Newspaper Page Text
HDffhli) J&telligrncrr.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA,
Wednesday, January <Q, 1866.
■(galatlou *r ike Vnadafeea’s Bureau
for fiMrgla.
A few days ago we published the Regulations
of the Freedmeu’s Bureau for this State, to which
reference is made in the following extract from an
article in the Nashville Ditpaieh, and to which
we now call the special attention of our readers:
Gen. Tilson, the Assistant Commissioner of
the Freedmen's Bureau for the State of Georgia,
has recently issued a very important order upon
this subject. He gives to freed people who are
so situated that they can support themselves and
families without work, the privilege to make
contracts or not, as they please. He also gives to
those who have got work the privilege of cbosing
their own employer. But there is another ground
he lakes, which we trust will be carried out to
the letter. He announces to the freed people
who have no visible means of support, that un
less they make contracts before January 10, 1860,
the officers and agents of the Bureau will make
contracts for them; and what is of great impor
tance with whom the contract is made, will com
pel the freedmen to carry out any bargain which
mav be arranged for them. Gen. Tilson gives
good reason for pursuing this course. He truly
states that “it is imperatively necessary that
contracts be made to ensure u supply of food and
escape starvation the coming year,” and that it
is also necessary “ that contracts be made in time
to prepare for raising crops the ensuing season.”
Another good thing Is contained in this order.—
All persons arc forbidden to tamper with the
colored laborers, or entice them away from their
employers, before the expiration of their contracts,
“cither by offering them higher wages or other
inducements;” and the officers and agents of the
Bureau arc instructed to punish by fine or other
wise, any person convicted^of such an offense.—
The order concludes with this sensible remark
The public interest requires that labor bo made
reliable and profitable, and so long os the freed
laborer is well paid and kindly treated, this Bu
reau will not tolerate any interference with the
rights and interest of employers.” The wages
paid by the planters of Georgia are twclvo to fif
teen dollars per month, with board and lodging
to full male, and eight to twelve dollars to full
female bauds, the laborers to furnish bis own
clothing and medicines.
The freedmen will find their safety in labor.
Born in tho South, they will probably live and
die among t^o people with whom they have been
reared. They will learn, if they have not al
ready learned, that the Southern people are their
l»cst friends, and that while they honestly labor
to support themselves, they will never lack for
frieuus. Let them go to work, and conscicn
tiously discharge Tic duties that devolve upon
them, and they will be better off at the close of
the present year. The policy which Gen. Till-
son has marked out for the government of the
freedmen of Georgia will be pursued in all the
Southern States, aud tho freedman taught by
militaiy force, if necessary, that they must be
come self-sustaining. They have their all at
stake in the solution of the great problem now
tieing worked out in the Southern States, and the
sooner they comprehend this fact the better will
it be for them.
In a few days the period will expire when those
freedmen aud freedwomen who li&vo no visible
means of support will be permitted to remain in
that condition, os, after the 10th instant, the offi
cers and agents of the bureau will make con
tracts for them which they will be forced to carry
out. We call the attention of all such to this
order. The time will soon pass by when idling
and loafing about the streets will be tolerated by
tho authorities who have charge of this matter,
and it would be well for all such totalize at
once their condition, that they may seek homes
and go to work.
Tho Dispatch, too, is right when ii says that
“another good thing is contained in this order”
of Gen. Tillson, to-wit: that “ail persons are for
bidden to tamper with the colored laborers, or
entice them away from their employers before
the expiration of their contracts.” Too much
of this has been done already, and we trust that
in every case of the kind that may occur hereaf
ter, heavy penalties will be inflicted upon the
offending parties by the officers of the bureau in
this State.
Persons who make contracts with freedmen or
freedwomen will hazard a great deal if they do
not receivo the approval of, or have them rati
fied, by an officer of the Freedman’s Bureau.
Let no one be negligent enough to omit doing
so, and that prior to the 10th instant!
An Important Report.
The Milledgeville Federal Union announces
that tho Report of the Commissioners appointed
by the State Convention to propose a System
of Laws to carry into effect tho fifth clause of the
fifth section of the second article, and latter part
of the third clause of the second section of the
fourth article of the Constitution of the State,
has been made and printed. It makes, says
that paper, a pamphlet of thirty-nine pages,
and is t he work of Judge Starnes, W. Hope Hull,
Esq., L. E. Bleckley, Esq., and Samuel Barnett,
Esq. The report is prepared into an orderly ar
rangement of articles and sections, with the pro
per divisions and titles of subjects, and is accom
panied with the draft of a short adopting bill.
In prefacing their labors, the Commission re
marks :
“We are sensible that, in presenting this sys
tem of laws, we may be subjected to the imputa
tion of having done at once too little anil too
much—too little for those who are expecting an
instant and speedy remedy for all the ills which
the present crisis has brought upon us; too much
for those whose prejudices have not yet yielded
to the necessities of our situation.
The mischiefs to be remedied are enormous,
and there is more or less of an indefinite hope
aud expectation that legislation will afi'ord nt
once, and with all certainty, the proper remedy.
It is impossible that thi9 hope can l>c gratified,
this expectation realized. The results which are
to ensue from such legislation present a problem
that can only lie wrought out by experience. A
prominent factor in tbe solution must therefore
bo time. We cannot expect that for this, our
distressed people will patiently wait, aud more
or less of disappointment must issue. Prepared
to accept this result, we shall not be mortified by
intimations of feebleness, or imputations of fail
ure, and shall lie satisfied with the humble meed
of having honestly endeavored to do our part,
and thereby contribute aid to those who are
charged with the difficult duty of guarding the
State ami the persons ot color in our midst from
the evils of sudden emancipation.”
New EncUud Scheming Again.
It is stated in several of our exchanges that New
England has a scheme to alter the Federal Con
stitution so that export duties may be levied,
the object beiug to secure cotton ten or twenty
cents per pound cheaper than foreign nations
can buy it and pay the export duty to that, or any
amount that may l*e levied. The New England
States being in the Union, they would,of course,
receive it, cr any other product of the soil South
or West, free, that an export duty ma_v be levied
upon. Succeeding in this, the South and West,
as consumers, would be forced to pay such prices
as the New England manufacturers would de
mand for their goods. The only way to trump
this trick of the New England manufacturers,
would be for the South and West to manufacture,
their supplies at least, for themselves. By the
way, has it ever entered the minds of the “Fenian
Brotherhood” that in AW England they have an
enemy more to be feared in the future than Old
England f An enemy with all the world and
“the rest of mankind ?”—a ruthless, persecuting,
enemy, whom no law, human nor divine, has
ever yet restrained in her greed after gain and in
her intolerance and fanaticism f If this “Order”
to which we refer has not thought of this, it is
time it should do so, for if we be not deceived,
the time is rapidly approaching when it will find
in Few England a foe as relentless and persecut
ing as ever Old England has been to the kith and
kin of the members of that “brotherhood” in the
“Land of Erin.”
They manage things funnily in California—
military funeral, for instance. After burying the
deceased, the band comes back and serenades the
widow.
Aktbody can tell you about the daily rate of
gold, but who, now that the Evening Exchange
jg dosed, can tell about the nitrate of silver Y
Thk most difficult operations in the practice
of surgery is said to be “taking the jaw out of a
woman-” The fellow who said that must be an
old bachelor, of the large blue sort. |
[ COMMUNICATED.]
Wextern & Atlantic Railroad, >
Atlanta, January 5,1865. j
Editor of Intelligencer :
Qexts—Allow me, through the columns of
your valuable paper, to correct a mis-statement
of facts contained in an article in the Louisville
Journal, of the 28th December ult. In that ar
ticle it is stated “that there were no less than 190
car loads of freight at Chattanooga, intended to
go over the Western & Atlantic Railroad; that
freight sometimes remains for several weeks at
that place without any attention; and that the
Superintendent of the Nashville & Chattanooga
Railroad proposed to the officers of the Western
& Atlantic Railroad to run his freight cars
through-to Atlanta, for a small compensation,
until their road would be relieved of most of this
accumulated freight,” <fec. In reply to the above,
permit me to say that the accumulation ot freight
at Chattanooga was not owing to any neglect of
the road or employees, but was the result of the
inability of the Macon & Western Railroad, and
the Atlanta & West Point Railroad, to receive
the freight at Atlanta when ready to be deliv
ered to them. The Western & Atlantic Railroad,
at the time complained of, had from sixty to
eighty cars loaded with cotton at Dalton, which
it could not transfer to the East* Tennessee
& Georgia Railroad, for want of capacity
in the latter Road to receive. And at the
same time, the Western & Atlantic railroad
bad from thirty to forty cars at Atlanta,
loaded with freight which the Macon & Western
and the Atlanta & West Point roads could not
transfer and receive for the want of cars. In ad
dition to this, we had the track and side-tracks
so crowded with cars, containing and delivering
freight, as to have no capacity to receive the
loaded cars on the road, but had to detain them
on their way untiljlhc press could be removed.
Further, it is not true that we refused to allow
the Nashville and Chattanooga cars to come
over our road, but consented for them to send as
many as they possibly could, loaded to Macon,
and the road availed itself of the offer; and had
been, and was, at the time of the damage to our
bridge*, sending its cars loaded with freight to
Macon, and it now has a large number of cars
this side of the Chattahoochee river unable to
return.
And further, that so far from requiring them
to do it for a small compensation, we allowed
them more than any other road, over which they
run their cars, as can be vouched for by Captain
White, President of the Macon & Western road
We have continued to transport passengers
and baggage, and expect next week to begin to
transport the accumulated freight at Chattanoo
ga ami other points, as we are now arranging to
do so, till the bridges are completed. I hope the
above state of facts may be sufficient to satisfy
the public of tbe gross injustice that lias been
done to this road and its officers. *'
Robert Baugh, Sup’t.
Louisville Journal and other papers circulating
tbe charges will please correct the same by pub
lishing the above.
At the funeral obsequies of fourteen of the
members of the Savannah Volunteer Guard Bat
talion whose remains were recently brought on
to be interred in “Laurel Grove Cemetery,” near
that city, the venerable Bishop Elliott is re
ported to have thus addressed the audience who
were present at the place of interment: “The
bodies of these gallant dead have been brought
here from the field of their glory to mingle their
dust with their native soil. We cannot now
speak of them in such terms as we could desire.
We cannot pronounce over their remains such a
eulogy as would be agreeable to us, and just to
their memories. We cannot now write their epi
taphs, but the day will come, as sure as there is a
God of justice above us, when not only we, but
the people of this whole united country, will
unite in raising a monument whose top shall
pierce the skies, and upon which shall be in
scribed this sentence—‘The noble rfrmy of mar
tyrs praise Thee, Oh, God.’ ”
President Johnson is still very reticent upon
(lie subject of appointnients. He declines abso
lutely to appoint any person to office upon the
recommendation of a Congressman or Senator
who does not support his policy. He is fixed also
in his determination to pursue his reconstruction
policy to the end. Congress may do as it pleases;
he is determined that, so far as in him lies, the
Southern States shall be regarded as States. He
will let them perform all their local functions and
elect their own rulers, and the only drawback
they will have is a want of representation in
Congreas. If the present Congress does not grant
them this, President Johnson is sure that an ap
peal to the people will elect a representative body
that will admit the Southern Congressmen.
At the recent American thanksgiving din
ner in Paris, Hon. John Jay, of New ^rk, offer
ed as a regular toast: “His Majesty, the Emperor
of the French.” As no response had been made
to the toast of the President, it was intended
that none should be made to this, but that it
should be received with cheers. The assembly
was about giving them, when an excited Ameri
can leaped from his seat, and, jumping into the
middle of the aisle, cried out: “No American
can drink that toast while a single French sol
dier remains in Mexico.” The guests generally,
however, seemed to consider that, under ail the
circumstances, any demonstration of ill-feeling
was out of place, and so drank and cheered his
Majesty, although neither very deeply nor heart-
ilv. _
The distinguished Southern author, Wm.
Gilmore Simms, of the South Carolinian, pro
poses to collect and publish a volume which shall
comprise all the poems of merit, put forth in the
several States of the Confederacy during the pro
gress of the war of secession, and relating to, or
suggested by its events and incidents. He re
quests that copies of all such be sent him by
their several writers, at the earliest possible pe
riod. He could wish that each piece should be
accompanied by the name of the periodical or
paper in which it originally appeared. The date
should l*e given when this is practicable.
Secretary Seward, with his daughter, Miss
Fanny Seward, and his son Frederick and his
wife, left Washington, December 29th, in a
steamer for the West Indies. He goes first to
Santa Cruz, and will be absent three or four
weeks. His object is mainly relaxation and the
more complete restoration of his health. Mr.
Hunter will be acting Secretaiy during his ab
sence. ‘ usual, rumor has attributed all sorts
of objects to tbe trip, even to the landing of the
honorable Secretary upon Mexican soil, in search
of Juarez and his Government, but positively it
has no other object than the one stated.
Notwithstanding the many predictions, says
a Washington correspondent, that hqve been
made of a lively time at the National Capital this
winter, I doubt if Washington has ever present
ed a more dull and uninteresting aspect, socially
or politically, than at present, and the prospect
is rather against than in favor Bf an improve
ment. It was expected that the people of the
South would be here in full force, knocking for
admission to the doors of Congress, and throng
ing the lobbies as in day9 of yore; yet there is
very little of exaggeration in the statement, that
it is almost as hard to find a South Carolinian
or an Alaltamian here now, as it was a year or
two ago.
A delegation of four chiefs and braves of
tbe Shawnee Indian tribe have arrived in the
city of Washington to express to their Great
Father the hope that he will make them some
Christmas presents, and use his influence with
the Indian Bureau to have their Kansas reserva
tion exchanged for another located further South.
Scarcely a month goes by without the airival of
some of these “lords of the plains,” to pay their
respects at the White House. They usually man
age to beg a few hundred dollars’ worth of pres
ents, and, after a “big drank,” clear oat for home,
leaving the Government to pay their board bills.
The President** Policy In the Free States.
Under the foregoing heading, the Washington
Chronicle, edited by J. W. Forney, says: “No
statesman in his lookout upon the stage of Amer
ican Continental politics, can deny the impres
sion produced by the manner in which Presi
dent Johnson’s plan of restoration is received and
sustained. However brought about, (and no one
can say that the verdict has been attained either
by combination or corruption,) the fact is one
that deserves and will demand respect. While
it may be alleged that the acquiescence of the
South is the result of necessity, none can success
fully establish tbe charge that the feeling there
has not become at last a roost sincreand gratejEul
emotion. We now see the Southern people en
dorsing and preparing to put into practical effect
suggestions and projects which not many months
ago, were classed among the most hideous radi
calisms. That cannot be simulation or falsehood
whieh discloses a whole section, lately the utter
slaves of the worst prejudices and passions of sla
very, deliberately and cordially setting themselves
to the task of elevating, and educating, and other
wise enfranchising the freedom. The state of
popular sentiment in the free States is still more
difficult to characterize as unsound or unreal.—
It may be chaiged that the President’s plan is
sustained by the aid of his patronage. Doubt
less this has its effect upon many who have ta
ken place at his hands, and upon others who ex
pect his favors. But surely we cannot trace the
very general support of his restoration measures
by the Democratic party to any Buch hopes. At
this point it is compensating to pause over a
manifestation that proves a conversion as marked
as that in the South itself Taking them at their
word, and seeing in their course not only a high
common sense that ought long ago to have shown
itself, but a deference to results from which there
is no logical escape, the Demooratic voters of
the United States are now sincere supporters of
the great anti-slaveiy measures by which the re
bellion was chiefly crushed. The wise publicist
can no more refuse to take account of such
signs as those than the merchant can close Ids
eyes to the changes of the money market, or the
mariner to the unerring indications of the mag
netic needle. But let us suppose, for a moment
that the Southern people are not sincere, and
that the politicians of both the Northern parties
are controlled by the possession or the hope of
office; no such suggestion can be justly indulged
as to the motives of the great journalists and
other leaders of opinion in the free States. These
influences are happily and singularly independ
ent of power. The most of them are men of
fortune, earned after years of hard and coura
geous struggling. There is not one of them
whose life is not a lesson of the difficulty, yet
also the nobility, of a contest with prejudice and
power. It weighs enormously ou the side of the
President’s plan of restoration that very many
of these authorities are earnestly enlisted in its
support. Chiefly in the interest and the organi
zation of the Republicans, they speak for and
mould the opinions of those w’ho always believed
and followed them. There are, of course, oppo
nents to this plan, but even among these we no
tice little of the dogmatism and rancor of merely
political conflicts. The questions are too new
and too vast for mere controversy. They appeal
to our best intellects, and to our religious patri
otism. They should not be discussed, much less
disposed of, in any but tbe noblest toleration. If
we can maintain this tone, and hold together in
the faith that united and strengthened and gave
victory to our armies and navies, the freedom of
our dear country will be founded on a new aud
perdurable basis.”
We have published the foregoing in order that
our readers may form some idea of the daily ad
vancing popularity in the Free States of the
President’s restoration policy. Whatever we in
the South may think of Forney, it is undoubtedly
true that, personally, and through bis paper, he
exercises much influence over the Northern
mind; and sustaining now, as he does, the Pres
ident’s policy, it may be reasonably supposed
that those who have hitherto recognized him as
their leader, will likewise do so.
We have already called attention to the cor
respondence between General Weitzel and Gen
eral Mejia. The strong language held in one of
the published letters of the Federal officer will
have attracted the attention of our readers; and
so also will the fact that the letter was returned—
the usual form of intimation that it was of a
character unfit to lie received. The correspond
ence alleged certain grave breaches of neutrality
on the part of our authorities on the Rio Grande;
and admitted, under the hand of our command
ing general there, that guns of the Mexican Re
public bad been repaired on this side of the river
with the knowledge of one of our officers. We
recite these facts now to illustrate the significance
of the news which announces, by way of New
Orleans, that Marshal Bazaine, Louis Napoleon’s
chief in Mexico, has sent an official dispatch to
General Mejia, in which he states, for the benefit
of all whom it may concern, that “the Northern
frontier” of Mexico, the line of the Rio Grande,
“ is under the double protection of the Emperor
of Mexico, and the Emperor of the French.”
This is an unmistakable menace; and is intend
ed clearly to warn our authorities that, in viola
ting, by accident or otherwise, their neutrality on
the line of the Rio Grande, they will be brought
to account by the potentate who wields the thun
ders of the French nation. Threats of this grave
character seldom take form between nations nn-
til their diplomatic relations have made very ail-
vadeed progress toward open rupture.
The Emperor of Brazil has made himself
very popular by going to the field of war. Let
ters from Rio in the Providence Journal, state
thSf every preparation is making to render his
return one of the most brilliant events in the brief
history of this people. Immense arches are span
ning the streets, bearing inscriptions and trans
parencies of the most flattering character. Im
mortelles are seen everywhere, and words of
praise and welcome will bum from thousands of
gas jets on the night of his return. It was report
ed some time since that an elaborately wrought-
sword, costing, with its diamond settings, over
$500,000, was to be presented to him. A new
and undefined tom has been given to this feature
of the welcome by the action of a certain Count
ess residing there in Rio, who contributes largely
herself, and calls upon eveiy lady in Rio to send
a diamond with which to embellish the sword in
question. There 19 scarcely any fabulous sum
nameable that the cost of this sword may not
reach under these circumstances.”
The English papers are praising President
Johnson and his policy. The London Times
thinks that his confidence in the South and the
bold liberality of his policy, are not likely to be
in vain. The News characterizes his administra
tion as sagacious and prudent The Telegraph
says it affords both a crushing rebuke to the be
lievers in an outworn diplomacy and a splendid
encouragement to those who believe in tLe ca
pacity of a free people to select fit rulers, when
one sees that this self-taught tailor of Tennessee,
bv virtue of his direct sincerity of purpose and
his homely mother wit, bids fair to succeed in
a task which might have sorely tried the statecraft
of a Richelieu. The toiy Herald says that the
President has agreeably disappointed at least
one-half of the world by a wise and statesman
like policy that will give him a high place in the
pantheon of American worthies.
The Boston Trarder says that the people in
that city, not finding tenements, have gone into
News •ftheBtf. ...
The population of Chattanooga foots up 8.200,
independent of tbe troops, who number 3,300—
showing a very handsome increase since 1860,
when the population was 4,500.
A Washington dispatch to the Cincinnati Com
mercial says: The intimation that an understand
ing had been effected between the United States
and France, in regard to Mexican mattere, is
wholly unfounded. Tbe last phase of affaire was
the proposition of the French Emperor to our
Government to recognize Maximilian’s Govern
ment as de facto. Secretary Seward’s reply,
which the President indorsed, flatly refused such
a recognition, and gave the reasons therefor.—
Until a rejoinder from the _J?renph Government
is received there will be nothing done by our
Government bevond fitting out Mr. Campbell as
-Minister to the Republic.
The Madison (Wis.,) Jouffud says that, within
the last five years, six children belonging to three
families in Waterloo," in the before-mentioned
State, have mysteriously sickened and died.—
Their disease manifested itself in spasms, but its
nature was not understood until recently, when
a cow died with all the symptoms of hydropho
bia. It was then recollected that the cow had
been bitten by a mad dog six or seven years ago,
and all the children had siriEe been drinking her
milk. *
B. F. Salkeld, a boy leas 'than eighteen years
old, has been arrested as thS“ perpetrator of the
attempt to throw a train on the Louisville & New
Albany Railroad off the track. The New Al
bany Register says Salkeld pleads guilty, and gives
as his reason for the diabolical act, that, on the
14th ult., a conductor put him oft his train be
cause he would not pay his fare. He said, also,
that he was advised to the commission of the act
by one G. W. Sbaw.
Major General G. H. Thomas, after having
made a tour through the States lately in rebellion,
telegraphed to Major General O. O. Howard that,
after careful investigation, he is perfectly satisfied
that General Fisk, Assistant Commissioner for
Tennessee and Kentucky, Gen. Tillson, Assistant
Commissioner for Georgia, Gen. Swayne, Assis
tant Commissioner for Alabama, and Colonel
Tnomas, Assistant Commissioner for Mississippi,
have administered their offices with fairness and
impartiality to whites and blacks, and have been
eminently succesful in securing a sense ofju9tice
toward the negro, from tbe civil authorities of the
States; and, if possible, they should be retained
in their present positions- as long as they are wil
ling to act.
Mrs. Anna Cowell, the leading actress at Me
Vicker’s theatre, Chicago, delivered another lec
ture Sunday evening in detense of the theatre in
response to the sermons preached by Rev. Dr
Hatfield and other clergymen, who have lately
preached against the immoip* tendencies of the
drama as now put upon the stage. The press
pronounce her effort a failure. It produced an
opposite effect from that it was intended to con
vey. A considerable portion was devoted to a
fierce attack on tbe piety, honesty and morality
of tbe clergy as a body; asserting that more of
fenses against tbe majesty of the law; against
public morals and the decencies of social life are
committed by false priests and pious pretenders,
than by any other professional or professing class
in modern communities. The debate may now
be said to be closed.
In the United States District Court held at Ex
eter, N. H., the information filed against John F.
Cutter, of Hollis, in that State, who lett Hollis in
1863 and joined the Rebel army in Kentucky, for
the confiscation of bis property, was dismissed
on tbe ground that tbe property was in tbe hands
of the trustees, and the pardon of the President
relieved it from liability to confiscation.
FIRE IN PHILADELPHIA.
Philadelphia, Jan. 2.—A fire occurred to
day at noon. The bnildings destroyed were of
brown stone, live stories high. Loss about $100,-
000. They were the most ornamental on Chest
nut street.
All the money packages from Herndon’s Ex
press safe and tire greater part of the freight in
the building was removed, and the now supposed
loss will be a quarter of a million dollars; but
the amount of insurance is large and will proba
bly cover the loss. „
The firemen worked manfully to subdue the
flames, and at one time were throwing fifty-six
steams of water in the rear end of the buildings.
The site of the buildings was formerly occu
pied by tbe old Chestnut street Theatre, Rock
Hill & Wilson’s. Loss $50,000, Greater part of
the stock removed. The building was insured.
Perry & Co.’s loss $60,000. They were insured
$45,000.
FROM BALTIMORE.
Baltimore, Jan. 2.—Rain has been falling
here all day, but the temperature is mild for the
season.
The colored people assembled en masse this
morning, at the Frst Africa&GjMMch, to celebrate
their deliverance from slavrtp.Several addresses
were made.
At the opening of the new billiard house to
night, Phelan and M. Carme played a match
game of 500 points; Carme victor, running in
one score 20 points.
EXTENSIVE ROBBERY.
Leavenworth, Jan. 2.—A safe containing
$30,000 was stolen last night from the office of
Major Ellis, paymaster. Two orderlies who are
missing are supposed to lie the guilty parties.—
$23,000 of the amount belonged to the Govern
uient, and the remainder was private property.
Major Ellis offered $1000 reward for the thieves.
THK FENIAN CONGRESS.
New York, Jan. 2.—The Fenian Congress
a&scmbled to-day, a guard being in the door from
the 99th regiment refused admission to all not
provided with credentials from the State Centre.
The body was then called to order, and Major
Kelly, of Indiana, was appointed Chairman.—
Resolutions sustaining O’Mahony were adopted,
and Congress proceeded to the transaction of
other business, notice of which has not yet
transpired. There were two plenipotentiaries
from Ireland present, and it is stated they have
brought letters from Stephens who is said to l>e
in France previous to the opening of Congress.
Messrs. Mority, Sinnolt and Mullen, of the Fe
nian Senate, met in Senate Headquarters in pur
suance of regular adjournment of November 7tli,
but there being no quorum present, adjourned.
Report says two English detectives were exposed
and refused admission to Congress.
The Fall of Columbus.—The Columbus En
gnirer says:
It wilkbe seen that Gen. Wilson states the
number of troops that accompanied him in this
expedition to have been seventeen thousand men.
His report of operations at Columbus is short,
but it contains information of interest. He con
firms the statement that his troops held the
bridge, in the rear of our defense, when they
broke through the Confederate lines. He says
that they gained this position by passing around
the inside of the Confederate lines, under cover
of darkness. Thi9 fact, with a statement of the
nature of the Confederate defenses, will serve to
show how it was, as stated, that only a few hun
dred men were engaged in tbe assault that broke
the line. The Confederate line extended from
the upper bridge, around Dr. Ingersoll’s place,
on the Summerville heights, so as to include a
fortification on those hills, and the railroad bridge.
It was a single line, of perhaps a mile and a
half in length, over ground much broken by hills
and ditches. This attenuated line, guarded by
twenty-five hundred or three thousand men,
hastily collected from the workshops, the militia
reserves of old men and boys, and other mostly
undisciplined troops with arms as hastily col
lected and various in character, was con
fronted and threatened at every point by
General Wilson’s superior numbers of trained
troops. They had reached the rear of our line,
and held the bridge, the only avenne of commu
nication with headquarters in this city. The
darkness and the nature of the ground wonld
have prevented any rapid concentration of the
Confederate troops to defend an assailed portion
of the line, even if the disposition of the United
States forces had not been such as to prevent it.
Under these circumstances, it can he easily un
derstood how three hundred men assailed the
line at any point, with comrades of theirs in its
rear, holding the only passage by which rein
forcements could be sent to the Confederates,
could break through it And this statement of
the progress of the fight shows how easy was the
capture of the city after the line had been bro
ken. Gen. Wilson’s troops, by their possession
of the bridge, effectually cut off from the city al
most the entire force collected to defend it, and
separated them from the officers in chief com
mand. Indeed the order last sent from head
quarters in the city had been intercepted before
the line was broken. It is plain that if the Con
federate dispositions had been different, a much
more stubborn and bloody defense might have
been made. But as the fall of the city, when at
tacked by such an army as Gen. Wilson’s, was.
inevitable, it is no doubt best that events took
such a turn as to involve such little loss of life.
The Griffin Star says:
Lt. Col. Springer left us on yesterday, for his
new field of duty in Atlanta, where he takes
command of the two Sub-Districts, now consoli
dated. We regret to part with so estimable a
gentleman and hope our loss may be his ‘‘eternal
—” We congratulate the citizens of Atlanta
The Fenian Fend.
The New York Tribune ot Saturday furnishes
some additional items on the Fenian question.
It says: The dissensions in the Fenian councils,
which have come to be sensationally designated
as the “Fenian Feud,” the “Fenian Fight,” etc.,
still continue to furnish considerable interesting
reading for the general public. Notwithstanding
the facts that the Senatorial faction affect to treat
with contempt the approaching O’Mahony “Con
vention,” the assembling of that body will un
doubtedly be the most important development
which thjgjntestipp. uBubles -of Fenians have as
yet given nse to. But it must not be hastily.con-
cluded that a struggle is about to occur in which
the cause of the Senate will have the poorest
show of success. At the Jones House headquar
ters, indeed, there is every appearance ot hard
and zealous work in the common Fenian cause,
and in opposing the designs of O’Mahony and
his adherents.
To one who has been at the redezvous of both
factions, a lively.
CONTRAST BETWEEN THE TWO HEADQUARTERS
is constantly presented; which certainly, so far
as republican simplicity and hard work are con
cerned, is in favor of the Senatorial party. The
interior of the W liite Ho#*} on Seventeen th street,
presents a numher of office^ filled with empty
desks and idle clerks; the hall is filled with a
number of lazy lackeys; the handsome chande
liers are covered with a dust which betrays negli
gence on the part of the employed of tile estab
lishment; and everywhere is observable an
empty pretension of pomp, combined with none
of the bustling activity which speaks of a real,
genuine zeal in the formation of a new Govern
inent. .
At tne plain rooms occupied by President
Roberts and his associates, however, there in an
entire absence of this unmeaning show—whieh
may, it is true, dazzle' for a moment the more
unreasoning visitor from the circles of the rural
districts, but which can inspire the thinking, well-
wishing observer with nothing less than supreme
contempt. No ceremony is required to effect an
entrance into the rooms. The interior always
presents a quiet but busy scene—the few tables
being mostly occupied by several secretaries, en
gaged in copying import ant documents or writing
in books, while the worthy President confines
himself almost entirely to the responsibilities with
which his position is burdened, and may hourey
be seen conversing with some person on import
ant business, or otherwise engaged. Altogether,
everything seems to indicate zeal and labor, anil
assuredly, if hard work can accomplish every
thing, the Senate will be victorious in the coming
contest.
THE CONVENTION
will duly assemble at Clinton Hall on the 2d of
January. According to the O’Mahonyite repre
sentations, 800 delegates will be present. The
friends of the Senate contend tliat the attendance
will fall far short of that number—that the O’Ma
hony party would have to take more than one-
halt of all its Manhattan Circles to fill the hall to
that extent Be that as it may, the Convention
and its action will unquestionably mark an im
portant period in the Fenian imbroglio; and
much of the indifference manifested by the Sena
torial party is more pretended than genuine.
The Convention and its action will constitute
O’Mahony’s last card for power, and it may be
depended upon that he will play it to the best
advantage.
RUMORS REGARDING STEPHENS
continue to be prevalent, but it is difficult to ad
vise the public as tc^fre correctness or incorrect
ness of any of theniT It is still the common im
pression that Stephens will soon arrive in this
countiy, and this impression is shared by some
of the more enthusiastic leaders; but the higher
authorities appear to have little expectation of
the arrival of the Head Centre here. At last ac
counts—which were of course meagre and ob
scure—he was in France. It is supposed that he
has decided Europe to be his most useful field,
and will not visit America at all. We can only
wait for the coming Convention, and for the na
tural developments of “broadening time.”
An Eloquent Peroration.—Wc stated on
Saturday that the Hon. Reverdy Johnson, of
Maryland, cencluded the argument befor the
United States Supreme Court, in support of the
application of Mr. Garland, of Arkansas, to be
admitted to practice before that tribunal without
being required to take the oath prescribed by act
of Congress. In conclusion, Mr. Johnson spoke
as follows, whilst the most impressive silence was
preserved.
“Will the Court indulge me with a word or two
more? Every right-minded man—every man
who has within his bosotn a heart capable of hu
man sympathy—who is not dead to all the kinder
anti nobler feelings of our nature—who.is not the
slave to his own dishonor—of low, degraded
passion, of hatred to liis countrymen, or ot poli
tical partisanship solely bent on its own wretched
triumph—reckless of the nation’s welfare, but
must make it the subject of his daily thoughts
and of his prayers to God, that the hour may
come, at once,'when all the States shall be again
within the protecting embrace and shelter of the
Union, enjoying alike its benefits, (and greater
were never Vouchsafed to man,) contented and
happy and prosperous, sharing in its duties, de
voted to its principles, and participating in its
renown,
And when the people throughout our almost
boundless domain ma} 7 be seen coining together
as brothers, with one love of countiy 7 and one
hope of a common destiny of safety, welfare,
and national glory—with one determination to
achieve it by united efforts—inspired and strength
ened by an equally pure and ardent patriotism,
former differences forgotten, and nothing remem
bered but their ancient concord and the equal
title they have to share in the glories of the past
and to labor together for the even greater glories
of the future. And may I not, with truth, assure
your Honors that this result will be expedited by
the bringing within these temples of justice, the
Courts of the United States—a class of men now
excluded who, by education, character, and pro
fession, are especially qualified l>j 7 their example
to influence the public sentiment of their respec
tive States, and to bring these States, if any doubt
yet exists, to the conviction which, it is believed,
they unanimously entertain—that to support anil
defend the Constitution of the United States, and
the Government constituted by it, in all its right
ful authority, is not only essential to their people’s
happiness and freedom, but is a solemn duty to
their country and their God.
“May it please your Honors, (lepeud upon it,
that in that event they will be seen gathering
around the altar of the Union resolved to support
it under every exigency and at all hazards, as
one man, and with one voice lie heard invokin
the blessing of Heaven for its maintenance and
preservation till time itsell shalf be no more,”
An old man in his seventy-seventh 3 7 ear lately
hanged himself in a Paris garret. The authori
ties found among his effects a document entitled
‘Mysteries of my Life,” which had the following
strange preface:
I belong to a very good family. I was well
brought up. Fatally lor myself, I adopted as
my device the Italian maxiiii, “Chi at. piano va
sano.” 1 know now that on the contrary, no
man should leave for to-morrow what he can do
to-daj\ For my part, I believed that before do
ing anything, it was necessary to deliberate long
anil maturely; and the consequence was that all
I took part in turned out unsuccessful. Bj 7 this
mania of postponement and this dilatoriousness
of execution I injured my fortune. I forfeited an
important sitnation, and I missed ten marriages.
Iihave broken jvith all my friends, because I never
could return a visit in proper time, pay back an
act of politeness, nor keep an appointment, an d
I was always an hour too late. I hail excellent
servants, but I never was well served, because I
never was ready to he served. I thought myself
extremely prudent, and always found myself in a
false, or a difficult position. After long and pro
found reflection, I am now convinced that my
constant liabit of putting off everything was but
a pretext, that my real character was one of self
ishness and sloth ; and that I sought to hide or
to cover that double vice with a fictitious virtue.
I w r as deterred by the fear of fatigue, by my dis
gust of bodily and mental exertion, by the indul
gence of continuous and lethargic repose. Such
is the true cause of the vexation which I have
constantly experienced. I believe the judgment I
now pass upon myself to be correct. At my age
I am on the brink of the grave. The thought of
self-mm der is come upon me, and as for once in
my life I mean to take an energetic resolution,
and not to postpone it, I hang myself.
Fromth* Richmond (Va.CTime?.
A XUeb Article oa Gca. Bntlcr-Hta Char
acter Portrayed.
BUTLER RESIGNED.
A terrible calamity has plunged the whole land
in tbe blackest depths of grief and despair. The
nation is reeling from the effects of a fearful loss.
Massachusetts, with streaming eyes, is clothing
herself with sackcloth and preparing to sprinkle
ashes over her same habiliments of inconsolable
woe. Benjamin, treasonably called Beast, but
surnamed Butler, her well-be-loved and greatest
warrior, has shot like a meteoric stone from the
military firmament of lesser suns, planets and
fixed stars, and has ceased to be a Major General.
He tendered his resignation the other day, and
as republics are proverbially ungrateful, the Pres
ident, forgetful ot the blitzing -glories of “Big
-Bethel,” of the immortal houors of “the Gap,
and of the flaming renown of the “fire fchip,” ac
cepted the mighty warrior’s resignation. The
newspapers with malignant emphasis assert that
it was promptly accepted, and one Godless jour
nal viciously hints that the proffered retirement
of the mighty Boabdil was “snapped at by the
war-office authorities.” <&
Profound as will be the grief of the civilized
world at the retirement of this honored and hou-
est hero, Virginia is almost desolated at the na
tional bereavement involved in his Ibss. We
shall always recollect that many of this great
man’s most famous and wondrous achievements
were upon our soil. His'first essay at a pitched
battle was at “Big Bethel.” It was here he dug
his immortal “ditch,” and from the waters of
Virginia the great fire ship sailed and exploded
with such terrific and harmless splendor a few
miles from Fort Fisher, after which exploit- the
General, with characteristic modesty, withdrew
his forces from before that place and permitted a
younger New England General to gather all the
laurels. Two Virginia cities “near the sea” will
ever hold in grateful remembrance the humanity,
unselfishness"and splendid integrity with which
he discharged his official trusts.
At the very moment when the heart-rending
intelligence of his resignation reached us, a mem
ber of the Virginia Legislature, anticipating liis
appointment to the command of this military
division, had introduced a resolution redolent of
pleasant reminiscences of the great warrior’s
deeds of valor in Norfolk and Portsmouth. It
was a toucuing and eloquent tribute to the late
Major General, lor it recommended, in anticipa
tion of his advent, a “distribution of all the
money in the State Treasury among the widows
and orphans of the deceased soldiers,” and also
provided for the appointment of swift-footed
“couriers” to convey the glad tidings of his arri
val through the land, and to urge all prudent
housewives to conceal their silver spoons and
forks. It was an amusing peculiarity, we be
lieve, of the great departed, that he was fond of
plate, and had an exquisite taste iu jewelry, mu
sical instruments, household furniture anil gold
anil silver coin. The people of N ew Orleans de
light to keep fresh the memory of liis remarkable
taste in the line arts.
At the moment when Benjamin, the well-be
loved of Massachusetts, is taking leave of a weep
ing country, anil when Columbia, with a well
moistened mourning handkerchief at each eye,
seems to say, ‘■‘■don't go, Ben,” it is to be regretted
that General Grant should liaye alluded in his re
port to the hero of Big Bethel in such significant
and sarcastic terms as to show that he greatly
contemns aud despises his pretensions to military
skill.
All of us remember that in the spring of 1864
General Butler, at the head of a vast army steam
ed up James river and landed on the south side
of that stream. As discretion always entered
very largely into the valor of this great chieftain,
he lailed to advance ou Richmond for some eight
days, and for two or three of those critical days
the Confederates always chuckled at the thought
of having kept so valorous a man quiet with, we
think, about sixty cavalry anil nine hundred iti-
fautiy. To this especial part of General Butler’s
military career Grant refers with an amount of
grim derision whieh is ver^divertiug. He charges
the General with being responsible for the fail
ure of the first grand attack upon this city from
the south of the James in May, 1864.
It will be remembered that on the 14th of May,
1864, having then, as we lrave said, wasted eight
priceless days, Butler telegraphed from Bermuda
Hundreds to Washington that he had put him
self across pretty much everything, anil added,
“General Grant will not be troubled with any
further reinforcements to Lee from Beauregard!”
At that moment Beauregard, as Gen. Grant in
forms us, thanks to the time wasted by Butler,
had dra wn in all his “loose forces in North and
South Carolina,,’ and was “bringing them to the
defense of Petersburg and Richmond.” Two days
afterward, on the 16th of May, he fell upon But-
ler,and “forced him back between the forks ot
the James and the Appomattox,” where, as Gen.
Grant with sorrtewliat unhistorical, but by no
means disagreeable malice, observes, “liis army,
though in a position of great security, was as
completely shutoff from future operations against
Richmond as if he had been in a bottle, strongly
corked.”
General Grant’s quaint picture of General But
ler “corked up in a bottle,” will live in history,
anil furnish a splendid theine for the painter and
the poet. With liis characteristic pertinacity,
General Grant having hermetically bottled But
ler, deems it not unailvisable to shake him up a
little, as if lie was a sort of prescription, which
required sucli treatment before disposing of him
altogether. He pounces down upon him for liis
famous “Fort Fisher” fiasco, and asserts that But
ler went there with the army and fleet which
was sent to reduce that place without permis
sion. He pokes an infinite amount of dry fun
at him when he says in his report., “I rather
formed the idea that General Butler was [in go
ing to North Carolina) actuated by a desire to
witness the effects of the explosion of his powder
ship. Phew! we call that a cruel hit. Anil
General Grant renews the roar of inextinguisha
ble laughter which followed the explosion of
that remarkable ship, by sa}ing, with the most
delightful maliciousness, that “the aforesaid ship
blew up so harmlessly that nobody in the Con
federate States hail the remotest idea what the
explosion meant until tlic Northern papers ex
plained the mystery.” In this opinion ‘General
Grant is strictly correct, lor we really thought
that a frightful disaster had befallen an “iron
clad" until we were all convulsed with mere
nient at the result of the ingenious Butler’s plan
for blowing up Fort Fisher.
In this, as in many other instances, Gen. But
ler was singularly sparing of Confederate lives
The care which, as a prudent, thoughtful warrior,
lie invariably took of liis own precious life rnude
him unwilling to shed human blood. Confisca
tion was his strong point, and when lie moved
with liis confiscating cohorts in the rear of
“fighting General,” fie was really grand. But.
alas! alas! this great and good man—this incom
parable military Governor and most predacious
and prudent warrior—this hero,- whose fame is
familiar as a household word in three continents,
whose deeds are at once the admiration of the
brigands of Greece and the pirates of the Chi
nese seas ; and whom Verres and Hastings might
have envied as the upright Governor of conquer
ed provinces, has gone from our midst, and no
longer illuminates with liis splendid and incom
parable reputation an honorable profession. We
still hope that a very lofty anil well-merited ex
imitation awaits him, although tardy justice aud
the ingratitude of man may postpone it to his
vert' last moments. Nemesis is sometimes appa
rently inattentive to her favorites, but she rarely
fails, in the long run, to mete out to them a mea
sure of reward fully commensurate to their ef
forts.
year ago
besieged
the adjacent countiy in search of them, but that j U po n their new acquisition. We are still veiy
in most cases they were doomed to disappoint
ment. It adds that there are not within a range
of twenty miles of Boston more than fifty houses
for sale or rent, and to obtain even these it would
lie necessaiy to pay a large advance upon former
prices. This scarcity will, by the next spring,
become so severe as to require the erection of a
large number of dwellings even in the present
high cost of building should continue to prevail
fortunate in having in theplaeeof Col. Springer,
Major Prickett, who assumes command of this
Post, and we can say from personal acquaint-
• once, lie is a number one man, and will try his
liest to do justice to everybody.
“Well, 1 can’t say that I’ve seen him drunk
exactly, but I once saw him sitting in the middle
of the "floor, making grabs in the air, and saying
he’d be hanged if he didn’t catch the hed the
next time it ran around him.”
Effect ot Early Rising on Longevttt.—
The Southern Journal says:
We have seen lhe story, hut cannot vouch for
the truth of it, that while a census was being ta
ken in Germany some years since tbe habits of
every centenarian were* carefully inquired into.
Some of the veterans, it was found, had been
consistent vegetarians; others had indulged in
meats; seme had, and others bad not used to
bacco and spirits, but all had been early risers. .
As we have said, we do not know whether the i
census above mentioned was a reality or a myth,
bnt we have noticed in all the accounts of very
aged people which have fallen under our notice
that their subjects rose early. James McCormick,
a native of Ireland, who died cn the Illh of No
vember, at Newburg, New York, aged 114
ydare and three months, was no exception to tbe
rnle. He often went to work before daybreak.
When young be was a great walker, having once
traveled on toot "a distance of fifty-two miles in
thirteen hoars. He married at the age of forty-
five, and had fourteen children, nine of whom
lived to emigrate with him to this country in
1846.
Under Which King, Bezonian, Speak or
Die.—Lt. Gen. Grant and Maj. Gen. Schurz have
made their reports upon the temper and condi
tion of the Southern people. They were sent by
the President for the purpose of learning and re
porting the facts. They saw the facts from differ
ent stand points, and of course differ materially
in the conclusions at which they arrived. The
former thinks the Government has ample reason
to Ik- satisfied with the disposition of the people
of the Southern States towards the Government,
and that there exists no sufficient cause why they
should not be admitted to participation in the
functions of Government. The latter thinks an
indefinite period of probation is necessary, in
order to give time for trying certain governmental
experiments, which radical reformers have set
their hearts on.
Does it take a sensible man long to decide
which is the more capable to give a sound opinion
in the matter ? Gen. Grant is, and was for a year
before the termination of the war, the comman
der in chief of tbe armies of the nation. He was
elevated to that position for brilliant successes
which had attended his career in subordinate
capacities. He is marked for his common sense
and general knowledge of men and things. He
is distinguished for calm, clear, and moderate
views. His course as a public man lias thus far
been a success—the experience of the world
presents few instances so complete. To • the
sword, in Ills hand, the Southern people succum
bed. It now holds extended the olive branch of
reconciliation and peace.
Gen. Schurz is that sort of soldier in whose
hands “the pen is mightier than the sword.”
Made, we lielieve, a Major General in the first
year of the war, if he ever attained even medio
crity 7 the chroniclers have failed to note it. A
ripe scholar, he is versed doubtless in all the
metaphysical \oxp peculiar almost to the German
mind; and with capacity to evolve from its mists
and mysteries a new scheme of Utopian govern
ment every alternate day in the year; but want
ing in actual, and practical, every-day ability, and
lacking breadth and comprehension of views.
Political causes made him a general, and party
necessities and his natural inclinations constrain
him to the course he is now pursuing. He never
was, nor can be a success.—NashtiUe American.
From the Louisville Journal.
The Old Tejr;
A vision of wonders was the old year. What
heart-throbs and intense yearnings there were a
i-day! What contradictory petitions
c throne of heaven! Tramp, tramp,
tramp was heard as far as the ear coulu hear,
aud wherever the eve looked, there w ere long
columns of bristling steel and prancing steeds
and nodding plumes. Boom, boom, were the
echoes. Huge forts frowned menacingly and de
fiantly upon assaulting hosts. I p and down all
our streams went the floating arsenals of destruc
tion. From the Mississippi to the sea had just
rolled a burning tide of desolation and death.
Savannah’s mountain and valley were covered
with tents and warriors mid ordnance, and the
paraphernalia of slaughter. Men sank down, ex
hausted at night from the terrible carnage of tbe
day and slept‘sweetly in the awful husli, aud
dreamed of wife, child, mother, sister, all un
mindful of what thev bail done, or what they
were to ilo on the morrow. The beautiful stars
came out and shed down their gentle influences
to soothe the weary sleepers. The morning
came, and with it the reveille of ghastly death,
the horrors of renewed encounters,
“ And there were figured Strife and Tumult wild,
And deadly Fate who in her ir»t grasp ’’
held the embattled hosts. Who should be the
victors and who the vanquished? Men and
maidens, and wives and mothers and lathers
bowed their heads a year ago, and prayed more
earnestly than for their soul’s salvation for vic
tory, for success. See the long anaconilian folds
.rath’er slowly but surely around the beleaguered
city. The earth fairly trembles beneath the
tread of more than a million of men. Measure
if you can the wild tumults and passionate long
ings of a single heart, anil multiply the result by
hundreds and thousands upon thousands. Doom
sits above the beautiful city, riot and conflagra
tion are written in characters ot blood beneath
the stars that nightly twinkle down upon her,
but she knows it not. Her heroic defenders are
as confident as they are brave, and if their com
mander doubts lie keeps them to liimscli. Ah !
how men are directed from a source behind and
above all their own genius or sagacity or powers
or virtue. The Invisible guides or controls or
uses their actions for purposes foreign to tlieir
intentions. Through the clouds anil smoke that
envelop them they 7 see not until they pass away.
But hark, what "sounds of terrible import are
those tlint,.come.
“Striding the blast, or heaven’s charioteer, horsed
Upon the sightless couriers of the air,”
from the Federal city V * They are the peans of
the assassins of triumph. It is the night of the
14th of April. But well might the conspiratois
soliloquize,
“We bnt teach
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
To plague tho inventor. This even-handed justice
Commends the ingredients of our poisoned chalice
To our own lips.
Speedily indeed did even-hauiled justice over
take them.
Look again and see how tire dread phantom of
war, of battles and sieges, of camps and squad
rons have vanished. All our streams roll on
again as quietly as of old. There is not a ripple
on the surface so lately swept by the fierce tem
pests of conflict. The white tents have disap
peared. The mailed legions have subsided as if
by enchantment. If you want to find them you
must go to the quiet farms of the West, to the
bus} 7 workshops and manufactories of the East,
to the plantations of the South. More than a
million of warriors brave as those of Alexander,
impetuous as those of Napoleon or Cromwell,
have become on the instant, as it were, peaceful
citizens. Appears it not like some horrid dream
from which one awakens in the morning only to
find the rays of the bright sun pouring in upon
hint the evidence that all is well ?
Throughout a country larger than half of Eu
rope where a year ago hostile camps confronted
each other thick as the trees of the forest, over
whose immense area rolled a tide of incessant
war whose flames darkened the heavens, there is
now no sound heard but the music that arises
from innumerable hearts like grateful incense to
heaven in thankfulness that the work of mutual
slaughter is over, and the dark spirits of hatred
and revenge are fled.
Deep indeed are the wounds which the great
struggle has made. Vacant anil desolate is many
a home to-day. But time is a wonderful Nepen
the, and peace and plenty, the sunlight and star
light of sympathy, the hum of society, the cease
less surges of the w'orld, new hopes, anticipations
and aspirations will assuage the poignancy of
the grief which stricken hearts only know, anil
upon which we may not intrude.
“What pang is permanent
With man ? From the highest as from the
Vilest thing of every day he lenrna to wean himself.
For the strong hours conquer him.”
From enmity comes amity; and from calami
ties arise blessings. The storm refreshes, revivi
fies, and rebeautifies. Haughty ambition, which
o’erleaps itself, lias been chastened. If the night
was black and the tempest fearful, how brightly
breaks the morning! The bow of mere} 7 spans
the horizon. Tbe exigency of the mighty crisis
developed a suitable agent, and the God of our
fathers was and is with us still.
A j 7 ear ago, the chief of mighty armies felt se
cure amid his bristling fastnesses. To-day he is
helpless as a child. An institution which had
grown with the centuries, which had served its
purpose and was really for extinction evaporates
with the smoke of a hundred battle fields. Was
there no design there ? Get we no glimpse of the
intent of the mighty game ? See we not liow
events shaped themselves to produce the accom
plished results? So the olil year with its history,
its blood aud desolation, its realized and its
crushed hopes spell away. Let tbe hatreds and
the strife which it engendered go and perish with
it.
The period is to us always a sad one, anil we
feel something of the melancholy which came
over the great bard of antiquity when he com
pared the race of men to leaves.
“Tbe race of man is as tbe race of leaves;
Ofleaves, one generation by the wind
Is scattered on the earth; another soon
In spring’s luxuriant vendure bursts to light,
So with onr race; these flourish, those decay.”
May the new year be one of peace and joy to
all our readers.
Greely in a Goon Humor.—The New York
Tribune has a Christmas article congratulating
the country upon the peaceful manner in whieh
the heroes of the war (on either side) have be
taken themselves to the ordinary pursuits of life.
The allusions to the Southern soldiers speak w 7 ell
forMr. Greely’s liberality of feeling. Here are
some of them:
“ Look at that vast multitude of routed, beat
en, discomfitted men, whose valor has almost
atoned for the sins of rebellion /” “ Our gallant
gray brothers are even now clamoring around
Washington,” &c. “ So with the Generals of the
Rebellion. The greatest of them all is now a
teacher of mathematics in a university. Sher
man’s great antagonists are in the express anil
railroad business. The once-dreaileil Beaure
gard will sell you a ticket from New Orleans to
Jackson ; and, if 3-011 want to send a couple of
liams to a friend in Richmond, Joe Jolmstou. once
commander of great armies, will carry them.—
The man whose works Grant moved upon at
Donelson edits an indifferent newspaper in New
Orleans, while the Commander of the Rebel Cav
alry at Corinth is liis local reporter. Marshall
practises law in New Orleans; Forrest is running
a saw-mill; Dick Taylor is now having a good
time in New York; Roger A. Pryor is a daily
practitioner at our courts; and so with the rest
of this bold, vindictive and ambitious race of
men.”
An Aeerican Lady in Difficulty—Who
is She?—An American lady, who represented
herself to be the wife of a United States Consul
appeared on the 13tli ult. at the Marlborough
street Police Court, London, to take out a sum
mons against Madame Rachel, the famous enam-
eler, for the recovery of a diamond ring worth
about a hundred and fifty dollars, given in con
sideration of the obliteration of the marks left
upon her face by the small pox. Tbe American
lady, having full confidence in Madame Rachel’s
advertisement to that effect, seems to have cross-
ed the Atlantic for no other purpose than to
av ®|* berself of the London enameler’s alleged
skill; bnt under the conviction that she had been
swindled, she claimed the return of the diamond
nng. ThU being refused, she took out the sum
mons which was granted.
Madame Rachel’s defense is that the American
lady was to have paid her £100, but had only
paid £20 on account; that she hail attended her
for eight days, and that the lady had also taken
three or four “Arabian” baths at Madame Ra
chel s house. The magistrate remarked that
sometimes veiy large sums were obtained from
persons who put themselves in the hands of ad
vertisers. A sum of £800 had been obtained he
believed, in one instance. He had no control
over the press, and lie thought it would be bet
ter to avoid discussion until the summons was
beard.
The Richmond Examiner calls for radical
legislation in reference to the payment of debts,
as follows:
However redundant the currency may be else
where, we all know that it is not so in the rum
districts of Virginia. The people have had little
uf n ? to st ‘N> ant l money was as plenty as
blackberries elsewhere, it would be scarce where
there was nothing as yet for sale. If the judg
ments and executions are enforced, much of tlie
rural population of Virginia will tie sold out,
few honest, industrious country people can bo
purchasers. With the large amount of property
that will be forced into market, and the small
amount ofmone}- in the hands of the rural popu
lation, a complete change of countiy property-
holders will be effected.