Newspaper Page Text
SATURDAY, MAY 1.
TkA Victor Coo kins’ Stove*
we died -“enfon to the
stores manufactured at the Augusta Machine
Work, in this city. We learn that the hundreds
of °v>ereons who have purehased those cooking
. ' nip ksed with them, and greatly prefer
than to any manufactured elsewhere. Those who
need a store should be certain to select the Victor
ft’ are for sale by W. H. Salisboet
* and s S Jones 4 Co-,at ‘heir establishments
'"rheae*stores are undoubtedly equal if not su
nerior to any stores manufactored in the Union,
And are the only stoves offered for sale in this city i
that can be cheaply and expeditiously repaired
* here . Any portion of them can be renewed in a
few minutes’ time.
Effects ot the Recent Cold Snap.
A correspondent at Social Circle, Walton coun
ty, writes to us that the recent heavy frosts have
killed the cotton and garden vegetables in that
locality, and he thinks have injured the wheat
crops.
A letter from Mount Yonah, in White county,
written on the 26 th iust, says: “We have had
severe frosts here, and it is snowing as I write.
Oar gardens and growing crops will suffer serious
ly. Fruit and wheat will be damaged very much.
It is as cold here as in mid-winter.”
Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Georgia.
This body held its annual convention in this city
on the 28th of April. There was a general at.
tendence of officers and delegates from thirty-eight
subordinate chapters. The meeting was a very
harmonious one, and the business transacted gen
erally of a local character. There vas one new
Chapter chartered, and auc surrendered its charter,
which leaves the same number forty-four, on the
Register.
The following officers were elected for the ensu
ing year:
M.\ E.’. Philip T. Schley, G.\ H. - . P.’.
“ “ Andrew J. Lane, D.\ G.*. H.\ P.\
“ Wm. S. Rockwell, G.\ K.\
“ “ Luther J. Glenn, G.\ S.\
“ “ Rev. C. W. Key, G.\ Chaplain.
“ “ C. F. Lewis, G.\ C.\ H.\
“ “ Lemuel Dwells, G.’. Treasurer.
“ “ Bsnj. B. Russell, G.\ Secretary.
'* “ James Godby, G.\Sentinel.
Resumption Day.
Saturrday the banks of our city resua-ed specie
payment. We do not believe that any of our in
stitutions paid out a dollar of specie more than on
any day before the resumption. There was no
run, nor the slightest disposition in that wayfrom
any person, or from any quarter.
The Bank of Fulton, at Atlanta.
The Atlanta Intelligencer of the Ist inst., refering
to the resumption in Savannah and Augusta, says
“The Bank of Fulton, we are authorised to say,
has virtually been in a state of resumption for
some time back, and is ready to co-operate in this
simultaneous movement of a general character
with the institutions of Augusta and Savannah.
The Bank of Athens.
The last Banner states that the Bank of Athens
will resume specie payments on the Ist of May.
The editor says: “It will now be seen which are
the sound and which are the rotten institutions in
the country. We have no fears as to our own
banks.”
Banks In Charleston, South Carolina.
We copy the following condensed statement of
the condition of the banks in Charleston from the
Charleston Evening Netie of 30th April. The state
ment was made up by the banks on the day pre
vious:
Ctrcu- Dcpo- Specie. From March
lsiion. sits. In specie.
.Rank of Charleston.29s.ooo 000,000 250,000 Dec’e, 33,000
Railroad Bank 010.000 09.000 130.W0 Inc’e, 4..000
1 Plan A Mech'ca. *... .400.000 518.000 14-VX* •• 4 000
J Far i Exchange 080.000 124.000 118.000 - 117,000
V^Klßhar.lma.7.l,'7o6.ooo 798,000 MUM “ SLOW
P people’s Bahk 040.M6 101,000 90.000 3..000
V 3.460,000 3.117,000 1.000.0u0
Total increase 169,000
Thoae marked with a * are specie pitying.
The circulation of these banks has decreased
from March one million one hundred and seventy
seven thousand dollars, <ra fourth, and the de
posits one million sixty thousand dollars, or a
third, while the specie has increased.
Murder ot John Hickey.
We published some time since, from the Detroit
Free Press, an account of the finding of the re
mains of a man, some of his clothing, Ac., about
sixteen miles from Detroit. This publication by
the Free Prees, the editor says in his paper of the
26th April, “ elicited a full explanation of the mys
tery, revealing the name, resideo ;j, and occupa
tion of the unfortunate man, and the circumstances
of his death. His name was John Hickey. He
was a railroad conductor, and was murdered and
robbed of a large sum of money in August last,
and left by his murderer to rot in the woods where
he was found. The name and present whereabouts
4>f the probable murderer are known, and the pro
per legal authorities are already in hot pursuit of
him.”
Mr. Hickey formerly resided in this section.
new break is announced to have occurred
in the levee near New Orleans, on the 29th April,
which can hardly be stopped until the river falls.
Hon. Edward Everett. —We learn from the
Richmond Enquirer that Mr. Everett spent
Wednesday, the 21st inst., in Richmond, and went,
on Wednesday night, to Washington, to visit his
son-in-law, Lieut. Henry A. Wise, of the United
States naval service, who is about to sail for Ger
many, on account of ill health. The condition of
Lieutenant Wise’s health was the cause of Mr. E.’s
sudden departure from Charleston, northward.
He hopes to be able to complete his Virginia en"
gagements in the month of May.
Peabody Corn.—A gentleman of Suffolk, Va.,
says he got some of this corn last year from Mr.
Peabody, and planted two thousand five hundred
hills on moderately fair land, five by five, with
out any manure whatever, and gathered nine
barrds , which he thinks was half as much again
as the land would have produced in other corn—
but the weight is not 60 heavy as that be got from
Mr. Peabody. Others (two or three persons) near
him also tried it, but do not think very well of it.
On the land he planted not more than one-third of
the stalks had suckers, but where there were none
the stalks had from three to seven good ears.
Ole Bull at Hour.—A private letter to a musi
cal gentleman in New York, states that Ole Bull
had been received with great enthusiasm, not only
at Bergen, the city of his birth, but in Christiana,
and every city and village through which he pass
ed. From, the theatre he was followed home by
thousands of persons, accompanied by a band of
music, and, even after he had entered his hotel,
the enthusiastic multitude continued for some time
to pour forth their joyous acclamations at his safe
return to his fatherland.
The wealthy German of Chicago who had a
partnership with Judge Douglas in the National
Union of that city, has bought out the interest of
* the Ulißois Senator. The paper is now against
the Judge, and is leading in a powerful organiza
tion to bring the State into support of the Admin
istration. General Nyk, one of those former
friends of Douglas, wtm was call d upon to re
sign as Marshal of the Cnicago district by the
Judge, will probably be re-appointed.
* '' : ’. v -
Mr. English’s Bill.
The proceedings of the House on the 23d inst.,
I received yesterday, contain this bill in detail. We
have examined it'carefully, and find Us main fea
tures identical with the two sections published io
our issue of yesterday. More, however, is neces
sary to enable the reader to comprehend the bill, if
indeed, it was designed to be comprehended.
The Kansas Convention, it seems, adopted an
ordinance on the subject of the public lands claim
ing for the new State the right to tax them. This
ordinance was sent up to Congress with the Le
compton Constitution, and the first few sections of
Mr. English’s bill provided a substitute for this or
dinance, which is to be submitted to popular vote
in Kansas, and if accented, then the new State to
be admitted, with the Lecompton Constitution, by
proclamation from the Executive. This, from the
feneral tenor of the bill, seems to be the only con
ition annexed to the admission.
# There is, however, another section, which pro
vides— 44 That the State of Kansas be, and is here
by admitted into the Union, on an equal footing
with the original States, with the Constitution
framed at Lecompton; and this admission of her
into the Union as a State is here declared to be
upon this fundamental condition precedent, name
ly : That the said constitutional instrument shall
be first submitted to a vote of the people of Kan
sas and assented to by them, or a majority of the
voters, at an election to be held for the purpose.
At the said election the voting shall be by ballot,
and by endorsing on his ballot, as each voter may
please, 4 For proposition of Congress and admis
sion,* or 4 Against proposition of Congress and
admission.’ ”
Now, the whole character of the bill turns upon
the construction to be given to these two words,
“constitutional instrument”—whether they mean
the substitute for the land ordinance, or the Le
compton Constitution itself. If the former, we
can see no reason why the South should object to
the passage of the bill; if the latter, we are un
able to comprehend how any southern man who
has opposed the schemes of Gov. Walker, and
supported the Senate’s bill on principle, can give
it nis sanction.
The committee owe it to the country and to
themselves to clear up all doubt and ambiguity m
regard to their action. The motion to postpone
until the bill shall be better understood, was, in
our judgment, a proper one.
We find the above in the Savannah Republican,
of yesterday. It will be observed that the Repub
lican makes the whole character of the English
bill to depend upon the construction of the two
words, “constitutional instrument,” which it finds
in the bill—declaring that if they mean the sub
stitute for the land ordinance, it “can see no rea
son why the South should object to the passage of
the bill,” but that if they mean the Lecompton
Constitution itself, then it is ‘‘unable to compre
hend how any southern mau who has opposed the
schemes of Gov. Walker, and supported the
Senate’s bill on principle, can give it his sanc
tion.” We fully agree with our contemporary. If
the English bill proposes to submit an amended
land ordinance to the people of Kansas, and to
make its admission into the Union under the Le
compton Constitution dependent upon their accept
ance of this amended ordinance, it ought not to be
objectionable to southern men, but if it proposes to
submit the Constitution itself, then it contemplates
a surrender of every principle for which the South
has contended in this Kansas controversy, and
ought to be opposed by every southern man. But we
cannot find the words “constitutional instrument,”
upon which the Republican bases its doubt of the
true meaningand intent of the bill, in it, and if our
contemporary will examine carefully a correct
copy of the bill, he will find that it does not con
tain these words, or any others, which make its
construction doubtful. The first section of the
bill provides “ that the State of Kansas be,
and is hereby, admitted into the Union on an equal
footing with the original States in all respects
whatever, but upon the fundamental condition
precedent, namely: that the question of admis
sion with the following proposition, in Lieu of the
ordinance formed, at Lecompton , be submitted to a
vote of the people of Kansas, and assented to by
them or a majority of the voters voting at an elec
tion to be held for the purpose.” It then states
the proposition, which is simply a change in the
ordinance formed, by the Lecompton Convention
in reference to the public lands within the limits
of Kansas, and provides as follows :
j* . tin ‘ Y..M URWOT, «* WWH TOtrr
may please, “proposition accepted” or “proposi
tion rejected.” Should a majority of the votes cast
be for “proposition accepted,” the President of
the United States, as soon as the fact is duly made
known to him, shall announce the same by pro
clamation; and thereafter, and without any further
proceedings on the part of Congress, the admis
sion of the State of Kansas into the Union upon an
equal footing with the original Slates, in all re
spects whatever, shall be complete and absolute,
and said State shall be entitled to one member in
the House of Representatives in the Congress of
the United States until the next census be taken
by the Fedetal government; butsboulda majority
of the votes cast h > for “proposition rejected,” it
shall be deemed and held that the people of Kan
sas do not desire admission into the Union with
said Constitution under the conditions set forth
in the said proposition.
It is further provided that if the proposition of
Congress is rejected, no further steps for the ad
mission of Kansas into the Union shall be taken
until “it is ascertained by a census duly and legal
ly taken that the population of said Territory
equals or exceeds the ratio of representation re
quired for a member of the House of Representa
tives.” These are the provisions of the bill, and
we are unable to discover any ambiguity in them
. or in their statement. It proposes to submit—
not the Constitution, but an amended land or
dinance to the people of Kansas. If they accept
it, they come into the Union under the Lecompton
Constitution; if they reject il, they remain out of
the Union for an indefinite length of time. This
is the proposition of the bill, and in our opinion,
southern men may sustain it, without yielding a
principle for which they have contended, and with
the assurance that if it is passed its ultimate prac
tical results will be as favorable to southern inter,
ests in the Territory of Kansas, as any which
would have followed the passage of the Senate
bill.
The Richmond Examiner has been enter,
taining its readers recently, with a series of in
teresting articles upon the controversy between
Georgia and the Federal Government, when Gov.
ernor Troup filled the Executive chair of this State.
the information we hjive received, we
are glad to be able to say, the frost of yesterday
morning did but slight damage to the growing
crops in this vicinity.
Dr. Feuchtwanger, a dealer in essences,
flavorings, and essential oils, in the city of New
York, has published a treatise on brewing, dis
tiling, rectifying and manufacturing sugars,
wines, and spirits, in which he furnishes receipts
for m iking aDy of the choice brands of imported
brandies or wines, out of his “flavorings” and a
barrel of proof spirits. The majority of large
dealers, we suspect, know as much about the
manufacture of spirits and wines as the Doctor
can teach them.
meeting of Hopewell Presbytery, pro re
nata , will be held in this city, commencing on Sat
urday, the first of May, for the installation of Rev.
Dr. Wilson as Pastor of the Telfair Street Presby
terian Church, and for the ordination of Mr. Hum
phrey as an Evangelist. Rev. Dr. I. S. K. Axson,
of Savannah, will preach the installation sermon
on Sabbath morning, and Rev. Dr. Talmage and
the Rev. Mr. Flinn, of Millegeville, will conduct
other exercises of the occasion.
The Forces in and por Utah.— The following is
said to be u correct statement of the forces now in
Utah, and under orders foi that Territory:
4 ‘ Three batteries of light artillery; one battery
of heavy artillery; one regiment (ten companies)
mot artillery ; one company sappers and miners ;
oue oidnance company; one regiment of cavalry ;
dra g° onß ; one regiment of infantry.
X a of Bev enty*six companies, or about
aix thousand men.”
The ** New Party” Movement*
The subjoined extracts disclose some of the dif
ficulties encountered by those factions, now com
bined together in opposition to the administration
upon the Kansas issue, in the efforts which they
are making to perfect their union and construct a
new party which may be strong enough, at the
next Presidential election, to wrest the control of
the Federal Government from the Democratic
party.
The extract which follows is from the Philadel
phia Press, the leading organ of the anti-Adminis
tration Democracy of the North, and suggests the
idea ol the Democratic element of the coalition, in
reference to the basis upon which the new political
organization ought to be formed. It is simply that
the Black Republicans and southern Americans,
who have acted with them in opposition to the ad
mission of Kansas, should abandon the principles
for which they have heretofore contended, and
quietly permit themselves to be absorbed into a
new Democratic party. The Press says:
“Circumstances may have occurred, or may occur,
which cannot be controlled until they shall have
worked out their destined end. Suppose those
who have heretofore belonged to the Democratic
party, and are yet good Democrats, but are oppos
ed to the admission of Kansas under the Lecomp
ton Constitution. without its approval by ;the peo-
Ble #f Kansas, shall be proscribed by a national
'emocra'ic administration, and be forced out of
the Democratic organization in some States, as is
attempted, and thereby, in self-defence, obliged to
organ.se themselves into another Democractic par
ty, or, what is the same, to form a national Demo
cratic party of those who believe with them on
this question of popular sovereignty. Then sup
pose the Republican party should approve the ac
tion of their representatives in Congress on this
question in uniting with the anti-Lecompton Dem
ocrats in their determination to carry out the Com
promise of 1850 honestly and faithfully , and
should thus withdraw the whole question of slave
ry from any further action of the genera! govern
ment, wnat remains to hinder them from joining
the auti-Leeompton wing of the Democratic party?
“Why might this not be done? and why should
it not be done? If the Republican party is willing
to give up or lay aside its opposition to the princi
ples of the K Aiisas-Nebraska act, fairly carried ou%
and thus end the whole controversy m regard to
the slavery question, what reason is there why the
Rnpubhcans, everywhere spread over the whole
northern States, who were once in good faith and
standing in the Democratic party, and who only
left it on this slavery question, might not return
to their first love, and act with the Democratic
part? again ?
“Suppose, too, that the remnant of the American
party, who once belonged to the Democratic party,
and yet remain in opposition to it, should yield
their one idea—which may now be said to be an
‘obsolete idea ’ —and join their old friends again,
as most of that organization has done—who can
object to it?” •
The Louisville Journal , the leading organ of
that wing of the American party of the southern
States which is prepared to coalesce with the
Black Republicans, does not fancy this suggestion
of the Press, but considers it “extremely ill-ad
vised,” —“fatal to harmony, and of course to suc
cess.” In its opinion, the new party is but an
embryo as yet—a germ which may gradually grow
into a powerful political organization, or which
may be utterly destroyed by being dragged into
the light, and submitted to public dissection and
analysis, or forced into premature development,
or crushed into the shape and form of any other
party. It would quietly nourish this germ of a
party, cultivate a spirit of harmony amoDg all
those who desire to see it expand into full blown
maturity, and resist the efforts of the Democratic
element to shape it according to their own views,
and thus swallow up, in a new Democratic party,
all the other elements of the combination.
In reference to the suggestion of the Press, it
says:
“Now, we have several weighty objections to
this—objections theoretical, as well as practical.
“ The thing, to begin with, is not merely im
practicable, but absurdly so. The anti-Lecompton
Democrats are not the Democratic party, ana, if
they were, it would be quite as proper for them to
turn Americans as it would be for the Americans
to turn Democrats, numbers going for, nothing in
a point of honor, if, indeed, the Americans do not
ed to promote the end in view. Nor, in sac», is
mere speculation of any sort. Political organiza
tions are in some degree vital things. They are
developed rather than manufactured. They are
born, not made. Instead of being formed by ex
press agreement, they result inevitably from the
nature of events. The idea of a party compact is
as fanciful as that of the social compact. Parties,
worthy of the name, are natural, not artificial
nominal, not miraculous. They do not spring Mi
nerva-like in full panoply from the brain of any po
litical Jupiter. They germinate in the popular
bosom, shooting up to majesty and strength by
modest stages. They are spontaneous, selfdeter
mining, not plastic or mechanical. They grow.
And to discuss them too curiously or peremptorily
before they appear, is scarcely a greater mistake
than to burst open seeds before they vegetate to
see how rapidly they are swelling. To drag the
germs of a party jealously into the light, ana sub
mit them to public dissection and analysis, is to
disturb, if not to arrest, the delicate processes of
development, and endanger, if not defeat, the grave
purpose in hand. Much more certainly and exten
sively destructive is the attempt not only to re
solve and name, but to construct a finished plat
form for a nascent party in advance of its exist
ence. By inopportunely awakening fears, resent
ments, suspicions, heart-burnings, rivalries, and
all the clamorous appetites of power, the direct
and necessary tendency of such restless tolly is to
blast the new organization in the bud. It inter
rupts, reverses, distracts, scatters, and confounds
all the subtle operations of growth. Its effect is
as fatal as that of the drop Trom the lamp of the
inquisitive Psyche.”
These extracts show the dangers which surround
the coalition, and the careful management which
will be required to convert it into a permanent and
harmonious political organization. The Journal is
altogether more sagacious than the Press. Whilst
the one is proposing that the Democratic shall ab
sorb the other two parties to the coalition, the other
seems to understand that the Black Republican
party has already swallowed the others, and is so
licitous that its digestion should not be disturbed,
whilst it assimilates them aud gives itself a faint
“ odor of nationality.”
JjgF" The Washington Union of the 27th inst.,
in reference to the rumor that Mr. Buchanan will
ask Congress, before its adjournment, to authorise
another loan of thirty millions of dollars, says:
“ We understand that the Secretary has made a
call upon his colleagues of the Cabinet to know
what will probably be the rmount of their respec
tive drafts upon him for the two next quarters, ex
tending from July to December. The desired re
sponses have not yet been made, and probably will
not be ready for a week or two to come. The Sec
retary, therefore, is not in possesion of the infor
mation as yet, himself, upon which to found an
opinion as to whether it will be necessary, or
whether it will be prudent tp call for authority to
issue an additional amount of Treasury notes. The
statement, therefore, that there will be any call at
all is premature; much more so, that the call will
be for the sum of thirty millions.”
The Payments for Mount Visrnox.— The con
tract between John A. Washington and the
“ Southern Matron,” for the sale of Mount Vernon,
was put on record, in Fairfax County Court, on
Monday last. The following are the dates of the
payments: Eighteen thousand dollars at the exe
cution of the contract; fiifty-seven thousand dol
lars on the Ist day of January, 1859; forty-one
thousand six hundred and sixty-six dollars and
sixty-six cents on the 22d day of February, I 860;
forty-one thousand six hundred and sixty-six dol
lars and sixty-seven cents on the 22nd day of Feb
ruary, 1801, and forty-one thousand six hundred
and sixty-six dollars and sixty-seven cents on the
22d day of February, 1862, with interest on the
several payments from the date of the contract
St. Louis, April 26.—The Leavenworth corres
pondent of the Republican says that the anti-
Leavenworth Constitution delegates were elected
•n the 21st
Northern and Sonthern Representatives
in Congress.
The Philadelphia Xorth American , a journal
which is as decidetfin its opposition to slavery
and to the South, as any of the recognised organs
of the Black Republican party, in a recent article
takes occasion to compare the representation of
the free and slave States in Congress, and says:
“ The South, as a general rule, is better repre
sented in Congress than the free States. The best
men in the South are willing to go to Washington
and to look after the interests of their section, and
their constituents keep them there as long as they
are desirous to serve. But it really seems as if, in
many cases, the North picked out third rate men
intentionally to represent them. It is quite noto
rious that very many who go to one or the other
branch of Congress from the free States are men
without education, with only a superficial smatter
ing, of knowledge on a few common topics, picked
up in away themselves cannot explain, and who
have never, until they found themselves in high
place, associated with persons of good breeding.
Their only arts are those of the demagogue or the
trickster, m They are utterly incapable of rising to
any commanding views of national policy, or com
prehending in its full significance our Constitution,
and the principles of our government. The in
trigues and management of the petty politician
are alone within tneir scope.
“We have always maintained that it is wrong to
judge the North,jeither intellectually or politically,
by its representatives in Congress. The best tal
ent in that section is enlisted in the professions,
and in mercantile, manufacturing, ana sometimes
mechanical pursuits. There is there no class of
large landed proprietors, with means and leisure
to devote to the studies and duties of statesman
ship. The necessities of most men of talent re
quire them to avail themselves of those rewards
which the bar and other profitable pursuits, hold
out to intellect and energy. Few men go from the
North to Congress, who are able to earn a liveli
hood in any other way. The great men remain at
home, and are rarely heard of outside their own
limits. The Horace Binneys of Philadelphia, the
Charles Conners of New York, aud othor intellec
tual giants, are unseen by the nation, because they
walk \n the lowly vale of private lite, whilst politi- 1
cal ‘ pigmies, perched on Alps/ at Washington,
‘play such fantastic tricks before high Heaven, as
rai£ht make angels weep.* It is consoling to re
flect that whatever madness may rule the hour in ;
Congress, there is a stronge reserve of intelligence j
and common sense in the country to fall back up
on in the hour of need.”
Dr. Dickson, of Charleston.
The following paragraph from the Evening Xetcs
of Philadelphia, will be read with pleasure by the
friends of this distinguished and estimable gen
tleman :
“ Jefferson Medial College. —We learn, with
freat pleasure, that, at a meeting of the Board of
rustees of the above flourishing institution, held
this morning, Prof. Samuel U. Dickson, M. D., who
has for some years occupied the chair of Theory
and Practice of Medicine in the University ofSoutn
Carolina, at Charleston, was elected to the chair
recently vacated by the death of the late and la
mented Dr. John K. Mitchell. Dr. Dickson is an
eminent scholar, and in all respects und relations
a popular man. In every element of his character,
no less than in manners and bearing, he is a high
toned, exemplary gentleman, and lias earned for
himself a wide ana enviable reputation as a physi
cian, a teacher, and an author. He has enjoyed the
largest medical practice in Charleston, S. C., and
in his new position here must assuredly add
strength and honor to the institution which has
had the good judgment to invite him to one of its
Professorships.”
Fremont’s Mariposa Claim.
A correspondent communicates to the Journal of
Commerce the following history of Fremont's Mari
posa grant, regarding which so singular a decision
has just been made in the Supreme Court of Cali
fornia. We presume the case will be carried up
to the Federal Supreme Court.
Tides to Mineral Lands. —lt was announced on
the last arrival from California that the Supreme
Court of that State had decided the case of Boggs
(lessee of Col. Fremont,) agt. the Merced Mining
Company, adversely to the interests of Fremont,
reversing the decision of the court below, and
directing judgment to be entered for the defend
ants. Tne effect of this decision is that proprietor
ship of land does not cover or carry with it the
right to the minerals which the land may contain.
Absurd os this doctrine may appear to us, it has
The history of. this case, as related to us by a
fnend, who is cognisant of the facts, may serve to
throw some light upon the principles of law in
volved.
The Mariposa grant, comprising some fortv
four thousand acres, was made by the Mexican
government to Alvarado without reservation He
sold it to Fremont in 1847. Upon the admission
of California into the Union as a State, aud the ap
plication of Fremont to have his grant confirmed
to him, the United States government took the
necessarv steps to have the title investigated. Tke
Merced Mining Company had commenced opera
tions in the quartz rock of this grant in 1851, lav
ing claim to the right to work their vein. This
company contested Col. Fremont’s title. This case
was carried through all the courts of the State
and to the Supreme Bench at Washington, which
decided that Fremont’s title was perfect, and that
a government patent conurming him in his rights
must be issued. In conformity to this decision
President Pierce himself, in 1856, executed the
patent conveying the Mariposa grant to Fremont,
in the same unreserved manner as all other gov
ernment titles are conveyed.
The plaintiff in this suit leased of Fremont a
portion of the tract occupied and worked by the
Merced Mining company, and brought a suit for
ejectment, when the defendants set up the plea
that the title to land did not include the minerals.
In the lower C urt they were defeated, but, as
above stated, the Superior Court of the State’has
just reversed the opinion of the Court below, and
promulgated as California law, that a title to’lund
does not constitute ownership of what the land
contains. If this rule applies to minerals, it must
also apply to rock and water, and such other sub
stances as are not properly denominated earth.
One can scarcely believe that this decision will
be confirmed by the Supreme Court of the United
States at Washington, to which the case will be
carried, as such un interpretation of law would
create the utmost confusion in all portions of the
country. It is not California alone that is affected,
but every mine of coal, iron, lead, silver, copper
and gold in the United States, would find itself
without a title other than the right of possession.
Every stone quarry and water power may also, by
the same principles of law, be appropriated by
whomsoever chooses first to develop them. The
government titles are identical. Those conveying
the lands of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois and Mich
igan, with all their mineral wealth, are precisely
the same as those which convey the gold lands of
California. If the doctrine here promulgated is
applicable in one instance, why not in the other?
It is evident that the doctrine is a new one even
In California; else the Merced Mining Company
would scarcely have contended against the con
firmation of Fremont’s title five or six years, at un
enormous expeuse, when they were fully aware
that the title so confirmed would not convey the
mineral. We do not undertake to say that the
opinion of the Court was influenced by the im
mense mining interest by which it was surrounded,
and which is the oredominant iuterestm the State;
hut we do hazard the suggestion that a decision
so entirely at variance with the generally received
principles ot law, rendered by a Court which is
elective in its character, and has for its constitu
ents parties who are deeply interested m the free
dom of the mines, should have a very substantial
basis, both in law and equity, if the purity and in
dependence of its source is not to be questioned.
If we are correct in the conclusion to which we
have arrived as to the effect of such a construc
tion of law, then the contest which Col. Fremont
has thus far carried forward alone, and at his own
expeuse, becomes one to which every landholder
in the country is an interested party. Under such
ruling, a party who discovers a valuable spring of
water, or bed of ore, on your premises, even if it
be under your garden, your house, or your door
yard, has the right to go forward and develop it.
You cannot ejert Llui. Your title to the land
does not consmutc you the owner of the valuables
it may contain. In short, what vve have always
been led to suppose added very much to the value
of real estates, seems, by this new dispensation,
to be rather an incumbrance. Its existence in
your property renders it liable to be taken from
your owu control, and subjected to the will and
management of another.
A poet asked a gentleman what he thought of
his last production, “An Ode to Sleep.” The lat
ter replied, “You have done so much justice to the
subject, that it is impossible to read it without
eehng its whole weight.”
Passage of the Kansas Bill in Both
Houses.
We received last evening, by telegraph, the
gratifying intelligence that the bill for the admis
sion of Kansas, reported from the committees of
conference, was passed by a majority of nine votes
in each House on yesterday. The vote in the
Senate—nine members being absent or failing to
vote, was thirty-one for, to twenty-two against it—
in the House—nineteen members being absent or
failing to vote—one hundred and twelve for, to one
hundred and three against it
For the benefit of those among our readers who
have not had the time or the inclination to
follow this question of the admission of Kansas
through all the phases it has assumed during the
present session of Congress, and did not read the
bill reported by the Conference Committee, when
published by us a few days ago, we subjoin the
following clear, brief statement of its provisions,
which wc find in the Alexandria Sentinel:
“The proposition of the Conference Committee
of the two houses is simply this: The schedule
which accompanies the Lecompton Constitution,
but is no part of it, demands a certain amouut of
the public lands m waiver of the right of the
State of Kansas to tax the remainder. This de
mand is proposed by the committee to be greatly
restricted; the schedule thus amended to be then
submitted to the people of Kansas—and contin
gent upon their acceptance of it, Kansas to be ad
mitted under the Lecompton Constitution. If
they do not accede to the terms proposed by Con
gress, then her admission as a State to be post
poned.
** This is no submission of the Constitution, and
the amendment to the schedule is a proper one.
“We see no difficulty, therefore, m agreeing to
the proposition. With the Constitution, Congress
has nothing to do—that is a question for the peo
ple of Kansas. With the schedule, it is wholly
different, for Congress is to be a party to the pro
visions which Mr. English proposes to amend. It
is in part a contract between the State of Kansas
and the Federal government; and both parties
have an equal right to be heard.
“ This may be said, and it is all that can be said,
on the other side. The submission of the amended
schedule to the people for their ratification, affords,
incidentally , an opportunity to vote against the
Constitution. That is to say, by voting down that
overture of Congress, they defeat admission un
der the Lecompton Constitution. But we repeat
that the Constitution itself is not the question sub
mitted, and that the question submitted is an al
lowable and proper one.”
The passage of this bill removes the Kansas
question from Congress—terminates one of the
lougest and most exciting sectional controversies
which the subject of slavary has produced—dis
concerts the plans of the opponents of the South,
and leaves Congress free to attend to the mass of
important public business which is demanding its
attention.
The Weather and the Crops.
We notice in several of our exchanges reports
of the injury to the growing crops.and fruit, caused
by the frosts from the 24th to the 28th April, and
some of the papers state that very little injury has
resulted.
In South and North Carolina the damage has
been considerable. *
In lower and middle Georgia the injury has not
been so great, but in upper Georgia there can be
no doubt that the cotton and been very
much injured, and m some sections the wheat.
In the low grounds the damage has been the
greatest.
Throughout Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana,
Tennessee and Arkansas, the frost on the high
lands and the floods in the valleys have caused in
calculable injury.
For more than a month past the fertile valley
lands of the West have been inundated, and the
waters continue high.
With such prospects at this time, he must be a
sanguine speculator about large cotton crops, who
believes that the next crop will exceed three mil
lion bales.
The flanks in this City.
As some of our reuders^may^fed igt st. hi.
banks, in relation,4o the issues of the non-specie
paying banks, on and after the first of May, we
have obtained, from a reliable source, the decision
of the bank Presidents.
At their meeting, on Thursday last, they deter
mined that from and after the first day of May, the
several banks in this city will receive in payment
and on deposit, at their counters, the notes of
specie paying banks only; and for checks or
drafts, their own notes exclusively, will be paid
out.
There are hundreds of thousands of dollars, per
haps a few millions, of South Carolina money in
circulation in Georgia. As this money is the issue
of banks that do not pay specie, as a matter of
course, according to their agreement, the banks in
this city will not receive such money either on de
posit or in payment of debts.
This suspended South Carolina money will bear
the same relation in value to Georgia money that
the Georgia bank bills, while the banks were in a
state of suspension, sustained towards gold.
The bills of South Carolina banks will be at a
discount, and are now at a discount of from one
half to one per cent, at our brokers, in the pur-’
chase of exchange, or in obtaining current funds
for payments at the banks.
We are not prepared to say what will be the
result of this condition of affairs. As yet, we
have seen no decided indisposition on the part of
our merchants and business men (outside of the
banks) to receive South Carolina money. The re
sults in the future will be developed as we go
along and reach the points.
The Cry is Still TMiey Come”—s6s,ooo
Drawn.
But a few days since we mentioned the large
prizes sold m S. Swan A Co.’s Lottery, to persons
in Charleston and Savannah. We now have to
chronicle another of Sixty-five Thousand Dollars,
sold in a whole ticket, Nos. 4, 20, 89, in Class 398,
drawn Saturday, April 24. The fortunate holder
is a wealthy merchant in Philadelphia, and though
we are not at liberty to mention his name, we
know who he is, and his place of business. For
rich schemes, honorable dealing, and prompt pay
ment of prizes, Swan A Co.’s Georgia Lottery takes
the lead in this country; and their immense busi
ness is the result of close application and upright
conduct in the management of it.
fcST’ Among the products of the country, pre
pared by skillful hands in the “free soil, free
speech, free labor, free whisky” region of the
eastern States, we notice a recent shipment to
Liverpool, of “three hundred barrels of shoe pegs."
This may appear a trifling matter, but Kansas
shriekers are great manufactures of shoe pegs.
The Alta Californian of the sth inst., states
that the Supreme Court of California recently de
cided “that the patent from the United States to
John C. Fremont, of the Mariposa lands, does not
vest in him the ownership of the precious minerals
found thereon. Great rejoicing has been made by
the miners of Mariposa. This decision is not final,
however. The Federal Supreme Court may make
a different ruling.”
Editors and the Opera.—A tempest in a teapot
occurred at the Opera House in New York, Mon
e7en*> .^. r * Darcie, the musical critic
of Porter s Spirit of the Times having given offence
to Mr. Ullman, manager, the latter, a few evenings
since, refused to admit him, though the critic bad
purchased his ticket at the box-office. Mr Geo
Wilkes, proprietor of the Spirit, then notified Mr.
Ullman that on Monday evening in company with
Mr. Darcie, he would repair to the opera with tick
ets purchased for the occasion. Upon preseutmg
the tickets, admittance was refusea, ana a row en
suing, both editor and critic were carried to the
station-house, from which they were soon after dis
charged.
Baptist State Convention.
The annual session of this body ( held this year
at Americus, Sunr.ter county,) closed on Monday
last. A correspondent of the Journal <k Messenger
furnishes that papej with the following brief ac
count of its proceedings i
Americus, April 28, 1858.
Editors Journal dk Messenger :
The Georgia Baptist Convention opened its ses
sion here yesterday morning. The introductory
sermon wob preached by Rev. A. Sherwood, D. D.,
Prof. Well, of Franklin College, was subsequently
elected President, and Revs. J. F. Dagg ana C. M.
Irwin, Secretaries. The afternoon was chiefly oc
cupied in preliminary business. The attendance
is unusually large. Americus is overflowing with
visitors and strangers.
There are representatives here from several
States. Dr. James B. Taylor, of Virginia; M.
Sheldon, of New York ; Mr. Toon, of Charleston;
Rev. J. R. Graves, of Tennessee; Revs. Sumnar,
Henderson, and others, from Alabama.
To-day the business session is held in the Bap
tist church, and Prof. Hillyer and Prof. Tucker are
to preach in the Methodist church.
Respectfully, Maconiav.
Americus, April 24, 1858.
I sent you a note yesterday stating the fact of
the organization of the Georgia Baptist Conven
tion. This morningtbe report of the Board of
Trustees of Mercer University was read, showing
the Institution to be in a good condition, and hav
ing a permanent endowment of one hundred and
fifty-one thousand dollars. There are 6ix Profes
sors, and the Board will elect a President during
its present session. The University in its Collegi
ate and Theological Departments is regarded by
its friends as eminently worthy of patronage.
The Executive committee also reported. The
report stated that a number of young men are
studying for the ministry, who are sustained by the
income of thirty thousand dollars under the com
mittee’s control for this purpose.
Next came the report of the Index committee,
showing an increase of nearly one thousand sub
scribers during the past year. The committee pre
sented the Convention with a draft for five hundred
dollars out of the proceeds of the paper, and which
goes to benevolent objects of the denomination.
All these reports were referred to special com
mittees to report next Monday.
In the afternoon, the secretaries of the mission
boards located at Richmond, Va., and Marion, Ala.,
made addresses upon the objects of their respective
boards.
On Sabbath all the churches are to be supplied
wilh preaching by members of the Convention.
At the Baptist Church, DeVotie and Ryerson ; at
the Methodist Church, Dawson and Williams ; at
the Presbyterian, Henderson and Landrum. All
the houses will no doubt be crowded.
Gov. Brown is a delegate from Milledgeville, and
chairman of the committee on missions.
It is probable that the session will close on Mon
day night.
I leurn that a delegate died to-day at the Hotel.
Rev. Mr. Campbell is suffering seriously from a
fall last night. Very respectfully,
Maconiav.
Au Important Decision.
The Court of Appeals of Virginia, has recently
decided that a slave cannot elect to be free. It
appears that John L. Poindexter left a will by
which tic provided that bis slaves should be manu
mitted or remain in slavery, as they might deter
mine, and it was upon this will that the snit was
instituted in which this decision was rendered.
We extract the following from the opinion of the
Court, delivered by Judge Daniel:
44 The Virginia Law Journal , for April, contains
an important case decided recently by the Court
of Appeals of this State. It appears that John L.
Poindexter, deceased, left a will providing that his
slaves should be allowed to choose between being
manumitted and remaining in slavery, and a suit
was brought by Bailey et als , and Howie et ale ,
against his executors. The Court decided in favor
of the appellants, Judge Daniel delivering the
opinion, from which we extract the following :
44 4 Under these circumstances, I have conceived
it to be my duty to regard the question as one to
be tested by the general and acknowledged princi
ples pertaining to the subject, and not os one con
trolled by the influence of a special adjudication.
And when we so treat the question, it seems to
me there can be no longer any serious difficulty
as to the proper solution. When we assent to the
general proposition, as I think we must do, that
our slaves have no civil or social right, that they
have_nq_legal capacity to J; —or ois-
TfUft, though a master enter into
the forms of an agreement with his slave to manu
mit bun, and the slave proceed fully to perform
all required if him in the agreement, he is without
remedy in case the master refuse to comply with
his part of the agreement, and that a slave cannot
take anything under a devise or will except his
freedom; we are led necessarily to the conclusion
that nothing short of a positive enactment, or of
legal decisions having equal force, can demon
strate the capacity of a slave to exercise an elec
tion, in respect to his manumission.* ”
The National luteUigencer , of the 28tb inst., has
a letter from Dr. May, giving an interesting ac
count of the last hours of Col. Benton, and of the
nature and progress of the painful malady which
terminated his life. This disease, it seems, was
cancer of the rectum. # Dr. May, after mentioning
the perfect calmness and resignation with which
Col. B. received the intelligence of his approach
ing dissolution, says:
“ I ascertained that in the intervals of my visits
to him at this time he repeatedly went to his work
and corrected the proof-sheets, which he was in
the habit of receiving at short periods from his
publisher, Mr. Appleton; and I recollect on one
occasion, when I did not suppose he could stand,
he suddenly arose from his bed, and, in face of all
remonstrance, walked to his table at some distance
off, and corrected and finished the conclusion of
another work on which he was engaged, and of
which be had shortly before received the proofs
from New \ ork. His unconquerable will enabled
him to do it; but when done, he was so exhausted
I had to take the pen from his hand to give it the
direction.
44 As soon as he recovered from the immediate
danger of this attack, he labored, as he had done
for years before, constantly at his task. Rising
by daylight, and writing incessantlv, with the ex
ception of the hour he usually devoted to his after
noon ride on his horse, the effect of which though
I feared from the position of his disease he yet
seemed to think was of benefit to him.
“ And at this labor he continued from day to
day until within about a week before his death,
when no longer able to rise from weakness, he
wrote in his bed, and when no longer able to do
that, dictated his views to others.
44 Thus it may be truly said of him he literally
‘died in harness,’ battling steadily from day to day
with the most formidable malady that afflicts hu
manity; his intellect unclouded, and his iron will
sustaining him in the execution of bis great
national work almost to the last moment of his
existence.” m
News items from the Sarannah Republican,
April 28th:
Reduction in Freights. —A few days ago we ad
vertised reduced rates of freight by the screw
steamer line between New York and Savannah.
We observe that the agents of the side-wheel ships
meet the case and go a step beyond. We expect
soon tosee these two lines canyiug for nothing.
Fire. —About two o’clock yesterday, flames were
seeu issuing through the roof of a one story
wooden building, situated on the North-east corner
of East and South Broad streets, the roof o! which
was partially destroyed. The building was owned
by Mr. John Haupt’and occupied by one Joseph
Cook, os a groggery and dance house.
Drowned. —A young laboring man named John
Steadman, was accidentally drowned yesterday
morning, by falling from the sraging of the steam
ship Star of the South, where he was engaged in
wheeling coal into the vessel.
Musical Taste in America. —An American so
journing at Rome, Italy, writes to Dwioiit s Jour
nal of Music, now published by Oliver Ditson &
Co., of Boston:
Perhaps the only thing in which I am disap
pointed iu Italy is in its music, and the musical
cultivation of its inhabitants. It is true that even
the smallest towns have opera houses, but the
style of performance is poor. Then, like many
other people, I had expected that in Italy, music
was in the domestic circle, brought to almost pro
fessional perfection, and that every otfier young
man was a Mario, and almost every young woman
a Grisi. Bui 1 find myself much inistakeu. An a
general thing there appears to be m* more real
taste for music here than in the United States ;
certainly there are not half or a quarter so many
piano fortes or hand organs, in proportion to the
population, if that is to be taken an an index.