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\EV SERIES,!
MACON, GA., MONDAY, JANUARY 15, I860.
1VOL. 1, NO. 8
yi. TELEOKAPH
POBL.SHIHG HOUSE.
WILLI- fl A. REID ACo., Proprietors.
t
[S. Botkin.
EDITORS.
T rms of Subscription :
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JO BP*iujr TING:
Particular ttciulon will Pc given to the
• ..: 0 i, of JOB PRINTING or overy desert p-
r G J "Rcad tlilletter published to-day from
,!;fntan who is •ailed “pirate - ’ by some pco-
I .'.’ e ulio are unwuthy to unloose the latchet
of his shoe?. _
Resigned.—-AAe learn from the Savannah
apera. that 5Ir. Goorgo Adams, for some
tcar s past the sujerintendant of the Central
Railroad, has resigned that position.
xff The Athens Banner says that it is sin-
ctve\y cratified to learn that lion. Henry L.
Bernini will almost certainly be elected by
the Lesislature to till one of the vacant seats
on the Bench of the Supremo Court
1 reg-The Rome Courier says that Cherokee
Gcoriri.i is decidedly the white man's country.
The colored population arc gradually with
drawing from that section, and thrifty, enter
prising citizens from Tennessee, Virginia,
Middle and Lower Georgia, and other sec
tion?, arc constantly moving in.
Df-atii of General J. II. TK.vriER.—The
death of Brig. Gen. J. II. Trapicr at Mans-
Held, South Carolinn. is annoueed. General
Trapicr wa? n graduate of South Carolina
College, and afterward entered West Point.
He was in the same class with Gcnorol Beau
regard, and graduated with high honor. Af
ter ten years' service in the army, lie resign
ed and devoted Ills attention to agricultural
pursuits, until the opening of the late war,
in which he took an active and zealous part.
gt* The appointment by the Connecticut
President of the United States Senate of the
chairmen of nearly one-half of the standing
committees of Foreign Affairs, Finance, and
Manufactures, from the six New England
States, provokes a good deal of grumbling
in Western journals, against the dispropor
tionate share which New England craves and
gets in the government of the country.
A WORK OF FOLEY.
There seems to he a mania among the poli
ticians of the North for amending the Con
stitution. It is considered a panacea for all
the ills of the body politic, real and imagina
ry. The plans of the destructives are to be
carried out, and no obstacle must be allowed
in their path. If a purpose be meditated
that is clearly forbidden, or for which no au
thority can be found, in the Constitution, the
latter must give way and Radicalism prevail.
Slavery was to be abolished, and the Consti
tution was altered by force so ns to admit of
it. The debts of the Southern States con
tracted during the existence of the late Con
fedcracy must be repudiated, and, though
binding tn conscience upon thersoutnem peo
ple, they were made to swallow it and a Con
stitutional amendment is brought forward to
rivet the decision and make it irrevocable.
The South must be made to pay the debt
contracted by the North in order to carry on
the war against her, and we have to meet the
case by a constitutional amendment authoriz
ing unequal and unjust taxation. The Southern
States once thought they had a right to get
out of the Union if they chose; a constitution
al amendment is ready to cure the heresy by
declaring that no such right exists—that the
Union is indivisible and indestructible. Thus
we go, and by the time the political tinkerers
shall have got through their work, if success
ful, it will take a search warrant and a dozen
sharp-eyed bailiffs to execute it in order to
find a remnant of the old compact of Union
as it came from the hands of our fathers.
We propose to devote a moment’s time to
the consideration of the last of these propos
ed amendments, viz: to bind the South to
the doctrine that a State has no consti
tutional right to secede from the Union.—
What good is such an amendment to do 1—
What material iuilucucc could It have on the
conduct of the States were it adopted as a
part of the Constitution of the Union ? These
political quacks have formed a wrong diagno
sis, and are administering a physic that is not
appropriate to the disease. The symptoms
they have seen may have arisen from an en
tirely different cause., and they may be giv
ing medicine for a disease that has never ex
isted, while the true one may continue to exist
in spite of their bungling ministration. Let us
make a more careful and scientific examina
tion of the patient, and, the malady correct
ly ascertained—for all are agreed that some
serious ailment exists—let us cast about" and
sec whether or not we can devise an effective
remedy.
Georgia State Bonds, New Issue.—The
attention of capitalists is invited to the ad
vertisement of the First National Bank of
Macon, offering for sale 8100,000 of the Seven
percent Bonds, authorized by the late State
Convention. Tlte security is undoubted in
all respects, and the sale is made in order
to raise funds to meet the immediate wants
of the State. This consideration gives the
bonds a peculiar claim on Georgians, and we
Lope to hear that the whole amount offered is
taken before the close ot the week.
Gigantic Railway Bridge in Mexico.-#!
Xoticioso, of Vera Cruz, of December 24, gives
the following acount of a railway bridge that
s about to he built for the road from Vera-
Crtu to Mexico, which is to he the highest
bridge of the kind in the world: *
“From the foundation to the piers the
bridge will l>e 300 feet high, and 50 feet more
to the upper part of the arches, which arc to
|>c three in number of three hundred feet each
in the span. The bridge will be of iron, and
will weigh one thousand six hundred tons.—
It is to crose the barranca of Metiac, and its
estimated cost it to he $850,000.”
In the same connection, El Noticioso informs
ls that locomotives constructed for the rail
way in England, at a cost of £800,000 ster
bng, are expected to arrive at Vera Cruzdu-
Eng the month of February.
The Cry of a Widowed Mother.—Wlint
cm be more touching or pathetic than the
following appeal from a heart-stricken mother
for her lost son \ llow many a soul docs it
touch with grief; and how many a wish will
ie mndc that her appeal may bring back
gain to her arms her noble boy:
“Early in the war my only child, a noble
#y ol sixteen, regardless of a mother's per-
lasions and heedless of the charms of a home
liut left him no wish ungratified, left me for
he army. AN hen Inst heard from lie was
wounded and languishing in prison at Camp
Chase, and I have since lost all trace of liim.
1 hose who have had children born to them
can imagine my distress, and will surely, if
in their power, aid a widowed mother in
fading her lost darling, or at least assist her
in finding his grave, should God have called
him hence. Any communication addressed
to Messrs. Mann, Royd fi Jonas, publishers
oi the- Daily Sunny South, Aberdeen, Miss.,
«**ch me. All Southern andWo*^"■■
papers please copy. Mary E. West.”
A Confederate General Turned Poet.
—General M. Jeff. Thompson, formerly of
Missouri, and now loented in New Orleans as
a commission merchant, sent tlio editor of the
Picayune a present of a bottle of Bourlion
whisky on Christmas day. Accompanying
the present were the following lines:
New Orleans, Dec. 25,18G5.
*H?. r Picayune, I pray
Thai on this Christmas day,
ton 11 itfcept this fine bottle ot whisky:
F «;u»«UUof “the goal”
. of Kentucky or old,”
*111 make you feel “plucky and frisky.”
tMrt s no “medicine” here—
Th 0 ,"t*ttera” nor “beer,"
• nothing but good honest drinking:
•~P twill make you feel good,
As all Sue whiskr should,
And you,. n „ t0 thinking
Whouri Uut nre pas t—
iuat brought pleai urea, that last
snrongh arts of trouble and sorrow,
Ana If on tui» night
Ymvnl 'houldgo to bed “tight.”
1 ou I' net have the headache to-morrow.
V. Jeff. TnoEPSON.
Uthographic stone lias been discov-
cred. near St. Louis. It is found nowhere
e . ‘ ,n this country, iir.J the quality of this is
said to be equal to that which comes from
Bavaria.
if Among the many rumors wflont in
r( gard to Secretary Seward’s trip, is one that
° ! - l *9* ,c hiiig at St. Thomas he will eousult
" ll “ ° an ta Anna on Mexican affairs.
py A Mississippi editor complains feel-
' i J °* being badg< red in his office by can
didates who uo not. after occupying his time,
the decency to suggest drinks.
Of the twelve millions of people who sece
ded from the Union a few years ago, and
fought through a terrible four years’ war to
maintain tbeir independence, we doubt if one
in ten ever believed that they had a constitu
tional right to break up the Government. For
one ice did not, and feel pretty well assured
that, a vast majority of the Southern people
were of our way of thinking. Some dreamy,
hair-splitting abstractionists, and some who
were afraid of the responsibilities that hung
upon the step they were about to take, and
wished to intrench themselves behind the pa
per bulwarks of law, did talk about the “con
stitutional right of secession;” but the great
body of the Southern people never stopped
to parley about constitutions and laws. By
reason of ceaseless contention and consequent
bitter sectionni animosity, the ^nion had be
come a curse instead ofa blessing. They felt
that they were oppressed; that measures were
progressing to deprive them of their property;
that equality in the Union was expressly de
nied them; that chains were being forged to
bind them hand and foot, and make them for
all future time, hut “hewers of wood and
drawers of water,” lor their former brethren
of the North, Right or wrong, they believed
all this, and they struck for their liberties
and those of their children. Had a thousand
constitutions prohibited the act, it would
have been done. They felt that they were
oppressed and wronged, nnd would soon he
degraded; and it mattered not to them wheth
er the injury was inflicted under the author
ity of law or not, or whether they had its
sanctions for the remedy they were about to
apply, they resisted it. The question was one
that rose above all human constitutions and
laws. They claimed the inherent rights of
man to oppose whatever may be inimical to
liis well-being and happiness. They acted
under the sanctions of a law which no hu
man Legislature can amend, alter or repeal
—the law of God, vouchsafed to man at the
date of his creation.
Now, we can see somewhat into the real
nature of the malady that broke out in these
Southern Dunes of the American Union five
years ago, and soon swept, like an epidemic,
from the Potomac to the Rio Grande. In the
order of Providence the disease has abated,
and the patients, though weak and languid
from the attack and its consequences, we
trait will soon resume their pristine health
and vigor.
'Hie question now is, how shall we prevent
a’recurrencc of the terrible scourge ? The
political doctors of the North, we have
shown, are totally ignorant of the first prin
ciples of the disease, and hence, we need not
be surprised that they are groping in the
daric in search of a remedy, or, perhaps, to
1, , . iv profm-ional. we should say a jinphy-
luc'.ic, something to pretentan apprehended
evil—for did apprehension not exist, we
should not see so much anxiety manifested
on the subject. For this we ean b« at no
great loss in view of the real character of the
ailment. It is contained in a few words : II
the Government would have the South loyal,
law-abiding, and devoted to its perpetuity, it
has only to treat her justly. Respect her
rights, deal equitably with her. roe
| claim to respect, legislate for her as an equal
and friend, reciprocate her desire for kind of
fices and brotherhood—do this, and neither
constitutional bonds nor bayonets will ho ne
cessary to keep her in the Union and perpet
uate her loyalty. DenyJier these rights, and
her adhesion to the government will be lim
ply a question of expediency and brute force.
Death of Girard Qallock.—A telegram
from New Haven, Conn.,'dated the 4th instant,
annoucccs the death, on that day, of Girard
Hallock, the founder and for many years pro
prietor of the New York Journal of Com
merce. He had been suffering from a com
plication of disorders for six months, but was
not confined to his room until about two
weeks previous to his death. He was G6 years
of age.
The New York papers, so far as we have
seen, record the event without comment.
Mr. Hallock probably never placed his foot
on Southern soil, yet a Southern editor can
consistently regret liis death and throw a
token of remembrance ou his new-made grave.
TKtnrrt Hallock was a noble spirit in every
sense of the term. He was a man of thought,
of information, with a soul imbued with the
spirit of justice and truth. He was a friend
to the South, as well as to the Union, always
fought her battles against the destructives of
his own section, and contended for her rights
to the last of his public career. He opposed
the war, and remonstrated against it until
the freedom of the press was destroyed, when
he promptly laid down his pen and retired
from the toils nnd vexations of editorial life.
AVc knew him personally, and, for his private
worth and public service, shall ever revere
his memory.
NEAYS ITEMS.
The Tribune’s AYnsbington special says:
Gen. R. C. Crawford, who is reported to be
at Brownsville, raising an American division
for Mexico, about a year ago was dismissed
from the service by court martial, upon
charges of stealing money from a bank in
Tennessee. His chief of staff was Lieut.
Colonel of a colored regiment, and was dis
missed some time Inst summer by court mar
tial for gross offenses. It is not believed by
those qualified that Crawford or Reed has re
cruited a single man.
New York, Jan. 8.—The Post's AVasliing-
ton special says: The Congressional joint
Committee on Reconstruction has agreed not
to divulge any of its proceedings ior the pres
ent.
The Commercial's AA’ashington special says:
It is expected the cotton tax paid at Macon
alone, for January, will exceed $500,000.
President Johnson has expressed himself
decidedly to a member of Congress, this
morning, in favor of the immediate admission
of the Tennessee delegation.
Tlic AVorld’s AVashington dispatch says
the names mentioned in connection witli the
vacant supreme judgeship arc those of New
ell, Houston, and Judge Trigg, of Tennessee,
and Judge Sharkey, of Mississippi, with the
chances in favor of the first.
General Grant sends three inspecting officers
on tours in different military departments, to
sec if a further reduction of the forces and
expenses can be made.
The Herald’s AA’ashington special says it
now appears that E. B. Winder, captain in
the late rebel service, recently confined in
Old Capitol Prison, is a nephew of the rebel
Gen. AA’inder, and not his son, the real culprit.
The man now in custody was chief quarter
master of rebel prisoners and not responsible
for thor discipline of any particular person.
AV. S. AA’inder who supervised the affairs of
Letter from Admiral Raphnel Semmes, C.
S. X., etc.
The following letter from Admiral Somrnes,
which gtves his views on the war and matters
pertainisg thereto, will be read with unusual
interest. It was written to his brother, Sam
uel M. Semmes, Cumberland, Md.:
Mobile, Ala., Aug. 12, 1863.
My Dear Brother : The cessation of the
war leaves me at liberty to renew my corres
pondence with you, withoTlt subjecting you
to suspicion and annoyance; and I need not
say to you how grateful to the yearnings of my
heart is this long suspended privilege. You
have been frequently in my tliouglks during
our unfortunate struggle, and I luve often
felt much solitude ou your account, lest a
part of the odium and ill-will wl h a zeal
ous performance of my duty has called down
upon my head from a “mad nation” should
attach to you and your family, and operate
to your injury. Indeed, I have no doubt but
that the prejudice against me was the secret
of the barbarous and malignant persecution
of your son, of which I heard only a few days
since from my wife’s friend and relation, Mrs.
Judge Spencer, of Cincinnati. I have never
inquired os to your opinions and conduct du
ring the war, being content to leave you the
same liberty of choice and action that I
claimed for myself. I knew that whatever
you did, yon would do like a man of honor,
and I rested satisfied. Besides, you had been
for some time retired from active life by your
want of health. As for myself, I had noth
ing to regret, save only the loss of our inde
pendence. My conscience, which is the only
earthly tribunal of which a good man should
be afraid, bears me witness of the upright
ness of my intention in choosing my course
when, with many regrets, I severed my con
nection with the old Government nnd hasten
ed to the defense of my home and section ;
and bow, upon reviewing the whole of
my subsequent career, I can see no act with
which I have to reproach myself as unbecom
ing a inan of honor and a gentleman. I ap
proved the secession movement of the South
ern States, though I had no agency in it. 1
thought that a separation of those two sec
tions of our republic, which had been engaged
in a deadly mortal conflict for thirty years,
would ultimately result to the great advan
tage of them both. The world was wide
enough for them to live apart, and peace,
thought would be the fruit of their mutual
independence of each other. Although
cared very little about the institution of sla
very, I thought that the subordinate position
of the inferior race was its proper position.
I believed that tlic doctrine of State-rights
was the only doctrine which would save our
Republic from the fate of all other republics
that had gone before us in tlic history of the
world. I believed that this doctrine had
been violated, and that it would never lie
sufficiently respected by the controling mass
es of the Northern section to prevent them
from defacing with sacrilegious hands our
national bond of Union, wheresoever iWlet-
ter was meant to guard the peculiar rights of
the South. Believing this, there was hut one
course which a faithful Southern man could
pursue, nnd maintain liis self-respect. I pur
sued that course. AVhen the alternative was
presented to me of adhering to the alkgiance
due to my State or to the Union States, I
chose the former. Having taken n:y side, I
gave it zealous and earnest support. I spent
four years in active service, nnd only ceased
to labor for my cause when it was no longer
possible. 1 rendered this service without
THE DEAD YEAR.
BY HENRY W. FAXON.
Deep In the dim
And misty aisles and sepulchres of the Past,
AVlicrc the white tombstones mark the mounds
Raised o’er the buried years, Time, gray aud grim,
Sits silent—weaving the shronds of ages.
Around him lie the now unheeded years,
Big with the memories of deeds long lapsed;—
Of centuries of Crime, of Blood, of Wrong,
Mingled with tears and joys—with hopes and
fears—
With the meek history of our Savior—with
His perfect love and walk, and with
Salvation sweet; with prophesies and thoughts
Too vast for comprehension; with that power
That rolls abroad the skies in endless blue,
Blazing with lights defying thought and mind—
Illuminating all the avennes to Heaven!
And with Time, brother of Space—illimitable—
These twin confusions to our early thought,
Proving an omnipresccnt Deity!
To Time, the dying year is hut a grain
Of sand to the vast shores of oceans. Silently
He gathers in tnc husks of all our joys—
The ashes of our pains. These, the years that die,
AVe think—but do not die—lor each is but
A separate feature of the vast design
An overruling Providence hath displayed,
To mock each sense and lead our sonls
To worship.
The English Fress on American Topics.
COMMENTS ON THE PRESIDENT S MESSAGE.
iPO:
The wintry demon bears a doleful sonnd—
The funeral tones of Death. The Year is dead—
Gone with the mouldering relics of unnumberc-d
worlds
To rot beside Antiquity. To be forgot,
Aud withered in thought, though sadly filled
With tenderest recollections. To be
Forever dead, though freighted with the souls
Of those, who, as the fleeting breath passed out
To mingle once again with that which first
Gave Life, rent heart and brain with agony!
IV/, no wail uprises from the universal heart ‘
For the Dead Year!
How hard to die, unwept
And unlamcntcd. The Year hath wrought his
mission.
To us he brought festivity and joy;
And if, amid our pleasures, oft there came
Earth’s sorrows, unforeseen, we could but how
Aud thank the overruling Power, that Hope—
Bright-eyed and smiling Hope—throned on the
Earth—
The universal angel of mankind,
AVho sits, next to Salvation’s self, the wliitc-
Kobcd emissary of Heaven, alone remained.
Let us rejoice, that the dead Year has left
With us dear fricuds, and faith ineffable,
And that wc still’may ask
No fairer Fate,
If, gaining wisdom up to age, from youth.
We can but learn the inevitable truth,
That God is Great !
Libbv prison, has fled to Canada. i - x. . . , .
Major Gee the commandant of the rebel “ l msone ,r ot »}™® tha »
prison at Salisbury, N. C„ who was sent from h «|? 8n f- T ’ lin ' lI . mil - v kln(, '^. and
the Old Capitol Prison about a month ago v/Ulmut ever having committed an act cf war
to Raleigh for trial, is still under confinement
Stephens Supposed to hare been a Spy for
the British Government.
New York, Jan. 5.—The London Ship
ping Gazette, of Dec. 18tli, says that a curi
ous theory is held by some persons respect
ing Stephens, the Fenian leader. It is sug
gested that he has been. a spy in the employ
of the Government, and that he was appre
hended by mistake. Having been taken,
however, it was necessary to keep up appear
ances by sending him to jail, since he was
well known to have taken part in the sedi
tions party in days gone by. AVhen impris
oned all necessary facilities were given him,
and thus he made what is called his mysteri
ous escape. This is, of course, only a theory,
but it is, to some extent, supported by the
fact that the Lord Lieutenant refused to ap
point a commission to inquire into the case.
On the other hand, the fact that the Governor
of Richmond Bridewell has been dismissed,
tells somewhat against this theory, but its
supporters allege that advantage was taken of
those events to modify the government of the
Bridewell. For the future it will be invested
in the Viceroy instead of the corporation.
in the latter city, and ignorant when the
court will be convened. His counsel is on
his way to AA’ashington to ascertain, the
course of the prosecution, and will ask for a
speedy hearing. Major Gee writes to his
friends in AVashington that he is very hope
ful of tlic result, and only anxious that the
trial may go on.
New York, Jan. 8.—Reports of the weather
this morning state that the mercury was 31
degrees below zero at Utica; 8 below at Hal
ifax; 10 below at Boston; 5 below at AYasli-
ington, at 8 a. ra; in New York, it was 10
below, and has varied from 1 above to 2 be
low.
New York. Jan. 8.—There is considerable
ice floating in the North and East rivers,
causing vessels to drag their anchors.
Belfast, Me., Jan. 8.—Since the unprece
dented cold term of January, 1857, the
weather has not been so severe in tlii» section
of Maine as during the last few days. Yes
terday, the thermometer was twenty degrees
below zero in this city; at Bangor, thirty
degrees. This evening the weather is not so
intense.
Bold and Extensive Robbery. , notMng to If j - m deemed umvorthy
New Haven, Jan. 7.—The safes of the \ to be a citizen, I can remain in my native
Adams’ Express Company, cn route from ! land as an alien. A magnanimous people
New York to Boston on the night of the 6th ; would have passed an act of general amnesty,
inst., were rifled of all their contents with , it being absurd and ridiculous to talk about
the exception of two parcels, which the j rebels and traitors in connection with a revo-
tliicves in their hurry overlooked. The extent lution that has swept over the ’length and
of the loss has not yet been ascertained, but breadth of the land—in which States, nnd
at any time, or in any manner, which was not
sanctioned by the laws of war; yet my name
will pro'inbly go down to posterity in th*c
untnitlilnl histories that will be written by
"bigoted and venal historians as a sort of Blue
Beard or Captain Kidd. But I am content,
my brother. My conscience is clear; my self-
respect lias been preserved, and my sense of
manhood remains unimpaired. I think, too,
tlic South will be content, notwithstanding
licr immense losses and sacrifices. If she had
yielded to the intolerant exactions of North
ern selfishness and fanaticism, without appeal
ing to the arbitrament of war, she would
have played a craven and unworthy part It
is better to lose everything than our honor
and manhood. I know you will believe me,
my brother, when I tell yon that I should
feel greatly humbled in my own opinion,’were
I this day entitled to wear an admiral's flag
in the old navy, nnd in possession of all the
means and appliances ot wealth, if I thought
my honors and rewards had been gained by
a sacrifice of creed. The preservation of my
own self-respect is infinitely preferable to ail
such gains. I have come out of the war
poor, but, God willing, I shall make a sup
port for my family. The President treats me
as an outlaw, unworthy of amnesty. I have
it is supposed to be not less than half a mil
lion dollars in money and bonds.
H. Sanford,
Sup't Adams' Express Company.
New Haven. Jan. 7.—The value of the
amount stolen from tlio iron car of Adams*
Express Company on the Boston mail train,
on Saturhav niglit, was, as near as can be as
certained at present, ai>out $500,000. The
not[individunls merely, were the actors. But
enough on this subject. I am still in Mobile,
but it is yet uncertain where I shall g 1 , or
what I shall do. If I save five or six thou
sand dollars out of the wreck of iny affairs,
it will be fully as much as I expect. I think
of retiring into the country, where, upon a
small farm, I can live in obscurity and peace
the ftav years that remain to me. My chil-
car was probably entered while at the depot j dl U 1 t arc 1 ad grown, arc well educated, and
in New York. The thieves pried off the locks I wlU * ablc > ,f tlie worst comes to the-worst
to two of the safes. $80,000 in greenbacks j *° carc °f themselves,
and $60,000 in government notes were left by | Remember me kindly to your family, my
t’ue thieves on the floor of the car. They "ot j dear brother, and let me hear from you. AVe
out with their pluder at Coscola bridge. The : have become old men. AA’c have both had
officials of the company are here investiga- our troubles, but tlie chain of affection which
ting matters. Tlic robbery was not discov- f binds me to you remains unaffected by the
cred until after the arrival of tlio train at this ‘ cares of the world, and is as bright now as
city. | when we slept in cack other's arms.
! Your affectionate brother,
Speaker Colfax a Radical Candidate I A<1Jress 4lR SEi( E 1? ' Semmes '
for the Presidency.—It is charged by cer-
tain uncharitable people that Speaker Colfax
made his late speech as a bid for the Prcsi- A Neoro Convention in Georgia.—Tire
dency. A AA'ashington correspondent writes: following, which uc clip from the Columbus
“ Speaker Coltax looms up ns the Republi- Enquirer ot the' Sth, we presume, will be
can candidate for the next Presidency, lie news to the most of our Georgia readers:
is regarded by the leaders as the most availa
ble and popular man of the party, and would
be a strong candidate.”
AA’omanhood Suffrage.
Inquiries are made whether there is Teally
a petition that suffrage shall be granted to
women, in circulation and soon to be pre
sented to Congress. To be sure there is. A
circular has been addressed to editors
throughout the country, as follows :
“To the Editors:
“AVill you publish the inclosed petition
It is now circulating throughout tlie country,
to be presented as soon as Congress shall re
assemble.
“In behalf of the National AV\ R. Com-
mitttee, “E. Cady Stantom,
“Lucy Stone,
“Susan B. Anthony.
“Standard office,
“48 Beckman Street, New York.
And here is the petition in full: *
“a petition for universal suffrage.
“To the Senate and House of Representatives
“The undersigned, women of the United
States, respectfully ask an amendment of the
Constitution, that shall prohibit. the several
States from disfranchising any of their citi
zens on the ground of sex. In making our
demand for suffrage, wc would call your at
tcntiontotlie fact that we represent fifteen
millions of people—one-half, the entire pop
ulation of the country—intelligent, virtuous,
nntive-horn American citizens; and yet we
are tlie only class who stand outside the pale
of political recognition.
“The Constitution classes us as “free peo
ple,’’ and counts us whole persons in the basis
of representation; and yet we are governed
without our consent, compelled to pay taxes
without appeal, nnd punished for violations
of law, without choice ofjudgc or juror. The
experience of all ages, the declarations of the
Fathers, the statue laws of our own day, and
the fearful revolution through which we have
just passed, all prove the uncertain tenure of
life, liberty and property, so long ns tlic bal
lot—the only weapon of self-protection—is
not in the hand of every citizen.
“Therefore, as you arc now amending the
Constitution, and in harmony with advancing
civilization,- placing new safeguards round
the’ individual rights of four millions of eman
cipated slaves, wc ask that you extend the
right of suffrage to women—the only remain
ing class of disfranchised citizens—and thus
fulfill your constitutional obligation “to guar
antee to every State in the Union a republi
can form of government.”
“As all partial application of republican
principles must ever breed a complicated
legislation, as well as a discontented people;
we would pray your honorable body, in order
to simplity the machinery of government, and
insure domestic tranquility, that you legislate
hereafter for persons, citizens, tax-payers, and
not for a class or caste.
"Forjusticc and equality your petitioners
will ever pray.!’
Jri?”The following is a specimen of the of
ficial stuff that is sent to AVashington by gov
ernment agents of the South:
A special inspecting officer of the Freed-
men's Bureau, reports that Gen. Foster, com
manding in Florida, hoe been notified by *ev-
nize her ! ernl of the planters that unless they are per
mitted to shoot the negroes whenever they
choose, they will leave the State. Quite a
number, not having received the required
permission, have emigrated ;o Texas and oth
er States. The in.-pecting oflicer states also,
mat, notwithstanding, reports to the contra
ry, the harve.-t in the States mentioned, with
some aid from the Bureau, will be amply suf-
ficint for the support of the colored people
during the winter.
Freedmkn's Election.—AA’e understand
that the freedmen were having a lively time
Yesterdny, exercising in a small way one of
the "rights” claimed for than by a party at
tlic North. They were voting at one of their
churches in this city. They say that “the
head of the bureau" in this State (General
Tillison we suppose! Las ordered the assem
bling of a convention at Augusta, and that
the counties have to elect delegates propor
tionate to their (x>pulation, Muscogee being
entitled to three. There were opposing can
didates, ami some canvassing was go on, but
Yen dhl not hear of ar.y disturbance.
It is said that the convention is to meet on
the 10th inst., and that tlie reason for holding
tiii- election at so late a day is that a previous
election (of which wu heard nothing at the
time) was held and afterwards s -t aside, on
ai-coiiut of aom ■ dfa iti - '.'action with tlie dele
gates then chosen.
THE FUTURE OF THE UNION—SINISTER PROG
NOSTICATIONS.
From the London Times, Dec. 20.
It could have been an easy task to write the
message just brought to us from the New
AVorid. A ghastly wound, yet unhealed, was
not to he laid open; the flowing lava and
burning ash were to be lightly trodden on;
but it was impossible to forget wholly the
four most terrible years in the world’s his
tory. So the shade is present, though un
named, like the one who was at the table or
the fireside yesterday, and will never be again.
From its beginning to its end the war is a
horrid chasm in the President’s Message, to
the brink of which he must approach again
and again, if only trf turn away. He finds a
necessary relief in dreamy aspirations and
hazy commonplaces, which we can only say
were never more excusable. * * * Presi
dent Johnson, while crying down the notion
of State sovereignty, points out that it was ex
pressly provided no State should levy duties
to clog the transit or check the prosperity of
the neighboring States. But uo political
formula, no deed of social compact whatever,
could prevent one State from being so differ
ently circumstanced from another that the
same Union tax and the same tariff might en
rich one and impoverish the other and even
aggrandize one at the cost of all the rest.—
Before the war is many months over, the
President boasts that the revenue already
paid by the loyal States exceeds by many mil
lions that ever paid before by the whole
Union. But let anybody glance over the im
mense and very irregular area covered by the
States, and say whether it will ever be easy
to devise a fiscal system which shall press
equally upon all, from the Atlantic to the
Pacific, from the St. Lawrence to the Rio
Grande. For the present the American Gov
ernment looks with neighborly pity on the
internal troubles of Mexico, but it invites all
nations to take refuge in its charmed circle,
and Mexico, we presume, is an excepted guest.
But what system of taxation, or even of gov
ernment, will serve equally for New England
and the ancient empire, partly Spanish, partly
Indian, under a tropical sun ? The further
the Union pushes from its centre the more
will it encounter that vast variety of condi
tions which tax the utmost skill of Statecraft
and defy constitution-mongers. When the
material is widely different, and the circum
stances are still more so, the airangement can
never be symmetrical, the Union perfect, or
the working quite smooth. Nor can any
thing be done for all time, when the mate
rials are ever changing. The President
preaches to the States a homily upon union,
disintcrestncss nnd mutual forgiveness. They
are to acknowledge only one Sovereign, that
is the constitution ot tlie whole Union. They
had better listen, for they must. The con
demned felon will never hear another ser
mon, so he may as well attend to this. It is
the only plan of life left. AVitli all our heart
we advise the Southern States to accommo
date themselves to their hard circumstances.
But their utmost submission will not fuse and
assimilate all the races and conditions of the
New AVorid, or give eternal and universal
efficacy to a paper constitution. We have
seen it once out of gear, and do not ourselves
see in that misfortune, and its temporary cure,
a perfect security against another.
AMERICAN CLAIMS AND BRITISH NEUTRALITY.
From the Leeds Mercury, Dec. 19.
AVe are afraid when the history of the
American war comes to be impartially written
chat the Americans will be found to have ex
celled this country quite as much in the states
manlike moderation of their tone, with re
spect to foreign politics, as in the clearness of
their perceptions with respect to domestic
concerns. During the contest they were often
taunted with the blindness of passion and
prejudice which betrayed, in every line,
the most ludicrous ignorance of American af
fairs and the grossest partisanship in all refer
ences to them, yet complacently assured_their
readers that they, being at a distance, and
able to look upon matters with impartial
eves, could form a much clearer judgment of
the probable issue than those who were de
ceived by their hopes and fears, their wishes
and interests, in actual proximity to the scene
of strife. Such language as this, in which the
Americans were taunted with tlicir folly and
blindness, continued to tlie very edge of the
complete destruction of the Southern cause,
by the evacuation of Richmond and the sur
render of Loe, when suddenly all the propli
etic frogs which had been so laboriously try
ing to blow themselves into the dimensions
of prophetic oxen burst with an ignominous
collapse, and three-quarters of the newspapers
and the larger part of the classes which are
accustomed to call themselves “educated and
intelligent,” looked supremely silly. But if
the British public—we mean the upper and
middle classes—were for the most part httmil
iatingly wrongjin their judgment of the eau,
tlie 'nature, the progress, and the result of
this great strife, they were even more fatally
wrong in the conception ot their own dutie
as neutrals. Future historians of this conn
try will record with shame that while tli
British Government endeavored to preserv
on the whole a strict neutrality, the IJriti "
Parliament over nnd over again signified 1
cheers and vociferations, its approval of acts
of piracy which brought disgrace on our na
tionand our age, and that Mr. Laird, for an
act of selfishness which, but for the modern
tionoftlie American Government, might hav
involved onr country in war, was made the
hero of a large, perhaps a preponderating
portion of the British Legislature. If we
compare with these disgraceful scenes in our
Parliamentary history the wildest language
which has been used by American orators in
or out of Congress with reference to this
country, we shall find that there is little to
boast of either in the superior wisdom which
wc are apt to claim, or even in tlie superior
refinement on which we plume ourselves.
complished in a report to the Sq-taiker of tiic
House of Represntstives, which is very vo
luminous. but is more remarkable among
similar official documents of the States as be
ing grounded on sound financial principles.
There are, indeed, some passages in it of ques
tionable accuracy, some anticipations which
are, perhaps, too sanguine to is- fully realized;
but wc recognize in Mr. McCulloch a real fi
nancier, applying to the facts before him
methods warranted by economic teaching
and by the experience of other nations.
The Union has, without doubt, come out
of the civil war stronger than ever; but lie
would be a very injudicious friend who would
deny that it bears, and must long bear, the
scars of the conflict. The Federation is bur
dened with an enormous debt; its home and
foreign commerce is disordered by a currency
ruinously inflated, and the industry of its citi
zens is crippled by a minute anil unquisitori-
al system of taxation. Mr. McCulloch re
views in turn each of these evils, and he
busies himself in inquiring liow the cur
rency may be reduced, the burden of the
debt lessened and tbe taxes simplified.
It is an epoch in the republic when a Sec
retary to the Treasury is bold enough to de
nounce irredeemable issues, and to declare
that the business of the States, far from being
in a healthy condition, is “speculative, fever
ish, uncertain.” Such words coming from
English critics might be, and have been, mis
construed; but we hope that Mr. McCulloch’s
authority will arrest attention to them. It is,
however, evident that the exchange of a
funded debt for an inflated currency is a ma
terial element in estimating the financial con
dition of the Union in the future.
There are many points in Mr. McCulloch's
plans which invite comment, but at present
we must be satisfied with stating the plans
themselves. It must, however, be noticed
that the possibility of keeping tlie average
rate of interest on the national debt of tlic
Union as low as 5 per cent, depends upon the
exemption of the national creditors from all
State taxation. AVerc the holders of the 1 >onds
of the Union subject, like their fellow-citi
zens, to taxation within their several States,
and also to taxation in respect of their capi
tal invested in such securities, the bonds could
not, in Mr^ McCulloch’s opinion, be i-sued at
less th in 8 per cent, interest. Mr. McCulloch
defends the exemption of these bonds from
State taxation, but his reasoning appears in
conclusive, and it is known that tbe exemp
tion will be severely attacked in Congress.—
But the point in Mr. McCulloch's scheme
which must strike Englishmen mos : forcibly,
is the confidence which he invites in the Ex
ecutive. He asks for unlimited power in the
way of funding the paper currency, and he
asks that a surplus, commencing at ten mil
lions, and gradually increasing to forty mil
lions, may be intrusted to tlic government for
the time being. That such things should be
asked for, is surprising; but if the represent
atives of tax-payers are found willing to
grant them, wc may well be astonished.—
AYliatevcr may bo the issue, the course of
financial discussion in the States, during the
enrrent session of Congress, may be watched
by us with advantage, as those who are in
much the same position may learn by the ex
perience of others.
TnE Financial State of Europe.—The
London Times remarks that the financial con
dition of Europe at this moment is not in
spiriting. AVith one or two exceptions eve
ry nation is a borrower. Tlie governments
which crowd the money market are needy be
cause in a time of profound peace they main
tain the complete panoply of war. These
borrowers, scattering tlic produce they have
not amassed, keep up the rate of interest, em
barrass the operations of trade, retard the
progress of manufactures and depress the con
dition of laborers.' The capital which would
have been devoted to fresli production and
the improvement of the state of the industrial
clases is wasted.
A State with five United States Sen
ators Elect.—Louisian:t lias no less than
five United States Senators elect, though
none of them have yet been admitted to
scats. The first two elected last year were
Charles Smith and R. K. Cutler. After a
while it was announced that Michael Hahn
had been elected, and he has frequently been
referred to by the New Orleans papers as a
Senator elect from that State, flow Mike
came to be piled on the top of Charles, we
don’t know, but wc do know that tlic Wash
ington Globe, now before us, has the name of
Charles Smith as United States Senator from
Louisiana on the official list of Senators.
A few weeks ago, the Louisiana Legisla
ture elected two more Senators, Messrs. Ran-
dell Hunt and Henry Boyce. The State has
consequently five Senators elect. The sugar
bowl of the Union doesn't intend to be un
represented, though we fear she has some
times been missrepretad at the National cap
ital.
AMERICA!; FINANCE—REVIEW OF SECRETARY
M’CULLOCH's l'El’OKT.
From the London Times Dec. 20.
The report which Mr. McCulloch, the Secre
tary of the Treasury, has addres-ed the House
of Representatives is a very long, but a very
able document. Its length is a necessary
consequence of the financial position of the
Union. As long as the war lasted, the first
£j?f”The dispatch from AVashington say
that about thirty commanders of vessels, de
stroyed by tlie Alabama, have already been
summoned as witnesses for the Government
in the approaching trial of Semmes.
The Government has realize l within two
years some six millions pounds ot confiscat
ed cotton, sugar, and other property in the
State of Mississippi.
A movement is on foot in several States to
erect a memorial cathedral to the Confederate
dead. It is proposed to build a house for
the widows of the fallen heroes and a college
for the sons, the whole to be placed under
the jurisdiction of a convention of the Prot
estant Episcopal Church in the United States
Wonderful, if True.—A report of a most
remarkable discovery conn s to us t’romdtaly.
An Italian sar •./ i< said to 1 ave discovered
a proce-' by which sounds may he transmit
ted by an electrical pro, -- any distance, so
that two prisons—one in 11,v- - and the
other Paris—may converse together, recog
nizing the - mnd of each other*.- voice. This
seems utterly incredible; and vit, why might
not two persons converse through a perfectly
straight tor-tight iron tube, hundreds of milea
long—of almost any length, indeed?
i and main object of each successive Secretary,
TnE Indians and the Government.—AI was t0 yet money; the Federal Executive
Washington dispatch ot the Sth says: were in the position of a man whose house
A Cherokee, delegation, headed by their has caught fire, and who therefore enrolls as-
Chief, John Ross, arrived m. AVashington yes
terday for the purpose of arranging the treat
ies they refused to consummate during the
; recent visit of the Indian Commission to their
vicinity. Of all the trib.-s which sided with
tlie'rebels, the Cherokee is the only one not
I reconstructed.
'Yesterday a treaty v. a; concluded between
I the trhuwnees and the Government, by which
■ the S -cretary is authorized to .-ell the land
held by these Indians in Kansas, the proceeds
; to bo applied to the purchase of new homes
lor them in the Indian Territory.
£5 ' One of tlie ancient lathers described
woman ns a ncei-sary evil, a natural tempta
tion, a desirable calamity, a domestic peril, a
| deadly fascination, !md a painted ill.
sistants lor suppressing the fiamea without
any very nice “higgling” of the market, he
make? the best term he ran, and if he has not
ready money at liis banker’s lie is prepared to
go into debt us the less of two evils, and it
must bo confessed that the United States did
go into debt in a very royal, or, perhaps we
should - ty. in a very republican fashion.—
Now, however, the great danger is removed,
a time has arrived for reviewing calmly, what
was done during a period of great excite
ment, and for bringing order out of the con
fusion which has followed the hasty meas
ure- and legislation of the past, Air. MeCul-
lorh has a area; task before him. nnd it is ob
vious that it is his policy, as well as his duty,
to make the Congress fully acquainted with
the existing stato of affairs. This ho ha* sc-
Mori; Gold Coming.—San Francisco, Dea.
13.—The steamer Golden Age sailed for Pa
nama yesterday, taking $1,014,901 treasure,
of which $SOO,OOOis for New York. The over—
lau l mail, with New York dates of Dec. 9th,
has arrived. A considerable shipment ofgold
aud silver bullion from Arizona mine* hu»
l>een received here, amounting to f a0,000.—
The report from the mine* in that territory
arc very encouraging.
Z-?F m The Chicago Republican say a every
one of our rt cent Presidents his saved, money,
Mr. Lincoln saved about $70,000, Mr. Buchan
an, Mr. Piyce and Mr. Fillmore, each retired
wil’i a handsome turn, accumulated during
his term of office.
Major General R. Ransom bs* baen
elected Captain of a xmlftwy company a
AVilmington N. C.
Burials' in Columbus. -B tweau Octo
ber 1st and December 31st there were 74
burials in the Columbus Cemetery. In Octo
ber there 88 interments; it* November 19,
and in December (7.