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HrrkiQ Jntellijjfnffr.
ATLANTA^ GEORGIA,
Wednesday, May 23, 1886.
Corn Tor tlie Poor and Pmltnle.
The Legislature, at its late session, appropri
ated $200,000 to the purchase of com for the in
digent and suffering poor of our State. The
agent—Col. Maddox, of this city—appointed by
the Governor to make this purchase, is now en
route to St. Louis, -w here he will doubtless accom
plish the object of his mission. As it is not for
speculative purposes, that this large purchase of
corn will be made in that city, but for a purpose
that never fails in its appeals to the benevolent
and generous, we doubt not that the merchants
and grain dealers in that flourishing Western
city, will gladly avail themselves of the oppor
tunity afforded them to furnish the supply of
corn needed on the most liberal terms. It is the
poor of Georgia, the suffering poor, that makes
the appeal. Georgia sends her money to St.
Louis, and would send more, were her coffers
full as once they were.
The transportation, too, of this large supply of
corn, will be attended with heavy expense, and
would be with still greater but for the considerate
and generous liberality, as we are informed by Su
perintendent Wallace, of our own State Road, of
the President of the Nashville & Chattanooga,
and Nashville & Northwestern Railroad Com
panies, Mr. M. Burns, who has not only gener
ously offered to transport the corn over these
two roads at half freight, but has arranged with
the Packet Companies leading both to Cincin
nati and St. Louis, to do the same. In the name
of the people of Ceorgin, we thank Mr. Bcrns,
and the Companies who have thus come forward
to the relief of our suffering poor. The bread
which they have thus “cast upon the waters,”
will not fail to reproduce itself in time. One
half the freight saved is, we learn, twenty cents
on the bushel. This will add many a meal to
each of our suffering poor. It is a most generous
donation. _
Tlie Internal Rercnnc Bureau.
We notice a telegraphic item going the rounds
of the daily press to the following effect: Thai
the Internal Revenue Bureau, acting under the
general law requires all citizens of the South to
render income returns for the year 1864, as well
as for that of 1805. Some of the ex-Rebel officers,
residing in Alexandria, Virginia, are startled by
the call of the assessors upon them to furnish the
required statements, and are surprised that the
rations received by them in the Confederate
army are estimated at, 40 cts. One of them ex
pressed his readiness to pay his tax in Confeder
ate money, but this was, of course, declined.
Should this be the ruling for Georgia, as
it seems to be for Virginia, there is one thing
certain, the penalty, whatever that may be, for
non-payment of taxes, will have to be exercised
over many hundreds if not thousands of ex-Con-
federate officers, in addition to a host of others
who, in any event, have not the means to pay any
tax at all, being utterly ahd hopelessly insolvent
uow.
Georgia Railroad Convention.
We have been favored with a pamphlet copy
of the reports made to the Stockholders of the
Georgia Railroad Convention at Augusta, by
its very efficient Superintendent, Colonel E. W.
Cole, who will please accept our thanks for the
same. On our third page, the reader will find the
report in full of the President, the lion. .Torn P.
Kino, which embraces, not only a clear and flat-
teriug exposition of the financial condition of
the Road, hut suggestions also of a conservative
character, which we are gratified to sec emana
ting from one so long connected with our State
and its institutions in various official stations.
With Mr. King, we agree, that, “ however pas
sion and prejudice may obscure tiie truth for a
time, it will soon be seen and felt that the meat
... . ... . .... ., . mm - »<-r* ■
eming classes, are in a position of antagonism to
each other. Every material interest at the North
and West is much concerned in the rapid resto
ration of Southern industry. To the navigating,
commercial, financial, mining, manufacturing,
and agricultural interests, Southern products are
vastly important, and to some of these interests,
almost vital. Let conviction of tlies^ obvious
truths penetrate the national heart, and the con
test cannot last long. It is to these considera
tions we yield our hopes of a change.”
The report is, especially to the stockholders of
the road, an interesting and important document
Our readers generally, too, will find in it much
to iutercst them. Hardly a year ago, this once
flourishing and popular railroad was half in ruins;
to-day, through the energy and enterprise of
those to whom its management is entrusted, it is
restored to its former usetcluess, and bids fair to
nttaiu its former prosperity. To it, Atlanta owes
its rise and largely its progress. Both have suf
fered much from the calamities of war; both
have largely recovered from the effects of the
same; and both would now have before them
bright prospects, did not “passion and prejudice”
in “high places” threaten “a permanent blight
upon” this “once glorious, prosperous, and happy
country.” We hope, however, that reason and
patriotism will soon resume their sway, that
prosperity may again be restored to a now dis
tracted land.
Upon the efficient Superintendent of the Road,
Col. Cole, too much praise cannot be bestowed.—
Entering upon the duties of his office iu October
last, he has fully maintained the enviable reputa
tion he had won while discharging the duties of
Superintendent of the Nashville & Chattanooga
Railroad. IIis reports bear the impress of one
skilled iu the conduct of railroad enterprises.—
The Georgia Railroad is fortunate in having se
cured the services of this gentleman.
Previous to the adjournment of the Conven
tion, the following officers were elected for the
present year:
Presiden t.—John P. King.
Directors.—John Bones, Dr. James Hamilton,
Gtorge T. Jackson, Richard Peters, Samuel Bar
nett, John Cunningham, George W. Evans, Wm.
D. Conyers, James W. Davies, Elijah E. Jones,
Antoine Poullain, Benjamin II. Warren, Massil
lon P. Stovall, Dr. Edward R. Ware, Nathan L.
Hutcliius, Stevens Thomas.
The Stay I.aw i<i South Carolina.
In tlie Court of Errors at Columbia, on Mon
day last, it was decided by the court “ that so
much of the Acts of die Legislatures of 18(51 and
I860 as interdicts the service or execution of anv
nunc or final process of any of the courts of this
State for the collection of money is in conflict
with the article of the Constitution of the Uni
ted States, which prohibits a State from passing
any law impairing the obligation of contracts,
and that the said provisions are consequently in
operative and void.”
Private Contracts.
There are many of our people, notwithstand
ing that tlie Civil Courts of the State have re
sumed their functions, and some, if not all of its
Judges have held a term of their Courts, who
do not understand the basis upon which private
contracts, and the equities thereof, are to be de
termined. Nothing is more definitely settled,
we out assure them. Tltis was done, among \
the first of its other important duties, hv the
Convention which assembled in MiliedgeviUc in 1
October last, and is embraced in the following I
ordinance:
Section 2. And it is further ordained. That all (ouarrenslonal—Diabolical,
contracts made between the first of June, 1861, j It is seldom that we transfer to our columns!
and the first of June. 186-5, whether expressed in n • 1 11.
writing or implied, or existing in parol and not i SUfh Congressional mattcr wo la - v bctore our |
yet executed,shall receive an equitable construe- ! readers to-day in tlie following Selections. There j
lion, and either party in an}* suit for the enforce- j is, however, so much of bitterness and hatred to-!
vMo U °*ti contr£K .’’ ma J* u P°u Jhe trial . wards the South ; so much of the depravity of.
gne in ev idencc the consideration and the value > , . 1 ;
thereof at any time; and the intention of the ■ uman natU!c <“ s P la .ved m ,!,e nvo extracts!
parties as to tlie particular currencv in which ^hich follow ; that we wo- Id hardly be doing ;
payment was to be made, and tlie value of such j our duty as a journalist to refrain longer from j
tT?i e ’t anc1 the . ve f d,cl aad i ud S* j persecuting them with, what is almost of daily
ment rendered shall be on principles of equitv: 1 . ,, r J 1
Provided, that contracts executed within the W:clllTellC0 in the &enate or Bouse of Represen
The Action of Congrem on Reconstruc- 1 civil courts, as the local judges refused to receive
| testimony from negroes, and that this opinion
In order that our readers may have both sides ! had obtained e '•cry general belief in the North
' through the r '.esentations of newspaper corre-
of the question, we lay before them the follow
ing article of the New York Times, written,doubt
less, by Mr. Raymond, its edior, who voted for
ing article oftheNew York Times, written, doubt- j Sp ^^ quired whetber any aUen tion was paid j
the reconstruction amendment recently adopted
by the House of Representatives, disfranchising
the Southern people until 1870, The article was j who had n?t tbe capacity> eve ' n if they had the j occasion.
have been rendered useless for their own support
or that of their families. The members of Cy-
rene Commanderv, Knights Templars, of this
city, returned from St. Louis last evening, where
they had been to participate in tlie celebration
testimony in j c f Ascension Day, by the members of the order
in that cUv. The St. Louis papers give glowing
to the rules of evidence in taking
the Freedmen’s Courts. Mr. Lovell replied,
none whatever; that officers had filled the bench J — “ ' h<f process i 0 n and festivities of the
of the court who had no legal education, and . accoun - 1
best intentions, to conduct examinations in ac
cordance with the established rules of courts of
time specified, and which were simplv in renew
al of original contracts made before the said first
day of June, shall stand upon the footing of
contracts executed before hostilities commenced.
Section 3. And it is further ordained, That ex
ecutors, administrators, guardians and trustees,
shall have power to settle or compromise all
claims or evidences of debt, in their possession
created between tlie 1st of June, 1861, and the
1st of June, 1865, contracted with reference to
payment in Confederate Suites of America Treas
ury notes or other currency of a depreciated val
ue, and accept in satisfaction of such indebted
ness the fair and reasonable value of such claims.
Signed Nov. 8th, 1865.
Herchel Y. Johnson, President.
Attest: J. D. AYaddell, Secretary.
From tlie foregoing it will be perceived, that
upon evidence establishing consideration and
value, all contracts will be determined by the
courts. Those who understand this would incur
useless expense, and endure waste of time, were
they to hesitate, or refuse to settle upon the basis
thus laid down by the Convention in the forego
ing ordinance.
The last section of the same ordinance, plainly,
too, shows the powers vested in the hands of ex
ecutors, administrators, guardians, and trustees,
to compromise all claims or evidences of debt,
in their possession, created between the 1st Juue,
1861, and tlie 1st June, 1865, contracted witli
reference to Confederate or other depreciated
currency. A resort to the courts cannot change,
or alter this basis of settlement.
Judge Underwood’s Charge.
On yesterday we laid before our readers two
samples of radical sentiment uttered, one upon
the floor of the House of Representatives of tlie
Congress of the United States, and the other in
the Senate, the speakers being Tliad. Stevens, of
Pennsylvania, and Senator Nye, of Nevada. To
day we lay before them, an extract fx - om the
charge delivered to the Grand Jury at Norfolk,
Virginia, which returned a “true hill” against
Jefferson Davis for treason, by the United States
Judge for that District, Judge Underwood, to
which we ask their attention, for the purpose
also of "showing them what radical sentiments
prevail in the breast of even one wearing judi
cial robes. The notorious Jeffries, whom British
history tells us was scorned of all men, and who,
the tool of a tyrant and his corrupt ministry,
never uttered sentiments breathing a worse
spirit—never gave a charge to a jury breathing
more malignity—than is embraced in the follow
ing charge of this radical Judge. As was Jef
fries in his day and time to those whom he
served, so is this Judge Underwood to the radi
cal republicans whose policy he sustains. But
hear him for his cause:
To our shame and disgrace, it must be admit
ted, that so far as we are advised, every one of
the numerous conflicts of races which have oc
curred in this State during the past year has been
the wanton and unprovoked work of wicked
white men upon poor, quiet, unoffending, and in
most eases, unarmed and unresisting colored
people. AYby should we murder, rob, or inter
rupt them, burn their school-houses and churches,
insult and attack the teachers, who, iivthe cause
of improvement and elevation, and Christian
charity have come to us from the ever friendly
North, in the same spirit that brought them in
1855 to this devoted city, when the scourge of
yellow fever was here in its wrath. Let us not
forget that then as now it was to the North and
its generous people that we had to look in our
want for aid and assistance. Unless a stop is put
to such violence and outrage upon the freedmen,
we can never expect relief from the presence of
Northern bayonets and admission to the rights
and privileges of the Federal Union; but we shall
become the byword and scorn of the whole civili
zed world. AYe shall he considered barbarians,
excluded from the sympathies of all
the jury, to see To !t; That a "people who were
loyal and true to the nation’s flag in the time of
trial and danger shall be protected against the
persecution of those who, from scenes of treason
and rebellion, are pursuing their victims with
most infernal hate, for no apparent reason, ex
cept their fidelity aud devotion to the country.
AYe fully appreciate the magnitude and dif
ficulty of the task set before you—the monstrous
wrong with which you are called to grapple, like
the giant Hydra, still lifts some of its many heads
which you must strike down, or they will con
tinue to disturb the public tranquility.* It would
be childish to expect that so great an antiquity
could be extirpated in a single year, or even in a
single generation. It should be remembered that
it has invaded every source of public, private,
social and domestic life—not only did it control
the political press and all political parties iu this
State, but with rare exceptions it spoke from all
our pulpits, perverting the gospel of human
brotherhood into the gospel of human childhood,
and ot the absolute submission of a fact to the
lust and avarice of the rest of human kind. Our
religious teachers had forgotten to preach the
wrong of withholding the line of labor, trading
in the bodies and souls of our fellow-men, of
separating husbands and wives, parents and
children, and sending them to a returnless dis
tance from each other, and from the houses of
their living and the graves of their dead; and
had he become, with some worthy and glorious
exceptions, pander and apologists of the lust and
violence ot masters, who in return for his
service were willing to feed him on tlie fat
of tlie land? Our legislators, instead of fol
lowing tlie Christian law, requiring much where
much is given, ayd proportioning unaccountabil
ity to the gifts and talents of nature, had estab
lished the reverse enactments, punishing the ig
norant and uneducated, whom it was made a
crime to enlighten, with death for many of
fenses, which, when committed, liy the educated
aud privileged, were satisfied with fine or im
prisonment. Our courts of justice had pro
claimed the infamous doctrine that dusky men
had no rights which white men were bound to
respect; and into this very temple of law a
pious woman had been dragged as a criminal for
in act which might almost invite an arch-angel
to comedown from the mansions of the blest; for
teaching the poor children of oppression, and of
licensed wrong to read the Bible, and the laws
made not to govern them, but to crush out of
them every feeling of humanity.
“And worst of all, and worst to he deplored,”
was t he prostitution of our houses, the very heart
and seat of domestic purity, the poisoning of
which is fatal to all moral vitality—and death to
public and private happiness. The subjection of
the woman of oue complexion to the wild fury
of unbridled licentiousness, and as a consequence
denying to the woman of our own complexion
the holy rites of marriage, or making in thou
sands of cases those rites as much a mockery as a
concious traitor’s oath, are proclaimed on every
plantation in the bleached faces of the children
of the slave woman, bleached by the blood of
the first families, until hardly half our births
were of lawful wedlock, and until it would
seem that masculine virtue must be nearly ex
tinct in the proud circles of tlie cliivalric aristoc
racy of the State.
This effort at misrepresentation of the motives
and acts of high toned and humane people—a
people who would scorn to degrade themselves
by either cruelty to the freedmen, or a violation
of the obligation they entered into when they
took the oath of amnesty—who are bent upon
aud determined in good faith to maintain tlie
constitution and laws ot tlie United States, as
are the whole people of the South, the exception,
if there be any, as in the case of a rule, establish
ing fidelity oft he masses—is one that will con
sign him who made it
"To tlie vile dust from whence he spranjr
Unwept, nnhonored, and unsnnjr."
tatives of the Congress of the United States, to
wit, denunciations ot our people, so diabolical
that neither Jew nor Christian, Pagan nor Turk,
can hut shudder at the idea of their utterance.—
The first we present is an extract from the re
ported speech of Mr. Thud. Stecens, the Chairman
of the Reconstruction Committee, on the adop
tion of one of their series of resolutions. Tlie
House being called to order by the Speaker, and
the members who had been crowding around the
venomous member from Pennsylvania, having
been directed to take their seats, Air. Stevens, re
suming ids discourse, said:
He should lie sorry if the third section should
be stricken out, because then, before any portion
of the amendment could he put into operation,
the other side of tlie House would lie filled with
yelling Secessionists and approving Copperheads.
Give us, therefore, he continued, the third sec
tion or give us nothing. Do not mock us with
the pretense of an amendment which throws the
Union into the hands of iLs enemies. Gentlemen
say we are striving for party.
I do seek to sustain my party when that party
is necessary to save the Union. I say rally to
your party and save that party, or you lose tlie
Union, i do not hesitate to say that that section
is there to save or destroy tlie Union. Gentle
men tell us that is too strong. Too strong tor
what ? too strong for their stomachs, but not for
tlie people. Some say it is too lenient. It is too
lenient for my hard heart. Would to God that
the exclusion of rebels might not only run to the
year 1876, but to the year nineteen thousand and
seventy-six. It would be then but too mild a
puuishmc-nt. But I hear it said you must not
humble these people. Humble them, why not?
Do they not deserve humiliation ? Do they not
deserve degradation ? It they do not, who does ?
What animal or felon deserves it more? They
have not yet confessed their sins, why should
they be forgiven? He who administers justice
and mercy, never forgives until the sinner con
fesses at the footstool of power. Wby should
we forgive, any more than he? If they are to
come back, let them come back in sacktiotli and
ashes. Let them come back and ask for forgive
ness, and then let us consider whom tve shall for
give and whom we shall exclude. That is my
principle. All I regret is, that this is not suffi
ciently stringent. Let not these friends of se
cession and secessionists sing to me tlieir halcyon
song9 of peace and good-will until they can stop
my ears to the shrieks and groans of tlie dying
victims of Memphis, a scene more horrible in
atrocities, though not to tlie same extent, than tlie
terrible tragedy of Jamaica.
While I am willing that these rebel States
shall be represented here, I pray you not to ad
mit those who have caused tlie slaughter of mil
lions of our countrymen, while tlieir clothes are
still wet with blood. AVait until they are differ
ently clad. I do not want to sit side by side
with men whose garments smell of the blood of
my kindred. Gentlemen forget the scenes that
took place here twenty-five years ago, when the
mighty Toombs, with*his shaggy locks, headed
Southern fire-eaters with shouts of defiance, and
rendered this House a liell of legislation. They
seem to forget the scenes enacted here six years
ago, before Southern members left tlie Ilall to
join the armies of Cataline, and, when encour
aged by their allies, they came on here in one
yelling body, because a speech for freedom was
being made on this side, and when the ruffian
Craig, ol‘ North Carolina, drew a pistol, and the
assassin Barksdale drew a bowie-knife.
Mr. Tlieyer reminded Air. Stevens that the
third section did not affect the eligibility of those
persons as representatives, but merely excluded
them from voting, and lie asked him if he thought
lie could build a penitentiary big enough to
hole! eight millions of people?
Air. Stevens: Yes, sir; that penitentiary
which is guarded by bayonets, down below ; and
it they undertake to come hack we will shoot
prepared as a reply to an alleged misconception
of - a Northern cotemporary of tlie Times, and
whether it be correct in all its statements, as it is I justice. . , , , , . . ,
. . - _ . „ . , Also inquired whether penalties were inflicted
in some, or not, is of sufficient interest to war- , by the j U( j ge in accor dance with the laws of the
State. Judge AVm. B. Fleming answered that
the penalties were often at variance with the
A ScEcri.ATn e Turn of Alixn.—A South
ern correspondent relates a circumstance which
recently came to his knowledge, and which fur
nishes pointed illustration of that yearning tone
which tin- pure, nasal-twanged disciple ofCharles
Sumner bears to the African. A lady of the
green-spectacled and strong-minded persuasion,
from down East, near the huh of the universe,
An Ordinance To make valid private contracts j was in conversation with a female friend, and
entered into and executed during the war was enlarging on the dear little African pupils
against the United States, and to authorize the she had been teaching, and was about to leave,
courts of this State to adjust the equities be
tween parties to contracts made, but not exe
cuted, and to authorize settlements ot such
contracts by persons acting iu a fiduciarv
cliaracter.
Section 1. Thepeojtie of Georgia, in Convention
Assembled, do ordain, That all private contracts
them. The penitentiary of hell is the peniten
tiary that they deserve to have tiil then.”
Shocking as is the foregoing, the following
passage in the Senate, tlie Post Office Appropri
tion Bill being under discussion, may well com
pare with it, as will the Nevada Senator Air
House, the notorious “ Thad.”
Air. Nye (Disunion, Nevada) resumed the floor
in continuation ot his speech commenced yes
terday, and made a long speech on general pol
itics.
Air Doolittle (Adm., AVis.) said that he had
strod by the graves of loyal men who had fallen
in the late war. lie had stood over the grave
of liis first born and sworn that he would never
give over this struggle until! the rebellion should
be suppressed and the Union restored. He had
made hundreds of speeches in the same view as
Mr. Nye while the country w as in a state of war,
and when it w T as necessary to nerve the country
for the shock of battle. But did not the Senator
from Nevada (Nye) recognize the difference be
tween war and peace. AVe were now in peace,
and should we still go on with the speeches to
wage war ? No principle of statesmanship or
Christianity would justify it. There w r as nothing
in statesmanship or Christianity to justify a spirit
of unrelenting vengeance toward the Southern
people. They had already been punished enough
to satisfy the demands of reasonable men. That
there were men to whom extraordinary punish
ment should lie meted out, he did not doubt.
How many men did the Senator from Nevada,
and those who acted with him, wish to hang?
A wholesale prosecution had never been advoca
ted. A very lew prosecutions would satisfy
even those w ho were loudest iu their demands
for retribution. AA r hat had the President done?
Must he execute prisoners in his power, w ithout
trial, as Commander-in-Cliief of his power ? AVas
there a man on this floor ready to advocate the
shooting of Jefferson Davis, without trial?
Then, how were they Jo be tried ? The Supreme
Court had decided that they could not be tried
by military commission, or*court-martial. They
must be indicted, arraigned, and tried as other
men are tried. He would ask Air. Nye how
many he would try, and in what way; whether
by a military commission, or by a court.
Air. Nye—Do you want an answer to that
question ?
Mr. Doolittle—I do.
Air. Dye—If the Senator will give me a day
or twd to make out the list of men I would have
hung, I will do so.
Air. Doolittle—But about liow many would
you hang.
Air. Nye—AVell, at a venture, I will answer
that I would hang enough to make treason odi
ous—to make good that assertion by the Presi
dent.
Air. Doolittle—How many, in the opinion of
the Senator, would be necessary to do that ?
Air. Nye—Five or six.
Air. Doolittle—In wliat way would you try
them—by court-martial, or by civil court ?
Air. Nve—I will answer that question in two
ways.
Air. Doolittle—I want a direct answer.
Air. Nye—I would not have kept Davis so long.
I would have liung him in a hollow square of the
grand Union armies, when they were being mus
tered out here. Now, I suppose, I would try
him hv law.
Air. Doolittle said the President was not re
sponsible for the delay in the trial of Davis. It
was admitted that a court martial was not the
proper tribunal, and the judge of the proper
court had refused so far to try him. He (Doolit
tle) was tired of this clamor" against tlie Presi
dent for not bringing Davis to justice. The Presi
dent,in tlie exercise of the pardoning power, done
what it was impossible for him to have avoided.
There was no tribunal before which tlie rebels of
tlie South could be tried. As lor the trial of
General Lee, it was well known that General
Grant had spurned the idea of such a thing so
long as he (Lee) obeyed tlie terms of the surren
der. Air. Nye had asked where was Clement C.
Clay, by wav of casting a stigma upon the Presi
dent. He (Doolittle) would point him to the let
ter of appeal for his release, written by Air. Wil-
son. Air. Doolittle said there were two wings of
opposition to the Republican party—one, the
universal-suffrage party, led by Mr. Stevens, of
Pennsylvania. There was also, he might say,
the universal-hanging party, led by Air. Nye, and
tlie universal-aniiK'sty-in-retum-foV-uni vereal-suf-
frage party, led by Air. Stewart.
“ Mingle, mingle, as they may,
Blm spirits and gray.”
Air. Sumner—AVliite spirits and gray. You
are wrong in vour Skakspeare.
Mr. Cowan (Adm , Pa.)—There are no white
spirits in it.
Air. Doolittle—Well, the reporter will get it
right.
History will surely do justice to men like
rant its transfer to our colurrts
“ The paragraph betrays an entire misconcep
tion of the Report of the Committee on Recon
struction as well as of the action of Congress.
The Committee reported as tlieir “ Plan” three
measures:
1. A series of five amendments to the Consti
tution, the first guaranteeing an equality of civil
rights; the second barring representation on suf-
frange; the third disfranchising all in the South
ern States who adhered to the rebellion until
1870 ; the fourth repudiating the rebel debt ; and
the fifth empowering Congress to carry these
provisions into effect.
2. A bill declaring that when these amend
ments shall become parts of the Constitution
any Southern State which shall ratify them and
embody them in its own Constitution, 9ball be
entit’ed to representation in Congress.
3. A bill declaring certain classes of persons
who have been engaged in the rebellion forever
inelligible to Federal office.
These, taken together, constitute the “ plan ”
of reconstruction as it was reported by the com
mittee. Only the first of them, the one embody
ing the amendments proposed to tlie Constitu
tion, has yet been acted on by either branch of
Congress. It was that, afeV. that only, which
passed the House on ThurSu . Those who ap
prove of such amendments^ ^ld not choose but
vote for them. AVhether vpv, ill also vote to
exclude the Southern Staf >onaom representation
in Congress until these am 'w s 5* nents become part
of the Constitution or ntpp remains to be seen
when the second ol the Ijjsasures reported by
the Committee comes to be acted upon. That
is the vital part of the “ Plan.” It requires on
ly a majority to pass it, unless it should be vetoed,
and then it will require two-tliirds.
The action of the House ou Thursday ought to
be distinctly understood by those Union men
throughout the country who would understand
what “leadership” in the House amounts to.—
These amendments were reported from the Joint
Committee by Mr. Stevens, its Chairman, on the
part of the House. It was instantly felt by a
large part of the Union members that the third
amendment, if adopted, would kill the whole
scheme, and forever exclude the Southern States
from representation—inasmuch as it required the
Southern people to disfranchise themselves as a
condition of being represented at all. Notice
was at once given that a motion -would lie made
to strike it out. By the rules, the Chairman of
the Committee has a right to open and close the
debate on any proposition reported by him. Air.
Stevens, on reporting this bill, moved to recom
mit it, which motion, by tlie rules, precludes any
amendment from being received. An attempt
was made to secure a separate vote on each sep
arate amendment, but tlie Speaker ruled that, al
though this might he done with a resolution of
the House, it could not be done with a joint res
olution. The cause was thus completely fore
closed at the outset.
The debate then went on for three days, and
the determination to strike out the third section
became perfectly manifest. Air. Stevens then
after a speech made up wholly of most unworthy
appeals to passion and prejudice, and without
tlie faintest attempt to answer a single argument
that had been advanced, withdrew the motion to
recommit and moced the precious question, which, if
sustained by the House, also cut off all amend
ment, aud compelled a direct and immediate vote
on all the propositions in a lump. On callin_
the roll a decided majority of the Union men
and a majority of the Democrats also voted
against the previous question, while a minority
of the Union men, embracing tlie extreme Radi
cals, with Stevens at their head, voted the other
way. Tlie result was a majority of one against
it. Thereupon the extreme Copperheads began
to change their votes, and under the lead of
Harris, of Alaryland, who was tried before a
military commission for treason, went over to the
Radicals, and gave them votes enough to reverse
tlie decision, compel an immediate vote and pre
vent any amendment whatever. The great body
of the Democrats, those who have acted through
out tlie session with candor and a patriotic pur
pose to restore the Unftn—such men as Dawson
Randall, Winfield, Radford, Taylor and others
(voted against the pradtops- question, while the
f‘*> , I beeiuA), Mmpnsing urrtar inert
Harris of Alaryland, Niblack of Indiana, Eldridge
of Wisconsin, Kerr of Illinois, Le BloncI of Ohio,
and Chanler of New York, came to the rescue
of Stevens and forced it through. In this way
they secured the defeat of the amendment, with
out taking a responsibility they would never have
dared to assume, of voting; against it.
Tlie Union party did not choose to be put in a
false position by so shameless and disloyal a co
alition, and voted as a unit for the amendments.
This is the second time Air. Stevens lias com
passed tlie defeat of the majority of the party
which lias made him its leader, by invoking the
aid and purchasing the alliance of the disloyal
section of the Democratic party. It was by pre
cisely the same trick that he forced the party to
vote for universal negro sufirage in the District
of Columbia, after it had declared, by a vote of
two to one, its preference for qualified aud intel
ligent suffrage. This style of management may
he creditable to the ingenuity and recklessness of
his leadership, hut it will not take much of it to
ruin-any party that submits to it.
perhaps forever (about one hundred), when one ,
of them came in. The kind instructress turned ! these, aud when it does, there will surely be no
to the “sable tenement of an immortal soul,” and
said, with an angelic kindness beaming through
her emerald glasses, “Dear Disley, I am soon to . . , .
leave you, and may never returu. You must he ls :Ul ' c uistory ot
recording angel to drop a tear upon its pages and
blot out tlie record. The parliamentary, or le^-
Xbe itreedmen’a Bureau—Generals Steed-
man and Fullerton.
We presume from an announcement which we
see in the Augusta Constitutionalist, of Sunday
morning last, that Generals Steedman and Ful
lerton—who are now, by virtue of tlieir appoint
ment by the President as Commissioners to
examine into the affairs of the Freedmen’s Bu
reau, visiting the cities of the South, in execu
tion of l heir important commission—will be in
Atlanta in a few days, to which we beg leave to
call the attention of our city authorities and citi
zens generally, for reasons w’hich we shall now
submit.
Of the operations of the Freedmen’s Bureau in
this city, we know almost literally nothing. To
us, it has been cause of congratulation that we
have had nothing at all to do with it, and whether
its affairs have been well, or otherwise managed,
are points to be testified to by others. This,
however,Is not the case with a large number of
our citizens, nor with our city authorities, and
they should be prepared wliea our city is visited
by the gentlemen appointed by the President
to do so, to give to them all the information in
their power in regard to the workings of tlie
branch Bureau here, extenuating nothing, nor
“setting down aught in malice.” Iu order that
we may be fully understood, we call the attention
of our city authorities, alid citizens, and espe
cially that of the legal profession here, to tlie fol
lowing condensed report of what occurred in
Savannah a few days ago, between these two
Commissioners and a number of its citizens on
the subject of tlie mission of tlie former. Per
haps the same course will be pursued here iu
Atlanta. It is the Savannah News & Herald’s
report which is thus condensed .
Generals Steedman and Fullerton, who consti
tute a committee sent out by President Johnson
to investigate tlie operations of the Freedmen’s
Bureau in the Southern States, held an interview
last evening with some twenty-five or thirty of
our most respected citizens, representing ail the
various interests and professions.
General Steedman opened tiie conference by
stating briefly the objects of his mission to in
quire into the operations of the Freeumen’s Bu
reau—to learn the influence it exerted upon the
relations of the two race9; whether its tendency
was to produce harmony or antagonism between
them; whether, in general, its effect was for harm
or for good, and whether it was necessary or ex
pedient to continue its existence. He invited
the gentlemen present to state what they knew
of the evils of the management of the Bureau in
Georgia.
Air. J. Al. B. Lovell said that he had been re
quested as a member of the bar to call the atten-
tion of the Commissioners to the Freed men's
Court. The action of this court, in which both
civil and criminal eases were adjudicated with- !
out a jury, while all the other courts were open i
and equal rights for the blacks and whites were I
guaranteed by the laws of the State, was calcu
lated to foster a feeling of antagonism between
the races. If a white man assaulted another
white man he was allowed a trial by jury; if he
assaulted a negro he was denied that manifest
laws of the State; that for the same offense, for
which a white man was sent to the penitentiary
a negro was sentenced to labor a short period on
the streets.
Hon. S. Cohen went on to say that the action
of the Freedmen’s Court in this repect had a
more deleterious influence on the negro, leading
him to feel that he had a special protection and
license, and that it gave rise to jealousy and ani
mosity lietween- the races. He was confident
that the better class of citizens and the well feel
ing of all classes were disposed to recognize fully
the new relations of tlie negroes to them—the laws
of Georgia showed it.
Gen. Steedman asked if any complaints had
been made of unjust discrimination in the decis
ions rendered by the civil courts.
Judge Fleming said he had heard of none; ne
promised for himself that the negro should have
the same justice meted out to him in his own
court as the white man.
Rev. Air. AVynn was here introduced. He spoke
of the convention of colored clergymen, now be-
in”" held in this eitv, composed of delegates from
the neighboring States; lie had been pleased to
observe the feeling that prevailed in this conven
tion ; it had been publicly avowed in a set of res
olutions, as the sense of the convention, that a
bad and dangerous feeling was growing out of
tlie interference, in their relations with tlieir for
mer masters, of strangers coming among them
pretending to he their friends. The resolutions
also thanked the citizens of Charleston for tlieii
uniform kindness to the colored people; in the
language of the resolutions, they hurled back the
libels upon the Southern people who were tlieir
true friends, aud condemned the conduct ot tlie
Northern emissaries who had come to incite in
surrection. Air. Wynu said he liad been greatly
impressed with the sensible aud manly tone of
the convention, which would have done credit to
anv deliberative assembly. In the discussions
and the proceedings generally an intellectual
ability was manifested tar in advance of what he
had looked for.
Gen. Steedman remarked that the negroes,
wherever lie had passed, had borne testimony to
the kindness of the intelligent people of the South,
they regarded tdem as tlieir friends, and had 110
complaints to make of them, excepting of a cer
tain class in the cities whom they denominated
as “roughs.”
Judge Law spoke at considerable length. He
said the great desideratum at the present time is a
maintenance of a kindly feeling between two
mutually dependent classes; whatever tended to
produce the contrary state of things was delete
rious and would cause “ delay in tlie return of
prosperity.” The happiness of the country de
pends on their coming together in their mntual
relations. There was a difference in their condi
tions, social and natural; we cannot expect an
obliteration of this difference at once, if ever,
but mutual interests would inevitable bring them
into the kindly relations which had existed here
tofore. As for the results of the operation of the
Bureau, he knew only wliat his former servants
had told him—that they had been advised not to
take contracts, to wait for the Government land
bounties, and the consequence was, that while
he and his neighbors had 50 or 75 acres of rice
planted, instead of 400 or 500 acres, as formerly,
Northern men, in tlie same neighborhood, had
from 500 to 1,000 acres under cultivation, with
plenty of laborers. He mentioned this to sliuw
that the Southern people would be compelled,
from interest, to treat the freedmen well. Alean-
wliile they should not be prejudiced against tlieir
old masters, nor the latter inflamed against them
by outside pressure. Alutual dependence would
establish the true relations between the races if
they were left to themselves. But the Bureau
had produced the alienation on account of the
distinction which it. made.
General Fullerton inquired if any one knew
of any instance of malfeasance 011 the part of
any officers of the Bureau, such as acceptin,
bribes, working plantations, demanding recom
pense for procuring laborers for planters, &c.
There was no response to this interrogatory.
After tltis a general conversation ensued, the
conclusions reached being that the tendency of
Prcotlmon’a Bmvmti wttfl miaRlip.vinilfi ill re-
cognizing the whites as the enemies of the blacks,
and that if it were withdrawn the responsibility
telt by tlie people to protect and care for the
freedmen would be increased.
The commission, after completing the invest!
gation of Bureau affairs in tlie vicinity will pro
ceed at once to Augusta.
From the foregoing, it will be seen that every
opportunity was given to the citizens of Savan
nah to state, wliat they knew- of the evils of the
management of the bureau in that city, and that
this invitation elicited much valuable informa
tion, especially from gentlemen of the legal pro
fession in that city. This may he tlie case when
Generals Steedman and Fullerton shall visit At
lanta.
I see an item going the rounds of the press
that Gen Jordan, who served during tlie war as
Chief of Staff to General Beauregard, is connect
ed with tlie Memphis Appeal, as one of its edi
tors. This is true, and it may he of inierest^to
Georgians to know that Colonel Dealing, who so
distinguished himself in command of the caval
ry, on the line ot the Petersburg and Weldon
railroad, is also editorially connected with that
paper. A most diabolical attempt was made to
murder Colonel John Heart, of the Commercial,
while quietly writing at a table in his sanctum,
on the night of the 9tli. Two shots were fired
through the window from across the street,
coming in close proximity to his person. The
following day an attempt was also made upou the
life of Air. Nally, the local of that paper. No
clue has, so tar, beeu developed as to tiie cause
or perpetrators of these outrages, borne two
months since their office was fired, but luckily
discovered in time to prevent any damage.
Alayor Alonroe and Colonel Nixon, of New
Orleans, passed through this city on tne 12tli, on
their way liomefrom Washington. 1 hey stopped
over for the day to receive the hospitalities ot the
city. General S. B. Buckner has established
himself in the commission business in this city.
Success to him. Several thousand sacks of
com are passing through the city a donation
from the citizens of Louisville and C'-., mati to
the suffering poor of Northern Alaliar; '' Jhin
the past few days, numerous iron '• > have
been attached to various lamp posts throughout
the city, reminding one that the fr-v .elivery sys
tem has been established here by ihe post office
department. It is a great convenience. Miss
Charlotte Thompson lias just closed an engage
ment of four weeks at the New Memphis Thea
tre. She is the favorite of Memphis theatre
goers, and her engagement has been a most suc
cessful one. J- B. L.
•* *-
NEW YORK CORRESPONDENCE.
John Minor Botta on Reconstruction—The Women's
Rights Advocates Petitioning Congress for Female
Suffrage—Head Centre Stephens and the Fenians—Im
probability of Re-Union—The Cholera at New York
and in Europe—An American Simoon—New York in a
Sand Storm—A Strange Divorce Case—How Divorces
are Obtained in the Metropolis—American Stocks Re
turned from Europe—The Markets.
MEMPHIS CORRESPONDENCE.
AIemphis, Alay 15,1866.
This great, State of Tennessee is truly iu a pitia
ble condition. Of all the Southern States, she
seems doomed to drink to tlie lowest, the bitter
cup of humiliation, for what we are being taught
to believe our misdeeds of the past five years.—
Cursed with a ruffian Governor, of the most
unprincipled grade, whose every thought, word
and deed is revolting in the extreme to all true
men ; we have also a Legislature that—it will
not be saying too much—is a disgrace to acivilzed
white man’s government. Not content, after re
fusing to allow a number of legally elected repre
seutatives to that body tlieir seats, solely because
their views do not accord with the majority by
threats and actual bodily violence, with mak
ing a law by which the ballot box is closed to
nine-tenths of the people of the State, they have
in the past week enacted another infamous meas
ure, one which robs the people of this city of
their individual rights, and places them at the
disposal of the oligarchy at Nashville. TlieAIe-
tropolitan police bill, so far as this city Is con
cerned, is a law, and we are soon to be placed
under tbe immediate rule of such men as Beau
mont, Hepburn, and Aloore—men wlio are hos
tile to a vast majority of our people, and from
whom we have to dread the most dire conse
quences from tlieir administration of the affairs of
the city. Tlie late disturbances liad much to do in
hastening the passage of this bill, but these lovers
of Freedmeu’s Bureaux and such other imposi
tions upon the rights of a free people, would
have eventually passed the obnoxious measure,
nevertheless. Truly are we to be pitied! when
the city of Memphis, comprising a population of
over 70,000 human beings, should have laws
made for her government by a Legislature in
which she is not allowed to be represented !—
The great principles of a republican form of
government are one by one being discarded by
radical legislation, and a few more years of such
rule, this great government, transmitted to us by
Washington, and which lias withstood tbe shock
of the most gigantic civil war on record, must
fall to pieces. But we are not so despondent as
to anticipate such a sad future. There are too
many good and true men in this broad land to
allow such to happen. The people everywhere
are rallying to the support of tlie President, and
at the coming elections we will certainly see the
overthrow of these destroyers of the government.
A meeting was held in this city on the 12th at
which resolutions were passed favoring the peti
tioning of the President of the United States to
secure to the people of this State, v a republican
from of government. The meeting was a large
and spirited one—attended by our leading citi
zens—and great unanimity prevailed.
Picnics and excursions to tlie country have
been the “order of the day” the past week.
Tlie donation party, given at the Gayoso, on the
4tli, was a decided success—netting some $G.000
for the benefit of the maimed Confederates in
our midst. A <rmnd tournament is advertised to
dal functions; that he had not contemplated their
a good girl, and apply yourself diligently to your
made and executed during the war against the ! books. Oh, how 1 love you, and all my dear
TTnSlo/1 fifdtnc Qllil nrvt in finlotinn nf ♦!»«-* ’T’Wll .ill f T
United States, and not in violation of the consti
tution and laws of the State, or of tlu United
.States, shall be as valid aud binding as if made
and executed before hostilities commenced.
colored pupils. Tell all of them you meet I
have had my photograph taken, and have one
for each of them. They must each bring a dol
lar and get one.”
we venture the assertion, can show the parallel!
of either of these two specimens of intense hate I
and devilish malignity. And yet these are only !
two ot many similar disgraceful occurrences iu ■
right
General Steed men replied that he was unaware j take place at tlie race course on the 22nd inst.,
that the agents of the bureau were exercising^ judi- 1 the proceeds of which is to be applied to erect
ing a monument to the Confederate dead in
cmeterv. It is open to the world,
and promises success. A noticeable feature in
all these celebrations and amusements is, that
i the object is tlie perpetuation of the memories
no civilized nation on earth doing so when he gave General Tillson authority to ~
’ | apply to the State Contewtion for the appointment i Elmwood C
p norAllol I "7 _ii _ ? * ^ r_ —,. 1,1 ~^ a *
of cidl agents of the bureau. He would examine
into the matter when he reached Augusta and hate
the Freedmen's Courts abolished in Georgia.
General Fullerton remarked that the great pre
the present Congress. Can a nation prosper j text for maintaining the Freedmen's Courts was, I °t our fallen braves, and rendering assistance to
that is governed by such men ? j that the freedmen cannot obtain justice in the | the more fortunate ones who have survived, but
New York, Alay 15, 1866.
John Alinor Botts is out to-day with a new
prescription for the American sick men. From
his comfortable quarters in the Astor House, Air.
Botts addresses a long letter “to the Senate and
House of Representatives” on the general subject
of reconstruction; but mainly against the mode
of treatment recommended by the Thad. Stevens
Central Directory. Mr. Botts objects to the re
port of the Directory for three reasons. First,
because it does not provide for placing all politi
cal power in the South in the hands of the cor
poral’s guard of “Southern Union men,” whom
a Northern General calls “lily-livered paltroons;”
second, bacause it would punish “traitors” ac
cording to tlieir rank, and not their offense, and
allow Northern “traitors” to escape scot free;
and third, because no Southern State will be
likely to adopt the conditions which it pre
scribes.
Mr. Botts then prescribes his remedy. lie
proposes, as a substitute for the Constitutional
amendments reported by the Directory, a law
declaring “ that no person hereafter shall be
capable of holding any office, legislative, execu
five or judicial, in the Federal or State govern
ments, for ten years from the passage of this act,
who was over twenty-five at the breaking out of
the rebellion,” without declaring, on oath, that
he never, in any way, voluntarily aided tlie re
hellion. Air. Bolts would liave this enactment
“ accompanied with an absolute remission, in all
cases, of the forfeiture of life, liberty and prop
erty.” Another oath should be required to swear
allegiance to the Constitution and laws of the
United States, all State enactments to the con
trary notwithstanding. If the plan of Mr. Botts
should be adopted, he thinks it would secure im
mediate reconstruction, and remove the chief
cause of dissension between Congress aud the
President. Tlie foregoing are only a few of tlie
points which Air. Botts makes in his letter, but
they are sufficient to show its substance. Ot his
honesty it is not necessary to speak, but of his
recommendations, I may safely say, they will
not be adopted. The Washington doctors want
to keep the reconstruction case entirely in their
own hands.
In the next column to that containing the let
ter of Air. Botts—as tlie Tribune prints it—there
is an appeal to Congress from the Women’s
Rights Convention, which met here last week,
praying for “equal rights to all”—that is, suffrage
for every man and woman in the United States,
no matter wliat the color ot their skin may be.—
The petitioners remind Congress that they have
already prayed several times for women’s rights
at the ballot box. They make extensive quota
tions from one of Sumner’s prize speeches on
universal suffrage,” and prove to their own en
tire satisfaction that the salvalion of American
liberty depends on the extension to them of the
same rights now enjoyed by “the tyrant, man.”
It does not seem just the time for these vinegar-
visaged old maids (no disrespect to sensible wo
men intended) to be petitioning for suffrage when
nearly one-third of the male citizens of the coun
try are deprived of that right. It strikes me,
and no doubt the same notion has occurred to
others, that it these female agitators had nursery
duties of their own to attend to they would not
bother themselves and the country quite so much
about “impartial suffrage, without regard to sex
or color.”
The efforts of Head Center Stephens to infuse
new life into Fenianism do not promise to be
very successlul. The affairs of the Brotherhood
in this country have been so shamefully misman
aged that a dozen men, each having as much
talent and influence a.s Stephens, could hardly
place them on a healthy footing again. Nearly
all the O’Mahoney leaders, including O’AI. Him
self, have been sent adrift, and a committee ap
pointed by Stephens has made an examination of
their accounts. The committee has made a re
port which is very damaging to the Union Square
managers. Of the vast sums of money subscrib
ed, there are only a few hundred dollars remain
ing. Even the money received at the fair held
here for the families of Fenian prisoners in Ire
land has disappeared, or ha3 been misappropri
ated. Stephens is said to be almost in despair of
effecting any of the objects for which he came to
the United States, and all in consequence of the
rascality of some ot the men lately employed at
the O’AIahoney headquarters—rascality which
has disgusted and discouraged two-thirds of the
intelligent Fenians in this city.
Stephens is addressing a Fenian mass meeting
at Jones’ Ford this afternoon. The attendance
is laige, but two-thirds of those present went
through cariosity. The Roberts’Fenians refused
to have anything to do with the meeting, because
Stephens ignores their leaders altogether. He
will not recognize the Senate nor treat with it
officially in his efforts to re-unite the Brother
hood. Tliis irritates the Roberts’ men, and they
say they will not receive any overtures which ig
nore their head managers. Besides,the Roberts’
party say they are now almost ready to take the
field, and as Stephens has set liis face firmly
against their plans, in fact, pronouncing them
as treasonable to the Fenian cause—there is not
much prospect of re-union. The flutter of Fenian
excitement that we have now will not last long,
and when it subsides we will probably have
heard the last of Irish agitation iu iis present
form.
The health of this city continues very good.—
We have no cholera nor any unusual sickness.
The pestilence has not entirely died out at quar-
"antine, but it is steadily subsiding, and unless nil-
other cholera ship should arrive, we expect to
hear of its entire disappearance in a few days.—
But it is by no means certain that another chol
era ship will not arrive. The news of the break-,
ing out of the pestilence on the emigrant steamer
Helvetia, between Liverpool and Queenstown, is
calculated to renew apprehensions that another
cargo of cholera will be brought here. The Hel
vetia belongs to the seme line to which the Vir
ginia and England belong. Tlie managers of
the line, as we learn from Liverpool, have deci
ded to stop German emigration through their
vessels, and the British Government lias ordered
a full examination of all German emigrants be
fore their admission to England. This may re
tard the march of the pestilence, but will hardly
stop it. Indeed it has already appeared in Eng-
land—a sailor who arrived at Bristol from Rot
terdam, having died of it—and the next steamer
will probably announce that it has secured a firm
foothold there. From the English seaports it
will have a ready passage to this country, and
though by vigilance we may mitigate its ravages
when it comes, yet that it will come is almost as
certain as that it already exists.
A letter from Buenos Ayres, March 28th, re
ports a terific wind storm in that region a few
days before. Day was made dark as night by
whirling clouds of dust, and in a very brief time
fifty lives were lost. I mention this to introduce
a notice of a lively simoon which favored our city
with a visit on Sunday afternoon. It stalled at
Sandy ITook—at least we think it did—and rush
ed upon New York with such tremendous speed
that pedestrians had no chance to escape it. It
also swept along the New Jersey shore, over Jer
sey City and Hoboken, and when last heard
from,-41 was playing mad pranks in the country
districts. Its approach was indicated by clouds
of dust or sand rushiug up from Sandy Hook,
and in a few minutes the city was overwhelmed
with such a storm of sand as no American ever
saw* in his own country before. The gale that
accompanied it was terrific, and the discomfort of
the persons exposed to it—especially those ofthe
crinoline sex—was embarrassing in the extrema
But it did no damage in tlie city, further than
taking signs out of their proper places, and
making ladies regret that they did not stay at
home. I have heard that it took a score of wa
terfalls away with it, but cannot certify that the
statement is true.
AYe have just had a queer revelation ol the
manner in which divorces are sometimes obtained
in New York. I11 December last, tlie wife 01
tlie Rev. Joseph A. Saxton, a Presbpterian min
ister, who at the time was living in Dorwichtowu,
Connecticut, commenced a suit for divorce, al
leging that the husband had visited houses of ill
fame in this city in 1862, and also, that lie had
deserted her and refused to support his children.
The case went to a referee, and in February a
decree of divorce was granted in the wife’s favor.
Air. Saxton has lately made application to have
the case re-opened, as it was tried without his
knowledge. He has made a deposition, selling
forth that he had no information whatever about
the matter until he learned from a New York
paper that liis wife had obtained a divorce.
Now, the rascality of obtaining divorces in
this way may be properly shouldered on a few
lawyers ? n this city who advertise that they will
secure divorces without publicity and without
fee until a valid decree is obtained. A divorce
case now pending in the Supreme Court has given
Justice Barnard an opportunity to publicly cen
sure attorneys engaged in tins disrepputable busi
ness. He said lie was satisfied that many decrees of
divorce were obtained in this city by unfair means.
and added that so long as he was tlie presiding Jus
tice he would use all 1 lie means in liis power to pre
vent unscrupulous attorneys from abusing the law.
He would, therefore, order that in tHe case then
pending, the testimony be taken in open court.
Should this rule be followed out, it is probable
that applications for divorce will diminish. Per
sons wishing to have their marriage bonds can
celled generally Imvo no objection to State tllClll
before a referee, but when they know that all the
testimony must be taken iu open court, they will
think more than once before exposing their
scandals to the public.
The stock and gold market is somewhat ex
cited under recent advices from Europe. About
$700,000 in Five-twenty bonds were return
ed to us from Liverpool by the last steamer,
and offered in Wall Street yesterday. They sold
readily, but the event had an unfavorable effect
on stock in general. Gold advanced to $1 30y
The cotton market remains without much change.
Middlings are quoted at 3-la30e. C.
CIIARIESTO N CORRESPONDENCE.
Charleston, May 18, i860.
A visit to this war-worn city is replete with in
terest. It is one of the trio of Southern cities,
on which the wrath of tlie enemy was poured
out. For over one year it was shelled nearly
every day. Terrible fires swept over it, destroy
ing everything in their path. The war closed on
a scene of ruins, but the people, with an indom
itable energy, put their shoulders to tlie wheel
and looked the future boldly in the face. A few
months sufficed to repair, in a great measure, the
destruction caused by years of war. It 13 now
but one year since the grand finale, and Charles
ton holds the same position, commercially, that
she formerly occupied.
The streets at present are miserably lighted,
the sside-walks are full of burnt bricks, holes,
&c., and an evening promenade, except under
the influence of fair Lana, is an enterprise that
is more honored in the breach than in the ob
servance.
Yery few of tiie houses show the marks made
by Gilmore’s anti-secesli pills; they have been
carefully repaired, and if it were not for the pres
ence of a few earth works that are scattered
about tlie city, and a stray shell occasionally
found in the burnt district, there would be no
mementoes of the siege.
The battery, tlie great, summer promenade, is
commencing to look like itself again. The huge
pile of dirt—an old bomb-proof—which raised
its unsightly form in tlie midst of beauty, is rap
idly being carried away. The dirt is very much
needed to fill up low lots, &c., and -the city au
thorities have disposed of these works to parties
who will cart it off. The subject of a city park
is being agitated, and with every prospect of suc
cess. A whole square, iu the center of tlie town,
was laid waste by the great fire of 1861. Yery
few houses liave been rebuilt on this plat, and
some ofthe solid men of this, burg propose sur
rounding the square with a block of buildings
after the manner ofthe Palais Royal of Paris.
The center will be a gunkm well laid out with
fountains, trees, ccc. The plan is an admirable
one, and has met with great favor among the cit
izens. Several lot-holders have made a present
of their land to the committee, and others have
offered them at reasonable rates. There are at
present but two or three breathing spots in.
Charleston, and they are situated on tlie out
skirts of 1 lie city. A park or garden of some
sort is essentially needed in the center of the
: e busily
town, and now is t:
places glad and th
rose.”
Our city fill hers a
out the drains, iv/.-drlu; a.
city property, and placing
ongli sanitary condition,
are working well, and it 11,
keep their private lot.-; in
there would be very little
visit of Mr. Ybllow Jack,
have already commenced.
n m ike " the desolate
to blossom like tlie
ageu in cleaning
. i while washing the
( i'crything iu a thor-
TSie Board of Health
e citizens would only
a cleanly condition,
to apprehend from a
Tiie summer heats
light clothing is abso
lutely necessary, and those pc3ts of mankind,
musqnitoes, have begun tlieir lightly serenades.
Pavilions are now an institution, and any poor
fellow who is so unfortunate as not to own one
has his beauty marred by the biles, and is often
thought to be a victim of small pox, and is treated
so cavalierly, in consequence, that be buys a mu3-
quito net in sch-delense. ***
Do one thing at n time—that’s a rule. When
you have done slandering your neighbor, begin
and say your prayers.