enlarged provisions, and an additional number of officials. This act essentially increased the powers of the Secretary of War on this subject, and designedly placed the Bureau mainly beyond the control of the President. Besides the expense occasioned by its calls upon, and use of the army and its machinery, this Bureau costs the Government, directly in money, from twelve to fifteen millions a year, much of which is squandered and wasted without any benefit to the negroes or the United States. From the highest to the lowest positions, it is mainly in unsuitable hands as (reliable. reports and the facts show), most of whom have little chance of thrift, except in cheating, whether the loss falls upon the Government or the negroes. The energies of a large portion of these agents are directed to two points-obtaining money for themselves, and making political capital for the Republican party. This last act, by its own limitation, expires on the 16th of July, 1868. But, as a political engine, it has been found so useful to the Republican party, and, as a means of money-getting, so successful in the hands of those selected to execute it, that it is almost certain to be extended.

In this Bureau, now almost exclusively a political machine, we see absorbed as much money, annually, as the whole Government cost but a few years since, exclusive of the public debt, and not one dollar of it authorized by the Constitution. It is claimed that the support of the negroes became a "necessity" after they were emancipated. This assumed necessity cannot confer constitutional power, but it proves that the emancipation was not made in a suitable and proper manner. If it had been wisely accomplished, as in New York, it would not have produced any such case of necessity. Congress could properly propose amendments to the Constitution prohibiting slavery, but neither they nor the Executive, nor both, could constitutionally do any act that could create any such necessity. If any thing done by the Government, in fact, produced such necessity, that fact proves the wrongfulness of what it did. The fault is with those who produced and continued a state of things occasioning such consequences. The responsibility rests with them, and cannot be lawfully thrown upon the Treasury. The negroes did not bring their sufferings upon themselves. But some

body did it. It was not their former owners, for they were opposed to their emancipation. It was not the Democrats, whose plan was gradual emancipation, as fast as the negroes acquired knowledge, experience, and education, qualifying them for the change and its consequences. Such an amendment of the Constitution would have been quite as readily adopted by the slave States as the one which they were required to approve, as a condition of restoration. It follows that the responsibility of producing this case of necessity—this real wrong to the negroes, rests exclusively with the Republican party, who in fact occasioned it. It may be asked, "Would you let the negroes perish for want of food, clothing, etc., even if the fault of their condition rested with the Republicans?" Certainly not. When this Freedmen's Bureau Law was passed, there were valid laws in existence in every State, made by the people of the States, fully sufficient for all needful purposes. The States were not only willing to take care of the negroes within them, but among those where attachments had existed, as was very often the case, they could have found remunerative employment. If the States had been compelled to support them without their working, they could have done so for little more than what the officials of the Bureau now cost the Federal Government. The only legal emancipation was by the acts of these States, and if the consequences even bore heavily upon them, they could not complain, and would not have done so. But when among their old friends, who treated them far better than these Bureau officials do, the negroes would have worked contentedly and lived in comparative happiness, without being any considerable burden upon anybody. But Congress had its own policy, which involved the ignoring of the States and keeping them out of the Union until they could be brought in as conquered provinces and Republican States, and this involved the withdrawal of the negroes from the influence of their former owners, creating a feeling of enmity and hatred between the white and the black race, giving the right of suffrage to the latter, and establishing agencies among them that would secure their confidence and induce them to vote only for Republicans. To secure these objects, Congress was willing to compel the white people of all the States to pay whatever

it might cost. There was never any necessity for this Bureau, except that created by the Republican party, which was entirely political. The negroes, if let alone by these politicians, would have stayed where they had lived, been treated kindly, worked willingly, and have done much toward supporting themselves, leaving the local authorities, as in other States, to provide for those who could not take care of themselves, and who had no relatives able to aid them. This course would have rendered the change in the labor system at the South less injurious to the people, and would have increased and cheapened Southern products in Northern markets. Both races, and everybody except Republican politicians, would have been happier, and all the disastrous effects of the war would have soon disappeared. But the political necessities of the Republican party have caused things to assume the worst possible attitude at the South, with no possible benefit to any human being, either North or South, except Republican politicians.

Since the above was written, a bill has been reported, and will doubtless pass Congress, continuing this Bureau for one year from the 16th of July next. This will give the Republican party an opportunity to employ it in aid of the next election. It will dispense much money, but far more politics. Ten or fifteen millions of dollars skilfully applied will contribute much to influence the result. By the bill extending the life of this Bureau, the whole power over it seems to be taken from the President and placed in the hands of the Secretary of War, whose willingness and capacity to pervert the powers and duties of that office to political purposes cannot be questioned by those knowing how they were prostituted in 1864 for the reëlection of Mr. Lincoln and a Republican Congress.

120.-MISTAKES OF THE AMERICAN CLERGY.

Clergymen, devoted to the worship of the living God, and to the instruction of the Christian religion, are beloved and cherished by the good, and command the respect of all. It is when they step aside from their duties, and in the name, or under the pretence of both, and engage in other matters and teach other

subjects, that criticism commences. In many countries the church establishment forms a part of the government machine, and very naturally sings its praises, without much regard to the character and object of those engaged in its management. Where religion is supported at the expense of the Government, it naturally partakes of its character and its defects, as far as they exist. That religion is most pure and beneficial which relies upon its own worth, and the charm of its every-day life for its support, and influence, unaided by collateral, selfish, or worldly considerations.

Those clergymen who worship and adore God in words of truth and sincerity, springing spontaneously from the heart, and not from the motives of worldly interest, who truly humble, and do not slander themselves in words which they would resent if spoken by another; who really present the Christian religion in a language and in a manner calculated to charm from its pure loveliness, and paint vice in its true colors, so that men instinctively embrace the one and detest the other; who show how virtue and true religion exalt man, and vice sinks and degrades him, so that, when the services are closed, we resolve to cling to the good and avoid the bad-will never be without hearers or support, or fail to command universal respect and esteem for the real good they do mankind. A clergyman should so paint goodness as to charm all who see the picture, and make them resolve to become really good. Vice should be so exhibited as to provoke disgust and abhorrence, and induce mankind to avoid it. Subjects of illustration are daily found in the streets. Sermons that do not so present virtue that we naturally love it, and vice so that we instinctively detest it, always fail in producing any useful effect. It is implanted in the heart of man to admire what is pure and lovely, and to loath and detest what is the reverse; and with this thought in mind, the clergy should present the Christian religion, leaving out all those imaginary matters often heard, which prove a destructive alloy to pure religion. Mankind do not divide on what we bave said; but, upon political and all outside questions, they ever have and ever will; and, upon all such as men differ, a wise teacher of the Christian religion will take sides with neither. If his commission is from God, he will find no authority in it for his

doing so. He is employed to teach religion, and not politics or other irrelevant matters. His whole congregation will agree upon the truth and importance of vital religion, while they disagree about every thing else.

Have the clergy confined themselves to their duties as above indicated? The answer must be no, as to most of them. The Republicans in Congress have called upon them to become political partisans, and they promptly respond to the call, and are responsible for many of the grievous afflictions that weigh down our country. They are now following in the footsteps of those who contributed to arouse the spirit of secession and disunion during Mr. Jefferson's time and the War of 1812. They are obedient to the call of the politicians, as the following will show:

In 1854, when Mr. Douglas reported his Kansas-and-Nebraska Bill, Senators Chase of Ohio, Sumner of Massachusetts, and Messrs. Wade and Giddings of Ohio, Smith of, New York, and De Witt of Massachusetts, issued an appeal, in which they said: "We implore Christians and Christian ministers to interpose. Their divine religion requires them to behold in every man a brother, and to labor for the advancement and regeneration of the human race. Let all protest, earnestly and emphatically, by correspondence and through the press, by memorials and resolutions of public meetings and legislative bodies, and in whatever mode may seem expedient, against this enormous crime."

This appeal was sent to the clergymen of New England and elsewhere, with a circular, which was signed by Charles Lowell, Lyman Beecher, Baron Stowe, and Sebastian Streeter, a committee of clergymen in Boston, dated February 22, 1854, in which it was stated: "It is hoped that every one of you will append your names to it [a protest], and thus furnish to the nation and the age the sublime and influential spectacle of the great Christian body of the North united as one man in favor of freedom and of solemn plighted faith. . . .

"If you have already, either as a private Christian, or as a clergyman, signed any similar document, please to sign this also, as it is earnestly desired to embrace in this movement the clerical voice of New England. . . .