Valley Spirit

Report of General Commanding Army. Since the report of 1865 the volunteer force has been almost entirely replaced by the regular army. It is necessary to keep a military force in all the lately rebellious States to protect life and property against those who acknowledge no law but force, but this class is much smaller than could have been expected after such a conflict; and the condition f the South at present warrants the hope that the troops may soon be spared for the Territories.

With the expiration of the rebellion, Indian hostilities have diminished. With a frontier constantly extending and encroaching upon the hunting grounds of the Indian, hostilities, opposition at least, frequently occur. To meet this, and to protect the emigrant on his way to the mountain territories, troops have been distributed to give the best protection with the means at hand. Few places are occupied by more than two, and many by but a single company. These troops are generally badly sheltered, and are supplied at great cost.

Gen. Grant suggests for the consideration of Congress the propriety of transferring the Indian Bureau from the Interior to the War Department, and the abolition of Indian agencies, with the exception of a limited number of inspectors. The reason for this change seems to me both obvious and satisfactory. It would result in greater economy of expenditure, and diminution of conflict between the Indian and white races.

Lieut. Gen. Sherman, in his report as Commander of the Division of the Missouri, gives interesting details of the management of the hostile Indian tribes in the Far West.

Major General pope says in his report from Fort Union, New Mexico, that all of the powerful and populous tribes which once inhabited the northwest, but a few hundreds of hopeless stragglers remain.--Of the history of the white settlers, the pioneers of emigration in the great States of the Northwest, it is unnecessary to speak. Such a record of nameless horrors, of gross inhumanity to whites and Indians, and of lavish and wasteful expenditure of public money cannot at this day be read without astonishment and indignation. Such a process of extermination of both Indians and white men has never before been permitted to go on under the eyes of a Christian people, and it will long remain a reproach to this Government. Feeble, worn out and dispirited as we find them to-day, these wretched remnants of the powerful tribes once famous in our history cannot yet be left in peace. Some of them have already been removed to the Indian country west of Arkansas, and the remainder will soon follow, and it is hoped that they may be there permitted to die in peace and their names and tribe be forgotten. It is recommended that the Indians be removed to some reservation where they can be humanely provided for.

Major General Halleck, commanding the Division of the Pacific, reports that the Indian hostilities have been mostly confined to that portion of Oregon and Idaho surrounding the valley of Mauler Lake. Hostilities will not entirely cease till these Indians are killed or captured.

In Northwestern California the Indians have been generally quiet, and the posts at Camps Wright, Gaston, and Lincoln, are kept up on account of the Indian reservations in the vicinity of each.

The District of Southern California was discontinued last March. The post at San Diego has been broken up, and that at Drum barracks and Wilmington depot, on the execution of orders recently issued, will be reduced to a regimental quartermaster and a squad of fifteen men.

Maj. Gen. Meade reports the details of his seizure of Fenian arms and equipments at Eastport and elsewhere, and of his visit to points whence invasions of Canada were suspected.

Maj. Gen. Sheridan, commanding Department of the Gulf, gives particulars of his command, the principal points of which are already known.

Maj. Gen. G. H. Thomas, commanding Department of the Tennessee, gives the military history of his Department; and dwells on the management of the freedmen, their condition and improvement, and on the crops. He also refers to the proposed national cemeteries near Vicksburg and Natchez.

According to the report of Maj. Gen. Sickles, commanding Department of South Carolina, on the 1st of January, 1866, comprised 352 officers and 7,056 enlisted men. By the muster out of volunteer organizations this force was reduced on the 1st of June last, when the Department of South Carolina was discontinued, to 200 officers and 2,973 enlisted men.

Depots for recruits for the 40th United States Infantry have been established at Smithville, North Carolina, and Charleston, South Carolina. Enlistmens are going on satisfactorily.

In the condition of the colored population the most gratifying progress has been observed. The Act of Emancipation has been ratified constitutionally by the spontaneous consent of these States. The Legislature of South Carolina has recognized the civil rights of freedom as defined by the Civil Rights bill. In North and South Carolina the courts are open to freedmen for the protection of person and property. In South Carolina they are competent to testify in all cases, without disqualification on account of color, interest, or relation to this subject matter. Their dwellings, schools, churches and societies are generally unmolested and secure. They are free to cultivate the soil for themselves, or to engage in any lawful calling, or to hire for wages as they may choose.

In conclusion, the following general observations are suggested by a review of the operation and condition of affairs during the year in this Department.

The military occupation of the territory by the detachments garrisoning posts embracing one or more counties has restored order, afforded security for person and property, and encouraged the resumption of agricultural, industrial, and commercial employments.

The material prosperity of these States injured almost irreparably by the war, seems likely to be restored through emancipation. Although some time more must elapse before their productions will be equal in quantity to the product before the war, the increased value of the stables raised will soon make up the equivalent. Capital, enterprise, and population are coming from the North. With these will be provided increased facilities for culture, manufactures, and trade. Remarkable success has rewarded many diligent and judicious planters, who have paid liberal wages in cash and treated their laborers kindly.--Evidence accumulates to prove the general disposition of the negroes to work voluntarily and faithfully for wages, or for themselves as tenants and small proprietors.--Education, the enjoyment of their earnings, the security of family ties, the possession of civil rights, and the practice of Divine worship are exerting their salutary influence upon the conduct, intelligence, and thrift of the freed people. The tow races, alienated by war and suddenly separated by emancipation, are becoming gradually reconciled.

(Signed) U. S. GRANT, General.

A BILL to establish civil government in North Carolina, and to enable it to resume its former relations as one of the constituents of the American Union.

WHEREAS, On the 20th day of May, 1861, the citizens of North Carolina, one of the United States of America, did rebel against the government of the United States and on the said 20th of May and thereafter, did voluntarily set aside and destroy the organized constitutional government of the said State, and engage with others in armed hostilities and warfare to maintain their said action:

AND WHEREAS, After the lapse of more than four years, the United States, by force of arms, have succeeded in quelling said rebellion, and disarming such insurgent citizens, did find in and said District, formerly comprising the State of North Carolina, no government organized, or officers qualified according to the requirements of the Constitution of the United States:

AND WHEREAS, The President of the United States, by virtue of his power as Commander-in chief of the army and navy, under the operation of martial law for the purpose of preserving peace and order, and of relieving his subordinate military officers from executing the details of civil regulations in the several and widely separated localities in the district, did, under forms and rules by him prescribed, authorize certain citizens of the district to assume the execution of said purpose of preservation of peace and order, under the protection and sanction of the military authority:

AND WHEREAS, As it is the duty of the Congress of the United States to preserve the said district, and the loyal citizens thereof as one of the United States, and by law cause to be organized and therein a government of republican form, based upon the civil and law-making power of the nation:

THEREFORE (SECTION 1), BE IT ENACTED &c., That on the twentieth day of May, 1867, at the hour of 12 o'clock, meridian, there shall be assembled at the State House in the City of Raleigh, a convention of the loyal citizens of the district formerly comprising the State of North Carolina, composed of one hundred and twenty delegates to be chosen by voters qualified as herinafter provided, and each country in said district shall be entitled to send to said convention the same number that it was entitled to send to the House of Commons of the State of North Carolina, prior to the 20th day of May, 1867; a majority of the delegates elected to said Convention shall constitute a quorum to be invited in the sovereign power of the people of the district, to frame a State constitution which shall be submitted to the Congress of the United States for approval, modification, or rejection, preemptory to the re-establishment of said State, and the reinvesting of its loyal citizens with all the rights and privileges and immunities appertaining to the citizens of the other States of the Union and the said convention shall have power and authority to do all other acts, by the recognized privileges of republican government, sovereign conventions of the people of the United States may of right do; provided, that in case no quorum shall assemble on the said 20th day of May, any less number of delegates assembled may adjourn from day to day, until such time as a quorum shall assemble for the transaction of business.

SEC. 2. That in the election of delegates to said Convention, there shall be allowed to vote all male resident citizens of the district formerly comprising the State of North Carolina, of 21 years of age, without distinction of race or color, who can read and write, or may own in fee real estate of the assessed value of one hundred dollars or more, provided, that no one who has heretofore exercised the right of suffrage in said district shall be disqualified from voting in said election.

SEC. 3. That the qualification for the delegates to the said convention shall be the same as were required for members of the House of Commons of the State of North Carolina, immediately previous to the 1st day of May, 1861, upon their taking and subscribing before the Judge of the District Court of North Carolina, or some other officer of the United States authorized to administer oaths, the following oath, to wit:

"I do solemnly swear on the Holy Evangelist of Almighty God (or affirm as the case may be), that on the 4th day of March, willingly complied with the requirements of the proclamation of the President of the United States, issued on the 8th day of December, 1863, had a safe opportunity of doing so been offered me; that in the said 4th day of March, 1864, and at all times thereafter, I was opposed to the continuance of the rebellion, to the establishment of the so-styled confederate government, and voluntarily gave no aid or encouraged [UNCLEAR] thereto, but earnestly desired the success of the Union, and the suppression of all armed resistance to the government of the United States, and that I will henceforth faithfully support the Constitution of the united States and the Union of States thereunder."

And no person shall be allowed to act as delegate to the said convention, or hold any office or appointment thereunder, until he shall have taken and subscribed to the above oath in the manner and form as above provided.

SEC. 4. That it shall be the duty of the Judge of the District Court, or other officer, before whom such path is prepared to be taken, when he may suspect that it is about to be taken falsely by any person, to put to such person any question under oath, and to bear any other evidence which may tend to satisfy him as to the propriety of administering it; and should any person falsely take the oath, shall be indicted and prosecuted in the Circuit Court of the United States, held in the district in which the offence may be committed for the crime of perjury, and upon conviction thereof shall be sentenced to, and receive such punishment as now attaches to the crime of perjury; and in the trial of such indictment no person shall be qualified to sit upon the jury until he shall have taken the said oath, and the court, may require any juryman to take it unless he shall swear that he cannot truthfully do so.

SEC. 5. That it shall be the duty of the President of the United States to direct and require the United States Marshal for the District of North Carolina to appoint for each country in said district one deputy marshal, and the deputy marshal so appointed shall each in his respective county appoint keepers and inspectors of polls, and other necessary assistants; and on the first day of March, 1867, the said deputy marshals shall each open the polls in their respective counties for the election of delegates to the said convention, at such places, and shall conduct the election, and give certificates of election under such rules and regulations (except as herein or otherwise provided) as were prescribed for the election of the members of the House of Commons of the State of North Carolina immediately previous to the 20th day of May, 1861; and any person who shall be appointed deputy marshal, or inspector, or keeper of the polls, as aforesaid, and who shall refuse or neglect to perform the duties required of him under this act, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof before the United States Circuit Court, held in the District of North Carolina, shall be fined such sum, or imprisoned such time, as the Court, in its discretion, may fix.

SEC. 6. That the said deputy marshals, keepers, and inspectors of polls, and other necessary assistants, shall receive the sum of five dollars per day for every day they may be engaged in the discharge of their duties under this act, to be ascertained and paid by the United States marshal of the district, under the order of the district judge; and the United States marshal in addition to his present salary and fees shall receive such compensation for the discharge of his duties under this act as Congress may hereafter allow, and the Treasurer of the United States shall pay to the United States marshal of said district, upon the order or requisition of said judge, out of any moneys in the Treasury, and not otherwise appropriated, such sums of money, from time to time, as may be necessary for carrying out the forgoing provision.

SEC. 7. That the present organization set upon, under martial law by the military power of the president, and all officers in said District charged with the execution of civil regulation therein, except the regular officers of the United States, shall cease to be such, and their functions and powers shall terminate at such time as may be provided by the said Convention, with the recognition and approval of Congress by the State Constitution and civil government provided for and sought to be established under this act.

SEC. 8. That the President of the United States is hereby authorized, and it shall be his duty, to so dispose and employ the military and naval forces of the United States from time to time in such places as to enforce the prompt and efficient execution of the provisions of this act, and to preserve peace, order and obedience to the United States in said district, formerly comprising the State of North Carolina.

A few Radicals in North Carolina have finally prepared a plan for a State government to suit their purposes, and it has been presented to the House by Mr. Stevens.--The plan proposes a convention of "loyal citizens of the district formerly composing the State of North Carolina," to assemble at Raleigh, for the purpose of initiating this governmental movement. In the election of delegates to that convention all male resident citizens of the State of the age of twenty-one years shall be allowed to vote, without distinction of race or color, who can read and write or may own in fee real estate of the assessed value of one hundred dollars or more, provided they can take the following oath or affirmation:

I do solemnly swear on the Holy Evangelist of the Almighty God (or affirm as the case may be) that on the 4th day of March 1863, and at all times thereafter, I would willingly have complied with the requirements of the proclamation of the President of the United States, issued on the 8th day of December, 1863, had a safe opportunity of doing so been offered to me. That on the said 4th day of March, 1864, and at all time there after, I was opposed to the continuance of the rebellion and to the establishment of the so-called Confederate government, and voluntarily gave no aid or encouragement thereto; but earnestly desired the success of the Union and the suppression of all armed resistance to the government of the United States, and that I will henceforth faithfully support the Constitution of the United States and the Union of the States thereunder.

The elections are to be conducted by officers appointed by the United States Marshal for " the District of North Carolina," and any person thus appointed is to be punished with fine and imprisonment if he neglects or refuses to act. The bill also provides that the present State government of North Carolina shall cease so soon as Congress shall recognized the new organization and that it shall be the duty of the President of the United States to dispose and employ the military and naval forces of the United States, from time to time, and in such places, as to enforce the prompt and efficient execution of the provisions of this act, and to preserve peace, order, and obedience to the laws of the United States in the said district, formerly comprising the State of North Carolina.

These are the main provisions of a bill intended to destroy a sovereign State of this Union, and erect upon its ruins an organization to further the interested purposes of a sectional political party. The State of North Carolina has at this time a State government as legal, constitutional, and legitimate as that enjoyed by the people of Pennsylvania. When North Carolina commenced restoring the State to its full and proper constitutional relations with the Federal Government, she laid the foundations deep and permanent. Her people distinctly repudiated and abandoned the right of secession, the language of the Convention being that the ordinance of secession "is now" and at all times "hath been null and void." Mr. Lincoln, in his letter to Mr. Stanley, spoke of the State of North Carolina as a "State," and expressed a desire to see her represented in Congress at an early date.--Since that time the Constitution of the State has been remodeled; members of the Senate and House of Representatives have been elected; a Governor chosen and installed; courts opened, and all the machinery of a State government put in full and complete operation. The people of North Carolina, the depositories of all power in a republican form of government, have thus indicated their desire to continue as a State of the Union under the Constitution and the laws passed in obedience to that instrument, their decision is final. It can only be nullified and made inoperative by usurped power, supported by force.

One feature in this revolutionary movement in North Carolina is deserving of notice. The few men in that State acting as the tools of Sumner and Stevens in the new State plot, do not pretend that any of their rights have been interfered with. They do not allege that the majority of the people are deprived of power by an usurping minority, as is the case in the nation at this time. They nowhere declare that the ballot has been taken out of their possession or that the ballot box has been closed against them. None of these things are alleged.--On the contrary an acknowledged minority of the people of a State petition Congress to break up a State organization, and so reorganize it as to place the few in power and keep them there. More than this, the same minority ask Congress to fix, change, and determine the depositories of political power in a States; to load the elective franchise with oaths intended, not to consolidate the Union of the States under the Constitution, but to bind the majority as captives to a sectional organization, and this the Radicals propose to do by the bill offered in the House by Mr. Stevens.

But, are there not serious obstacles in the way of this revolutionary movement? How is Congress to destroy a state government like that of North Carolina? Is it competent for Congress, even if they had denied representatives to Pennsylvania to deprive Governor Curtin of his office, to hurl from the bench the Judges of the Supreme Court, to nail up the doors of the House of Representatives, and to destroy at one blow all the visible signs of State power and authority? That could only be done by force. And what force has Congress, or how can they marshal and command it? The case of Pennsylvania is that of North Carolina. Congress has prevented the Representatives of that State from taking their places in the Legislature of the nation. This is a usurpation of power, an outrage upon the rights of a State and a people. But because they have done the lesser, does it follow as a matter either of law or logic that they can do the greater wrong? It is one thing to say that a State shall not be represented; it is quite another to invade a State and break up its State existence. The latter requires power that Congress cannot enforce, no matter how boldly they may claim and assume its possession.

Under his oath of office the President of the United States is required to "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States," and to "protect each of the States against invasion." That being his sworn duty under the Supreme law of the nation, how can Congress impose upon him the duty to so "dispose and employ the military forces of the United States from time to time, and in such places, as to enforce the prompt and efficient execution of an act which violates the provisions of the Constitution, and invades the constitutionally guaranteed and protected rights of a State? It is clear that Congress has no right to instruct the Chief Magistrate to violate either his oath of office or the Constitution of the United States, and hence the passage of the revolutionary bill of Mr. Stevens is one thing, its enforcement is another. The suggestion that this is a plot upon which to base an impeachment of the President is not wanting in some of the elements of plausibility. But let each day meet its own responsibilities. At present the duty of patriots is to show the people the full scope and meaning of each measure proposed by the radical revolutionists. We have anatomized the North Carolina plot; its defenders and advocates can push on in their march of treason and revolution if they will. The people will apply a remedy at last.--Age