Savannah daily herald. (Savannah, Ga.) 1865-1866, August 12, 1865, Image 1

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

THE SAVANNAH DAILY HERALD, VOL 1-NO. 177. The Savannah Daily Herald (MORNING AND EVENING} IB PUBLISHED BY 9. W. MASON & CO.. Ax 111 Bat Street, Savannas, Geoboia. TEIMBI Per Copy- F ‘ V *2“«J- Per Hundred •«* 60. Per Isar * lO ° 0 ’ advibtibino: Two Dollars per Square of Ten Lines for first in- Mrtion • One Dollar for each subsequent one. Ad vertisements inserted in the morning, will. If desired, appear in the evening without extra charge. JOB PRINTING, In every style, neatly and promptly done. important correspondence Letter from an Oberlin Commit tee to Maj. Gen. J. D. Cox. REPLY of general -cox. He Opposes Negro Suffrage—He Maintains tlie Union Platform. A HEARTY ENDORSEMENT OF PRESI DENT JOHNSON. t IXTTBE FROM THE OBERLIN COMMITTEE TO MAJOR GENERAL J. V. COX. Oberlin, July 24, 1366. General J. D. Cox: Dear Sir— The people of this place, with eutire unanimity, sought your nomination for Governor of Ohio. ' With equal unanim ity we desire to promote your election. We rejoiced in your nomination, because we had' perfect condolence that your views and sym pathies were in harmony with our own on the great issue before us—the equality of all men before the law. We still believe that we are not mistaken. But some of us have been startled by a report to the effect that you are opposed to giving the elective fran chise to colored people, and that you re quested the editor of the Chronicle to pub lish your views on the subject, that you might not lose the support of Union men in the southern pait of the State. We do not credit the rumor, and yet it has' so disturbed somo of your warmest supporters, that the under signed have been requested to address you on the subject. We want to know directly from you your views on the following subjects: Ist. Are you in favor of modifying our Coustitutiou so as to give the elective franchise to colored men? 2d. In the reorganization of the Southern States, should the elective franchise be secured tb the colored people ? Amoug us there is but one opinion on this subject, and we were never more in earnest on any political question. We believe that the distinction made by our Constitution be tween white and colored people was made in the interest of slavery, and is both wicked aud absird. And we believe that to recon struct the Southern States, aud admit them with constitutions excluding colored men from the polls, would give the country and the negro into the power of the very men who have sought and still desire to ruin the one and enslave the other. Deliver the four millions of freed people into the hands of their former oppressors, now embittered by their defeat, and they will make their coudition worse than before. The Copperheads of the North, with the united South, would gaiu control of the General Government, aud in various way3 would har • rass and oppress the negroes aud their friends beyond endurance. A war of races would be likely to result. If, as a nation, we can be so wicked as to deliver our colored sol diers and the millions whose freedom we are pledged to maintain, into the power of the mi ist cruel aud vindictive people that ever laid claim to civilization, a terrible retribu tion will await us. We speak strongly, that you may know we feel on the subject. If it be said that the negroes of the South are ignoraut and unfit for the elective fran chise, we answer, grant it, but this has noth ing to do with the question. Our colored soldiers who have fought three years for the Union are not of this class, nor are those who have always been free, many oi whom have amassed wealth. It is for these we ask the elective franchise. If it should take a year, or two or three, to prepare the mass to vote, we would be content. Tbougli we be lieve our free institutions would be safer in the hands of colored people as they are, than in the hands ot the best half of the white population of the South. The question is, shall colored people be allowed to vote? The enemies of our coun try say no. The mass of the loyal say yes. So decided are our people on the subject, that they could by no meaiis be persuaded to vote for a man known to be opposed to it. The Union party of this country, so far as we know, are unanimous on the subject, and we believe that throughout the country the party can be rallied on Ibis platform with greater enthusiasm than any other. All the prominent religious papers, and, with one or two exceptions, all the leading Republican papers are In favor of universal suffrage. We Delicve that nothing could be more suicidal to our party- and the cause of freedom than to reject this doctrine. Please to let us hear from you soon. It Is not our wish to publish your view? unless you desire it; but we wish to have our minds relieved, and to be able to contradict any false reports that may be in circulation re garding your views ou this subject. Very truly aud sincerely yours, E. H. Fairchild, Sam übl Plumb, Committee. REPLY OF MAYOR GENERAL COX. Colcmbcs, July 25th, 18G5. Gentlemen : Your letter of yestcrdaj', in quiring what are my opinions upon some of the phases of the question of the reconstruc tion of the Union, wtqj received this morning. You sign yourselves as “Committee,” hut have omitted to inform me what body or or ganization you represent, or to give me the instructions or resolutions committing the subject to you. This accidental omission would be of no consequence, since I know you both to be members of the Union party of this State, and, though we have scarce seen each other for some years, have believ ed you to be personal friends of mine; but my relations to the Union men of Ohio are such that it may become of some importance to know who are those with whom you are acting, and for whom you declare that a hearty and honest concurrence in the prin ciples which you and the other loyifl people of Ohio adopted in convention on the 21st ultimo, expressly as the basis of united poli cal action in the coming State election, shall not be sufficient to secure your votes * * * * s * * Our Convention adopted a platform of which the doctrinal part is substantially em bodied in two propositions. 1. “That slavery aud its institutions ate irreconcilably opposed to freedom ahd free institutions,” and must be finally and- completely eradicated. 2. I That President Johnson’s policy of recon-I struction.is “endorsed,” with the proviso that j the completed restoration of the rebel States “shall be at such time and upon such terms ! as will give unquestioned assurance of the peace and security not only to the loyal peo ple of the rebel States, bat also of the peace aud prosperity of the Federal Union.” „ i The spirit and disposition which should con trol us in determining the “time aud terms' of reconstructipn, and by all other questions of policy accumulating'upon us, were like wise stated in two resolutions, one urging the example of our martyred President “in wait ing *>r the solution ot difficulties to be furnished by the progress of time and local events the other declaring the necessity of keeping steadily in view the great principles of our Government as set forth in the De claration of Inde|)endence. To condense still more, the essence of the position of the party may be said to be, the determination of the political results of the war by the uaited and harmonious action of truly loyal men, actuated by- a spirit at once cautious, and controlled by an earnest belief in the broadest doctrines of human rights. To those principles I have given my public and sincere adhesion. You are the only members of the Union party of the State whom I have found impatient to commit your brethren in advance of the meeting ot Congress to a definite policy upon a subject upon which the Convention had by the strongest implication declared it premature to decide what course ought to be taken. The State election decides no such issues; the progress of events in the South will probably tbrow increased light upon all such quections; yet you insist that I shall give you my views, not tor the purpose of mu'ual assistance in arriving at a solution of a diffi culty, but under notice that the votes of your people will be determined for or against me by my answer. I think that in so doing you wrong both yourselves and the members of the whole political organisation to which we belong, aud to which you gave pledgo of cordial 'co operation upon the platform as adopted, through your delegates who were present at the convention. For myself I have no secrets as to my opinions, and have never hesitated to de clare them on proper occasions. So far have I been from desiring to conceal them, that I had sent, before the receipt of your letter, a private note to Professor Ellis, of your place, indicating my plan for the final solution of the problem of reconstruction, and seeking his criticisms upon it. No restrictions were placed upon him in makiug it known, ex cept such as his own discretion and friend ship might impose. You are misinformed as to my having requested my view's to be pub lished at my home or elsewhere. You must act upon your own responsibilility in de termining upon what publicity you shall give to this. The importance to our country of deter mining rightly the grave questions which must probably be settled within the coming year, is too great to make me williDg to omit using whatever influence or information I may have in assisting at the solution.— Whether in public or private life, I shall lreely give the results of my expearience and observation in the South during the war, and the conclusions to which my study of both races has led me; I shall expect the facts that I have been an anti-slavery man from my youth up, that I assisted at the original organization of the Republican party, and acted with it and the .Union party ever since, and that I have been a Federal soldier from the surrender of Sumter to the surrender of the last armed rebel, will secure me a candid and even a friendly hearing from all whj have loved the country and earnestly taken its part in the late terrible struggle. If other views than mine prevail, I shall hold it my duty to act, cheerfully and promptly with the body of loyal men, believing that the best solution which they can give will be best attainable, and that to divide from them will be to deliver the Government into the hands of its enemies. I believe that the President is earnestly determined to seek the good of the whole country, and of all the races in it; that he has tutl claim to that confidence which we declared that we reposed in him; and that what we as Union men cannot succeed in doing, in harmony and co-operation -with him and his Administration, we sbail fail of doing altogether. My support of him, there fore,will be no half-hearted support, but a zealous and thoroughly hearty co-operation, with no ulterior purpose or thought of sepa ration ou issues likely to arise. It is by the cordial harmony of Mr. Johnson and the Union members of Congress that the country is to be carried safely through its present perils, and division between them would place me in imminent danger of shipwreck. Wc may have diverse opinions as to the true solution of this knotty problem of re construction, and during the proper period for discussion we may aud ought to discuss them with candor, with fullness, and with a tolerant spirit; but when this is done, and the time for action arrives, it will bo the bus iness of Congress and the Executive to agree upon the plan to be adopted, and that which is in this manner honestly determined by de votedly Union men, I shall believe, as I have before said, to be the best attainable result, whether it agree with my views or not. In short, I believe that under no circumstances should we wish the transfer of the power of this Government to the hands ot those who have been disloyal during the war, by any divisions among ourselvc-s, until all the ques tions which grow out of the war are perma nently and finally decided. Having thus stated what I think is the true doctrine of political organization, and indicated the great danger of losing all for which we have been striving by such divi sions as those at which you hint. I am now prepared to state my private views upon re construction, and the claim of the freedmen to political privileges in the Southern States, leaving to you the responsibility of your ac tion iu regard thereto. I presume we shall agree in regarding the four general asserted in the “Fan euil Hall Address,” 89 those which should guide the determination of our relations to both whites and blacks, in the rebel States. That there may be no mistake in reference to this, I quote them: “First- The principle must be put be yond all question, that the Republic has a direct claim upon allegiance of every citizen, from which no State can absolve him, and to his obedience to the laws of the Republic, anything in the Constitution or Taws of any State to the contrary notwith standing. . “Second. The public faith is pledged to every person of color in the rebel States, to secure to them, aud to their posterity forever, a complete and veritable ireedom. Having provided them this freedom, secured their aid on the faith of this ptomise, and by a successful war and actual military occupation of the country, having obtained the power to secure the result, we are dishonored if we fail to make it good to them. “Third. The system of slavery must be abolished aud prohibited by paramount and irreversible law. Throughout the rebel States there must be, in the words of Web ster, ‘impressed upon the soil itself an ina bility to beat up but freemen.’ ” “Fourth. The systems of the States must be truly republican.” The application made of the last principle in the address I do not regard as sound, but I shall perhaps agree more fully with you than you do|wit h the address when I assert that In a republican community political privileges of any kind can never be rightly or safely baaed upon hereditary caste. How, theu, it will naturally be asked, can there be any practical difference between us as to the mode of carrying out these princi ples? It is found in the views we take of the mutual relations of the two races ip the South. You, judging from this distance, say, i„V e i 7u r the ,our millions of freed people th ® hands of their former oppressors, m«L?w by their defeat, and they will ' con dition worse than before." I, £r‘ n j£ 0f ? ‘he same principles, and after ° f close and thoughtful observa tion of the races where they are, say I am unwillingly forced to the conviction that the ( SAVANNAH, GEORGIA, SATURDAY, AUGUST 12, 1865. effect of the war has not been simply to “em bitter” their relations, but to develop a rooted antagonism which makes their permanent fusion in one political community an abso lute impossibillity. The sole difference be tween us, then, is in the degree of hostility we find existing between the races, and its probable permanence. Yon assume that the extension of the right of suffrage to the blacks, leaving them intermixed with the whites, will cure all the trouble. I believe that it would rather be like the decisions in that other darkness of which Milton speaks, where “Cliaos umpire sits, And by decision more embroils the fray.” Yet, as I believe with vou, that the right to life and liberty are inaiieDabl*, and mure than admit the danger of leaving a laboring class at the entire mercy of those who for merly owned them as slaves, you will say I am bound to furnish some solution of the problem which shall not deny the right or incur the peril. So I am, and the only real solution which I can see is the peaceable separation of the races. But, you will re ply, foreign colonization will break down hopelessly under the very vastness of the labor, even if it were not tyrannical enough to expel these uufortunate people from the land of their .birth. I grant the full weight of the objection, and therefore say the solu tion is thus narrowed down to a peaceable separation of the races on the soil where they they now are. The essential point in the discussion thus appears to be the actual relations of the two races in the Southern States as a question of fact, and the probable luture consequences of those relations as a question of theory. Upon the questiou of fact I think I may, with all modesty, claim that my antecedents and my opportunities of observation entitle ray testimony to have some weight, even with the most radical anti-slavery men of the North. The antagonism of which I have spoken is not entirely one-sided. On the part of the former master it takes the form of an indomi table pride, which utterly refuses to enter tain the idea of political or social equality, mingled with a hatred intensified by the cir cumstances and the results of the war. This feeling is not confined to the slave owners alone, but the poor whites share it fully, and often show it more passionately. On the part of the freedmen, it is manifest ed in an utter distrust of the dominant race, aud an enmity which, although made by cir cumstances more passive aud less openly manifested, is as real and implacable as the other. They have the mutual attraction of race among themselves, and repulsion of the whites as another people, developed to a de gree which surprised me. It is not as indi viduals of a nation common to us all, that they speak of themselves, but, to u«e the language of one of them, speaking to myselr, they feel that they “have long been an op pressed and down trodden people.” Hildreth, in his Despotism in America, declared slavery to be in itself a state of war, and this character is indelibly impressed upon both races iu the South. The captive learns duplicity toward his captor, and in the slave it has become a marked characteristic. It is a fair stratagem for which he fe.els no guilt. I have seen a master boasting of the fidelity of his servant, and discussing the subject of slavery in his-presence, while the negro waited upon him with an impassive humili ty which would make you believe no intel ligent idea of freedom ever penetrated his brain. Yet I have seeu that same negro af terwards in camp, transformed into a clear headed ally of our troops, leading him to his master’s buried stores, or guiding them to the flanks of the enemy s lines, with an in telligence and steadiness of purpose which left no doubt as to his understanding of the conflict between himself and his master. Tlie daily and hourly repetition of proofs of ttiis fact, many of them too subtle for des cription, but none the less convincing to the observer, has fully convinced me that never between Norman and Saxon, nor between Gaul aud Frank, was there a more conscious hatred, or an antagonism more likely to prove inveterate, than between black aud white ou our Southern soil. The negroes will have no sense of security nor faith in their former masters, even if they offer them political rights ; they will fear them as La naos dono ferentes. What does history teach us in regard to the permanence aud durability of such prejudi ces and enemities of race? Speaking on the subject, Augustin Thierry, iuhis “History of the Roman Conquest," says: “Whateverde gree of territorial unity the great modern States of Europe may appear to have attain ed ; whatever may be the community of manners, language, aud public feeling which the habit of living under the same govern ment and in the same stage of civilization has introduced among the inhabitants of each of those States, there is scarcely one of them which does not even now present liv ing traces of diversity of the races of men which, iu course of time, have come together in it. “This variety shows itself plainly under different aspects, with features more or less marked. Sometimes it is a complete separa tion of idioms, ot local traditions, of political sentiments, and a sort of instinctive enmity, distinguishing from the great mtional mass the population of a lew small districts ; and sometimes a mere difference of dialect, or even of accent, marl|p, though more feebly, the limits of the settlements of races of men, once thoroughly distinct and hostile to each other.” If fifteen centuries of common government and political uuion have not been able to ob literate the distinctions and even the “instinc tive enmity” of races which were physiologi cally similar, what eucouragement have we that success will attend a forced political fusion of bitterly hostile races from the anti podes of the human family ? The process by which even the compara tive unity of the English people was achiev ed, is described by the same philosophic his torian, whom I have quoted, near the close of his great work, as a “complete amalga mation” of Norman and Saxon idioms, and a “mixture of the two races,” which it took four centuries of sanguinary war to accom plish. Just stepping as we are from lhe battle field on which descendants of a common ancestry, so little removed from us that we cau literally reach back our hands to grasp those of our common sires, have waged the most tremendous and terrible of common wars, it does not become us to argue that peaceful discussion will quietly settle differ ences which in former times were settled by tbe sword; but the memory of the almost present as well as of the remote past calls upon us to build our polity solidly upon prin ciples which 1 experience as well as reason prove to be durable, aud more thau ever lo avoid deluding ourselves with the cry of “ peace, peace, when there is no peace!” As, during these weary years ot war, I have pondered this problem- in the intervals of strife, or. by the cam firep at night, I have been more and more impelled to the belief that the only basis of permanent nationality is to' be found in complete homogeneity of the people, of manners, aid of laws. The rapid fusion of the races ot Western Europe as they have met upon our shores has se-. cured the former of these requisites, and the Yankee race—l adopt the epithet.as an. hon orable one—marked as it is with salient characteristics, is so complete an amalgama tion of all families from the eastern * boun dary of Germany to the western coast of Ire land,, that there are few of us in whose Terns are not mixed the blood of several. But this unhappy race of which we are spdkking does not amalgamate with the rest. It is entirely immaterial to discuss why it is so; tbe fact no one can deny. Nor can it be de nted that its salvation or its destruction will surely be worked out in its family isolation. Because there could be no real unity of people between the Southern whites and Southern blacks, it seems manifest to me that there could be no political unit}-, but rather a strife for the mastery, in which the one or the other would go to the wall. The struggle for supremacy would be di rect and immediate, aud I see no hope what ever that the weaker race would not lie re duced to hopeless subjection, or utterly de stroyed. There is no reason to suppose that Missouri border ruffianism could never be re peated on new fields, and the strife once in augurated, the merciless war would con tinue as long as the obnoxious race had an existence. You have expressed your antici pation of such’a result in one state of the case how is i t at >ou do see not tkatja direct strug gle for power at the ballot box wonid make the contest more deadly ? I hold that there is great philosophic truth in the words of Guizot, in summing up the eight centuries of gloodshed out of which tlie French emerged into nationality from the strife of, petty races and tribes. He says, “In tlie lifq of nations, that union which is exterior afl'd visible, the unity of name and of government, although important, is by no means the first in importance, the most real, or that which makes indeed one nation. There is a unity which is deeper and more powerful; it is that which results not merely from identity of government and of destiny, but from the homogeneity of social elements; from tbe likeness of institutions, of man ners, of ideas, of tastes, of tongues : the unity which resides in the men themselves whom society assembles, and not in tbe forms of ther associations; in short, that moral unity (I’unite morale) which is far more important than political unity, and which is the only solid foundation for the latter." I have watched with deep interest the edu cational effect of the war upon our own army, and I assure you that while our white soldiers have uniformly and quickly learned to appreciate the fact that the existence of our free Government coitld only be preserved by the destruction of tbp system of slavery and so become radically and thoroughly anti-slavery, the tendency of battling for the old flag was almost equally uniform in in creasing and deepening their pride of race. The fact is one which cunaot safely be over looked in any calculation involving their ac tion upon the political problems before the country, and it is one in regard to which I think I can hardly be mistaken. Tlie details of any system of separation could only be determined by careful study and a wide compari son of views. Suppose, however, that, without breaking np the organization of any 9tate, you take contiguous territory iu South Carolina, Georgia, Ala bama, and Florida, and there, under tin; sovereignty of the Cnited States, aud with all the facilities which the power and wealth of the Government cah give, we organize tlie freedmen In a dependency of the Union analogous to the Western Territories. Give them schools ; laws facilitating the require ments of homesteads to be paid for by their own la bor, full and exclusive pu.itical privileges, aided at tlie start, should It seem necessary, by wise selec tions from tlie largest brains and most philanthropic hearts among anti-slavery men, to join them ; a ju diciary or executive which would command their confidence in the first essays of political existence.— There need be no coercive collection of the colored race in the designated region : the majority are there now, and the reward of political power would draw the remainder quite as rapidly as their place could be supplied by white emigration into other States. The ports ol' seaport cities could remain under the direct control of the Federal Government as the basis for that common trade and intercourse wiih other parts of the country and the world, which would be necessary. The fullest opportunity to develop tlie highest civilization they are capable of would theu be given. Colored men of talent and intelligence would not then make a vain struggle for the empty name of being lawyers without briefs, or merchants without trade; but would have what u leadlug jour nal at the East has irequeutly demanded for them,an opportunity, as well as tlie right,to take rank accord lug to their real character and Ability. That there are dilUculties in the realization of such a plan I shall be the first to admit, but there arc dis- ficulties in all plans. It is natural to men to strug gle to avoid responsibility, and to drift upon the cur rent, trusting to fate ; but drifting also leads to dif ficulties, as we who drilled into a war which has cost us half a million of lives and untold millions of money, should not need to be told ; and I agree with you that drifting will- probably decide this matter against the black race, and involve his destruction, whilst by leaving the labor of the South iu the hands of a degraded caste, it entails upon the country the worst material eirects or slavery, aud prevents" that homogeneity of Institutions and manners, North and South, which I have said I believe to be the only sure foundations of permanent peace. The Anglo-American and African-American races now stand face to face upon the- Southern soil in ir reconcilable hostility. The few colored men whom we have amongst us may be regarded as the waifs and strays ot the great body wliich 13 a nation in numbers and In its isolation by mental and physical characteristics. It is as a unit that we must deal wuu Ilian, and no paltering with the edges of the difficulty will avert the doom which all history teaches us will follow a wrong solution. Tue magnitude of the problem is immense, but the principles which must decide it one way or the other are simp’e. When we deal with a whole community, hbwcv.r closely relate 1 to ourselves, It is not by the application of the maxims of municipal law as ap plied to individuals that we must decide the case, but by the taodifled foftu of International law, which so far Horn ignoring our responsibility to God, our common ruler, or tbe obligation to recognize the fun damental rights of man, necessarily Implies them all. Religion, honor, humanity, republicanism, all call upon us to see well to it that we do not allow the seething aud molten elements to chrystallze Into a new form of oppression, and 1 recognize as fully as TOU possibly cau the burdeu or responsibility which this great epoch In the world’s iilstory rolls upon all who nave even the humblest part in determining the shape of pnhlic policy. I Uave approached the subject as an anti-slavery man. I have thought as deeply as 1 was capable of, aud have carefully revised my opinions and tested them by all the fundamental principles of right and justice. If others do not agree with me, and It part me from any whose principles and motives are not the same as my pan, my deep regret that It should be socatmot change my convictions. It has seemed to me that the solution I have offered rids us of most of the difficulties iu onr way. It gives to the black man political rights and franchise.) without onerous terms; It reduces the representa tion of the Southern whites iu Congress to a proper basis—their own numbers ; it secure* the permanent peace o: the Government and the allegiance of the people by the • only sure guarantee, viz: Mint of common Interesi aud Identity of institutions. What more would you have '< it is worth while to consider that in such a plan as I have suggested there is ’hat which is llhclv to at tract co-operation on the part of reflecting men in the Southern States. There can be no question that some portion of the sectional bitterness which finally led tiiem to secession and war, was caused by a more or less distinct perception of difficulties like these we are considering, ftom which they saw no reasonable outlet; and that any plan which reoognizes the facta I have stated and endeavors to provide for them so a9 to secure harmony and prosperity to the South, will so find advocates there. Ido not mention this ns an important argument, because 1 fully accept the responsibility which the military subjugation of the rebel territory has imposed upon’us to determine tlie matter by tlie counsels and the action of those who have been truly loyal, aud not by those of the disloyal of either section. We must, however, re member that Hie ultimate object we aim at must be to return the people of the South to their relations to tae Federal Government as equal and full participa tors ill It,- 1 1 pits and blessings. Through what delays or intermediate steps their owq action, under the ex perimental organization granted by the President, must detent luv But, In the end, the genius of our Institutions will tolerate no unequal or sectional laws. The homogeneity must be made perfect and complete, for neither subject provinces nor military pro-consulships can long co-exist with republican government. Such are mr personal opinions upon the subjects you have c 11-d to my attention. To them 1 alone am responsible. The subjects themselves can, in no sense, be matter for executive action in this State, aud whether I am elected or defeated, my opinions wifi have only such weight or Influence as their own value will entitle them to. As they will not hinder me from giving cordial support to the action of a loyal l-’ederal Government, if other views shall finally prevail, I have thought they ought not to be made a ground of opposition in the State canvass, but such as they are, ttiey are the product of my honest think lng, aud in view of t!>e real importance of the sub ject, I would not conceal them to receive an election as unanimous as the nomination with which the con vention honored me. Very respectfully, Four obedient servant, J. D. Cox. Messrs. E. H. Fairchild, Samuel Plumb, committee, Ac., Oberlin, Ohio. Erskine S. AUin, master armorer at the armory in Springfield, has been commission ed by the War Department to visit the Various arsenals in England, France and Switzerland, and to be present at trials of . breech-loading fii e-arfhs soon to take place in England ana Switzerland It is calculated that witbin thirty years there have been in Spain about fifty differ ent premiers and four hundred ministers, so frequent have been the changes in the Cabi net. Tin* Connecticut Tragedy. Youugr Starkweather Confesses Himself to be the Murderer of HLs Mother and Sister. HOXU&X3X.B REVELATIONS. Money und Marriage the Object of the Murder. &c., Ac., <fce. The Hartford Times furnishes the annexed “’tailed account of ihe fearful tragedy enact ed in the town of Manchester, Ct., Tuesday, oi which the telegraph has given a brief notice: “ The quiet village of Oakland, Manches ter, about nine miles east of this city, was aroused this morning by the news of the most fearful crime ever perpetrated in this vicinity. At the early hour ol four o clock, or a little sooner, Airs. Benjamin Stark weather, sister-in-law of Nathan Starkwea ther, of this city, aged 46, and her daughter, Harriet Ella, aged 14 years, were both foully murdered while sleeping together iu their house. They were killed with an axe, but they were also stabbed in various places with a butcuer-knife. We saw the bodies after they had been laid out, aud hope never to see another such eight. The mother’s face was cut in two with a powerful blow from an axe, which divided the nose crosswise, and cut opeu the face entirely across, crashing through the bones of the upper jaw aud cheeks. Over the right eye was another gash from the axe, sinking through the skull and into the braiu; and there was another which cut open the side and back of the head, aud also a great gash near the right temple. Besides these wounds there were others made by a butch er-knife—one through the buyer part of the chin, Jibe blade penetrating deep into the throat; one deep into the right breast; and another deep one in the left breast. Ella, the daughter, presented a still more shocking sight. Her right eye was entirely gone. The axe had cut a terrible gash across the brow, eye aud cheek, evidently at one blow, letting out all of the eye, breaking in the skull und cleaving down to the cheek bone. Above the right eye, near the top of the forehead, was another fearful gash from the axe, sinking into the brain ; and she was stabbed through the bosom with a butcher knife. The information of the murders was given by the son, Albert Starkweather, at 4 o’clock, lie came to Mr. Horace White’s, a neighbor, rattling, or rather falling heavily against the back door, and arousing the inmates with this call: “Got up! get up! Come over to our house. I don t know but our folks are all killed, and and the house is ou fire!' Mr White ran over, followed by Albert, and found bis (Albert’s) room full of smoke and the bed on fire. He took the bed aud put it out the window. Then he went up stairs, though the smoke was so thick he nearly suffocated. Albert did not follow bim, but paced buniedly up and down the lower rooms, sobbing and crying. On getting into tue Mr. White found the bed all in a blaze, and the bed room covered with blood. He lifted up Ella and found her still alive, though bathed in blood and presenting a shocking sight. As he lifted her a bloody axe slipped off upon tbe floor. Mr. White took it, aud lilting the window, placed tbe axe under it to leLout the smoke, while he next got Mrs. Stark weather off the burning bed, aud finding her dead, placed her on the floor while he rolled up the bed and threw it out of the window. His hands were blistered and his clothing rendered very bloody. The dying Ella he carried in his arm 9 to a back window iu the adjoiniug room, in order to give her fresh air ; aud then sent his hired man (who with others had arrived) at once for a doctor. But the poor girl died in a few minutes. Her blood covered the window sill on which she rested and the floor near by. Mr. White at nnee instituted a search for tracks about the house, but was unable to discover any distinct marks of feet except in tbe garden. Albert Starkweather, 24 years of age,slept on the lower floor in the northeast room. His mother and Ella slept in the west room above. He says a noise up stairs just before dawn, awakened bim, and rushing out of his room he was knocked down near tbe foot of the stairs, by a man, or men, coming down; that he recovered, and a scuffle in tbe dark and was overpowered, thrown down, and the man, or fnen, escaped. He shows a scar over one eye which he says was caused by the blow the murderer gara him. Tuis mark, unfortunately; was obviously ol an older date than this morning. At a coroner’s inquest on the bodies Al bert's butcher-knife was suddenly brought out, and its appearance before bis eyes made him start and tremble. Avery ugly fact is that tbe knife was found in a drawer in bis own bedroom. Albert’s reputation is not good. He has been a rather ‘fast young iaD,' and iiis associations are said to have been none of the best. We hear that be was soon to be married. In bis oureau was found a sum of money in Natioual Bank bills, amounting to about $362. There were three SIOO bills, one SSO, and some smaller. He is an ordinary looking young man, but with an unpleasant expression, a look of weak ness and incapacity. He says S2OO of the money was his and the rest his mother's. The family were iu moderate circumstances, and had but little spare money. One theory is that as Mrs. 8. was a wit ness against the negress Jane Fuller of that village in the poisoning case lately tried, she was murdered out of revenge ; but this lacks plausibility. Albert has shunned a sight of the victims.” [From the Hartford Times, August a.J The shocking revelations of the Man chester murders received on Wednesday afternoon the addition of the climax ot horror in the confession ot Albert L. Starkweather, the son, who acknowledges that lie per petrated the crimes—that he, and he aloue. butchered his own mother and sister, as they lay asleep in bed together. The confession—which was not unex pected by those best informed of tbe facts— was made by tbe prisoner in the jail in this city, Mr. James Campbell, of Manchester, the father of the girl to whom tbe prisoner was engaged to be married. The chief of police, believing that he would acknowledge more to Campbell than tb anybody else, in duced the latter to go to the jail yes terday afternoon, where the wrttched young man, discarding all his previous lies and contrivances to avoid detection, made a clear breast of it, and confessed tbe awful crime. He acknowledged, after some questioning, that be had butchered his mother, and then his sister, with the axe, and then, to make certain of the fiendish job, be had repeatedly plunged his butchcr-knife into their throats •and bosoms : winding up the deed of horror by setting the bed on fire, and then his own bed, down stairs. I “I did it,” be said, “I did it, Mr. Camp bell, out of love for your daughter, and noth ing else. I felt I must have that money, for without it she wouldn’t marry me; and I got the money.” The letter alluded to yesterday was written by the murderer to Mr. Campbell. It filled nearly four pages, and the statement was made that the writer was now in a condition to marry Miss C., as he had succeeded through forgery in getting money to the amount of $4,000; ana It also said that he was about to “commit an atrocious —leaving tbe intended crime unnamed. The forgeries alluded to are believed to have never been committed, and his counsel will claim this let ter as proof of the prisoner's insanity; though it may have been written to deceive the girl’s father into the belief that tbe prisoner had money enough to get married with. A Fine Old English Gentleman.— ln a great hall in one of the rural districts ot Eng land dwelt in old times a bluff baron named Robert Filz Wame, who had attracted the favorable regards of the bloated old Con queror by a britalitv far surpassing what a brutal century looked on as bad, and had received a considerable estate, in order that the terror of his name might aid in quelling, the patriotic spirits who still haunted tie lagoons ot Ely. And well might th- 8 xons dread the band of this feudal chieftain and shudder as they heard his name ! Fur, as his hairs grew thin and white, his spirit seem ed to take a deeper pleasure in barbarous tortures and cruelties without a name. At first his playfulness wreaked itself chiefly upon his own household. He cut off the thumbs- and great toes of his wife, be cause she would not consent to give up all her fortune to be lavished in mad drinking bouts and licentious revelry; and one sum mer day, when his son of eight ran laughingly to meet him, and hid a merry little face in the folds of bis cloak, he gouged out one of the child’s eyes, and, as it hung upon the chubby cheek, tore is bleeding from the ghastly socket. Dreadful whispers floated through the shire that sometimes of an afternoon, in a merrier fit than usual, he would caused a scullion to be impaired for his amusement, and would sit drinking wine and laughing at tbe dying struggles of the spitted serf. Few men cared to ap proach him too nearly—that is, few of the lowest order, whose lives were held cheap in feudal times—for he was known to have a habit of engaging a man in cheerful talk, as Juab held Abner ; and, while one hand seized the girdle with a friendly grasp, of plunging a sword, which he drew with the other hand from below bis cloak, into the body of tbe unfortunate listener. The Peach Crop. —Tne peach crop of New Jersey promises to be larger this year than for many seasons before, but New York speculators have bought the whole crop in advance at large prices. The demand for this delicious fruit from Northern cities is greater than ever before. PRY GOODS AMD CLOTHING. H. A. TOPHAM, 158 Congress Street, Ssvsansli, Georgia. MO. 7 MBBUHANTS* BOW, HILTON HIAD. CALLS the attention of Wholesale and Retail pur chasers to hit superior Stock of MILITARY, NAVAL and CITIZENS’ CLOTHING, BOOTS, SHOES, REGULATION HATS, CAPS, and GENTS’ FURNISHING GOODS, For sale at the Lowest Market price. Additions to the Stock received by every Steamer from New York. ju2l-tt Carliart, Whitford & Cos., Manufacturers and Wholesale Dealers In READY MADE CLOTHINC, SSI ahi> 333 Bboadwai. cos. Wobth Stsist, NE.W YORK. T F. Cash CRT, I Hxniy Shafer, > W*. H. Wuitfoed, I A. T. Hamilton, J. B. Van Waoknen. Office of Fsyan A Carhart In liquidation. Jy« 3ta RIDDELL & MURDOCK, Wholesale and Retail Dealers in SUTLERS’ AND NAVAL STORES, DRY GOODS, BOOTS AND SHOES, HATS AND CAPS, Grntl emln's Fubhuhino Goons, <&o„ No. i Merchants’ Row, Hilton Head, S. C., W. O. BIDDELL. fjul3-tf] H. t. MCBDOOK. STEELE & BURBANK, 11 Merchants Row, Hilton Head, So. Cs. CALL the attention ot Wholesale and Retail pur chasers to their snpeiior stock of MILITARY AND NAVAL CLOTHING, AMO FURNISHING GOODS, Watches, Clocks, Fancy Goods, Jewelry, and Plated Ware,Swords, Sashes, Belts Embroideries, Boots, Cans Field Glasses. Gauntlets Gloves, Ac., Ac., Ac. THE NEW SKIRT FOR 1863. A WONDERFUL Invention for ladies. Unquestlon ably superior to all others. Don’t fall to read the advertisement in the Savannah Herald containing full particulars every Saturday mofnin g- Jyc 6taw3m COTTON. COTTON GINS] THE EMERY PATENT GIN, WHICH FOB Compactness, Eoonomy of Time, Space and Labor, Far Surpasses any other Gin ever before otiered to the Public. TMIE undersigned are prepared to famish them at A regular rates, being the sole Agents for Horace L. Emery, Patentee and Manufacturer Messrs. AM Ed, PEABODY A CO., No. 152 Congress street, have the above Gin on exhibition. Samples can also be seen at the warehouse of CHAS. L. COLBY & CO., corner Bay and Aberoom streets. TO COTTON SHIPPERS. Alexander Hardee, COTTON SHIPPER, IS PREPARED to take Cotton on Storage, at the lowest rates, ana * —HAS OPENED, OH THE CORNER OF JEFFERSON & BAV STS. WEIGHING, For the purpose of " . REPAIRING, RE-PACKING, SAMPLING, CLASSING, Am • Shipping Cotton for the Public AT THE *■— IiOWEST rijaLTHS, Furnishing Ink, &o. * lm PROFESSIONAL. J. R. SOLOMONS, M. D , Dentist, From Charfeaton, S. C., offers big aerrices to the Citizen* of Savannah. Kooms at Or. Clark’s office. Congress street References.—Dr. Jag. B Read, Dr. Juanu lianara, Hon. Soi.ohon Cohen, lyii ts M. P. MULLER, CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT. Agent for the Sale of Lands. WUI give strict dtten tion to Surveying, furnishing Hans lor and superin tending Buildings, allkindaMachinery, Ac. V Office, Sorrel's building, next to Gas Office. im DENTAL NOTICE. I would Inform the pnblic.that I have resnmed the practice of D ontlatr y In this city, at my old stand, corner of 8L JnUen and Barnard streets, (entrance Brown's Photograph Gal lery,} where I am prepared to perform all operations pertaining to my profession. 1/U-IBW W. JOHNSON, D. D. 9. | PRICE, 5 CENTS FINANCIAL. ~ EINSTEIN, ROSENFELD & Cos., Bankers, No. 8 Broad Street, Niw York. We draw at sigkt, and at lixty days, on London, Paris, Frankfort, and all other principal cities of Europe. Parties opening current accounts, may deposit and draw at their convenience, the same as with the City Banks, and will be allowed interest on all balances over Oni Thousand Dollars, at the rate of pour per cent, per annum. Orders for the purchase or sale of various issues of Government and other Stocks, Bondi, and Gold, executed on Commission. Manning & Dc Forest, BANKERS AND BROKERS, No. 1» Wall Street, New York, Dealers iu Gold, Silver, Foreign Exchange and Government Securities. GIVS special attention to the parch ase and sale oi Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Qeoc gia Alabama, New Orleans and Tennessee Bank notes. Southern Mates Bonds and Coupons, Railroad Bond# and Coupons. Interest uHowcd on deposits. jyl64sm COMMISSION MERCHANTS, dtc. TO SHIPPERS OF COTTON AND OTHER SOUTHERN PRODUCE. FENNER, BENNETT A BOWMAN. Successor, to Hotchkiss, Fenner A Bennett. COMMISSION MERCHANTS. No. 40 Visit Strict, itrav You. And Memphis, Teun. Tuomab F innib, Hinrv Bcnnitt, D. W. Bo whin. ly« dm CHAS. L. COLBY & CO., Shipping Commission and Forwarding MERCHANT*.. JONBS BLOCK, CO IN IB BAT AND 4BBBOOBM KMST SAVANNAH, GA. LIBERAL GASH ADVANCES Made on Consignment, to the firm of Chas. L. Colby, of New York, or to our friends in Boston. MAUDE A WRIGHT, Agents at Augusta, Qe. iirisiNoii; Messrs. Dabney, Morgan A Cos., New York. * • Jarivs Slade, Esq., New York. Hon. J Wiley Edmunds, Boston. Gardner Colby, Esq., Boston. Jylj_ti Lewis L. Jones, SHIFTING AND COMMISSION MERCHANT, ’ No IT Broadway, Nas York. Liberal advances on Shipments to above Oonricn ment, made by HUNTER A GAMMELL, Agents Pioneer Line Steamships; 84 Bay Street, Savannah. Reference In New York— Messrs, Spofvord, Tilxston A Cos. ma> ~° 3mo Woodward, Baldwin & Cos., 110 Duane Street, New York, « aud 11 Hanover St., Baltimore. DRY GOODS COMMISSION MERCHANTS. Llberifi advances made on Consignments, Sbafitua Osuaburga and Yams. jyi, L. J. Guilmartin & Cos., GENERAL COMMISSION AND SHIPPING MERCHANTS, 148 Bay Street. (Opposite the City Hotel,) SAVANNAH, OA. "PARTICULAR a.tsntion given to procuring Freights, A and filling .offers for HardPinsTimber and Lum ber, Cotton, Wool, Hides, Ac. L. J. SCI LB AS TIN, JOSH TLANHUT. I. W. DBOimOHV. JytT lm CEO. R. CRUMP & CO., AUCTION AND COMMISSION MERCHANTS, 208 Bboad Stmit, Ausdvta, Ga_ ju2o 3m James B. Cahill, GROCER and COMMISSION MERCHANT 1 AUGUSTA, GA, CONSIGNMENTS SOLICITED. COTTON Purchased and Shipped. Merchandise bought and sold on Commluion. Will also take Agencies for the aale of any Goods anti Merchandise required la tbe Southern market. Jy22 3m “ M. J. SOLOMONS, Commission Merchant, TXTILL attend to the Selling or Receiving sad Pot- V T warding all kinds ol Merchandise. Produce, Ac office for the present at the Drag Store of J. M Abraham* A Cos. jyW-lm J. SHAFFER, OoxamlMlon S*aler Ip all kinds of FOREIGN DOMESTIC FRUITS and PRODUCE, Opposite 143 West et., bulkhead between Barclay and „ „ Vesey ate., NEW YORK. _J,Pg le * “ and Onions constantly on hand, and put up for tht Southern market ABcpiwignments promptly attenkcd to. A ' H,TWOOd ' T ’ J * W eodly DRUGS. Drags,'Medicines, and Chemical* ' A choice selection of DRUGS, ' MEDICINES, CHEMICALS, PATENT MEDICINES and TRUSSES, landed raoH ion, Apothecar.n, Planters, and tradt is from the interi or, oan be supplied at the shortest notice, I can warrant every article as being pure. A large quantity of European LEECHES, finest quality. All ths Patent Medicines extant on hand. One hundred case* Jacobs' Dysenteric Cordial. ALL WILL BE SOLD DOW FO GASH, WBOLISALI AHD llTitl,. ATAPOTHECABIES* DALI, Comer Broughton and Barnard street*. N, B.—Fresh Garden Seeds. W. M. WALSH. Inl6 -3 m Proprietor, GOLD AND BANK NOTES. angS-4 BELL, WILLY A CUaISTIAN, *