Valley Virginian

The position taken by Gen. Tilson, the head of the Freedmen's Bureau in Georgia, "if negroes will not make contracts we will make contracts for them, and what is better, compel them to work," has had a good effect. The freedmen inclined to be idle, finding out that they have got to work any way, are looking around for something to do.

The wise man tells us "there is nothing new under the sun." But if there is nothing absolutely new, there are certainly some things remarkably strange--things, we suppose, which are to be seen only once in a life-time. Not a few examples of this sort are exhibited in the events of the day and in the circumstances by which we are surrounded. Let us proceed to enumerate some of them:

1. We have waged a sanguinary war for four years to keep the Southern States in the Union; and now that the war is over we proclaim that they are out of the Union and look about for modes of restoration and reconstruction! We have consequently sacrificed three billions of dollars and half a million of human beings for nought!

2. We proclaim that we have conquered the South, but, alas, it seems the South has conquered us. They have, at least, achieved their purpose, while ours has failed and miscarried!

3. We have proclaimed that the doctrine of secession was false in theory and impossible in practice. But what do we behold? We see this very doctrine fulfilled, accomplished, demonstrated. It is no longer an abstraction, a myth, but an "accomplished fact!"

4. We proclaim Tennessee out of the Union, and that she has forfeited all right to representation in the councils of the nation. Yet we behold one of her citizens filling the Executive chair and wielding the sceptre of authority over the entire country!

5. We deny the Representative of Tennessee a seat in the Senate. But we behold the same individual domiciled in the White House, and his wife doing the honors of reception to the nation's guests!"

6. We profess to love the Union, and pride ourselves upon the sacrifices we have made in its behalf, and yet we throw every obstacle in the way of its complete restoration and permanent establishment!

7. We proclaim eleven States out of the Union; and yet when we would amend the Constitution we call upon those very States to say yea or nay, and we count their votes as if they were integral parts and co-equal members of the Confederacy!

8. We proclaim the doctrine that taxation without representation is tyranny and despotism, even justifying revolutionary resistance; and yet we practice the very tyranny thus repudiated by imposing taxes upon the people of this District!

9. We profess to believe that the majority should rule, and that the will of the people is the supreme law; yet we contradict that belief by forcing negro suffrage upon a people who have unanimously voted against it!

10. We profess to be actuated by the great principles of right and justice, in legislating day after day and weak after weak upon a single topic, and yet continually do violence to those principles upon almost every other subject!

11. We denounce disunionists as rebels and traitors; and yet we are guilty ourselves of disunionism in rejecting all overtures for a prompt and constitutional reconstruction!

12. We proclaim that the elective franchise is an essential right of manhood, black or white, and yet we deny that essential right to foreigners for several years at least!

13. We proclaim that the privilege of voting for those who make our laws is essential to self-protection; and yet we deny that privilege to the citizens of this District and to women throughout the entire country.

14. We refuse to concede the elective franchise to the negro in the States where it would be a reality, and yet we grant it to him in this District, where it is a farce and a mockery.

These are a few of the inconsistencies and contradictions of the day.

Wm. J. Dews, in a communication to this paper acknowledges the correctness of our assertion as to his assuming all the responsibility for getting up "that petition." Who ever the so-called "unreconstructed" gentlemen, alluded to by Dews, is it remains for him to answer what is said. President Johnson says we are all "reconstructed" and back in the United States--but great men will differ! We are authorized to state upon the authority of Mr. Dews and of a soldier of the U. S. A. who is circulating the petition, that it amounts to this: The "so-called" unconditional Union men, thinking they could not get their rights in our civil courts, on account of the supposed prejudice against them, petition Congress to transfer their cases to another tribunal, Military of the Freedmen's Court. They also petition that enough U. S. soldiers be sent here to enforce a summons and keep down disturbances they fear will arise between refugee Union men and Confederate soldiers.

The petition was not shown to us, Mr. Dews saying other Union men objected to it, but he assured us the above was the substance.

Assuming that "that petition" amounts to this much we would like to know why some one of their unconditional and persecuted Union men have not brought a case before our civil courts and tested the matter? Why is this petition sprung upon us, when no effort has been made to have a trial before a civil court? We protest against this petition and demand that our civil courts be applied to before we are inflicted with a new tribunal, which must necessarily be opposed to our people. If the men who have, or may sign it, are honest in their desire to promote harmony and good will let them come out and appeal to the civil authority and let us have no more of these endeavors to saddle upon our people a new batch of officials and soldiers, without a fair hearing from all parties. "That petition" amounts to very little and we have already devoted too much space to it. It can amount to nothing more than has already been done, and we simply notice it to let the people see what is going on.

The new Freedmen's Bureau Bill meets with opposition every where out of Congress. The President is opposed to it and all conservative men North, as well as the entire people of the South. We suppose it will become law and we cannot better express our views about it than Mr. Davis, of Ky., does in his speech in the U. S. Senate against it. It is well to note here that the bill does not apply to the North. Poor whites and negroes there are not included in this grand scheme for the "benefit of the human race."

Mr. Davis, of Ky., said in opposition to the bill, that he objected to it because the majority of the Senate excluded the Senators from 11 States from their seats in the Senate for the purpose of securing the passage of this and other measures; because the measure was unconstitutional in proposing to invest the Freedmen's Bureau with judicial power; because it authorized the President to assign to any army officer the exercise of judicial power; because it broke down the partition of the power of the Government made by the Constitution; because it deprived the citizen of the right of trial by jury in civil courts; because it was a scheme devised to practice injustice and oppression upon the white people of the late slave States for the benefit of the freed negroes, and to engender strife between the two races; because it involved a profligate, wasteful, and unnecessary expenditure of public treasure, and because it was one of the reckless and unconstitutional series of measures devised by the radical party to enable it to hold power and place.

To the Editor of the "Valley Virginian."

I acknowledge the correctness of your assertion in regard to my assuming all the responsibility of getting up "that Petition." It can scarcely be regarded as being of a very mysterious character, inasmuch as it has been exhibited to many, who were supposed to be desirous of signing it. Besides a gentleman of the "unreconstructed" persuasion approached me with the alleged intention of signing it in company with a Union man. Said "unreconstructed," after seeing it, fled, "while no man pursued," as the Devil is presumed to flee from holy water; which fact of itself should be taken as an indication of the just and correct character of "that Petition." In the meantime should the spectre of "that petition" disturb the slumbers of any person, it is advised that such person take small doses of "Mrs. Wilson's Soothing Syrup," or diluted Chloroform, besides bathing their feet in warm water, adding half tea-cup full of pure Mustard, "well shaken before taken." A blister might also be applied to the nape of the neck, with a Confederate note attached, with the view of drawing from the brain any false impressions, in regard to "that petition," which may have lodged there. I am happy to observe that you have not secured the services of the "reliable gentleman" to commune with your paper.
Respectfully,
William J. Dews

Below we continue the list of Confederate Soldiers buried in Thornrose Cemetery.

Georgia

Lt. N. C. Clark, 49; D. Wiser, 28; M. R. Brown, 30; D. May, 28; J. A. Gray, 19; W. Johnston, 45; R. Dixie, 61; J. Rowell, 44; J. Portwood, 49; W. S. Sherrer, 38; J. Goodwin, 13; J. Cowdy, 57; W. M. Williby, 45; W. H. Stuart, 60; R. J. Allen, 31; H. A. Howell, 49; D. Whitner, 11; J. J. Evans, 9; J. F. Tidwell, 13; A. W. Chesser, 13; B. F. Giles, 9.

North Carolina

R. Batton, 16; W. Thomas, 14; A. F. Loyd, 15; N. Cooper, 28; A. Weeker, 30; Lt. M. A. Reynolds, 22; T. Waters, 27; S. D. Patterson, 49; W. Stoogle, 49; A. C. McMilan, 7; D. Keaser, 4; J. Day, 18; F. Buchanan, 30; W. P. Circle, 4; W. Brewer, 38; A. Whitacer, 22; T. Croakin, 33; J. H. Wilkinson, 7; E. A. Bailis, 13; M. E. Clemmon, 27; B. Summers, 33; A. H. Beane, 14; A. Rice, 14; C. Stokes, 7; F. Peterson, 2; W. H. Leppard, 23; J. T. Cox, 37; S. Spears, 18; S. Hilliard, 28; E. Hammon, 18; R. A. Christian, 14; H. M. Whittace, 1; A. J. Duncan, 37.

South Carolina

J. M. Leadholt, 1; G. Chisnes, 3; L. T. Smith, 1; Sergt. R. Roggers, 23; A. J. Harlan, 2; R. H. Alexander, 2; R. Childers, 18; Elias Surverence, 14; J. Price, 3; A. B. Hays, 1; J. Dokins, 13; D. Howard, Hamptons Legion; J. Roggerson, 1; J. F. Man, 1.

Virginia

W. Lockern, 49; W. D. Doody, 1st Va., Battallion; A. Bunton, 51; N. Shippard, 48; J. B. Potts, 30; H. Holland, 4; C. R. Randolph, 14; W. W. Keater, 9; E. E. Howlan, 28; J. H. Smith, 58; C. F. Teley, 33; M. Mabe, 58; W. E. Jones, 3; H. W. Darden, 61; R. J. Kingston, Jones Battery.

Alabama

G. Smith, 44; A. T. Bastoe, 48; J. Guy, 15; A. T. Abercrombie, 15; R. M. Murphy, 15; R. Lynch, 14; S. Jones, 15; A. Hager, 5; G. Miller, 5; J. W. Samiford, 2.

Mississippi

E. R. Goff, 17; A. B. Smith, 16

Louisiana

J. Marshall, 15; H. Claiman, 9; Sergt. H. King, 9; T. H. Mann, 8.

Florida

G. S. McDaniel, 5; J. R. Roden, 8.

Tennessee

J. B. Stone, 44

Texas

H. M. Donelly, 4

Oh! weep not for the gallant hearts,
Who fell in battle's day;
They well performed their hero parts
And passed from earth away.
They lie asleep on honor's bed--
Young Freedom's martyred band--
For all that's dear to man they bled--
For God and native land!

Weep not for Jackson, who laid down
His life in fullest fame;
Who always wore the victor's crown,
Now wears a deathless name!
Oh! what a loss that day was ours,
When that great light grew dim;
We weep among the darkened bowers,
But do not weep for him.

For Sidney Johnson--whose high worth
Was Freedom's polar star--
Who like Elijah, passed from earth
In battle's fiery car;--
Shed not a tear--he is not dead--
But up from Shiloh gone!--
Where wreaths ambrosial deck his head,
Beside great Washington!

Weep not for Garnett his young brow
Among the earliest paled;
Though death compelled his form to bow,
His spirit never quailed!
Among Virginia's mountain heights,
With Garland by his side,
And Starke; they fought for Southern rights
And for their country died.

Oh for McCullough, do not weep--
The Marion of the West--
Nor for Bartow, nor Bee--but keep
Their memories in the breast.
They realized man's noble fate--
In victory's lap to lie--
We all must die or soon or late--
How blest like him to die!

Fair Mississippi's starlwart chief--
Brave Barksdale--too has gone,
And Zellicoffer's life too brief,
And Green, and brave Moulton.
Kentucky's Hanson slumbers low,
With Helm and Branch as well;
Pour not for them the stream of woe,
With angels now they dwell!

For Alabama's own loved dead,
Though humbler be their names,
Why should the selfish tear be shed?
They are now God's and fame's.
Rest, Irby, Webb, Jones, Hobbs and Hale,
Rest Jewet, Somers, Moore,
Inge, Garcott, Lomax, Pegram, Baine,
On death's triumphant shore.

What stars crowd out upon the sky,
Of history, as I write!
Would I could number them on high,
The planet of our night!
They live immortal; and for them
We need not shed a tear;
Each wears a golden diadem
In a celestial sphere!

But we must weep--aye, deeply mourn,
For our own selves bereft,
The priesthood from our altars torn,
Our homes in darkness left,
The widowed and the orphan band
On fate's rude waters tost--
Weep for the anguish-stricken land
That such great souls has lost!