Savannah daily herald. (Savannah, Ga.) 1865-1866, March 30, 1865, Image 2

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The Savannah Daily Herald. BY 8. W. MASON AND CO. SAVANNAH. THURSDAY, MARCH 30, ls».| Interesting Reading in an Odd Plage.— Ask a man who lias a spare hour or two if time to kill, and who is resolved to call in literary aid to assist him in the murder, what author will he choose as his accomplice—what hook he will select to help him while the weary minutes away, and, according to his individual taste,ever}' man will make his own characteristic answer. A man of the “dead ly-lively” style, will choose one of the old authors of fiction, and signify a preference lor the “Children in the Abbey,” “Alonzoand Melissa - ’ the “Mysteries of Udojpho;” the “Scottish Chiefs,” or perhaps “Thaddeus, of Warsaw.” The gentleman of a dramatic turn of mind would call for his quarto Shakespeare, or his fat old volume of “rare Ben Jenson,” or perhaps his turkey-bound editon of “Baumont and Fletcher,”or evenhe might have a taste for the works of some of our modern dramatists, and display a prefer ence for Tom Taylor, or Dion Boucieault. The individual of poetic fancies would de mand his Byron, or his Tom Moore, or call for his blue and gold edition of Tom Hood, Tennyson,or Leigh Hum—or, if he felt an ad miration for those in the female poetry line, he might choose to liiniselt Mrs. Brown ing, Mrs. Heliums, or possibly Miss Amelia B. Welby or Miss Phcrbe Cary. The lover of the metaphysical would for Kant, or Car lyle, or Emerson. He who could delight in tlie unutterably filthy, w ould, of course se lect Walt. Whitman's “ Leaves of Grass.”— There would he many true-hearted lovers of Charles Lamb, w’hile of the many dishes the more modern school of Novelists set before us, there would be many partakers, and Dickens, Thackeray,Reade, Kingsley,Collins Trollope, Sala, Miss Mulock, Miss Evans, Harriet Prescott, Mrs. Stowe, Hawthorne, Curtis and Mitchell would all find their many and eager admirers—in fact, every novel writer of every degree of merit, from Walter Scott, down through the grades of Cooper, Marryatt, Reynolds, James, to Mr. the Hon orable Sir Sylvanus Cobb, and His Tarry Highness Commander “Ned Buntline,” would all have their advocates. But, of all the crowd thus seeking an hour’s literary entertainment, we ll venture to say that uot a single one would think of peering into a volume which is, to us, a nev er-failing source of delightful interest, and that noble volume is— the Dictionary. Most of our friends only know this portly quarto as reservoir of definitions—they refer to it only to find occasionally the meaning of a word, with a once-in-a-great-w r hile re ference to its orthography or pronunciation ; but, we have no hesitation in asserting that not one in nine hundred and ninety-one of the persons who look into the Dictionary ever suspect the half of the most interesting matter for information, consultation and re flection which is to bo found in the back part of-the Dictionary. True, there are no fairy tales of wonder, there are no brilliant descriptions of travel or biography, but there is material by the cord for instruction. A studious or thought ful man will) find many things of exceeding value iu (he back part of the Dictionary. Are you je ngaged in reading legitimate Ancient History, or in conning over the fas cinating pages of the more illegitimate ancient mythology, and you there find mention of Kiugs,rtiilosophers and Sages, whosenames seem unpronounceable, for information as to the “how” of the pronunciation, st >e the hack part of the Dictionary. Aie you puzzled about the proper accent of any Geographical names. See the bark part of the Dictionary. Iu your dailyj perusal of your Bible you will find you can read much mere intelligibly il you arc able to pronounce the Scriptural names with correctness—and for the rules a PP ] y to the bad- part of the Dictionary. And so with the names of all distinguished men of Ancient or Modern times—Poets, Dramatists, Orators, Actors. Writers, Essay ists, Generals, Painters, Singers,'Composers, Statesmen, Soldiers, Stoics, Martyrs, Ty rants, whether they be Greek, Hebrew, Lat in, Spartan, Abysinian, French, Spanish, English, Kamschatkian, Bengalee, Indian, Siamese, Yankee, Yorkshire, Yahoo, Heath en, Dohomeyan, Laplandie, Swedish, Ethio pian or Australian ; you will find them all laid down, properly classified, spelled and accented, iu the back part of the dictionary. All the abbreviations known to all written languages, all the elision, and every con traction and alter at iou of word or syllable, may be learned from the back part of the die. tionarlfT Would you learn all those mysterious As tronpmical signs aud symbols which render certain parts of the Almanach sealed myste ry to most people, look for the key to t hese strange hieroglyphics in the bad part of the dictionary. All Botanical, Chemical, Medical, Com mercial, Grammatical, Mathematical, Typo graphical and Miscellaneous Signs ahd fig ures are fully explained iu the bad part of the dictionary. For a| full exposition and explanation of the whole philosophy of the two systems of Roman [and Arabic notation and numera tion, tvitk all the figures pertaining to the same, see the back part of the dictionary. Would you learn the whole mystic art of Proof Reading, without master, you may do so with no other teacher than that dufnb instructor, the. last /ngt* of the dictionary. All the many phy&*es borrowed from the French, Latin, Italian and eveiy other imag inable language, which certain writers have a habit of thickly interspersing among their English sentences, may be literally translat ed ; and a judicious man may even impose himself upon many as a classical scholar and an accomplished linguist, simply by thor oughly mastering the few last pwjes of the dictionary. There you can learn many other things well worth knowing, and from thence you may extract many an hour of most interest reading. There you may read that “Jam Satis" means that this article is long enough ; and there you may also team that “Vale” signi fies| Vareurell. Savannah Tiibatre.— The bill for last evening was rich, varied and attractive, and notwithstanding the unfavorable weather, a fair bouse was in attendance. “Naval En gagements,” and “The Young Widow,” were presented in a very creditable manner, the audience testifying its approval in frequent applause. Mr. Davenport and Miss Lafond appeared in both pieces. The songs of Messrs. Scott and Ryman were pleasing and effective, and their burlesque act, concluding the bill, was a good hit. These gentlemen have proved, as we predicted, no small ac quisition to the Savannah Theatre. The Fishermen on a Strike.— The fish ermen who supply our market are feeling much aggrieved by the late order of the Pro vost Marshal, establishing prices for their commodity. They declare that, though they have plenty of fish, they will not sell them at the prices set down in the Price-List. This looks fishy. The Market.— The new schedule of prices adopted, seems to give general satisfaction. The country people are well pleased and glad to get rid of forestallers. They desire to negotiate directly with our citizens and not be trnmelled in so doing- First and Shcond Provost Courts —A number of eases involving rent and claim were disposed of yesterday. The following is a description of the first CiEsar by the second Napoleon, copied from the great work of the Emperor, recently published: To these natural gifts, developed by a bril liant education, were joined physical ad vantages. His lofty staturo, and ‘liis finely moulded and well-proportioned limbs, im parted to his person a grace which distin guished him from all others. His eyes were dark, his glance penetrating, his complexion colorless, and his noso straight and some what thick. His mouth was Bmall and reg ular, and the lips, rather full gave to the low er part of his face an expression of kindli ness, while his breadth of forehead indicated the development of the intellectual faculties. His face was full, at least in his youth; but in the busts which were made toward the close of his life, his features are thinner, and bear the traces of fatigue. His voice was sonorous and vibratic; his gesture noble, and an air of dignity pervaded his whole per son. His constitution, which at first was delicate, grew robust by sober living, and by his habit of exposing himself to the inclem ency of the weather. Accustomed from youth to manly exercise, he was a bold horseman, and lie supported with ease privations and fatigues. Habitu ally abstemious, his health was not weaken ened by excess of labor, nor by excess of pleasure. Nevertheless, on two occasions, once at Cordova and then atThapsus, he had a nervous attack, which was erroneously thought to epilepsy. He paid particu lar attention to his person,shaving with care, or had the hairs plucked out ; he brought forward artistically his hair to the front of head, and this iu his more advanced age served to conceal his baldness. He was re pioached with the affection ot scratching his head with only oue finger for fear of derang ing his hair. His dress was arranged with exquisite taste. His gowu was generally bordered with the laticlam, ornamented with fringes to the bands, and was bound round bis loins by a sash loosely knotted—a fashion which distinguished the elegant aud effemi nate*vouth of the period. RtU Sylla was not deceived by this show of trivolity, and he was wont to recommend that the people should have an eye on that young man with the flowing sash. He had a taste for pictures, statues and gems; and he always wore on his finger, in memoiy of his origin, a ling on which was engraved the figure of au armed Venus.* To sum up, there were found in C'tvsar, physically aud moral ly. two features wliich are rarely combined in the same person, He joiued aristocratic iastidiousness of person to the vigorous tem perament ot the soldier; the graces of mind to the profundity of thought; the love ol luxury and of the arts to a passion for mili tary life in all its simplicity and rudeness. In a word, he joined the elegance of manner an hicli seduces, to the energy of character winch commands. Such was Ctesar at the age of 18, when Sylla possessed himself of the Dictatorship. Ho had already attracted the attention of the Romans by his name, his wit, his engaging manners, which were so pleasing to men, and, still more so, per haps to women. Secretary McCulloch has determined to sell the captured cotton at auction in New lor greenbacks. It is supposed that this settles the disposition of cotton aud oth er commodities which may be captured hereafter by our armies in the South. Qukkn Victoria has sent an Envoy Extra ordinary to Maximilian with full nnd hearty recognition of the Empire of Mexico. Mr. Parrot, inventor of the ifenous Parrot gun, is dangerously sick at West Point. 0,1 the authority of the K hSK, “ M - TUs wa! £ [For the Savannah Daily Herald.] THE NEW SECRETARY OP THE TREASURY. Third. Paper, USURY. After recommending that the penalty for usury be a forfeiture of the interest instead of a forfeiture of the debt, on which more than the legal rate is taken, and that the banks in the large commercial cities be re lieved in certain contingencies from all pen alties for usury, Mr. McCulloch says: Few questions have been more frequently and thoroughly discussed, or in relation to which there has been a greater difference of opinion among intelligent men, than the question of usury. Much of this difference of opinion has arisen from the fact that men have viewed it from different stand points. The opinion of one who has lived in Ger many or England, where capital is abundant and no usury laws have existed for years, will, of course, be very different from that of one who has lived in Minnesota or California, and noticed the evils which have resulted trom the high rates which money lias com manded in those States. Mr. McCulloch has here suggested a very important and equitable modification of the law, i. e., that no higher penalty than a for feiture of the interest, instead of a forfeiture of the debt on which more thau the legal rate of interest is taken. That the banks in the ftrge commercial cities should be relieved of these penalties, will meet with the concurrence of all sound thinkers on the subject, there can be no doubt. The whole of this extract abounds in sound doctrine with some qualification. It may be true that the usury laws have some restrain ing influence on lenders. The position can not be sustained, however, that because coin ed money is the creature of law, and that gold and silver are not money until coined, and made such by the authority of the govern ment, it has that fixeduess, or invariability of value that would justify a maximum rate of interest for its use. Mr. McCulloch says “that money is not like merchandise or other personal property, the result of man’s indus tary, but a ereation of the government, and government that fixes the value that shall be placed upon it, has a right to say what shall be charged for the use of it. If this were true it would take money out of the category of articles subject to the laws ot demand and supply. Now money under certain cir cumstances is merchandise. If the govern ment should deface the coin or it has suffered deterioration from wear and tear; or a paper currency should be issued in such excess as to become depreciated—money becomes a commodity—an article of merchandise. But while Mr. McCulloch was on this branch of his subject we are surprised he did not recommend a uniform rate of inter est as regards all public securities. Uniform ity here is as necessary as uniformity in re lation to the whole country. The Federal securities bear various rates of interest, some of them five, and others six and others again seven and three-tenths per cent, per annum. The British Government corrected this di versity in the rates of interest borne by her stocks. They reduce, with a few unimpor tant exceptions, the whole of their public debt to one uniform rate of three per cent, per annum, in the consolidation of that debt. This has greatly contributed to the simplifi cation of the pubUc accounts, and the large financial . experience of that government merits attention on such a subject . The hol ders of the British debt were reimbursed for a reduction in the rate of interest by an in crease of the principal. The Eug'.ish law has been modified to meet the more enlight ened state of opinion as regards usury. The Bank of England is permitted to raise or lower the rate of interest on sixty day bills according to circumstances. An unfavora ble state of Foreign Exchange, from what ever cause produced, leads*- to an export of gold, and may place in jeopardy the safety of the institution. The Bank has only to raise the rate of discount on bills to cheek a drain or the tendency to a drain, and to re strain speculation, as it was merely to lower the rate of discount when its treasure be comes, inconveniently large, and Jthere is a plethora of money. MONEY AND ITS VALUE. Notwithstanding the fact that money is tire standard of value, it is not free from the operations of the great, regulating law of supply and demand. Where money is abun dant it is cheap, where scarce it is dear; aud no legislation has been able to control the effect of this general law. There is no ne cessity for usury laws in most of the States at the present time, because money is abun dant and leaders arc plenty, aud borrowers are scarce. When the war is over, aud busi ness goes back again to its accustomed chan nels, and the disbursements of the govern ment are largely curtailed, borrowers will be plenty and lenders scarce. Because usury laws are not needed now, it does not follow that they will not be required at no very dis tant day, nor does it follow because legisla tion has not been able absolutely to regulate the value of the use of money, and because all usury laws are frequently eVUcled, that, therefore, these laws are inefficacious and unwise. Usury laws, no matter how much they have been evaded, haw had the effect of preventing, to some extent, excessive charges on loaus of money. There is scarce ly a banker or money lender in the country who has uot often been restrained in his charges for the money lie has loaned bv the usury laws which have been in force In all countries, in which there is not a superabundance of capital, usurv laws have been fouud necessary to protect those whose interest it is to borrow money against excessive charges for it bv those who have it to lend, and the experience or the nations is not to be disregarded Money, whether it be in the form of the pre cious metals or of bank notes, is created by lavs. Gold and Buver aie not money until coined and made such by the authority of the government. It is not, like merchandise or other personal property, the result of man’s industry, but a creation of the government, and government, which fixes the value that shall be placed on it. has the right to say, and it is its duty to say, what shall be charged tor the use of it. Os course solvent bank notes, whether issued, by national or State authority, depend for their value as money upon the value of the coin of the United States. The only question, then, which it is necessary to consider in this connection is, what penalty shall be attached to violations of usury laws. On this point I am of the opinion that while the penalty should be such as will protect the borrower from oppression, it should not be of such a character as to tempt too strongly his honor, or to compil both the lender and borrower to resort to shifts for the evasion, which make money dearer to the latter than it otherwise would be. The laws of those States that make void all usurious contracts, even in the hands of innocent parties, and punish usury as h crime, arc impolitic and unwise; those laws that make valid contracts for any rates of inter est whicli may be agreed upon are scarcely less so. [From the Louisville Union Press.] Rebel Unanimity. —Gov. Brown, of Geor gia, is perhaps the most disgusted man in the Confederacy. At any rate lie makes the most parade of his disgust. His late mes sage shows how great a unanimity was ac complished through the reaction of the peace negotiation failure. It will be remembered that the grandest resuttsof unity anti match less devotion to the cause, were predicted from that failure, by the high-fliers in Rich mond and elsewhere in rebelddm. But Governor Brown for one lias not been very seriously unitized by it. He says: Our government is a military despotism, drifting into anarchy, and if the present poli cy is persisted in it must terminate in recon struction with or without subjugation. Governor Brown states that he is utterly opposed to both; but if lie favored either lie would give his earnest support to the policy of the President, as the surest mode of dimin ishing our armies, exhausting our resources, and breaking the spirit of our people, and driving them in despair to seek refuge from, worse tyranny by placing themselves under a government they loathe and detest. He opposes the arming of the slaves,* be lie.ving them to be more valuable as agricul tural laborers than they could be as soldiers. They do not wish to go into the army, and the principal restraint now upon them is the fear that if they leave, the enemy will make them tight. Compel them to take up arms, and they will desert by thousands. Whatever may be our opinion of their nor mal condition or interests, we cannot expect them to perform deeds of heroism when fight ing to continue the enslavement of their wives and children, and it is not reasonable to demand it of themselves. Whenever we establish the that they are a military people, we'destroy our theory that they are unfit to be free. When we arm the slaves we aban don slavery. There is a good deal more sense than Con federate “unity” in this kind of talk. The Governor, evidently don't relish the “rotten borough - ' representation in Richmond. He rails to discern the unselfish devotion to the public weal, in Humphrey Marshall’s project of taking somebody else’s constituency “by the nape of the neck,” and thrusting them into the army: He complains of the usurpations of the Confederate Congress in levying dispropor tionate taxation, and says that much of the most objectionable legislation is imposed up on the country by tire vote of the men who act without responsibility to constituency out of the army. For the cure of existing evils he recom mends the repeal of the conscription act and a return to the constitutional mode of rais ing troops, by requisitions upon the States, the observance of good faith with the sol diers by paying them promptly, the aban donment. ot imprisonments and secret ses sions of Congress, no more representation without a constituency, and, finally, taking from the President his power as Commander in-Cliief. This is not an inspiring view of things. Memory in the Drowning. —Some years ago A. held a bend against B. for several hundred dollars, having some time to run. When the bond became due, A. made a dii ligent search for it among his papers, but it was not to be found. Knowing to a cer tainty that the bond had not been paid or otherwise legally disposed of, A. concluded frankly to inform bis neighbor B. of its loss and rely upon Lis sense of justice for its payment. But to bis surprise, when in formed of the loss, B. denied ever having given such a bond, and strongly intimated a fraudulent design on his part in asserting that, such a transaction bad taken place be tween them. Being - unable to prove bis claim, A. was compelled to submit to the loss of the debt, and also to the charge of dishonorable intentions in urging the de mand. Years passed away, and the affair almost ceased to be thought of, when, one day, while A. was bathing in Charles river, he was seized with cramp and came near drowning. After sinking aud rising several times, lie was seized by a friend, anil drawn to the shore, and carried home, apparently lifeless. But by application of the usual remedies lie was restored; and as soon as he gained sufficient strength he went to his book case, took out a book, and from be tween tlie leaves, took out. the identical bond which had been so long missing. He then stated that while drowning and sinking, as he supposed, to rise no more, there sud denly stood out. before him, as it were in a picture, every act, of his life, from his child hood to the moment when be sank beneath the waters, and that among other acts was that of his placing that bond in a book, and laying it away in the book-case. A. armed with the long lost document, found in this marvellous manner, called upon 8., of whom be recovered the debt with interest: Similar instances of quickened memory might easily be given. ' J } ANKLES AND TIIE ChIVALR V.—TIie <Ylliv alry” has one of the characteristics of sub lime natural scenery, viz : of gathering on chantmenl of view from distance. The snailing din of crimination and recrimination now going on in unhappy rebeldom, the charges ot corruption, extortion, cowardice, disloyalty, unmitigated selfishness, unheard ot cupidity and meanness, which are flying back aud forth between the different depart ment :rof their Government, between indi viduals high in authority, between State and v ontederate officials, between press and peo ple, make an aggregate showing of quite or dinary and average human characteristics, rankly aud offensively developed under the influence of vicious institutions and adverse fortunes. Nothing can be more obvious th 77 that the immaculate chivalry do not have an unlimited admiration for one another And they moreover see m each other a marked excess of the very qualities which they have hitherto held to be tl|g sum-total of Yankee traits, and which have Jacked breath and language to adequatelT express their scornful loathing of. Asa single, but by no means signal example, take this from the Richmond Dispatch. The editor is com menting upon some remark of Ward Beecher respecting the planting of New England ideas m toe South: 6 uu We have heard a good deal of Yankee love of money and other property, but we have our doubts whether they can give our native born speculators and extortioners any new ideas on that subject. Judging by the au-di ty of the milk which is sold in° Richmond at' the moderato price of ten dollars a quart we should say that a patent had already been obtained here from those Yankee milkmen who are said to skim their milk on the ton and then turn it over and skim the bottom’ and then divide it in ten parts, carefully skimming each part. The love of propem that, in face of the declaration of Gen Lee that the employment of negroes js a military necessity, refuses to make the sacrifice needs no importation of New England ideas to in vigorate its hold upon goods and chattels We must do New England the justice to gay that its ideas on the subject of defending its own homes from the period of the Indian wars to the close of the American revolution never went to the extent of refusing any sacrifice which was necessary for the defense of its soil. — Louisville. Union Press. Served them Right aj.i. Round.—A firm at Nashville, of secesh sympathizers, hadja considerable number of U. S. coupons, which they took to a bank and demanded payment of. The officers requested them to make up a schedule of numbers and amounts,on which the holders got into a tuff - , gathered up their coupons, went oil and had each one protest ed separately before a notary, put on the necessary revenue stamps, and sent the bun dle by mail, at an expense of several dollars for postage, to Mr. Spinner, the U. S. Treas urer at Washington, demanding payment of the coupons, notary’s fees, stamps and pos tage. The Treasurer made a pretty spicy reply, pointing out that their pains at pro testing was entirely superfluous, and inform ing them that they could receive the amouut ot their coupons, but no more. So the firm did not make much by this operation. The same officer made a pretty sharp reply to Judge Merrick, a judge of a United States Court out west, who remonstrated against the income tax being deducted from his sala ry. Another judge about the same time •wrote to Mr. Spinner, suggesting that there was some mistake about deducting his tax,as he didn’t think enough had been taken out, who sent a copy of this letter to Judge Mer rick, simply saying that he “wanted to let him see the difference between a loyal and a disloyal judge; and that, while he wouldn’t enter at all into the question whether Con gress could or could not diminish his salary during his term of office, lie begged to sug gest to Judge Merrick that Congress might upset his d—d court !’’ The indignant judge seut. the lelter to the President, who referred it to Secretary Chase. The Secretary called the Treasurer before him and asked him if he wrote the letter. Yes, was the reply, “but but it I’d known he was gojng to send it to ave made it—a good deal worse!” Ihe Secretary remonstrated, but the Treas urer would not yield, and finally Mr. Chase said, “Well, General, all I have to say is, that while your letter is very pertinent tb the subject, I’m afraid it was very impertinent to the judge!” Pretty soon thereafter Judge Merrick learned that there was more than he dreamed in the Treasurer’s letter. Congress did “upset his d—d court!” and since that day he has had no trouble with the Treasurer about salaries! HOTEL ARRIVALS. PORT ROYAL HOUSE, (HILTON HEAD,; MAR. ts. T. Bostock, Savannah, Ga C. W. Kin-, 11. P. Rugg, J. C. Morgan, Morehead City, N. C. A. Siegii, New York. Dr. Rector and lady, Beaufort, S. C. C. J. Rogers, U. S. N. V. Wolff, New York. B. Wincher, New York. Mrs. Capt. Hamil. Brooklyn, L. I. C. Raab, Indiana. J. Sullivan. G. L. Aiken and lady, Boston, Mass. Miss L. Desmond, *• Madame A. Tille, “ Miss G. Langley, « Miss L. Langley, « G. L. Parkes, >• J. L. Duff, 11. Daley, “ Capt. F. C. Smith, C. S., Savannah, Ga. ,T- Everiss, “ Mrs. Peas, “ Col. E. Shaw, “ •. Mrs. Cuyler, “ J. C. Mifker, G. A. Whittmore, U. S. A. S. 11. Martin, Charleston, S. C. E. C. Haggens, U. S. N. . D. P. Deavdoff, Indi'na. 11. M. Webster, Vermont. D. P. Heath, U. S. N. •I. W. Kelly, Illinois. M. B. Custer, Illinois. H. G. nannaman, Indiana 4 E. D. Tenbroeck, Savannah, Ga, M. G. Still, Beaufort, 8. C. H. Tenneman, “ •I. W. C. Williamson. J. L. Tendall, Boston, Mrs. Reynolds, N. Y. Capt. A. P. Cutting, S’2d Ohio Vois E. 11. Burlin, Savannah, Ga. E. Bartlett, U. S. A. G. W. Greene, Savannnah, Ga.. E. W. Drummond, Wisconsin. N. A. Pains, Salem, Mass. MissL. May, N. Y. Naval.-— lt is reported that Admiral Dahl greu will soon be relieved of the command ot tlie South Atlantic blockadiug squadron, at his own request. The necessities of the service on the coast of South Carolina, Geor gia aud I lorida since the fall of Savannah, Charleston, aud Georgetown do not require a very large squadron to maintain a blocka.de, and a large portion of the heavier class of vessels will be or have been withdrawn and sent to other squadrons, or laid up for re pairs in the various navy yards. The squad ron will be small, and only large enough for a commodore in the future. It is rumored that Commorodore Sylvahus Gcdon will be assigned as successor to the present com mander ol the squadron.