The Bainbridge weekly democrat. (Bainbridge, Ga.) 1872-18??, March 30, 1876, Image 1

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jjfcgrfl TgOM 3DBLT 10 TO.I A ,OHViaK)M T8TJI HKRXRBALL THIS PRESS TEE PEOPLE'S RIGHTS MAINTAIN", UJfA WKD BY DfFL TTMNC3 AMD WNBRJBED BYQAUf* . tlfaNhfr'lNtbah* .,miTwsm airmans!! BAlNBRIDGE, GEORGIA, MARCH, 30 1876- Number 2ft fctheCitiMM 1 jjcf Cmpriiimr tM ■"""t i-Q JC' The <tstc Democratic Executive Com-T -— I_ iff haring named the 26th of April, as I,proper day for district conventions to e *f. to appoint delegates to the national I -yaiocnilic Convention, at St. Louis, on •yjTth of June, you are requested lo, •S county meetings at such times an|j . itti a« may seem to you most conveo- ara re *dy toj het f that half the — for ** - d " 1 iSSSflffESfS&JZ - i: ----- -•* ' ■atUia I ^ to said District Convention. kch county will he entitled to double I (amber of votes of its Representation jj at House, but may send as many dele ft as desired. The Stale Executive Committee also a resolution requesting the District I nvention to name four delegates and or alternates, for the State at large, to National Presidential Nominating ■jnrrntion. Your county delegates will I atreforc have this duty to perform, in I tidiiion to the selection of two delegates ,:d two alternates to represent the Second 3£resaional District. finding it impracticable to harmonize Committee on any one place for the ..v-mliling of the Convention, the Cliair- • ,n follows custom and invites you to : -vi in Albany on the dijr named. D. A. Vas*. Cli. Dem. Ex. Com., 2d Con. Dis. T'n- following gentlemen compose the | I' ; .-trict Committee: judge D. A. Vason, '’halnnan. M m. Arthur Hood, Randolph. J! m. it. Simmons, Terrill, i ,;>i James II. Spence, Mitchell. Mr A. L. Hawes, Raker. Mr C. M. Davis, Calhoun. Col. K. E. Kennan, Clny. <•..> 15. F. Whittington, Berrien. Mr John Tucker, Colquitt, lion. I. A. Rush, Miller. Ur J. \V. Mercer, Quitman. Col. i5. II. Robinson, Early. (ol. W, U. Fleming. Decatur. f<il. A. P. Wright, Thomas. Cr»|. p. 15. Whittle, Lowndes. It ia. It. U. Jenkins, Worth. Hon. II (J. Turner, Brooks, trPapers in the District will please amt. D. A. Vason, Chairman. ittAutioAT t:\ccitsroN to apalacmicola. Th< r« will he a steamboat excursion tvl.-r the auspices of the Bainbridgc Cor- i-t ilund fnrm Bainbridgc to Apalachlco- a or about the 27th of April prox. T ip steamer will be absent on the trip stove days. Distance from Bainbridgc to Apalachicola 250 miles. The excursion will he most delightful. The rate of pas- will not be over $6 per ticket for the round trip, and probably less. Parties | rho desire to go on this trip are requested to communicate with the undersigned as *«n as passible. Newspapers along the ; ulf Road would confer a favor by copy- this. Ben E. Russell, Ed. Democrat. At the request of Col. Carey W. Styles, n take great pleasure in publishing the annexed card: To Mexican Veterans. Having been appointed, by Gen. TV. S. 'Talker, President of the Association of Mexican Veterans for Georgia. Chairman of the Committee to collect unwritten in cidents, facts and matters of interest con nected with the campaigns to the city of the Aztecs, I respectfully invite contribu tions from vetraus everywhere, but more especially from residing in South Caroli- na and Georgia. Short letters, detailing incidents, facts, circumstances and inter esting events, personal and otherwise, will he thankfully received, and carefully com piled and printed for the Association. Georgia and Carolina papers will please copy. Caret TV. Styles, Albany, Ga. Bainbridqe, Ga., March 30, AB^NG QUA NEIGHBORS. The Jacksonville (Fla.) Union says that tho Georgia Delegation to thft Florida State Fair was presented by W. 0. Malony of Key West, with a -num ber of the tropical .products of this sec tion. which are to he placed on exhibi tion ia the Agricultural Museum of Georgia. Among the articles is a cot ton plant, fully matured, planted in November last; specimen limits and fruit fh>m a cotton-tree seven years old; tpecimens of the eisal and samples of the hemp produced therefrom ; and co- 'wnst trees in different stages of boar- and maturing. speech on the pension bill, have not read that speech at all, and don't know really what Mr. Hill said on that occasion. Brother Fleming, of the Blakely News, says he is not a preacher, and we have no reason to doubt his word. To Harris, Triplett, McIntosh, Pendle ton, Evans, Brown, Kayton, Hansell, Davies, Tucker, Sawtell, Fleming, greet ing. Come up and go with us on the Boat Excursion. Every one of you bring your wife and children. Lager on the boat. McIntosh says he will support to the ‘•bitter end” a'farmer for the Legislature next time from Brooks county. Of course that will settle the matter, and lawyers and others had just as well shut up and prepare to take a back seat. The success of rice culture in Thomas county has led to the erection of two rice mills. .Common pine upland which will not make more than seven or eight bush- •is of corn, will yield twenty bushels of rice, and the latter is worth more per bushel than tlie former. Poor Cuthbert. She has a hard time of it. Between smoke house burglars and hog thieves, she has a mighty slim chance. The Sumpter Republican, Dawsou Journal, Lumpkin Independent, Early County News, Cuthbert Appeal, Fort Valley Mirror, state that they received no “ethics” ou the Joe Brown lease. Cuthbert Messenger: One day last week a Mr. Coleman from the 5th dis trict of this oounty, brought a lot of nice country raised bacon to town for sale, and was offering it at 121 cents by the lot, hams, shoulders and sides. When asked how he could raise meat at that price, re plied that he didn't buy guano and corn to make cotton, but raised his own sup plies, and thus kept independent, out of debt and happy, lln didn’t care whether they resumed specie payment or not, or what laws they passed just so they didn't cosliscatc what he hail. Fort Gaines has military oil the bram. \Ve want to be placed ou the record as not opposed to the Slate Road Lease. We think, the lease a good lluug for the State, but wc object to the manner of obtaining it. Some prisoners attempted to break jail the other night in Quituiun, hut John Thrasher filed an injunction. It is the opinion that the cold snap has murdered the fruit crop of * Southwest Georgia. Cuthbert—fire—Sunday night—Mr. Harris’ kitchen—loss $300—cause un known. A firm in Columbus proposes to test the right of a municipal corporation to tax persons selling goods by sample. The decision of this questiou will interest all the municipalities of the State. A cyclone passed through Worth coun ty one day last week. Albany will have some colored mins trels in a few days. Albany News: Mr. Fabein Thomas who runs the Clanton Place, in tliisooun- ty, says that Buil-Bms are the best and most efficient destroyers of caterpillars of all the insectiverous birds in thiscouutry, —English Sparrows to the coutriuy not withstanding. Mr. Thomas says that he has often sat on his fence and watched these birds fly up between cotton rows shake the flies out from the leaves with their wings and then return and catch and cat them. The number destroyed by one Bat iu so short a time he says, is astou- ishing. A Famous Bribe.—The Postmas ter General has received the fol owiug letter from Chi’.licothe, Ohio ; “I would like to obtain a situatir n ia the mail department on the Sciota Valley Railroad, now in the course of con- stiuction, and which is nearly comple ted. I will give $100 fo. the position. Can also furnish good security as well as the best of refereuces. A gentleman from one of our fron tier towns, where a man who does not get drank is subjected to social ostra cism, subscribed to three copies of our weekly, because we made an item of his having been fined before the Re corder. If we had mentioned his hav ing been indited for bucking at faro, during bia-brief stay in town, he would have presented us with a suit of clothes- Congressman Lamar is very seriously ill, and will return to his home for the present. Hit absence will prove a severe ; loes -to the. Democratic side of the ftouse. Bristow is now on the ragged edge, and no one can ^uess his fate. Be is no* before the committee. nue Laws. SPEECH OF . B. GORDON GEORGIA, IN THE OF THE U. S. STATES- MARCH 9, 1876. Hr. Gordon. I ask now that* the reso lution offered by me a few days ago be taken up, that I may offer an amendment and submit-some remarks. The President pro tempore. The resolu tion and amendment will be read. The Chief Clerk. The following is the resolution submitted by Mr. Gordon on the 7th instant. Resolved, That the Committee on Fi nance be instructed to ascertain, if possi ble, what amendments to our revenue laws are necessary to secure economy and cer tainty in the collection of internal revenue, and prevent the recurrence of official frauds in that branch of the public ser vice. The amendment now offered is to make the resolution read: Whereas the frequent enormous frauds committed by distillers and Government officials have deprived the Government of a large proportion of its legitimate reve nue and brought disrepute upon an im portant branch of the public service, and whereas the interests of the people and the good name of the Government demand that Congress shall take immediate steps to so amend the laws as to secure econo my and honesty in the collection of the internal revenue: Therefore, Resolved, That the committee on Finance be instructed to ascertain, if possible, what are the defects in the present sys tem, and what legislation is necessarry to remedy these defects; and especially to inquire— First. Whether it be advisable to so amend the laws as to levy the whisky tax directly upon the capacity of the ferment ing tubs and require it to be col.ccted in advance; and, Second. To create a corps of exercise to hold office indefinitely, removable only for incapacity or malfeasance in office. Mr. Gordon. Mr. President— The President pro tempore. The Chair will advise the Senator that he lias about one miuute before the expiration of the morning hour. Mr. Gordon. By consent of the chair man of the committee reporting the bill tiiat was made the special order for to-day, I am permitted to goon with my remarks. If the Senate will so consent, I will now proceed. The President pro tempore. Is there ob jection? The Chair hears none. Mr. Gordon. Mr. Presidsnt, the reso lutions which have been read propose a radical change in the revenue laws. It is proper, therefore, that I should briefly explain the reasons and the necessities, as I conceive them, for such a change. Let me, however, disclaim in advance any purpose to reflect upon the heads of the Revenue or the Treasury Department. My purpose is to deal with the system alone and with its administration, to show that it is’not only defective, but that it ia, and must continue to be, unless material ly altered, a breeder of frauds. The amendments which the resolution suggests aro in the interest of honesty, of economy, of reform. Had they been adopted three years ago they would have compelled even Joyce to act like an hon est man, the distillers to pay the tax, aud would have made the “whisky ring” an impossibility; and, had they been incor porated as a part of our revenue laws some years previous to that, when the whisky tax was first imposed, they would have saved to the Government enough of fraudulently-withheld or stolen money to pay the cost of a hundred centennials or to build a Pacific railroad not only to California, but almost around the world, had there been land to sustain it. These statements may seem extravagant or be startling, but I shall prove from of ficial data that they are true. And, sir, if these statements approximate the truth, I ask in what department of Government is there a louder or more iraporativj de mand upon us for immediate and wise and energetic legislation. Now, sir, to the proof. I believe Mr. Fessenden is universally esteemed as standing in the very front line of Secretaries of the Treas ury. In his official report for 1864 he uses this language: The annual yield of our distilleries has been about one hundred millions of gal lons. He further says on the same page, 59: Experience in other countries has prov ed that the rate of duty, unless far beyond the highest prescribed by our law, does not seriously affect consumption. I wish to sustain Mr. Fessenden on these points by later official authority. Commissioner Pratt by his report for 1875 furnishes us the data by which we are able to ascertain that in the yoar 1870, notwithstanding the well-known and enor mous frauds which have always been per petrated under these laws, fully seventy- seven and a quarter millions of gallons of spirits were warehoused upon which the Government received the revenue. He also sustains Mr. Fessenden on the other point: The amount of spirits actually consum ed has not varied during these years, not withstanding the changes in the law fix ing the amount of tax. And he adds: The demand is as steady as the appetite to be fed is fixed and exacting. If Mr. Fessenden was right in 1864. that the annual production of oar distilleries .utrtrtd wfflldM tff t&mi, bad if both be and the Commissioner are cor rect in the statement that the rate of taxa tion does aotm*teri*lIy change the amount of production, I think that I can prove beyond controversy that the statement with which I set out is not extravagant. Mr. Fessenden’s statement that nor pro duction was one hundred million gaBmis it mast be remembered ia now tot abort of the truth; for since that repoj. not only has our population largely inenuned, but the entire Southern States have barn add ed to the consumers and prodiWwSr’Tlat taking even this amount as the basis of calculation, it demonstrates a fraud of such Himalayan height and proportions as absolutely to hare appalled me when I first fell upon its traiL What is itf If we have manufactured but the one hundred million gallons per annum from 1864 to the present time, we have had due to the Government the taxes upon one billion three hundred millioa gallons in the thir teen years in which this tax has been im posed, the tax varying from twenty cents to $3 per gallon. By a simple calculation, for which any school-boy is competent, it will be seen that we should have received into the Treasury up to the termination of last fiscal year $ 1,3d),09J.000. How much has t>csn received? Let Commissioner Pratt state: “Four hundred and eighty nine millions;” say, in round numbers, four hundred and ninety millions, less the cost of collection, or, net, aboilt four hundred and fifty millions. Deduct this amount from the twelve Hundred and six ty millions, and we have at once the co lossal fraud of $330,000,003. But appall ing as this sum is, it becomes almost in significant when we take into considera tion the fact, which we must, that since then, as I have before said, not only has our population increased, but the entire Southern States have been added to the producers and consumers, and the addi tional fact, which all experience proves, that the consumption of spirits, like the aggregation of all other sins, multiplies with the increase of population. If we take, I say, these facts into consideration, we shall find that we have had perpetrat ed a fraud of more than one thousand millions of money; and I defy successful refutation of the statement. It has reached, perhaps. $1,200,000,000 of money. W tie re is it, sir? Has it gone into the pockets of the consumers? - Not at all, for tho price which the consumer has paid has varied but little whether the tax was twenty cents or $3 per gallon.— Where is it? Gone. This gigantic sum of money, which was due to the Govern ment, h is gone into the pockets of dis honest distillers, or, what is infinitely worse, into the pockets of dishonest Gov ernment officials, sunk in individual and official corruption, in political and nation al demoralization aud disrgace. Now, Mr. President, it gives me no pleasure to bring these ugly facts before the Senate and the couutry. I have but one object, and that is, if possible, to ar rest the attention of the country and of Congress, that we may at once proceed to ascertain the defects which make such frauds under our revenue system possible and apply the remedy. What are these defects? Let me point them out so plain that they cannot be mistaken. In organizing our system we have plagiarized largely from Great Britain; we have incorporated into our system very many of her provisions, but I am bound to say that we have stolen the shadow anil left the substance. We have set up the body of her system, but we have proceeded to knock the very breath out of it by refusing to incorporate her methods far securing honest men to ad minister it. Great Britain collects $3.50 per gallon on the production of her dis tillers without the shadow of suspicion evenjipou her revenue officers. We can not collect twenty cents in greenbacks, 'and when we attempted $3 in greenbacks, we lost it all, or at least about nine-tenths of it. Such is the official record. Why is this? Why is it that under a similar syste m England can collect ten times as much in gold per gallon as we can ia greenbracks? There is some reason for it, Mr. President. What is that rea son? I wish, when I utter this truth, it could be heard all over this land ; for it is a great truth. The reason is this-. Eng land appoinfi her officers solely to collect her taxes, while here they are appointed to collect the taxes and to aid thu party which happens for the time to have the appointing power. (Applause in tha gal leries.] The President pro tempore. Order! Mr. Gordon. Mr. President, is that true? Let me repeat: the efficiency of the English system depends upon the efficien cy and the honesty of her revenae agents; while the inefficiency of our system de pends upon the inefficiency and the dis honesty of oar officials. What! Are En glishmen honest and Americans dis honest? Sir, I resent any such imputa tion. It is not true. Bat it is true that the officers ef the English excise do not steal the English revenue; while, as we all know—the melancholy fact stands boldly out before os—the officers of the American excise do appropriate Ameri can revenue. Let me repeat the question again. Why ia this? It ia, as I said before, because England has bat one motive in selecting I her officials, while we % dbqhle QM. { do My 8** »*««»** **•«*■»»’*• necessity of removing her revenue officers from the temptations and coemptions of party that they are forbidden to belong to any political organization, and a vote by one of them for a member of Parliament would send him in disgrace from the ser vice. fibre not only may he belong to a party, bat ho must belong to a party and to Ae party front whom he holds his com mission. Not only may ho vote, but he must vote, and vote for the party and work for the party and pay for the party; and, if he rettfse to vote, and Work and pay for the party, his official bead falls into the basket. Sir, before one of England’s citizens is considered competent to hold the very lowest position in her revenue service, he most be nominated by the treasury, ex amined by boards of officers, pat out to tuition, and re-examined as to qualifica tions and character. This, I say, is re quired for the applicant for the lowest office before he can step upon the first round of the official ladder, with a salary almost contemptible in amount and with duties less important than those of an or dinary clerk. But what is the case here? A political partisan, without any expe rience, without any training, without any examination, often, alas, without any qualifications save the influence he can bring to the party, steps at once upon the topmost round of the ladder; is clothed with inquisitorial power; sent forth upon his mission for the party and trusted with untold millions of the people’s money and the Government revenue. But not yet is Great Britain's revenue officer considered worthy the poet of a collector. He must servo a satisfactory period before he is promoted to the second position. Mot yet can he become even an examiner nntil he has served his government as long as Jacob waited for Rachel aud equally as devotedly. Still England refuses to regard him as compe tent to the high duties of a collector. Three more years must he serve,and even then can only be promoted upon unchal lenged merit and upon examination and re-examination as to his accounts,as to his capacity, as the character he has borne throughout all his service, and the smal lest stain upon his reputation is fatal to his preferment. Such, sir, is England’s, method of se curing bOHeST and competent agents.— Hence, Mr. President, her revenues are collected, her agents are proverbially honest, her politios are free from these revenue corruptions, and the reputation of the government from these official stains. But under our methods of select ing these officers, our agents are not pro verbially honest, our politics are debauch ed by revenue officials, and the reputation of our Government _ stained by revenue frauds. I wish it were not necessary to this argument to draw this damaging con trast any further. Perhaps it is not; per haps each for himself will draw it plain ly and painfully enough. Perhaps it is not necessary for me to say that undfer England’s system of selecting nonparti sans and enforcing her laws her taxes are collected; that under our system of ap pointing partisans and not enforcing the laws our taxes are evaded; that under her system the taxes go into the coffers of the government; under ours they go largely into the pockets of the. vampires of the Government. Under her system of se lecting honest men, non-partisans, this revenue system is a success!, the pride of her people, and the glory of that island. Under our system of selecting partisians to administer it, it is fa mous only from (failure aad conspicu ous only from crime. It is the shame of the people and the disgrace of the country that so mafay of its officers have become embezzlers of the revenues. Perhaps it may not be necessary to say these things; but it is necessary to my argument to repeat that as long as parti sans are selected, by whatever party may be in power to collect the revenues, we shall have these officials who hold the commission of this Government corrupt ing our politics and bringing disrepute upon the service. Yon may multiply your restrictions and your penal enact ments indefinitely; you may increase your Tice meters, and your hydrometers, and your saccharometers; yon may double your diligence and quadruple y our agents; bqt as long as it cau be predicated of your system that your agents are appointed be cause of tneir political influence, so long will dishonest distillers bribe dishonest officials, and party exigencies corrupt these party agents. Mr. President, it will not do to say that Joyce and McDonald are in the peniten tiary and that yon will no longer appoint diehoneet men to collect the revenue. My friend from Ohio said the other day that if specie payments were never resumed nntil the republicans appointed honest men to oolleet the whisky tax, resump tion waa postponed forever. I will not taka issue with my friend on that poiat, for I am afraid it is true; bat I wish to re peat my profound conviction, that what ever party shall be caHed upon to admin ister this Government, and shall proceed upon a like programme, to appoint men to office and to collect the taxes because of the influence they can bring to the par ty, we shall be forced to blosh for these revenue crimes. Of coarse I believe that if it should be the will of the American people, ns I think It will bt,' to call ton democrats to power, they would’ being honesty aad economy to them depart* meats. I think it would be almost Impost Ible for party to do wane; but convinced at I am of the fact that any change of par ties would be beneficial, yet so fnlly per suaded am I of the power of these temp tations to appoint party agents and foe temptations to party agents to use the Government money to porjfetuate foe party ia pswsr aud themaelvse ia plaee, thatTsbooM fcei very praying, “Lord, deliver the Democrats also beta temptation!’' I am aware that Commissioner Pratt has proposed certain amendments, I believe ad ditional restrictions; but these will not do. This is only to prune the deadly Upas. You must lay the ax to the very root of the tree if you would stop the distillation of this poison in the revenue service. Sir, as I ■aid before, the evil is deeper down. It oonsists in the mistake of which 1 have spoken of garbling the English system and refusing to adopt the English policy of se lecting non-partisans for collectors of revenue. Sir, we must remove these collectors of money from party temptation and party in fluences. We must oreate, if we would have a pure administration, a corps of excise exalted above tbe exigencies of party su premacy and removed from the temptations to party support. These revenue officers should hold their positions, like the officers of yonr Army and Navy, during life if need be, or during good behaviour, placed upon moderate salaries, and removable by tbe head of the Treasury only for ineapacity and disreputable conduct. Why, sir, what sort of an army would you have if every officer in it, from the com manding general down to the lowest corpo ral were dependent for his position and promotion upon the amount of influence he could bring to the party; the number of votes he could give to the party; upon bis subservience to the wil) of the party ? Tha 1 Army would speedily descend from its high position and become a profligate, and in triguing, a disorganized, dissolute political mob; and so long as the army of revenue of ficers shall be the slaves of party, these of ficers will drag down your service and the slimy pools of political contests and of party corruptions. There are three classes who will object to this amendment: First, those who honestly disbelieve that a method so simple would be practicable; secondly, the office-holders will object, because if this is adopted their occu pation is gone; and, thirdly, the dishonest distillers, who know that such a law could not be avaded. The first, class is the only one that merits consideration,and I proceed, therefore, to answer all the objections that that can be urged by them. First, it may be urged that Scotland tried ouoe a similar plan and abandoned it. My reply is that Scotland did not try this. Scot land did levy a tax upon the capacity of stills, but the oapacity of a still was found to be one of unknown quantities; it could b« multiplied and was unlimited thirty-eight fold above the original capacity. The tubs, however, are simple wooden vesssels, their capacity definitely ascertained by measure ment, and now of record in the Revenue De partment. When Jongress, therefore, shall determine the amount of tax to be raised from this gource, it will be a simple matte r for the Secretary of the Treasurer and the Revenue Department to apportion this tax among the distilleries over the United States, and, if necessary, collect it in advance. But another objection has oeen urged, that if this method is so simple and effective England would have tried it. You might just as well ask why England had used for so long a time artillery drawn by Dutch horses and driven by Dutch drivers who aban doned it at the first approach of danger, while tbe French republicans were us ing the rplendid ar.illery perfected by Gribeaural against them, or why she refused steam navigation when offered by Fulton or the great Napolean threat ened to pat him into the lunatic asylum or why she scouted the idea of rifled cannon until their superiority was dem onstrated by Napulaon III at Solferino. Mr. President, the answer to the objec tion is that England is the most con servative country ou earth, and never changes her methods unless the neces sity is present and imperative. There is no necessity for England changing her methods, for under her system she collects her taxes and has honest agents. Bat with us there is a violent necessity for change, for we neither collect oar taxes nor do we secure honesty in oar revenue agents. I said there was a violent necessity for this change with ns. Why, sir, look at the result of 1865 ; absolutely nine-tenths of the revenue lost. And now in this year of oar Lord 1875 the officials of the Revenue Department are dm only guilty of frauds themselves, but are persuading, coaxing, forcing distillers into complicity with them. Now, I think I have answered these objections, and I hope we shall adapt the resolution and. let these proposed amendments have a fair consideration. If they did not compel, when adopted, all to be honest, they at least will make fraud most hazard one. detection most certain, and punishment moat prompt. I hope it is not necessary for me to disclaim any partisan purpose in this movement, for I" believe, as I have ! already Mid, tint tha pesjfle -of 'rtiie j country have determined upon f ohamre of rulers, and party'patronage would ba as potent in the hands of the ttMUfffes ■p it has been if» the hand* .flf who now administer tho Government, No, «f, I hope I am moved hjr Kgttr ooasideratiojns, pod X wonkt fofMtMtl- ly urge the party >jw in power and foo party which is to come into pbWer W rise abqfe party eenwdaratianv.il Wider that we m^ohfom bMcmy at laaat ia the ootf«c%k of our Mveoaea/ If we will ineorponMP timed? adteafl meats into oar system they will simpli fy the whole machinery of this Depart ment; they wiN rid it of Re onmbreks and complicated machinery; they will make tbe receipts of the Government from these Bourses certain; and, iboda all, bettor than all, more important than all, they will compel honesty where the present aystem invites frWia, famishes a refagei of par< y eorrnption- a hot-bed for all those vices ists and .a hot- bed tor all those, vices which political intermeddling in the revenues of the Government ban ever oreated under nil governmenta. If these amendments offer reasonable prpmjao pX thia.ocjuijr.oLthaaa -xaaulta, they certainly merit attention at our hands. The gotM-hsme Cf the Govern ment demands that action be taken.— No man ean read the comments of tbe foreign press upon these revenue frauds without a blush of the deepest shsmo as an American citizen. Standing, s;^, in the presence of that recent and awiul event which throws a shadow ovef tbe whole land, and which all must regard as a great public calamity, I can. hot repeat that what I have before said, find wha’v I feel as keenly as I am oapablb of feeling any truth, that the very repu tation of our American institutions, and the cause of freedom, throughout the earth is imminently imperiled by the sad and sickening disclosures of tne last few years. Corruption, official corrup tion in high places and in low, . official embezzlement the daily record of the public gazettes, official integrity and of ficial honesty in tho estimation of the people almost banished from offioud station, Credit Mobilier, Sanborn con tracts, Washington City government rings, and lastly the horrid, filthy, dir ty whisky-ring, gathering in its neb- work of temptation officers high in the Re venae Department. M r. President, jtJ^s. is a good year to begin reformation, And this a good place to originate it. Let us not only unite hero without distinction of party to rescue this Revenue Department, bat let as unite the people of all parties and of aU section8 iu the effoit to restore honest and pure government, and prac tical, substantial, universal reform. Pertinent,—The New York Tri bune, referring to the late Republican victory in New Hampshire, where it has been shown that the party most able to bay votes is generally the she- cessful one in ah election, saya : “Iq a State where one-tenth of the voting people hold their open palms behind them for a bribe, there ia not likely to be such a revolt against the immoralU ties and corruption recently brought to light as would overturn a party. Who* ever supposed the Belknap and Bab* cock business and all the procession of iniquities that wait on Grantism would work upon the ftew Hampshire con science to the overturning of the party in power-, very seriously mistook the temper of (he people, the strength .of partisanship, and more than all, thn pervading distrnst of Democracy,” The Sentinel of course takes pleas ure, says the TaQatmasee Floridian, in copying some lying extracts from s tet ter sent North by one E. C. Wade, a U. S. Commissioner at Quitman, Ga. It ought to know better of the fiiete of the brntal murder of Oapt Hnntsr of that place a year or so ago, and it ought to know that whatever negroes -are ex cluded from the .polls in Georgia ia simply the result of their fhilnre to pay their taxes, jnst as white men are re quired to do. We assert again that the indoatrions negroes are better ofTin Georgia than any other State, and it ie only the idle and vicious who are mi grating to Where they think they can live without labor and by stealing. We wish a few of this sort would be taken with a leaving from Florida. Wide Hampton BoRon, of Tennes see, lately deceased, left the folltnfing^ provision ifi'his #ilf/ “I give snd bequeath to the widow and children of Gen. Thornes Jonathan Jackson, known as Stenowsll Jsekson, whs fell st the battle Of Cbaaeellortviflo, Virginia, tod thousand dollars, as history tolls me bit widow’s furniture %f sold after his death for debt. Jake Born, This gentleman wishes ns to Inform onr readers that he is seining harness, (addles, bridles, etc., st a lower rets for Casa than ltas ever been known in thfe-muto.' Gas. tomers with the mooeyjcsa bsvf his goods at their own price. Now is the time, . ■* '*