Decatur Eagle, Volume 6, Number 6, Decatur, Adams County, 13 March 1862 — Page 1

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VOL. 6.

DECATuII EAGLE. <• ISSUED EVERY THURSDAY MORNING, BY A J. HILL, EDITOR, PUBLISHER AND PROPRIETOR. OFFICE—On Second Street, in Patterson’s j building, overthe Drug Store. Terms'of Subscription: One copy, one year, in advance, <1 no Ifipairl within the year, j 59: Ifnot paid until the year has expired, 200 paper will lie discontinued until all tarrerages are paid except at tile option of the Publisher. Terms of Advertising: One square,(ten lines) three insertions, SI 00 Each subsequent insertion, 05 (EFNo advertisement will be considered less than one square; over one square will be conn led and charged as two; over two, as three, etc. (LFA liberal discount, from the above rates I •mad. ot. all advertisements inserted fora period Songer three month*. irThe above rates will be strictly adhered to under ail circumstances. J O’B PRINTING: W. are prepared to do all kinds of job-work ins neat and workmanlike manner,on the m< st reasonable terms Our material for the completion of Job-Work, Is-ine m-w ami of the hit est Styles, we feel confident that satisfaction ean lx given. THE OLD COUPLE. It stands in a sunny meadow. The house so mossy and brown, With its ciiinbvruus old stone chimneys, And the gray roof sleeping down. Ihe trees fold their green arms round it, The trees a century old; , And the winds go chanting through them, I And the sunbeams drop their gold. The cowslips spring in the marshes, Aud the rose bloom on the hill; ( And beside the brook in the pastures 4 1 liu nerus go at W .... ( Their children have gone and left them; | They bit in the sun alone! i And the old wife’s ears are failing, I As she harks to the well-known tone. I I It That when her heart in her girl-hood, i That has southed her in many a care, i < And praises her now for the brightness H Her old face used Io Wear. She thinks again of her bridal— . ( How. dressed in her robe of white, She stood by her gay young lover In the inuining’s rosy light. Oh, the morning is rosy as ever, But the rose Iroin her cheek has fled; And the sunshine still is golden, But it falls on a silvered head. Aud the girlhood dreams, once vanished, Uome back in l'< r winter time, Till her feeble pulses tremble With the thrill of spring times prime. \ And looking forth from them inflow, She thinks how the trees have grown i '.Since, olad in her bridal whiteness, i She crossed the old door-stone. Though dimmed her eye’s bright azure, And dinmied her hair’s young gold, □ he love in her girl hoofl plighted Has never grown dim or old, They sat in peace tn the sunshine, 'J ill the day was almost done; And then, at its close, an angel Stole over the old door-stone. .He folded their hands together— He touched their eye lids with balm; their last breath floated upward, Like tile close of a solemn psalm. ‘Like a bridal pair they traversed, The unseen mystic road TJiat leads tu the beautiful city “Whose builder and maker is God.” | Soldierscan piobably consume more Aho«-le*iher than <*ny -other dess o( peo-1 j>le—except collectors for newspapers. An honest Hibernian upon resiling his physician's bill replied that he had no objection to paying him for hi* medicines, but his visits he would return. The way in which taxes are [was] assessed by the bogus government at Bowling Green, is to seize all el a man’s property, and determine what part not to give ‘back. This generally includes the whole of it. "I will and bequeath,*'' said an Irishman, in his will, “to my beloved wife all tny .prqperty without reserve, and to my Oldest son Patrick one half the remaindor., and to UeutMs. my youngest sou, the rest.”

From the Washington National Intelligencer How Fnr the United States are One PeoI p,t The Defense of Local Institutions not Rebellion—A War upon Them is a War upon the Principles of the Constitu- ; tion—lt is Revolution North as well as Month—lts Fatal Effects at Home and Abroad. LETTER 11. 1 To Abraham. Lincoln, President of the United States'. Respected Sir: In my first letter I endeavored to show that 'the only legitimate object of the pending war is the integrity of the nation as constituted bv the Constitution of the United States. I shall now attempt to point out some ol the consequences to be apprehended from making it a war on the fundamental principles of the Constitution. 1 Lal it never be forgotten that we are' one people and one nation only so far as j I the Constitution makes us one.’ Outside :of that bond we are thirty (our peoples ; and thirty-four nations, none of which . have any more right to interfere with the local laws and institutions of the rest than with the laws and institutions of China and Brazil. The people of the States have a right, under the Constitution, to delend their local laws and institutions by arms, if necessary, and it is the duty of th. United States to uphold and aid them in the attempt A war confined to such an object would not be rebellion, even though the United States were the no- ’ gressor. Just so far, therefore, as the 1 pending war may be waged against Sou- | th.l a institutions, the Southerners in arms will cease to be rebels, and th* Northerners in arms will become in truth what they are now falsely charged with being 1 --the wanton assailants of Southern 1 lights Let me not be misunderstood. f Thus far the war has been confined to an f enforcement of the Constitution and tha '

!.“*?. .9 f .lUs..UjwW..Aßtniii rneYs-are uricunlified und unmitigated rebels. But lei the United Slates abandon this firm and sale platform; let them announce that the war is hereafter to be waged again-t the constitutional laws and institutions of lhe Southern States, and they will measurably relieve lhe traitors from the odium of causeless rebellion, will give to their cause a color of right, and will nerve ' their arms for a more desperate tesistance. Then, indeed, would the war become one of subjugation—prosecuted, not for the purpose of maintaining lhe Constitution, but iu subversion of its fundamental principles. Such a position would be attended with i mischievous, not fatal, consequences, both at home and abroad. It would paralyze, manv a Northern patriot, who would give . his life for the Inion, not because he j loves Southern institutions, but because he holds sacred the principles of lhe Constitution, and deems their preservation I essential to lhe maintenance of order and law, as well i.i the North as the South. i All intelligent men know that a republic ns extensive as the United States, em- : bracing such a variety of climates, pro- , ; due i ms, institutions, opinions and interests can not exist under one consolidated j Government and at the same time allow the highest practicable degree of liberty to all its par's. Hence it is that every true friend of liberty revolts from the idea of an attack on that fundamental principle of lhe Consmution which leaves every S’ate free to govern itself in all things which pertain to its local affairs. In the subversion of that principle he sees nothi ing in prospect but a cluster of hostile republics, like those of Greece, wasting* .each other in continual wais; or a great empire like that of Rome, iu which liberty shall be crushed under the iron rule of an aristocratic Senate or an usurping Caesar. With such a prospect before him, how can any true friend of liberty sustain, with confident hope and unflagging enthusiasm, the prosecution of this war? But the paralysis which an abandonment of the Constitution would produce in many a Northern arm would not be its I only effect. It would, in an equal degree, 1 nerve many a Southern arm and array in active hostility many a Southern friend of ! the Union. It would enable the rebels to say that lhe North is attempting to subvert the constitutional rights which the South is fighting to maintain. It would, n the eyes of lhe world, mitigate 1 the crime of rebellion by enabling the rebels to assert, with some plausibility, that there was a conspiracy in the North against their constitutional rights. It would enable them to say to Great Britain and France that the North as well as the South had abandoned the Constitution which made them one people, and become equally revolutionary — that the one was as much entitled to be considered and ac--1 knowledge a separate and independent , people as the other I But it is said that slavery is the cause of the rebellion, and, therefore, it should > be exterminated. The assertion is but i remotely and partially true, and, as

“Our Country’s Good shall ever be our Aim-Willing to Praise and not afraid t o Blame.”

DECATUR, ADAMS COUNTV, INDIANA, MARCH 13, 1862.

r far as it is true, by no means justifies the conclusion. If the mere existence of slas very were sufficient to produce rebellion, 1 the Constitution would never have been . ■ formed; or, having been formed, it would , never have lived to three score years and I ten. If slavery were of itself sufficient 1 to make men rebels, then all slaveholders would be rebels. So far ts this from the truth that the most considerate among them look upon the Constitution and the Union as the only outside protection which that institution has. In their view, and that of all disinterested men in other States, that feature of the Constitution which guarantees the return of fugitives from labor, commends it to the cordial and persevering support of all masters i who have no object in view beyond security in their lawful rights. No such inter- 1 national legulation exists elsewhere in the I civilized world, and its maintenance ought I I upon every principle of sound reasoning, j to have made slaveholders the last to give lup the Constitution. In this view slaveiry was a bond of Union, so far as the masters were concerned, rather than an element of dissolu.ion. And it is in this view that curtain men at the north have denounced the Constitution as ”a league with hell.” ° In another letter I will endeavor to point out the true causes of the rebellion, and ' ( how far slavery has Insured them. 1 ’ shall also attempt to show that the warm- i, est friends of emancipation ought to be . satisfied with the progress their principles ; are making through the madness of slave owners and the growing necessities of the , pending conflict. A mos Kendall. February 15, 1852. Touching incident. —An < sample of s almost superhuman endurance and spirit, j ns related by D r Vorhies, ol Mississippi, ] a gentleman far too intelligent and skill- r ful to be engaged in such a cause other- [ wise than alleviating its miseriss. is as «

OS cuiseriss, is ax ; " Vv nen at ms noTnoatument of Fort. < Henry a young Wisconsin boy, who had > j by some means been made prisoner, had c his arm shattered by a ball Oom our gun- j boats, he was taken to one of the huts ( where Dr. Voorhies attended to him.— if He had just bared the bone when an e- f normous shell came crashing through the ( hut. The little fellow, without moving a muscle, talked with firmness during the , operation of sawing the bone, when an , other went p’unging close by them. The ( Dr. remarked that it was getting too hot ( for him, and picked the hoy up in his ; arms and carried him into one of the bom’ ~ I proofs where the operation wr a completed , The only answer of the Northerner was. . ‘lf you think this hot, it will soon baa ( i good deal too hot for you by-and-by.’— , ‘And,’ says the doctor, ‘I should hke to | see that boy again, he is the bravest little , fellow 1 ever saw.’ , | Highly Insulted. The Muscatine (lowa )Journ»l says: ‘A ■ good oil lady, supposed to be a sister of Mrs. Partington, attended a recent high i school examination not a thousand miles distant. A class just beginning Gieek was on the ‘benches,’ and a little fellow was requested to recite the Greek Alphabet. lie did so, and, as children will sometime do when embarrassed, fastened his eyes on the visitor. The old lady li*ard him a minute and got up and left ih high dudgeon. On being interrogated ,on the subject one replied that the state of things at that school was “awful.”— 1 "Why,” said she, “dont you think a little wretch looked at me and told another boy named Alfred to put me out. Said I he, Alphy, beat her, damn her, pelt her,” I I just left right away; I wouldn’t be insulted so.” The mistake was very natural, when it is remembered that that the first four let- ; lets of the Greek Alphabet are, 'Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta.” The Richmond Dispatch calls attention ‘ to the mysterious hand writing on the wail, indicating that Union conspirators are at work. Amorg these writings are . the following, ‘•■Zk/ewfioß Union men !! ! Watch and wait! Ihe Union forever!! The hour of deliverance approaches!! Lt was these significant announcements that caused the arrest of John Minor Botts and twenty other suspected citizens of wealth, character and position, aud the proclamation of martial law.

The Carnage at Fort Donelson.— , A letter from Captain L. D. Waddell, of Company E, Elevnth Illinois Volunteers, 1 to hi* father, in New York, says that out of eighty-five men in his company, but teveu remain alive—the most wholesale 1 slaughter that wa» ever heard of. This was the color company, at which the : rebels took particular aim; as fast as one man who carried them would be shot down i another would take bi* place, but the flag I was brought through Only one hundred . and sixteen remained in the Elevnth regi- j 1 meat uninjured.

i The Great Tax Bill— s 100,000,000 to fee • I Raised—Taxes ou Every Thing. . ■ Washington, March 3 “ The following is an abstract of the tax ‘ bill reported to-day: It provides for the appointment by the President of a Commissioner of Internal ' . Revenue, with a salary of 85,000 per an- ■| num, his office to be in the Treasury Department, with a suitable number of I clerks. The country is to be divided, as the President may direct, into convenient collection districts, with an assessor and collector. appointed by the President, for ench district, who shall have power to ; appoint such deputies as may be uej cessary. The bill provides for a tax of spirituous 1 liquors of 15c. per gallon; ale or porter ’Bl per barrel. Stem or leaf tobacco 3c. per pound, to add, when manufactured, sc. and on cigars 5, 10 and 20c. per pound, according to value. On lard and linseed oil, burning fluid and coal oil sc. per gallon; refined oil 10c. per gallon; gas per 1,000 feet 25c. Bank-note papei sc. per pound; printing paper 3 mills per pound. Soap 5 mills per pound; salt 4c. per 100 pounds; sole leather Ic. per pound; upper leather |c. per pound.— Flour 10c. per barrel. All other manufactures 3 per centum ad valorem. On railroad passengers 2 mills jjper mile of travel; computation tickets 3 per cent.— Steamboat travel 1 mill mile; omni- , buses ferry boats and horse railroads 3 ! ' per cent, on gross receipts from passen- i‘ gers. Advertisements 5 per cent, on a ] mount of receipts annually. For the uss i of carriages, annually, from 81 to 810, i! according to value. Gold watches 81; silver watches 50c. Gold plate 50c. per 1' ounce; silver plate 3c. per ounce. Bil- 1 Hard tables 820. On slaughter cattle i ' 50c. each; hogs 10c. each; sheep sc. each, f Licenses—For bankers 8

810, pawnbrokers, 850; rectifiers, 8100. Hotels, inns and taverns, graduated according to rental, from 85 to 8200. Eat- i ing-houses, 810. Commercial brokers, 850; other brokers, 820. Theaters, ■ 8100. Circuses, 850. Bowling alleys.! 85 each alley, Wholesale pedlers, 850; other pedlers from 85 to $25. Coal oil distillers. 820. Income—3 per cent on nil over S6OO, deducting the income derived from dividends, , which are taxed separately. Railroad bonds and dividends of banks and savings institutions. 3 per cent. Payments ot all salaries of officers in the civil, military or naval service of the United States, including Senators and' members of Congress, 3 per cent. Legacies and distributive shares of personal properly ol deceased persons, from 1 to 5 per cent., according to the 1 degrees of relationship, and stamp duties on all kinds of legal and commercial pa- 1 pers, all patent medicines, telegraphic messages, and al) goods by express. The tax bill comprises over one thous-' and pages of foolscap, and contains one hundred and eight sections. It was delivered to the printer immediately on being presented to the House, and in his hands it still remains, with an injunction ,of secrecy until the committee have revised the proof sheets. It will be printed by Wednesdey. The bill reaches every' class of propertv, except real estate, and is so constructed as to tax property in transitu from one hand to another: For instance, all cattle slaughtered are taxed 50 cents per head; hogs 10 cents, and sheep 5 cents. On spices a tax of 1 1 cent per pound is levied, and on refined sugar three mills. There is a general ' system of license, in which is included , hotels, inns, bar rooms, etc. These liI censes are graduated according to rental; on the highest rent is a license of 8200, and on the lowest 85 per year. Photographers, asibrotypists, and professions ;ofthat nature pay 810 per year. On ’ salt there is a tax of 4 cents per hundred I pounds. The bill is expected to yield a revenue of gI00;000,000, which the committee think will be felt less than an indirect 1 high tariff measure.

Wit frim the Camp.—Th« Chicago Journal says! Our Bolla correspondent! writes: “We suppose that, during this fine weather, our friends at home, among other pleasures, are going to halls; but in the army wa have uo such trouble—tb« balls come to us.” The same facetious correspondent

writes: “The reason why the rebels be-1 came frightened when they beard of so I many Northern men being mustered for the war, was that they would probably get well peppered.” And heie is another, from which we judge that he is an Emancipationists, and in favor of arming the slaves: ’The Government will noon dispense with all the brass bands now employed by the army,' and substitute con.rabands. They will b* much cheaper. Their instruments are 1 ebony, with very large mouth-pieces, and •beautifully inlaid with ivory.’

e President Lincoln’s .Message in Favor of Aiding the States to Abolish slavery. Washington, March 6 —The President x to-day transmitted to Congress the following message: s Fellow citizens of the Senate and 1 House of Representatives : I recommend the adoption of a joint j resolution by your honorable bodies, which shall be substantially as follows’ , ’ Resolved. That the United States ought t<> co-operate with any State which inay adopt a gradual abolishment of SlaJvery, giving to such State pecuniary aid, to be used by such State in its discretion, to compensate for the inconvenience public and private, produced such change [of system. If the proposition contained l in the resolution does not meat the ap proval of Congress and the countty, there i iis the end, but if it does command such ■ approval, I deem it of importance that ] the States and people immediately interested should be at once distinctly noti- 1 of tho fuC.t. thlat tllArr ev..... I.

m-u 01 tne lact, so that they may begin to consider whether to accept it or reject it. I The Federal Government would find its I I highest interest in such a mearuse, as one of the most efficient measures of self preservation. The leaders of the existing insurrection entertain the hope that”the Government will ultimately be forced to acknowledge the independence of some part of the disaffected region, and that all (he slave glares north of such parts will then say: The Union for which w« have struggled being already gone, ,ve now choose to go with them. To deprive them of this hope substantially, ends the ’ rebellion, and the initiation of emancipa ’ tion completely deprives them of it. As to I all the States initiating it, the point is not that all the Slates tolerating Slavery 1 would very soon, if nt nil, initiate eman 1 cipation, but that while the offer is equal- t ly made to all, the more Northern shall.; lormer loin the latter “in their pro nosed I

I loriDtJr JOIII Lli“ ihlii I hi Uic.r propusru ’ Confederacy. I say institution, because, in my judgement, gradual, and not sudI den, emancipation, is better tor all. In the mere financial or pecuniary view, any ; member of Congress, with the census tables and T r easury rep irts before him, can readily see f or himself how very soon the current expenditures of the war wo’ld purchase at a fair valuation all the slaves in anv named State. Such a proposition on the part of the Genera) Govern’ent sets up n>> claim or right by Fed’r’l HUtho’ity to interfere with Slavery within State limits, : ! referring as it does the absolute control of 1 ! the subject in each case to the State and j ist people immediate!} interested. It is proposed as a mailer of perfectly free choice with them. In (he annual mes- ' sage last December, I thought Gt to say | that the Union must be preserved, and ' hence all indispensable means must be employed. 1 » a id I^>S 1101 hastily, but 1 deliberately. | War has been and continues to be an indispensable means to this end. A practical re-acknowledgement of the national 1 ! authority would render the war unneces- ’ sary, and it would at once cease. If, I however, resistance continues, the war must also continue; and it is impossible to foresee all the incidents which may attend, tin 1 all the ruin which may follow. Such as may seem indispensable or mav obliviously promise great efficiency toward ending the struggle, must and will come. The prop >sition now made, tho’ ! an offer only, I hope it may be esteemed no offense to ask whether the pecuniaryconsideration tendered would not be of more value t» the States and private persons concerned than are the institution and property in it, in the present aspect !of affairs. While it is true that the adoption of the proposed resolution would be ! merely iniatory, and not within itself a 1 practical measure, it is recommended in ' I the hope that it would sooner lead to ‘ important results. In full view of my 1 great responsibility to my God and to my country. I earnestly beg the attention 1 of Congress an ! tl.e people to the sub • 1 ■ ZO I \ ‘ L ject. (Signed) 1 Abraham Lincoln.

Family Courtesy—Family intimacy t should never inak* brothers and sisters forget to be polite nnd sympathizing co each other. Those who contract thoughtless and rule habits toward the members of their own family, will ba rude and thoughtlea to all the world. But let the family intercourse be true, tender and affectionate, and the manner* ot all uniformly gentle and considerate, and the members, sf the family thus trained will carry into the world and society the habits of their childhood. One hundred and fifty rebel soldiers recently deserted from Savannah to Genera! Sherman. When asked why they did it, replied that they were tired of fighting in a rich man's w it. Gun-boats are generally the hottest place* in a fight, as they often have a can- ' non ball stove in them.

I All Incident of the Fight at Fort Donel*oll , The following extract we take from the Fort Donelson col respondent of the Cincinnati G> zette: ’ Col. Kinney, of the Fifty-sixth Ohio, related to me one of those strange and melancholy incident* which the fortunes of war sometimes brfng to pais. As he was riding along the breastworks a day or two alter t 1 e itirrender, and while many of the dead were still unburitd, he observed before him a private in his regiment, named Bowman, strolling along— As he came up, he noticed the latter suddenly start back, as if transfixed nt the sight, of a body before him. Approaching him, the Colonel asked him what surprised him, and added, that he supposed he would have become accustomed to seeing dead bodies by this time. Turning to his inquirer, with an expression on his face such as only a discovery like this could produce, and pointing to the body, he replied, ‘Colonel! That is mv brother!’

r , - . i unv i j iiij uiuillfl ; , His brother had been a resident of TenI nessee, ami had joined the Confederate 1 army, but he had no knowledge of his whereabouts, or thought of his being one i of lhe victims of lhe bloody conflict, until he thus accidentally stumbled across his dead body. Procuring a blanket, and the a.-sistance of some comrades, he wrapped him in it nnd buried him in the spot where he hail fallen. The Charleston C'own'er, though limiting, with mortification, the recent great disasters to the rebel cause, says the contest must be continued—the advance of the United States forces met at every step with any and every kind of weapon — with lhe torch, bayo. et, the powdertrain and riffle. It ajso discovered, so it says, “influence at work in the minds of the people which promise a rich fruition, and w« l»«t h-•" -.*»-• -• ; resource that can be of use in beating pack

iraUUILC IIIUVUOII we- f •• ! (he angry wave of invasion rolling upon us.” The Atlantic (Ga) Confederacy of tlia 23.1 says that an address has been issued to the mechanics of that State, calling on them Io nrnke pikes and side knives to arm 10,000 men with in March. The same paper says; ‘Wo almost wish every musket in the Confederacy was in lhe bottom of the ocean, and no chance to get any more.’ (?) The Paris women are existed about an electric head-dress invented for tha Emp-ess Engenie. Itisacrown formed of globules of glass lighted by electric light, and set with diamonds, rubies and emeralds. It emits such an effulgence to light up of itself a dark room, and if ever put put into general use will supersede the necessity of gas jets or wax candles- Every lady will be her own chandelier. Trom the Upper UotomacCnarlestown, Va., March 5. Last night a squadron of th# first Michigan Cavalry advanced as far as Perryville, on th# Winchester Turnpike, anil ambushed and surprised a parly of rebel cavalry, disabling three of them and routing th# rest The michigan party returned with nine rebels cavalry horses, fully equipped, as trophies, among them the ce’ebrated black rtalhon rode by Col. Ashley, with out the loss of n man. The amount of forage provisions captured by our right wing, since the advance into Virginia, is estimated to be worth $20,000- This includes four thousand pounds of bacon stored (or the use of the rebel army. Leefown and Lovetsville ar*’ now among the places hold for the Union up to this lime The success of the movement on lhe Upper Potomac bus been complete. General Shields passed through Charleston on his way West last night. Advices from the Lower Potomac state that the rebels are undoubtedly concentrating a large force in that direction, opposite to the position of Gen. Hooker’s division. There is reason to believe also

that the rebel army of the Potomac has been greatly augmented since the recent Union victories in the West. They have here their strongest defensive works, and the flower of their nrmv. I heir defeat here will close up the rebellion and leave nothing to be done by the Union forces, except to move forward and occupy the seceded States, and afford protection to the Union men there until they can organize new State Governments under auspices of loyalty. Charleston, Va , March 6. — Reliable ' intelligence states that the rebels are in full foree at Winchester. They have completed formidable enthworkson this side, monnted with sixty-guns, including field batteries. 1 The work on the Baltimore dr Ohio Railroad progresses rapidly, afid evry point is strongly protected from Cumberland to Harper's Kerry and every facility is being offered to the Company-

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