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About Weekly constitutionalist. (Augusta, Ga.) 185?-1877 | View Entire Issue (March 2, 1870)
TIB WEEKLY 00M8HTPTI0«ALI8f 'WEDNESDAY MOKNING, MAKCII. 2, 1870 Clak U». . for weekly ConetltoUon nltet. That every one may be enabled to sub scribe, and receive the benefits of a live Jour ual, we offer the following liberal terms to Clubs ; 1 Copy per year • • - • $3 00 3 Copies per year - • - - 700 5 Copies per year - - - - 12 =OO 10 Copies per year - - - * 20 09 We trust that every subscriber to the paper will aid us in adding to our list. 0&0P8 AID CURRENT NEWS. Our subscribers and friends in the coun try will confer a favor on us and our nu merous readers by sending us items as to crop prospects and general news in their different sections. Wc trust that each subscriber will consider himself a special correspondent for the Constitu tionalist, and thereby add to the Interest of the paper. ON A HIGH HORSE. Brigham Young and his followers are not disposed to snbmlt tamely to Congres sional Reconstruction. Indeed, the Pro phet defies it in langnage the reverse of classical, but certainly very terse and very acrimonious. Here Is a sample: '• l am the real Governor of this people, and, by the powers of the Most High, I will be Governor of this Territory forever and ever. If the Gentiles don’t like this, they can leave and go to hell. The Gov ernor of the Territory is useless, and can do nothing. If they undertake to try me In a Gentile court, I will see the Govern ment In hell first. lam ready to fight, the Government and the mob. 1 have soldiers, rifles, pistols, ammunition, and plenty of it, and eanuon, too, and I will use them. I am on It.” Hls Prime Minister and right hand Apostle, Gkoiiok Umitii, Is equally ram pageous. He thus spoke at a recent convo cation of the Saints: "A Northern army Is a curso. They bnrued and destroyed everything in the South, and abusod, by force, their women ; but let them come here to abuse the fair teamen of Utah in like manner, and all, both old and young, will have plenty of arms, and, wheu they approach, God will fight the battlessnd the Saints will be victorious. He said the United States Government was not at peace: and he damned it and hoped to see it sink Into hell; tint nothing in the shanc of a free government could stand on North American soil that was op posed to Mortnonism and polygamy.” , After ullowlng fbr the usual amount of bluster and bravado, there Is still left a prodigious smell of villanous saltpetre In these outpourings of the head men of Mor lnondom, and we believe that, if attacked, they will show fight Biugham presides over fully 100,000 persons of both sexes, and, In an emergency, he can bring Into the field 20,000 soldiers not to lie despised. The capacity of the couutry Is summed up In this comprehensive paragraph : “In 1860, twenty counties organized In Utah hud 141,158 acres of land, valued at *1,637,854, divided Into farms: 83,000 acres being under cultivation and well Improved In 1860 there were raised In Utah 382,097 bushels of wheat, 88,081 bushels corn, 183- 036 bushels oats, 12,000 bushels of barley, besides a considerable quantity of rye and buckwheat. In 1860 the Mormons had 45,176 horses. 1,080 males, 10,000 working oxen, 18,062 milch cows, 41,000 head of sheep, 10,780 hogs, and vast herds of beef cattle, numbering over 20,000 head. Then’ Were 140,870 bushels. Irish potatoes raised In 1860, and 32,500 gallons molasses made, besides quantities of peas, beans, flax seed and grass seed. In 1800 Utah had *237,000 worth of flour, *IOO,OOO worth of leather, and *40,000 worth of shoes, aud made steam engines, guns, pistols, and could east small cannon. Their artisans embraced every known occupation- As the Federal Government is rapidly getting into the proper temper for a milita ry raid upon Bkigham Young and his re ligion, it will not be amiss to note well the above statistics, and also to recall so much of th- past history of Mormondom as bears upon the possibilities of the future. The New York Kxpress furnishes the subjoined interesting information: “ Just 13 years ago Young enrolled 7,500 .“men against the Government, and the •' military expedition sent out under Gen. “ Albert Sidney Johns to u ‘conquered a ” peace,’ but did not conquer the Mormons. “ It was expected at the time that the Fed “ cral troops would advance through Echo “ Canyon, a narrow passage thirty miles “ !oug. with high rocky walls, and with a “stream through the canyon, and dams “ there constructed so that the water In the “ canyou could bo raised to thirteen feet, “ and It was Young’s intention to close the “ dams when the Federal troops had ad “ vanned ten miles up the passage, and dam “ back the water. Gen. Johnston learned of “ the Mormon plans, and determined to flank *• Echo Canyon. Young, ascertaining this, 11 caused alt the houses in Salt Lake City to “ be filled with straw, and retired Into the “ hills with hls forces, at the time sending “ word to the Federal commander that If “ he attempted to occupy the city, it should “be burned. A company of Mormons was “ left in the city with orders to fin* It “ whenever the city was In danger of fall “ into the Gentiles’ hands. It was then “ Young's intention to retire into the " mountains, where game was plenty, and 11 wage a guerilla warfare on the Govern “ ment troop*. Such la the man who de " flea the Government, and who aald to “ Vice-President t’o'-ta* In |.'uii, when re '' mliidid that the Pacific Railroad would settle the Mormon Church, that it woa a W' cbtirrh that could not ataud r ” on# railroad! W« would not have I'm " gr#aa bv ludlflt rcut to, or In tear of auch “ a bally; bat It la wise to measure the j “ monster before attempting to cat off bis “ claws. When wc any that the Mormons “ are defiant, wc mean, of coarse, Brigham “ Young, who is at all times the master “ spirit of hls people.” We do not like the system of Polygamy, but It Is a poor way to suppress it by the atrocities of the sword, especially when that weapon Is wielded by a set of men who are more criminal than Brigham, and many of whose female constituents, If half the tales be true, might learn some wholesome practices from the Mormon wo men. If Mormonism is a false religion, and we are among those who believe it to be so, It will much sooner perish by a wise tolerance than by a merciless persecution. Nothing short of utter extermination of its sectaries will compel Its cessation, and ut ter extermination of many innocents would be a crime of the hugest proportions. If Mormonism is false, the approach of civil ization, as well as the influx of strangers from various quarters of the globe, will presently put an eud to Us increase. And If these appliances should prove insuffi cient, natural laws would vindicate them selves in the long run, asserting the pre rogatives of that irresistible flat of Our system which decrees the annihilation of every people persisting in abuses of God’s order. It has been shown over and over again that polygamy resulted in the pro duction of many more male than female children, ami that the mortality among In fants was very much greater in Utah than anywhere else. Be this, however, as It may,the Mormons should not he punished with the sword by men who, In the sacred name of morality, smite Brigham Young for having a plurality of wives, and yet per mit Massachusetts to go scot free, though she Is the proverbial and Incomparable murderer of innocents—the Madame Res tem. of the blessed Union of so-called Sovereign States. Dr. Storer, one of the most famous of Northern physicians, proclaims this fact, and the women who write for tho Involution news paper publish it to the world with an awful Iteration of statistics. Not loug ago, Mrs. Cady Stanton declared that, if child mur der did not cease among the natives of New England “the descendants of the Celt would trample over the graveyards of the Puri tan." Now, as we would not advise that Congress should levy war upon Massachu setts for foeticide, so we are equally averse that the destroyers of the Constitution should proclaim the slaughter of the Mor mons and their women. Indeed, if they arc determined upon anew sensation, let them endeavor to fasten Mormonism upon the Bay State and Loyalty upon Utah. In Massachusetts there are 70,000 more women than men, and so a peaceful grafting of polygamy might improve the morals as well as the politics of Beast Butler's Infidel domain. CONGRESS AND ITS SCAPEGOATS. Some of the corrupt adventurers sent to Congress by a combination of negro votes and Yankee legislation are cotnlug to grief. Wheu the South had the right to send her representative men to the National Coun cils she sent there such of her people as wore Intellectually great, aud, on the point of morality, above corruption. Even Cor nelius Wendell, the veteran lobbyist, dared not approach a Southern man with a bribe, and he confessed that, in ail hls experience, there had not, up to 1860, been elected to Congress from this section a man who would not have knocked down any individual who sought to purchase hls influence for money. But there were plenty of Northern men in Congress, be fore the war, who did not hesitate at The reception of shameful wages, and, since the war, the scramble for the spoils ol venality has been well nigh uni versal. Under such untoward and de bauched influences, the South has found herself misrepresented by persons alien in blood, sentiments and honor. If the Five Points were swept with anew broom, It would be hard to collect more of knavery than Congressional Reconstruction and deluded negroes forced upon the South as office-holders at home and abroad. Sam ples of this kind of vermin are uow found at Washington City claiming to be Repre sentatives from South Carollua. The fol lowing special telegram to the Charleston New will tell the story : Washington, February 21. The excitement In regard to Whittemore and other carpct-bag Congressmen, charged with selling cadetships, reaohed fever-heat today. From the testimony taken by the House Military Committee, it appears that ten or twelve cadetships were sold by Congress men, at prices ranging from *SOO to *2,000. Mast of the culprits were members or the last Congress, but fonr or five of them sit In the present Congress. Whittemore, when tieforc the committee, did hM best to ex plain his position. One excuse was that he received *3,000, to be applied to political aud educational purposes. He admitted the receipt of the money, but did not name the purpose to which the fuud was applied. I When the committee met this morning, J they promptly decided that the defense of j Whittemore on Saturday did not sufficient j ly or satisfactorily counteract the evidence i gainst him. The committee, accordingly, j wed unanimously to report a resolution ! for hls expulsion. This resolution, together with the evi . deuce, was brought Into the House at 3 o’clock, slid -created a decided sensation. ' All the evidence was read. This occupied an hour, the members and the crowds In the galleries listening patiently. Whittemore, while the evidence was read, sate In Ills scat. He was the object i of all eyes, aud looked decidedly pale and l nervous. Wiu ii the Hons* was discussing whether Whit Union' should be allowed iliin* to make hi* defense, lie arose to *|S'#k. The inemhnrs sitting near him a'rongly advised Inin u> keep quiet, end he did no. After • considerable riel mis, It wee de cried to allow Whltteiaoie to appear at the liar of the llouae on Wednesday, and make li.» dch'uee. lied the vote I teen taken today, llie iiM'intiera say that Wkltteuiore would have been i k|alM without a dissenting koUe, and it is believed that on Wednesday more than a two-thirds vote will be obtained for hls expalslon. Hogc, the other South Carolina represent ative, who was elected by a majority of several thousand votes against him, is also implicated. It Is stated that the commit tee have evidence to show that he traded for a cadetship; bnt the particulars have not been obtained. Far lie it from n# to intimate that Wiiit temore and Hogb are any worse than their associates in general. On the con trary, we think that the men who sit in in quisition upon, and may possibly condemn them, are every bit as reprehensible, and would be probably pronounced so, if they could only be found out. The Tittle spasm of virtue displayed by Congress in nosing out for punishment two or three tricky members of that body is very much like similar exhibitions in the early settlements of California, when the scamps who took a sadden fit of ephemeral repentance hung other scamp; whose time for repentance had been slightly procrastinated. Still, we rejoice that such a freak of justice has resulted In the disgrace of bogus Southern Representatives, and Incidentally to the discredit of a Congress without whore Interference the culprits would never have risen to positions of trust and emolument. Carpet-baggers and scalawags who go to Congress by fraud had henceforth better take care how they presume upon loyalty covering a multitude of sins. Loyalty will cover almost auy quantity of roguery in Radicals of the trooliest codfish stripe, but it has limits when dealing with adventur ers In the South, whether hailing from Bkowhegan or Augusta. Congress wants scape goats, and the puppets it manufac tured into dignitaries will sometimes get an unmerciful kicking, if they are fools enough to leave a too, too itching palm upon an unduly “ open rear.” Progress.— At Forney’s grand recep tion, last week, four of the best behaved negroes in Washington were allowed to mingle with the distinguished white guests. A correspondent of the Richmond Dispatch tells the following anecdote, apropos of the occasion: “ Whilst the social comminglings were progressing, the colored gnests gathered about the refreshment table, after the cus tom of their white friends. The waiters at the table were not only genteelly dress ed, but good looking colored men. A dis tinguished member of Congress, not dis covering the difference between the colored waiters and colored guests, hailed one of the latter with, “ Here, waiter, give me a slice of that cold turkey. Come, be lively now.” To which he received a dignified bow and the response: “ Thank you, sir, I am one of the guests. I am Professor The Congressman, an out-and-out Radical, somewhat nonplussed , replied: “I beg your pardon; I did not observe it; we shall got used to these things by-and-by.” The Galaxy.— The'March number of the Galaxy is an excellent one. Charles Rkade Hnd Mrs. Davis continue their serial stories. Justin McCarthy's article on the Prince of Wales is a masterly piece of character sketching. It seems that Albert Edward has become a second edition of the flit boy in Pickwick. We are also told that “he is very foud of the little theatres where the vivacious blondes dis play their unconcealed attractions,” and arc assured that we “ couid scarcely rccoguize in the heavy, fat stolid, prematurely bald, elderly young man of this day, the slender, fair-haired, rather graceful youth who visited this couutry a few years ago.” Aunt Tommy.— A “Byron Banquet” will be given in New York on the 25th ol April, the anniversary of the poet’s volun tary exile from England. Mrs. Beecher Stowe is set down as one of the regular toasts of the evening. . The New York Day Bode declares that Mrs. Stowe was considered au eminent falsifier when a school girl aud has not Un proved in truth-telling since. Query.— The New Orloans Times asks this pertinent question: “ Why do not the people nominate their “own candidates? Why do they allow a “ few insignificant, scurvy politicians to “dictate from some pot-house whom they “ shall vote for ? Why, In short, do seiisi “ ble mou emulate the patient, stupid “ jackass, in dealing with questions of “ such vital importance?” Why, indeed ? Gf.n. G. W. Morgan. —We acknowledge the receipt of a pamphlet containing the printed speech of Gen. G. W. Morgan, of Ohio, on Georgia Reconstruction. It is very eloquent and all that, but wc cannot help remembering that Geueral Morgan both spoke and fought to reduce the South to subjection, and now he ouly speaks in sorrowful protest against the consequences of his own folly. Ekai. Rights. —We learu that equal rights have assumed an alarming feature in Washington. Roughs invade receptions and devour the daiuties provided for invited guests. Married.— Miss Busan Galton was | married, a day or two since,to Mr. Alfred 1 Kelleueii, the.tenorof the Galton Opera ; TVwupe. A Pair Proposition.—Under thU head the New York Herald auye: “ Poeter B'lnltfett decline* to accept the communion of United Htatea Senator from the State of Georgia, until certuiii charge# made against him are either clssrod up or acknowledged to lie simply the ottkprlng of political eiiglncctlug. Illodgrtt! uhl Hhnl geit I Don't Ik< too partleulitr." Blodgett Un i lu fact, Blodgett la not particular enough. That # what got hlui Into that little perjury aerape. | !/<**•>a TaUf/riiph unit Shimnyir (leu law eogteiNpiaUw a ylult to Jgurojw thia Spring A Democratic Platform. The Pittsburg Pott, the leading Demo cratic newspaper In Western Pennsylvania, believing that the victory of the party de pends upon persistence and a sound policy, makes the following suggestions as to the future course of the Democracy in relation to the issues prerented : 1. To ignore dead issues, but never abate a single principle. 2. A firm reliance in the Constitution, and a restoration of its vital functions where they have been impaired by Radical legislation. 3. Equal taxation; the strictest main tenance of the public faith; a common currency for the whole people, founded upon a sound and reliable basis; placing the public debt upon the basis demanded by justice and sound financial policy ; the creation of a public revenue founded upon just principles and the abolition of present iniquitous and oppressive revenue laws. 4. The protection of industry against the oppression of moneyed monopoly. 5. A reduction of office-holders, and a consequent cessation of the present extrav agant expenditures of the general, as well as State and municipal governments. 6. A reduction of taxes, and adequate legislation to compel the holders of the public Indebtedness to bear their proper share of the burdens of sustaining the Gov ernment. 7. A just and equitable system of repre sentation in Congress, by which the New England States shall not be allowed a dis proportionate number of Representatives and Senators, and the West shall receive Us jnst proportion. 8. The restoration of all the States to an equal footing in the Union, and the abro gation of all test oaths and disfranchising enactments, cither by Congress or so-called State Leirisl itures or conventions. A free government, maintained and perpetuated bv a free ballot. 9. A strict definition, according to the letter and spirit of the Constitution, of the powers, rights and duties of each of the three co-ordinate branches of the Govern ment, confining each within its proper sphere, and repressing each in its aggres sions upon the others. The l*ost is of the opinion that on such a line of policy as is here indicated there would be recruits enough from the liberal and conservative wing of the Republican party to insure a majority in the lower House ol the next Congress, and ultimately to accomplish the complete overthrow of the Radical party. [“ Mack,” in Cincinnati Enquirer. The Carpet-Baggers. WHAT THEY ARE AND WHAT THEY ARE DOING. It is now quite well, understood that at least one carpct-bag member of the House— a gentleman from South Carolina—is im plicated in the sale of West Point cadet ships. There is a promise of full exposure, and the public will soon kuovv all about it. But the most remarkable feature of the thing to my iniud is, not that the carpet baggers should sell their influence and their votes for such sums as they can get, but that the people should wonder When they do so. Congress has deliberately imposed this set of vile creatures upon ten States of the Union. The reconstruction laws have rendered anything like respectable representation impossible; they have ex cluded from office every man in the South who is tit to hold it, and made ten millions of people the victims of unprincipled ad venturers. You cannot name to day among the carpet-bag members and Senators in Congress a single man who could be elect ed to any office in the county In the North, from which he emigrated to fas'en himself upon an unwilling people through the In strumentality of Congressional reconstruc tion. The Republicans In Congress arc beginuiug to see this, and to complain of it; but it is too late. As Mtrabeau said in the Convention of France, when the Abbe Sieyes complained of the extremes to which the revolutionists were going, “My dear Abbe, you have loosed the bull; do you think he will not use his hol es ?” Con gress has “ loosed the bull,” and lie is sim ply using his horns. There never was a more dastardly crime committed against a brave people than that which called the carpet-baggers into exist ence and filled the halls of Congress with the mean wretches who now represent the South. Nor is the injury confined to the South alone. The carpet-bagger’s vote counts for as much on a tariff or a currency question, affecting the whole country, as the vote of a member from New York or Cincinnati, and we have now twenty such votes iu the Senate aud eighty in the House, any one of them a merchantable article for sale to the highest bidder, the aggregate forming an army of rascality sufficiently large to corrupt and befoul the entire legis lation of Congress. Nor is there any pros pect of immediate relief. The Influence of these men is constantly exerted to prevent the extension of amnesty to those likely to prove competitors for their succession. A general removal of disabilities would soon purify the political atmosphere of the South; but Congress never was farther from that fort of magnauimity than It is to-day. The Southern delegations are solid against it, ami are likely to remain so and to defeat any measure of the kind. So, I repeat, the sale of cadetships, thongh a disgraceful thing, is but a drop in the great ocean of corruption. It is as nothing compared to the villainy and venality which are inseparable from a system which makes Senators and Representatives out, of men who come here for the sole purpose of mak ing as much as possible out of their posi tlons in Congress. These facts may as well be looked squarely in the face, and the peo ple may as well make np their minds to accept the disgraceful situation which par ty malice has forced upon them. It will be. the work of twenty years to “disinfect” the halls of the National Legislature and remove from them the impurities of Con gressional reconstruction. Mr. Henry E. Sweetzer, who died at New York on Thursday, was best known to the general public as one of the original found ers of the Round lab’e, a I'terary and crit ical weekly, which evinced deeded ability in its earlier days, but which degenerated wofuily at the last, and was finally merged with the New York Cititen. Mr. Sweetzer began his professional career on the New York Timet, but at the time of his death he was one of the night editors of the World- lie was the Arithmetic Man of that paper, and for several years he has com piled the World Almanac. lie was a pleas ant and versatile writer, and could readily turn his hand to nny department in jour utllsm. A German professor, whose days and night# had been devoted,to uuluteriulttlng study of the Greek article, lay on Ills death Ikd. Galling hie sou to hie tied side, he briefly rwh wed Ids past life, adding, In faltering tones; "Hsus, be warned by my error--! meant well -but attempted too much | should have nundinal myself to the dallvn enee, u I From lb* Attest* UoMtitutioo. Is it Political Persecution. Superintendent-Senator Foster Blodgett stands Indicted for perjury in the Federal Coart of Georgia. He clali s. that the ene mies of reconstruction, who alone are his personal enemies, made the charge falsely for political effect, and to break him down unjustly as a Republican. Lifting the matter out of the partisan at mosphere in which he thus places it, and eschewing any vituperation, we propose to examine his grave recrimination simply in the light of fact. If there is ground fbr the charge of per jury, lus statement falls. The perjury charsed is in falsely taking the test oath for office, in which he swears he did not aid the rebellion. The simple issue is, whether he aided the rebellion. We have, in our possession, and it is now before us, a copy of the Trl-Weekly Augusta Constitutionalist of Wednesday, May Ist, 1861. We find in it the muster-roll of a Confederate company, called the “ Blodgett Volunteers," of which the Captain was Fos ter Blodgett, Jr., the present Benator elect. We also find that on Tuesday, April 29th, 1861, this company that had been equipped by Mr. Thomas B. Metcalf, proceeded to his residence on Broad street, formed line, pre sented arm3, and Capt. Foster Blodgett proceeded to speak thus: Mr. Metcalf : The Blodgett Volunteers appear equipped before you to return to yon, in the most expressive manner in their power, their thanks for your generosity, and to evince to you their appreciation of the patriotic spirit you have manifested. It is the desire of the company, that this pub lic acknowledgement should be made; and I assure you that the duty of making it could devolve upon uo persou who would perform it with higher gratification than myself. Allow me to read you the resolu tion in reference to yourself unanimously passed by the corps. We reproduce Capt. Blodgetts speech to show his rebellious appreciation of Con federate patriotic spirit, and that he can make a ueat little speech when he gets to the United States Senate, if his tongue has not forgotten its} rebel cunning. We ind that the 7}4, p. m., train on the South Carolina Road, bore away this Blodgett Volunteers for the war. Now, commanding a Confederate com pany, and going to the field In the rebel lion, may not be aiding the rebellion in Captain Blodgett’s opinion; but if that position is sound, loaning a little beef to the Confederates under compulsion, was hardly such aiding of the rebellion as should make a Georgia State Senator in eligible. Yet, Gen. Terry construed the beef matter as aid, and on the strength of it, purged the Georgia Legislature of a Democratic Senator from Cobb county, for ineligibility on that account. Under this ruling, the case is very clear against the new Senator. And with the evidence of his rebellious co-operation, and the construction given t* rebellious co-operation by Gon. Terry, the charge is clearly sustained, and the asser tion of there being cither personal or politi cal prosecution in it fails to the ground. A Dinah Loving Monster. —A para graph has recently gone the rounds of the press to the effect that Senator Sumner and the wife of the colored Seuator from Mississippi enjoyed an hour’s private and social confab ill the gallery the other day. I was very strongly inclined to profit ?by the example of Harriet Beecher Stowe, and take this fact for the text of a “ True Story of Lady Sumner’s Life;” but'l feared the Atlantic wouldn’t publish it—so I didn’t write it. There is no doubt, however, that there is excellent material for a “true story” in it, and that the admiration of Chawles for someone or more of God’s own images carved in ebony was the demon of discord which so suddenly disrupted the Sumnerian paradise. Perhaps it is just as well not to print it jnst now. but to wait, as Mis. Stowe did, until the grave has closed over all parties to the great drama, and then call on the impartial peu of history to expose the moral deformities of this petted child of genius, whose easy and ele gant imbecilities are dazzling all eyes and ears. I have only to say if the noble Lord of Massachusetts thinks he can purchase oblivion for his sable amours with those brilliant flashes of intellectual idiocy wherewith it is wanted to astonish the world, he is greatly mistaken. The truth will one day be told. Some future Mrs. Stowe will be found to tear the mask of virtue from his face, and the Dinah-loving monster he is. [ Wadi. Cor. Cincinnati Commercial. The Wat the Monet Gobs. —As an il lustration of how the money of the people of Georgia is being squandered, we men tion as a fact that over *17,000 has been paid by the State Treasurer for mileage! To the credit of Mr. Mills, the Secretary of the Senate, and Mr. Newton, Clerk of the House, we state that only the constitu tional number (seven) of subordinate clerks were paid. But the following unheard of officers in Georgia before drew from the puttie treasury as follows: Ten pages, *3 per day each *7BO Door-keeper for gallery, $3 per day 117 Sergeant-at-Arms, *9 per day 351 Water Toter, *3 per day 117 Water Toler, *5 per day 195 We would like to be informed under what provisions of the Code or constitu tion of Georgia Speaker McWhorter ap points the above officers, affixes their pay, and certifies to their claims. All the members of the Legislature (save Dunlap Scott, of Fioyd, who said it looked too much like robbery) drew pay for the whole thirty nine days, twelve days recess and all. The usual rule, and the law. has becu only 10 draw 75 per cent, of their per diem allowance. Is not this a grab game ? [.Atlanta Constitut’on. More About that Indictment Against Capt. Foster Blodgett.—We are inform ed that when Capt. Foster Blodgett, Stiper iutendent-Seuator, commanded a battery of artillery in the Confederate service he pub lished a challenge for a fight with the Sprague Battery, of ithode Island. That battery was raised and equipped by Gov. Sprague, now a Senator in Congress, from Rhode Islaud, and was highly lauded by the Federals for its efficiency. Capt. Blodgett's Confederate soul, hun gry for glory, was not satisfied with any common eclat, but burned for unusual dis | tinctlon. The challenge Issued by the patriotic Confederate is said to be In the hands of a gentleman, to k* used whenever the trial for fibbing shall come ofT in the United ►taton Court. As the Honator hue thought proper to charge that there was simply a jsilltlcal iwrsecutiou In this Indictment, we have deemed It not Improper to ahow that the HupcrluU'iident KenatorCitptain wan aim ply and egreglously mistaken. t omlilution. Qt anre-What country editor was It that lost #l7ft fighting tlm tiger In Atlanta a few night# elute and a metnoraadu ,i marked *' fit# t II " Wee It borrowed, Os a perqulelt* f—.i iLmUe lancMuUm%, Dishonest Merchants. “ Macaulav," the New York correspond ent of the Rochester Democrat, makes very serious charges against some of the New York merchants. “Macaulay” for thirty years and more was engaged in the mercan tile business in that city : thieving among merchants. The business men of New York are very dishonest. This I know from close expe rience. They have certain “tricks of trade,” as they are called, which are nothing less than absolute stealing. Boxes of castile soap and similar goods are sold to couutry customers, who little think that they pay for box and all at foil price. The cheating ou tare Is outrageous. Tea in chests is es timated at twenty pounds tare, which is always allowed by the importer, but a country dealer seldom gets more than eighteen pounds. On half chests twelve pounds is allowed, while at the same time the dealer marks the chests np a pound or two. This marking up of weight corre sponds to the marking down of taros. Casks of sugar, which few country mer chants can weigh, are often marked up twenty pounds, and sometimes fifty pounds. They tell a good story of old H H——, a well known grocer on the north side, who was notorious for his boldness in this line. The old man became at one time somewhat pious, and when in such a frame was asked by a clerk who had sold a cask of sugar if he “should go it 20 pounds.” “ No, Johnny,” was the reply, “ don’t go over 10, for I’m under concern of mind.” Molasses, spirits, turpentine and other liquids are gauged up, which is very easily done. An original guage-mark of say 31 gallons, can be easily altered into 34, by using a gauger's “ scube” in a neat manner. If that is not enough, a turn of the scube can change the 31 into 35. Asa general rule, with many dealers, from one to three gallons are made in each cask. Provision dealers steal in a different manner. Barrels of mackerel are opened in the bottom head, and from twenty to thirty pounds are removed, and the space filled up with salt. When the retailer opens the barrel he always takes the lop head, and here all looks right, but when lie gets to the bottom he finds a half bushel more of salt than he expected. Pork and beef are also thus stolen, and henc* our Govern ment supplies are often short, and men suffer severely in consequence. I have referred to but a few of the differ ent branches of robbery perpetrated among what are called honorable men, for a com plete statement would fill a volume. One further instance may be cited, and this is the fraud in essential oils. It Is next to impossible for any country druggist to buy a pure article of oil lemou, oil bergamot, oil organum, or any similar oils. The reason of this is that spirits ol turpentine mixes so naturally with these articles that detection is almost impossible. In these oils onr wholesale druggists make enormous profits. Carrying out this idea, a bold druggist contrived not only to cheat country customers, but also to fleece the trade at large. To do this he employed a machinist to imitate the metallic seals which the man ufacturers put upon the cans. These cans he would unsolder, and then steal about one-tenth of the oil, and fill it up with spirits of turpentine, and then apply the counterfeit seal. - These cans wou'd then go irtto the hands or a drug broker, and would be sold to the trade as pure from the distiller’s hands. This operator I know well. He is nothing but a thief, aud yet in society lie is a “gentleman." He has a tine house and lives in style,but retribution may yet reach him, and though slow it may be sure. (From the New Yorfc Express. Our Foreign Consuls—Rich and Racy. Official reports are ordinarily as heavy as lead, but it has remained for a gentle man of the name of Starring to produce a report on the American Consulates iu France aud Belgium, brief, light, sketchy, amusing and prodigiously instructive with al, the best parts of which the Journal of Convmerce reprints. General Starring, it will be remembered, was appointed by the President on the re commendation es Secretary Boutwell, to inspect the actual condition of all the European Consulates. He sailed on his mission lagt Summer, and the result of hls work, up to November 20,1869, is what is uow before us. He seems to have wluged his way noiselessly from station to station, pouncing on his unsuspecting game like an eagle from the skies. The Journal says he shows that — “ The archleves at nearly all the Con sulates are not properly taken care of. In some places they have been partially lost or destroyed; those * lmisquitoes of litera ture,’ as Irving happily called autograph hunters, having slashed at dispatches and letters without scruple to fill their collec tions. Few of the Consuls have auy com mercial experience, or speak the langnage of the country where they are sent. This we knew pretty well before, from general hearsay, it being notorious that Consul* are usually scut abroad in reward for polit ical services at home, without the slightest regard for their fitness in any respect for their duties. The revenue agents, or su pervisors', whose proper business it is to look after and post up the Consuls, are about all of the same class we are familiar with this side of the water, having a sharp -eye ont for seizures and divisions of spoils, doing little to prevent fraud, and making themselves as odious as possible to Consuls and to the public. The almost universal practice of overcharging official fees, in de fiance of the most stringent laws, which thousands of fleeced Americans have en dured in silence, rather than make a fuss about it and provoke unpleasant collisions with revengeful officials, is bared and se verely rebuked. The prevalent Ignorance of Consuls about the agencies attached to their offices, aud the abuses of official trust of which some of them have been gnllty in recommending and creating such agencies, are also dwelt upon.” Reading this report makes it clear why Consular offices, that pay so little, nomi nally, are so ravenously sought for by poli ticians. Especial mention is made of the queer state of things in which the Bor deaux Consulate was left by Mr. Clinch’s predecessor, and of some odd occurrences at the Paris post, under two of the late in cumbents. Plain Talk in the Pijlpit—Radical Administration Arraigned.—The Craw fordsville Review says that ou last Sunday morning the Rev. Samuel Godfrey, of this city, who heretofore has supported the Radical party, preached an eloquent ser moo to a large and attentive audience, in the Methodist church, In Crawfordsville. In the course of the services he offered up the following prayer, which we commend to a careful reading by those of our fellow citizens who, In former elections, have been Indued, by false promises and dema gogical appeals to their passions and pre judices, to help place In power line most corrupt and Infamous administration that ever carted s nation t Prayor,** O, Lord ! Thou knowest that the leading men of our nation, and those occupying the highest public |«o»Hlous, arc thieves and roblwrs, plunderers and mur derers, drunkards sod debauchee#; that we havs too many Ifsrtaus and too many liuschsrn, O, l/ord, [//e/uyetle (ln4) PitpUeh, lUh,
