co have attacked the President with almost unparalleled vehemence and bitterness. In public and private, in the Halls of Congress and in social circles, he has been the object of their vilest vituperation. They laughed to scorn his earnest efforts to restore the Union and challenge him to the contest. The President, undaunted has taken up the gauntlet. Speaking freely as a citizen of the United States to his fellow-citizens, he proclaims to the world who these men are who are attempting to breakup this Government. With an earnest, patriotic boldness to which history scarcely furnishes a parallel, he throws his charge into their teeth, and asks the American people to be judges, "Stevens is one, Sumner is another, and Wendell Philips is another." This glorious triumvirate--the quintessence of super-refined loyalty--are branded as traitors, by the President of the United States. "Under which flag, Bezonian?" That of the President, or that of the traitorous triumvirate? You can not serve two masters. You can not ride two horses in this contest. You can not endorse the President and Congress.

He that is not for the President is against him.

Let us apply the test of loyalty.

During the late administration it was a crime of the darkest hue to arraign the president, to doubt the constitutionality or expediency of any administration measures. Nay more--it was an unpardonable sin to keep one's mouth shut--the test of loyalty was the open endorsement of the President. The Administration was the Government. Our opponents could see no distinction between them. The Democracy claimed to support the Government by denouncing the Administration. For this they were branded on the hustings, in private circles and by the press, as traitors. Let the revilers of the Democracy stand by their own test. Accept the situation. If you refuse, if you denounce the President:--if you arraign him for any public act, you are disloyal, according to your own standard of loyalty.

We can scarcely see how we will support the dignity of our position. We are "chuck full to the brim" of loyalty. Oh how good and glorious one feels! to be loyal! yes that is it, to be loyal! hip, hip, hurrah!!

Andrew Johnson has taken down the Constitution from the shelf on which these Radicals have laid it and unrolled it. He calls upon the people to read it again--to study its principles--to seek to learn its spirit and to apply that Constitution to the existing state of affairs. The Democracy are ready--have been always ready. They protested against "shelving" the Constitution. Their creed has ever been the Constitution and the Union! They will rally as one man to its defence. They will give to the President their sincere, hearty support, because he is right.

And now we say to our penitent opponents, come, join us. You have wandered away like lost sheep. You may have forgotten the fold. You have watched your substance in riotous living until no you are almost compelled to fill your bellies with the husks of Radicalism. You have stayed away from the old land-marks of the Constitution, but return, oh wanderer return. The political anxious bench is standing before a mutilated Constitution and an almost dissevered Union.

"Come, ye" political "sinners, poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore." Come penitently, acknowledge your errors and your unfitness, and who knows but that the fatted calf may yet be killed for you, and the best robe be put upon you? If you have any hankering for office, the last consideration will move you fastest.

We would earnestly urge upon our Democratic friends the great importance of preparing immediately for the approaching borough and township elections. if proper exertions are made there can exist but little doubt that a majority of the Judges and Inspectors of elections can be secured. Of the importance of these officers it is scarcely necessary that we should say anything. Every Democrat in the County is aware of the high-handed outrages practiced by abolition election officers during the past several years. In order to guard against this in the future, every Democrat should turn out at the Spring Election and perform his whole duty. The contest upon which we are about entering will be one of the most exciting ever witnessed. The bold bad men who are now in power will scruple at nothing which may be calculated to insure their continuance in the position which they have so much abused. The experience of some years past ought to be sufficient to teach us that they will not hesitate to resort to the most barefaced and unblushing frauds. The Democracy should take immediate steps to secure the election of their most competent men in the different townships to the important positions of Judges and Inspectors of Elections. Let us begin the campaign aright by carrying the township elections this Spring. There is time enough to do this important work effectually, and barely time enough. Let the best man of the party be put forward as candidates, and let a vigorous effort he made to carry every township where we have any possible show for it. A little of the right kind of effort can effect wonders in this respect.

Several of our exchanges, published on the line of the Cumberland Valley railroad, have recently been indulging in a spirit of fault-finding with its management. The President and Superintendent seem to have incurred the displeasure of the controllers of these papers, and it is against those officers specially that their batteries are levelled. From the tenor of the complaints made, we are inclined to the belief that personal consideration, and no the benefit of the public, are the bottom of them. We have never yet asked a favor of the Company which was granted, but notwithstanding are not disposed to denounce the management of the road without some doubt the policy which denies to the members of the Press the courtesy of a free pass, so generally accorded by other roads, but that is the company's business and affords us no just grounds of complaint. We are free to say so, that in our opinion a little more liberality in the management would be beneficial to its interests, but so long as the public are carried over it with reasonable speed and safety, we are not disposed to complain. We doubt if there is in the State a railroad--all things considered, better managed than this the same Cumberland Valley Road. Its trains run on time with as much, if not more, regularity than on any other short road. Transit over it has become so safe to person and property that we can scarcely remember when either life was lost or property destroyed upon it. It sometimes happens that trains are delayed by heavy snows and other unavoidable causes, but it is an undeniable fact that such delays are less frequent on this than on other roads. We fail to perceive the justice of the complaints of our co-temporaries against the President and Superintendent. They have spared no effort to meet the requirements of the travelling public and are entitled to commendation instead of censure.