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Franklin Repository: March 21, 1866 Go To Page : 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

President Johnson's Pledge
(Column 5)

Summary: Employing extracts from Andrew Johnson's earlier speeches, the editors illustrate the seismic shift in his attitude toward the rebellion since his ascent to the Presidency.

Mr. Clymer's Acceptance
(Column 7)

Summary: A copy of the speech in which Heister Clymer accepted the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.

Now and Then
(Column 8)

Summary: The article includes two extracts from the New York World that document the about-face that the Democratic journal has done since President Johnson vetoed the Freedmen's Bill. In contrast to its earlier statements concerning Johnson, which characterized him as an "insolent, drunken brute," recent stories in the World describe the President in a more flattering light, praising his "intrepidity, sagacity and moderation."

Progress in Washington
(Column 1)

Summary: Since the tumult that followed Johnson's veto of the Freedmen's Bill, and the Presidential speech of the February 22nd, the political climate has calmed somewhat, contend the editors. Although Johnson has not done enough to restore the "unbounded faith" they once had in him, the editors express the hope that he will ultimately "redeem himself by seeking the confidence of the Union men of the country." The true test, they assert, will be his position on the Civil Rights bill.

Full Text of Article:

Things wear rather a better aspect in Washington. A healthier tone prevails throughout the different branches of the government. Congress has been firm, and the people have given it unmistakeable evidence of earnest support. New Hampshire has defied the combined powers of an apostate Executive and a Democracy encouraged to desperation thereby, and a painful, uncertain calm has followed the storm of the veto and the Presidential speech of the 22d ult. The role of Cromwell and the long Parliament, which has been studied in the White House and rehearsed by every rebel in and out of Congress seems to be postponed without day, and even the Civil Rights bill is likely to receive the executive approval, notwithstanding the grave assurances in the recent veto that no legislation should be enacted affecting the rebel States, until their representatives participated in its enactment. We notice that since the terrible storm of the 22d ult., when the hearts of secessionists and rebels were cheered by positive assurance of sympathy and co-operation on the part of the President, no speeches have been made, save a few unmeaning remarks in answer to proffers of support from the rebel corporation of Georgetown, the copperheads of Pennsylvania and other like wayward sisters in search of a resting place. A proposition to commit the President to the support of Clymer aroused his smothered vexation, and he dismissed them without an invitation, more positive than courteous, to go home and change their nomination, and the Democracy of Rhode Island so doubt the value of the Presidential elephant they supposed they had won, since the thunder of the people has reached them from New Hampshire, that they threw up their hand and retired from the field without even making nominations. The rebels of the South, in the mean time, have been flinging their insolent demands into the face of the President they deemed debauched to suit their purposes, until no man with a plausible pretence of loyalty can longer sustain them; and thus from every side the returning surges of the tempestuous flood of passion of the 22d ult., have come heavily laden with shame to their unfortunate author.

We do not from these significant facts renew, in any measure, our once unbounded faith in Andrew Johnson; but we are not without some hope that between the unflattering fidelity of Congress and the people, and the unblushing insolence of blood-stained traitors, some good may yet result from his administration. If so, none will be more hearty in awarding a just need of praise than this journal. The star of hope of the Republic to-day is in the now well tested integrity of the People. It is a fact established and patent as well to a President as to the most casual observer of events, that no measure of patronage, no degree of plausible and skilful treachery, can make them for a moment forget the high and holy duty they owe to the patriotic living and to the martyred dead of the Nation; and the President has done well to pause while he has yet an opening to retrace his steps to usefulness if not to confidence. If he shall approve the Civil Rights bill, a synopsis of which is given in to-day's paper, he will squarely recede from the most offensive position assumed in his recent veto of the Freedmen's Bureau bill, and he will win the honor of calling upon himself the bitter denunciation of every rebel and sympathiser in the land. If he shall once attain that point of self-respect again, there may be some hope for Andrew Johnson, and while he cannot redeem the fame he so wantonly dimmed, he can still do much for a country that has done so much for him.

In this progress toward right, power has, we apprehend, done more than conviction. It was no ill gust of passion that made a President assume in a wild, incoherent speech, that he was all powerful in regulating the great losses now being agitated. His low personal assaults upon distinguished statesmen who had aided to elevate him to the highest position in the world, were harmless, save as they recoiled with terrible power upon the author; and in dignity and silence the intended victims have seemed unconscious of them. But the foolish boast of power that pervaded the speech of the President, called into action the true, lawful power of the government. With becoming dignity, and with a consciousness of supreme power in the premises, the popular branch of Congress answered back the threats of Executive usurpations, by a solemn declaration that no State lately in rebellion should be admitted to representation until Congress had, by law, pronounced it entitled to full fellowship. This shivered the slashing lance of Andrew Johnson. There were no back-sliders on the vote. As firm as adamant stood the Union phalanx. He could proclaim Tennessee and other States in the Union a thousand times; but a faithful Congress could abide by its constitutional functions and Tennessee would still be out. The son-in-law of the President, Judge Patterson, who has been a rebel Judge and taken the rebel oath of allegiance, would still be denied a seat in the Senate, to which he has been elected by the Tennessee legislature; and thus the idle, impassioned words of the intended usurper, passed for naught. Power--real, legitimate power, confronted the policy of a bewildered Executive, and there has been a calm in the White House that gives some promise of fidelity in the government.

We have hitherto judged Andrew Johnson by his acts, censuring regretfully and praising gladly, and we shall do so still. We would not mislead faithful men by any assurance that he will yet do well, but it is evident that his predetermined apostasy has not been grateful to him in its fruits. Whether he will now attempt to redeem himself by seeking the confidence of the Union men of the country, or whether he will renew his once rapid strides to the deeper depths of infamy, is a problem that he alone can solve. He has now learned that he cannot take with him in his apostasy the people who have redeemed the Republic by their sacrifices, and the bitter lesson has been brought home to him also, that his name identified with the cause of the Democracy but insures their decisive defeat. He is therefore without a party, a political wanderer, with none to do him reverence but the traitor who basks in his clemency; and but for the destiny of a great Nation committed measurably to his keeping, he would be more pitied than hated. As the light breaks dimly over the dark cloud of his perfidy, let us wait for its noon-tide effulgence or its starless gloom.

Union Organization
(Column 2)

Summary: With the election nearing, the editors admonish "Union men" to prepare for the upcoming political battle. The Democrats, they declare, will not "surrender Pennsylvania without a desperate struggle," and will continue to fight until "unrepentant rebels shall be admitted to full fellowship and power to make laws for the government they sought to destroy."

[No Title]
(Column 2)

Summary: Employing an extract from an 1863 speech made by Heister Clymer, in which he vilifies Andrew Johnson, the piece sardonically notes that the Democratic gubernatorial nominee, like most Democrats in general, has dramatically reversed his earlier view of the President.

[No Title]
(Column 3)

Summary: Relates that the trial of Major John H. Gee, formerly the rebel commandant of the Salisbury prison, is in progress in Raleigh, North Carolina. Gee is accused of treating the prisoners under his supervision in an inhumane manner.

[No Title]
(Column 4)

Summary: Gov. Curtin and State Treasurer Kemble are in Washington, pressing their claim that Pennsylvania should be reimbursed for the money the state government spent recruiting and equipping troops during the war.

County Superintendent
(Column 6)

Summary: "Teacher" nominates P. M. Shoemaker for the position of County Superintendent of Common Schools in Franklin county.
(Names in announcement: P. M. Shoemaker)

Trailer: Teacher

Local Items--The Spring Elections
(Column 8)

Summary: Lists of the officers elected in the county township elections.
(Names in announcement: Henry S. Stoner, Daniel K. Wunderlich, Benjamin Rodes, Adam B. Hamilton, William D. Guthrie, William H. Boyle, S. Miller Shilito, Jacob N. Snider, William Heyser, Michael W. Houser, Christian Stouffer, Henry Peiffer, David Chamberlain, John Huber, Joseph Decklmayer, Frederick Henninger, William C. Eyster, Samuel Armstrong, William Pearce, George J. Balsley, John A. Siders, John Forbes, Rufus McClellan, John M> Gilmore, George M. Stenger, Christian Spital, Charles Evans, John Garvich, Samuel Reisher, Peter Myers, William Bossart, Samuel Gillian, Joseph Eberly, Samuel Keefer, Jacob Oyer, George Flack, Samuel West, R. A. Moore, B. B. Picking, John V. Reily, Andrew Beard, John M. Andrew, Joseph Reed, George Sellers, D. B. Haulman, Andrew Deltrich, Joseph Phiel, John A. Sellers, Adam Strock, Andrew Lohr, John W. Coble, Frederick Gelwicks, David Croft, John C. Deitrich, P. McGarvey, Joseph Foltz, Isaac H. Thompson, Abraham Widner, John H. Cormany, John Foraster, John T. Sleichter, John H. Kaufman, E. H. Lehman, W. H. Anderson, P. G. Shuman, Solomon Creamer, William Auld, John McLaughlin, J. J. Butterbaugh, Joseph Boyd, John K. Keysor, Jacob Brewel, Solomon Baughey, H. B. Blair, J. S. Bricker, W. Geeseman, William Boyd, Robert Parker, Jacob Bohrer, Thomas Johnson, John A. Hyssong, Samuel Avey, Jacob Brewer, William Lackens, Levi C. Row, William H. Mentzer, Joseph RockJr., John R> Smith, David Middower, William Rock, Samuel Stoops, John Rock, William Gossert, Jacob Monn, Adam Essick, Snively Strickler, Jacob Whitmore, David Martin, Christian Whitmore, Micheal Lowman, Jasper E. Hicks, Samuel Phillippy, Samuel Bemisderfer, John Smith, Johnathan Jacoby, H. R. Brendle, T. S. Riley, James C. Moorehead, David Harper, A. W. Welsh, Jacob Hostetter, H. R. Fetterhoff, W. S. Amberson, Abraham Barr, J. J. Miller, Jason A. Clayton, Samuel Welty, Charles West, J. M. Mcilvany, D. Hollinger, George Sarbaugh, James McCauley, Matthew Metcalf, D. MillerJr., Samuel Young, Jacob Beaver, W. F. Horner, Joseph H. Crebs, John W. Coon, Joseph Douglas, Samuel Pislee, William C. Guildin, Peter Seilhamer, D. D. Swanger, A. M. DeHaven, John Bear, E. D. Weaver, Henry Swanger, J. Breckenridge, Curtis McNeal, D. C. Burkholder, John L. Rebuck, J. P. Grove, Frederick Henninger, W. C. Eyster, G. M. Stenger, Samuel M. Armstrong, William Pearse, George J. Balsley, John A. Seiders, John C. Gerbig, John L. Forbes, R. K. McClellan, H. S. Stoner, Benjamin Rodes, A. B. Hamilton, S. M. Shillito, J. N. Snider, M. W. Housser, D. Chamberlain, John Huber, Samuel Brandthaver, Jacob C. Snyder, Samuel S. Frederick, Leander H. Small, Jacob H. Wingert, E. Burkholder, Jacob Lightfoot, J. Mannon, David Thompson, Jacob Sheets, A. George, John Gelwix, Levi Oyler, Jacob Reichard, Jacob H. B. Keller, Samuel Garver, Henry Wallace, Joseph Booz, Robert Mahon, William Clark, Jacob Bollinger, William Dice, Jacob Shirk, James Bowers, Samuel Breckenridge, J. Plough, William Wallace, Daniel J. Hepfer, F. W. Elliot, John KeasyJr., David D. Stewart, John D. Walker, W. W. Skinner, Henry Miller, W. Nelson, S. D. Jones, W. H. Davis, Jacob Flickinger, J. J. Besore, A. A. Skinner, Adam Fleagle, Solomon Cook, E. Williams, H. Cole, Isiah Brewer, Samuel Furry, M. M. Gerry, Joseph Phenicle, John Fritz, H. R. Brewer, Stephen Phenicle, J. C. Cook, Reuben Welder, Josiah Etter, J. W. McCune, H. G. Skiles, George Kale, James Hamilton, Beattie, James Blair, Hugh Smith, Judge William Cline, John A. Bowen, George Daihl, Judge William S. Bard, Daniel Foust, Michael Gable)

Local Items--Mercersburg
(Column 8)

Summary: An article extolling the virtues of life in Mercersburg. Though the town suffered during the late war, the piece informs readers that a revival has occurred in the time since.

Local Items--The Heroic Dead
(Column 1)

Summary: The article includes a list of deceased soldiers from Pennsylvania who are buried near Petersburg, Belle Isle, and Halliwood Cemetery. Evidently the man who searched for the bodies encountered some difficulties from "a rebel scoundrel" who removed the head boards from the graves and refused to aid the undertaker's efforts. The piece informs readers that anyone who wishes to obtain the remains of the deceased soldiers can contact Frey & Young for assistance or information.

Local Items--Orphan's Court and Adjourned Common Pleas
(Column 1)

Summary: A synopsis of the more "interesting" cases disposed of in the Common Pleas.
(Names in announcement: Henry Reilly, Benjamin Huber, William Zumbro, John Sleichter, Elizabeth Lehman, Samuel Lehman)

Full Text of Article:

ORPHAN'S COURT AND ADJOURNED COMMON PLEAS.--On Tuesday and Wednesday of last week, Judge King and his associates held the regular March Orphans' Court, and an adjourned session of the Common Pleas. Nothing of a special public interest transpired in the Orphans' Court, but some interesting stated cases were disposed of in the Common Pleas, affecting the votes of deserters at elections and the Township Bounty Laws as they are commonly called. The first case was that of Henry Reilly vs. Benjamin Huber. Mr. Huber was judge of the election for the township of Hamilton and refused the vote of the plaintiff, on the ground that he was disfranchised by the law of Congress, being a deserter from the draft. The court entered judgment for the plaintiff for one dollar and costs.

The other case was William Zumbro vs. Guilford township. The plaintiff in this case was drafted under the last call for troops, reported and was mustered into the service. The Directors of Guilford township shortly afterwards passed a resolution agreeing to levy a tax sufficiently large to give each drafted man who either put in a substitute or went into the service himself three hundred and fifty dollars. The tax was never laid. The plaintiff claims to recover under the acts of Assembly of this Commonwealth, and under the action of the board of School Directors. Judgement was entered for the plaintiff for three hundred and fifty dollars to bear interest from date of judgement and costs. Another case stated of interest was disposed of, wherein the administrators of John Sleichter, dec'd, sought to recover the value of gold and silver coin upon a note given by Elizabeth and Samuel Lehman. The note was dated the 16th day of March, A. D. 1859, and was for nine hundred dollars, of which three hundred dollars were payable in Chambersburg Bank bills, three hundred dollars in gold and three hundred dollars in silver coin. It was stipulated that if the Court was of opinion that the plaintiffs were not entitled to recover, judgement should be entered for $636,30, which was done. All these cases will be likely to go to the Supreme Court, and our readers shall be informed of the decisions of that learned body.

Local Items--The New Rail Road Depot
(Column 1)

Summary: The editors compliment the Cumberland Valley Railroad on the construction of their new depot building, and offer lavish praise to architect, J. H. Arnold.
(Names in announcement: J. H. Arnold)

Local Items--The Cattle Disease
(Column 1)

Summary: It is reported that the committee investigating the spread of the cattle disease in Montgomery county has determined that, contrary to earlier reports, the beasts were not afflicted with the Rinderpest.

Local Items--"A Mistake"
(Column 2)

Summary: Challenging the "unwarranted attack" upon the character of John M. Gilmore by the correspondent of the Harrisburg Telegraph, the article vigorously denies the claim that the clerk to the Board of Appraisers sympathised with the men who "applied the torch to Chambersburg." Though a Democrat, Gilmore, like Steven Douglas, "earnestly supported the war, and to-day is one of the most determined in his denunciation of the leaders of the rebellion and in demanding their punishment."

Local Items--Emigrants
(Column 2)

Summary: Notes that a group of "seventeen men, with ten wagons, three carts and sixty mules" passed through Chambersburg on their way to Virginia. The men were from Reading and intend on settling on the upper end of the Shenandoah Valley, twenty-three miles above Harrisburg, where they hope to restore an iron works neglected during the war. The editors predict that when "order is sufficiently restored in the Southern States to make life secure," the cry will surely be "'Ho for the South," rather than "'Westward ho!"

Local Items--Consolidation
(Column 2)

Summary: Announces that the United States Telegraph Company and Western Union have merged; the new company will have a branch in the Repository building once construction has finished.

Local Items--More Graduates
(Column 2)

Summary: The piece proudly informs readers that Thomas M. Kennedy and A. J. Snively recently graduated from Bellevue Hospital Medical College of New York.
(Names in announcement: Thomas M. Kennedy, A. J. Snively)

Local Items
(Column 2)

Summary: The appraisers appointed under the Relief Bill arrived in Chambersburg last week and have already disposed of 150 claims.

Married
(Column 2)

Summary: On March 6th, William Beaston, of Perry county, and Anna E. McConley were married by Rev. J. B. Jones.
(Names in announcement: William Beaston, Anna E. McConley, Rev. J. B. Jones)

Died
(Column 2)

Summary: On March 5th, Samuel Ritchie, formerly a resident of Franklin county, died near Decatur, Ill. Ritchie was 61 years old.
(Names in announcement: Samuel Ritchie)

Died
(Column 2)

Summary: On Feb. 8th, Margaret L., wife of William B. Gabby and daughter of Peter Brough, died in Guilford. She was 32 years old.
(Names in announcement: William B. Gabby, Peter Brough, Margaret L. Gabby)