Search the Newspapers Browse Newspapers by Date Articles Indexed by Topic About the Newspapers Valley of the Shadow Home

Franklin Repository: December 19, 1866 Go To Page : 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

[No Title]
(Column 1)

Summary: In scathing terms, the Repository editors excoriate Simon Cameron and his backers at the Reading Journal. In an effort to thwart the will of "nineteen-twentieths of the Republicans of the state," the Journal "makes the statement that a clear majority of the Republican members of the Legislature" support Cameron's bid for Senate, a claim the editors categorically refute. "There are not twenty members of both branches of the legislature who would today confess their purpose to vote for Simon Cameron," they proclaim, "and no Republican member, of either branch, can vote for him and return to his constituents with a rational hope of re-election."

Full Text of Article:

THE Reading Journal makes the statement that a clear majority of the Republican members of the legislature are already committed to Simon Cameron for U. S. Senator, and that he will be nominated on first ballot in caucus. This is but a part of the desperate and unscrupulous system of political strategy adopted to make a Senator in defiance of nineteen-twentieths of the Republicans of the State.

There are not twenty members of both branches of the legislature who would today confess their purpose to vote for Simon Cameron, and no Republican member, of either branch, can vote for him and return to his constituents with a rational hope of re-election. Every vote cast for him will be insolent disregard of the Republicans who chose the member thus voting, and will require explanation.

There are statesmen in Pennsylvania who would adorn the Senate, and who would wear the highest honors of the Commonwealth with pride and credit, and return them unstained by infidelity or corruption; and the Republicans of the State will not excuse the barter of the richest fruits of their noble victory to the mousing politician, who makes politics a trade and office a mere engine to gather plunder and bring shame upon the people.

The man who was dismissed by Mr. Lincoln in obedience to the imperative demands of the country; upon whom the positive censure of a Republican Congress still rests, with none even bold enough to move its expurgation; who struggled for the apostate Johnson's patronage and plunder even after his vetoes and defiantly treasonable speech in February, and who has left a record of shame in every trust, and betrayed every principle that yielded to him a leadership, cannot, and the People mean shall not, renew the humiliation the State has already borne by his ill-gotten power. The times are too full of peril, the principles to be maintained are too vital to the nation, and the cause of Universal Freedom and Impartial Justice, so richly baptized and so nobly achieved, too sacred to the living and to the memory of the martyred dead, to thrust them like sheep into the shambles and sacrifice them to venality and imbecility.

The Beginning!
(Column 1)

Summary: Demonstrating the degree to which sentiment toward the South has changed, the editors highlight the pending adoption of the bill that grants suffrage to blacks in the District of Columbia and denies the same to "all who 'have voluntarily given aid and comfort to the rebels.'" Only months ago, they note, the likelihood of such a measure becoming law would have been unthinkable, but now, because of continued southern obstinacy, even the Senate is in favor of adopting more stringent terms for re-union. This bill, they advise, "is evidently the first step toward taking possession of the rebellious States as territories."

Full Text of Article:

During the last session of Congress, and before the pending amendments to the constitution were submitted by Congress, a bill was passed the popular branch of the national legislature enfranchising the negroes of the district of Columbia without regard to intelligence or property. The measure was, upon reflection, considered to be in advance of the sentiment of the country, and it slumbered in the Senate until adjournment. It was deemed by many of the best and most patriotic statesmen an admonition to the rebellious States that they would not venture to disregard, as it clearly foreshadowed momentous coming events in case the congressional policy of reconstruction should be rejected by the South. The pendency of such a bill, to which the Republican party was squarely committed by the votes of the men who had to carry their case directly to their constituents for approval, was an appeal to the rebellious people that only madness could despise; but, lured to supreme folly by the arrogant assumptions of an apostate President, they resolved to shut their eyes to inevitable results, and thus the proffered terms of Congress have been rejected, and the great issue of reconstruction thrown back upon Congress by the obstinacy of treason.

The beginning of the sequel we record in our columns to-day. The House suffrage bill for the District of Columbia enfranchised all the blacks, but it was not severe in its disfranchisement of traitors. Now, however, the same Senate that hesitated to pass the House bill of last session, has passed a new or modified bill, which not only confers suffrage upon the blacks, but sternly disfranchises all who "have voluntarily given aid and comfort to the rebels," and imposes severe penalties for any violation of the law. The proposition to make negro suffrage qualified by intelligence and property, was lost by 11 to 34, and the bill passed finally by 32 to 13. The vote is significant beyond the mere passage of the bill, as it is clear that even the expected Presidential veto will not prevent the adoption of the measure as one of our national statutes. On Friday the House passed the bill by the decisive vote of 117 to 46.

The work of Universal Freedom and Impartial Justice thus fitly begins in that portion of the Republic under the immediate jurisdiction of Congress, and, unless all signs of the times are deceptive, it will be the policy of the government in all the States lately in rebellion. In the House Mr. Stevens has presented a bill that may be accepted as but another step in the work commenced in the District of Columbia. It proposes, in its title, to reinstate civil government in North Carolina, and provides that a Convention shall be held on the 20th of May next to frame a constitution, and in the election for delegates to the Convention all male resident citizens of the State of the age of twenty-one years, without regard to color, who can read or write, or may own $100 of real estate, are allowed to vote; but no one who has heretofore exercised the right of suffrage under the laws of the State, shall be denied the right to vote for delegates. Every delegate elected will be required to qualify by taking a stringent oath that they did not voluntarily aid the rebellion after the 4th of March, 1864. It is made the duty of the convention to frame a constitution, Republican in form, and it must pass the ordeal of Congress as do other territories when seeking admission into the Union. This bill is evidently the first step toward taking possession of the rebellious States as territories, and it is now clear that no other policy will bring those States into harmonious action with the general government. They obstinately and insolently spurn all proffered terms of reconstruction as if they were victors instead of vanquished, and the safety of the government demands radical measure to make treason odious and powerless.

We do not approve of the distinction Mr. Stevens makes between North Carolina and the District of Columbia. His bill assumes for Congress the same absolute control of the territory and people of North Carolina it exercises over the District of Columbia. It fixes the qualifications of voters and treats the State as a territory without government or law. But while Congress under Mr. Stevens' lead, wisely enforces Loyal Manhood Suffrage in the District, he proposes a very different policy in the restoration of the States. If the power is claimed to extend suffrage at all, the power to extend it or deny it to all citizens, is equally clear, and we fear that the mere enfranchisement of negroes who can read and write or own $100 worth of property, while all rebels, of every class, can vote, will be to say the least, doubtful in the attainment of desired results. If it is not deemed best to enfranchise all the blacks, we cannot resist the conviction that the classes of rebels disqualified by the proposed constitutional amendments should be denied a voice in the work of restoration. Why should they be allowed to take part in creating a government to which they will be made aliens and strangers after it is organized? If they are to be denied a voice in the future control of the government they once sought to overthrow, the penalty of their crime should come with the very first step toward reconstruction. Not one twentieth of the adult male negroes could vote under Mr. Stevens' bill--probably not one in forty, and yet every rebel, whether intelligent or ignorant, rich or penniless, could vote to give triumph to treason. It is needless to urge that oaths will restrain the work of treason. There is not a leader of treason who is not blackened with perjury, and there are men who are Mr. Stevens' peers, in point of privilege, in the House, and also in the Senate, who proved that the test-oath could not arrest the advent of men who had aided rebellion.

We do not complain of Mr. Stevens' bill, nor question his patriotism and fidelity. He may have good reasons for the harsh discrimination he makes of which we are not advised; but looking to loyal results we cannot but doubt the efficacy of his measure. When the work of restoration is to begin on the policy of Congress, it must be thorough and must be pressed to prompt completion, and it is, we think, an error not to strike at the vitals of discord in the start. If suffrage is not made impartial in framing a constitution, when can it ever be made so?

[No Title]
(Column 2)

Summary: The article welcomes the imminent end of the alliance between the "Bread and Butter camp-followers" and the Democracy, and suggests that Democrats feel similar.
(Names in announcement: Gen. Coffroth, Col. Swope)

Full Text of Article:

IT seems now settled that the Senate will reject all nominations of the President whereby faithful men were displaced solely on political grounds. This policy will make the official terms of Col. Swope and Gen. Coffroth very brief, and render the termor of their subordinates extremely uncertain. Just what course the President will pursue when the Senate plants itself firmly against his shameless debauchery, we cannot pretend to guess; but it is more than probable that he will fall back upon the Democracy and dispense his favors to them. No Republican could accept position under a man whose apostasy has been so wanton and insolent as was the President's, and we presume that he will not want to favor men who have adhered to the principles on which he was elected. It has been proposed to restore the old incumbents by legislation, but we doubt the practicability of such a measure. Certain important patronage, particularly that growing out of the Revenues, may be taken out of the hands of the Executive, but we do not see how the residue of his patronage is to be controlled.

We believe that the Democracy are just as anxious as the Republicans to have the Bread and Butter camp-followers overthrown, and when they come to grief, as soon they must, they will die officially "unwept, unhonored and unsung." In this district we could chalk the hats of a score of Democrats who will not go into mourning when Swope and Coffroth are rejected, and who would kindly accept the places of the Johnson martyrs. The Democracy feel that they were crowded to the wall by the Bread and Butter men, and they will welcome the day of their disenthrallment. Col. Swope had no affinity with the Democrats, and literally sold himself out for the plunder, pledging himself to dispense his patronage so as best to serve his new masters. Gen. Coffroth was not wanted as Assessor by anybody but himself, but he has the faculty of making the most out of a very small capital, and he wrung the appointment out of Mr. Sharpe and his friends to make him work properly in the Congressional contest. Now that the fight is over, and the whole machine is smashed, there is no one who cares to see Coffroth survive the general wreck. He will therefore go overboard unregretted save by himself and his subordinates.

The Republican party has higher and more sacred duties just now than to make an issue on the plunder of a perfidious Executive, but it owes it to itself and to the nation to arrest the appalling debauchery attempted by the President, and it will be done. If the President shall then refuse to appoint faithful men, he can select Democrats--men who will not be living monuments of corruption and infamy.

[No Title]
(Column 2)

Summary: As predicted by "Horace," the Repository's Harrisburg correspondent, last week, Col. Forney has reportedly withdrawn his name from the Senatorial contest, and thrown his support behind Thad Stevens.

[No Title]
(Column 3)

Summary: The article declares that Missouri "is the most determined among the late rebel States in effectually putting down and keeping down traitors." For example, the State Constitution disfranchises former rebels and the governor has imposed martial law in "troublesome" counties where they have shown a "disposition" to "violence."

Harrisburg
(Column 3)

Summary: In his latest from Harrisburg, "Horace" sardonically reveals that he has re-thought his position, and now endorses Simon Cameron. His rationale: the business men of Pennsylvania, the same who profitted from the war, support him, therefore, it is in the best interest of all the state's inhabitants to do the same.

Trailer: Horace

Advantage of Life Insurance
(Column 4)

Summary: A letter from "Bobtail" informing the editors that the respondent to his previous published letter failed to address his criticisms of the life insurance industry.

Trailer: Bobtail

Grand Demonstration of the Boys in Blue
(Column 6)

Summary: An appeal from the Harrisburg chapter of the Boys in Blue to their brethren throughout the State, to join them in a procession at the state capital to celebrate Gen. Geary's inauguration.

Trailer: Lane S. Hart; Robert A. McCoy; O. B. Simmons

[No Title]
(Column 7)

Summary: Relates that Gov. Fletcher has called for twenty-four companies of cavalry and ten companies of infantry to be organized to "preserve peace, protect citizens, execute a legal process on all violators of the law."

Local Items--Gypsy Swindle
(Column 1)

Summary: Tells the story of Daniel Snowberger, a "respectable local farmer" who lost $500 in a scheme perpetrated by a stranger posing as a gypsy with the power to heal all ailments.

Origin of Article: Waynesboro Record

Local Items--The Montana Gold Company
(Column 2)

Summary: Relates that the Montana Gold and Silver Mining Company will begin its operations shortly.

Local Items--A Suggestion
(Column 2)

Summary: The editors cast their support behind a proposal advanced by their rivals at the Valley Spirit to number all houses in town.

Origin of Article: Valley Spirit

Local Items--Antietam Cemetery
(Column 2)

Summary: Reports that the work of removing the remains of the loyal war dead scattered about Antietam to the cemetery is still in progress.

Origin of Article: Hagerstown Herald

Local Items--The Poor
(Column 2)

Summary: Reminds readers to be generous to their less fortunate neighbors, particularly during the cold winter months.

Local Items--Church Robber
(Column 2)

Summary: The article reports that a man named Worthington, who is currently being held in jail in Maryland for robbery, "turns out to be the same party who stole the carpet from the German Reformed Church" of Chambersburg. Worthington is expected to be extradited once he finishes his present sentence.
(Names in announcement: Sheriff Doebler)

Local Items--Car Burnt
(Column 3)

Summary: Robert Warner's young son died in a terrible fire that consumed his car as it stood on the siding of the Cumberland Valley railroad last Sunday.

Local Items--A Dangerous Counterfeit
(Column 3)

Summary: A "new and dangerous" $50 counterfeit note has appeared at the Treasury, says the article. According to the Treasurer, it is "one of the most skillfully executed ever brought to his attention."

Local Items--Accident
(Column 3)

Summary: William A. Hazelet was "seriously" injured in an accident that occurred at his steam saw and planing mill. Apparently, Hazelet suffered the wound when he tried to force a board through the planing machine after it had "choked up."
(Names in announcement: William A. Hazelet)

Local Items--The New Clock
(Column 3)

Summary: Announces that the work on the new clock was completed last Saturday, and it is now operational.

Married
(Column 2)

Summary: On Dec. 13th,David Frey and Rebecca Ann Rosenberry were married by Rev. J. Smith.
(Names in announcement: David Frey, Rebecca Ann Rosenberry, Rev. J. Smith)

Married
(Column 3)

Summary: On Dec. 18th, Daniel Deardorff and Lizzie J. Hege were married by Rev. B. S. Schneck.
(Names in announcement: Daniel Deardorff, Lizzie J. Hege, Rev. B. S. Schneck)

Died
(Column 3)

Summary: On Dec. 4th, Jacob Brinley, 74, died at Spring Run.
(Names in announcement: Jacob Brinley)

Died
(Column 3)

Summary: On Dec. 8th, Elizabeth, wife of James Steward, died in Metal township. She was 77 years old.
(Names in announcement: James Steward, Elizabeth Steward)

Died
(Column 3)

Summary: On Dec. 9th, Emanuel McCumsey, 50, died at Alto Dale.
(Names in announcement: Emanuel McCumsey)

Died
(Column 3)

Summary: On Dec. 11th, Mattie J. Montgomery, 18, died in Fannettsburg.

Died
(Column 3)

Summary: Includes a copy of the memorial and resolution from the McMurry Lodge in honor of John McLamore, recently deceased.
(Names in announcement: John McLamore, J. N. Shillito, J. A. Cramer, J. M. Gilmore, J. Amos Miller)