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BY ?TO THINE OWN SELF BK TUUE, AND IT MUST FOLLOW, AS THE IIOB'T. A. THOMPSON & CO. iummMmnmt?i?fm*?m)?mm i m j '-_ ^ M I I - - rn Milli II I I I I i i n II irn?ri?. m.mi mniii PICKENS COURT HOUSE, S. C. SATURDAY, JULY 27, 1801. NIGHT THE DAY, THOU NO. 5& POETRY. The Mountain Fine. II Y M I S S J r I. I A I? I, K A S A N T S . Let others H?ii{jr of (in- myrtle tree, And (lia mik .so proud and tall; Hui tho my li lo linios, nm) tho Oak oil sinnlos, Disappear when Hie snow storms tall. They may also toll of I lie aspen bongil, Where thu silvery dunoon* sbiuo, Util fur ino. I'll ring HIV shell uml sing Ot'thc lordly mountain pine. Oh ! tlic broad catalpa's crest is fair, Willi its blossoms blustering white, bike ibo starlight Tree, on a deep green sea, When tho mooii bulli Heil ibo night ; Ami tho locust looks like n pale young brillo ; When thc April .sunbeams shine ; Dill a prouder thing is tho forest king ls tho lordly mountain pine. 1 have heard then) boast of ll|0 Southern coast, Whore tin; ?birk m-igimlins gleam ; Of tho orahgo ldnmns in thc deep green glooms, And.tim nairns bbs de ibo stream, lilli myself I sigh for a Northern sky, Whore tho glacial clouds recline : For a towering bid and rushing rill And Ibo lordly mountain pino. For I lind n home, if I oh a ll 00 to roam Whore Ibo winding mountains ho. Ami 1 see n friend if tho blue skies bond (Vor thai fadeless mountain (roo. Thon I love the blast, na il whistles past. With a melody divino. When its palo wbilo wings swoop thc strange ; harp si rings Of thc lordly mountain pine. POLITICAL. Speech of Hornea Greeley on Reconstruction, 1 AT lt ICU.MON I), VA., MAY df, 1*1 J.''. A very large assemblage of persons of di verse views and hues having bree convened on brief notice at tho spacious African church, : Mr. tlrcoloy addressed them us follows : Fm KN ns A N't) KBIXOW-CITIV?I?NS : I did not understand that my invitation to speak ; herc to-night, hasty and informal as it was, was ihc^tic^w^uufrsa^".^ o'*- any party or seo-j M people. I understood that li few citizens uf different views-perhaps J. should 1 rather say, of differing tintouodonts-wished to hear mo on thc present aspect of our public nlfairs, and 1 consented to address thom. Hence, t shall not regard myself as speaking Lore to-night yo/- a party nor to a party, j A p plauso.] 1 shall speak as a citizen of New York to citizens of Virginia, on topics which coucurn our common interest, mir common j country; and, while I shall sp'.ak with entire frankness, 1 trust you will realize that I speak in a spirit of kindness to nil, and with defer ence to thc feelings of all. [Applause.] " SlIAU. THU SW?Kl) I) KV UV ll Koli, KV Kit ?" So asked pf old a Hebrew prophet, standing binid the ruins of his desolated country. So' ], an American citizen, standing amid some j of tho ruins of our great civil war, encircled by a hundred thousand graves (d' men who fell on this side and on that, in obedience tn wdiat they thought, tim dictates of duty ami of pa triotism, shall speak in the spirit ol that proph et, asking you whether the time has not fully collie when all the ditlereiiccs, all the heart burnings, all the feuds and thc hatreds which necessarily grew upi . the midst, of our great struggle, should he abandoned forever ? [ Ap pltuise.] There have been rivers of I. o d sued j lucre have been mountains of debt piled up; and on every side sacruioes. suli'crings. and losses, attest thc earnest ness ann the Vin centy with which our people fought out l??is great contest to its final conclusion. Thc wisc king said, " There is a time for war mid ti time for peace." i trust that thc time for war has wholly passed-that, the Hine for peace has fully come. What, obstacles linvo for thc last two yens .impeded, what ob stacles still impede, the full rcaliz ition of peace to this country ? There may ho what is called peace, which is only a mockery of peace, when people of di fereilt sections and id' differ ent parties- in n great struggle still look dis trustfully, hatefully, ns it were upon each oth er, and aro unwilling to meet and to ONidiniign civilities. There may be au enforced qui^t, ntl uvoidauco of positive hostilities, and yet lao peace, no real peace. What is it, then, that basso long in this country obstructed thc advent of a real peace '( Tho war for or against the Union virtually ended with tho surrender of (len. Lee's army, inore than two years ago. lidth parties felt that that surrender was conclusive ol' the strug gle ; and, while much had been idly or boast bigly said of 20 years of guerrilla war, lifter the armies should be dispersed, yet, when tho surrender wis o?iiltliuuio?tpd to different sec tions of tho South, the. people everywhere Said, " This is the end of the war ; there is no use in struggling any longer." And, aocord j ing to ' ordinary calculations, one year from [ that hour should* have seen n perfeeb restora tion of peace. Why have wo not yet roalixod that expec tation i In tho first placo, wTion thc? National party, If I-may so call it-tho party of tho Union wu? in tho first 'flush of a perfect, undivided triumph, an assassin's blow struck down the : Chief Magistrate of tho Nation. I would bo tho last to nrguo, or to insinuate, that that y*stho, apt of tho dofoatcd party in'tho na $0nJ f Applause] Still, thoro wofo certain facts connected with it which tendod to gifo an exceedingly malign aspect to that general calamity. Tho assassin mid his folcon, spirators were violent; vehemont pnrtiSwB of tuc Southeru causo. I believe, up,o of them hui] fought lbr it; wliilo they hud all b?en I ardent champions of the principles upon which it was founded, and of tho system of human '. bondage with which it was identified, lt was ; tho act of men who were heart and soul with ; : thc Confederacy, nut merely in its efforts, but 1 j in its fundamental aspirations. I As tho news was flashed acoss the country I that its Chief had been stricken down in tho I hour of general exultation, bis first assistant I iii thc Government even moro foully stubbed I and mangled on n bed of sickness and pain, j md that oo-ordiuJto offerts had booti mude to destroy the lives of other heads of thc Gov crnmoiit, a cry of wild ?md passionate grief and wrath arose from thc whole people. Those who bael been pleading for magnanimity and mercy tn th? conquered-who had been ap- j pealing lo not unwilling ears in the few days intervening between thc close ot' thc war and ! the occurrence, of that terrihlc eil In Ul ?ty - were' silenced in a moment by this appalling crime j committed upon thc person of our great and i good President. Tho Nation could hot fairly ; consider, amid its blind rage and grief, that this assassination was th? work of a h \ un authorized hy and unknown to th? great mass of those against whom their fury was directed. lt was an unspeakable ca ht uti ty-a calamity to thc Southern quite as much as to the North ern part ol* the country. The Military Trials which followed that ?vent.-which, I might say, completed tho tragedy-were grut; lieut ?ons of tho popular Wrath which rather tended to stimulate than to appease it. They, were thc expressions of what thc popular heart felt and desired at th? time. For my part, I was opposed to them; and ? trust that all Americans, have, by this limo, learned to regret that thc regular and ordinary tribunals of thc country had not boen allowed to deal with these criminals as they deni with others. [Applause!] Before tho popular frenzy had had tim? to subside, there assembled, under th? military order of the President of th? United States, Conventions or Legislatures in th? several Southern States', representing only, or mainly, filoso who had been defeated in our great struggle. I say the Soul bern Conventions or Legislatures which then mot represented mainly those persons; and the first aspect presented to the pcoplo of th? North hy th? action ol' those Legislatures was ono of what 1 may mildly term unfriendliness toward th? colored portion of thc people of th? South. I nm not herc to discus what absolutely was, but what was very apparent?t that time. The Southern Legislatures met. and began nt once cither to enact or revive laws discrimina ting harshly and unjustly against tb? colored people of the South, as if the object had been to punish thom for their sympathy with th? Uni?n in thc struggle that had just closed. I will herc merely glauco at thc substance of these laws. You ar? familiar with them ; for some of them were passed in your own Stute. There, fur instance, ar? th? laws in relation to Marriages, to contracts for Labor, to Anns-bearing, and to giving testimony in Courts, which, if they over had been necessa ry or wisc, had utterly ceased to be applicable after the overthrow of Slavery, and the instb ! tiltions based upon it. I will not detain yon by any comments upon these laws, but will content myself by bringing your attention t< I two id' them, which have been revised in mos! of these States. 'J hero are, lirst, the laws forbidding tin Black people ol' the Soul h to hear anns. Now so long as Slavery existed hore and in tin other States of thc South, it was perfectly reasonable and proper, so far as anything growing out of Slavery was proper, that Black I should be forbidden to have arms in thei hands. You may lind fault with Slav :ry, bu you cannot lind fault-Slavery being admit ted as a fact.-with slaveholding legislature for forbidding the colored people, to hold an? hear anns, lt was not deemed compatibl Wu': j".'ib!ie safety that Blacks should be al lowed tu keep nod use arms dike White pet sons. But. thc moment Slavery had passel away, all possible pi?! e. rr ts for disarming South ern'Blacks passed away with iL Our Federo Constitution gives thc right lo tho people ev erywhere to keep and bear anns ; ?nd over law whereby any State Legislature undertake lo contravene this, beinsr in conflict with tb Constitution of the United States, bad n longer an)' legal furee. And, when it wa seen that Confederate soldiers in their uni forms of gray went around to Blaolc mon' houses and took away arms which they hn< darned by lighting fur th? Union, mid wilie hutt l,oen assigned to.them for honorable soi vice, win"* could this louk like but u reviv? of the lleUtMli'lQ 'I Then, ns lo this matter of Testimony : believe that soon J enlightened jurists, iii world over, arc agree..1 that it is tho true nil of judicial procedure to ?d "?lit all testimony and allow the Court and jin;' to decide an I ?ts value. This is tho just rulo with regal to children of tender years, to pera^na of cv repute, to persons presumed to be halt-witfei &o. Let witnesses of all sorts mid olmr.icu'' como forward and testify, and an elightene j migo, on intelligent jury, will have no dill eiilty in determining the value of the cvidenci We in New York have admitted the. tcsthiu ny cvon of n wife for her husband v ithoi dctrimout, so far ns cnn be ascertained, to tl cause of justice. There should bc no oxch Hion from a privilege so palpably just and fa ns this, especially when n discretion nlwa; romains with thc Court nod Jury boforc who the tcstimouy is given, to regard it favorab otherwise. Whoo legislatures carno togoth I in this Stnto and" others and proceeded to 0 cot or revivo laws to establish that a Ulai person may give testimony in oontrovcrsi botwoon two Blacks, or possibly between Blaok and White, yet not in a suib botwci 'two White?, the common sens? of tho COU try waft insulted ami il? fooling?'outraged this odious and plainly nrbitrary restrictif] 1 For, when you say a Black ii (it to give tcsti- i niotiy in a cuso between a Black and ii White ! man, you must realize that be is ut least as well ' qualified to give testimony in a1 controversy between two Whites, where it is probable be would have no such bias or partiality os ho might have if one of the parties were Black. I say all these laws, invidious, unnecessary, ! and degrading as they were, luukcd to tho people of thc North like n revival of tho Ile-' hellion in a more insidious and a good deal less mnnly'tispcot than it wore on the heights ' of Frodorioksburg nod in tho valley of bbc ! Obickamnugn. lt looked to ns ul the North j us if men Who had boen beaten in fair, stand ii]) light chose to revive the contest in such n 1 manner that they could annoy and irritate us without exposing themselves tu thc perils of I hattie or the penalties of treason. 1 say that I this legislation, which prevailed more or less throughout thc States ol' the South, was ono ! of thc chief obstacles, and is one of the still I remaining ?inpediments, lo atv carly and gen uine reconstruction of the Union. 1 need not more than allude to the deplora ble outrages at .Memphis and Xew Orleans, which scented lo indicate the animus to this Course of oppressive class legislation. You may not probably know to how great un cx .tont the public feeling and the ofedfmns of tho' North in the year 181)0 wore affected hy what, wc call thc New Orleans Massacre. ? don't care to argue or assume that those, who were the victims of these outrages wore entirely right, nor that their adversaries or slaughter ers were wholly wrong. It was a fact that tho colored people of Louisiana were, trying to get the Hight of Suffrage, and by means which their friends thought legitimate. Thc other p arty, however, though (I otherwise ; and, in stead of referring thc matter to thc General in com um nd, or to some peaceful tribunal, tho reassembling uf^ the old Comfit rational Cou vent ion was made tho pretext for an attack which resulted in tho ski lighter of some scores of American citizens, and in a very stern, sad revulsion of publie .sentiment lo thc prejudice of those of you who'had! been ?ii II rind against the Union. These outrages, this unwise anti invidious legislation, fixed i;n the minds, I will not say of a majority of the people of the North, hut in the minds of a verb?rge pro portion of thc wiso, intelligent, and conscien tious people of tho North, a conviction which I think will not easily be shaken, thyt ?herc cnn be no real peace ?li the Union, that there can bo no reconstruction, without t?ie heartv admission on the part of the Southern States and the securing on the port of thc lvation, ol thc right of all men to bo governed by cqua laws. [Applause.] I will not say that wi who so hold constitute n great majority of tin Northern people ; but I will say that wc an very many more than we were prior to the hil tl-negro enactments of Mr. Johnson's legis lu tu rc?' in thc Southern States, und before till outrages of 18(>0 at Memphis and ut New Or leans. I think that, before Che'so collision.' were reported to the North, the con viet ion wa fixed in a great many minds, ns it now is in i great many more, that no reconstruction wouli bc real and enduring which did not iuolild guaranties for the rights of flic odored poopl of the South ; and when I say rights, I mea their equal lights with any and all other pei sons. [Applause by tho ncc roes. J ti is very common remark, and a very true one that thc North is in honor bound to guarn? tee the liberties of the Black people of th i country, because of their comlnob during on great war. I have no doubt that this is true yet I deem it but. hslf the truth. I hold tb South' eqtttlHy bound to secure the same rcsul because'of tire'oo>nHct of tho Blacks towar thc Whites of the Smith- iw thai same civ war. 1 fully admit tho obligations of the Nor! (or the Nation) to thc' Blacks. Some nu exaggerate their services, others unduly d prec?ate them ; but there was the general fae that, whercus, in the beginning of the wa when nothing was said about F.maneipatio thc'Blacks of the South shouted With thc masters without knowing much about tl c iuse of thc war, yet, as thc struggle proccc ed and became more deadly, mid the Nor found itself obliged to proclaim I'hmincipatii as u means of putting down the resistance Hie'South, thc sympathies of the colored pc pb of the South, howi vcr silently expresse became from that hour more and moro dei dod mid unanimous on the side of thc Unit They did not at first comprehend tho contes und yet thousands, from mero instinct, fro what they heard at Southern barbecues ni in their masters' hoUr'os, learned that thc w on the part of the South was a war for Slav ry; mid they naturally argued that the w on tho part of the North either was or UH become a war fin* Freedom. [Af lause.] Now, then, 1 say that, while the North is il der obligations to those people for thousan of acts of kindness toward our soldiers, w wno sometimes se-ittered us fugitives in a li tile territory, and for nets of positive aid the battle-field and io tho Ouirip, tho Sor also owes a debt of gratitude to these pen for their general fidelity and good will, tin w ns good sense, displayed in resisting cv< temptation to take ad vantage of their maste extremity to achieve at any cost their o liberties. J believe Southern mon will do 1 Blacks of tho South thc justice to say t' very often whole neighborhoods were ulm stripped of Wbito men of any considera force, and lay wholly at tho morey of th Wbito men's slaves. Tbcso kticw what contest meant ; they know that thoy mig if thoy ohoso to do so, commit massacre, a having dcsolatod thoir mastors' kousoho they might fly to tho Yankees, by whom t reasonably hoped to bo protected. But I not know, out of thc ton thousand instar whoro these tom pt a tiona woro prosontod, I thofo were oven flvo cases in all whore t wcro not resisted. You hoartf it said that T/iucbln's proclamation Was ifttonded to ~-!-.-* tho knife to tho throats of all tho ?Southern Whites-that it was a general proclamation'of li bor ty to kill, and burn, nuc? ravage, through out thc South In that light, it was held up ! to-general reprobation. I ask you all to bear j witness, that this prediction was nowhere jus- j tifod by the event. The colored people of I tim South who were still held as slaves, uni- j foi inly felt, their affection for their masters and < iinji r families was such, that they would bc ' feltis, and outlaws, murderers and criminals of I tir^oopnst dye, if they should take advan- ! trt^b of their masters' absence in the war to a^'ttsc their families. The Southern White:? I oight to feel, nod I trust that many of them . do feel, gratitude toward the colored people for j tlrtcie general deportment throughout thc war. Tho Blacks often ran away to the Union ar mies anti enlisted there; but they took Hu due nd vantage of the opportunities offered by their masters' absence. [Applause.] Fellow-citizens, there have been many in stances wherein men held in Slavery have been instantly of gradually, hy one means or another, emancipated, but I don't remember atty instance where a fettered race was libera ted from Slavery, and yet kept for generations in a servile, abject, degraded condition There is the great sbivoholdihg Umpire rd' Brn/.il alway.-, slnvoholding since it had any conse quence nt all-wherein men who arc slaves to day may bo free to morrow, and thenceforth eligible to any trust, any office, being voters lind citizens, precisely as though horn free and iWhito. Such was tho course pursued by Groat Britain in respect to the slaves emanci pated ill her Colonies. Slav ,y is one thing. Freedom another. But there is an interme diate condition, which is neither Slavery or liberty, that incites all the energy and aspi ration of freemen, and 3'ot involves more than half the disabilities of the slave. Snob a condition as that, I believe, was never long maintained or endured in any civilized coun try. And yet, that seems to bo the condition which thc dominant race in the South des tined tho Blacks to occupy by the legislation of 1805-00-a condition which is neither Slavery nor Freedom, and one which men partly educated, and who felt themselves to a ocrtain extent emancipated, would lind utterly uubearuble. hot me here meet tin objection which is sometimes offered. Some men say 41 Thc flack potpie of tho South arc, to a great ex nt, ignorant and degradad.: how then can ?wu insist that fiicy arc qualified to oujoy al! the 'privilege*, ot' ?itUoi.ii 5*" I any 'if yoi make ignorance a uniform ground of exclusion from political power, I can comprehend tin justice of your rule, your objection. But, sr long as ignorance or degradation is no bar ti citizenship as to White men, I protest againsl making it a har to suffrage on the part of Binni men, who have excuses for ignorance wilie! White men have not. [Applause.] But then, there are peculiar reasons whj this race, among us should have its libertici secured by the most stringent, firmest gunr antees. They are and must remain, to sonn extent, ll separate and peculiar people in th land. They will bc exposed at every step t perils and antipathies which other men ar not, not only because of their color, but bi cause of their weakness as well. For the are not fm ly a minority of our people, bu their numorclnl importance is stolidly declii ing. When our first Federal census was tt ken, in 1700, they were nearly a fifth of on on tire population ; when our last census wti taken, in UStiU, they were but an eighth ; an thc child is now born who will see them n more than a twentieth. I do not believe thu they will prove unable to hold their grono among tis as freemen, nor that they will prov lefts prolific in freedom than in bondage. Bi there is no African immigration to this com try, and never has been any voluntary inilli gration of negroes to any region outside of tl tropics. They may be dragged into thc tor pe ru te zone in fetters,' ns" they have boot*; bi in freedom their tcnxloncy is wholly thc otb way. And, on the other hand, thc waves n great and steadily swelling European inm gration are constantly breaking on our shori depositing here some 260,000 person per a hum', mainly in thc primo of youthful vig< By this gigantic influx, the character of o population is being constantly modified, that tho Blacks, now a majority in two or ihr States, Will soon he a minority in each, and inconsiderable, powerless fraction of our win people. The present, therefore, is the acci ted timo to secure their rights, when there a public interest tejt ?U them, and when th( are obligations of honor incumbent upon t whole country which it cannot well disrega Their equal rights ns citizens are lo bo.scout now or not at all. 1 insist, then, in the nai of Justice and Humanity, in tho natue of c country and ol' every righteous interest ands tiou of that country, that the rights of all t American people-nativo or naturalized in t "State Constitutions first, and in the Fede Constitution so soon as possible--that wc tin it tl;f?ndame.:, il condition ..? American I lind policy that every citizen shall have in I oyo of thc taw', PVery right nf ?Vei'V "?icr ? i/en [Applause.] T vVould nu kt thc cq rights of tho colored people nf tito count under thc laws mid thc constitutions then the corner stone of n true beneficent rec ?truetion. [.Applause] I wish to be di with the tloptc at once and forever. 1 wisl bnvo it disposed of and out of the way, that wo omi go on to othor topics and ot interests that demand our attention. I I to say that wo have settled forever thc qi tionbf Black men's rights by imbedding tl in tho Constitutions of tho States and the tiou, so that they cannot bo disturbed c moro. If this hud bcon promptly and he ily dono, two years ago, *** cn tho Jobi: Legislatures of tho South ...st assembled ory Statoof tho South would bnvo boen in Union oro this, and ovory apprehension penalties tobo inflicted on thc people of ' "" . ii' Routh would h li ve been' oUnichcd forever. Hut it is said that there are Republican' States, or States under Republican rulers, which have not granted tothe Blacks theft full rights. That is disgracefully true. The'great mass of the Republicans have alway? insisted that Hlaek enfranchisement v>as n necessity, and hnvc uniformly insisted that id should bo effected. Wc have been resisted, nod to some extent overborne, by ?X lYiCrc shred of our par ty combining with the Democrats to defeat us. Still, public sentiment has steadily im proved", i'm til nearly every Republican in the -Vorth, vritlr many who have neted with the Dbmoorat.T, new heartily favor a National guaranty of All Rights to All. [Applause.] If there heany who think thc Republican pnrty ought to bo dissolved-if there be one present who desires that it should get out of tho way to give room for now combinations-I say to him, Help us to finish this controvesy by imbedding in every Constitution (State or ' or National) a provision that every citizen shall have all the legal rights of every other 1 citizen, and no more. Let us bo done with ; this matter, and then we eau ihov??u to what may bo the next question in order. [Ap plause] I come now to Proscription as another ob- ' stacie, impediment, or whatever you may ' shooso to call it, to the reconciliation of the Southern people tb tho Union, lt is asked, ; md very cogently, " How can you expect us to bo reconciled to a Government which de nies us the right to vote or"to hold office mi ller it ?" A very fair question. In my judg ment, there is no reason why any men who, to-day, is a thoroughly loyal and faithful citi zen of the United States, .should bc restrained from voting. This, however, is n matter which rests entirely with Congress ; and wdiat Poflbf ore my own private views. If is just and wiso to disfranchise men who arc still disloyal, ind who desire that disloyal men should ob tain the mastery of this country. 1'dcnytbat those who are implacably hostile to the Na tional authority-who arc wandering off to Brazil, to Mexico, <&c.- have any natural right to n voice in the government of the country. And that there is a class in the South who merely submit or acquiesce;-who arc recon ciled only so far that theydon't choose to put themselves in thc way of punishment-there can be very little doubt. 1 hope the number of thia class is comparatively small now, ahd that it is daily diminishing. May I not hope Riat ibo doings in this city this week' have contributed' somewhat to diminish' ito* ri li tb * hers 7 The I'ovoriiuio.,t'?,i.o,.i.r,,of, +tWif'*t-p>r> dissatisfied men have no "control tu tho'c?litu try. The people should deny to any mau'who would divide the country, or refuses tb'be reconciled to it, a share in'its government.-. L accept the proscription embodied in thc'Mtti tary Reconstruct iou act of Congress only as a precaution against' w'e^chi disloyalty j and'I' believe the nation will insist on snob proscrip tion being removed so soon as reasonable and proper assurances are given that disloyalty has ceased to be powerful and dangerous in thc Southern State?. Then as to the question' of Confiscation, what is to be said ? What is the truth'aUout Confiscation ? I have been told, since I caine here, that the colored1' people of this city and tho State were t of using to buy for themselves homes, because they were imbued with'the belief that Congress would very' soop'OOofistiatty and distributo the lands of tho Rebels of this State, and give each of thoma share. If this be so, 1 beg you to believe that you aro more likely to carn a home than get one by any form of confiscation. 1 have no right to speak for Congress, and cannot say what it will do j bul I have a right tb ?-ey what Coi?, gross has done. Now we have had, since thc war closed, two years of violent political'con test. Acts have been done and feeling evinced in the South within those years which were strongly calculated to irritate tho overwhel ming majority in Congress".. Then there has been at the heul-perhaps* I siro rd ct say thc head and foot-of the movement for confisca tion, thc very ablest ns well as thc oidcsl member of Congress"', Thaddeus Stevens, ol Pennsylvania, one of thc strongest men win has been seen in Congress nt anytime, nm who'lia^' achieved- groat influence at the Nortl by fovty years of uncompromising warfen against every species of human bondage. IL has been the recognized leader of Ith? Heitel for thc last six or eight years. Mr. Steven has niado speeches for confiscation-, first, tc his christifttbtitV; ofext, in Cotrrgretts ; mid lu has lately written a letter condemning those mon who arc " peddling out amnesty," ant insisting upon confiscation. But if any otho member of Congi'ess has gravely"?foposC(ratr> measure of confiscation at all, I don't rcmem ber thc fact; and if any Committee of eithe House has reported any scheme of confisca lion since tho close of the war, I nm ri?tfivwftp of it. I say ito bill has been even report?e which proposed to tafee a way the property o persons merely booti us? they have boen Rob els, and give it to others because th^y wer loyal. These ave tho facts in tho past. Yoi cnn judge of Che futuro as well ns i ....... aol/5 niefW ft1 snv that Congress could not b proyoked to decree confiscation by ^V-naccs o violence and ads ol' outrage at the South, don't pretend to know whit Congress may di under some conceivable circumstances j I stat what it has dono and has intimated its put psvsc to do, so far as I con speak from knowl edgo and rocolleotion. Lot mc speak for myself only as to tho goii oral po'ioy of Coufisoation. If half thc va coot, wasto hind? of fe'ic South could bo ttl atnntij/ distributed among tho 'landless, I hav no doubt that tho efleet would bo bendicen: I think that such un. allotment of a small fan to every poor mau would do good to tho tuan and no- roal harm to. tluo few. But, whon yo como to tho practical work of Confiscation, will be found a very tedious process that yon would bc required to consummate. Atv vu iii JJ.'".Ui ?bt meantime, what is lo become ol' those win? tn?kt live' by their emily labor? Who is to fence aud cultivate the land? "What is tu become ot' thc great mass of thc poor who' must live by cultivating thc earth ? When wc reflect upon the general devastation of tho South, by reason of thc turmoil and ravage of War, and consider how all i 'dustry would bo paralyzed by the prospect am *he process of j confiscation, we shall realize tl.nt inevitablo I evils of Confiscation aro too great to justify an J experiment of this character. In my judg I ment, any general confiscation will prod nco general bankruptcy aud desolating famino. 1 judge that Hie evils* of such confiscation e.\ cecd all that have been experienced by the country rn-arl its past convulsions. Again'.' >?r. flteVern* proposes to poy iivo hundred million dollars into the Treasury by a " mild pTocess'of confiscation." 1 du not knbW what could bc dotie in this, way ; but I am very confident that oil thc confiscation.! that have ever taken place since tuen firs' went to war have nut altogether r?sulte! in putting 9500,000,000 into the public treasu ries of nations. I do not speak of those cot. . (iscutions whereby some great conqueror* seized and appropriated thc treasures and jew els of lin o-iental king; I speak cf the confis cation of individual property in the shape <>." lands and houses. Individuals have givw ti enormously rich by confiscation-have scour* 1 to themselves dukedoms aud principalities; but they were the men wdio worked thc lue chinery ; [applause and laughter] the great, ii."ss derived no benefit, or very little, from their plunder. Now tie to providing poor mon with lands by any such process as this. I admit th . premise that tho poor should have hinds. 1 have for ninny years- advocated thc pi li cy of allowing every poor umn to help himself : > a portion of the public lands upon the o;-.si." t, 'erins. There nro hundreds of millions of acres still belonging to the Republic in tho South ns well as in the North and West-in Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, as well ns in States further North. Thc : ; lands arc public property, and 100 acres of them tire offered to actual settlers on ' ic pay ment of ten dollars, which is charged to cover thc expense of surveys, deeds, &c. 1 have always been irr favor af encouraging settle ment upon the public lands, and 1 nm pf the opinion now that it? will bc easier and much wiser foi' thc colored man to ncquiro ft homo itt this form than be vainly awaiting thc pos sible chance of acquiring one by confiscation. < ,. '.'.mnv st>0alc confidently of wjmt lins occur ltd'in other lands; and i snyeuunav.;.^.-*!^ confiscation has'r?rtely or never aided thc poor to secure h?hies" ;'uy moro than it has filled treasuries. It bit's bred deadly feuds and per petuated class' hatreds. Many of thc hindi confiscated in1 Ireland two centuries ego by Cromwell1 anfyet thc occasion of strife and bittWfi.?ss'j* the heirs of the original owners believing-'themselves to-day justly entitled to those lauds, and that any means of recovering theih, rebellion inclusive, would bo'justifiable. , I believe no mau who is thc true friend nf ( our colored' people would advise them to help \ themselves to thc lands which had been wrest cd'.from their White neighbors by confisca tion. I will not farther insist upon the fi?t ^ that confiscation shrivels r.nd paralyzes tho industry of the whole community subjected to its influence; but in my judgment, if all tho property of thc Southern States were taken by confiscation to-morrow, and put up al auc tion, you could not get five hundred millions of dollars out of it and into the Treasury. flow fraud and perjury would flourish, what mountains of falsehood would be conjVirod up by the presence of general confiscation. 1. need not say. Instantly, every ono who ftp- -e prclicu Jed danger to his property would m ike a simm sale or transfer of it to some loyal cous in or ncphow whom he thinks he can trust, to be kept up until tho proper time for its sato restoration ; when bc might find that his trust ed relative had concluded to keep it. Su it has been, so it would bo. All manner of de ceit, fraud, corruption, and miscellaneous in iquity, flourishes- in thc presence of any at tempt at general' eoufiscation. I do not approve of appeals to any particu lar c'ass, and I make no claim to be n spec:: ! ? friend of the colored people ; but this I say, friends and countrymen, since I have been diere I have been more than ever before i in pressed with thc exceeding cheapness of Vir ginia lands. I believe there are. lands selling to-day near this city at ton dollar? per acre which will bo worth in a few years ten times, that price; and I say to-all, if you cm'T)vSy' landa in Virginia and pay for them, buy thom*} fer they arc oertain to bo dearer in thc (hilly future. .1 am confident buying lands is tho^ cheapest, way of getting thom. I .nmconfi* dent that buying these lands is tho cheapest possible mode of scouring a homestead. Car lyle Rays that tho great mistake of Rob Roi was his failure to roali/.o that he could obtain his beef chen por in the grass market of (?r1afi? gow than by hurrying tho low lands; npd ho will repeat that mistake who fails to scouro a fai n hy purchase to day in Virginia b?cnnso he hopes to obtain ono under some futuro nef, of confiscation. f urge ybtl, poor men of Virginia, whoUicv White or Black, to secure yourselves homes o? your own forthwith. If you can buy theni here, do so, before tho coming influx of im^rV, gration shall have rendered land's too de ;r.'^ If not. striko off to thc Public Linds, Poule,, North and West, and how out for yovtr?c?vw homes as my allocators did in New Hamp. B1U>0, and as taillions have done thvough'd'ut tho country, liecome land owners, nil bf you, 80fiooiv as you may. Otfn something winch you can coll a home. It will give you n deep er feeling of independonoo ona bf RI.If respect nod do not walt to obtain a home by conf isya tion. [Applause.] ? Wollt'? says a Conservativo; " what [8t?K 8F.0OND l'AGK.T