Decatur Eagle, Volume 13, Number 13, Decatur, Adams County, 2 July 1869 — Page 1

THE DECATUR EAGLE, PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY. ~a. jTHTEbT EDITOR, PUBLISHER AND PROPRIETOR. OFFICE —On the west side of Second Street, over Dorwin & Brother's Drug Store. Terms of Subscription. One copy, one ye?r, in advance,, $1 50 If paid within the year, 2 00 If paid after the year has expired 2 50 Papers delivered by carrier tweentyfive cents additional will be changed. No paper will be discontinnod until all arrerages are paid, except at the option of the publisher. Legal Advertising'. One square [the space of ten lines brevier] one insertion, . $2 00 Each subsequent insertion, 50 No advertisement will be considered less than one square; over one square will be collated aud charged as two; over two as three, &c. v, iocil ndtices fifteen cents a line for each insertion. Religious nnd Educational notices or wdvertisements nifty be contracted for at lower rates, by application at, the office. Deaths and Marriages published as views—free. OFFICfALDIR ECTO RY. District Officers. Hon.Rob’t Lowry, ..... Circuit Judge. T. W. Wilson, Circuit Prosecuting Att’y. Hon. K 8. Taylor, . . Coni. Picas Judge. J. S. Daily, Com. Pleas Prosecut - g Att’y. County Officers. Seymour Worden, . Auditor. >A. J. Hill Clerk. Jesse Niblick. . Treasurer. M. V. B. Sitncoke, Recorder. James Stoops, Jr., Sheriff. Henry C. Peterson, Surveyor. Sam. C. Bollinnn, .... School Examiner. Conrad Reinking, ] Jacob Snrff, I ■ • • Commissioners. Josiah Cr .wfonl, )

Town O Ulcers. Henry 11. Knoff,Clerk. I), J. Spencer, Treasurer. William .Baker,Marshall. John King, Jr., j David King, >..... ... Trustees. David Showers, j Time of Holding Courts. Circuit Court.—On the third Monday in April, and the first Monday in-i November, of each year. Common Pleas Court.—On the second Monday in January, the second Monday in May and the second Monday in September, of each year. Commissioners Court.-—On the first Monday in March, the first Monday in June, the first Monday in September, and the first Monday in December, of each year. CHURCH DIRECTORY. St. Mary's (Catholic). —Services every Sabbath at 8 and 10 o’clock, A. M.; Sabbath School br instruction in Catechism, at 1 J o'clock, i*. M.; Vespers at 2 o'clock, P.'NI. Rev. J. Wemlibtf. Pastor. Methodist. —Services every Sabbath at 10J o’clock, A. M., and 7 o’clock, P. M. Sabbath School at 9 o'clock, A. M. Rev. P. N. Shackleford, Pastor. Presbyterian.—Services nt 10J o’clock, A. M., and 7 o'clock, P. M. Sabbath School at *J.| o'clock, A. M. Rev. 4- Bowes. Pastor, JDRUCS. DOKWIN & BRO., -DEALERS INDrugs, Medicines, Chemicals, Toilet aud Fancy .IrlidfK, Sponges, Brtuhts, VcrFumcro. Coal Oil, Lamps, Patent Jledlecncx, Sfc.—, DECA TUR, INDIANA Physician's Prescriptions cnrefully compounded, and orders answered with care and dispatch. Farmers and Physicians from the country will find our stock of Medioince complete, warranted genuine, and of the best quality. - V9n35 . . i t(. HARNESS/&c.~~ SADDLE HARO SHOP. K. BURNS.

-HAJH.FACTCRER AND DEALER IN- , Saddles, Harness, flrldla, Collar*, llaltcrx, Whip*, Ac. Deoatur, - - - Indiana. I keep on hand and roanuCaeture to order, Saddled, Harness, Bridles Collars, Halters, whips, FlyNets, &c., which Iwill . Sell Cheaper than any other aatablishment in the county. All Work Warranted to be of good material and put up in a substantial manner Repairing Done to Order on short notice. Call and examine my work and price*. A good stock always on hand. BHOP—On Second street, in Mothers' building. *11*47. Notice Matrimonial All persons are hereby notified, not Io trust my wife. Margaret Gassc. on my credit, as I wilt not pay any bills contracted by her. Junel2,4Mi>».Ft EVGENE GASBE.

The I )i:< a i i is Eagle

Vol. IQ.

ATTORNEYS. HOTI E B J. 'BANSOM, Attorney a,t Law, NOTARY PUBLIC AND INSURANCE AGENT, DECATUR, INDIANA. ALL bnsincflS entrusUsl to hts corn promptly attended to. Especial attention given to Cullettiunflaiid Probate business. OFFlCE—Opposite the Clerk’s Office. vllnl9tf. DANIEL BTIfELLER” Attorney «.t Law, DECATUR, INDIANA. WILL practice his anywhere In Indiana or Ohio. OFFICE—In the Recorder’s Office. vlOn'tftf. J A M E s ~b7"b o bo , Attorney a,t DECATUR, INDIANA. Deeds, Mortgages and Contracts. HeLand uml pays Taxes. OFFI<>’K-Opi»»site the Auditor’# Office. vJOnfi. I) . STI D A BAKER, Attorney fit Lavv, Claim & Real Estate Agent, DECATUR, INDIANA. WILT, practice Law in Adams and adjoining Counties; secure Pensions nnd other claims against the Gcvernnient; buy and sell Real Estate; examine titles an.! pay taxes, and other imsiners pertaining to Real Estate Agency, lie is also a Notary Public, and Is prepare,! to draw Deeds, Mortgages and other instruments in writing, vlonll. PHYSICIANS. E . A . JEL E E E~l\ Physician and Surgeon, DECATUR, INDIANA. ~ OFFICE—On Second Street, over A. Crabbs A ton h Hardware Store. v<Snlstf. CHA RLES I . ( I KTISS, Physician and Surgeon, DECATUR, INDIANA. II P" rn ' i, ’" Otly located in tins place, of. ■ ■. lees bls prot -Kiionul services to the people of Ih t atnr iiiid vicinity. * k- -In ll'instuii’s Block. Residence at the ''"Il• * AN D R E W O RK~ Physician and Surgeon, DECATUR, INDIANA. OFFICE-Ou Sec,.nd Street, over W. G. Spencer's Hardware Store. vsn42ff. REAL ESTATE ACENT. J A .11 E S R . HO Bo’ LICENSED REAL ESTATE AGENT. DECATUR, INDIANA. A*'RE s, f good fanning land, sevT I V <r “, Lotsand a large unantitv Os wild land tor sal -. If you want to buy a g.s.d farm or wild land lie « ill sell jt t„ ls, „u want your land sold he will mJ] it for you. No’sale, no '• |lMr « u - vlnm.tf, DENESTRY, 11. M. HcCONNEEE, Surgeon Dentist, figr-ffiSK DECATUR, INDIANA. All work neatly executed and warIT T T yHinted t<» give KHtisfnctfun. Cal! hvl’ut ‘’XMinine spiH imen.H. It „ In l ' T. - over A. Crabbs A Son’s ilanluarc More. vllniVlf. AUCTIONEER. CHARLES JI. FRANEE', -A.uctiou.ccr, WIKSHIRE, OHIO. WMT'ould announce so the public that he is a regVV ulnrly Lio-nm il Auctionoci, and will attend all I nl.he Sales, whenever ceouiwhsl. by tuldrwsing turn us nln.ve. or ealling at his residence in BlueLlret'k rowHtdop, AdiiniN (k»., Ind. ts.

HOTELS. .111 E8 S B II O U s~E~, I. J. MIESSE, Proprietor. Third St., Opposite the Court J/ouse, DECATUR, INDIANA. I n i-mneetton with this lloiw (hero is a Staco ■ run twantl trom Decatur unit Monroeville, daily, wJuelt innnirts villi trains running both ways, _ ' vllnWt. MONROJEHOUSE. MOXIIOHVII.I.K, IXDIAKA. L. nALhEfI.: ::::::: Proprietor j This House is prepared to accommodate the travelling public in the best style, and at reasonable rates, nfivlltf. MAIN STREET EXCHANGE. A.FREEMAS, Proprietor. H r c«f Main Street, near the Public Square. FORT LTD. vllnllyl. II EDEKIN IIOUSE On Barr, between Columbia and Main Sts. FORT WA VNE, IND. ELI KEARNS?Proprietor. OffititLof Auburn and Decatur Stage lines. Also good stabling in connection with the House. vllnllyl. MAYERT HOUSE? •I. W. BULL, Proprietor. Corner Calhoun and ITtiyne Sts,, FORT WATNE, v!2n"yl. Indiana. MONROEVILLE EXCHANGE. MONROEVILLE, IND. E. G. COVER DALE,.Proprietor. — :o: — Mr. Coverdaje is also a Notary Public, Real Estate and Insurance Agent, vllnllyl. —- 1 . —■»'» JEWELERS. MAYER & (JRAFFE, -dealers inWatches, Clocks, Jewelry, MLVKK AXD SILVKK-PLATKD WARK. Gold, Silver and Steel Spectacles, Columbia street; vllnSlyl. FORT WAYNE, IND. DOORS, SASH, Ac? LILLIE A BROTHER, Wholesale and Retail Dealers in LIME, CEMENT, PLASTERING HAIR, PLASTER IATII & COH, Calhoun Street, on the Canal, vl2n7m<'> FORT WAYNE, IND

DECATUR, IND., FRIDAY, JULY 3, 1868.

The Political Situation—an Able Document for the Times. We do not know that we have ever read an abler document than the following address adopted by the Democratic Convention of West Virginia. The address embodies, with remarkable brevity and power, an exposition of the unconstitutional and revolutionary policy of the Radical party.’ It is a document which should be in the.hands of and read by every American citizen. Read and give it to .your neighbors. It is beyond all question the best political document of the time : 7b the People of West Virginia: We invite your attention to a review of the general political situation, its evils, and their remedy. Since 18G1 the harmony of this nation has been sadly 7 disturbed. — For four years of the intervening time the interruption of, peaceful relations was due to a stjyto—of war. The practical disunion existing since 1865 is referable to a course of Congressional action, wicked in motive, illegal in character, and ruinous in result. While the war for the Union was in progress its successful issue "was anticipated as the guaranty of prompt reunion and permanent peace. Such a consumation was the aim of patriotic effort in the object of solemn pledges in the halls of Congress, and the confident expectations of the masses of the people. The war has long since ended. The rebellion has long since been crushed. Every obstacle placed by’ Southern movement in the way of the nation's unity, has long since been removed. Nevertheless disappointment waits upon the people’s wish.— The pledges of Congress have been repudiated. The triumphs of our armies have been neutralized, and the purposes of the brave men who secured them have been shamefully defeated. A dissolution more disastrous than that now existing between the Southern States and the Federal Government, could scarcely have been brought about by the success of the rebellion. A condition of affairs so much at variance with the wishes and interests of the people of our entire country, demand a reference to the acts and aims of those who produced it.

CONGRESSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION. For more than two years the Southern States have desired to renew their old relations with the Government. CongtcSS IttS -constantly preventened this resumption. They are entitled to be restored upon the basis of the Federal Constitution. Congress has confessedly thrown aside that instrument and obstructed restoration with terms and conditions of its own prescribing. Affecting to desire the perpetuity of the Republic, it has made a deadly assault upon republican institutions. Professing to aim at the salvation of the Union, it has wrought the destruction of ten of the States. The right of each State to regulate its own internal affairs, enfranchise its own voters, and choose its own rulers and lawmakers, is as sacred as pur Constitution, and as indestructible as our Government. Without it republican liberty is worthless, for which the people cease to be free citizens of the States they become the subjects of unlimited and irresponsible federal power. When Congress abolished the local government of the South, it violated a vital principle in our system. When it erected military establishments in their stead, it introduced the most abominable feature of despotism. In further pursuance of its purposes, Congress has thrown the political power of the South into negro hands. To assure this result it has disfranchised the white population by hundreds of thousands. Enfranchising the blacks, it has made voters of the ignorant, the vicious, and the brutal; legislateors of those who regard liberty as license, and law as the instrument of revenge; and rulers of a class whose ideas of government like their notions of religion, tend directly and inevitably to barbarism. MILITARY GOVERNMENT AND ITS RESULTS. Having given the negro the right to vote and the power to rule, Congress confesses his in-

competency for either, by insisting that the bayonet of the soldier, the disfranchisement of the citizen, and the supervision of the Freedmen’s Bureau, are necessary to sustain him in his new relations. By such declarations the dominant party would justify the continuance of military 7 despotism erected within the Southern States, Before wc sanction this iniquity, let us examine the results. It found the civil governments in successful operations, it abolished those governments, and made the will of Brigadier Generals supreme for all purposes. Southern elections are ordered, supervised and approved or set aside.by District Commanders. Southern justice is what the bayonet may provide. Southern laws is what the sword may decree. Southern peace is the patient submission of a conquered people; a peace threatened by-impending negro insurrections, white secessionists arc inciting, and liable at' any moment to disappear before the terrible tumult of social anarchy. The military governments found business reviving and enterprise struggling to repair the ravages of the war. They abolished labor, and offered army rations as a premium on negro idleness. The country ceased to produce, and trade and commerce with other sections perished. Capital left a land which promised soon to be given over to confiscation. General poverty followed the encouraged indolence of the laboring classes. Actual and almost universal destitution exists among the people; the unhappy victims of congressional cruelty must become pensioners upon national charity or perish from starvation. Hordes of thriftless and discontented negroes, passionate almost to brutality, induced to vice by idleness, incited to violence by evil counselors, fed and pampered at the?public cost, with a great ar my for their protection, roam, at will throughout the land upon a mission of evil, carrying dismay to the hearts of helplessness and innocence, and shocking civilization with the worst of nameless crimes. Such is the condition of the South. A military despotism is over her people. The hand of lawless violence threatens them. Desolation reigns on every hand. About them are the graves of their countless dead. The past is strewn with the wreck of the greatness. Present suffering surrounds them. Their future is thick with peril and dark with gathering misfortunes. The foes of the nation arc at her feet. Broken in spirit, stripped of fortune, wasted, ragged, wretched and ruined, their situation invokes the magnanimity of kindred manhood and appeals to the generous mercy of a noble enemy. DISTRESS AT THE SOUTH PRODUCES PROSTRATION AT THE NORTH. The evil influence of the bayonet reconstruction is not confined to the South. The entire country feels it. Northern business languishes for want of Southern trade. Northern factories are silent because Southern pockets are empty. Western grainaries and storehouses are full, but poverty 7 possesses their ancient market, and their former buyers are now begging bread. A commercial crash is imminent, and trembles at the P<£tThe manufacturing interests of the nation are crippled and almost crushed. The spindle is motionless; the shuttle is silent; the forge and the furnace are deserted ; the workshop is vacant; the mill is closed. The hands of the artisan are unemployed and empty; his children are starving; homeless and in rags. The impoverishment of the South throws the entire burthen of taxation upon the North and West The Southern States can render no assistance while the Government grinds them with an iron heel. If the people shared its benefits they would be impelled to productive ability*. As they’ partake only of its severity they could not support if they would, and so long as it oppresses them, if they arc fit to be freemen, they should not support it if they could

THE CONGRESSIONAL PURPOSE. The declarations of leading Republicans in Congress leave no room to doubt that the action of that body 7 has been taken with reference to the future of the Radical party, rather than the unity of the American Republic. The National Legislature has become a mere machine for the manufacture of Radical majorities. Its material is the worst and lowest class of humanity, barely rescued from the brutality of the savage state by contact with civilization. A valuable adjunct in the work is the exclusion of white intelligence and experience from participation in the Government. The {guarantee of success is the red right baud of the War Department. ~ A.syfjtem which is based upon negro (stupidity, supported by’ bayonets, and 'designed to secure partisan triumphs through the enslavement of men of our own race, may be instituted here through force and fraud, but ifit can endure in this land the Amercian people have learned liberty to no purpose, and well deserve to be taught its value under the stern tutelage of tyranny, which awaits them in the future of Radical supremacy'. FINANCIAL AFFAIRS. In its management of our financial affairs, the dominant party has enacted the grossest folly and injustice. Repeated contractions of the currency’ have caused incalculable commercial disasters. A still more dangerous measure of contraction is now proposed in the Senate, by which the legal tenders are to be withdrawn from circulation and replaced by interestbearing bonds. If property and business do not enter and effective protest, the re-’ suit will be little short of general ruin. THE NATIONAL DEBT. The national debt amounts to 8’2,500,000.000. “ It cost the holders 81,250,000. The party in power would pay ■ it in gold, dollar for dollar. J They would give the bondholders a currency different from and better than that used by the people. Specie for the money-lenders and paper for the masses, is the end of their financial policy. A discrimination so palpable and unfair is an insult to the popular sense of justice. By the terms of the act of issue, greenbacks arc made legal tender for all debts, public and pri- ■ vate, except duties on imports and interests on the public debt. Even the soldiers of the Republic accepted paper as the price of their toils and hardships. Is the patriotism of cash more valuable than the public devotion, which fights, and bleeds, and dies ? Labor receives its wages iu paper ; the products of the farm, the : goods of the merchant, profession-1 al fees—-all the prices ami values . among the people, are paid in pa-1 per. If this kind of money is good j for the massscs, good to buy all things, from the sweat of labor to the blood of valor, why should it not suffice for the redemption of the Federal securities ? EXEMPTION OF THE BONDS. Under Radical management the , bonds arc exempt from taxation.' Receiving from the. Government the same protection with other; property, they pay not a dollar to its support. Such exclusive privileges estab- . lishes an arristocracy of money in the midst of a republic of labor. Toil is taxed; bonds are exempt. Toil produces; bonds consume. Toil builds our pub.ic improve- [ ments; bondholders enjoy their benefits at no cost Toil supports our schools; bondholders share advantages and pay nothing for the privilege. Toil supports onr courts, pays I our and defrays the general expenses of the Govern I ment; bondholders partake of the .; blessings of all and contribute to , the sustenance of none. A policy which makes labor so ( completely tributary to capital is ■ i anti-republican in its effect upon the masses. We greatly mistake; the temper of the people if they ( ' do not demand that this wrong be promptly Tightened by such re-, peals and enactments as will compel all property alike to share the burdens of taxation. THE REVENUE STSTEM Radicalism derives the bulk of, the Federal revenue from home productions an! the necessaries ot life. , I Over sixteen thousand articles, including almost every thing that,

supports life or lightens labor, are now the subjects of taxation. Hence the great disparity between wages and the cost of liv*ing. Frauds upon the revenue are another characteristic of the present system. The laws-arc evaded; the officers are bribed; the country is robbed. Over one hundred millions of dollars were lost last year through downright villainy, and the deficiencies of wealthy knaves must be made good by toiling honesty. WHERE THE MONEY GOES. A large portion of the taxes now raised is applied to worse than useless purposes. The Freedmen's Bureau costs twelve millions annually—a sum equal to the entire yearly expenses of the Government under some of the earlier administrations. That institution feeds, clothes, and supports a nest of malignant Southern haters, negro fanatics, and greedy adventurers, backed by the Federal army. It has done more to breed bit terness and discord among the Southern people than the war itself. The military establishments at the South are another item of useless and extravagant expenditures. It is costing from sixty to one hundred millions annually. ■» High Radical authority estimates that it will take ten years to reconstruct the South by the present process. The lowest possible amount for which this partisan enterprise can be completed will be eight hundred millions of dollars. Are the people of the nation to be impcrislied in order that the dhy of niggerism and fanaticism may be long in the land ? Are the masses of the country to be mercilessly taxed, robbed and ruined in order that corruption may prosper, love of . power be satisfied, and the supremacy of Radicalism be assured ? We look for such a rcSponsp to these questions as will wipe out the abominations of the bayonet, restore civil and constitutional governments to the South, exclude the African element from the sphere of politics, and re-establish the American Union upon the ancient foundations of equal justice and popular affection. A REMEDY POSSIBLE. Let us recur to the remedy for the manifold wrongs to which we have referred.

The re construction question, whatever difficulties it may present to bitter partisans, is capable of a safe and easy adjustment ' through the exercise of an honest and liberal patriotism. The simple application of the principles of the Federal Constitution will remove every obstacle and effect a peaceful, permanent ! and satisfactory settlement. If that instrument possesses the perfection with which every lover of his country invests in it, it will ' not bo found wanting at the criti- ! cal juncture. ; The Constitution which has [ blessed the people with liberty, and crowned this land with great1 ncss, will not now prove ina-lo I quatc to the designs of its authotitv and leave the vital interests of tlie Union at the mercy of rude I chances and political passions. ! Let its provisions be applied, 1 and Representatives of the South, ! elected by the only qualified voters of that section, will take their seats in Congress, subject only to the condition imposed upon members from other parts of the ' land, the natural relations between the Southern States and the Gen- ' oral Government will bo resumed and the union of the States, triumphantly restored, will return in forth, in fact, and freedom, to the ’ original glory of her first and best estate. The restoration of the South will open the way to great financial relief. When her people arc relieved of the domination of the bayonets and the blacks, they will be encouraged to productive pursuits; general prosperity will revive their palsied energies, and their assistance will be happily felt in removing the great burden of debt which now impedes the national pro gross. The costly national nuisance, j the Freedmen’s Bureau, will be aboliahed, and common sense, har J ing mastered the situation, wiUdc- I cree that negroes, like white men,' must eithe work or starve. The expensive Southern military establishment will be acknowlcdg cd unheccssary, and with their disappearance tax payers will thank God and take courage. 7 A fair taxation of Federal sc | 'curitieowill yield many millions 'of revenue.

Bal banks suggest antunity for retrenehbetween three and in Federal bonds, up they draw interest are deposited with, rne ijovernmenL -gnd For every 8100,000 so deposited, they receive 890,000 in national bank notes. These notes farm their circulation, and with them they carry on the. buisiness, and earn the profits of banking proper. The interest accuruing on their deposited bonds is so much premium paid to them, in addition to the earnings of their business. They receive the benefit of just ninety percent more capital than they have invested, and this gratuitous premium comes from the pockets of the people. Justice requires that this sum amounting to twenty and thirty millions annually, be saved to the people. The simple process of recalling the national bank notes, and substituting for the bonds .legal tenders as bank notes, and subtituting for the bonds legal tenders as banking currency, will effect the needed result, and another sink hole for the earnings of laborers will be effectually stopped. In the matter of revenue, fewer articles could be taxed, and through a more perfect and more honest inode of assessment and collection, much larger returns could be realized. Congressional extravagance and corruption should be reformed. * Investigating committies should be abolished. Land grants and railroad swindles should be abandoned. The Indian wars, like the lost, should be avoided. Territorial purchases should bo suspended. Countless other modes of waste and fraud could be corrected, and a portion of the savings set aside for the final redemption of thq debt A sinking fund up of bond taxation, the.premium paid the nation al banks, and the money wasted Africanizing the South, would redeem every dollar of the debt in less than twenty years. The way to this desired end could bo opened by the subatitu tion of legal tenders for the bonds as rapidly as may be consistent 1 with safety. Millions now paid in interest would thus be economized, and, with the aid of a restored and pro ducing South, the end of our fl nancial troubles would speedily approach. CONCLUSION. Having thus attempted to set forth your wrongs, and the possibility* of a remedy, we now appeal to you to work out the needed reformation. Whatever evils may* result from bail government, the people are the sufferers. Whatever reforms are effected must be brought about by and ' through the people themselves. | The people have it in their pow er to remove the giant iniquities whose shadows darken the land.— They have but to speak, and the enemies of their peace will be powerless, the dignity of the Constitu tion and the laws will be vindicated, and their now Imperiled country, i rescued, from impending danger | purified and strengthened by its I trials, will resume its majestic march in the paths of greatness, I happiness and freedom,

No. 13;

A movement has been inaugurI ated in this city for the organization of the friends of law and order and honest government, as against the forces of Radicalism in West Virginia. The movement will extend to every county; it will find co-operation in every township and school dis trict in the State. Wc invite and urge you to join hands in the great work of political redemption. -jOther States have taken the lead and are already enjpying the first fruits of victory, From Connecticut to California, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, the people have interchanged the the tidings of deliverance, and both oceans have heard their wild shout of gladness and triumph.— The Central States, Ohio and Penn sylvania, have responded with glorious deeds that yet thrill the nation. The Empire State has a risen with a mighty proclamation for the right, and the manifestation of her power, like the resist less march of a conquering host, jmint out the path of destiny and bid the nation follow. Already we hear the footstep# of approaching political revolt!* tion. It is advancing with an en ergj’ that gives assurance of its triumphant progress pren note the end. Let the people of West Virginia fall in with the hosts that move to the rescue of our Government and its institutions. While others are fighting and triumphing, let them too, participate in the straggle aj»4 contribute to the resultWe invoke your aid in your own behalf of good government. (C°SCLUDED ON FOCMXH FAGX )