Weekly Atlanta intelligencer. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1865-18??, July 31, 1867, Image 1

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Newspaper Page Textii I i f * if 7 ERROR CEASES TO BE DANGEROUS WHEN REASON IS LEFT FREE TO COMBAT IT.’’—Jefftrson. VOLUME XIX. ATLANTA, GA., WEDNESDAY, JULY 31,1867. NUMBER 31. Utoiity ^ntelligrncrr. ATLANTA, GEORGIA, Wodnesday, July 31, 1866. Repudiation—StarlllaK Intelllgence The lollowing piece of startling intelligence appeared in the Washington City Nuli/mol Intel- hgencer of the 20lh instant: The House of Representatives has boldly and nublushingly begun the repudiation of the na tional debt. Never again let the Radicals howl al*oul the “ sacred character” of the debt incur red to preserve the integrity of the Union! They have given the first blow, and have said to the world, “ We will not pay our national debt." The Court of Claims was established to give ttie jteople who have had transactions with the government some little chance for relief from the caprice and tyranny of oflicials. The act of March 12, 1863, makes especial provision for Union men whose property was captured during the war to prosecute their claims in this court, and fixes the manner of payment. During the war, and since, it has been a common practice for officers in the military and civil service to refer parties for redress to the Court of Claims Now that they have gone there, and a few of them have obtained judgments, after all the ap pliauccs of the executive branch of Ihe govern merit to prevent it, and it has been judicially announced that the government is indebted to these parlies a certain amount, the Radical Con gress steps forward and resolves to rot/udiate the <Lht. France and England have provided similar tiibnualu, before whom the people may present their claims against their respective Govern ments, and we have yet to hear of the first case of flic repudiation of their judgments. How is this ? Arc the people to have no redress from officiul caprice from any quarter V Are the /«ople to be left to the mercy of every upsturt official who may choose to give the most distort ed construction to the law or demand tribute from the claimant? Are the people to be left to choose between arrogant officials and the giving away of more thau half their just claims to the lobbyists wbo surround members of Congress? A large amount of cotton and other property belonging, in many instances, to loyal people, was seized during, flic war, and the proceeds placed in the Treasury of the United States.— The claimants were remitted to the Court of Claims to establish their loyalty and their right to the “net proceeds." No matter what damage the parties may have sustained or how exorbi tant flic charges allowed to oflicials, nothing but tlie “net proceeds” could be recovered. The court, aftei a most patient hearing and thorough investigation at the hue session, gave judgment for about $131,420 60 in all. In some other cases where officials arbitrarily, repudiated the con tracts made in good faith lor arms and material to carry ou the war, and the contracts were fully carried out by the contractors, judgments were rendered in accordance with the contracts. All these are debts which the United States owe to individuals, of just as sacred a character as the bouds which have been issued. And now, il Congress repudiates these debts, why should anyone be stopped from ad vising the repudiation of the bouds issued by the Government? All pf them are a part of the “ national debt,” and, iu good faitj), the Government is equally bound for them all. Let it be known that the Fortieth (Radical) < 'ongress is the first to take a position practically in favor of repudiating the national debt. In all the wide circle of our acquaintance, ex tending as it does from the seaboard to the mountains of our State, and from the Savanuah to the < 'hattiihoocliee, we know of but few men who have presented cotton or other claims, against the Government at Washington, on the ground of being Union men during the war, that are entitled on that ground to receive them.— Most of the claims based upon that assumption that have come within our observation, are base less ii by “ Union meu" those are meant who were loyal to the Union at the inception of and during the war. We have now “in our mind’s eye” as it were, not more than two of these claimants in our Slate who were loj’al, and maintained their loyalty to the United States Government from the beginning to the end of the war, and these are undoubtedly entitled to recover their claims us established before tbe court which adjudicated them. On the other haud we know ot many, some of them residents of this city, who, ii they were loyal iu the true sense of the word to the United States Government during the war, nei ther their conversation nor their acts indicated it. and wc have wondered at tlieir effrontery in asserting themselves in the solemn form they have done to 1)0 loyal men, and eutitled to resti tution lor either property destroyed or property seized during the war by the Federal army. For such we have no sympathy. In most cases they become blatant Union, or loyal men, after the fall of the Confederate States, out ot which, traitor!) as they were to both sections, some ol them amassed large fortunes and are now roll ing, it not riotigg, iu their wealth. It is not only our privilege but our duty to make this reference, mid to caution the Government against all such. As for the Radical Congress, and its repudiating" pr< .gramme, we expect no better front it. Sett ing aside and violating tbe Constitution as it has done, w hat cares it for the just claims of an iudividual ? Denying, as it has, justice to millions of people, w hat cares it for the claims of a few upon its sense ol right ? Every political step forward which it takes is the assertion of powers not conferred up on it by 'be Constitution, and why should it hesi tate to repudiate the just claim of an individual, or the debt ot the nation ? But enough of the Radical Congress and its repudiating proclivities! Let it go on with its work; wc have patieutly w finessed its beginning, and shall patiently bear with it till its eud shall come. The auony through which not only the South but the whole i ouutry is passing, must have its limit, or history will tail iu one instance, at least, “to repeat itscll." “Each one of these five district commanders, though not chosen by the people or responsible to them, exercises at this hour more executive power, military and civil, than the people have ever been willing to confer upon the head ol the Executive Department, though chosen by aud responsible to themselves. This remedy must come from the people themselves. They know what it is and how it is to lie applied. At the pre sent time they cannot, according to the Constitu tion, re|>eal these laws; they cannot remove or con trol this despotism. The remedy, nevertheless Is in their hands; it is to be found in the ballot and is a sure one, if not controlled by fraud overawed by arbitrary power, or, from apathy on their part, too long delayed. With abiding con fidence in their patriotism, wisdom and integrity I am still hopeful of the future, and that in the end Lite rod of des|>otisin will be broken, the armed rule of power lifted from the necks of the people, aud the principles of a violated Con stitution preserved.” Georgia and Georgia as The foregoing is the closiug paragraph ol President Johnson’s veto of the supplementary military reconstruction bill, passed by Congress at its recent session, and which, by the two thirds vote, as required by the Constitution—the only incident connected with the bill, from its in ception to its conclusion, that shows respect for the requiiements of that sacred instrument—has now become a law. The language of the Pres ident is dignified and impressive. There is no vaporiug about it. His conclusions are irresisti ble, and must make a deep impression upon the minds of the people ol the whole country. The remedy which he suggests against the outrageous invasions ol the rights of the Southern people, is indeed the only remedy left. The courts have been set aside; tbe Executive has been ignored; and the Military ha) been directed to execute the congressional decree. Well may we exclaim, as Dido did in her despair— “What hope, Oh ! Panthcue, whither shall we run, Where make a stand, or what may yet be done.” Says Andrew Johnson—for he is little more than that individual with the present Radical Congress, which has shorn him, as it were, ot his high official prerogatives—“the remedy is to be found iu the ballot, and it is a sure one”— sure, “if not controlled by fraud, overawed by arbitrary power”—sure, if not from apathy on the part of tbe people tbe remedy be not “ too long delayed.” We see much to apprehend in this “ apathy ” to which the President refers. There is danger iu it. The people of the North and of the great West, by whom the remedy is to he applied, ii it be applied at all, we fear, have already become “overawed,” and have sub mitted to this “apathy.” They are now as much a subdued people as tbe people of the South— the latter by the force of arms, the former through fear of the party in power. But this cannot remain always so. In every thiug ani mate there is a “rise, progress, and decline.” Iu the order of nature” we have evidence of this ; iu Hie history of nations the same evidence is pro duced. Even though power may for a time over awe, and even though apathy may fora*time prevail, still neither the one nor the other can torever overawe, and prevail over men who, from youth to manhood, have been taught what con stitutional liberty is, and that in the ballot rests its preservation. Like the President, we have abiding confidence “ in the patriotism, wisdom, and integrity” of the people ; and, like him, we are still hopeful that “in the end, the rod of des potism will be brokeD,” that “the armed rule ol power will be lifted from tbe necks of the peo ple, and the principles of a violated Constitution be preserved.” She Wan, She I«. While a great, a mournful change has come o’er this good old commonwealth, when we com pare her present with her past, still her financial condition, amid all the surroundings that have swept away the former prosperity of her people, ought to be a source of congratulation to them. The bare fact, as recently reported by her State Treasurer, Colonel John Jones, iu an official document addressed to Governor Jenkins, that the assets of the State exceed all her liabili ties—exclusive of taxation—in the sum of $5,751,- 905, is evidence of the economy and skill that have marked the conduct of her public affairs, as well a-s of the vastness of her resources. Most heartily do we congratulate her almost ruined people upon the prosperous condition of the State. In a financial sense, she still presents claims to rank as the “ Empire State of the South,” while she still also embrace- within her bounds much of that energy aud enterprise which in days past checkered her wi h railways, stimulated commercial and agricultural enter prises, and gave every impetus it coaid to every industrial pursuit. Even now, palsy stricken as it were, her people need but the recognition of their political rights and the rights of the State iu the Union as of old, aud as provided for iu the Constitution, to speedily recover ail that has been lost. When will this lie conceded them ? Alas! echo answers, when? There are no sigus of the times” foreshadowing that future— no light in the horizon <>t coming events indica ting the hoped-tor event! All is doubt, and gloom, and darkness. We have come almost, to the time, when in a political sense— “ Metliiuks we Btand on ruin; nature shakes About us; aud the universal frame's So loose, that it but wants another push, To leap from ofl its hinges.’’ Still the State shall stand in its wise conduct, and under the direction of her own sons, finan cially sound, else all is lost. State News. Butler ludUcnant. It seems that the virtuous Benjamin grew quite indignant over certain things iu the Presi dent’s veto message, aud delivered himself as follows iu the House : I would not ask the House to pause in what we understand to be our duty, if the message, which we have just heard, did not seem to me to require a single remark or two. First, upon its tone, and second, as to some assertions ol fact. I do not propose to deal with the argu ments in the message, but protest, in tbe name ot the House, agaiust the Executive slandering the Congress ot the United States by declaring iu an official paper that we have put on twelve millions ol people in llie country a despotism more intolerable than ever bad been borne by any other jieople. I give the exact meaning, if not the exact words of the message; either that is true or false. It true, we are unworthy of our places here. It false, the man who makes the charge ought not to hold his place a single hour longer. This man Butler counts his wealth by mil lions, and every dollar and dime be owns is blistered by tbe tears of widows and orphans and crusted over with human blood ! And yet he can rise iu his place, aud in the face of the whole country, attempt a display ol honest in dignation about a matter of fact, the truth of which is patent and palpable to every thinking mind, and as clearly to be seen as tbe slarj ol heaven on the brow ol night. We only wish that this Ishmaelite aud his co-workers may go ou with the business of impeachment. But they'll not do it—and never intended to from the first It would be attended with consequences they have not the conrage to lace. The Albany News says: From every indica tion, this will be a sickly season, not only in Southwestern Georgia, but in places where there scarcely ever was any sickness before. We were surprised, when up tbe country, to hear ot so muck sickness in that region. All the watering places are being filled up with those seeking health. The cars are crowded with invalids, and everything gives evidence of the reign of disease. We learn from the Early count} 7 News that the work ol building a bridge across the Chatta hoochee river at Fort Gaines is soon to be com menced. It anticipates that the bridge will be finished before the end of the year. Mr. Duncan, who, it will be remembered, was tried over a year ago by a military commis sion at Savannah, for maltreatment of Union prisoners at Andersonville, and who was con victed and sentenced to fifteen years’ imprison ment at Fort Pulaski, has recently succeeded in effecting his escape from that fort, a ad has not as yet been re-captured. The Bainbridge Argus says: Registering in this county has reached seventeen hundred names, the colored largely in the majority, but it is not yet-known the exact number. We are iulormed that the colored people will run no separate ticket, but will be satisfied to vote with the whites for any good, reliable man for the Convention. The Dawson Journal slates that the bureau agent for Dougherty,'Lee, and Terrell counties, will issue a month’s supply of corn and bacon to such indigent people of Terrell couuty—white or colored—as can solemnly declare, and upon their word aud honor certify, that they are in absolute need of food, stating the circumstances which render them so. Nine hundred watermelons, three hundred cautelopes, one hundred and sixty-three crates of peaches, aud six crates ot grapes, were ship ped ou the San Salvador, to New York, from Savannah, on Saturday last. In two preeiucts in Elbert county,366 whites and 157 blacks have been registered. In* Columbia county, nearly complete, the black vote registered exceeds the white more thau two thousand. From a statement of the financial condition ot the State, as famished by the Treasurer, John Jones, Esq., we copy the following recapitulation: Assets, exclusive of Taxes $11.01$,60) 00 Bouds in Treasury uot sold 900,000 00 $12,006,600 (O Total Debt, including interest 6,356,685 (W Assets over all Liabilities... $ 5,731,965 00 The Boston Traveler of the 16th instant states that a lady iu Reading, Massachusetts, while conversing with some callers, suddenly turned pale, and, sinking into a chair, exclaimed, “Did you hear that gun ? It affected me strangely; ” aud wept inconsolably. Her visitors had heard no report, and it afterwards appeared that no gun had been fired at that time on the place.— News came, however, that her brother, residing a huudred miles away, was at that very hour fatally shot by tbe accidental discharge ot his fowling piece while hunting in a grove near his house. Bold Talk. Col. Frank Wolford who was one of the bravest and most active among the Federal Cav il ry leaders in Kentucky during the late war, has come out very decidedly lor the Democrats, and in a late speech, at Jamestown, iu that State, is reported to have used the following language: l ever was and am a Union man, anil desire to see every State in our Government represent ed by a star upon the American flag. Those who are opposed to this are disunionists and rebels in the true sense of those terms. If the Radical candidate, Barnes, should be elected fairly, I sav, let him take his seat; and if Helm should be elected, and any power attempts to resist his inauguration, as soon as the electric fires flash the news through the country, a mil lion of American citizens will rise and assert their power and rights, and I will buckle on my sword, march to the conflict without counting the cost, and proclaim to the world that ‘ Ameri cans will he freemen and not slaves.’ ” This is bold talk on the part of one who fought for the “Union” during the war. The address was received with great cheering by the large audience in attendance upon its delivery, and, says the correspondent of the Louisville Courier, from which we make the foregoing extract, “told too plainly to the few Radicals present, that their cause is almost demolished here and that Kentuckians were getting in high earnest” —adding that “if the election was put oft a few weeks longer, Radicalism, even in the mountain counties, would sink into perfect insignificance.” One hundred thousand majority is claimed agaiust the Radical candidate for Governor in Kentucky. * The Veto.—The New York Evening Post opposes the President’s veto and defends Con gress, saying, however, that “ It is not the South ern people who suffer by the present system, but those ot the North. * * * That is the truth of the matter; the present policy is not so un happy for the Southern States, but it is dangerous to the country at large; aud the longer it contin ues the more dangerous and mischievous must be its results. This is plain to most thoughtful men ; it is not denied by any except the most bitter extremists.” The Express thinks that no country but one fresh from the horrors and trials of a frightful civil war could or would tolerate the despotism of Congress. The men of the South submit to it because they are broken in spirit, broken in fortune, aud every way defeated. Men iu the North tolerate it because they are blind, besotted and cowardly, aud Massachusetts leads the as sault. ^ An Important Fact.—A writer in the Mil- ledgeville Recorder signing himself “Win. Mc Kinley,” says the Bankrupt law provides that no debtor desiring a discharge from the burden ot his debts, can get such discharge after June 1st, 1868, unless his property is sufficient to pay half his debts. If debtors fail to apply for the benefit of the act during the first year and yet are uot able to pay hall their debts, there is no certain relief for him ; but they will have to five under the burden of their debts forever, or until a ma jority of their creditors asseut in writing to their discharge. 'Debtors who apply lor discharge during the first year, from June 1st, 1867, to June 1st, 1868, can be discharged, no matter how little they pay. Time is precious to those much in debt. The Father or Water*. A correspondent of the Nashville Union if- Dispatch having suggested that Memphis was liable, at any moment, to “fall in” to a watery abyss beneath it, caused by the sublerauean flow of the Mississippi, the BuBetin, adds the follow ing : V. The river shore in the uavy yard has rapidly disappeared. There steamers-rarely land. In front of the city proper there are always from ten to twenty steamers. By these the earth, at the waters’ edge, is protected and Ihe farce of the surface current is broken, {fence it happens that the earth at the waters’ edge and for ten or twenty feet below, remains unbroken. The great body of the mighty tide of wafers’, forty and fifty feet below, rushes onward iu its unresisted course rending away the eaitii. How far the stream passes beneath the city, teereis, of course, no means of ascertaining. T£e explosion of torpedoes, forty or fifty feet ipfaw the river’s surface, shook every building Wast of the bayou. Beyond the Bayou, the shock was unheeded, uiifeil. Many years ago a saw mill w:>^.:ii work in the swamps of Arkansas, twenty if-des from the Mississippi. The owner awoke.«?*y*-bright morn ing to find his well dry, in whwWtic day before there was water three or four fetrfdeep. He cut a trench to a broad long surlae* pond, not far away, and was again"supplied with an abundance of- water. This trench connected the pond and well. Three days elapsed, and*pond and well both were empty. The old mangM" the mill was amazed. The story was told to » traveler from Memphis. “It is plain enough^}he*said: “the river is lower than for years past? aud your well and pond have emptied themselvxs into the great sewer of the continent.” The {Mississippi not only overflows, but underflow* all the broad valley through which it passdE Its channel, however broad aud deep, coulij^not contain all rains that fall and streams that c»nne down from the mountains, territories, and Stales of America. At Fort Pillow and Randolphiftvery evidence of war has disappeared, swallowed up by the great river. Earthworks at Randolph, built in 1861, three hundred yards troneche shore, have gone to the Balize. At both tiiese places the river current, as here at Memphis, strikes the shore almost at right angles. A tity paper tells us how* a planter, within the week, deposited $5,000 worth of supplies upon’JShe river bank somewhere in Arkansas. He hadfaot gone half a mile when the country behind him disappeared with all his stores. Reelfoot Lake is fathomless. It is not far from the river. The night before the earthquake ol 1812, lofty trees stood where deep, silent still waters now have unbroken repose. Cypress trees two huudred feet high went-down. Their loftiest brandies do not reach tG^purlace of the wonderful lake. Years bufarff (he great river had undermined file countiy, the laud went down and water came up. Everywhere around New* Madrid we have iudubitable evidence that the mighty river finds its way tyr beneath the earth’s surface. Au earthquake’s shock broke down the earthen bridges that every where along the river shores span mighty streams aud deep subterranean lakes that are reservoirs to supply atmospheric moisture and hold ihe superabun dant waters of this broad valley. Brevities. Tiie New York Herald nominates Simon Cameron for the Vice-Presidency, to go on the ticket with General Grant. Simon is worth sev- PHI.LADETPHTA CORRESPONDENCE. [M’ECIAI. TO THE rNTTIXIiiENCER.] Philadelphia, July 19,1867. Thing* about Atlanta. Whether complimentary to the enterprise of the local press or not, one must so lifetimes go Keglstrattan Items. Talbot County—A letter from Geneva gives us the result of the registration ati that place on Monday: Whites 89, blacks 133. ;§ Upson—We are informed that Ske whole num ber registered iu Upson county ha®,582, and that the blacks have a majority of 16 jin the county. In Pike county, Alabama, 1,1§UL whites, and 591 blacks have been registereiL%bd there are two precincts, Troy and Cross tjpads, yet to register- Thc wlrite ’Vote'TfTlfie whole county will outnumber the black two to one. In Tallapoosa county, Alabama, up to Sat urday last, 1,238 whiles and 462 blacks had been registered. The Chattanooga Union says with much pa thos: The city, these days, is dullness incarnate. It would puzzle the profoundest thinker and the vividest imaginist (that’s our word) to find any thing startling in such times as these. Our re- l>orter wore out lots of shoe leather in the course ol his industrious perambulatious about town yesterday, aud at last ret urned to the office in despair. We suppose, in the natural order of human events, something ought to turn up shortly. * A young gentleman or an elderly one, we dis- remember which, after having paid his addresses to a lady for some time, “popped the question the lady in a frightened manner said: “ You scare me, sir!” The gentleman did not wish to frighten the lady, and consequently remained quiet for some time, when she exclaimed: “ Scare me again !” We did not learn how af fairs turned out, but should think it was pretty near his turn to be scared. Pretty Good.—Iu our progressive, go-ahead city, there is a project ou foot to erect a monu ment to “ Father Abraham."’ A few days since an agent, appointed to get up subscriptions, ap proached one of our fellow-citizens, known aud distinguished for his uncompromising Unionism before and during the war, and solicited aim to subscribe. The prompt reply was: “I have al ready subscribed fifty-three likely negroes to your monument.” Whereupon the patriotic and self-sacrificing agent made an abrupt departure with a large-sized flea in his ear and looking as though he had heard something drap. General Lee.—The statement in the Radical papers that General Robert E. Lee has declared iu favor of accepting the various and sundry re construction bills is without the least foundation in fact. General Lee won’t even read a news paper—especially a Radical noose-paper—and has religiously abstained from altering any opin ion on the subject mentioued. The present Rad ical party, however, was conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity, and it subsists and flourishes best on falsehood and misrepresena.tion. " Charity kok all !—Malice Toward None 1 ”—This is a famous sentiment ottered by President Lincoln, which the members of the party he left behind him utterly repudiate and fail to pr&otice. A Philadelphia paper abases the President lor pardoning Toombs. The fact is, the Presi dent is not guilty of the alleged oflense, as Toombs has not been pardoned, and has not ap plied for Executive clemency. Savannah.—The News d Herald of Wednes day says: It will be seen from the official report of the Board of Health, published in our issue of this evening, that the deaths in the city du ring the week ending on the 22d instant were seven less than during the preceding week.— This aflords gratifying evidence that the citizens ot Savannah are still in the enjoyment of their usual health, notwithstanding the high figure at which the thermometer has ranged during the last thirty days. A Desperate Man.—We noticed in one of our Georgia exchanges yesterday an editorial one column and a hall in length. W e have no doubt It was an admirably conceived and hap pily digested article, but we coakfo’t undertake to read it, with the thermometer at 93 in tbe shade. i — A Washington dispatch says, iu view of the complicated condition of political affairs in Mex ico, and the grand Franco-Austrian movement iu the direction of Mexico, these two missions are among the most important and difficult; but, under the tenure of office law, the offices remain iu abeyance, and the President has no authority to appoint Ministers to Austria or Mexico until the Senate shall again meet and confirm the nominations. The relatives ol the Hon. James Williams, formerly of East Tennessee, now residing in Austria, have recently been advised of the mar riage of his second daughter, Miss Mary C., to Prince Ferdiuaml De Signora des Princes de PressiccL The happy event took place on the 30th of May. The eldest daughter of Mr. Wil liams was married some lime sinee to Baron Kavenah. The Knoxville Free Press of Wednesday says: We understand a dispatch was received in this city last night, staling that a general tight took place at Rogersville on yesterday, in which two uien were killed and six or eight horses were shot. We have seen no oue who is in posses sion of any of the lacts, but give tbe rumor as we received it. The officers of the steamer McGill, just ar rived at St. Louis from the Upper Missouri, say that a band of Sioux Indians attacked a fort of the Rhea tribe above Fort Stephenson, killing three, and ran oft twenty-five ponies. The same night a party of Indians stampeded a number of government horses and wounded one soldier at Fort Stepheuson. It has been reported iu Washington, that Mr. Greeley’s nomination as Minister to Austria was made at the solicitation of Secretary Seward, who wished to get Greeley out of the way. The President denies this, and says the Secretary knew nothing of the nomination until it was sent to the Senate. It is as true in politics as in religion and mo rals, that whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap. Every Radical who tramples upon justice and right in the halls of legislation and the executive offices of the government, is has tening on the very end he deprecates. A Mexican newspaper, the Queretaro Espa ranza, charges Minister Romero with advising the murder of Maximilian. Joarez, it says whs disposed to spare the Emperor’s life, but yielded to the judgment of the greater savage who rep resents him at Washington. A correspondent of the San Francisco Bul letin states that near Monterey there are frogs weighing twenty-five pounds, and that their croaking can be heard sixT miles. The same ve racious authority avera that they are used in place of fog bells, and cost nothing to keep in ItJa cure the support of the purchasable portion of the public press of tbe country. It is stated from tbe direction of Washing ton that tbe intention of Sec.retargj3ew.ard is not to send a Minister to Mexico, :is a retaliatory measure for the rejection of his message con cerning the file of Maximilian, and for the pur pose, in the event of a foreign war against Mexi co, of showing the chiefs of that boastlril Repub lic the full extent of their dependence on the United States. The House Judiciary Committee have decided that the impeachment testimony should not now be published, but remain under the seal of Con gress. A dispatch from Memphis reports that there were seven deaths in that city on the 19th in slant, from cholera. The disease is steadily in creasing, though so far it lias not assumed an epidemic form. The ravages are confied almost exclusively to the negroes. The board of health has been organized to put the city in a good san itary condition. There is little or no excitement in regard to it. General Braxton Bragg, Superintendent of (lie New Orleans waterworks, charges Gene ra! Sheridan’s appointees in the street commis sion with a waste of water in cleaning the streets, and threatens a prosecution. The com missioner replies that no more water is used than is necessary, and retorts that a prosecution may be followed by a substitute of officers for the waterworks company. Great excitement was caused in Chicago, on the 19th instant, by a shooting affair at the St. George’s pic-nic. Mrs. Van Patten, wife of a cigar dealer named O. B. Van Patten, found her husband at the pic-nic with another woman. She drew a revolver and fired at the pair, miss ing both. She was so mortified at her bad aim that she at once placed the muzzle of the revol ver at her head arid fired, missing again, through the impertinent interference of a by stander who elevated the weapon at the very moment when to do so was to spoil the performance. What became of the naughty husband and “ another, woman ” is not stated. Great place that Chicago for some things. A meeting of native and adopted citizens was held at Buffalo on the night of the 20th in stant, to demand from the government of the United States protection for her citizens in for eign countries, and the release of those now suf fering in foreign prisons. A Conservative convention lias been called to meet at Montgomery, Alabama, on the 3d of September. Black folks are invited to partici pate. Nick Carney, during the war a member of oue of the partisan bands who won a terrible name iu theanualsof guerrilla warfare, was shot dead by a young man employed as bar-keeper in Jack Hale’s restaurant, at Clarksville, Tennessee, last Saturday night. Carney was drunk aud attempted to shoot the bar-keeper, who killed hint in self-defense. Polities had. nothing to do with the affair. Reports from Middle and West Tennessee say that crops are suffering from the inattentions of colored farm hands, who are devoting a large share ol their time to polities instead of the sub stantial of life. By the time the Radicals get through using the negro, we suspect lie’ll think politics is no great shakes after all. William Scruggs, a citizen ol Goodlettsville, twelve miles from Nashville, was shot and killed by some unknown party a few nights ago. This Scruggs acquired some notoriety during the war is a guerilla, and subsequently for having treach erously killed one ot liis former comrades to avoid dividing spoils with him. Latterly Scruggs had joined the Radicals and was an open and professed follower of Brownlow. He was pro bably killed by a friend of the man whom he had murdered. Lookout Mountain is to have a distinguish ed visitor. General Grant and staff are expect ed there iu a few days. Jeter Phillips, the alleged murderer of his wife on what is kuown as the Drinker Farm, .near Richmond, whose trial has been progress- before the County Court of Henrico for two weeks, has been sent on to the Circuit Court for trial, and refused bail. The testimony against him, although wholly circumstantial, is very strong. A corresrdndent writing from Covington county, Miss., says: “We are now in Zion Semi nary. In ibis neighborhood resides John J. In gram, who has been married three times. His first wife had three children ; the second, twelve, and the third eighteen, all of which are living, except one, who died in the army. Mr. Ingram is in his seventy-ninth year, his wife is forty-one, and the youngest child is three and a half years old.” A soldier named Stickley, who fought at Waterloo, still lives, hale and hearty, in Dorset shire, England. He is seventy-seven years old, mil lias bad three wives and ten children by each wife. Waterloo, even, could not kill him. The conventional question, “who struck Billy Patterson ?” promises to be followed by one of equal importance—“Was Mr. Cyrus W. Field’s nose pulled ?” The Times says it was; the Evening Post says it was not, or rather it con veys the idea that Mr. Field is so near-sighted that he did not “see it.” The papers from different portions of the coun try announce unusually warm weather. Here in Atlanta on Tuesday the mercury knocked the top out of the thermometer, and at 10 on Wednes day was traveling rapidly in the same direction. Ninety-four in the shade was the point reached Tuesday evening. Among the latest arrivals at Saratoga are two young ladies from Havana, known as the “charms of Cuba,” and wearing diamonds to the value of $250,000. A new style of steam carriage appeared in Boston a few days ago. It was a light open buggy, carrying two men, and had no visible means of locomotion save a slight apparatus under tbe box. The vehicle came along a street on the track just behind a horse car, but when the car stopped the buggy was turned aside and passed by the ear, and was guided as easily as if a horse had been attached. The list ol jurors for the July term ol Martin Cpunty Court, North Carolina, was challenged by one of the lawyers for not being in confor mity with General Sickles’ code. The whole jury list was abolished in consequence, and the court adjourned over to the next term. The New York Post say that the great rail roads of the State are about to begin a destruc tive war upon each other by reducing tariffs.— The Post says it is growing out of bull and bear operations on Wall street. The Lincoln Monument.—The Lincoln monument enterprise has the look of lieing a big thing on paper. W hether it will result in tbe erection of an edifice as durable as the brass in the face of some of its projector, must be left to time and circumstances to determine. abroad to procure home news—as in UfaiLstract i . . , , Summer here has not yet reached the tidiness I below cnnieil fmm -*■- *.i— eral millions, and is just the sort of man to se- • . . ... c , ;l , . , , now, copied lrom the Atlanta corrcspouuChCL .i -• -■ • •• *-• - : ^cr P ov ' er * >-till, it is hot enough to make of the Nashville Union & Disnatch: | one sigh for “ rural felicity”-iu other words, far This word “restoration” has been so sliamc- j undisturbed idleness. Most of those blessed ' hilly abused in its application to the political i with the necessary currency, have left, the city i situation, that your correspondent feels like re- for the country, for the. several watering places, ° f i- t * or '? VC1 '- V*ike “liberty,” * ,, l-i," ,. ft has to suffer the odium of a multitude of crimes or gone on a trip to Europe; whilst we of the which have been perpetrated “in its name.” No “ narrow and circumscribed lot,” we of the un- sensible, reflecting man believes for a moment numbered crowd, who pay no income tax and : (J'M any perfect “ restoration ” of the Southern upon whose souls even a small “spondulick” privileges in the Union falls like the gentle dew of heaven, remain where we are to “ groan and sweat ” under, the broiling sun. Contentment, we are told, is great riches, but I can’t help Blinking that if you’ve got the riches, the contentment may well be left to take care of itself. Do the rich believe that discontent is great poverty ? But Solomon was a man of untold wealth, and, therefore, his fa mous proverb scents to me, to say the least, sus picious, even if it be possible to divest it of a tone of bitter irony. commercial business, generally speaking, is dull. In bread- stuffs and some other classes of provisions, there is a tendency to a decline in prices. The state ol the money market Is one of monotonous dull ness—no pressure to sell and no eagerness to buy. Cotton lias remained stationary for thu last month at 26 to 27 cents per pound for both descriptions. THE BURNING OP THE AMERICAN THEATER Has been one of the most noticable occur rences in this city since my last. Tli? fire broke out when the performances were about half over, but through the rare presence of mind of the stage manager, the audience, actors, and all con nected with the vast establishment, left without panic and with little confusion. The flames, at first, raged with such fury as to threaten all the adjoining buildings with total destruction ; and as they rose skyward, column after column, dis tant buildings were illuminated as by a gorgeous sunset. Au army of engines, however, poured iu lrom all parts of the city, aud by their united and brave exertions, the flames were confined almost entirely to the theater. Towards the close of the fire, the great front wall of the build ing fell out, streetward, crushing several firemen to death, and severely wounding a number of others. 1 may here mention that there is reason to believe—and I derive my information from eye-witnesses—that this appalling calamity was due, in a great measure, to a want of order and discipline among the firemen engaged on the immediate spot. Barrels of whisky, from two or three taverns hard by the burning building, were rolled by their frightened owners into the street, and several firemen were seen drinking liquor from these out of their caps, and then passing it round to others. An incident such as this speaks for itself. 1 went over the ruins the next day. The scene was one of utter desola tion—a sort of spacious field of wood ashes, which gave to the leet like deep snow. The boundary between the immense stage (the larg est of any in the countiy) and the auditorium was hardly perceptible to any Hut the initiated observer. The destruction ol the theater, as such, was no loss to the coriimunity. On the contrary, that it is going to be rebuilt and opened again under the former management, is matter for regret. I speak of it as a theater, but it had become nothing more thau a low concert hall, where the coarsest jokes, open obscenity, and buftoonry so low as to be an insult to the very name of acting, were used to “set the table in a roar.” No decent woman could ever show her self amongst the audience, which, as you may suppose, was composed to a great extent of the thoughtless, the vicious, and even the criminal. have been there now and again, but got so dreary and uncomfortable that I was soon glad to sneak out, uot without some unpleasant re flection as to which was the more respectable of the two—we Of the audience, or the buffoons on the stage—we who were there for our pleasure, or they who were there for their bread ! THE LEDGER Is now published in the new building named after it, which has been erected by the proprie tor at a cost of more than half a million. It is a noble monument of journalistic enterprise, and in extent, architecture, and general arrangement, is beyond all question the most magnificent news paper establishment in the world. Every depart ment ot the building is a sight by itself. The editorial aud reporters’ rooms are fitted up, not only in the most sumptuous style, but with a re- finement of taste, not often seen in private man sions. The press-room alone, in its immense pro portions, would make a grand hall room. The publishing department, in its massive and costly woodwork, is suggestive of those fine old baro nial halls which Scott loved to describe. The building was inaugurated by a princely banquet, at which representatives of the press from all parts of the country, eminent members of all the professions, arid a large number of oilier dis tinguished personages were present. Previous to the commencement of business, the building was thrown open for two days to public inspec tion, and a copy of the first number ol' the Ledger presented to every visitor. I enclose one for your examination, and may add that the original number, from which it was printed, cost Mr. Childs, the proprietor, fifty dollars. THE FOURTH OF JULY Passed off here with very little public demon stration. There was any amount of fireworks, but every man went “ on bis own hook !” Coun cils refused to spend a single cent on the occa sion, their management of the city affairs having reduced the treasury to a condition which re quires very careful nursing. A few irrepressible individuals insisted upon reading in public the Declaration of Independence, but nobody, as far as I am aware, was guilty of the eccentricity of a Fourth of July oration. And thanks that it was so, for the present condition of the South makes such exhibitions a wretched farce—a bit ter mockery. Permit me here to express my unqualified eulogy ot Uie article in the Intelli gencer on this immortal anniversary, as a manly feature and noble utterance, and which I cannot but think was a perfect reflection of the senti ments of the brave people whose sacrifices for the lost cause, have shed a fresh and imperisha ble glory upon the annals of mortal heroism.— The South may, at any rate, rely upon history ; she alone will do them justice. She will do them more than justice. C. T. F. will take place until alter the next Presidential election, unless the work of “registration,” now in progress, shall exhibit a large majority of negro voters, and Congress shall he satisfied that this majority will vote the Radical ticket.-- The result, so far, in the cities and large towns of this Sfate, shows a decided preponderance ot the colored eiement, while in the country, espe cially North of Atlanta, the “plain” majority i t equally decided. What the “grand total” may show, or how matters may be affected by the recent “supplementary-supplemental hill of Con gress, it is vain to conjecture. General Pope, commander of the Third Mili tary District, may certainly felicitate himself upon befog the most popular of all these military viceroys, if indeed, it is any comfort to him to know that he is so generally acceptable to a peo ple over whom he lias been placed, ami invested with almost supreme power. Wc arc inclined to believe that the General is not insensible to the good opinion of even those who arc so com pletely at his mercy, as, so far, he has interfered as little as possible with the civil officers whom he found discharging tlieir various duties under the State laws with fidelity and ability, and seems indisposed to make remarks or issue orders at the solicitation of every meddlesome “homo Radical,” who may covet the paltry spoils of some position which he moves as much ol Ilea-' ven and earth as lie can control, to make vacant. Until quite recently there was considerable tribulation in the Radical camps hereabouts in consequence of the discovery that a prominent member of tlieir household whose name had been mentioned in connection with the office of Governor, was, in point ot fact, ineligible as a voter, having once upon a time held the position of Mayor of a city! After a good deal ot flutter ing, it is understood that the affair was “fixed up” in some way, and the great nuiu was per mitted to register and go ou liis way rejoicing, in the confident hope of being next Governor of Georgia. Let him have a care! Remember what the poet so forcibly says: “The beat laid schemes of mice mid men Oanjiaft airlee! ” The colored “man aud brother” is giving un mistakable evidence that lie is not going to he sat isfied with being merely a voter. He is begin ning to “ inquire around” tor Ills “rigid” to hold office, and to take special care that liis Radical white “ friends” do not leave him in the condi tion ot lus brethren in Tennessee, where the by pocritical white trash, investing the black mau with the ballot, dishonestly and traitorously with hold from him the right to serve liis fellow-cili- zens in the legislative halls, on the judicial bench, or in the gubernatorial chair, which by the way, would have been quite as nobly filled and as brilliantly adorned, in the capitol at Nashville, by your fellow-citizen Jo. Williams, or the portly form of Alfred Anderson, as it is by the nonde script specimen whom men call Brownlow. Yes, indeed. Why would not liobcrfYancey or Josepli Wood, two respectable colored citizens of A llan ta, reflect as much credit upon Georgia in the Governor’s office at Milledgcvifie, or in the gild ed Hall of Representatives at Washington, as or , though they may boast ol' skins a shade paler than those ofllobert and Joseph, can certainly lay claim to no whiter or purer hearts ? Then, Vive CAfricano ! and ho for Milledgeville and Washington! And ii, as lias been intimated, our colored friends intend making a bold push ' for the Vice Presidency, a citizen of a Southern State, and not Frederick Douglass or some other “ Northern free nigger” is entitled to the place, especially if Wendell Phillips, or Thail. Stevens, or Henry Wilson, or Ben. Wade is to be Presi dent." Let our colored felfow-citizens stand ap for their rights, and not pe rmit themselves to bo passed over in the selection to be made for the second office in the government. Another Rebellion. The Washington correspondent of the New York Herald, writing on the 17tli, says: Certain information has leaked out here, which ( if true, gives a new and startling explanation o f the sudden and wide-spread movement to avenge the death of Maximilian. A statement was made to-day, by a person who has been initiated into the inner circle ol the present so-called fili bustering enterprise, that the real object of this organization is to inaugurate another attempt to gain the independence of the Southern States. It is said that the enrolling of volunteers, which for a time was a spontaneous movement in dif- ferents parts of the country, with the real inten tion of going into Mexico and joining with some one of the factions opposed to the Juarez gov ernment, partly to averge the death of Maxi milian and partly to advance their own indi vidual interests, is now rapidly assuming the form of a well-regulated organization, under the management of cunning politicians and experi enced soldiers. Men are to be initiated and enrolled, subject to the arbitrary direction of military discipline, and are to preserve strict secrecy with regard to the movements of the organization as well as to those who are members of it. Arms, ammunition, and other supplies are to be accumulated at designated points, and everything is to be in readiness to take advantage of the opportune moment.— Ot the time when operations are to be commenced there is nothing definite decided upon. Two par titular contingencies have been mentioned, either of which arising would be taken as a fitting op portunity to strike the first blow. One is the ini- pcscliiacol of Ut<2 PrtiSH^eiil SUi) hte \o removal from office. In such a contingency the leaders of the “ Maximilian Avengers ” will, it is said, concentrate their forces, which, it is ex pected, will in a few months number a hundred thousand, and bring them to the support of the Presidential party. The other event which it is thought would afford a convenient opening is to invade Mexico with a filibustering force, and thus precipitate a war between the United States and that countiy, in which case the organization of “Avengers” will at once take sides with the Mexican Government against the United States. It is also stated that the organization is receiving accessions in the late insurrectionary States with astonishing rapidity, principally from those men who fought in the late rebellion, and are disfran chised therelor. The Indian War.—A dispatch, dated the 19th, says General Sherman is with us, en route to Chicago. Tlie General found at St. Louis a telegram from the Secretary of War announcing the unwillingness of Congress to authorize the FiffF Stump Speaker* In the Field. The paragraph below appears as a Washing ton dispatch in Forney’s Press: The Republican members of Congress, in an swer to a call of the Congressional Union Re publican Committee, of which General Morgan i3 President, held a meeting to-night in the hall of the House of Representatives, and received the report of the Executive Committee. From the report submitted by this body, of which General"Schenck is chairman, it is shown that the amount of subscriptions received for the conduct of the Southern campaign is somewhat less than sixteen thousand dollars, over eleven thousand dollars ol which was furnished by Con gressmen. This money has been expended in circulating documents and maintainingspeaking. Under the direction of tliis committee some fifty speakers have been sent out, and material assis tance rendered to the several State committees of Louisiana, Virginia, Alabama and North and South Carolina, in the support of tlieir own agents. About thirty men ot the two hundred who have been employed by authority of the committee, arc now actively engaged in the work. The necessity ot issuing an address to the party was urged by the committee, asking means for a vigorous prosecution of the campaign, and tin appeal made to each member and friend of the party to assist in the canvass. The meeting was largely attended, and it was agreed to raise the sum of one hundred thousand dollars, ol which fifteen thousand dollars was subscribed before volunteer regiments asked for. General Sher man .says he has but three regiments in l> is ai^meetfo'gadyoume’dr'several members pledged whole command, from the British possessions to tliemse i ves t G raise a thousand dollars each in Texas, not an average of a man to one thousand square miles, a force obviously and ridiculously inadequate. He says the more recent rumors of trouble are wholly false or largely exaggerated, as usual, but that the supply ot buttalo meat was so scarce, both iu the U le country and fo i the Sioux, that the Iudians must steal or starve. Two married ladies at Independence, Missouri, serenaded their husbands, one moonlight night, last week. The instruments were a brace of twins for each of the liege lords. their districts. The Negroes.—The Pittsburg Commercial, a Radical paper, says: We hear so mncli of the negroes in the ..poli tics of the Southern States lately, that a query tins arisen, whether tlie darkey really take as much interest in it as the whites do. Aud an other more practical question has been suggest ed, whether tbe old darkey fashion of living oo corn and bacon has.been done away with, and the colored race taken to living on politics.

Georgia Historic Newspapers

Weekly Atlanta intelligencer. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1865-18??, July 31, 1867, Image 1