Newspaper Page Text
(Mg Cflunlg Jttos.
E? h. grouby,
Editor, Proprietor & Publisher.
BLAKELY:
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6, 1864.
I will preach (D. V.) at Bush Arbor on
Saturday, April 9th, at 11 o’clock, a. m.,
aDd again on Sabbath, the 10th, at 3, p. m.
T. 11. Stout.
* 4 ♦
Judge J. T. Clarke will preach (D. V.)
at the Baptist Church, in Blakely, ou Sab
bath, April 10th, at 11 o’clock, a. m.
■ »
We see it stated that a large amount of
the new issue of (Confederate money has
been sent from Richmond to Cfeu. Lee’s
army, for the purpose of paying off the
troops.
Old Abo has lately ordered another draft
for two hundred thousand men ? Can they
be had ? is the question. He evidently
means to scare somebody, if he can. But
his object, no doubt, is to call out troops
and drill them in the voting line.
•
About eleven hundred Confederate pris
oners have lately landed at Richmond on
parole. An equal number of Yankees have
been sent North. We fear a Yankee trick
in this matter. The material wc send to
the North fight for pay, and a few dollars
will be amply sufficient to induce them to
disregard their parole.
1 ♦ ,
Any one who wishes it, can pay a years’
subscription to the News by sending us in
eight pounds of bacon, lard or sugar, either
of which could have been bought before
the war at 12£ cents per lb. So, according
to this arrangement, all who want our paper
can get it a whole year for sl, just half the
price before the war.
A retail grocery has again been opened
in this town, and we suppose we will soon
have a “lively burg!” Wc are truly
sorry for it, for it will take all the “ spare
change” we can get to keep our mouth
“ watored ! ” Darn the luck !—whenever
we get iu a notion to “ save ” a few dollars,
something like a grocery gets in our way,
and then we spend the “ last red cent! ”
♦ >
Some friend has sent us a copy of the
German Advertiser, published at Rich
mond, Va. This is either a JJutch or Jew
paper, and was probably scut us as an
“April Fool.” We are unable to road any
of this contemtible paper further than the
heading, and we are not at all sorry fbr it,
for we have not tho least desire to read any
Dutch or Jew productions.
♦—
Is it just to the purchasing community,
or right in merchants, in consequence of
the currency law, to advance the price of
their goods 33J per cent., and also discount
the money to the same amount ? It is roi
ally a discount of 663 per cent. We mere
ly ask the question if such conduct is fair
and right, hoping that some of the mer
chants, who are guilty of this thing, will
answer the question.
The following is one of the many reso
lutions passed by the late called session of
the Georgia Legislature :
To have certain books sent to the mem
berfl and officers of the Legislature.
Well enough, we think, for the members
of the lato Legislature ought certainly to
road something before they meet again!
Wonder if it is Webster’s Spoiling Book
that they want! Shouldn’t be suprised if
a few copies of this old book wouldn’t be
an advantage to the wholo lato legislative
body 1
May we ask why many exchanges refer
to tho President as “ Mr. Davis ? ” He
Is certainly President, and that fact is ad
mitted even by the most embittered fac
tionists, who give the title Gen., Col., Hon.,
Judge, &c., in all other casos where it ex
presses the fact of office. We gladly ap
prove a disuse of the “ Excellency,” and
of all fulsomo titles of adulation, but de
cency and a regard to facts require that
the President should be recognized as to
his office, and, unless where he is specially
referred to individually, aud as a citizen,
should be designated “ the President,” or
“ President Davis,”
The commercial editor of the Richmond
Whig calls attention to the fact that the
“ currency act ” rovokes the power hereto
fore granted to and exercised by the Sec
retary of the Treasury to issue fifty millions
of Treasury Notes per month. He can no
• longer flood the country with paper money.
The only manner in which he can meet the
wants of the Treasury is to issue six per
cent, bonds, the principal and interest
whereof shall be free from taxation , and
for the payment of the interest thereon the
entire net receipts of any export duty here
after laid on the all cotton, tobacco
and naval stores, which shall be exported
from the Confederite States, and the net
proceeds of the import duties now laid, or
so much thereof as may be necessary, are
specially pledged. This fact, it is properly
urged, should inspire confidence in the new
currency. About the first of May, we pre
sume, the Secretary will sell or hypothe
cated portion of the six per cent, bonds,
and thus a further drain upon the reduced
amount of currency in circulation will be
made, and money will become scarcer.
Creditors of the Government, whose debts
have been contracted since the passage of
the u currency act,” are allowed to receive
the amounts due them in a certificate of
indebtedness, payable two years after peace,
bearing six per cent, interest, payable an
nually, and exempt from taxation in prin
cipal and interest. This is another safe
guard against an increase of the currency.
-• X
We were as completely “sold” last Fri
day as any poor creature ever was in this
world. V ery Boon after we came down to
our office in the morning, in came a ser
vant with a waiter, and said that her young
mistress had sent us something “ good.”
Os course it was no time before we lifted
the nice white napkin from the waiter,
ready and willing to “ pitch in ” —but lo
and behold ! there was nothing to be found
under the napkin but & steak dish with a
piece of paper in it, on which was written
“April Fool! ” For the moment we were
mad enough to tear all the hair out of our
head !—for we had almost “ tasted ” the
“ good things ” that we supposed were un
der that napkin !—but, upon reflection, we
came to the conclusion that it was best to
take the matter as “ aisy ” as possible,
and did so, and now feel as good hu
mored as a young kitten in tho sunshine 1
But the fact about the business is, the dis
appointment to get anything “ good,” as
we expected, laid us up all day Friday,
and we had to apply to our Drug Store
friend for relief! Never miud, Miss L.,
we will try to pay you off some time in the
same kind of coin, if we havn’fc already
done so! By the way, wonder if our
“April Fool ” friend got any news out of
the “ Jew paper ” we sent her ! Would
like to know.
— ♦ .
We would call the attention of the citi
zens of Fort Gaines to the fact that they
are allowing entirely too many negroes in
and around their town to do just as they
please. We know many negroes about this
town who trade and traffic the same as white
men, and, in fact, kick up larger swells aud
have more money than many white men we
know of. The law of Georgia positively
forbids negroes hiring their own time, but,
nevertheless, many of the negroes in and
about Fort Gaines are allowed to do this
very thing. This is wrong, and a stop
should be put to it. The best thing that
can be done for these “ free slave negroes ”
is to give them about five hundred each,
and then put them to work for their mas
ters. We think this would cure them of
“ sucking eggs.”
+ ♦
Wood sold in this city last week for one
hundred and fifty dollars per load ! Ge
whillikens !— Augusta Chronicle.
Gewhillikens, indeed! You better say
Ge-fteft-ikens, Bro. Chronicle ; for any one
who will take the advantage of a “ cold
snap,” and ask a person one hundred and
fifty dollars for a common load of wood, it
just as certain to go to hell as it takes one
dollar and fifty cents to bvy a “Jingcr -
Cake ” in Bainbridge! We believe we
had rather buy a cake than a load of wood,
for the cakes wo speak of are said to be
pretty “ stretchy ,” and would very probably
“ stretch ” out long enough to feed a fel
low about a month, while the wood would
likely “ play out ” in a few days !
Read the Grand Jury Presentments, to
be found in another column.
Horse feed is cheap (!) in Bainbridge !
The fellow who keeps the stable there we
learn only charges five dollars a single feed!
Wonder if & man’s horse should lay down
in one of his stalls and go to sleep if the
proprietor of the stable wouldn’t charge
five dollars extra ! We had a notion of
going down to Bainbridge shortly, but we
think we’ll have to give it out, for our old
pocket book is down in bed with a billious
case of the “ swinncy ! ” Don’t beiieve
we’ll go off anywhere unless we can play
the game of “ cousining ” out the amount
of our horse feed and tavern bills!. If
we only had a few “ cousins ” round about,
dog’d if we’d stay at borne half as much
as we do ! But we’re a. poor devil of a
one-horse country Editor, almost solitary
and alone, with no “ kin-folks ” to “ eat
us out of house and home ” —and, upon
the whole, we might consider ourself quite
“a lucky dog ” to be as well off as we are,
and have come to the conclusion that it is
best for us that we’ve got no “cousins,” for
they might “ cousin ” it with us oftener .
than we’d be able to “ cousin ” it with
them! So here goes for Bainbridge as
soon as our old pocket book sufficiently re
covers, and darn the expelfses !
-♦ ♦—
The Post Master at Fort Gaines ha 9 sent
a package belonging to his.office to the of
fice in Blakely, containing twenty-seven
letters, directed respectively to Miss Anna
A. Wash, 001. John H. Jones, Mrs. Mary
W. Hepburn, Mrs. E, A. Thompson, Miss
Redonia C. Johnson, Mrs. M. E. Odom,
Mrs. R. A. Wakefield, C. G. Mandeville,
Spencer W. Taylor, Mrs. Nancy Cherry,
Mrs. James Mcßae 2, Oliver H. Watts,
G. B. Thompson 2, Mrs. F. T. Cullens,
Miss S. R, M. Hite, Mrs. James McKen
nie, Surgeon Gaston, P. A. C. S,, General
Hospital, Mrs. Nancy Dickinson, Miss Jen
nie Irvin, Mrs. Sarah E. Green, James A.
Smith, John Ivy, Miss Clara Tuttle, Lieut.
W. J. J. Webb, James H. Mills. We
have sent these letters back to the jackass
Post Master at Fort Gaines, hoping that
heiwill hereafter keep letters belonging to
his own office, and not again trouble us
with the Fort Gaines mail. • If the author
ities at Richmond have consolidated the
Blakely and Fort Gaines Post Offices, we
have not yet been informed of it, and there
fore hope that the skunk who pretends to
be Post Master at Fort Gaines will, until
further orders from Richmond, attend to
his own business, and not send us any more
of his letter packages.
*
The Superior Court of Early county
convened in this place on Monday last, at
12 o’clock, m. Sol. Gen. C. B. Wooten,
Col. E. Douglass, I. E, Bower, S. Hall, E.
H. Platt, together with our gentlemanly
local bar, Col, S. S. Stafford and Col. T. T,
Swann, were present. But little business
was done. Judge Clarke presided with
his usual dignity and courtesy. He is one
of the most perfect gentlemen with whom
we were ever acquainted, and is a model
judge. The Grand Jury, in their present
ments, mention him in very flattering terms,
which was nothing more than just. Sol.
Gen. Wooten is also a very clever gentle
man, and makes a very efficient officer.
♦
. We learn that there is a good deal of
trading going on in this community between
negroes and mean, trifling , low-down iohlte
persons. Some negroes on a certain plan
tation in this county have lately been found
out stealing ground peas and selling them
to white persons, who bought them in the
dead hour of night, and paid the negroes
in “ one stuff or other.” A person who
will thus trade with negroes will set fire to
a man’s house if he thought he would
“make it pay.” This is another reason
why all should patrol nightly, and catch
these trifling, white-livered scamps in their
rascality. “ A stitch in time saves nine.”
♦ -» ♦
Hon. W. E. Smith has our thanks for a
copy, in pamphlet form, of the “Address
of Congress to the People of the Confeder
ate States.” We have heard this document
very highly spoken of, but we have not yet
read it, and don’t know that we will, for
the Currency Bill passed by this body has
put us out with the whole concern, and we
have no confidence in anything they may
say or do. But, the question is, will the
next Congress do any better ? We hope
they may, though we have our doubts
about it. .
1 «♦.-»- .
The weather is pleasant to-day.
We understand from a member of tha
Inferior Court that, at their last setting,
they made quite a reduction in the amount,
paid to soldiers’ families., They took as a
basis of support two dollars "per week
for each member of the family dependent
on the county. We think they have dono
perfectly .right in this matter, though we do
not doubt but what a good ‘deal of grumbling
will be the consequence, though we do not
think there ought to be, if all interested will
take into consideration the fact that Early
County has all the time been doing more
for the Soldiers’ families than any other
county in Georgia. We think that theta
are some families in the county who are
now drawing from the public fund who
ought not to draw at all, from the simple
fact that many of them spend all they so re
ceive for one tomfoolery and another.
Those do not dress it all out, and oth
erwise spend it foolishly, we think ought
to receive more than they are allowed—-but
it is bard to make discriminations, and
hence we think the Court has done about
the best they could. All should be satis*
fied.
+ ——
There has, undoubtedly, been more steal
ing, and rascality generally, going on in
Blakely and Early County, for the past,
few months, than has ever before been known
for several years—there have been many
attempts to break open houses, steal wash
pots, leather, &c., and burn down tan yards
and mills. Now there is no doubt ia our
.mind but what negroes are doing a great
deal of this stealing, burning, &c.,-r-but
there certainly are Borne mean white men
connected with the negroes. Time and
again have we called the attention of e*r
citizens to patrol duty, but only a few of
them have done anything in this line. It
is outrageous to let things continue to. go
on as they have of late, when a stop could
so easily be put to the same by rigid pat
rolling. We claim that it is the duty of
every good citizen of the county to go out
nightly and watch the negroes, and when
they find them where they ought not to
be strap them. Moreover we think that
the owners of negroes ought to keep their
slaves at home all the time until things
get more settled.
-
We would suggest the propriety of our
citizens bolding an indignation meeting in
regard to the order for the delivery, &c.,
of Tithes, as published by Capt. R. K.
Hines. This is the most outrageous order
that we have ever heard of. If somethin**
O
is not done with some of our Military Offi
cers, they will soon begin to think they*
own the whole country, and will try to
make the people do just as they please,
A check should be put to this thing, and
the sooner the better for us all. We su<»-
* # O
gest Saturday week, the 16th inst., as the
day for holding said meeting. the
citizens of Miller county also bo represent
ed.
♦
We hope a certain Ex-Sheriff of Miller
county will settle his bill with us, and not
again send his son to us to “ shave up ”
his note for about two-thirds of its face,
and that, too, when the note i$ about three
years old ! We have our private opinion
of all such men, and if the fellow in ques
tion don’t come up and settle with us, and
that pretty soon, we intend to make our
opinion of him public. We prefer, tho’*
that he would come and pay up.
* 4 »
A gentleman recently arrived in Rich
mond, from Maryland, where he has been
for several weeks, gives an encouraging ac
count of the feeling existing among the
friends of the South in that State. He
they never were more hopeful or san
guine of the success of the Confederate
cause than at the present time. Manacled
by the armed legions of Lincoln, and sep
arated from their Southern friends by nat
ural obstacles, they have never despaired
of ultimately uniting’ their State to thq
Southern Confederacy.
Richmond Sentinel.
»--» »
The Missouri Democrat, the leading Ab
olition organ of the West, declares :
If a high banded attempt is to bo made
to force Mr. Lincoln’s nomination upon
that convention, the attempt will necessa
rily beget a revolt; for which, and for
whatever disastrous consequences flow from
it, those desperate schemers will beheld res*
ponsible.
— ; »—» ♦
Theodore Tilton, of the New York I-nde*
pendent, said in a lecture the other day, at
Dortland, that it was “ the prime duty of
all to grasp God with one band and the ne
gro with the other.”