Culture and Wine Making," by Peter B. Mead; "Grape Culture," by W. C. Strong; "The Culture of the Grape for Wine," by George Husmann; "The Grape-Vine," by Frederick Mohr; "Grape Culturist," by Andrew S. Fuller; "Small Fruit Culturist," by the same author; "American Pomology," by Dr. John A. Warder; "Gardening for Profit," by Peter Henderson; "Squashes: How to Grow Them," by James J. H. Gregory; "The Young Farmer's Manual," 2 volumes, by S. Edwards Todd-a work of great practical value to the young farmer; "The New Book of Flowers," by Joseph Breck; "Draining for Profit, and Draining for Health," by George E. Waring, Jr.; “Saunders's Domestic Poultry," new edition; and new editions of "Jacques' Manuals of the Barnyard, the Farm, and the Garden."

ALABAMA. The Legislature of this Southern State, which took a recess at the close of 1866, resumed its sessions on January 15, 1867. A message, relating chiefly to the finances of the State, was addressed by the Governor to both Houses. He stated that an extension of the time for payment had been obtained on State bonds amounting to $1,020,000, and the sum of $245,875, being interest, had been funded. He also said that liberal supplies for the destitute of the State for January and February ensuing had been obtained of the authorities at Washington.

The most important measures of the Legislature were of a local nature; some reports and resolutions expressive of their views on the state of public affairs were, however, adopted.

On January 17th the following preamble and resolution was passed in the House:

Whereas, Correspondents of public journals North and West, and speakers clerical and secular, are daily asserting that it is unsafe for persons recently in hostility to us to come among us, or to reside in our midst on account of threatened personal violence, greatly to the prejudice of our interests, and the speedy restoration of those friendly relations essential to the prosperity of the people, and to the quiet of the nation: Therefore,

Be it resolved, by the Senate, etc., That we hereby publish and declare all such assertions to be calumnies working great injustice and wrong to the people of Alabama, who are peaceable and law-abiding citizens actively engaged in the pursuits of trying to restore their shattered fortunes by

dustry, and are willing to receive, and earnestly invite all who are honest, industrious, and peaceable, and are desirous of establishing themselves as farmers, mechanics, or artisans amongst us, and to become citizens of our State, to assist in tilling our fertile lands.

At the same time, the following were adopted:

Whereas, The issue of the late unhappy war has changed the whole domestic economy of the country, etc., etc.

And whereas, With the termination of the war we desire to see terminate the jealousies and animosities between the different sections of our country, and to see restored individual and national good feeling and good-will, the prosperity of our section adding to the general prosperity of the whole.

And whereas, Persons in other portions of the country have the skilled labor and the capital, and by combining which it can be made greatly to our we have the lands, minerals, and natural resources, mutual benefit, and to the good of the whole nation: Therefore,

Be it resolved by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the State of Alabama in Geneand to accomplish these ends, we, in the name of ral Assembly convened, That in view of these facts, the people of Alabama, most cordially invite skilled labor and the capital from the world, and particularly from all parts of the United States, and pledge the hearty cooperation and support of the State.

Subsequently, on February 1st, the Committee on Federal Relations in the House, to whom had been referred joint resolutions memorializing the United States Congress to pass an act establishing a uniform system of bankruptcy, reported against the adoption of the resolutions. They say:

The committee are constrained to admit the necessity of the relief sought in the joint resolutions. The late civil war has exhausted the means and resources of the people. The destruction of their property has resulted in almost universal insolvency, and widespread devastation, want, and misery. It is nearly impossible that the present immense mass of indebtedness can ever be discharged under the exist ing system of labor, and in the ordinary course of events. These facts the committee are forced frankly to concede.

But, while we indulge in no feeling of disrespect toward the Federal Government, and acknowledge our allegiance thereto, and would be happy to become the recipients of relief that might constitutionof self-respect forbid the propriety of further obally emanate from that source, yet the promptings truding our appeals upon a Congress which refuses to recognize the State of Alabama for any purpose than that of taxation. These sentiments are not ex

pressed in a spirit of hostility. On the contrary, is a source of regret that Congress has assumed an attitude toward the State of Alabama totally incompatible with the mutual obligations of allegiance and protection.

The past action of that body, and the peculiar relations existing between it and the State of Alabama, afford no promise whatever that the memorial would even be respectfully entertained, much less that the prayer of the memorialists would be granted.

On February 15th a message was sent to each House by Governor Patton, communicating "an important document bearing upon the relations which Alabama sustains to the Union." It had been received from Washington, with a request that it should be submitted to the Legislature. The document was in its nature an application to Congress to propose certain amendments to the Constitution of the United States, coupled with a proposition to amend the constitution of the State of Alabama, and was as follows:

Whereas, It has been announced by persons high in authority that propositions from the Southern States, having in view the adjustment of our present political troubles, would be received and considered, etc. etc. Therefore,

Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Alabama, That the Congress of the United States be requested to propose to the Legislatures of the several States the following amendments to the Constitution of the United States:

ARTICLE 14.-Sec. 1. No State, under the Consti

tution, has a right, of its own will, to renounce its own place in, or to withdraw from the Union. Nor has the Federal Government any right to eject a State from the Union, or to deprive it of its equal suffrage in the Senate, or of representation in the House of Representatives.

The Union, under the Constitution, shall be perpetual.

Sec. 2. The public debt of the United States, authorized by law, shall ever be held sacred and inviolate. But neither the United States, nor any State, shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the Government or authority of the United States.

Sec. 3. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States, and of the States in which they reside; and the citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens of the several States. No State shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the

laws.

Sec. 4. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when any State shall, on account of race or color, or previous condition of servitude, deny the exercise of the elective franchise at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President

of the United States, Representatives in Congress, members of the Legislature, and other officers elected by the people, to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, then the entire class of persons so excluded from the exercise of the elective franchise shall not be counted in the basis of representation; and

Whereas, etc., etc. Be it further resolved by the Legislature of Alabama, That the following article shall be adopted as an amendment to, and become a part of, the constitution of the State of Alabama:

ARTICLE. Every male citizen who has resided in this State for one year, and, in the county in which he offers to vote, six months, immediately preceding the day of election, and who can read the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution of the United States, in the English language, and write his name, or who may be the owner of $250 worth of taxable property, shall be entitled to vote at all elections for the Governor of the State, and members of the Legislature, and all other officers, the election of whom may be by the people of the State. Provided, That no person, by reason of this article, shall be excluded from voting, who has heretofore exercised the elective franchise, under the constitution and laws of this State; or who, at the time of the adoption of this amendment, may be entitled to vote under said constitution and laws.

In each House, the message and document were referred to the Committee on Federal Relations. This committee in the Lower House reported on February 18th that they entertained high respect for the eminent authority from whom the proposition emanated, and had given the subject the serious and calm consideration which its importance demanded; and while they stood ready to compromise the unfortunate differences existing between the Federal and State Governments upon equitable and constitutional principles, and were willing to yield all that should be demanded of an honorable people, yet they were unable to perceive any sound and valid reason why the General As

sembly should submit the proposition to Congress. Believing it to be inexpedient for the General Assembly to act in reference to either of the propositions, they recommended that no further action should be taken. The report was unanimously concurred in. Resolutions strongly but respectfully in opposition to the proposition were adopted in the Senate-Yeas 14, nays 4. On February 19th the Legislature adjourned.

On March 4th a convention of persons who professed to have been Union men through the war, from various counties of the State, was held at Huntsville, and a series of resolutions adopted, declaring that the Federal Congress was the constitutional power to control, check, and direct all executive and ministerial officers of the Government, and the constituted authority for the protection of life, liberty, and property, etc., etc. The act of Congress passed March 2d, known as the First Reconstruction Act (see PUBLIC DOCUMENTS), had gone into effect. It constituted the States of Alabama, Florida, and Georgia, as the Third Military District of the five into which the ten Southern States were divided. By an order of the President, issued March 15th, Major-General John Pope was assigned to the command of this district. It was the second in area of the five districts-the fifth, consisting of Louisiana and Texas, was somewhat larger. The extent of territory embraced by these three States is about one hundred and sixty-eight thousand square miles, with a population, according to the census of 1860, of two millions one hundred and sixty-one thousand nine hundred and twelve. Of this number, nine hundred and fifty-nine thousand were slaves in 1860.

The sentiment, at this time, of that portion of the people who had been actively engaged in the war, is thus expressed by one of their local newspapers: "The Southern people are perfectly reconciled to their situation, and anxious to submit in good faith to the stern logic of events, although those events could hardly justify the consequences now forced upon them. They will turn to him (General Pope) in a spirit of confidence, and seek in his authority the protection which they are now unable to afford to themselves and to their families. All we ask of him is justice, and that he should, by a prompt registration of the voters, put an end to the agitation resulting from our unsettled condition of affairs--an agitation which bad men are turning to account for the furtherance of their own selfish views, and the disgrace of the whole land generally."

On March 25th the Union men of Montgomery held a public meeting, and adopted resolutions declaring it to be the duty of all good citizens to carry out with earnestness and harmony the requirements of the Reconstruction Act; also, to cast their suffrages for men well known to have at heart the integrity of the United States, and the vitality of all its powers, and extending a cordial welcome to all men to

VII. The commanding officer of each district will give public notice when and where the registers will commence the registration, which notice will be kept public by the registers in each district during the whole time occupied in registration.

VIII. Interference by violence, or threats of violence, or other oppressive means to prevent the registration of any voter, is positively prohibited, and any person guilty of such interference shall be arrested and tried by the military authorities. By command of

Official:

Brevet Major-General JOHN POPE.

J. F. CONYNGHAM, 1st Lieut. U. S. Inf., A. A. G. The persons excluded from the right of suffrage in the elections for members to a State convention to form a new constitution according to the Act of Reconstruction, and its first supplement, at this period of time in force, were: 1. All persons who had been, prior to the war, members of Congress or officers of the United States, and who afterward participated in the war against the Federal Government. 2. All persons who, previous to the war, filled positions or exercised functions in the executive, legislative, or judicial department of any State, and who, in such capacity, took an oath to support the Union, and afterward aided or participated in the war against the Federal Gov

ernment.

On the other hand, all persons admitted to have such right of suffrage were designated as follows: 1. None were excluded by reason of having accepted any office under the Confederate States, or served in their army, if not included in the two above-mentioned exceptions. Thus Senators, Representatives, military or naval officers of the Confederate States, as such, were not excluded. 2. Attorneys-at-law, sheriffs, clerks of State courts, members of city boards, and municipal officers, were not excluded, because they were not, as such, required to subscribe to an oath of allegiance to the Federal Government. 3. No individual who, when the war broke out, had not reached the age of twenty-one years, was excluded from the electoral franchise, no matter what part he took in that war. 4. Officers of the State militia

were not excluded.

Subsequently, on June 21st, General Pope issued special instructions to the boards of registers, which declared that clerks and reporters of the Supreme Court and inferior courts, and clerks to ordinary county courts, treasurers, county surveyors, receivers of tax returns, taxcollectors, tax-receivers, sheriffs, justices of the peace, coroners, mayors, recorders, aldermen, councilmen of any incorporated city or town, who are ex-officers of the Confederacy, and who, previous to the war, occupied these offices, and afterward participated in the war, were all disqualified and not entitled to registration.

On June 20th the War Department at Washington issued instructions to commanders of the five military districts relative to their powers and duties. (See UNITED STATES.)

Public meetings now began to be held by the freedmen to appoint delegates to a State con

vention at Mobile on May 1st. At Opelika a body of some three hundred assembled from the adjacent country to take into consideration the propriety of sending delegates to the convention. At their invitation, Colonel Swearingen made an address explaining to them fully their new relations toward the white inhabitants. He said their interests were identical, and they should be united in a common effort to promote the welfare and prosperity of the State. Upon its political and social prosperity depended the welfare of the freedmen. Several freedmen subsequently spoke, one of whom told those present that they were yet in their infancy so far as freedom was concerned. As they were ignorant of the real object of the convention at Mobile, it behooved them to be cautious what steps were taken toward sending delegates. They had much to learn yet, and were liable to be misled by evil and designing men.

In other towns freedmen's meetings were also held, but the numbers in attendance were generally small. In Mobile, on April 17th, in the evening, a meeting of the freedmen was held. The chairman, W. W. D. Turner, on taking his seat, addressed the meeting. The substance of his remarks was of a general nature:

That it would seem as if they were in an auction establishment; they were up to be knocked down to the highest bidder; they knew their rights, and would call upon the law to defend them in the exercise of those rights; they supported and were a portion of the Republican Radical party, and if the Southern party that would meet on Friday night would offer them better terms than the former they would go and join it. The speaker then alluded to the late case respecting the colored people riding in the cars, and claimed that it was their inalienable and undeniable right to ride in those cars under the law of the land. It was a contest between the prejudices of the people and the Civil Rights Bill, and the latter must overcome the former.

The colored people claimed to have a knowledge of their rights as citizens; they were fools as scholars, but they had been well instructed in their rights. ballot-box, but claimed also the right to sit in the They meant, not only to enjoy the privileges of the jury box when the lives or liberties of their mothers, daughters, wives, and sisters were at stake. Although the colored people were no scholars, they were not going to send any fools to represent them-either at Montgomery or in Congress. Three-fourths of the white men of Alabama were very ignorant. At the salt-works, at which he was employed as a slave during the war, there were three white men, not one of whom could read or write his own name, and he, a read and answer all the letters that his master would slave, had to do all the work for them, and had to send from England to his overseer. The reason he mentioned this was because he wished to show that the mass of ignorant white men who had voted heretofore have not sent ignorant numskulls to Congress, and neither would the colored people.

They had not the educated men among themselves to send, but they would send representatives from among their white friends who were to be depended upon, and who had the ability and the will to look after their interests, and in the mean time they would educate their own people up to the proper point.

A prominent government official had told him that the negroes did not owe their enfranchisement to

Abraham Lincoln; that they did not owe it to Congress or to the Northern abolitionists, but that they owed it to the fact that it was inflicted as a punishment on the people of the South for its rebellion. This same official had asked for the negro vote on the ground of being an old soldier. Now, he would say to this official that if the negro was not indebted to Congress, the abolitionists, or Abraham Lincoln, neither were they indebted to the old soldier, and they could not vote for him, as he was one of those who held that enfranchisement was one of the worst things that ever happened to the negro race and to the South; some people held that they were little better than monkeys; now, whether they were monkeys or men, they knew who their friends were, and they would never elevate to power their enemiesthe men who held their enfranchisement to be a mistake.

The resolutions adopted by the meeting were as follows:

Whereas, In the present disorganized condition of the Southern States, and more especially of the State of Alabama, it behooves every citizen who loves liberty, law and order, and peace, and tranquillity of society, to interest himself and to use his every effort to the accomplishment of the work of reorganization: Therefore,

Be it resolved by the Union men of Mobile in mass meeting assembled, That our everlasting thanks are due the Thirty-ninth Congress of the United States for its untiring efforts in the passage of such reconstruction measures as it has in its wisdom seen prop

er to enact.

2. Resolved, That as Republican Union men we will maintain the principles of the great Republican party in the support of the best interests of the common country, and to the end that peace, harmony, and prosperity may again be fully restored to the nation. 3. Resolved, That in Generals Pope and Swayne we have the utmost confidence, and that we fully indorse their action thus far in the work of reconstruction, and hopefully trust that the result of their labor in the great and arduous duties imposed on them as military rulers over the people will result in a satisfactory success.

4. Resolved, That we believe that the present condition of the country requires that every Union man should ally himself to the great Republican party; that it having been chief in the salvation of the country, we may properly look to it for the country's protection.

5. Resolved, That we recognize no distinctions, either political or civil, existing either in law or fact, made or to be made on account of race, color, or previous condition, including the rights of suffrage, holding any office within the gift of the people and of sitting in the jury-box.

So much disturbance grew out of the attempt of the colored people at this time to ride in the street railroad cars, that the municipal authorities of Mobile called the attention of the commandant of the Freedmen's Bureau to the dispute. In advance of any decision of the question by competent legal or military authority, and in the absence of instructions, he advised the freedmen to abstain from any action tending to produce riot or commotion dangerous to the peace or security of the city; he advised them to seek legal redress whenever prevented from riding. Suits were subsequently commenced against the president of the railroad company in the Federal Commissioners' Court, which required him to appear before the United States Circuit Court.

On April 19th a general meeting of the citimeasures of reconstruction. Among the vicezens of Mobile was held relative to the new presidents were men of all classes and color— as civil judges, bishops, clergy, physicians, citizens, etc., etc., of whom five were colored men. The resolutions adopted were as follows:

Whereas, The Congress of the United States has passed an act known as the military bill and an act supplemental thereto, which provide for the division of the ten Southern States into five military districts; and

Whereas, Major-General John Pope has been assigned to the command of the Third District, of which Alabama forms a part, and said major-general in assuming command has issued his "General Order No. 1," in which he continues Major-General Swayne in command of the Sub-District of Alabama, and further orders that the civil officers now in authority should not be disturbed in the discharge of the duties pertaining to their offices so long as they continue so to administer the laws as to secure to each individual his rights of person and property; Therefore, Resolved, Without expressing any opinion as to the legislation referred to in the foregoing preamble, we hereby manifest our gratification at the spirit of moderation which the major-general commanding the Third District brings to the discharge of the responsible duties and to the exercise of the great powers committed to him; and that we feel called upon to meet him in a like spirit and hereby to express to him our purpose to throw no obstacle in the path of his official duties, but that in all that tends to a genuine desire for the restoration of the Union under the Constitution, including all the States, we pledge ourselves to a most earnest and cordial cooperation.

fied to register and vote under the provisions of the Resolved, That we recommend to all who are qualilaw, to do so as early as convenient after the opportunity is offered for that purpose, and to scrupulously abstain from any act which might be construed into a disposition to hinder or disturb any other person in the discharge of any duty or the exercise of any privilege conferred by law.

Resolved, That we shall so demean ourselves as a people, that it shall not be our fault if, pending the efforts at reconstruction under existing laws, the civil officers of the State are disturbed in the exercise of their public functions.

Resolved, That we find nothing in the changed political condition of the white and black races in the South that ought to disturb the harmonious relations between them; that we are ready to accord to the latter every right and privilege to which they are entitled under the laws of the land; that we sincerely desire their prosperity and their improvement in all the moral and intellectual qualities that are necessary to make them useful members of society; that we are their friends, both from gratitude for their fidelity in the past-in war as well as in peace-and because our interests in the future are inseparably connected with their well-being.

The mayor of the city (Withers) said he had heard the resolution, and it commanded his confidence and respect, and would receive his support. Whatever in the past were the struggles, the differences, and the sufferings, and whatever in the present the endurance and the suffering, those resolutions should be sustained. They were a conquered people; they had cast their liberty, their all, upon the die of battle and had lost, and would be recreant to their manhood if they failed to face the position. Let them expatriate themselves, or