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Staunton Spectator: March 06, 1866 Go To Page : 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

The President's Speech
(Column 02)

Summary: An account of a speech given by President Johnson in Washington, in which he calls on his audience to stand with him in defense of the Constitution.

[No Title]
(Column 06)

Summary: "Signal" invites the editor of the Spectator to West View, where he can be entertained by "'shows,' skating, fine views, natural scenery and pretty women."

Trailer: Signal

The President and the Radicals
(Column 01)

Summary: Replete with allusions to the French Revolution, the article argues that the Radicals are now on the run in the wake of Johnson's veto.

Origin of Article: Lynchburg News

Proclamation of Peace
(Column 02)

Summary: Praises President Johnson's upcoming proclamation of peace as "a most wise and statesmanlike exercise of the most important functions of his high office."

Full Text of Article:

The President, says the Richmond Times, no longer makes a State secret of the fact that he will in a very short time issue an official proclamation that the late civil war is ended.--When he does this he will have accomplished the last and highest act which the Executive Department of the Government can perform towards the restoration of peace.

He cannot compel Congress to admit Representatives from the Southern States, but his proclamation will subordinate military to civil authority, and place all the States composing the Union upon a footing of equality in that respect.

The privileges of the writ of habeas corpus will then be within reach of the humblest citizen of the South,and our State government will become supreme within the limits of the States for the protection of whose citizens they were organized.

Martial law, which now reigns supreme in eleven States, will then only be potent for the control and punishment of those who are connected with the army, in the manner defined by the Articles of War. Every great right guaranteed by that grand and famous Virginia Bill of Rights, which looks very sadly out of place in front of the "Alexandria Constitution," will then be enjoyed by our citizens. Particularly dear to every honest, fearless, patriotic journalist will be that Article which declares that "the freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of Liberty, and can never be restrained but by despotic Governments."

The Southern people, after a probation of nearly twelve months, will hail the proclamation of peace with great joy. And yet, as far as our resistance to the authority of the Constitution and laws of the United States is concerned, there has been peace the most profound and undisturbed since the 1st of May last. The history of civil wars, ancient and modern, furnish no more remarkable and striking instance of the speedy and honest acquiescence in the result of a contest than the people of the South have done since their armies capitulated. The sun of the Confederacy sunk, leaving no margin of gradually darkening twilight. The blackness of darkness fell upon the "lost cause" as rapidly as night follows, the setting of the sun in Eastern countries.

The inexorable logic of the war convinced the people of eleven States with a rapidity without precedent in the history of the world. No thought of resistance of the Federal Government kept a single guerilla in the field an hour after the capitulation of LEE and JOHNSTON.-- The utter futility of further resistance was universally admitted, and in the heart of Virginia and North Carolina, a sergeant's guard made arrests as easily as they would have done under the guns of Fortress Monroe.

The good faith of the people of the South has been, during the last ten months, manifested in many different ways. A labor system, which the habits, customs and usages of many generations had rendered part and parcel of the South, was annihilated in a day, but despite the terrible temporary annoyances which its destruction visited upon our people, they bore the change with wonderful fortitude and equanimity.

Indeed, in a infinite variety of ways we have demonstrated to all impartial, unprejudiced persons, our fitness for the judicious exercise of those great civil rights which are so soon to be restored to us by the President. His forthcoming proclamation of peace will be recognized by all conservative Northern men, and by all christendom, as a most wise and statesmanlike exercise of the most important functions of his high office.

Treatment of Negroes
(Column 02)

Summary: Argues that the "Radical fanatics" are attempting to force white Southerners to "treat the negroes harshly" by legislating "unpleasant relations between the two races."

Origin of Article: Richmond Whig

Full Text of Article:

We are forced, says the Rich. Whig, to the conclusion that these Radical fanatics desire to compel us to treat the negroes harshly, and that to this end they are endeavoring by law to establish unpleasant relations between the two races. They want the negroes to look up to them, and they propose to confer upon them the elective franchise in order that they may exercise it in their interest. They make so much fuss over them that their heads are completely turned. Their poor intellects are bewildered, and they really do not know what to do or which way turn. So many promises are made them, so much time devoted to measure relating to them, and so many expectations excited in their minds, that they are kept in a state of feverish anxiety. They are cajoled out of the larger portion of the little money they get, by hook or crook, by school marms, or preachers, or pedlars, or -- worse than all -- politicians, who get up meetings among them and induce them to contribute money to various projects, chief among which is the appointment of delegations to go to Washington to act upon Congress and pay unwelcome visits to the President. Where there is one honest man and sincere friend of the negro thus engaged, there are a thousand rogues and wretches who are using them to promote their own selfish ends. they make more out the negro than the negro will ever make out of them. Leaving out of consideration the bounties of the Government distributed through the officers of the Freedmen's Bureau, where is the negro who has received any help from these pretended friends. They have had advise --volumes of it; and oaths -- volleys of them; but when, where, and from whom have they received private benefits and charities? When the negro wants to be flattered or fleeced, he may go to these people -- nay, they will go to him. But when he wants a scuttle of coal or a stick of wood to keep him from freezing, or, to use his own language, "a meal of victuals" to keep him from starving, or clothing to cover his nakedness, he neither goes to there people, nor do they go to him. He goes to "his natural enemies -- the Southern whites" -- and gets what he wants. His pretended friends are ready to give him suffrage to spite the South , and to vote him lands, and food and clothing, when it costs them nothing, or to get up subscriptions to relieve his wants, when the money is to pass through their hands, and they can keep back a large share of it as "the recompense of their reward" -- but when it comes to giving of their own substance, they would see him in Jericho first.

Local News
(Column 01)

Summary: A vacant house was burned on March 1st, suspected to be the work of "an incendiary."
(Names in announcement: Joseph Harper, John Paul)

Local News--Horse Thief Arrested
(Column 01)

Summary: A horse thief who swindled a number of local residents has been captured in Amherst county.
(Names in announcement: Col. M. G. Harman, Duggan)

Local News--Stealing Boots
(Column 01)

Summary: A local freedman stole two left-foot boots from a local store and is awaiting trial in the Freedmen's Court.
(Names in announcement: Darden)

Local News--Delegates to R. R. Convention
(Column 01)

Summary: A list of Augusta county delegates to an upcoming convention, which will address the construction of the Valley Railroad.
(Names in announcement: H. W. Sheffey, Bolivar Christian, M. G. Harman, A. H. H. Stuart, W. J. D. Bell, George Bruce, Dr. T. W. Shelton, Adam McChesney, Capt. James Henry, Jas. BumgardnerSr., Samuel Bell, William Tate, William Sterrett, James Wislon, Absalom Koiner, J. Marshall McCue, J. Givens Fulton, Theopilus Gamble, William Crawford, Gen. Keaton Harper, Thomas BurkeSr., Maj. James Walker, Samuel Finley, J. Davis Craig, William Montgomery)

Marriages
(Column 03)

Summary: John Flory and Sarah Wright were married on February 22nd by Rev. Daniel Thomas.
(Names in announcement: John Flory, Sarah Wright, William Wright, Rev. Daniel Thomas)

Marriages
(Column 03)

Summary: Samuel Wine and Mary Evy were married on February 25th by Rev. Daniel Thomas.
(Names in announcement: Samuel Wine, Mary Evy, Michael Evy, Rev. Daniel Thomas)

Marriages
(Column 03)

Summary: Dr. John Myers and Maggie Palmer were married on March 1st by Rev. H. A. Gaver.
(Names in announcement: Dr. John Myers, Maggie Palmer, Rev. H. A. Gaver)

Marriages
(Column 03)

Summary: John Craun and E. Hale were married on March 1st by Rev. O. Beard.
(Names in announcement: John Craun, E. Hale, Rev. O. Beard)

Deaths
(Column 03)

Summary: Louisa M. Bear died of a "complicated disease" on February 24.
(Names in announcement: Louisa Bear, J. Bear, C. Bear)

Significant Order
(Column 04)

Summary: Includes an order pledging support from the local courts and constabulary for the Freedmen's Court, maintaining that federal troops are not required in the area.
(Names in announcement: Wm. A. Burnett)

Full Text of Article:

The citizens of this place and county are disposed to co-operate with the Freedmen's Bureau in the discharge of their duties. those who maintain that there is any necessity for troops here to enable the Freedmen's Bureau to discharge its duties, slander our people. The following order of Court needs no comment:

Virginia:--Augusta County Court, February 26th, 1866.

It having been suggested to the Court, that the officers of the Freedmen's Bureau have found some difficulty, in having their processes executed, within the limits of this County,and this Court, feeling a strong desire to co-operate with the officers of the Bureau in the preservation of order, the enforcement of the laws, and the protections of freedmen and refugees in all their rights:

It is thereby ordered to be entered on the records of this Court, that the Court, the Magistrates in their respective districts, and the Sheriff and other officers of the Court, are ready and willing, at all times, to render every necessary assistance to the officers of the Bureau in the discharge of their duties, and the at the Sheriff and Constables be and they are hereby instructed to serve promptly, all processes which may be placed in their hands by the officers of the Bureau and to enjoin on the people the necessity of a ready obedience thereto, and in other respects to render all the aid in their power in the execution of the laws of the United States.

Copy teste.

WM. A. BURNETT, Clerk.

Constitution of the Churchville Farmers' Club at Churchville, Augusta County, Va.
(Column 02)

Summary: A copy of the constitution of the newly formed farmers' club in Churchville.

[No Title]
(Column 02)

Summary: This letter from "Farmer" praises the formation of the farmers' club in Churchville as an example worthy of emulation.

Trailer: Farmer