Weekly Atlanta intelligencer. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1865-18??, December 27, 1865, Image 1

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Newspaper Page Text■ “ERROR CEASES TO BE DANGEROUS WEffiN REASON IS LEFT FREE TO COMBAT IT-”—Jefferson. VOLUME 8. ATLANTA, GA., WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 27,1865. NUMBER 21. liMti) Inteltigmrer. PUBLISHED DAILY AND WEEKLY BY JABED I. WHITAKER, Proprietor. JOHN H.1TEKLE, - - - - - Editor. ATLANTA, GEORGIA, Wednesday, December 27, 1805. Southern Restoration. Georgia, no one will have the temerity to deny it, ha* thus far done all in her power to promote the great work of Southern restoration, fashioned and proposed to her aud to her Southern sister States by President Johnson. What the Con vention was required to do was done, and what the Legislature was required to enact has lieen, or assurances given will lie, enacted, ere its final adjournment. This is emphatically the will of her people—that all which will promote her res toration to the Union at as early a day as possi ble must be done by the General Assembly, save what would involve loss ot honor and consequent degradation. We do not believe that any of the requirements made by the President, as far as they have lieen known, when acceded to by the General Assembly will tarnish the honor of the State or of her people. Andrew Johnson does not mean to degrade Georgia or any Southern State. On the contrary, Andrew Johnson, the President, as w'ell as the man, has nobly inter posed, and magnanimously upheld the Southern States when, had he yielded to the clamors or threats of her political foes, they would become conquered provinces and their people the most degraded ot any in the civilized world. Thus fur, says a cotemporary, the President’s “course luis been deliberately adopted, cautiously pur sued, and frankly expressed. He cannot be in duced to change it. The Radieul majority can neither make him their dupe, nor drive him from hi3 purpose. Fie is master of the situation. As the commander-in-chief of the army and navy, he can, at any moment, remove the military. In virtue of his office, he can, by the exercise of the veto power, prevent the consummation of all schemes originating in Congress to furtlier harass, humiliate, and oppress us. Our Representatives may be excluded from the National Legislature— he cannot control that; but he can remove the garrisons, grunt a general amnesty, restore the writ of habeas corpus, relieve us from martial law, * * * and negro suftrage cannot be forced upon us without his approval.” Yes, Andrew Johnson can do all this, and will, when it becomes necessary, do it all, to insure a restor ation of the Union. In this, he will not suffer himself to be defeated, though the work may be delayed. Give him time, and if Georgia and her sister States of the South place no obstacle in his way, the work of restoration will be most surely accomplished. Neither passion, nor prejudice, nor individual ambition, must stand in the way of this accomplishment. When our State Leg islature again convenes, we trust it will sutler no small issues to interi>ose wit It the great—the all absorbing work of Georgia’s restoration to all her civil rights. Titus fur our General A sembly has done well. She will do more we feel confi dent-do all that may ite required to uphold the arms of him who in the Presidential chair, stead ily, firmly, resists the mighty efforts of an 6ppo- aitiou to hi. policy which, were it to prove suc cessful, would be crushing to every interest left existing in our State and iu the whole South.— We say it to our readers—to the whole people of Georgia—if you would have restoration; if you would be relieved from martial law; if you would have the negro troops removed from your several localities; if you would have law aud'or- der aud cjvil governmeut to resume their sway in the State; confide in,-and sustain the President. Throw no obstacle in his way. Let neither the advancement of individuals, nor regrets for the past, be in the way of the great work of S,oufH- erk Restoration. The following account of a dreadful acci dent which recently occurred at Mobile, by which three young ladies were drowned, one lover per ished in rescuing hi9 betrothed, in consequence of which the street committee were indicted for murder, we find in a late copy of the Mobile Times, and trust that it will be of service, by w T ay ot caution, to the ladies of this city, and to all lovers who have to perambulate the streets of At lanta in their present muddy condition, as well as to our street committee whom we would save from indictment: A most heart-rending casualty happened yes terday. Three beautifhl young ladies, (twins, by the by,) in attempting to cross Royal street from Tucker’s drug store to Titcomb’s literary depot, fell into one of the numerous mud-holes which the street committee have provided in the center of Royal street for the convenience of the Por cine family, and suddenly disappeared. A young and chivalric ex-Lieuteuant ot the Mobile Cadets who was standing at Lazzo’s comer, recognizing the youngest of mem as one of the twelve to whom lie wa9 engaged, rushed to their rescue; but, before assistance could be procured, be, too, sunk forever out of sight. It is impossible to describe the excitement that followed. Dr. Tucker rushed out with a dark lantern, a rope ladder and three quarts spirits of Hart’s Horn, when Capt. Tttcomb came out fran tically raising in the air the last edition of Maca- ria, which has been known to work wonders in restoring people to a proper sense of moral duty and a due appreciation of the difficulties of life. But, alas! both foiled to reach the unfortunate victims of municipal recklessness! A few hours afterwards, through the heroic ef forts of the Exempt Fire Company, the bodies were exhumed ana an inquest held, when the following verdict was given: “We, the jurors, find that the deceased are dead—very dead—and that they came to their death through the instrumentality of the Street Committee of the City Council of Mobile, and we, the jurors, further find that one “City Char ter,” an incorporated institution of Alabama, is an aider and abettor of said Street Committee, and that both are guilty of murder in the first degree.” A touching incident was related by one of the deceased young ladies. As she reached the bot tom, she found a United States teamster, with his wagon and mules, who had been sunk in the same hole for nearly six weeks, tin fact, since the last rain,) who, with tears in his eyes, (in which demonstration of grief the mules Joined,) begged her, in case of escape, to ask the cab drivers not to ride so foot over Royal street, as this disturbed his eternal re it; but, sad to relate, the young lady did not survive to teU the tale! We place these facts, without comment, before the public and our new Council. The Coming Christmas. The Chronicle <k Sentinel, of Augusta, relates an incident of a burly negro who, having com mitted some misdemeanor, drew a “six-shooter 1 upon an officer who was by and attempted to ar- rest him. A young man near, it is stated, view ing the situation, flanked the negro, and having succeeded in wrenching the pistol from his grasp, the fellow turned, and shaking his fist at the young man, remarked he would “pay him for to doing at Christmas." Commenting upon this re mark, that paper says: “This may have only been a bravado threat It may have been a threat which had some meaning in it. Taking the ex isting state of affairs into consideration, perhaps it would l»e well to accept the latter interpreta tion and be prepared.” The foregoing incident is one only ot many similar threatening references made to Christmas, by negro freedmen, that have been reported in different sections of our State. We incline to the opinion that most of them are mere bravado threats. And yet it would be folly to pass them by as such, and remain unprepared to check any and all attempts that may be made to commit violence or outrage of any description, either during Christmas holidays, or thereafter at any time. The numerous robberies and murders re ported as being almost daily committed in every city in the State, admonish us that there are large numbers of lawless and desperate men, ltoth white and black, who devote their time to plunder, and who do not hesitate a moment to sacrifice life in pursuit thereof. The Christmas holidays now so near at hand, will witness what has never before transpired in tills State. Then we shall see thousands of negroes turned loose as freedmen and freedwomcn, with no homes, and no disposition to secure homes, to idle away their time, to fr olic and to riot, and perhaps to steal. It is the nature of the negro race to be self-indulgent, and to be extravagant and reckless in it. They are easily persuaded to do wrong, to commit outrage and violence; aud there are bad white men enough in every city in the State, who will, iu order to profit thereby, encourage them to do so. Hence let every community in the State be prepared at once to check violence of any description should it show itself, and to maintain law and order.— Upon the United States military forces' in our State and the police authorities, great res ponsibility will devolve in maintaining the lat ter. We are satisfied that in this city, this will be effectually done. That it will be so through out all Georgia we think it highly probable. The bad white and the vicious black men, must be made to know and feel that they will be severely dealt with, if they make the slightest attempt to disturb the public peace during the approaching holidays, and that where violence is attempted, the result will be fearful with them. Pstssing trout these allusions to the conduct of the freedmen during the Christmas holidays, and the rumored threats relating thereto, we will here observe that iu a written communication, ad dressed to us by an influential freedman in our city, a disclaimer has been made in behalf of a society of freedmen in our midst, of any attempt tp promote strife or contention, between the whites and the blacks now or at any future period. Ac cording to the statement made to us, the society referred to, is a purely benevolent one, having for its object the amelioration of the condition of their suffering and needy race in this city. This is praiseworthy, and should not create any alarm. But for all this, we trust that both our military and civil authorities will be vigilant and prepared also to suppress any attempt at violence, as well as to maintain during the festive season law and order, quiet and peace. Restoration.—In connection with what we wrote on yesterday concerning the restoration of the Southern States to Ute Union, ere the ad journment of the Congress now in session, we call the attention of our readers to the follow ing. which we notice in the official organ of the Government at Washington City, the National Intelligencer. That paper says “It is plain that the time approaches when President Johnson will be justified, by his own view of the situation, in issuing a proclamation declaring that the States lately in arms agninat the General Government are entitled to represen tatives in Congress; and deem it not improbable that before the close of the coming session we shall witness a complete restoration of the Union in all its political and financial integrity and power.” “So mote it be!” The Mexican ladies don’t wear bopncis. They throw pretty mantillas. over their heads. Our ladies don’t wear bonnets much, at present Appropriate and 'Well-Timed. The following preamble and resolution, adopted by the General Assembly of Georgia on the la9t day of its recent session, were intro duced in the Senate by the Hon. Lewis H. Kenan, of Milledgeville, who represents the twentieth Senatorial district of the State. Their introduction was appropriate and well-timed— considerate in the gentleman who introduced them, who felt, we are certain, that the senti ments embraced therein ought to be made known to President Johnson, and spread upon the jour nals of the General Assembly: Whereas, it is one of the privileges, if not duties, of the General Assembly, convened under circumstances so peculiarly interestiug and im portant to the future of Georgia and her people, now that it is about to adjourn over its session for a brief period, not to do so until it shall have given some expression of its high appreciation of the President of the United States, through whose justice and magnanimity, and through whose regard for the Constitutional rights of the States, civil government has again been put in motion at the capital of this State: Therefore Be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Rep resentatives of the State of Georgia in General Assembly met, That in Andrew Johnson, the Chief Magistrate of the American Republic, Georgia in her recent past, while yielding to a power she could not successfully resist, and in her present condition moving onward in the work of reconstruction, has felt his sustaining arm, and will ever be grateful for the generous clem ency extended by him towards her people, the magnanimity displayed towards them, and the determined will that says to a still hostile faction of her recent foes: “ Thus far shalt thou go and no farther. Peace, be still.” Personal and Judicial.—To our young friend, Col. W. H. Hulsey, who is a candidate for the office of Solicitor General in this judicial district, and who has been actively canvassing it for a few weeks past to further his election, we are indebted for some interesting information concerning the condition of the freedmen in the adjacent counties. As elsewhere, the freedman in this judicial district appears to be in doubt as to his existing status, and seems inclined to delay entering into contracts for laltor the coming year. With but few exceptions, and these among the viciously disposed, they seem well- disposed and accept the situation as it is and must be. But few of the intelligent among them ignore the great truth that they must labor for their bread. Those who do so now, or may do so in the future, had better remember that law will prevail, and we do not know, among all the candidates for Solicitor General in this judicial district, any one, among those who may be elected, that will be more vigilant in the prose cution of evil-doers, and in enforcing the law against pauperism,thant^urfriend,Col. Hulsey, whose election, with due regard to the claims of his opponents, we honestly confess we favor.— We have long known Colonel H., and have had much pleasing social intercourse with him, and, intending no disrespect to, or disregard of the claims of his gentlemanly opponents, cannot help favoring liis election to the Solicitorship of this judicial district Colonel Roberts, the rival President of the Fenian Brotherhood, has issued an inaugural ad dress, declaring that it is criminal Bo wake time in idle discussion; that action must be the order of the day, and that the Brotherhood must make their mark on another field than those they have heretofore battled on. “England,” he says, “must meet privateers on every ocean and Irish foes in every clime.” A correspondent of the Nashville Gazette is advocating the building of the Knoxville and Nashville Railroad, and suggests the calling of a public meeting at no distant day at Nashville, to put the ball in motion. We believe there is now in existence a charter for the proposed road. Obstacles to Reconstruction. Raymond, of the New York 2¥m«rcomment- ing upon the obstacles to reconstruction—one of which is the demand made by the radicals of his , party for the establishment of negro suffrage— says “those who find fault with the President for j not undertaking, under the war power, to secure to the freedmen the franchise, which is purely a political possession, talk without regard to law or reason. The only power which Congress lias upon this matter of securing freedmen suffrage is the power of proposing an amendment to the Constitution to that end. We doubt whether j there is a member, in either branch, visionary enough to imagine it to be possible to obtain the ratification of any such amendment by three- fourths of the States. Not one of the late Slave States would ratify it of their own accord, nor woqjd one-quarter of (lie otjier States, for the simple reason that more than 'three-fourths of them exclude colored men from their own ballot boxes, and it would be monstrously unjust for such States to compel the Southern States to an electoral system they themselves are unwilling to adopt. If the Northern negro, who baa always been free, and had opportunities for mental im provement, ia deemed unfit to vote by the North ern States, they are in no position to insist that' the Southern negro, whose faculties have been kept dwarfed and benighted by life-long slavery, shall be admitted to the Southern polls. The abstract question whether the black man ought to be allowed to vote has nothing to do with the case. The point is, that until we of the North establish that suffrage for ourselves, we lmve no right to force it upon others. The divine apo thegm, “Physician, heal thyself,” would con found us the very instant we should undertake to deal with a constitutional amendment on this subject, relating to the late insurrectionary States. There is no way but to leave this matter where the Constitution left it, to the discretion of each individual State. No action by Congress upon the subject of freedmen suffrage can have any practical result. All talk about it ia unwarrant able, because it is morally certain that nothing substantial can come from it, and it is only cal culated to delay reconstruction unnecessarily.” These are sensible views, and "flowing from the source they do, ought to impress the radicals with their soundness. The question of negro suffrage must be left where the Constitution leaves the general question of franchise, with the States themselves, each one determining for itself to whom it shall, or shall not extend. Congress has nothing at all to do with it, nor has the Presi dent. It is only through an amendment of the Constitution that it can assume to control the question. And as no amendment of that instru ment can be made, save through its ratification by three fourths of the States, and as this cannot be secured, all talk about it is unwarrantable and mischievous. It may keep up a party for a time, but it can dp no more, and that party will sink under the weight of the load it will have to bear in advocating a policy which reason and com mon sense alike ignores. [*r EXQCXST.j BuM m€ 31mm. By Nebo’s lonely .mountain. On this side JoadanV ware. In a rale in the Mad of Meab, There iieth a betel j grave: And no man dugjhat sepulchre. And no man en w It e'er. For the angels of UJod upturned the sod And laid the dAd man there. This was the gnrtdeat funeral That ever passed on earth. Bat no man neam the trampling Or saw the trait so forth. Silently as the daylight . Comes when the night is done, And tbe criinso^streak on ocean’s cheek Glows into tltf^rcac red ann— Silently as the ajFing time Its crown of verdure weaves. And all the ireevju all the hills Open their thousand leaves— So, without souui of music Or voice of him that wept. Silently down ftym the mountain’s crown The great procession swept. Perchance the htiid old eagle., On dark Bethpuor’s height. Down, from his rocky eyne. Looked on the-wondrons sight: Perchance the lifta stalking Avoids the sadfcd spot— For beast and bird have seen and heard That which knoweth not. 'But when the rior dieth, His comrades ^n the war, With arm&ruxt-fe-d and muffled dram, Follow foe faucial car ; They show his b .liners taken, They teU hi^iSStlero’er, And after hi', •. his masterless steed, While peals tt^nninute gun. Amid the nobb's^t.t the lend Men lay the wur to rest, ' ’ ’ baHai ' Aud give the bad an honored place With costly ni'irbles dressed; In the great min ter transept, Where lights Vice glories fall, And the sweet tlioir sings and the organ riners Along the emWazoned wall. This was the bsacest warrior That ever bnekied sword— This was the mnfct gifted poet That ever breapied g word; And never earth's philosopher Traced with hi: golden pen. On the deathlest page, truth half so sage As he wrote d«wn for men. And had he not f.igh honor, The hill-side i$r his pall. To lie in state, uhile angels wait With stars for/japers tall— And the dark rodk-pines like tossing plumes Over his bier t> wave, And God’s own {And in that lonely land To lay him in the grave ? -PL Whence his lujcoffined clay, tfroua thought !- Shall break again—oh, worn. Before the judgment day; And stand in glqry wrapt around On the hills henever trod, And speak of thh strife that won oar life With the incalsate Son of God. Oh ! lonely torn! in Moab’s land, Oh! dark BetXpeor’a hill, Speak to these carious hearts of ours And teach thejii to be still. God hath His mysteries of grace, Thoughts that we cannot tell, And He hides them deep like the secret sleep Of him He loVed so well. Broken National Banks.—A correspondent ol the Cincinnati Gazette writing from Washing ton City, relates the following incident: “Governor” Perry,' of South Carolina, tele graphed Postmaster-General Dennison to-day, saying, “We have a report herein the Charleston Courier, that quite a number of the National Banks have broken. We have no other currency here. What shall we do about it ?” Governor Dennison sent the dispatch to the United States Treasurer, asking what answer he should give. “Tell Governor Perry,” responded the Treasurer, who always says a thing vigorously, when he says it at all, “that the notes of a broken United States bank are a d—d sight better and more val uable than those ot a solvent one!” Profane and paradoxical but true, though, as the same correspondent says, “it may seem strange to many Northern men as it must to Governor Perry.” Whoever remembers, he continues, that that there are locked up in the Treasury, Gov ernment bonds for every dollar of National Bank circulation, and that whenever a bank fails, the Treasurer is bound to sell these bonds to redeem its notes, will appreciate the curt statement that the issues of a broken bank are more valuable than those of a solvent one. Thus, for illustra tion, he states, the National Bank of Attica failed six months ago; but to this day only seven of its notes have been presented for redemption! Prac tically its whole circulation is outstanding—the notes of the broken bank circulating as well, and being as good as those of any other. Whoever holds one of those broken notes holds, not the pledge to pay of the Bank of Attica, but of the Government of the United States. Till it fails, the notes are good. The Kentucky Expatriation Law.—The Nashville Gazette, referring to the repeal of the expatriation law by the Legislature of Kentucky, suggests that, during the recess of the -General Assembly of Tennessee, the members thereof, together with Governor Brownlow aud the Sec retary of State at their head, proceed to make a pilgrimage to Frankfort, as a few days sport among the generous Kentuckians might cause them to imbibe, in addition to good Bourbon, some sentiments of justice, generosity and patri otism. The advice is good, and we trust will be followed by the half-civilized barbarians to whom it is tendered. Commenting, too, upon the repeal of this ex patriation law, the Louisville Journal says: We congratulate these generous men, whose noble impulses and fearless hearts prompted them to spring to arms to defend their Southern brethren in their day of trial, upon the action of the Legislature. It is a record and a testimony which will stand through all time to come, that the motives which prompted them to take up arms against tbe Government were understood and appreciated; and that they were not, in so doing, guilty of a crime deserving pains and pen alties, or of treason, which deserved the gallows. And when the history of that bloody but ili-fated struggle shall be read, in after days, it will also •be related that within six months" after the ter mination of hostilities, and before peace had been officially declared, the Legislature declared that all were worthy of citizenship and restored to them their civil rights. And this will be their vindication and exemption from reproach. mow Stephens, the Fenian Head Center, -Kactped. The London cot Respondent of the New York News says: ■HIE ESCAPE. Such was the position of affairs up to Thurs day night last. At eight o’clock on Thursday evening the corrkkTin which Stephens slept was securely locked, the cell door was, of course, kept locked, except during the hour allowed for exercise. This corridor forms the upper story of one wing of an L Shaped building; it is about thirty yards long, and is divided from its contin uation in the otheff wing by a heavy, solid iron door, which was kept securely locked. At the wrong side of thra door, through which they could not even see the prisoner’s cell door, the three policemen M-ere stationed. At the other end of the corrichy is a massive iron door, with a huge cumbersonfts lock, opening directly on the lobby of a stone ' :t»ircase, by descending four flights of which jriu reach the ground. The .floor of rim ro!l.iii|U**k-h Stephens slept is cased with iron; the key-hole is on the outside, the inner side being a complete blank. The door is secured by a huge swing bar, fastened by a pad lock of about eighteen inches in circumference. At ten o’clock on Thursday night the keys of the cell and corridor doors, with many others', were deposited in the case provided for the pur pose, in the Governor’s room. The night was wild and stormy, the rain poured down in tor rents, and a fierce gale howled and whistled around the labrynth of dimly-lit buildings that stand within the halls of old Richmond. The night passed drearily along, and the prison au thorities slept on in full security till about four o’clock in the morning, when Denis Byrne, the watchman for the night, whose duty it was to patrol the outer yards and passages about the prison, startled Mr. Fhilpots, the deputy Governor, out of his sleep with the informa tion that he had just discovered two tables piled against the boundary wall of the prison.— An alarm w as instantly sounded - the whole force of turnkeys, warders, etc., were at once as sembled. Headed by the governor, a number of them rushed to Stephens’ cell (for the “captain” was first thought of,) and lo! liis cell was empty; the door was wide open, the padlock lying on the ground, together with the false key to which it had yielded; the cell door leading out on the stairs stood also open. Between i liis point and the spot where the tables were found, there are no less than twelve doors, two of which are al ways kept locked at night. One of the doors which should have lieen open was found locked; of the ten doors which should have been locked, nine were found open; the tenth, a* heavy solid iron door, w r as found locked from the outside, and the false key which opened it was found in the key-hole. It was seen at a glance that Ste phens, the only person missing, had been guided by some one thoroughly acquainted with the de vious windings of the prison; no one else could have led him through the intricate by-ways, yards and unfrequented passages - through which he had passed. In order to open all the doors through which Stephens had escaped, four keys only were necessary—a key for tire cell door, two latch-keys for the outer doors, and a “pass-key” which opens some forty doors within the prison, including the door at the head of the stair-case leading from Stephens’ corridor, and eight others on his route to the boundary wall. The tables mentioned were placed one on top of the other, at a point about fifty yards distant from the room out of which they had been. taken. They are thick, heavy deal tables, twenty feet by three, and were used as dining tables for the lunatic prisoners. From Washington. From, special- telegrams contained in the Ma con Telegraph, we find the following: A message was received from the President in relation to the condition of affairs at the Sonth, which says -. “From all the information in my possession, and from that which I have recently derived from the most reliable ahthority, I am induced to cherish the belief that sectional Animosity is surely and rapidly merging itself into a spirit of nationality, and that representation, connected with a properly adjusted system of taxation, will result in the harmonious restoration of the States to the National Union.” The President also furnishes a communication from General Grant, in which that officer says .- “I had free conversation with the people of the South during my recent tour, and I am satisfied that the people have acceped the present situa tion of amirs in good faith.” Gen. Grant also says: “There is an unusual acquiescence in the authority of theTCeneral Go vernment throughout the country that I visited, and themere presence of a military force, with out regard to numbers, is sufficient to maintain order, and the good of the country requires that the force should be white troops.”" Matters in Texas.—Accounts respecting the condition of things in Texas, do not agree in all respects. A correspondent of the Milwaukee News says: I was greatly surprised when I arrived in Texas to find such a rush of people emigrating to that State, many with large stocks ot goods. Eveiy thing appears in a flourishing condition there, and a great deal of cotton and wool chan ging hands, and payments made in gold, and silver. Greenbacks are scarce and below par some distance. Lands and improved farms, how ever, I am informed, are selling for almost no thing, and places which would have brought be fore the war $20,000 to $25,000, are now offered for $2,000 to $3,000 with few buyers. The par ties selling or offering to sell are making arran gements to change their business, and are flocking to the cities to go into merchandising and other business. Tbe labor system appears to be at the bottom of the difficulties with the planters, and most of them talked very despondingly, and still very many, by their plans and efforte for the future, appear hopeful. Several of the largest planters in Texas, while I was there, offered to give one-half of the cotton in the field to those who would gather it, and for the next season, would furnish what land any one, or more might wish, well stocked with teams and farming implements of every kind, and alto furnish all the provisions, and" that in abundance, to those who would work and receive one-half of the products of all that would be raised for their la bor. Several of the very wealthiest planters have gone North to see what arrangements they can make with white men who labor for a living. Dr. Gwin, who was arrested some time sin<*» mi his return from Mexico to the United States, is confined at Fort Jackson, below New Orleans. A letter from Lexington, Va., has the follow ing items: “Gen. Lee may be seen every day qui etly walking to bis duties at the college, or taking an evening ride bn his famous iron gray. He has been boarding at the hotel, but boa house is now being fitted op in suitable style for Hie reception of his family. In sad contrast with the fitting up of Gen. Lee’s house, is an advertisement Usee posted on the street, offering for sale toe-house hold and kitchen furniture of Gen. (Stonewall) Jackson. Ex-Gftv. Letcher may be daily seen on our streets, quietly smoking his pipe and talking with his friends and neighbors.” From the Mobile Advertiser & Register. Our New Orleans Correspondence. New Orleans, Dec. 12,1865. Some time ago I commented upon the mo nopoly system in our markets, and condemned the city ordinances that prohibited the sale of vege tables, poultry and game in tbe streets. This law has since been repealed and the best of re sults have followed. Families living in the su burbs or at some distance from the markets can now get a supply of vegetables fresh from the gardens at their own doors, chickens, ducks and game have become cheap and abundant. Not having market rents to pay, these street venders can afford to sell under the usual rates, aud in consequence prices are considerably lowered. Best of all results that will follow this step is the encouragement it will give the owners of small farms and huckstergardencrs to bring their pro duce to the city. Hitherto our butchered vege table men have been arbritrary in their selling rates, and have charged quite one hundred per cent, more than they should have asked. This act of the City Council will compel them to be reasonable. General Winfield Scott has at length arrived, and is now stopping at the St. Charles. It is said that his health has visibly improved since leaving the North, and that the Southern climate proves favorable to his constitution. During the war quite the reverse was true. The hero of Lundy’s Lane comes attended only by Iris physi cians, and intends to spend the winter in New Orleans. We have another day of the same detestable drizzle we had Friday, Saturday and Sunday, al though there is a little improvement this morn ing. Now and then the heavy mist breaks away and the sun shines through it, and occasionally comes lip a heavy shower while the sky ik dark ened by heavy clouds. About half the time I have to work by gaslight. Such continued wet weather makes everything very damp, and even the fine paper upon which I am writing shows the moisture pervades everything, even within doors. The levees are in a "shocking condition this morning, and the trade in Western produce is at a stand-still. Some lots of corn just landed have been well soaked. Cotton shows some im provement this morning, notwithstanding the rain, and there is an unusual amount of inquiry. During the morning, however, few sales were completed, and buyers were making an effort to purchase at yesterday’s rates—that is, 4ft to 47 for middling. Factors were not disposed to sell at that low figure, and after 12 o’clock buyers were taking lots at the market'rate. The quota tions are 38 to 40 for ordinary; 43 to 44 for good ordinary; 45 to 46 for low middling; 48 to 49 for middling. Strict middling is quoted at 50 to 51 cents. The New York dispatches are very conflicting, and a general feeling of uncertainty is apparent. The gold market is a trifle firmer. ’It is given at 146 a 146J to Information has just,.been received of toe ex plosion of the steamer De Soto while on her way to Pascagoula. As the news probably reached your city before it came here, I merely mention the fact. The fair for the benefit of orphans is still Open at the Mechanic’s Institute, and attracts a large crowd nightly. Iu fr ont of the building a brass band discourses excellent music, and in the mud and rain a crowd of people can be seen walking up and down the pavement or standing in the wet, listening to the delicious strains. The band was complimented last night by an audience of over two hundred persons, A remarhable work of art is on exhibition at Wagner’s music store, on Camp street. It is a medalion portrait of Adelina Patti, executed en tirely by a steel pen. At a distance of three feet it looks like a steel engraving, and even upon close examination the accuracy of its execution is astonishing. This picture was executed by Mr. R. B. Montgomery, of Soule’s Commercial College. A grave hoax was perpetrated upon our peo ple one day last week, which proved more seri ous in its consequences than the author imagined. An announcement appeared in one of the papers that Anthony Jemandez, the historic drummer boy of Chalmette, and leading negro-worship per here, had died, and that the ftmeral service would take place that evening from his late resi dence. At the hour named Mr. Jemandez was to address a Radical meeting. The hoax was quite successful, and a number of persons assembled at the residence of the deceased to pay him tlje last honors. The rascals who got up this hoax deserve a good thrashing. Death is too serious a matter to be trifled with. I remember to have heard a story in my boyhood of a similar joke played upon a young man in the North of Eng land. The published notice was handed to his loving mother, who, before an explanation could be given, exclaimed, “O, my poor boy!” and dropped dead upon the floor. The sudden shock killed her. Notwithstanding his political faith, Mr. Jemandez has many friends to whom such an announcement must have given untold mis- erv. Evelyn. It is understood that Adjntsnt Gen. Thomas will soon retire from the army. Gen. Townsend will probably succeed him. A Fourfold Murder—Lynch Law in Noxu bee. In the annals of crime we do not think there can be found any more atrocious, than the one we are called upon to chronicle this week. It exceeds in enormity the wildest action, and we blush to think that there has lived in this com munity such'a fiend incarnate. Mr.'T. K. Thompson, an old aud respectable gentleman, living near Brooksville, in this county, in connection witli his son, Jas. T. Thompson, was building a raft on the Tombigbee river, Jo boat their cotton to Mobile. Mr. T., having reason to believe that his son was not acting fairly with him in regard to the cotton, had an attachment issued against it, which was sewed bv the Sheriff of Pickens county, Alabama. This occurred last Saturday. His son became enraged, and believing the family, who were his step-mother and halt-sisters, had prevailed upon their father to take this step, he left the bank of the river the same night with as fell a purpose as ever fired the breast of a demon. Taking the road to Brooksville, he reached home about day light Sunday morning, and perpetrated there the deed the foulest under heaven. He proceeded directly to his mother’s rooju, and killed her with a double-barrel-shot gun, the load lacerating her side; his oldest sister, Margaret Thompson, in the same room, received a similar wound, at his hands, with the like fatal result. Emma and Jemima Thompson, two other sisters, sleeping in the apartment above their mother’s locked their room door when they heard flic* firing below, but the murderer forced it and shot Emma, one ball passing through the side and breast, one grazing the side and two entering the thighs. He supposed he had killed her, but she still lives to testify against her brother, and will proably recover "from her wounds. The other sister ran out and down stairs, but he overtook her at the dining-room door, and shot her while she was on her knees begging tor mercy. Then running back he met Clay Thompson, his half brother, on the staircase landing, shoved him back into his room and killed him, three balls entering the back of tlte head and lodging under the skin in the forehead, and two passing through the hand. With his hands imbrued in the blood of his mother, sisters and brother, he left the house his sanguinary thirst not yet satisfied. He mounted his horse, armed with his gun and pistols, and went at full speed back towards the river. The negroes went into Brooksville, gave the alarm, and parties were immediately organized by Capt. Jos. Dixon, and sent in pursuit. On the way, one party, who was following the road Janies Thompson had taken, met Dr. Joseph .Thomp son, who asserted that he had not met Iris brother James. Dr. Thompson, and his brother-in-law, Norris, had been at tbe river, assisting in guar ding the cotton. Proceeding, the party soon met old Mr. Thompson riding in a buggy with Norris, the former having been shot through the fore-arm and hand. James Thompson had waylaid his father, with the intention of murdering him. Coming up behind his lather lie snapped both barrels of his gun at his back. The old man wheeled around, and the son drew a pistol and shot his father in the hand and fore-arm. The father threw down the son, notwithstanding his wounds, and some persons hearing the cries of the old man, ran to his assistance, and the mur derer was overpowered and secured. The priso ner was brought to Brooksville, where the public mind, by this time, was very much excited, and we do not wonder, though we regret it, as great as was his crime, that he was hung Monday marning by the citizens. The law is supreme and in all cases should take its course. Dr. Joseph Thompson and Norris, have been committed to jail as accessaries to this great crime There is manifested everywhere the deepest sympathy for Mr. Thompson and his surviving daughter. The Hon. Thomas Corwin.—This gentleman, a telegraphic dispatch from Washington City states, died in that city at 2$ o’clock on the af ternoon of the 18th instant. From the National Intelligencer. There are current reports of party understand ings to the effect that the existing Congressional arrangement (a joint committee) for the cases of persons returned as Senators or Represent* tiyes from the late Confederate or rebel States is to' procrastinate'such cases by the various expe dients known to partisan chicane, imtil represen tatives and people alike of the South shall lose all heart and hope. Wishing and hoping for the best in regard to what remains of reconstruction, namely, the re presentation of the South in Congress, we would banish the apprehensions aroused by the report referred to; but it cannot he overlooked that Mr. Dixon’s proposition, to tlte effect that the exist ing arrangement did not preclude the right of cither the Senate or House to judge of toe quali fications of members, was voted down. More than this: We were apprehenstve of a malign influence in this regard by^an article in toe or gan of the present disuuionists, which appeared in advance of the final action of the Senate. We quote: “If the people of the South note the signs of the times with even ordinary shrewdness, they will perceive that men who seek to obtain ad mission into the nation’s councils, and boldly defy the test-oath taken by every member of the last Congress, with one or two exceptions, and by all wh» were chosen to the present Congress, have not the slightest prospect of being received.” On the day following the Chronicle again said that a “general movement was being made to re peal the test-oatli,” and also said that “the oath will necessarily be modified and finally be wholly abrogated; but that it should be changed now, or in any case amended to admit leaders like these [‘those who fought against the Republic arid who assisted by c’oimsel or by personal influence tbe traitors wiho led the rebellion’] is not to be class ed among the probabilities.” Tlte Intelligencer has heretofore admitted the power of Congress to refuse recognizing as a member any one whose case was of a very gross and infamous character. It had not been sup posed that such persons as a general rule would be returned. Nor have they. Long before the New York Times reached its present advanced and honorable position in support of the policy of the President, it advocated the repeal of the test-oath at an early day of the session, with a view, doubtless, to meet the cases of most per sons who would come up here from the South as representatives. On the day before yesterday, that journal spoke as follows: “The future allegiance of the late traitors who have been pardoned by the President may be as securely relied upon as that of any class of peo ple in the South. There is no reason to doubt that they have taken the oath of allegiance in ab solute good faith. They can have no motive to break it. Nobody believes a renewal of rebellion possible. It is not fit that these Representatives and Senators elect should be excluded from the halls of national legislation merely as a punish ment. If it is. best to punish them, it should be done with the regular pains and penalties of the law, visited upon their property and persons.— There is no such independent punishment known to the statute-book as exclusion from places of public trust. That exclusion is only incidental to some high penal conviction. The test-oath was originally intended to be simply protective, not at all punatory. It is no longer necessary for protective purposes, because there is no longer treason, either actual or potential. Yet we res pect that feeling which shrinks from giving the exalted scats of the National Capitol to men so lately covered from crown to sole with treason, even though they now show nothing but loyalty. But ought that feeling to be indulged at the ex pense of the bast interests of the country, wbich imperiously call for an early reconstruction ? Is there any dignity involved in the case which would justify the continuance of this suspension of the representative principle, which is the very vital essence of our civil system? We trust that Congress will judge this matter as dispassionate ly and as liberally as possible. The President, in doing his part toward reconstruction, has deemed it wise to practise great magnanimity. The re sults therefore have fully justified his policy.— Congress has but to deal with the subject in the same spirit to complete the work soon, and res tore the Republic to all its harmonious and glo rious workings.” On this point the Cleveland Herald speaks as follows: “It is a common tiling, when an office of trust in a Southern State lies between a late rebel of ficer and a man who has not actually borne arms against the Government, for loyal sympathy to go almost involuntarily with the man who stay ed at home in the war. We venture the asser tion that there are no grounds for this. Leading a rebellion and commanding its armies are very different tilings. One office belongs to the politician, the other to the soldier. One stays at home and nurses his “wrath to keep it warm the other takes his grievances in his hand and goes out to tiie final arbitrament; and when, his adversaries 1 prove their doctrine orthodox By apostolic blows and knocks,’ lie will generally accept the decision as final.— All this, we think, will apply to the rebel sol diers, and it follows that the men least likely to return in good faith to their allegiance are South ern political managers, who did not go into the army. The rebel armies were not Jed by the men who were prominent in inaugurating rebel lion. Lee, Jackson, the Johnston’s Bragg, Hood, Beauregard, Cheatham, the Hills, Ewell, Cle burne, Longstreet, and others, were known in civil life before the war; while Breckinridge, the only exception worth}’ of note, barely maintain ed respectability as division commander. These are not the stiffnecked men of the South who clamor of their new-born loyalty before the President, and evince by their acts at home a determination to be as disloyal as is safe. Most of the officers named, and others of less note, whg have not died or left the countiy, have quietly engaged in private business or are living in retirement. “It was the instigators of rebellion—the men who first ‘fired the Southern heart,’ and then managed at home the affairs ot the contest—that put all the hatred and bitterness into tbe war.— The foolish boast of ‘dying in the last ditch’ did not originate, am* was -never current with sol diers who had seen a battle; it was the boast of men who were never iu any ditch, and had no op portunity of witnessing the letting of blood. Ha tred of the Yankees was a thing that could not be transferred to the army, for, except in the frenzy of the fight, the disposition of the men of the two armies to fraternize was such as to re quire constant watchfulness and the most strin gent orders."" It is so with all men who recognize in each other the manhood that stakes life in de fense of principle. Wellington, with his army in Spain, confronting the imperial host, separated only by a small brook, awoke one night to find some thousands of English and French soldiers together carousing in wine cellars between the lines. But these men got peaceably apart and met next morning in one of the fiercest battles of the war. The Philadelphia North Amerrcan has spoken to the same point, as follows “Should Congress eventually repeal or modify the oath so as to remove some of the disabilities under which the classes referred to labor, it would not be in any degree owing to the present agitation, nor from any desire to propitiate toe rebels,'but simply because, with the termination of the rebellion and the cessation of the rebel lious spirit, the need of such safeguards against traitors might be supposed to have passed away, and because there i3 even now reason to believe that many of the classes thus excluded are more loyal, frank, manly, and liberal in their sintiments •and conduct than those who did not share in the actual rebellion, but now take civil office for the purpose of perpetuating the vexatious strife that preceded the war. “Such a man as General Gantt, of Arkansas, who was a Brigadier General in the rebel ser vice, yet two years ago repented of his errors, and became an earnest, loyal, Union-loving, anti slavery man, could not take the test-oath pre scribed by law, while we find men elected to Congress from the South, because they can take the oath, who adhere to ail tiie exploded vices of Southern politics, and seem to be utterly im practicable.” We do not give the above as our views, but those of Republicans who do not make politics a trade or business. Whether the views be alto gether reasonable or not, they are as honorable to human nature as they are far removed from the blind ferocity of the Chronicle. From the Bouton Post. Marry a Wealthy Young Lady, hut la Driven out of Town. The phantom of perpetual bachelorhood and maidenhood, in semi-distant shadowy forms, is awfhl to dwell upon. Single-blessedness is not generally desirable, and an unduly prolonged usage of the little Miss is a sort of dispensation of Providence dreadful to consider. Besides, why should one feel surprised at anything in na ture, however strange, especially in matters wherein the heart , not the mind, holds absolute sway, and it is surprising that the world wish to circumscribe matters of mere taste and feeling to certain fixed rules. How often, have we seen the strapping man pair off with the slender, diminutive female—the large masculine virago with a lilliputian apology for a man. How often agaii, have; wc seen the plainest man many the must handsome woman, and vice versa. How many times is talent, coupled with stupidity, knowledge married to ignorance ; folly leading wisdqn} by . tpe nose; pride and rank humbled into bunion- with obscurity, and wealth running mad afier pirverty.. . Money is the only one thing in which a universality of' tasty. seems to prevail among mankind. •Only fancy the folly of sages and philosophers in troubling their holds and in juring their healths in endeavoring to find the longitude, the quadrature of "the circle,, the phi losopher’s'stone, the phccnix, the general fitness of things, the* greatest happiness, when all this is perfectly explained in the single word—money. But there are cases where money is left entirely out of the question—instances where the only stock used in the bargain is unalloyed lore, reciproca ting without reference to nationality. And such a case, surrounded by peculiar circumstances, and culminating in a finale rather disastrous to one of the parties, 'at least, has come to our knowl edge as -haying occurrediu a neighboring State, the particulars of-which arc as follows: On Monday last, about nine o’clock, Professor B. Melchoir, of Montpelier, -Vermont—who, it appears, has beat teaching music in that city for some time—was taken by a mob- from his lodg ing room and violently escorted to the railway station, and ordered to leave the city immediate ly, upon penalty of being shot if he returned.— Th mm he pretense assigned for such a dastardly out rage was to extort from liim (the music teacher) a written contract of marriage made secretly, some time since, between himself and a Wealthy young lady of that place, whose name,we with hold for prudential reasons. Those who took a prominent.part in this high-handed transaction had teen baffled in their efforts to get possession of this document, for the purpose of breaking up tlte intended union. Professor Melchoirwas not permitted to .remain ia t]je pli)ce long enough to collect bis dues nor to visit hjs intended. wife or her parents. ; The marriage was' to have taken place the next dav. The gentleman Who was thus unceremoniously hustled out of town, had, it appears, succeed in wooing the heart and liana of a 1 respectable young lady, one who had rejected the offers of a number of tbe gay lovers of Montpelier-, and it coming to pass that the prize Was about to fall to a foreigner, the discard ed lovers* clandestinely agreed upon a plan to get rid of the Frenchman who had thus won the affections of a Yankee girl. Professor Melchoir is, of course, exceedingly indignant at the man ner in which be has. been treated, and protests against such rough usage. Such flagrant viola tion of law should not be countenanced among those who pride themselves upon being a law- abiding people; and certainly such high-lianded proceedings should not he winked at. The gen tleman, who was so unjustly dealt with will probably resort to legal proceedings, and, sooner or later, ascertain Whether he has any rights in Montpelier that the people there are bound to respect. One of the most prominent actors in this outrageous proceeding was a cotton specu lator, who, during the war, incurred the dis pleasure of General Butler. We mention no names in this matter, but quietly wait the result, tit-fcsr Really Had Forgotten.—An urchin of ten summers was sent to school for the first time.— The teacher, to test his acquirements, asked him: “Who made yon?” The boy could not answer. The teacher told him the proper answer and de sired him to remember it. Some hours after tiie teacher repeated the question. The boy, rubbing his head for some time in a kind of brown study, replied: “I Swear, I’ve forgotten the gentleman’s name.” Preparation for a Great Cotton Crop. We learn from a BaUimqre paper that«oroe of the Northern people sire ^pondering the proprie ty of holding a “Natiotral Oritton Convention,” for the purpose of considering the dangers of losing' another cotton crop, and to devise ways and means to prevent so great a,calamity be falling the country It is proposed to hurry down to these cotton States not only Northern labor, but to . bring in European immigration to aid In the great work. The argument is; that the loss of another cot ton crop would postpone the return to specie payments indefinitely; whilst, on the contrary, tire old crop of four millions of bales, vw there abouts, Would, at present prices, not only turn exchange with foreign nations in our favor, saving us the one hundred millions more or less now against us, hut would—additional to that— give us from Europe a like sum, enabling the nation to Teturn to specie payments, with the volume of pape^ currency absolutely undimini shed. Unless these people move with celerity it will be too late. Tbe farmer ought to be getting rea dy to break up his lands now. Any cotton plan ter that one meets in the streets of Mobile can tell the ignorant man that cotton is a product which requires preparations all through the year. Crops have been made by late plantings when t|te autumn end of the year was favorable for the maturation and picking of the harvest, but this certainty cannot be depended on. The agricul turalist must pitch his crop without regard to this occasional fact. But this information is superfluous here. One does not take on himself to “teach his grand mother how to suck eggs.” The Northern pa pers are doing this, and, we suppose, for toe en- iglitenment of the members of the Convention above alluded to. We refer to the matter for another reason. There are probably to-day two millions of color ed laborers within the cot ton -producing region, who are admirably fitted for making next year the great crop which is desiderated for the pur pose of helping the nation to return to “specie payments.” When these convention cotton-making men propose to send hither white laborers, do they not tacitly confess that the African 3kiUed labor is not available for the benign and honest pur pose for which their proposition is made ?—Why, of course, they do. No conclusion is more logical. We tell these convention people that the skill ed negro can make cotton better than the un skilled white man; thai a skilled negro on our lowlands will be better than an unskilled white The African can make cotton, and the onlv trouble is as to bow he shall be made to make it. Let the wise convention men put their heads together, and by the aggregation of their wisdom solve this problem. If they will do it soon, we may, next year, the season being propitious, have three millions bales to help the Government to return to specie payments—making the multitudinous sea of greenbacks as yellow as a sunflower, or a gold dollar, with the latter of which we have had a veiy limited acquaintance for now going on six years. It seems to be an age since we saw that little bit of respectable metal.—-Mobile Tribune. Congressional News. PRECAUTIONS AGAINST TIIE CATTLE PLAGUE. Both Houses having passed the following act, it was sent to the President to-day for signature: Re it enacted, Ac., That the importation of cat tle be and is liereby prohibited ; and it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to make such regulations as will give this law full and immediate effect, and to send copies of them to the proper officers in this country, and to all officers or agents of the United States in foreign countries. 2. And be it further enacted. That when the President shall give thirty days’ notice by pro clamation that no further danger is to be appre hended from the spread ot foreign infectious or contagious diseases among cattle, this law shall be of no force, and cattle may be imported in tire same way as before its passage. BUTLER AND STANTON AFTER DAVIS. There is a strong pressure being made to in duce Congress to indicate, by resolution or other wise, that it is tire duty of the Administration to have Jefferson Davis tried by a military court.— General Butlef is Working the matter up, and is backed by the Secretary of War. They hope to force the President to adopt these views. They will find their mistake before they get through. TEE TEST OATH. In a few days Representative Finck, of Ohio, will’introduce a bill to prescribe the oath of office and to repeal the act approved July 2, 1862, on the same subject. A young lady who was rebuked by her moth - er for kissing her lover, justified the act by quot - ing the passage—“Whatsoever ye would /that men should do unto you, do ye even so to them,”

Georgia Historic Newspapers

Weekly Atlanta intelligencer. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1865-18??, December 27, 1865, Image 1