Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

qrfltomcle and .Srnfnitt. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1877. EDITORIAL NOTKS. Tiie Hartford Courtin', calls this a “fe cesh Congress." “Blind Tom’s” full name is Thomas Greene Bethpxr. I Krdpp, the cannon maker, runs his shops every in the year. Two widowers of Perry county, Texas, married each other’s daughters. Beecher and Bon Isgersoll have a common point of agreement—a disbelief in hell. , , llamun is the oldest Senator, Dorsei the youngest and Edmunds the oldest look, ing. , , Kate Field gives as a reason for noi marrying that she loves too many men to settle down with one. Some of the papers say Mr. Blaine is going hr recuperate in Florida, and not at the Arkansas Hot Springs. Nearly every pa|s*r in the country has a paragraph beginning thus : “If Governor Colquitt should die ” The children of Andrew Johnson ate erecting over him an *.*.000 monument, which weighs twenty-eight tons. It in said that the reconciliation between Blaine and Conkliso was owing to tin discovery of a straw I* try mark. Lexington, Kt., r<quires only SIOO a month hr provide for her destitute. He. population is 20.000, one-half negroes. The Inter Ocean pathetically alludes lo Mr Lipscomb, of the South Carolina Leg islature, ics Mr. Tilden’s one constant friend. A Philadelphian * sported to have died “worn out by *"• severe mental effort in the study of how to live without work. Most |>eopUi fatten <>n it. THE last carpet-bag ofticial in firginia is charged with diverting public funds. .Neigh borhood bands serenade him with the tune “We’ll not leave thee, thou lone one.” Ok Leonard Bacon says: “Thou shall not !-• found out” is not one of God’s com mandments, and no man can Ist saved by trying to keep it. Is this is a sly dig al Mr. Beecher ? John Bright said lately: “You might almost as well ask a spider to give unweav ing hi* weh or to destroy what he had woven as to ask the great body of lawyers to consent to a simplicity and purification of the law.” The National Republican says: “Au guste, Ga„ is indulging in mysterious ui r ides The latest is that of an unknown man killing himself in a cemetery.” 'Hie editor ot the Republican thinks Hamburg is in Augusta. .. <>r General Toomus is going to the Paris Exposition next Summer, and says he does not wish to go as a Commissioner but as a gentleman. He is so well acquainted in France that he does not need an appoint ment to givehim standing or acquaintances. The Constitution of Mississippi makes all citizens ineligible to hold office who have taken part in duels, either as prinri jiaLs or seconds, and the Jackson Timex in timates that a number of the officials elect ed in November have violated the Constitu tion in this respect. *S The Choctaw and Cliicasaw Indians re spectfully decline to become American citi zens am! have protested against the lull „ ow ’ before Congress. A comprehensive glance at the politics of a recent period has “kind of sickened” them. They will not take universal suffrage in theirs, if they can possibly help it. t The New York rimes' funny man has dipped into theology. Speaking of the fact that the. Rev. H. W. Beecher denies the existence of hell, he says : “It theie really tvasu hell there is no doubt that, out ■of respect to Mr. Beecher’s eloquent re marks, it would he promptly abolished.’’ There have been several parallels for the Bi.aink-Cgnem.no reunion dug up lately, hut the Hartford (Journal has found one in the Bible. It is in Luke, xxiii., 12 : "And ,14* same day Pilate and Herod were dilate friends together, for before that they \were at enmity between themselves." - 17 Governor Colquitt should die, and it shoukl turn out that Mr. Lester is not President of the Senate, and that there is no one to draw a legal warrant on the Treasury, General Toomus consents to pay the salaries of all State officers during tlte interregnum. But suppose General Toomus should die or be absent in Paris, who would do the paying f no oRCE does not exist in France, hut there is what is called separation de corp*. Of this ttu? Marquise De Caux availed her self. The report of the keeper of the seat* to Marshal Ma* Mahon shows that in 1870 there were 3,946 separation de corps cases, of which 2,997 only were judged; 2,585 of these were heard on the demand of lnts- Luads, and 412 only on the part of wives. - —- All the Georgia boys in Congress have come home to spend the Christmas holidays, .except Messrs. Btefijkns and Blount. ‘The former has been invited to spend his vacation in Richmond, but it is not stated whether the invitation has been accepted. Mr. Blount is a jolly bachelor, who ha nothing to call him home, and hence he re mains at the North. Last Thursday New York was the scent* of one of those frightful tragedies that of Mte years have occurred so often in the great cities of the country. It is safe lo say, however, that the loss of life by the explosion and tiro in the candy shop has tieen exaggerated First reports arc always the worst. The facts, however, are bad enough. Heaven knows. The government of Virginia is highly plcMt-d with the operations of the Moffett bed punch in that State. A bill for its in* truductwu into Tennessee is now pending ill the Legislature at Nashville, and the New Orleans lianoerat clamors for its adop tion io Louisiana. It seems to furnish an easy and effective mode of raising revenue, -ami its success in Virginia wilt raise up ad vocatos of itlu most Southern State*. CoxfrntNTNii the succession. General j Toombs asks: “Didn't Conley take the. office after his term :is Senator and j President of the' Senate,? had expired ?" j He did; ami it was generally non-1 sideml an act of palpable usurpation, which, unless we are greatly mistaken, j Gen. Toombs vigorously denounced. It j was ooly tfae fear that Grant would inter- I fere with the bayonet that kept Conley j Irutn being summarily ejected from the Ex-1 ■eciMhrc office, lbs case does not furnish a •very savory precedent The Haltmvjic Oazetie says: “Some fA the Northern pai*rs are making disgusting remarks about the Gordon and Conklins affair, calling it the 'crack? of the slave drivers’ wliip,* etc., etc. Ix 4 the worst lie ■saai of that deplorable quarrel, it was at ieaat camducteil wiih more decency and dig wit v riw? those in which only tuli-Mondetl/ Republic—Si have appeared, as witness tliatj oM feud betwxHtt Conkliso and Blaine, j or Butler and Buuham, BorrwEi.L and Chandler, and so on. The brutal element in our jiolities? uover was the 'slave driv ers’ whip.*" The gross earnings of twenty four rail- *, roads for November, reimrted by the Cowt ■mtrend and Financial ChronieU, aggregate $7,425,125 against $6,931,622 last year, •showing a net increase of $433,563. The aarne reads for the year to November 30 rv |Krt gross earnings $71,847,141, a decrease of $705,449. The heaviest increase is that of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and South ern, $474,708, and the IVnver and Rio Grande, $366,582, or over 00 per cent The Central Pacific shows a loss of $1,370,688, or uiiout 8 per cent., tlie Chicago and Alton $4:17,483. or 10 per cent., and the Toledo, Peoria ami Warsaw, $295,706, or 30 per cent. Nine companies re pert their gross earnings for October at $3,041,461, an in crease of $134,769 over last year, or about 4 per cent. For the ten months they were $7,070,130, showing a decrease since 1876 of $280,453. THE LORY OF THE WORLD. Not many months ago the name of Ben Holladay waa brought into some prominence from the fact that it aas at his house Senator Mobton entered upon the last stage of a fatal illness, in conse quence of imprndently eating for supper soft crabs and peaches and cream, arranged with deadly seductive ness by a French cook. Mr. Holladat r again oome before the people in a most melancholy way, his daughter, the young and beautiful Baroness de Bus siebbe, having snddenly died in New York. It is reealled that her sister, the Countess de Pout-tales, died in a palace car while en route to New York from Ban Francisco two years ago last Spring. The Count de Poult ales, who is now attached to the French Legation at Washington, had, with hia wife and child, been passing several month with her father in Oregon, and was hurrying to New York to see Mrs. Holladay, then laying very ill in Westchester. The fatigne of the journey wore upon his wife, who had been in delicate health some time, and when only a little way from Chicago she died very suddenly and unexpectedly, The death of Mrs. Holladay, which occurred not long ago, wae hastened by this sad event. Mr. Holladay has, we believe, sur vived all of his femily. His life has been one ot romance. By stage contracts on the plains be fore the trane-continental railway was built, be made a prodigious for tune, only the huge wreck of which now remains. His wife was a very religious woman, but ambitious and fond of splendor. Her charities were lavish be yond expression. Several years ago she resided in Europe, and there her daugh ters married noblemen. We remember to have seen what purported to be exit acts from her last will and testament, which bore most severely upon the aspi ration of American women to become the wives of foreigners of quality and title. We judge from these alleged ex tracts that Mrs. Holladay was some what disappointed in her own projects with regard to her danghters, and she was not the only woman similarly cir cumstanced. THE TAX QUALIFICATION. An Atlanta correspondent of the New York World has made a very wonder ful discovery concerning the new Con stitution. “By a strange oversight the new organic law contains a feature that, unless it is changed, must result iu diminishing the Congressional repre sentation of Georgia.” The State is “self-disfranchised,’’ and something must be done, and done Bt onoe. The exuse of all this alarm is found in that provision of the new Constitution wbioli prescribes as a qualification to vote that the citizen "shall have paid all taxes "wbioli may hereafter be required of "him, and which he may have had an "opportunity of paying, agreeably to "law, except for the year of the elec “tiou.” The World's correspondent quotes from the Fourteenth Amend ment to the Constitution ot the United States the paragraph which says that when in any State the right to vote at any election, etc., is denied to any of the male inhabitants, being twenty-one years old and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in the “rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation in such State shall be reduced in the proportion which thd number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens in the State. Tl e correspondent believes that under tho new Constitution sixty to eighty thousand citizens will be disfranchised in tho course of eight or ten years, and that at the next apportionment the State will lose several Congressmen and "thus bo shorn of her power and dignity in the National Counoils.” We anticipate no such calamity. It is well known that this paragraph of the Fourteenth Amend ment was intended to prevent the dis franchisement of the colored race in such States as might fail into the hands of the Democracy ami waa not intended to bo enforced, nor can it ba enforced, in any other case. Besides, the clanse of the State Constitution is not a denial of the right to vote; it only prescribes a condition precedent to the aot of vot ing. '4'bo old Constitution prescribed as a conditio* precedent to the act of voting that the foter should have paid ail taxes required of him by law for tho year preceding the election, and under tho operation of this provision oitizens were “disfran chised,” as the correspondent of the World terms it, at every election be tween I*6s and 1877. At the election of 1870, especially, it tote charged that the citizens wera "dUfraimbiteii”' kf whole sale on acoount of bob payment of taxes; yet the Republican OoßgrteS of 1871-72 when passing the Apportion, meot Act, did not diminish, but increas ed, the number of Congressmen from Georgia. The fc>ofl#l#;?tion of Massa chusetts prescribes aa a aoioitfiflP pre cedent to voting that the oitigsu dial* be able to read and write, and nearly one hundred thousand persons, above the ago of ten, in that Commonwealth, cannot comply with this condition. Of these a large another are necessarily voters; yet there has been wo4jto*nn tiou of the representation of to at State iu Congress. If the Fourteenth Amendment means what the correspond ent of the Worl/f thinks it means how can it l>e enforced 1 ftow is it possible for the Congress of the |JuiW .States to ascertain how many male inhabitant of the State of Massachusetts have been deprived of the right to vote because of illiteracy ? The new Constitution of Pennsylvania, like the new Constitution of Georgia, require* the voter to be a tax payer. How It it possible for Congress to know how many male inhabitants of Pennsylvania and Geor gia are denied the right to vote beoanae of the non payment of taxes? But we do not Iveiietra that this construction of tho Fourteenth Amendment is correct, and we are confident tbet the Courts would so decide if a ease should be brought before them. The provision of the new Constitution to whieh the; correspondent of the World nilndee will do, a it wos designed to do, good in stead of barm Iff the State. As the or ganic law of Mn—busetts endeavors to educate the voter, so the organic law of Georgia strives to make the votes a tax payer. The State will be benefited iu every point of view by this tax quali fication. Men will pay their taxes, be cause they wilf sjsb to vote, and the ; barthens of grw enuaewt will be equalized ’ and lightened. Taxation this he lower, | because every ctotean will oontrwwjtei something to the State, Mad as sh o ag gregate amount grows larger (he aom |l . it - l oa4 against each individual will bc eome Property is caucus; tax payers etm jcqnservativea. Men who have to give aeeoahm ip their means to the support of government exercise aare in selecting the person* to fee tmF -U* with the administration of gov ernraeat. The result will be cheaper C overnmeM tetter government. The South Carolina Repre sentatives has decided by reanta(*qn that its Speaker and Clerk shall wear robes, and those officials will hereafter appear to blue eilk gowns. The idea is commended to Messrs. Hammond, Yan cey, Strwam, Baoost, £t alt., who ss pire to the Speakership of the Georgia House. L’.v ls Sam wishes to get even n the award of the Fishery Cos mas is* on. It is reported that Government agents have discovered in the different countries of Europe ten or fiften million dollars be longing to the Confederacy. This amount it is proposed to recover and place in the Treasury of the United States, after giving the lawyers employ ed fifty per cent, ae feea for their ser vices. The lawyers are easily satisfied, it seems. TUB OFFICIAL VOTE. The official vote of each oouuty in the State at the recent election has been received at the office of the Secre tary of State in Atlanta. The aggre gates reported to the Governor are ae follows: | For Ratification of the Constitu tion.......V'. Against Ratification 40,947 Majority for Ratification 69.495 For the Homestead of 1877 94,722 For the Homestead of 1868 52,000 Majority for Homestead of 1877 42,722 For Atlanta as the Capitol 99,147 For Milledgeville as the CapitaL 55,201 Majority for Atlanta 43,946 The total vote cast on the different is sues was as follows : On the Constitution 151,389 On the Capital 154,348 On the Homestead 146,722 The highest vote was cast on the oapital and the lowest on the homestead question. There were many voters in the State who did not favor any home stead at all, and, therefore, declined to express a preference between the two laws submitted. In but seven counties of the State was there a majority given against the ratification of the new Con stitution. The vote oast was a very large one when it is remembered that the location of the capital was the only is sue which caused any excitement. The full vote of the State is about 200,000. In the Presidential election, November, 1876, 189,294 votes were cast. In tho State election, Ootober, 1876, 145,146 votes were oast. In the Presidential election of 1872, 144,993 votes were cast. MS. EONKLINti’* DAY. Senator Oonkling has reached that dizzy altitudo of success which may be token higher flights of ambition, or por tend swift descent into ruin, Napoleon was never bo oolossal a figure as when he stood in the palace of the Czars at Mos cow, and yet he was, at that very time, on the verge of the most tremendous downfall known to modern days. “Had I died when I first entered Moscow,” he said afterward at Saint Helena, "my glory would have been the most complete in history. Imagination of a possible future would have electrified the nations, and disasters which follow ed would have been attributed to my removal from the earth.” But life was vouchsafed him and he exchanged tri umph for disaster; a dungeon for a throne. Mr. Oonkling towers above all his oompeers of the Republican party. He has beoome the individual experiment of what is left of the Radioal idea and policy. Behind himhere is a power ful popular baoking and it would be foolish to disregard that fact. He will oontinue to push his personal and party fortunes with a haughtiness and dash that cannot but fail to secure more for midably the leadership already acquir ed or else provoke revolt. In spite, however, of Mr. Conk lino's reoent victories, we are in- clined to think that tho masses of tho peop'e are not with him, or not enough with him at least to consent to n revival of old methods which are inex pressibly odious, and which have been so signally overthrown at the South, Wo hear repeatedly that, in the end, tho President himself will have to succumb to the pew dictator, and then the party, with the Medline in full blast, will be gin a campaign for the Presidency rival ing the last experiment of that kind in intensity and oloseness. We hardly credit that Mr. Hayes will lower bis crest to Mr. Conklins on any terms; and we prefer to believe that Ghazi Conk lins has already reached the perilous apex of his renown and prosperity, and very soon will enter upon a decline which means discomfiture for him and a Waterloo for his parly. A BRILSHT POLITICAL FUTURE. During the past fourteen months the gains made by the Democracy are summed up as follows: It is stated that the Democratic party entered the Presidential aampaigu of last year with only fifteen States assured to them— Alabama, Arkansas, Gonneotiont, Dela ware, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vir ginia and West Virginia—and four of these, Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi and Texas, were repent acquisitions. New York and Indiana, two powerful States, whose electoral weight counts heavily in a Presidential contest, were neither Democratic nor Republican ; they were debatable gronnd, olaimed with equal confidence by both sides, California and Oregon had voted Demo- ftt their last previous State elec tions, bt they yere not regarded as Demoerstifl Stgtes. *6 ffrft Presidential election the Democrats cams t Wth twenty States, having carried two de batable Northern States, Indiana and New York, atid Louisiana, Florida and Cfr/ifljina, also. South Carolina’s electors* yotes ypye /a'cty cast ,or tlie Republic candidates, bhf tfco £e mo crats carried tha Slate for and South Carolina is to-day absolutely Democratic. The same may be said of piorida and Louisiana. This is tho way ji.l stood then, in No vernier of the present Democratic and 18 Republican. In tfca WWW* November elections Ohio amf PennsylyaPW. twp other powerful Northern SUtes. wore added to the list of Democratic con uuqpts, changing the proportion into 22 Reßaomaiw #tates to 16 Republican. But this majority qf jpif States does not exhibit the whole q( the Democratic acquisitions. At the last oount of electoral votes 185 we* given to the Republican candidates and 184 to the Democratic candidates, the for mer having jpajority of one. Taking the electoral States tt*rding to their present attitude, w# have: 254; Republican, 116 { ft Renwaiio majority of 139. The Democrats, there fore, have gained and the Republicans have lost 70 electoral votes, making a of 140 in the dispos tion of the vote* ante jtyoyember of last year. Nothing stands tv etwee* {£r. E. C. Wade and the Collectorship ot ihp. Third Revenue District of Georgia but 1 tbe bond. As soon as that is given he sac Sfftde it. _ If the Atlanta Gorufitifti&in't estimate of the value and extent ot the Marshal’*, patronage be correct Colonel Firesniosts will have a weary life of it until ail the pap is distributed. We feel confident, however, either that the estimate is in <*yr<4 pr that the office has been very grossly jqigffSßAgPd by former Marshals. The CotqawGbßWN h** re ceived every variety U treatment Jroia, the press—abusive, saroastle, humorous. Here are some specimen verses from the Times. They are entitled "Romp** or, The Escape from Dang6ia*id jjfcejjieated to the Peace Society of the world ? :*Oo there youraalf !" the flary Ctoaoo*reared,; Till a? 1 the Senate trembled At the word ; And Conkliso, bulging with imperial pride, '•*<*. are another "blisteringly” replied. Then Moody Jlrander rumbled through the air ; And, ghostlike, by one AJemaerfpt Father’s chair, Boee gallant Mo=bt, spoiling for the fray, ! With Shiridas but half a mile away! But fateaato (re the Peacemakers '. The scene Is quickly cugqgftte With proud but amiling mien, Cosxuqw and Gordon, see —with measured pace. Advance to meat, uuarmed, and to ewbreoa- Fseh “You can kias me,” in a whisper epeaka, And to tha other turns both manly cheeks. While all mankind rejoice that now tbe pair Can mmuitaneouMti go together there 1 The oaricatorists will next take hold of tbe unpleasantnees—and then, good Lord deliver a*. WILD LAND WALKS. The Comptroller-General has levied fi. fas. on from fifteen to twenty thou sand acres of wild land on which he says the taxes have not been paid, and has advertised tbe property for sale on the first Tuesday in January. A strong ef fort is being made to have the sales stopped and the collection of the tax suspended until the meeting of the General Assembly. A correspondent of the Macon Telegraph and Messenger says: From tbe advertisement ot the Comptroller- General, there appears to be 15,000 to 20,000 lots in def&nlt. The cost to effect sales, 50 cents for each jS. fa. issued by Comptroller- General, *IO.OOO ; tor advertising by the Btate, *5,000 ; sheriff’s levy, advertising, sale and issue of deed, $lO each, $200,000 ; making a grand total of $215,000, besides the interest owners would have to psy to redeem their property and cost of same. In some in stances there would be an in expensive litigation, especially to estates and legal heirs, to prove ownership. Admitting that there are 1,800.000 acres unretnrned and in default, the actual value at an estimate of 26 cents per acre, as per Comptroller-General’s report, wonld be $274,000, one-half per cent State tax is $2,340. Tho grand total of cost of collecting this pitiful sum is found to be over $200,000, besides tbe extortion and shame in depriving the owners, unrepresented es tates, widows and orphans, of their propel ty, and more than this, it is seriously questionable whether there is any legality in such an act of nsnrpation and oppression. This is a strong statement, ami one which, if true, calls for action on the part of tbe Governor. This whole wild land system seems to be a muddle which legislation is powerless to simplify. Every time the law is changed the mat ter becomes worse instead of better. There is certainly a great injustice com mitted in the •manner of advertising these fi. fas. They are pnt in but one paper of tbe State, while the land own ers reside all over Georgia. The land should be advertised either in the coun ty where it is situated or iu the county where the owner resides. TALKING WITH TOOMBS. Some Fresh Ideas From the Great Common er"—He is Going to Paris as a Gentleman— What He Thinks About the Gubernatorial and Homestead Stuff. [Atlanta Constitution .] One of the trusty fiends of the Con stitution heard that General Toombs had reached the city. An inspection of the Kimball House register proved that this information was correct, so, with out card or announcement, the fiend in vaded No. 13 and took a front seat. The General, with his accustomed kindness, greeted the fiend cordially and made him feel at home. This was the first opportunity we had met with to talk with the General about recent events. The Pari. Bueinee*. "General, are you going to Paris ?” "Yes, sir. You boys have written a good deal in your paper about my going there as a Commissioner. I appreciate the kind motive, but I must beg to be excused.” “Why is that ?” "Well, I can’t afford to take a com mission from anybody. I want no office. As you have said I know enough people in London and Paris to feel at home. Let somebody who needs the influence of a position to introduce them have these commissions. I am going to Paris, however. ” "f am glad to hear that.” “Yes, sir, lam going. It will be the third Paris Exposition that I will have attended. I attended the Exposition of 1855 as a Senator; I attended the Expo sition of 1867 as a refugee, and I am go iug to this one as a gentleman !” The Governorship. "General, how about the omission in the new Constitution to designato a suc cessor to Gov. Colquitt in case of his death before the organization of the Legislature ?” "Well, that is very idle discussion. Suppose Gov. Colquitt should die to morrow, what is the result ? A lot of fellows in the State won’t get their war rants on the Treasury signed. That is about the extent of the damage done. Why, the whole army of the United States has gone seven months without its pay—why can’t forty men in Geor gia do the same ? They can find some one, just as the soldiers did, to cash their claims upon the Government. I will pay the Judges and the clerks up there at the Capitol their little salaries if suoli a contingency takes place. It is really.a very sip)l mattcy.” "But who would be the legal succes sor ?” "Why not Rufus E. Lester ? Didn’t Conley take the office after his term as Senator and President of the Senate had expired ? Does not the Constitution— the new Constitution—fix the date for the meeting and organization of the new Legislature without any interference from the Goyernor ? Is the Stqte ever withont a Legislature 9 and should the Governor die why wouldn’t Lester be his successor until another is elected either Governor or President of tho Senate ? "That is the point of the discussion.” "And I think it a very nonsensical dis.cussipn at best.” Ttjp Nejy 11 oil. t'Hjcud■ “Well, Geperal, how about the home stead ’/ There is gome question made about that jf" “That is worse folly than the other. It may be knavery. There is a sensible view of the homestead matter which should readily commend itself to every man. The homestead of 1877 has been adopted and, is now a constitutional right belonging to the citizen. It is not an imperfect right, to be supplemented wit 4 legislation in order to become available. Any Jegisjatjon upon the subject is tor mere convenience. L't the man who wants the homestead file his claim to it—it is $1 ,000 in amount and absolutely not subject to levy and sale. Who dares to trespass upon this ; constitutional right ? Who is fool enough % ffayr a y an( l r i ß k his money in the face of such a claim? It is sheer non sense to talk jsbfjt'a jgan fteipg de barred from this great right by reason of lacking legislation, prescribing the mere details of its enforcement.” “Then yon deem the right absolute now ?” "I do, and I will undertake to enforce it iq guy jjourt in Georgia. I defy all the pojyeyg of eajftji to interfere with it in any otl)er tyay fjiap ftal pointed ont in the Constitution itself J’ The New Constitution. "Of conrse, you are rejoiced at the success of tbe uew Constitutions.” /‘Jt is the grandest triumph of the age. ft jig .$ Constitution, and will snryiyp fopg alteif Jpg J are dead. It contains gjregt principles. It adopted itself. Who worked for it ? Who tried to have it adopted T All that wag 4one with reference to it was done against it, but it triumphed just as the honest and true principles of human government wiff alwtog ffiumph. It is a Constitn tiop ppptains no word abopt face, color or previous condition, exeap* jga to schools. Jt'is whaf:' the people wanton, and they A PEN SKETCH OF STKFHE#fB - tlie Great Commoner Appears to a New "paper Corre.poadeut. Chicago Tribune .] A little to the left of tbe main aisle of the House, and jnat fetreen the first row of desks and the Clerk, is a lit tle, withered np, nervous old man. Mounted upon a complicated pedestal bnilt of wheels, platforms and a back, he bqbe bis head or nods it in aocord or discord to o speaking. Barely is his voice heard. Whoever passes stops to shah o hajnds with him and speak a few words to him, not that they all have anything special to say, but the green members think it looks well from the galleries robe seen in con versation with the Hon. Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia. The old man is pitifally thin. His face is livid and ca daverous. His head is snnken between hit shoulders. His chest is depressed, and hia arms aad tower limbs are fear fully and wonderfully to 1- But, weak and emaciated as he looks, ids muscle* are always in operation, and lie f6gs backward and forward in his wheeled chair, or taps the floor nervously with *r>p foot continnally. Generally he weark>to-~ : soft, black felt—and his many infirmities baem to .excuse this ap parent breach pf .Cbdgi’wgateimetßt unite and, in fact, swat Ayerytiyng he does is referred to the ecce,: trinities ,of a man broken down in health and rapidly ap proaching dissolution. Yet this mas, weak as tie tooks, and worn as be is, manifests a Titeuty. He is seidqm absent from his pOKj is always on the’ alert, wxtehfnl, wary and reSffy. In this he is in 'stnmg? eontrast with certain coxcombs in both trtwvaiy who deem it derogatory to their dignity to pay any attention to the proceedings, and who affect a profound indifference to ail that goes on around them. Steph ens, on the contrary, listens aa atten tively to the Jbitl to pay John Smith, of SmithviUe, $lO 76, as to a measure reg ulating the currency of the untry. He appears to think that he waa aent to Congreea to know what is going on, even if he does not participate, and it is painful to watch the rapt attention the little, shrivelled-up old man pays to tbe proceedings. WRAPPED IN FLAMES. THE FIRB-OOD’B CAPERS ON LAND AND BEA. Terrific Explml*. la a New York Candy Factory—Sidewalk Torn Up and BuUdln* Buried in Flames and Fumes—Mnotkerrd and Barned to Death—Excising Details and Katina at ea nf tke Dead. New York, December 20.—An explo sion occnrred at ten minntes past five o’clock this afternoon in the immense candy manufactory of Greenfield & Strauss, at 63 Barclay street, which ex tends in the shape of an L to College Place. The boiler was under the side walk on the Barclay street side, and bnrsted, tearing away the entire front and scattering the wreck in all direc tions. Over 150 girls were employed at tbe time in the building. The walls fell a few minntes after the explosion. A policeman on duty near the building says he saw the front of a building five stories high fall into the Btreet. The street is filled with screaming people. There were abont 200 at work. The po liceman rushed to the police station and gave the fire alarm. Several girls jumped from the top of the building in to the fire. Severed boys were blown through the roof. Fifty-six wounded and one dead were reported at Chamber Street Hospital at 6:45 o’clock. A num -1 ber were sent to Bellevne and other hos pitals. It is estimated that the wound ed will reach 125. Of 275 employed in the factory, bat a few escaped nnin jured. The number of dead is uncer tain, and until the wreck is cleared away cannot be ascertained. The fire was under control at 6:30, and by 6:45 only a dense smoke surrounded the rains. New Yobk, December 20.—Mr. Green field, owner of tbe factory, could give no idea of how many were in the building, but it is thought abont 110, and of those abont 50 escaped by College Place en trance and a small number got ont by the sky light and walked over roofs and got down through the sky lights of other buildings. A book keeper, who was in the Barclay street side of the building, was blown out through the window to the street, badly ont in the head. Several jumped from the second story and escaped with slight injuries, their fall being broken by policemen and citizens on the sidewalks below. No fair estimate of the loss of life oan be given to-night. Parties employed in the factory were principally young girls and boys from Bto 20. Owing to the ap proach of the holidays a double force was employed, one working daring the day and the other at night. The force changed at 5 o’clock and the faot of the explosion occurring at ten minntes past that hour renders it still more difficult to know how many or who are the vic tims. The loss is fully SIOO,OOO. No. 65 Barclay street was a frame building, with a cigar store on the first floor, the upper floors being occupied by Colonel French for the last thirty years. An Exciting Incident. Mr. French and family got ont safe, when French remembered having left SIO,OOO in United States bonds in a book case on the second floor. Fireman Joe McGill, of engine No. 32, and Roundman Coffee, of the First Precinot Polioe, volunteered to go in for the bonds, although flames and smoke were bursting out from the building. They climbed up on an awning and entered the window, seenred the package of pa pers and came out. The package was found not to be the bonds. The second time they entered through the flames and smoke and brought out the bonds iu safety. Some girls had their hair burned totally oft their heads. The greatest sacrifice of life is among the young girls employed in selling and as sorting aud packing caudies on first floor over the boiler. None of those are known to have escaped. The total loss is probably a quarter of a million and there must be fifty bodies in the ruins. Tlie Steamer Huntsville, from Savannah, Burned at Sea—No l.ives Lost—Details of the Mishap. New York, Deoember 20.— The steamer Huntsville, Capt, Faircloth, from Savannah, December 16, for New York, was burned at sea, December 19. No lives wore lost. The crew were pick ed up by the pilot boat Washington and brought to this port. Capt. Faircloth makes the following report : Decern ber 19, at 9:45, p. m., near Little Egg Harbor, an alarm of fire was given. We started the steam and deok pumps im mediately and stopped the main en gine, in abont seven minutes. The fire came from the after part of the fore hold and drove the engineer from the engine rooms, but he was compelled to keep the steam pump to work on the midship part of the vessel, dtiriDg the lowering of the boats, aB the flames came through the deck and deck houses. It was about forty minutes from the tigie tho alarm of fire till all hands abandoned the vessel. W 0 were picked up by the pilot boat Washington at midnight, December 19. The Huntsville was 1,011 tons register and was built in New York in 1857. Captain and erew in a card, tender thanks to Capt. Quick, of the steamer New York, for lying by and offering assistance, also to Capt. Dickerson, of the pilot boat Washington, for picking them up. Terrible Accidenf at a ixondon Jfofel. London, December 2Q. —The gable at Milne’s Hotel at Hdinburg, weakened by fire, fell to-day. Ten are missing, and three bodies have been recovered. Large Hotel Ucked Up in PortHUieutb. Portsmouth, N. H., Deoember 20. — The City Hotel, a large four story build ing, was burned this morning with most pf thp furniture. The gposta lost tho most of their priyate effects. The loss is heavy. Tlie building was owned by Hon. Frank Jones, and the furniture by John York. Insurance small. Another Element of Destruction*—A Broken Rail. Pottstown, Pa., December 20.—A broken rail wrecked an engine and forty heavily laden freight cars. The trains were much delayed. Furrier Details From the New York Factory Bxpjosipif—lteeoyerlh* t|ie Bo|les— Impos sible to Find Out Who Arp Ai|joi/u tbe'liost. New York, December 21. —A defec tive boiler and drunken engineer are understood to have been the causes of the disaster at Greenfield’s candy fac tory. A little after three this morning one body yas found, that of a well dressed gjan wjtji' delfckte hands, prob ably a person passing wl)o was Crushed by the falling wall. His head was un der a heavy black stone, which had pressed it into a shapeless mass. It is stated that abont twenty customers were in the store at the time, and the thor oughfare on whieh the building faced was erbwded with persons. Twenty were to the ‘ phlide last night as missing. Two”wore u'fi&q h oc }' y, ere found this morning. Extent ol Hurroundlng Damage. It is with the greatest difficulty that the debris can be removed, on account of a orowd surrounding the ruins, and horsC car lines in that vioinity are blocked. ‘ yf&iar JJ'.Khapp, Engraving, Manuiauturinn; and JjUbpijrapJiibjj Com pany’s building, directly ppposite Greenfield & Son’s, escaped with the loss of windows and doors, which were shattered by the explosion. The upper nar'o of Groce s' Bank was complete ly gaited, and a marble front building adjmiifog tb jUiogers, Peet * Cos. had the appearance Df old- ruins, the marble looking as if it had'been meftetj. five story ftaf]de ‘front’ building, occnptd by Bucket ft Handef gjjff Josiah Quincy, dealers in earthen-ware, also by Pay, Hoogland & Bliger, dealers in drugs, was injured by tlie explosion in Laving tho front windows jf the third and fourth floors blown in. The force of the explosion was so great that the iron frame word protecting the windows on the first flo&trite beufcinwwd. The crockery establishment of James HfOe man, 66 Barclay street, was injured in a like manner as well as some of the stock. The front windows of W. H. Montague & Cos., coffee dealers, 64 Bar clay IgteA damaged in like manner aba the' jfavets f?° n * torn away so" that thS eriglnd riidm Under neath was visable.’ 'TompkinS ft Cos., and 71 Barela? street yerp M l * 3 am : aged by fire and water, &n,4 keyeral bouses in Greenwich street were a * Bo badly damaged. Greenfields' toe# W estimated at abont $175,000, partly In sured, The rear walls were taken down, so toil laborers could dig ont the ruins with safety a O4 }fioV tor bodies. A Cbamirsl E*rtosi*n Alter Aji New York, Deoember 21,— According to the records of boiler inspectors, the two boilers of Greenfield & Son were examined in November, ’76. Both Were locomotive toilers, were tested to 105 pounds' pressure Jo wed 70 pounds; Engineer'Pliflip Be*ax,s&,r was last examined on tbe _J3th tt this month and waa regarded competent, with reputation good. A. boiler inspec tor visited the ruins to-day and found both titers intact. The sidewalk un der which the 6di!r were "teatedwM. not to-r- up or destroyed. One boiler was Mand'oaU fdl of water, and the other nearly fnH. that one of the coppertaritefinfed With material for making canity moat have exploded and broken all the lamps, the building being lighted witii kerosene, and these added much to the rapidity with whtoh the flames spread. Bhnc Fort.rx in ***-**•# Cammed. South Braintree, Mass., December 21 —Last night a large three-story shoe factory of P. 4 N. Copeland ft Go., was burned with contents, including 810,000 worth of machinery, 25,000 sides of sole leather and a large quantity of finished and unfinished goods, patterns, lasts, etc. Loss, from $50,000 to $60,000, One hundred hands are thrown out of employment. Killed By a Falling liable. London, December 21.— Ten were killed by the falling of the gable of Milne’s Hotel, Edinburg. BBECHEK’S BRAVADO. Remarkable Utterances of the Plymouth Palpit-Pounder—Heresy, or Blasphemy f- Or Are These the Wild Ravines of au Irre sponsible Lunatic ? New York, December 16 — The vir tuous Mr. Beecher seems to be gradu ally shaking off the old fashioned doc trine of the Congregational body of which he is a member, and striking out in his accustomed sensational way. All doo trine hangs lightly upon bis shoulders, aud it has long been easier to tell from his public utterances what he does not believe than what he does. He indulged in a vast deal of swearing to-day on the doctrines of the Trinity aud of hell. Speaking of the Trinity, ho said he be lieved there were three persons united in one God-head; but if any one should ask him why he believed it, he should tell him he did not know any thing about it, only that it was easier to be lieve that which he thought coincided with the doctrines of the New Testament than to deny it. Orthodoxy says that men must believe in the Trinity or they can not oome into the church. That is called orthodoxy, but he oalled it heath enism. "It is not an easy thing,” said Mr. Beecher, "for an honest, conservative man to know just what to preach and what not to preach. A man who values morality, and who has the good of his fellow-man at heart, can not be careless as to the things he ought to teach. It was said that Adam was created perfeot. It was also said that Adam sinned, and that in oonseqnence of that sin the whole human race fell. The human race bad existed on the earth for thousands aud thousands of years, and had gone on propagating and multiplying until all the waves that had rolled in upon the shore during those centuries did not contain drops enough, nor the sands of the sea particles enough, nor all the figures of the arithmotio numbers enough, to compute the preface, to say nothing of the great history of the hu man race. The numbers of the human race were actually beyond computation, and for thousands and thousands and thousands of years they had been born into the world, had lived and struggled, and finally died and gone—where ? If you tell me that they have all gone to Heaven, my answer will be that snch a sweeping of mud into Heaven would de file its purity, and I can not aocept that. If you tell me that they have gone to hell, then I swear by the Lord Jesus Christ, whom I have sworn to worship forever, that you will make an infidel of me. “ The doctrine that God has been for thousands of years peopling this earth with human beings during a period three-fourths of which was not illumi nated by an altar or a church, and in places where a vast population of those people are yet without light, is to trans form the Almighty into a mouster more hideous than sntau himself; and I swear by all that is sacred that I will never worship satan, though he should appear dressed in royal robes and seated on the throne of Jehovah. Men may say: ‘You will not go to Heaven.’ A Heaven pre sided over by such a demon as that, who has been peopling this world with mil lions of human beings and then sweep ing them off into hell—not like dead flies, but without taking the trouble even to bill them—and gloating and laughing over their eternal misery, is not such a Heaven as I want to go to. The doctrine is too horrible. I cannot believe it, and I won’t. They say tho saints in Heaven are so happy that they do not mind the torments of the damn ed in hell. But what kind of saints must they be who could bo happy while looking down upon the horrors of the bottomless pit ? And by the blood of Christ I denounce this dootrino. By the wounds in His bauds and in His side I abhor it. By His groans and agony I abhor and denounce it as that hideous nightmare of theology.” THU INCOME TAX IN UEUMANY. How It Is Assessed—Not YVlint a [Unit Re ceives, But What He Pays Out—But Kittle Chance lor Fraud. [letter to the N. Y. Times ] They have an income tax in Germany —not levied by the Empire, but by the separate States—and in many instances it is assessed on a system exceedingly detailed and minute, not to say doctri naire. The intention is that every class of income shall pay according to its character, and that no class skull oscapo the cognisance of the revenge officers. In some places in Saxony, for instance, when it is a question of assessing the income of a foreigner or any other per son as to whose resources it is a matter of difficulty for the official to obtain ac curate information, they estimate his in come by his outgo, and as they cannot tax what he gets they tax what he spends. If a man lives in a two pair back, blacks his own shoes, and ljyes op a diet of fioggenbrod, ffiurst and CH\- faches lirojrf. he stpndß a chance of es caping notice altogether or getting off for a very trifling contribution; but if he luxurates in the first floor of a fash ionable quarter, keeps a staff of ser vants ana entertain? company, it js as sumed. whatever hp (pay H ?y t' the con trary, tflat hp is possessed of considera ble property, and he is mulcted accord ingly. Thp precautions taken by the German Government to fletept the dodges ofjfraijdnlpnt ta>; payers arp not confined to the living; they extend be yond the grave. If a man, who during his lifetime has professed to have a small income, leaves beiud him a large property, the emissaries of the State call his heirs to account and stop their legacies in transitu until all arrearages have been cleared off and probably some heavy fines exacted. A case of this sort has just occurred in Stutgart. The for tund left by Hacklander, the well known publisher and author wfio rpepntly tjieil in that city, is said to be one out of all proportion to the amount he was in the habit of returning for assessment to the income tax, and all the property be queathed by him to his family has been seized by tfie oncers of the revenue pending satisfaction of the claims of the crown'. His house |*as been temporarily confiscated, his balance at his'banker’s attached, aud even an embargo laid on tho original manuscript of the Roman Mines Lebens. Whether Hacklander really did defraud the Government re mains yet to be proved—it is on suspi cion that these steps have been taken, and we are not surprised to learn that the abthor’s laihily Uaye appealecf to the King of Wurtemburg to put a stop to these apparently arbitrary and, as they probably think, unnecessary proceed ings. j • TpBKEY liOBBLKU HTRUTTINU.” The Origin of the Blalne-Conkling luplean [From a Debate in the Uoo.se in lses.j Mr. Oonkting desired to add that no commission, paper or authority what ever was issued to him, except the letter of retainer which had been read. If the member from Maine had the least idea how profoundly indifferent to him his opinion wab on the subject he bad been discussing, of on other'kafliect, he thought'no wogjij tho tron ble to express it. He apologized to thb Honse for the length of time he had oc copied in consequence of beiug diawn into the matter by au interruption which he had before denounced to be ungen tlemanly and impertinent, and having nothing whatever to do with the matter. Mr. Elaine said he knew that this was what they called down East “ rnnning emptyings.” The gentleman from New York could not get off on the technical pretense that he did not hold a commis sion as j ndge advocate. Many an officer | had ledi a brigade-, a division or a corps | with p ore of a commission than snch | a one as the gentleman from sew Y6rk i held. As 1 to the 'gdntl6mari;a cruel'sar- j casm, Mr. RlainP Continued ft hope 1 fie will let file edcape his disdain. ’ His I lordly pmuOfifr, ‘ }}js grandiloquent j swell, hik'lmajesfic o^toweripg. 7 his: tarfcey-gftbbjer' strutting fffjve bete so crnohiag to raygplf, B n fl IP #4 members of the Honse, that I knew it was ap set | of the grossest temerity on my part to | ventnre on provoking them. But I know who was responsible for it all. I know that tut the last five weeks an extra | stmt has seised the geptlem a P- I 1 is 1 net bis fault, it is the fault of another, j That gifted and satirical man Theodore Tilton, of the New York Independent, was over here spending some weeks and { writing home letters, in which, among seme serious things, he put some jocose things; among the arnelpat of which was that the mantle : of tfie late Wiatoa.Davis j bad fallen uppp the"memßferfrom {few! York. He (Conkling/ took ft as serious, j and has sinee strutted mote, than usual: i Well, the reßemblanoe is great. As striking as Hyperion to a Satyr, Ther sites to Hercnles, mad to marble, a dung hill to a diamond, a singed cat to a Ben gat tig pt, a whining poppy to a roaring lion, SbadS'td the J>avis, for-1 give the almost profanation nf that. t° , cose satire. _ 11 J It is estimated that the personal gifts Pins IX has received since he became Pope amount to upward of $130,000,000, exclusive of the ipany millions known as Peter’s Pence. CONKUSd’S VICTORY. “GATH’S” REVIEW OP THE SITUA TION. What it Was All Absat and What the Result Menus—A Battle far the Senatorial Pre rogative The Sources at Csnkllna’s Strength Autoug His Associates and In the Party. Washington, December 13 —The in teresting news here is political, not ma terial. Rising above the silver dollar, anti-resnmption, female suffrage, and even above sectionalism, is the game of ambition and leadership. Rosooe Conk ling has pat himself not only at the bead of the Republican party, but he has oarried a large section of the Demo cratic aide, and confronts the President, only two or throe months after the Ro chester Convention, as his equal, if not his master. This victory is due to only one main principle—the dislike of both parties to Hayes’ reforming party-con trol-of the patronage. That touches the Democrats, confident of an early nation al victory, as well as the Republicans, balked in the spoils of the present, after cheating for them. Under the surface politicians of the same rank agree with each other aoross party lines. You will st e old Isham G. Harris, the insurgent Governor of Tennessee, eraoking anec dotes with a pairof carpet-bag Senators; Thurman and Edmunds taking snuff out of the same box, and Conkling and Ker nau cheek by jowl. They belong, in one sense, to a Senate ; in another, to a elub. They respect eaob other's rapacity and have a golden rule abont the patronage : “ Whatsoever ye would that yonr President should do uuto you, do ye also unto their President for tho Republicans.” In short, the Dem ocrats have made up their minds not to adopt Hayes ; to stand clear of him bat respectful, and to extend some aid and comfort to their Senatorial opponents. Conkling has always respected an op ponent, but not an insurgent. He aots in politios as obivalrio generals do in battle—sends presents and compliments to the enemy, but menaces defection in the camp. His mind and energies are strongest where he is embittered, and in this trial be has been as diplomatic and warlike as Francis I, whom, among others, he resembles. When he was at war with Charles V,. Franois allowed that Emperor to cross through France with a safeguard to put down his in surgent Flemings. Holding himself lofty, and of visibly fine intellect, noth ing pleases like Conkling’s condescen sion to a Democrat. He lias had great power and could so often oblige the minority, and did so, that they exclaim : “ Well, if it’s a tight of Evarts to get Conkling’s seat, we prefer Conkling !” There has never been, to my view, a more artistio pieoe of work than Oouk ling’s speech against Butler, of South Carolina, made at the critical period of his New York confirmations. There he stood, with his patronage imperilled by every word he spoke, yet speaking with his best partisau effectiveness. Specta tors and reporters said: “He has in censed the South as well as Patterson and Conover; now the Democrats will give his ‘appointments’ fits.” But in the splendid piloting of that speeeh he gave the enemy his broadside, passed the bar without scraping, stood off and saluted, and all said: “There’s a sailor.” His own party were brougbt together by fear and admiration; the Demoorats rather respected his pluck and couldn’t impugn his language. Mare than thirty years ago Henry Clay, in the nobility of his faculties, un dertook to bridle a President, but be never could get the Democrats to help him do it. Clay lacked the dear, witful, educated intellect of Conkling; the pub lic man has advanced sinee the days of Clay. Clay was swelling and indis criminate aud attacked too much. It seems to me that the United States Sen ate of the present has a higher average than ever in its histoiy. The return of the Southerners has brought a social tone; they respect to the wary but experirced leaders of that other great party, whose oouuoils have tamed Presidents aud humbled generals and foreign States. This Senate is full of Governors, judges, great lawyers and military commanders; look there at Gor don, Ransom, Morgan, Maxey, Withers, Cockrell, Oglesby, Burnside. They have seon such armies meet uh Napoleon found Dukes and Mar shals in. Look at Kirkwood, Hur ris, Randolph, Saunders, Harlan, Booth and Garland, who ruled great States as Executives or organisers. And in the law are Judges like Davis, ohton, Christiancy, Merrimon and Thurman and advocates like Edmunds, Matthews, Hoar, Conkling and Hill. The infusion of the military has given the tone of honor; of Governors a knowledge of the populace, and of the lawyers talent. I very much doubt whether in this Senate Calhoun would not be a dreamer, Clay a swashbuckler and Weflstpr a I'hPtorori ciafl. SnoU a Senate is not dagaied by Executive powGr uor moved from its sense of privilege by the accidental benefioiary of a Presidential electiou. To enter there Secretary Evarts would gladly lay down his portfolio; to resume his seat there, Carl Schurz would, if he was able, execute a handspring all the way from the Patent Office to the Capi tol. Without discussing soy propriety in the Senate’s attitude, I observe that it is full of Senatorial spirit. The Ne uitiau Counoil that tamed the Doges is revived here, and rank and patronage always stand together, Conkling is not t|ie lpafler of the Sen ate, but EdPßurids, who is, does notrep rpseut a large State where the offices are influential. The occasion, therefore, bringi Conkling forward and makes lflte the embodiment qf the spirit of the Sen ate. He puts tflis question : ‘.‘.Shall a President >yhq professes to maintain oiyil service rules, turn out my Collector and Naval Officer without *akiug obargi s against them ami before their terms hate expired?” With a timely finesse, Conkling aocepts the nomina tion of Merritt to be Surveyor and thus appeases the Fenton influence. He points the Senate to the fact that the day after Hayes was petitioned by all the New York delegation to retain Ar thur and Cornell, he sent back other names, without reply, aufl tfoe Sec retary of the 'f'r pas-pry treated an inquiry of his committee with soaut courtesy. The strength of Arthur, too, with the merchants autl public of New York, is greater than Roosevelt or any other man. He is backed up by E. D. Morgan, who is a formidable merchant and politician, too. Then, behind everything, is a gen eraj sense of dislifto to Krafts ip ibe Sen ate, and a belief that he would be bpyo critically using the same patronage to get admission to the Senate. The de feat, indeed, is of Evarts, not Hayes, and it sounds the first hell for the down fall of the Cabinet. The ruling elements of fjqnkiing are sense, camwetitjoji (ndignation. He is always greatest in a minority, fight ing upwards.' Rebind an indifferent ex terior is a knightly heart. Captured by a touch of nature he becomes an ally; crowded in the name of au obligation be bristles with hostility. Gallant to wo men, regardful of young men. unholy in his pride, overbearing in battle —be stands alone, game of the Senate. His priyate iiptyers are all hfiadsfl with a shiejd of thyee prows, *ue urpst a cock, and underneath I‘vigilanset audax.” TilK “ I>IFAANI'III*EMKNT HIKE’S NEST. Senator Illll’n Opinion of the f4t|er ljtl|> 11 New‘York “ 'Wjjrtd.p Allusion made iq the Cfl and Constitutionalist,' of yt sp-rclay, to a letter written fruro Atlanta fo the New York World about the tax qualification for voters iu the new Constitution, reu ator B. H. Hill’s attention was called to this article Thursday night by a reporter of the Atlanta Constitution : Senator Hill replied: "It is all bosh —miserable bosh. There is not a word of troth in it. It is a gross error, per haps unintentionally made. No one is disfranchised by the new Constitution, The right of suffrage is 'conceded to every man entitlcid Under the laws to tbe exercise of that right. No la#s of the ynitfed BtateS is trespassed upon and iff no wiad c;a'n tfte bg plaped fn the’ position ussumecj as possible in that'article. The requirements of the Constitution are simply regulations of the fight, kd far as 1 its exercise by the 4'Vf) ) The RUtp flas the power, pJfßb M inflispHtshle, to rpgq iate the e*erpie oi tbs conceded right atnl no one cau be Disfranchised except by bis own act. The State does net dis franchise any one. As well might it be said that the requirement that a voter shall exercise the right of suffrage in the county, in which he lives, and then only after u certain term of reuidenoe in the V*unty is a disfranabisement. Bat it is no such thing. It is one of the necessary regulations to preserve the purity and honesty of the flallot. The State, says 'its-citizens i,shall pay their taxes as a recompense for the protective autbor.ty au4 ihenencient operations of good goyertfjfcefit. Eyery cifci-pn' thould disebarge hisfluty to the at4te and'** is not a worthy citizen if he does not. The State says payment of taxes is one of the requisite* to entitle her citizens to participation in the governmental or ganization. This she has a clear right to do and tbe failure to accept the rignt upon ii-eau torßs ig-flot the . act of the State hut the tntiaou. himseu.ii i - gentleman, reprimanding his little son, was surprised to hear the youngster observe : "Father, remarks are nn neceesary.” A MILE OF J)ANCING FIRE. THE TOWN OF PATERSON COURS ED THROUGH BY A RIVER OF BURNING PETROLEUM. (HI Tasks Broken by a Collision Sending Their Blazing Contemn Down the Pamisic [Xeio York H’onci.] One of tbe most remarkable confla grations on record was that which, as noticed in a dispatch in yesterday's World, ooourred in Paterson Monday evening. During two hours iu the early part of the night a lino of fire a mile in length and twenty feet high cut the town in halves, bringing tbe people of Passaio out of their houses in alarm, and illnminating the oountry round about to tbe furthest hills of Preakness. And yet, strangely enough, there was no loss of life, and the damage done to property was only trifling. Between 7 and 8 o’clock an oil train eastward bonnd on the Erie track broke a coupling and lost four cars, including the “caboose,” which always goes along in the rear of freight. The acoident oc curred abont half a mile below the sta tion, near the Eagle Brewery. At this point tbe track, which runs along an embankment about ten feet high, be gins to take an up grade. Accordingly when the coupling broke the detached oars rolled backward down tbe incline, tbe oaboose, reversing its position sud denly, taking the lead, with three oars, supporting iron tanks full of petroleum oil, following. From a point a little further below, abont whore Straight street crosses, the track stops its down grade ftom the station and immediately begins another up grade towards tbe west; so that abont here is the lowest part of a hollow and naturally tbe veiy worst plaoe for a oollisiou to occur. It was precisely here that ou Monday night a collision did oconr. As the oil oars, preceded by the caboose, rolled downward with constantly accelerated motion ou one side, a heavy freight lo oomotive, which had been following tbe oil train, earne thundering along the other. The man who was in the ca boose leaped for his life, and in anoth er instant came the collision. The ca boose was lifted olean over tho top of the smoke staok of the locomotive and left standing on end on top of the boil er, while the looomotive, still retaining its momentum, dashed into tbe oar fol lowing, overturned it and ripped an im meDse hole iu the iron tank, through ' which the oil poured forth in streams. Immediately a sheet of flame leaped high in the air. How it was set is not known; probably it caught from a blaz ing journal. The engineer fortunately was able to back his looomotive away from the wreck and run the train of ooal oars which he was drawing to a safe dis tance from tbe flames. The track where the oollisiou occurred was wreuohed out of shape and oue or two rails were torn up. One of the tanks was thrown down the embank ment on the side towards the town. A little house standing just under the track was deluged with the blazing oil and broke into flames in an instant. The good wife was about stepping into bed, having just drawn up the shades on the windows to admit the moonlight. The house was wood, and the family had barely time to run out and no time to save any of their household goods, so quiek was its destruction. The tank continued to vomit forth oil, which rau down and collected in a blazing pool in a hollow right in front of the culvert running under tho track at the point where the oars had toppled over. This hollow was a partially opened sewer, which led into a brook rnnning away underground to tho Passaic. The fire oompanies eame running promptly, and people seemed to rise out of the ground so rapidly did the crowd gather. Within a few minutes there were 5,000 people collected about the blaziug tank. All at onoe there was a cry of wonder. From a pqint 50 feet away, across the road to wards the town, a sudden flame leaped up as it seemed out of the bowels of the earth. It did not stop in one place, but ran ou through tho lots in the direction of the houses. As it approaobed the first bouse it took hold greedily, setting it ablaze iu an instant, and then ran on in the direction of the River Btreet Bridge. It passed straight through a number of back yards, wrapping itself around trees and outhouses, until there was a continuous line of fire, in some places where it caught dry material leap ing a hundred feet into the air, one hun dred yards away to River street. There it suddenly ceased, seemingly thwarted in any fufther progress by an embank ment along which the street -Was laid. But in a moment out it started again from the other side of River street. It rati along through the bare lots lying between River street and the river, eatching a honse and barn on its way until it met the Passaio about one hun dred feet above the bridge, It did not stop there, but hugging tbe right bank of the river passed under the bridge and ran along the water, leaping high np to oatoh the trees and the loDg, dry grass which overhung the stream, in thedireo tion of the gas works. Never was a stranger sjght. At 8 o’clock a broad ribbon of the Passaio, which an hour before was flowing on properly in its shadows, was on fire for a mile along through tho town. Night was ohanged into day. The fields along the sides of Dean’s Hill, o' r ‘, the other side of the railroafl, were blaok with people. Tho windows of all the houses were thrown wide open and the whole interiors were displayed. Above, where lay the thick of the town, the blaze shone back from tbs Copies an j tf lQ high buildings if these too were all on fire. fltpon the hill where the sol diers’ monument stands people could i e seen plainly more than a mile away, qfcl those who were there say they could read the finest print with ease by the light of the burning oil. When it was discovered that the oil was running through tho sewer into tbe brook aud so ou far down the bosom of tbe river, attempts were made to dam up the stream where it escaped uuder the first road. It is fortunate probably that these attempts were not successful. If the oil had collected \ih. e F e it first escaped, or i; had spread out in the vioipity' there must have been great damage. As it was, it took the most harmless course possible. The brook where it was open ran for the most part through large yards and field? and along tbe bank of the river, as far as the gas works, is lined with a high wall of stone, there was little to burn. By the time the gas works were reached the flames were pretty nearly expended. The wooden docks there were soorohed and that was all. At 8:30 came tho climax of the fire. A second oil tank had lain exposed to tbe intense beat, and had some time previously given signs of exploding. According to an eye witness who was standing near it, the thick iron compos ing the tank was so affected by the heat that it rose and fell in, bubbles, like tbe skin op thq top of a baking podding. Tbe people singularly enough seemed to have no thought or fear of the oonse qneuces of an explosion, and were crowffed about the spot where the tanks lay iu startling proximity. At length it eame with a detonation tike that of near , thqnfler, Tfle tank vanished, and in its place appeared a vast ball of liquid fire, ' which to tho imaginations of those who. saw it appeared to. pulsate for the part of an instant and tbeiji, burst forth in sublime wrajjh. A globe of solid Are, ever increasing, rofled upwards to an incredible height, consuming tfle thick clouds of smoke and sending forth a fierce heat that blistered the paint on honses hundreds of yards away. Then came a rush. The nth°l e mass of peo ple, bflnded fly tfle intense light and feeling iheir lungs scorched with the air they breathed, broke into flight. There were many women in the crowd who fell and were trampled under foot. It is a marvel that none were killed. Their protection, undoubtedly, was the extent of tbe open space abont the scene of the explosion and which ad mitted of tbe qnick separation of tbe crowd. As it was there were brnisea and broken bones, and notbiDg worse. TDF OHIO HENATORHHIP. Uenlleman (Jeorae’n I'bani es B(ea<|il f ■ Ifß* proving, OoLpMpos, December 20. —Quite a number of political gentlemen here abouts express the opinion that Pendle ton will fle nominated on the first ballot, and that if hp is not chosen on the first he will surely catch the nomination on the second °t third ballot, So far as can be seen there appears to be a move ment of certain elements in his favor, gome who have heretofore had other fa vorites going over to him simply because tbe popular mind appears to be setting in that direction, and they want to be on the winning side. These persons affect to believe that the fight will be short, sharp and decisive. Others do not see it in that light, and say that if Pendle ton is not successful on the first or sec ond ballot &is doom is sealed ; his fol lowing Will-begin to dwindle away, and fortune will 'favor some great unknown. . .1 "-*• ' "Andrews' haznr “puts the fashion centres of Europe 'undeJr contribution for the tasteful oostumes which appear in its columns. No lady who desires to dress well oan afford to be without it, IU low price of subscription is far from corresponding with its high standard of excellence. Published by W. fl. An drews, Cincinnati, at ope dollar per Annum. _ . Tbe latest style in women’s hate is the “Cinqne Mars.” It would probably iflk Pali? to pay for one. SOUTH CAROLINA. PALMETTO NEWS LEAVES. The last of the Federal troops have left Columbia. Tbe fruit-tree peddler is stumping the State at present. The Legislature adjourns to day for nearly a month’s interim. Mr. Jnlins Day, near Pine Honse, lost his gin house last week. Greenville bought five hundred and fifty bales of cotton Tuesday. Persimmon hunting is becoming tbe fashionable amusement in Abbeville. Columbia invalids carry Irish pota toes in their pockets to cure rheuma tism. Mr. Stephen Latimer lost his gin house by fire recently in Abbeville oounty. The Rev. Mr. Hnndley will preach his first sermon in Edgefield on the first Sunday in January. The Colombia Register thinks that there’ll be no division of tbe Democratic party in Booth Carolina. The officers of the Butler Rifleman, at Hodges, treated their men to a splen did punoh last Friday week. The Edgefield Advertiser thinks that the President has certainly treated Judge Northrop most shabbily. The Edgefield Advertiser propoaes Mr. Elijah Keese for the Paris Exposi tion Commission from Carolina. Mr. A. W. Lynch will continue in charge of the Johnston Male and Fe male High School for the coming year. The press of the State seem to be down upon the usury law, whoso only virtue seems to be that it is u "popular measure.” Tbe Columbia Register oalls atteution to the faot that there is a large amount of property in the State virtually reliev ed from taxatiou. Major Lee, of Asheville, N. C., was married to Mrs. Lee, of Abbeville coun ty last week. The groom was eighty two and the bride fifty-seven. A meeting of tbe directors and stock holders of tbe Groenwood and Angnsta Railroad will he held at the stockade on Thursday, 27th January next. Two daring youths near Abbeville waylaid an old colored man the other day, and would have robbed him, but the old fellow bad spent all of hia money. The Jndioiary Committee of the Sen ate have reported unfavorably on a bill to transfer a portion of Edgefield coun ty to Newberry, and the Senate adopted the report. The ladies of the Confederate Home in Charleston have seoured from Eng land a number of useful and ornamen tal artioles of Chinn, ou which there is a finely executed likeness of Governor Wade Hampton. The Abbeville Banner thinks that the fair structure of onr State ednostion, with its solid foundation in the common schools, and its strong oolnmua in the colleges aud high sehools requires ns its orowning oapital a great, froe and flour ishing University. York will change her fence law. Only seven per oent. interest now. York seems infested with robber*. Belton will have a tilt on the 271 b. Barnwell now has a billiard rhlood. Chester shipped 2,062 bales of ootton last month, Tbe artesian well has struck water in Charleston. Lancaster is rapidly buying np Ten nessee hogs. Townville has anew Baptist Church and a grog shop. Newberry farmers arc backward in sewiug small grain. Wm. Blum Dingle, Esq., Sheriff of Richland, is dead. Blaokville don't think much of the County Court system. The Aiken Hussars have a graud hall on New Year’s night. Congressmen Evins and Aiken are at home for the holidays. Greenville wants a Government Court House and post office. Two brothers are running for tho Legislature iu Newberry. Tbe Chester Reporter does not th<nk that Patterson will resign, A Charleston brig recently oarried out 521 bales of cotton to Spain. The Sumter Watchman considers the usury bill a relio of barbarism. They are agitating iu Charleston tbe subject of a paid fire department. Tho Aiken Courier-Journal is satisfied with the workings of the Legislature. Dr. Reynolds died of neuralgia of tbe heart, Wednesday morning, in Green ville. Dr. Jameß M. Sloan, of Walhalla, and Mr. James Allen, of Lowndesville, aro dead. Rabk. P. Hemphill, Esq., of the Ab beville Medium, becomes Brigadier- General. The Newberry herald opposes the establishment of a State University at this time. The Carolina darkey finds himself celebrating Christmas with somebody else’s hog. It is thought that tbe Sumter ootton factory will soon be established on paying basis. i The time for payment of taxes with-1 ont penalty and oost has been extended until January Ist The House has passed a bill requiring all executions of tbe death peualty to he Imposed privately. Col. D. Wyatt Aiken thinks that Car olina oould easily grow all the tea con sumed by the United States. Mr, Milton Gambrille, of Audersori county, had a difficulty with a colored tenant the other day, in whioh the latter was shot. The Charleston News proposes to Mr. Baldwin, the newly appointed Collector, a thorough reorganization of the Cus tom Honse. The new fenoe law in Chester county will go into effect ou the first of tbe year, but as yet little preparation has been made for it. Col. James McCuteheon, the Demo cratic nominee for tbe State Henato, has been elected to succeed Swails from Williamsburg oounty. Rose Moore, an aged negri/ss of 101 years, died recently in York vide. She was not iu speaking acquaintance with any of the revolutionary heroes save Lord Cornwallis. While a party of gentlemen were amusing themsnlves horse racing in Or angeburg a few days ago, one of them, Mr. R. M. RobitiHon, was thrown from his horse and killed. It is currently rumored and believed that tbe appoin tment of Major-General of all the mil) Via forces of tho State has been tendered to Captain Henry L. Maysou, of Beech Island. Mr. William A. Boyle, of Charlestou county, has been appointed by tbe Gov ernor Inspector-General of the First Brigade, First Division, Volunteer State Troops, with the rank of Major. jv/dge Mackey and Mr. G. W. Curtis have been elected delegates from the Palmetto Association to the National Convention of the Mexican War Vet erans to be held at Washington. The State Superintendent of Educa tion will at onoe issue a circular to tho School Commissioners of the several counties directing them to open the pnblic schools as soon as possible. The Charleston News says : “In tho elootiou to-day for members of the Gen eral Assembly, to fill the vacancy occa sioned bv the resignation of Gon. Walk er, R. W. Shand, Esq., the regular Deiuociakio nominee, wan elected over the Independent candidate by a hand some majority.” Berry Harlen, a very respectable col ored man, aged 115 year*, died on Dr. Little’s plantation last week. He had been a member of the Baptist Church for one hundred years, and hail always remained faithful to the church of his white friends, which he regnlarly at tended. CaroKna Spartan, On the day of adjournment of the Carolina Legislature the following bills were introduced ; To establish a mar riage license law in Sontn Carolina; bill to incorporate the Port Royal Lime and Warehouse Company; bill to alter and amend the school law of South Carolina; bill to reeharter the Newberry College and Evangelical Synod of South Caro lina and adjacent States. Ueeernl Twl*V> Mw^nU. [ Vorrespofidenct: iMu'utxnUe Courier-Journal, j In traversing the Treasury Depart ment the three swords presented Gen eral Twiggs by tbe State of Texas, tbe oitisens of Augusta and tbe United States Congress for gallantry in the Mexican war, were ahown me. They are ornamented with diamonds, amethysts, pearls, and riohly ebased, and are val ued, intrinsically, at $35,000. I asked how they oame there, and learned that they were taken from a bank vanlt in New Orleans by General Bntler, and forwarded to the Government. I am told the heirs of the veteran soldier have made no iffort to recover them, bnt sorely, with a sense of returning justice, these tributes to the valor of a great soldier will not be withheld from those who pride themselves in the memory of his gallant deeds. Yon Can Have Money By using Doo|ey;s i'east Powfler, for less butter,‘florir, eggs, etc., are rerinirod to accomplish satisfactory results. ’ This is not a needless hap-hazard Statement, bnt a faot verified by the experience of many thousand' families. Try if and prove the claim. ‘ Opium eating is qnite common in At lante. Tbe President and Mrs. Hayes cele brate their silver wedding daring the Christmas holidays.