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About Weekly constitutionalist. (Augusta, Ga.) 185?-1877 | View Entire Issue (April 18, 1866)
iUcckSt) Constitutionalist. BY STOCKTON k 00. OCR TERMS. The following are the rates of Subscription and Ad- Tertising in the Constitutionalist : Wbbklt —3 Months. $ 75 6 Months 1 50 Single copies—lo cents. Advertisements inserted in the Wbiklt at $1 60 per' Square for each insertion. To accommodate our patrons we will receive in pay ment Produce; such as Bacon, I.ard, Butter, Flour and Meal, at the Market value, and it can be sent to us by Express at our expense. [Washington Correspondence of the X. Y. Times. Modification of the Test Oath. The President also transmitted communica tions from the Secretary of the Treasury and the Postmaster General, addressed to him by those officers, suggesting a modification of the oath of office presented by the act of Congress, approved July 2,1862. He fully concurred in their recommenda tions ; and as the subject pertains to the effi cient administration of the revenue and postal laws in the Southern States, he earnestly com mends it to the early consideration of Congress. The letter of the Secretary of the Treasury con firms the names of collectors of internal reve nue, assessors, assistant assessors, collectors and surveyors of customs, &c., appointed since the overthrow of the rebellion in the Southern States, who have not been able to take literally the oath of office prescribed by the act approved July 2, 1862. Besides these officers, a consider able number, perhaps the larger portion of those holding subordinate positions in the Rev enue Departments, have been also unable to comply with the requirements of the statute. Asa consequence, they have served without compensation, as their accounts could not be audited by the accounting officers of the Gov ernment. Many of these officers have performed very important duties with fidelity, and not a few must be in great distress by reason of their li abilities. When the apportionments were made it was found that it would he difficult to find competent officers in many of the Southern Revenue Districts who could take the oath re ferred to, but so important did it seem to the President and the Cabinet, for the purpose of equalizing the public burdens, that the revenue system should be established throughout the recently rebellious States with as little delay as practicable, and that the unpleasant duty of col lecting taxes from an exhausted and lately re bellious people should be performed by her own citizens; that the Secretary of the Treasury did not hesitate to recommend l'or appoint ment, and to appoint men of whose present loyalty there was no question, but who might have been, either willingly or unwillingly, du ring the rebellion, so connected with the insur gent State and Confederate Government as to he unable to take the oath of office. This was not done from any disposition to disregard the law, but with an honest and sincere purpose of collecting the revenues with as little trouble to the tax-payers as possible. The country was in a peculiar condition; the re-' hellion"had come to a sudden close; all resist- , anee to the authority of the United States had ceased, and some seven millions of people, in a state of utter disorganization were left without any civil government whatever, and without even an adequate military protection against anarchy and violence. Under these circum stances, as it showed charity to be the duty of the Executive to proceed at once to establish the Federal authority and civil government in these States, so it seeme* to be necessary to ; carry into effect the revenue laws of the general , government. As the country was passing from j a state of war to a state of peace, and the emer gency seemed to be too pressing to admit of do- ! lay until the meeting of Congress, it was , thought that the test oath might, in|v*:w of the i great objects to be attained, in some eases be 1 dispensed with, or rather that persons might be permitted to hold revenue offices who could i take it only in a qualified form. No one could j have regretted more than the President and the members 6f the Cabinet the necessity which ex- | isted for this course, but there seemed to be no alternative, and it was confidently hoped that ; under the circumstances of the case it would be j approved by Congress. Among those whose | names are presented to the President, the Sec- j retary has no reason to believe that there is no ; one who can justly be charged with being in- j strumental in instigating the rebellion, although ' a lew may have contributed to its support and continuance. Some with strong attachments for the Union had followed the States in which they lived into the war against the United States, under the baleful influence of the doc trine of State sovereignty. Some held office under the insurgent authorities, as the only means of supporting their families. Others, to escape conscription, or to be in a better con dition to resist, at the proper time, Confederate rule. Not one is known to have been a dis unionist, or unfriendly to the Government at the commencement of the war. Avery slight change in the oatli —a change that would not cover a particle of present dis loyalty—would enable the most of them to hold the offices they are now so acceptably filling. Great loss to the Government, and great incon venience to the {department, must result from the discontinuance of their services. After stating reasons at large why the oath shffcld be modified, the Secretary says the rebellion grew out of antagonism of opinion between the peo ple of the free and slave States —the legitimate result oi a difference of institutions. With the abolition of slavery all real difference of opinion and all serious causes of estrangement ought rapidly to disappear. It wULbe a calamity, the extent of which cannot nolle estimated, both to this nation and to the cause of civil liberty throughout the world, if, instead of looking to reconciliation and harmony, the action ol the Government shall tend to harden and intensify a sectionalism between the Northern and South ern States. It is difficult to conceive ot a more unfortunate course for the Government of the United Slates to pursue than to make tax gatherers at the South of men who are strangers to the people. It needs no reference to history, although it is full of lessons upon this subject, to illustrate the fatal consequences of such a policy. Appended to this letter of the Secre tary of the Treasury are the names of forty nine persons acting as assessors and collectors in the Southern States who have not taken the oath of office without qualification. It is added that there are undoubtedly others whose names have not been received. It appears from a letter of thef Commissioner of Customs that the following named persons arc the only customs officers who had taken the oath in a modified form : James M. Ma thews, collector, Rappahonnock, Va.; William S. Craft, collector, Georgetown, S. C.; Gordon Forbes, survevor, Yeocomo, Va.; Wm. Leitch, surveyor, Charleston, S. C.; F. M. Robinson, special examiner of drugs, and Edgar M. Laza rus and J. F. Walker, appraisers, Charleston, S. C. The Postmaster General, in his commu nication, says, as a*means of restoring the busi ness interests in the Southern States, and of aiding in the re-establishment of their consti tutional relations with the Government, it was AUGUSTA, GA., WEDNESDAY MORNING, APRIL 18, 1866. deemed important by the President and Cabi net that the mails should be introduced and post offices lie re-opened in those States as rap idly as possible ; to which end the energies of the department were promptly and have been continuously directed. Various causes have doubtless contributed to the failure in accom plishing all that was hoped for ; but that result ing from the oath prescribed by acts of July 2, 1862, and March 3, 1563, has not been the least, while it has been the one to which my atten tion has been most frequently called. This, as be is inclined to believe, lias not been' owing exclusively to there not being loyal per sons who could take the oath, but to the limit ed compensation, most of the offices offering insufficient inducements to persons to act as postmasters; and to the unwillingness of many, who might otherwise act, to do so, on account of the inconvenience and compromise of their positions which they fear would result from taking the oath when the majority of their neighbors consist of those who had in some form aided the rebellion. To obviate these difficulties in part recourse has been had to the appointment ol women as postmistresses, which has proved to be of doubtful utility to the ser vice. And necessity has also compelled the ap pointment of very many ignorant persons in competent to discharge the duties of their offi ces. Asa remedy for the future, the Postmast er General suggests a modification of the oath by inserting the word “voluntary” immediate ly preceding the word “sought,” so -that the clause would read : “That I have neither vol untarily sought nor accepted, nor attempted to exercise the functions of any office whatever, under any authority or pretended authority in hostility to the United States.” This would en large the class of persons who could qualify as postmasters and mail contractors, and be in harmony, it seems to him, with the 'general provisions and purposes oi the oath, and thus facilitate the speedy re-establishment the postal service to the common benefit of all the sections of the country; for it must be bt>rne in mind that while the people of the Southern States are more directly interested in the re storation, other States are also largely interest ed. It may be, he says, interesting to know that of the 2,258 mail routes in operation in the dis loyal States, at the breaking out of the rebel lion, the service, of 757 only has been restored ; and that of 8,902 post offices in those States, only 2,042 appointments of postmasters have been made, of whom 1,777 only have qualified for office, 747 of them being male and 420 fe males. Os the 865 who have not qualified, it is believed that quite all of them have not done so because of the oath. The Postmaster General adds : In justice to the department, in view of the inefficient service as shown by the foregoing facts, no propositions for transportation of the mails for a fair consideration have been de clined, while postmasters have been uniformly and promptly appointed upon reliable recom mendations. The Postmaster General con cludes by saying he need not enlarge upon evils resulting from so partial a restoration of the postal service in the Southern States, nor upon the benefits to the Government and to the peo ple of all sections of the country that would re sult from a more general and efficient restora tion of that service. These papers have been referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. - i m* [From the New York Journal of Commerce. The Connecticut Election. The people of Connecticut are intelligent.— They vote probably ou principle more generally than the people of any other State iu New Eng land. There arc fewer among the voters who are led blindly, and fewer who are influenced by bribery than in any other State. The average intelligence of the people is very high. The late election brought out thorough discussion, and there was no chance for any great number of men to remain ignorant of the fact that the issue was fairly one of supporting the admin istration of Mr. Johnson or supporting the ra dical opposiiion. It is clear to our apprehension that the vote in Connecticut may be taken as a fair expression of the opinion of that State. If three or four hundred votes were bought, which might have been on the other side, they may have changed the result, but a small majority the other way would not Have materially changed the moral effect of the election. It id"a plain fact just about half the people of that State are conser vative and the other half radical. That just about forty-four thousand voters are in favor of keeping the Sonthern States out ol the Union, and forty-four thousand in favor of the Presi dent’s plan of keeping them in the Union. It strikes us that such an expression of opinion from a New England State ought to be highly encouraging to Mr. Johnson. It is only a few weeks since the war broke out between the President and the Radical majority in Con gress, and the first election following it was that in New Hampshire, where the result showed no material effect produced. Connec ticut follows, and that State is evenly divided. The indication is good for the results when other States, not iu New England, come, to ex press their opinions of the President’s policy. But the remarkable fact which has been ex hibited in Connecticut is this : that one-h.:!t of the people there believe the war ended, and are in favor of the “lorgive and if possible forget” policy, which is thccuily way of closing human quarrels, while the other half are for the princi ple of governing the South by Northern power. It is not improbable that other States may be found as evenly divided. II the vote ol Con necticut is a metre ol the voting population in the North, it indicates a remakable division of opinion among the people, and a very dubious future, dependent on which way the small ma jorities may go. Every man’s vote now be comes of vast import. The whole destiny of tile nation may depend on the dieision of a hun dred private citizens, who have never dreamed of the loyal character of their individual powers. The Radicals Distrusting Stanton.— The Radicals are beginning to distrust Stanton, and to accuse him of adapting his principles to the smiles of Executive patronage. Thus Carl Schurz, the Washington correspondent of the New York Tribune, writes: “ Stanton’s doom is recorded. He had writ ten his resignation, and was about to forward it when he understood that the President had expressed a particular wish for it. It was thought best to put upon Mr. Johnson the bur den of removingthe Secretary of War. Secre tary Harlan’s days are numbered. Ills place has been promised, they eay, to A. W. Randall, of the Post Office Deportment, and it is thought will go in ten days.. Speed, Harlan and Stan ton are among those who will surely go. Stan ton has become very sweet and pleasant. He coos and chirps as amiably as a dove, and men who go to sec him, with recollections of 1862 and 1863, are surprised to find the bear the mildest and most tractable of animals. You may go as near to him as you please, and he will neither snarl nor bite.” The celebrated English chemist, Dr. Brande, [ died last month. Washington News and Gossip. [Special Dispatch to the New York Tiroes. Washington, Friday, April 6. THE CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. At about 3 o’clock the Civil Rights bill was called up, and Mr. Doolittle, in a forcible speech oi some length, gave his views. During the progress of this speech, it was whispered around that Senator Morgan, who had been generally counted upon as one of those who would sus tain the veto, had stated that he should vote for the bill. This news struck consternation among the friends of the veto, who hud con fidently relied upon seventeen votes, including Mr. Morgan’s; and such, until to-day, was the estimate "of ail persons at all advised upon the facts. Mr. Dixon, learning Mr. Morgan’s posi tion, and knowing, therefore, that his votecould not save the veto, determined not to risk his health by coming out of his house. Mr. Wright was present. Some two hours wire spent, after Mr. Doolittle concluded, in general discussion by Senators McDoitgnll, Saulsbury and Davis— the latter making, with emphasis, the following announcement: “Pass your Frecdmeu’s Bureau bill and Civil Rights bill, and henceforth I am the enemy of your Government, and will spend the few feeble remnants of my life in efforts to overthrow it.” About half-past six the Presid ing Officer called for the vote upon the question: “Shall the bill pass, the objections of the Presi dent to the same notwithstanding ?” Here the vast assembly was hushed in breathless attention. The result now depended upon the response ot Mr. Morgan, and as the clerk progressed down the list and approached the name of that Sena tor, all eyes and ears were bent toward him, and when, in response to the call of his name, lie answered “Aye,” a tremendous round of ap plause, mingled with exclamations, went up from the galleries. The call went on, and di rectly the President announced that by a vote of 33 to 15 the hill had passed. Here again thunders of applause arose, some of the Sena tors joining. Mr. Wade and a few Republican members of Congress, then upon the floor, at tempted to shake the hand of Senator Morgan, but that gentleman shook his head disapprov ingly and declined to receive their congratula tions. Upon the motion ol Mr. Trumbull the passage of the bill was directed to be reported to the House, and the Senate adjourned. The President was advised this morning that Mr. Morgan would vote for the bill, and. that, so far as the Senate is concerned, the veto would not be sustained. Rumor, which is thousand tongued to-night, ascribes Senator Morgan's veto to other influences than those- of his own sense of duty. The country should know that Gov. Morgan voted for the bill on its original passage, because ol his conscientious conviction that it was right in principle; that it was tho" duty of the Government to grant this much to the race which the bill protects, and that, hav ing so voted, he has not since become convinced that lie was then wrong ; and so his vote of to-day was consistently and honestly cast for the bill. END OF TIIE DODGE-BROOKS CASE. The Dodge-Brooks contested election ease was emphatically settled to-day, in favor ol the contestant, by a vote of 72 for Dodge to 52 for Brooks. The best part of the day was con sumed in the closing arguments. Mr. Brooks finished his speceli and himself in his second hour, and was followed very briefly by Mr. Grinnell for Mr. Dodge, when Mr. Dawes be gan the closing argument on behalf of the ma jority report. The able chairman of the Elec tion Committee certainly did himself great credit in his elaborate and exhaustive speech. He went over the whole ground, and made the case clear enough to decide it in favor of Mr. Dodge. At the conclusion, Mr. Raymond oc cupied a few moments in defending Mr. Dodge from tlie charges derogatory to his character, which Mr. Brooks flung around so promiscu ously through the whole of his speech. The various propositions were then voted upon.— The proposition to refer the matter back to the people by declaring both seats vacant was lost, as was also the proposition to refer back to the committee for further investigations. The resolution declaring Mr. Brooks not entitled to the scat was passed ayes 83, nays 55, and the resolution giving the seat to Mr. Dodge was adopted ; ayes, 72; nays, 52. A considerable number of Republicans uniformly voted for Mr. Brooks, and on the last resolution Messrs. Baker, Bromweli, Ingersoll, Farnsworth, Cul lom and E. B. Washburne, of Illinois; Davis and Hale, of New York ; Defrces, of Indiana; Higby, of California; Latham and Whaley, of West Virginia; Marston, of New Hampshire; Pike, of Maine; Paine, of Wisconsin ; Spald ing, of Ohio; Thayer, of Pennsylvania, and Van Horn, of Missouri, ail Republicans, voted for Mr. Brooks, a thing the Democrats will please remember when charging the majority with partisanship, for not a Democrat voted for Mr. Dodge, and no one can remember when a Democrat in the House in sueli a ease voted in any other than a partisan way. Mr. Dodge was sworn in, and will hereafter represent the Eighth Congressional District of New York. Mr. Brooks goes home to be a candidate for reflection. Next fall he boasts that he will come back with a majority that will appal the House like a voice of thunder. Perhaps he will, no one will object if he has a clear title. Bringing Him to the Test.— There was a curious scene lately at a town meeting at Ber lin. The gathering was composed of council lors, butchers and doctors, and the account reads like something from the dark ages. At the conclusion of a speech by Prof. Virchou, urging the necessity of instituting micro scopical examinations of pork, lie handed the president a piece of smoked sausage, and of meat that had been recognized as tricliinous. Thereupon a veterinary practitioner named Urban arose and combatted the whole thing as a delusion. Trichina;, he said, arc the most harmless animals in the world. It is only doc tors without practice who make a noise about them in order to create some occupation for themselves, etc. There was great interruption, and the president was obliged to stop the vete rinarian. Drs. Virchou and Mason demanded an apology from Urban, and Mason challenged Urban to eat some of the sausage on the presi dent’s table. [Great applause.] Urban wishes to explain. Tlie mooting calls upon him to eat. “ He had not spoken of Berlin doctors [Eat, eat], but of those at Hedersiaben. [Eat.] He would iirst sec whether the sansage contained trichinae.” [Great laughter and continued cries of Eat, eat, eat.] Whereupon Urban sud denly seizes the sausage on the president’s table, bites off a piece and'eats it, and leaves the hall iorthwitb, amid the applause and laughter of the assembly. Five days later Urban was ill in bed, his arms and legs para lyzed. Whether he lias died since is not report ed. lie was doubtless a great fool, but if he dies it will be little short of murder that the town meeting committed. To be Borne in Mind.—A contemporary calls attention to the fact that horse-stealing and house-breaking were both made capital offenses punishable with death, by the late Legislature ; also a law was passed taxing all spirituous liquors sold, except by the manufacturer, twenty cents per gallon. The Defense and Fall of Fort Gregg. A GRAPHIC SKETCH. From an interesting account of the last fight ing around Petersburg, writteu for the Field and Fireside by a Confederate officer who was engaged in it, we extract the following. After describing the breach made on our works, after various bloody repulses, on Gordon’s lines, he continues: Just in rear, some two or three hundred yards, on many parts of our line, heavy forts had been ereeled to guard against just such re sults as had ensued. In rear of the line of works captured by the Federal* were batteries Mahone and Gregg, but neither had guns mounted nor men assigned them. Maltonc was unfinished, and was simply an embrasured battery of three guns. Gregg was a large fort, with a deep ditch in front, and its sally-ports protected in rear, and was embrasured for six guns. These two forts were all that now pre vented the enemy from completely cutting the Confederate lines in two to the Appomattox, and dividing A. P. Hill and Longstreet’s forces on the right from the main of the ariny. As soon as the line of works were captured, the men from all tlie brigades which had been forced to retire, were hurried into these works. The guns saved from capture on tlie entrench ments were put in battery Mahone with a few men, and three also in Fort Gregg, witli about 300 infantry, mostly Mississippians. After re forming and getting in order, the Federal* moved on these works—ou Mulionc first—and they took it with a rush, although the gunners stood to their guns to the very last, and fired their last shot while the Federal troops were on the ramparts. I was standing where I could viow the whole encounter. Tlie Confederate liue to the left ot the run was not attacked. The creek divided us, and the struggle was going on on otic hill while we were on the opposite, about a half a mile apart, anxious and breathless witnesses. As soou as Malioue fell, the Federals, in three lines, moved ou Fort Gregg with cheer*. In the immediate vicinity nil else was silent. How confidently and in what beautiful lines they ad vance ! As they near the fort their liue curves into a circle. They are within fifty yards, and not the flash of a single rifle yet defies them. My God ! hare, tlie boys surrendered without a struggle 1 We look to see'if the sign of a white flag can be seen. At this Instant it seems to gleam in the sunlight, and sends a pang to our hearts. But no! it is tlie white smoke from their guns, which from cannoneers and infantry simultaneously fire on tlie confident assaulters, who stagger—reel under the death-dealing vol ley—and in a moment the Federal lines are broken and they retreat in masses under cover. A loud and wild cheer succeeds the breathless stillness that prevailed amongst us, and is an swered exultingly by tlie heroic little garrison in Fort Gregg. But reinforcements have come to the help of the assaulters. I can see their long serpentine lines os they wend their way through the clear ed fields in the distance, and over the captured works. I turned and looked to our rear, but no reinforcements can be seen coming to the succor of the garrison. Every man is needed at liis post, and no reserves are at hand. The repulsed assailants, animated liy tlie sight of reinforcements, reform, and as their comrades come up in battle array, march forth again in unbroken ranks. As they gain tlie hill-top, two hundred yards from the fort, the artillery Vitliin the fort belches forth from the embra zures, and the effect of its canister can he plain ly seen in the heaps of dead and dying that strew the ground. But the check is only mo mentary. As the next line advances they move forward in serried ranks, and soon tlie fort is canopied in smoke. We can see the artillery as it tires in rapid succession, and tlie small arms pop and crack iu a ceaseless rattle. The con flict elsewhere ceases, and both sides are silent and anxious witnesses of the struggle at the fort. Thus the fight continues for an half hour. The Federals have reached tlie ditch. They climb up the sides ol the works, and ns tlie foremost reach tlie top, we can see them reel and fall headlong on their comrades below, j Onee, twice and thrice have they reached the top only to be repulsed, and yet they persevere, and the artillery in the enibrazures continue to fire iu rapid succession. But, at last, all is hushed ! The artillery one? j more, and for the last, time, fire u parting shot, | and we can see the Federals as with impunity ; they mount the works and begin a rapid lire on I the defenders within. Their ammunition iff exhausted, and unwilling to surrender, they | are using their bayonets and clubbing their '• guns in an unequal struggle. At last, one loud , huzza proclaims the fort lost, and witli it the j Confederate army cut into two parts. A. P. Hill, Hethand Wilcox—all three—were i in the fort, cheered tlie men to the last, and the | minute of its surrender they mounted their I steeds, dashed through tlie sally-port, and re- i treated to tlie,rear. Hill was killed in ttc at- j tempt, but the other two escaped. I have si nee learned that 280 of the garrison, of a little over 300, were killed or wounded. Valuable Contribution to School Liter auhe. —Messrs. Harper & Brothers, New York, whose malignant attacks upon tlie South and Southern character in their trashy periodicals have disgusted all decent people, have just pub lished the third number ol' Bonner’s History of the United States. Tlie following choice lan guage, levelled at Southerners and their friends elsewhere, is furnished for the instruction and elevation of the youthful mind : “Brutal, bloodthirsty,and utterly God-forsaken scoundrels;” “Among all the rogues in and out of jail there was not another rogue so cun ning and cold-blooded as ;” “they fell to cutting their noses in their own fashion;” “these men of little hearts and white livers;” “those ignorant Irishmen ;” “all the vagabonds, all the drunken haunters of tav erns ;” This is admirably adapted for the use ot tli* sons and daughters of the champions of “great moral ideas,” and will make worthy sons of equally worthy sires.— Petersburg Fx]/ress. An Infamous Wretch. —Not many months since there was wedded to a fair, but, alas! too confiding, daughter of a highly esteemed and respected citizen of one of our interior towns, a Northern man, who claimed formerly to have been an officer in tlie Federal army. The mar ried life of the happy pair appears to have glid ed along smoothly and pleasantly until at an inauspicious moment a tiiird party steps upon the stage and immediately transforms quiet and bliss to discontent and bitterness. Ttie per fidious and brutal husband was confronted by another wife, who having beard of his infamous conduct had arrived from the North to institute inquiries and satisfy herself as to the truth or falsity ot the report which reached her. Toiler anguish and sorrow she found that tlie state ments were indeed true. The affair has created quite a feeling in the District, and how it will end remains to be seen.— Charleston Courier. The approaching marriage of a Russian Prince and the daughter of a seamstress is spoken of in Paris as to be shortly celebrated. VOL. 24. NO. 16. [From the Nashville (Tenn.) Banner. A Racy Sketch of George N. Sanders. During the month of October, in 1861, before the disaster at Fishing Creek, before the siege of Donelson, before the depreciation of Con federate notes or currency, a carriage drew up before the. St. Cloud Hotel in this city, (which was ut that time presided over by the late la mented Samuel Carter,*) and an obese gentle man in drub stepped upon the curb. Tho reader will pardon us, perhaps, if we dwell with some detail upon tlie personnel of this new coiner, for then, ns now, lie was a man of con sequence, and a group surrounded him at once. He received the greeting of each of the indi viduals composing it in an easy neglige posi tion—a sort of off-hand cross bet ween the sangfroid of the German, the self-possession of the .'Yankee and the suavite mode of the Ital ian, and passed across the threshold ton suite of rooms provided for him. Here he regaled a few of his friends with Charles Heidsick, while he put on a clean shirt, and when he appeared once more in full dress, with a walking cane mounted by a blood hound carved in gold and n diamond pin set amid a cluster of emeralds, he attracted the most general remark. Those were brave times and we love to dwell upon them. Sidney Johnson lay along tho front with mi army whieli we thought to be in vincible. Tlie note* of the Bank of Tennessee were at par value. Out of the very window from which our genial Governor now issue* his humorous and charitable essays, the “boiiuio blue flag ” waved like a vapory triumph from a magic castle —soon to pass away in storm and mist. Barkhorn’s ale was a picayune a mug; uiid it was as easy to swallow the \ aukecs, rank and tile, ns to eat a dinner at Riddlebergor’s.— As for General Thomas, we served him up two or three times a week for luuch; dined off Buell and supped off Grant, to say nothing of the use we made of lesser lights for seasoning and relish. It was, in short, what tho Radicals call the “ reign of terror,” when, by the way, most, of them were as eager as black birds on a summer's eve to catch tho drops that fell from the heavens of secession. But we digress. Jtvvenons a twus nioutons — Tlie stranger mingled freely with tho people, and was especially popular among the Ken tuckians. The full, square figure, the careless beard, tlie thick, curling hair, chinked with bits of gray, tlie keen, watchful eye, tlie easy move ment of the clumsy body, the cane, tho pin, had an air about them. What was he after ? what did he do Y where was lie going f were queries of lively and general interest. It was not necessary to ask “who is lie V” Every one knew that. The man was George Sanders. He had sought the Confederate capital when il was at Montgomery, and began his operations by demanding tlie commission of general in the Confederate army. Failing in tills, he gra ciously descended to a contract for arms, to bo manufactured by his friend, Sum. Colt, smug gled through tlie lines, and paid for in gold on safe delivery. Tho business which had brought Idm hither was connected witli lids contract, and it is un derstood that lie succeeded very well witli tlie blockade runners and contraband travelers be tween this point and the Ohio river. Whether our gifted contemporary of the Press and Times —who is accused of having turned nil honest penny at this time himself, beneath the Federal rose—had any tiling to do witli these adventu rous transactions, we are, of course, unable to say ; nor isNt a matter of import to tlie present brief chronicle. Certain it is, however, that our hero was in Nashville at the fall of Donelson, and that he Joined the rest of us when we Hew to the mountains of Hcpsidam, leaving the city on foot, by the Franklin pike, witli a change of linen tied to his cane, and slung over Ids shoul der, and a halt-burnt cigar stuck between his thin, blue lips. Thenceforward his adventures nre matters of history. He went to Richmond, entered tlie secret service, became king of Gideon’s band of scouts, ran the gauntlet oi' the North disguised as a Cornish miner, crossed the Niagara bridge 1 iu tlie very face of the sentries, and undertook the management of the presidential campaign for tlie Copperheads during tluxeanvass of 1864. Then burst the great tragedy over tlie country, and Canada became too hot for this modern BourdineUi. He fled —vanished—and, like the Flying Dutchman, no one knew whether lie had gone to the clouds above or to the bottom of the sea. But it was not Ids final exit from the stage, for in a late number of the London Times we discover tlie following brief an nouucinent: George Banders, in his petition to the Court of Bankruptcy, says that, lie was formerly of Kentucky; then of New York; then lodging at t,lic Trafalgar Hotel, Charing Cross; then of Richmond, America; then of Weymouth street, Portland Place; then of Denbigh street, Pimlico; then of Purls; then traveling through England and Ireland; then of Canada; then of Lnug lmrv Place Hotel, and late of Grafton Place, Fltzroy Square; now a prisoner for debt. Ail inmate of the Debtor’s Prison ! After all his splendid schemes and dreams of revolution and empire—a Swiss Republic —of an Italian Confederation —of a Sublime Porte, for George was somewhat oriental in ids tastes, and never wholly satisfied with the simple Democratic system we proposed establishing—after nil this a prisoner for debt! He was not a favorite in Nashville, hut the most stony-hearted must feel for a poor filibuster of such magnificent dimen sions reduced to such straightened circum stances! And yet, perhaps, ’tis better! If ho were not out upon the common lie would be writing letters to Andrew Johnson, advising him liow he ought to conduct the Government and manage the Radicals ; proposing an internal machine to blow up Stevens and Sumner, and awkwardly mixing himself into serious and delicate concerns to nobody’s profit and to the country’s hurt. Let him remain, therefore, within hearing of Bow Bells, and, like Cer vantes, devote himself to literary pursuits. His life and confessions would prove a rare and curious hook, presenting, if it were truthfully written, the picture of a man as versatile as Count Foseo, as shrewd as Solon Shingle, and as unfortunate os Wilkins Mlcawber, and a train of events more ingenious than those which marked the progress of Baron M unchausen, or enveloped the mystic figure of the Wandering Jew. Maeauley gives us some brilliant portraits w»f the adventurers wiio followed Charles, and afterward attended Monmouth, on the Conti nent. None of them possess the character and originality of George Sanders. lie stands alone, the first of wire-workers, chief of filibusters, and last ot Tammany. •This amiable gentleman Is sometime* confounded with the sitting member of the Lower House for Davtdr son. Nothing could tie more unjust to the deceased, I who departed this life soon after the entrance of the ! “ Stars and Htripes.” On our return four years later 1 we looked In vain to find hirn. Peace to hi* ashes! ■ i ii j Mr. David It. Knox, formerly agent of tlie. j.Santa Fc Stage Company at Santa Fe, hut more recently proprietor of the mail line from Santa Fc to El Paso, was recently assassinated at Fort Craig, New Mexico, by Lieutenant OUphant, of a California regiment, who shot him in tlie back I as he was leaving the hotel.
