Decatur Eagle, Volume 9, Number 45, Decatur, Adams County, 2 February 1866 — Page 1

WE DECATUR E AGUE.

VOL. 9.

rjc* M‘ 01 EKS DECATUR EAGLE, laillED EVERY FRIDAY MORNING ■ bf A. J. HILL, PUBLISHER AND PROPRIETOR. OFFICE—On Monroe Street in the second MM-y of the building, formerly occupied by Jetse Xiblick as a Shoe Store. Terms of Subscription I One C«pv one year, in advance, V ™ jf paid within the year. * not paid until the year has expired, •00 , tTfo paper will be discontinued until nil rerages are paid, except at the option of the publishers. Terms of Advertising: O.elquaref the space of ten lines bre- ’ .ter] three insertions, 5 <m Each subsequent insertion, • ITN’o advertisement will be considered less than onesquare; over one square will be counted sndcharged as two; over two, as three, drc , rr .4 liberal discount from the above rates m*d« on all advertisements inserted for a period longer than three months. ITfiocal Notices fifteen cents a line for each asertion. Job Printing. W# arc prepared to do all kinds of Plain and Fancy Job Printing at the most reasonable y-itea (live us a call, we feel confident that (StUfaation can be iriven. Special Notice. TO hOVEHTISERS.— Alladvertisementsla «fir a soecitied time, anil ordered out before i fro irationii/lhetime ipeci/ied, mill be charged f , a regular rates for the sameup to the time they a ordered out. "isfainm Z SPEECH OF bos. d. w. voonns, On the Policy of the Ficaidert, wi Belivered to the fiouse cl Representatives. Tuesday, Jan. C*< ISGG. [CONCLUDED j Bui again, as to the right of reprsenta- ■ lion, immediate and without r.ny other . gurantee than obediance to ihe Constitu- I • ’ition. I Shall now prove that tberefu-l aal to admit the Southern representative.; ; ** arise from a tense o< power find not ci i ' justice; that while Southern people--. ere in arms no position of the kind wrv r.ss timed by any department of the Government, and that harder terms are now tendered to a defeated than were held out to a d Bant enemy. In the procla mation of the late Chief Magi irate, from which 1 have already quoted, he clearly a and explici.ly asserts the right oi any »» ; State, whose people were then in hcstil-. *• ity to the General Government, to be ra- **'■ presented in the Federal 1 ess, and! announce that he wilt consider seen lacts ; as an evidence that neither the State nor; the people are any longer in rebellion ; * . ' Where then was the guarantee doctrine? . T It had no’ yet been born. We were then : wooing and” courting representation be- ] cause it suited our purpose to do so. We . are now repelling it lor the sr.mo.reason. ; The great proclamation was then akin to ' the gospels of righteousness. Now I challenge the committee oi fifteen to er- i port in its favor. It is deserted in the j house of its friends, and I am found defending the only healthy and legal spot in it. But potent as it was considered, yet it was not tho only expression that emanated from the high place of the last administtation, which confounds thepl.ilosopber of this new faith. On the 6th of February, 1863, Mt. Seward informed Europe and the civilized world that seals in Congress “are also vacant and inviting the Senators and Representatives of the discounted party who may be coutetitutionally setfl there from tne State? involved in insurrection.” Did these vacant seats invite the Representatives and Senators of a foreign nation with | which we were waging a was for emit-j bilation? Did the Secretary of State at-I tach any other condition to the represen- | tation of the people then in arms against 1 the Government than attache? to tho re-1 presentation of every other portion I of the He only asked that it might be constitutionally done,) and this requirement is of universal ap- ■ plication to the whole country. It I means no more in Georgia than it does, in New York, it means no more in Vi: • ginia than it does in Massachusetts. It interpolates nothing upon the practice of the Government under the Constitution from tho hour oi its bi.th down to the day on which an inquisition was sued out in this House in the shape of a commit-. tee of fifteen, in order to discover some means of adopting the old British system , 'onial bondage. ©f eu.- . it may, in answer to thiso But. » w . , ga j(j that it is not within station?;

the province of the Executive Department of the Government to determine the question of representation in the legislative department. But has not Congress itself made a record on this subject which !it can not ignore, and which the majority dare not face? Has it not officially, over and over again, in both branches, assumed the very position which it now seeks with such flagrant assurance to repudiate? The cry is now that we must look to Congress for our policy of restoration. This place has suddenly become a citadel of wisdom, power and dominion. It is a city of refuge, whore ! all the disappointed spoliators, insane anarchists, bloody Jacobeiue promoters of vengeance, disturbers of the peaco, self-constituted caintc, who imagine themselves in partnership with the Almighty to assist him in punishing the sins of the world, where law breakers and revolutionists of every si ado and color now flee to escape from the wise, successful, and constitutional policy of the President. “To your tents, Israel! was the ancient and legitimate cry of alarm, “Look to Congress, look to Congress'.” now rini s out on ths air as a call to battle in behalf of chaoo, disorder, and interminable woes. The populace of Franco, .cased in a tumultuous delirium of hate, drunken with blood, dethroning Deity and reverencing a harlot, shouting. “Look to the Assembly, look o the Assembly!" where the Mountain murdered the Girondists and where Robespierre, Marat, and Saint Just planned, in the name of public virtue, the destruction of human life and of human saeiety. But, sir, if v.e must “look to Congress,” let me show the wistful gazers a picture of Congressional action which will fill their heaits with dismay, and which Congress itself can not to day behold without feeling of humiliation and shame over its present position. Did 1 not servo here in the hall during the fury of the rebellion, when the flames of war scorched the very front of the heavens, with Representatives from the State of Louisiana? Were they not admitted to tho “vacant scats” which invited their return by the very men who now stand like surly sentries tit these doors and answer their hailing sign ol entraaeo either with the response ct “Dead States” of “Guarantees?” Was ! Tennessee destroyed or were her people I entitled to no voice here because of her I ordinance of secession? Sir, her name ]v, as called here more than half the periled of ths war, and the representatives o her neople answered to their names in boti, 1 ends of the Capitol. The genii’ man who ir vr.in sought even a recog oition of his own existence in this body whet, the present Congress wasoiganized [Sir. Maynard] was then here with ths full sanction ol ths same political majority which now spurns him from the door of its caucus room and driyes him I from the protection which the escutcheon of his glorious State, under theadmin- | istraii u <J law, affords its Represeuta- ' tives in Congress. Shall v.e row assert I that at thaiTirao Tennessee was a purI lion of a foreign Government? Shall >e j then as a next step of supreme absurdity declare the President of the United | Stales himself aa unnaturalized foreign- ; er, e ..titled doubtless to kind traatm fit i but in no sense a citizen of the United I I States,inasmuch as he never expatriated! I himself from the alien and hostile pro-[ I vines of Tennessee, and never acauulI edged himself subdued to the embraces j lof the Federal flag as a symbo of a sep- j arata nationality? I am prepared to I iiear even this miserable libel on Amcri- ; can institutions asserted. Nothing is allo>.ed to -tand iu tho way ci fanaticism. [ Its purposes me inexorable, and its! devotes often deem themselves i-i truth and honesty the philosophers of their age but Frederick the Great made a wise observation when he said. “If I wanted to ruin oue of my provinces I would make j over its government to the philosophers. | Their theories are always iu advance I ol their times; and in practical souse and actual utility they meet neither the re- . quirements of the pact, present nor fu- | lure- The philosophers of Congress at I least contradict themselves at very short i stages of progress, and give no evidence !of ;.ith«r ability or consistency. Why, ! sir, the recoids of this body, as well as !of the Senate, will show that Virginia, ; loo —Virginia whose firey and lofty [crest shone in the very front of the rebellion, whose plaius were its battle-fields | and in whose soil so many of its heroes ; lie buried —was here as a State when the ! roar of her hostile cannou could be heard . ou Capitol Hill. Those who claimed to 'I be her representatives cams and they i were received. They were requieed to i give no pledges then for the future 1 good behaviour of their constituents, • nearly all of whom were obeying the or- ) ders ol General Lee. Then they were i to be trusted without g’j'ranteos; but now that peace has been restored, and i there is not an armed band in all her i borders to dispute the Federal authority,

“Onr Country’s Good shall ever ba our Aim—Willing to Praise and not afraid to Blame.”

DECATUR, ADAMS COUNTY, INDIANA, FEBRUARY 2, 1866.

1 her people are much more dangerous and ' ■the presence of their Representatives here would give a fatal blow to the public safety! Such is the misei able position to which the engineers of this new movement are reduced! Mr. DEMING. Will my distinguished friend from Indiana [Mr. Voorhebsj ’ inform this House when bethinks the : right to representation here from these I States commenced? Did it comnieiici' i at Antietam, at Gettysburg, or when did i it commence? Mr. VOORHEES, I will answer the ■ question of the gen'leman from Conneti tinut. [Mr. Deming] but as my time is H getting short, I trust 1 shall be excused I lor further interruption. My answer is, : “Peace and obedience to law are the only guaiantees for the future which any Government can require of its people.” i And when peace and obedience to law reign among any poriion of the American people, 1 hold that they are entitled to representation here. Mr. DEMING. Tnen I suppose it will be necessry for the gentleman to show that obedience to law exists at this time in the reclaimed territories? Mr. VOORHEES. Undoubtedly. 1 j think the President and General Grant have shown that fact. But one step further in this Congressional record. As if to forever settle the construction which should be placed upon the condit on of the southern States, and their right to representation, Congress enacted and the President approved a luw on the 4th ol March, 18C2, which I he;e read. Chap. XXXVI.—An act fixing the number of the House of Represents tives from and after tho third March, j eighteen hundred and sixty-three. Be it .enacted by the Senate and Housof Lt- prescntaiivos of tho United States of America in Congress assembled, lhai from and after the "third day of March, eighteen hundred and sixty-tbreu, the number of members of the House of Re presentalives of the Congress of the United Stat s sb ill be two hundred and forty-one; and the eight additional members shall bo assigned one each to Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois, lowa, Minnesota, Vei rnont and Rhode Island. In order to obtain ibe number of two ; h inured arid forty-one Representatives as j contemplated by thio law, every Sou hcru State whose citizens were in revolt must have been represented according to h-r population. Wh-’t more can I do than to make this statement? W. at argument could aid to its binding force? if man did repudiate to-day who* they did yesterday, if they refuse to be bound by their own principles declared in the solemn form of a law. if the highest precedents of their own official action fall without force upon their ears, then, indeed* they are beyond the power of reason and callous to the reproach and dec's- ■ ion Jo’ the world. Sir, the most melancholy phase of corrupted and fallen human nature is its selfish tenacity to the low purposes of the hour. In their headlong pursnitil spurns the fixed principles and everlasting laws of the universe from its cord id , pathway. It, scoffs at wisdom that is •'hoary and white with age,” and jeers , the venerable experience of ages it they i arise as obstacles to its immediate grat- , I itication Constitutions, laws, and sa- , j cred ordinances are lighter than cobwebs | •in the way of its consuming desires. , I Even the dread Jehovah, who made man ■ I and the code of divinity which claims his obedience, is but dimly remembered | I when the prize ol the heart’s deni i passion lies close and tempting to our | hands. Our line of vision is on the level : before us. We bow to the earth and , worship its transient spoils while the stars winch sail over our heads and beckons us to celestial duties and betokens eternity, go unheeded in theii grandeur. , I We hear the sireu voice of the moment I but fad to catci: the loftier harmony of | the eternal spheres. Who has fathomed tiie dark and mysterii us depths oi bis own motives’ The ru’es of right rise or sink as they can be made subservient to ot’r interests, our hopes, onr -- 4 our hates. Tne merchant prince of today adopts a new principle of trade from yesterday, because his harvest of profit will ba richer and his chambers of wealth enlarged. The rulers ttnd legislators of nations do the same. Napoleon worshiped with the faith of a Moslem at the i Pyramids, when he dreamed of reviving I and reigning on the throne of the PharaI I obs. Ho imprisoned the annotated successor of St. Peter when the uuappeased 1 rage of his ambition strove for the empire of Europe. He died with the consecra- > j ted wafer on his lips when he sought the . salvation of his soul iu the midst of the , i storm of Helena. • Cromwell commenced his career in the name of the Lord, the i j champion of liberty, and the enemy of t [ kings. Hie present.purposes were gained 1: by these fair and specious pretensions, ! ’ I but he passed from the eartlr as the first ,'of 3Qimperial dynasty, with every veelige

'of civil and religious toleration destroyed end every evidence of free government, swept from the British empire. David ' the king, the statesman, the warrior, and the man of letters, yielded to‘he temptation ol a beautiful but momentary vision, darkened his fame with cowardly and , cruel murder, and corrupted his line with the offspring of a twofold crime. Even tiie primeval parents of h’ human race, who had commenced face to I ■lace ’with the eternal Presence, and I whose dully guests in the bowers of Eden I were the angels ar.4 ministering spirits from heaven, looked no higher nor further than the branches of the tree where the forbidden fruit hanging in fatal splendor promised an immediate enjoyment and the fulfillment of immediate desires. And are these mournful instances in the sad philosophy of human nature to bring us no lesson of warning in the discharge of our present duties? Shall we grasp the class, proxmate pleasure of power and reverige in definance of all the principles of the Republic, in violation of its Constitution, and in contempt of all our own deliberate and solemn coinm'tals, with no thought or care for the future, which will be tilled with misery, disaster and shame? It may ba so. The present is more powerful here than the past or the future. There majority iu Congress as utterly ignores its own record of the last four years as if it was blotted from the memory of man; and to attain an unlawful result, would launch the people of this Government on a future destitute of constitutional protection. Mr. Speiker, I shall here rest the discussion of the relation which the Southern Sides bear to tiie Federal Governi meat, and their right to representation in [these halls. It was one of the very few great questions that arose during tiie war in which both the political parties of the North agreed. The principle that the Union was unbroken was declared in the platforms of all the conventions, from tho smallest to the greatest; and now that its denial h is become the corner etone of a new and aggressive faith, 1 have found I but little difficulty in showing that the I doctriras of the Constitution an 1 the ' highest official actions of every depart- j inent of the Govern oent alike invoke us [ I to rssist the bold advances of this b ilefnl I and destructive heresy. There are other; 'prints, however, on which I wish to | dwell in connection with my support ofi the principle^enunciated in the annua! message of the President. Second only in importance to the mighty question of Union and constitutional government is the financial policy which, through tha approaching generations of sweat, toil and pain, sliaii govern the tax payers of this deeply indebted nation. Our public debt has assumed proportions so vast and threatening dial thinking men shudder in its contemplation. There would be no profit now in inquiring whether it might have been less and yet the Union preserved. It is a fixed reality, and fastened upon us beyond the power at least of present rescue. I have decided opinions which apply to the past, and which I have expressed, and which I shall never recall. 1 now approach the future in connection with results ever which I had no control, but which none tho less impose duties incident to ths position which I hold. Those duties I shall discharge with notone partisan or selfish motive, in the interest of every tax payer and every.eonof tabor in the whole land. Sir, how long can the inequalities of the present revenue system bo borne? How long will tho poor and the laborious pay tribute to the rich and the idle? We have two great interests in this country, one of which has prostrated the other. The past four years of suffering and war has been the opportune harvest for the manufacturer. The looms and machine shops of New England, and the irou furnaces of Pennsylvania have bean raore prolific of wealth to their owners than the most dazzling gold mines of the earth. I might here stop aud dwell on statistics and figures, but the public mind is already familiar with their startling import. LllUj ar« nitt resilit CH ulnao lc”«e»lavivu f of a monopoly of trade established by law. It may be said that they indicate prosperity. Most certainly they do; but it is the prosperity of the one who obtains the property of bis neighbor without any equivalent in return. The present law of tariff is being rapidly understood. It is no longer a deception, but rather a well defined and clearly recognized outrage. The agricultural labor of the land is driven to the counters of the most gigantic monopoly ever before sanctioned by law. From its exorbitant demands there is no escape. The European manufacturers arc forbidden cur ports of trade for fear he might sell his goods at cheaper rates and thus relieve the burdens of the consumer. We have declared by law that there is but one marI ket into watch our citizens shall go to ■ make their purchases, aud we have left i it to the owners of the market to fix their

| Own prices. The bare statement of such I I a principle foreshadows at once tho con-1 . sequences which flow from it. One class I of citizens, and by far the largest and most useful, is placed at the mercy, fori the necessaries as well as luxuries of life, ' of the fostered, favored, and protected 1 class, to whose aid '.be whole power of the Government is given. Will not such a privilege be abused? Can avaricious I human niture withstand such a lempia ; tioa? Is it any wonder or mystery that the farmer and the mechanic are paying more than fourfold lb i actual value of every article which supplies their daily wants and necessities. But it is claimed that this system is a means of revenue to assist in the payment of the public debt. Even if this be true, ; its iniquity would bo infinitely aggra-! vated. L would rather h : directly robbed i than forced to assume, in the name of | justice end right the burdens and obliga- j dons of others more able to meet them : than I ant. Must ths western people, be- i cause they are consumers and not loaau-1 facturers, be compelled by indirection to' meet a large proportion of the debts oi j their foilow-cidzens in other sections? j Sir, this question must be met. It is ia I the miuds and mouths of all the laboring classes in the West; aud they will hail with general joy the foot that the President has declared in their favor and against the policy of their bloated and plethoric oppressors. I quote from his message: “Now, iu their turn, the property and income of the country should bear their just proportion of the burden of taxation, while in our impost system, through means of which increased vitality is incidentally imps.: ted to all the iadnslria! interests of the nation, the duties should be so adjusted us io fall most heavily on articles of luxury, leaving the neeessaries of life as free trom. taxation as tiie absolute wants of the Government, economically administered, will justify.” it is true that had 1 the power I would go further than this position of the Extc- ' ative. Free trade with ail the markets of the world is the true theoiy of gov-i [et iracnt. No nation sh mid prevent its I ■citizens from buying, where e.>-r their! ■hard earnings will buy moil nd go fur-I Ithect. If a ilottimtot cau make and sell! a bolt of cloth, or muslin, or cal.co, I cheaper than a New England Senator, 1 who a few days since asked for increased I protection to Lis manufactories, [Mr. | Sprague,] it is the right of any laborer in this broad land to pass by the civil zed | but rapacious Senator and obtain horn! the barbarian a better return lor the sweat of his brow. For revenue I would I look to the actual wealth of the country, i and make it contribute accordingly. But I this just and philosophic system of trade and government is not now within our reach, and I am content to accept the recommendation of the President to adjust the present impost system to the! oasis of revenue alone and not of protec- j tion. It is a step in the direction of true and practical reform—a reform in favor of that mighty branch of industry on which all nations depend for their wealth and power. It is a mauiy aud honest blow aimed at a monopoly as arrogant, avaricious, and deaf to justice as the British East India corporation under Has-| tings or Clive. Nor is it any new doc-1 trine. The people will hail it aa a fatnil-1 tar friend of their former and happier! days, and endorse it as they did then. In close and iraunediata connection, however, with this branch of the message, the President has uttered another sentence on which the oye of the toiling, sunburnt tax payer will linger long and gratefully. Al the ciese of the weary day, as he counts up his feeble gains, i looks into the heavy expenses of his I family and his farming under high pro-! teedve tariff prices, and shudders at the j thought of the approaching tax gatherer, knowing that lor him and his hard earned substance there is no escape, he ; will in his heart thank the man who, as President, wrote the following lines: “No favored class should demand free- [ doiu from assessment, and the taxes should be so disUibuted as not to fall unduly oo tho poor, but rather on the accumulated wealth of the country.” Sir, is there a favored class ia our midst that demands freedom from essess-1 meat? Are there those who, at such a time as this, demand that their property! shall be exempted front the burdens ol taxation? Are there American citizens, who boast loudest of their love of country, who will pay nothing to relieve it from debt? Is there au honest man in America who wishes his neighbor to pay his taxes as well as his own? Where is i the “accumulated wealth ot the country,” I which shirks its just responsibility and suffers the taxes to “fall unduly on the • poor?” Where is this criminal delta- ■ queut which grinds the face of poverty • and absorbs the widow's mite, iu order > that it may escape its own just dues and I increase its hoarded gains? r [Here the hammer fell J

Mr. Smith. I move that the gentle* Ulan from Indiana [Mr. Voorhees] have | his time extended to enable him to conclude his remarks. ] Mr. Voorhees. I return to the 110u c e Imy acknowledgments for the favor they I have extended to me. dir, more than one-tenth of the taxable properly of the United Stales demands and has ob’ained, in tiie hands of a favored class, freedom from assessment. Ti e enormous capitalist who has invested all his means in the bonds of tho Government, thus relieves the principal of his vast estate from taxation. He feels no concern for the movements of the lax gatherer, except as he goes forth and returns to him with the interest ■on his bonds, which the hands of honest I toil pour into his coffers. Is this “equal 1 an l exact justice to all men, aud exclusive privileges to none?” It is claimed. I however, by the friends of this moneyed j monopoly that the bonds of the GovernI merit are a sacred obligation aud must not be touched ; that they were pur- ■ chased by their present holders out of ! pure patriotism, and that their freedom Irom assessment is but a proper token of the nation’s gratitude. Patriotism was said by the great Dr. Johnson to be the last refuge of a scoundrel. It is now made the refuge of wealthy non-tax-payers, who convert their taxable property into Government securities, in order to evade th' ir honest obligations. Tho idea that they have made these purchases from other than the ordinary motive or pecuniary profit only provokes contempt. They bought at a heavy discount, owing to the condition ol the currency. They paid about fifty cents on the dollar, and now hold tb.em at par, and receive interest at their face. But :t is said that when these bonds were thrown upon the market there was a guarantee that they should not be taxed. Is an act of Congress at the last session a guarantee that another end a different one on the same subject wi l not bo passed at this! Do we live In ■ the days of the Medes and Persian-, , wlion it was aa offense punishable with ! death to propose to change a law once enacted? Does any man ot sense predicate liis business transactions on such a j theory? Did the capitalists who are now ’ to be so tenderly relieved from taxation make their investments innocently supi posing that an everlasting perpetuity atI tached to the legislation of this most versatile, fluctuating and changeable bedy? jlf they did, it is vary wonderful how ; men of so little intelligence could have ;so much money. No, sir,, they calculated all the risks of profit and loss, aud ' every contingency of the future, as closely as Shylock did on the Rialto, assured in any event that their ventures would come home to them like richly freighted argosies after a prosperous voyage at sea; ■ still better pleased, however, if they ciuld have judgment forever on theinbu- ] man bond which gives them freedom from assessment and exacts in their favor the pound of flesh u’arest the heart of the toiling multitude. I have listened to the appeals in favor of this class, on account of their timely and self-aacrificing services, until I have almost imagined that we dwelt in new I Arcadia, where such & thing as self-in-i tereet is unknown. They loaned moneys lon good securities and at high rates of usance, nnd therefore the dusty, weary plowman in the field must pay their taxes for them, and be thankful to God for so sweet a privilege! Yes, and even the soldier, crippled in the shock of battle, with lie old flag orar his head, returned home to find poverty and want at hie hearthsteno, must hear these speculators I of AN all street hailed as the saviors ol the country; nnd likewise without a murmur struggle I’trd v. ith t‘l:e world, per- , haps on crutches, to pay their debts as well as his own. The nation'a gratitude takes a strange turn at this point. It ■ lavishes its gifts, its garlands, and its favors ou the money changers of the ( temple, and causes the defendera of the I government at the cannon's mouth to pay tribute to their monstrous greed. Sir, there are few parallels in the wide annals of all tuo nations of the earth to such frightful injustice aud inequality; and wherever they have been found tha ' people have been at last avenged upon ! their extortionate oppressors. Too patricians of Rome, an aristocracy founded upon wealth, a' different periods ground , the plebians, who labored at boms and. ,' Lore arms iu the field, with debt and II unequal taxation; but there was always ■, a point al which the elements of rovo- »■ tation darkened the sky, and the privis 1 lodged classes were compelled to yield to the untitled millions. State aud Cburoh 1 ia France had for ages loaded their fa--j ] vorites and parasites with riches and •' honors, and the peasantry with buideus, v ua.il the frenzied insanity of 17D9 burst r forth, auJ ti>e whole fabric of’ the gov--1 ernmeut and of human society was involved in one common conflagration and [cuntinvxd on the fourth page ]

NO. 45,