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TIMES & SENTINEL.
COLUMBUS, GEORGIA.
EVENING, JULY 1, 1858.
Change of Pioprletor*.
Messrs. Colquitt & Warren having purchased the in
terest of Tenneot Lomax, Esq., in the Times If Sentinel
the business of the paper will hereafter be conducted un
der the firm name of R. ELLIS &. CO., to which address
all business communications must be sent.
Salutatory.
With this issue dates our association in the editorial
management of the Times if Sentinel. This change of
advocates involves no departure irom those great princi
ples, the fearless ad vocacy ol which has illustrated the
editorial career of our able predecessor. Like him we be
long to that school of State. Rights Democracy, which
acknowledges no other chart of political guidance than the
Constitution of the country. From thence we deduce the
doctrine of State Rights and State Equality, and under
the banner of this principle we shall stand or fall, as it may
float in triumph or sink in shame. Administrations, when
they shape their course by the plain directions of this
chart, shall receive our humble but zealous support; when
they depart therelrom, they will encounter our insignifi
cant, ii may be, but determined, persevering opposition.—
For the Union of these States we profess an attachment,
rational, we think, in its kind—far from superstitious in
degree. ‘ T he constitution contains the terms upon which
it was formed. Without the promise to observe these con-
ditions, it could never hav existed; with their violation
it should cease to be. This attachment for the Union is
secondary and subordinate to our love for the ‘South. To
her we owe our first duty and ackowledge our chiefest
allegiance. To stimulate, as far as we can, the expansion
and development of her moral, intellectual and material
resources, to defend her institutions against open attack,
to guard her rights against insidious encroachment, to give
timely warning of “ hatever danger may threaten her, are
objects embraced in the mission we to-day accept*
JA WES W. WARREN,
FEY TON H. COLQUITT.
Central American Affairs—European Pro
tectorate.
The public mind has been attracted lately to the won
derful scheme of a Frenchman, by the name of Monsieur
Belly, to secure the monopoly of the Nicaraguan transit
and procure an European Protectorate over the territories
of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, We do not know that he
is authorized by the French Government to enter into such
negociations as he has accomplished, but we are quite sure
the traditional policy of our government and the senti
ment ofourpaople will not permit a European Protecto
rate on this Continent and least of all an ascendancy upon
the Isihmus of Darien. The scheme is proposed in the
shape of a‘‘Convention.” The governments of Nicara
gua and Costa Rica in the first place grant to Monsieur
Belly the right to construct a canal across the Isthmus.—
The work is to be commenced in two years and comple
ted iu six, and the canal is to be wide enough to allow the
passage of two vessels abreast. This part of Mr. Belly’s
negociations, we regard so impracticable as to forbid
discussion. But granting that it is not, the great sum o<
money to be raised, amounting to $50,000,000 to prose
cute the enterprise renders it a chimera in relation to the
parties who are engaged to undertake it. The idea of
this enormous sum being raised withiu the next two years
on tne Paris Bourse, is laughed at even by the London
Times. But the question assumes a ‘ more important as
pect when it is viewed in a political light. The construc
tion of this inter-oceanic canal may be an impossibility,
yet k the rights acquired by the Government, by
the terms of the “Declaration,” over those of any other
country, may be a pretext for any interference on their
part with the Isthmian affairs. The French Government
is allowed the privilege of keeping two ships of war in the
proposed canal, while all other nations are denied the right.
Thus it will be seen that we are placed under many dis
advantages in comparison with those enjoyed by France-
We regard the American supervision ol this transit route
absolutely necessary for the protection of our coast wise
commerce, a sale communication with our possessions on
the Pacific and our ascendancy in the Gulf of Mex
ico. We cannot believe that it will bo ,the policy of
the Administration to * allow an European Protectorate
over Central America,as contained in the agreement be
tween Mr- Belly and the Costa Rica and Nicaraguan go-
vernments.
Already has Mr. Buchanan repudiated .the principle up
on which that infamous Bulwar-Clayton treaty rests and
we are sure that, aside from the united voice of the people
he will not allow the French to gain a supremacy and ex
clusive supervision of the Isthmian routes. On the con
trary, we indulge the hope that should France attempt the
prosecution of this idea, our government will assert its
right to the control of this route, as did Great Britain to
that of the lshmus of Suez, preventing even a discussion of
the question in the Conference at Paris. Orir possessions
beyond this transit demand that the United States should
be alive to any negociations on the part o r Jgn coun*
tries, by which the control of this route w,. i be placed
beyond our reach. Besides as Nicaragua and Costa Rica
assert in their “Declaration against the United States and
in favor of an European Protectorate,” that the United
States encourage fillibustering, that our ‘‘official agents”
are “accomplices,” ihat our minister is in favor of a “ireeb
invasion of the filibusters already organized at Mobile un
der the American flag,” and are insensible to the wound
inflicted on the United States by the administration in op
proving the high-handed outrage and usurpation of autho
rity on the part of Commodore Paulding, in taking away
from their shores a military leader, whose claims to the
P.esidency of their Republic would have beeu enfoiced by
the success of his arms—then we say let us suspend the
execution of the neutrality law, and let them protect
themselves against hostile invasion without assistance
from us.
lo such an event Mr* Belly’s scheme would vanish into
thin air, and their own ingratitude to the United States for
the protection granted them against Walker, would be an
era not to be forgotten n their political history*
Western & Atlantic Rail road—Another Di
vidend,
Ben. May, Esq., Treasurer of the State Road, has trans
mitted to the Treasurer for the Slate, at Milledgeviiie,
$25,000, being the nett earnings of that road lor the month
of June. This,added to the amount of the two proceed
ing remittances, makes the pretty little sum of $92,000
which has crept into the State Treasury from that quart* r
siuce the first of April last. Whatever complaint may
proceed from certain quarters , against me management ot
that rood, the logic of these tacts is hard to be lefuted.—
Those ol us who regard such matters from this distant
stand point, see the result aud not the process; but if ti e
former satisfies us, we are apt to applaud the falter. ‘The
tree is kuowu by the fruit.’ This is rather a severe test to
apply to the conduct ot public agents we admit, but the
mauagemeut ot this business will bear it triumphantly.—
Gov. Brown in the work of reformation which he has pro
secuted so energetically, could not have more faithful and
efficient coadjutors tbau Dr. Lewis and Ben. May.
War with England.
The Savannah Republican of the 30th ult. says;—We
have the authority of a private letter from a gentleman
occupying a high position in the Cabinet lor saying tnat
tli9 plan of adjusting the “Gulf outrages” that has been
submitted by the British authorities to the Government at
W ashiugion, is deemed by the latter entirely just and .sat
isfactory. They propose to make ample apology for the
indignity, lull reparation for all damages sustained, and to
guarantee our commerce against a recurrence ot the inter*
ruptiona complained of.)
From tJt&h.
St. Louis, June 29.— News had reached St. Louis fiom
Camp Scott to the 10tb inst., which states that Gov. Cum
ming had distrusted the Mormon promises, and that the
army would move forward to take Salt Lake city on the
15th inst.
From Washington.
Washington, Monday June. 28.—The Government has
informed the Central American States that the adminis
tration had determined to maintain all the rights and n,
tereets secured to American citizens by the Grant Charter
for that quarter.
Blackwood’s Magazine. —The June number of this
welcome periodical is on our table, filled, as usual, with
entertaining matter.
The Paris Constitutional says that the Court of Berlin
has nearly accomplished an arrangement between Don
Pedro and the Pretender Don Miguel, under which the
litter renounces ail claim to the throne of Portugal, on
condition of the restoration of all his acquestered property
in the kingdom, and a well-secured annual pension.
Murder in Desha Cos. Akk.— The \icksburg Whig
learns that Dr. Samuel Mitchell was killed in Desha coun
ty, Arkansas, on Monday last, 21st inst., by two men
named VA iliiams, lather and son. The homicide wa 5
commit’ed at the house of the elder Williams, about twen
ty miles below Napoleon. Dr. M. formerly resided in
Mississippi and his wife now lives near Vicksburg.
Judge N L. Hutchins.
We have attended the Courts of the western cir
cuit during the riding just terminated, and have
witnessed, with great pleasure the manner in which
his honor Judge N. L. Hutchins, administers the
law. His long and active career as a lawyer has
rendered h m a proficient in this noble science ; and
being familiar with the decisions of the Courts, he
is enabled to dispatch business with a rapidity and
correctness rarely attained. While he conducts
himself in the court house with all that pleasant
urbanity for which he is so distinguished out of it,
he maintains the best order, and all the machinery
of business runs smoothly and agreeably. He holds
the scales ofjusiice with an even hand, unbiassed
bv wealth or influence. The same measure is
meted out to the rich and powerful as L, the poor
and humble. So far as we have heard an expres
sion ol public opinion, it has been that of approval
and satisfaction. We congratulate the citizens of
our circuit upon having secured the services of
such an able and upright Judge.— Athens Ban
ner.
__
General Gass.
The Washington correspondent of the Philadel
phia North American pays the following well-de
served and graceful tribute to the illustrious states
man who is now at the head of the State Depart
ment. Speaking of the probable satisfactory solu
tion of the right of search question, he says:
“Nor should the occasion be allowed to pass,
whatever difference of political opinion may exist,
without a just and hecoming tribute to the able,
resolute, and patriotic course of General Cass If
there be one question, more than another, to which
he has especially contributed the efforts, the zeal,
the investigation, and the unswerving purpose of
the last twenty-five years of his public career, se
conded by all the influence of his commanding
character at home and abroad, it has been this
right of search. Indeed, it had come to be consid
ered to some degree as his peculiar province or
speciality. And when his instructions to Mr. Dal
las come to he scanned by the impartial judgment
of men disembarrassed by all parties.it will be seen
how much the country is indebted to him for the
settlement which at once relieves our diplomatic
relations of their most vexatious and threatening
aspect. It is gratifying to me, as a political oppo
nent, to have the opportunity of expressing these
sentiments. * * * °
This is a great triumph in every sense and noth
ing but the most narrow and bigoted partisanship
can deny those who have achieved it the high cred
it which they are entitled to claim from a generous
public.”
From the Charleston Mercury June 28th.
Our Policy.
It is just cause of congratulation that the little
cloud which recently boded division and distraction
among true men of the South, in Alabama and
elsewhere, is passing away. The great reach of
Southern statesmanship now, is the union of the
South for action. The signs of the times indicate,
unmistakably, that we are drifting to a critical,
and it may be the turning point, in our history.—
The period is fast approaching when the peopled
the South will have the decision forced upon them,
either to live in the Union as inferiors, or to main
tain their independence oui of it. It is true that,
theoretically, the South has torn from the statute
book some odious badges of inferiority ; but what
then ? Is there any abatement of the volume of
fanaticism ? Is there any pause even of the tide ?
No. In the Senate there were, but a few years ago,
only two or three Abolition Senators; now there
are more than twenty. The fanaticism of the
North has made a still greater acq isition of
strength in the lower House of Congress. Is not
this fact full of significance?
Yet, in one important particular, we may con
gratulate ourselves that the South has gained, too
—not in the increase of numbers on the floor of the
Senate or the House —but in the union of her peo
ple. Fanaticism is fast concentrating opinion and
compacting against us the Northern States. Re
sistance to fanaticism is doing the same thing for
the South. The Southern States possess, in abun
dance, all the elements of wealth and power, and
they lack only union and will to maintain their
equality in the Union, or their independence out of
it. This union we are fast securing, and the will
is unmistakably springing up, fresh and irresistible.
We do not mean the preliminary union of all the
Southern States, but those which are more c’eeply
interested in the preservation ol the institution of
slavery.
With this prospect before us, we earne=tly sug
gest this is no time to sow discord i r foment divis
ions in the ranks of true Southern men, either on
the Confetence Bill or any other issue. Let no oc
casion be sought to kindle rivalries or animosities
upon by gone issues. Let not feelings or convic
tions be gratified, at the expense of the public in
terest. The Southern column is organizing for
the march, and let not dissension invade the ranks,
or even decided differences of opinion divide the
true.
These thoughts have been called out before by
the s : gns of division which recently clouded the
Southern sky. There was certainly a feeling of
great dissatisfaction at the passage of the Confer
ence Bill. The eyes of the people of the South had
been turned intently upon the Senate Bill. Any
departure from this was of course received with
distrust and coolness. In the struggle upon the
admission of Kansas we contended for the right ot
a slave State to be admitted into the Union, and
for the finality of the Lecompton Constitution. Ma
ny of the truest end soundest men we have think
the Conference Bill does assert such right of ad
mission, and that in it the Lecompton Constitution
is accepted as final and complete. This much is due
to truth and justice. Whatever we might have
wished ourselves, the Conference Bill was the act
of the South— of her most trusted statesmen, such
as Davis, Clay and Hammond. It was bitterly op
posed by the Black Republicans, and has not di
vided the South. It had the sanction and support
of Southern men whose patriotism and Southern
feeling i* unquestioned, and whose abiliiy is ac
knowledged. .
We then deprecate agitation and division on this
issue, for agitation and division will but weaken
and debase us. Our State is now united. She
should continue so. We have been, and stil are,
engaged in a great struggle, and South Carolina
cannot afford to make any but the plainest issues,
or to cut down any of her tried and trusty sons, to
whom the maintenance of her rights and honor has
been committed.
An issue on this subject, under existing circum
stances, would be fatal to the cause of Southern ac
tion. With these views, we have thought it prop
er at this period, before the expression of popular
opinion on the fourth of July coming, and before
our members of Congress have spoken, to utter a
word of caution to all as to the manner of handling
this subject. Much harm may be unwittingly done
by rashness and indiscretion.
The New York Daily Fews in a recent article upon
the Slave Trade and the unwarrantable means which
England has lately employed in the gulf for its suppression,
thus touches up her coolie and apprenticeship system:
It is known and probably susceptible of legal
proof, that the new slave-trade under the specious
title of the apprentice system and other beautiful
names, is the worst pos.-ible, because the most
fraudulent and oppressive type of the slave tia le
which evercame into existence. For instance,un
der this system, a superior class of beings to those
which Cvinstitute the staple of the old slave trade,
are the victins; and a bloody and piratical war
fare is opened in those colonies in Africa which
have felt the benefit of civilization, in order to sup-
ply the demand.
Again, it is asserted and seems to be proven,
that whenever it suits the convenience of the mas
ters or employers of these coolies, or apprentices,
the certificates of their apprenticeship are destroy
ed or altered, and new ones are made out with
new names and dates, so that when one period of
service has expired, by a little change of locality
these helpless dupes are readily made to serve an
other term, and so their bondage becomes perpefe
ual in slavery, as immeasurably more burdensome
than that in the South as their “habits and intellects
are superior to the simple savage negro, who has
ever been benefited by being brought under the
rule of our own “peculiar institution,’’ and will ev
er relapse into barbarism when removed from the
influence and control of the white race. Yet this
is not enough. The Indians of Usatan are now to
be stolen and sold for a term of years, and that a
term which like the other, only ends at the grave,
if it so please their masters.
And philanthropic, abolitionist England, favors
this system, a system whose inevitable enormities
are two fold, because, first: the slaves are as a
general thing of a superior order socially and intel
telectuallv ; and second: the master not having ab
solute property in them has no pecuniary interest
in securing for them humane treatment, as has the
Southern slaveholder,
It is well for the London Times, therefore, to
urge the British Government to recede from the
attempt to prevent the slave traffic upon Ameri
can waters. Consistency could ask no less; and
humanity is out of the question on her part. Her
own eminent men and public officers recommend a
resort to the apprentice system as the only means
of salvation to her West India Colonies; while all
the world knows now, or will soon know, that
these fine pretences, so nicely covered by cunning
misnomers, are but the foundation of a slavery more
terrible than any which has presented itseif. Such
is British philanthropy and European consistency
concerning slavery and the slave trade.
Sileuce in Ranks.
Under this caption, [says the Spirit of the
South] the “Southern Natiue” commenting on our
notice of the course of the Florida Democracy on
the Conference bill, throws out some obscure inti
mations, that we have changed our position on
that subject. So far from such being the fact, we
have from first to last, ever since the passage of
the bill, uniformly adhered to the same grouud,
and while condemning its provisions and regret
ting its success, have deprecated any issue with
the Southern members who supported it. Having
expressed this opinion at the outset, we after
wards quoted with approbation the remarks of Mr
Yancey to the same effect in the Southern Con
vention, and when the Florida Democrary assumed
a similar position, we again declared our
satisfaction. Our reasons for such a policy have
also been stated more than once. They are not
founded on any considerations of party success,
but on the highest regard for the interests of the
the South. We should despair of Southern Rights
if we could believe for a moment that such men
as Davis, and Hammond, and Clay, and Boyce,
and Keitt,and Clingman, and many others with
antecedents equally sound, could be deliberately
unfaithful to the cause. That they erred, we have
not a doubt,and that it was in good faith and from
patriotic motives, we feel equally certain. What
can the South gain by an issue of this sort? The
question is not whether we shall send men to
Washington to pass such a bill, for the bill is al
ready a law, and the defeat of every man who sup
ported it, could not change it. Suppose the issue
made in every Southern State and what would
follow? A contest fruitful only in bitterness, dis
cord and alienation, and violent beyond parallel.—
The South disiracted and divided over an issue no
longer practical! Now onr great need has always
been southern Union,and experience teaches us that
without at least a close approximation to it, a suc
cessful stand lor our rights is impossible. Is it not
then the plain dictate of wisdom and patriotism
to husband our resources for the next emergency,
which cannot be far off*, instead of producing dis
cord and stiife among our people? *
The Trial of Gen. Lane. —The trial of Gener
al Jas. H. Lane for the murder of Col. Gains Jen
kins, commenced in Lawrence, Kansas, on the
14th, before the preliminary court of investigation,
Mr. Ladd, J. P - , presiding. Five Lawyers are en
gaged on each side —Col. Young of Independence
Mo.; James Christian of Lawrence; Hugh and
Thomas Ewing, of Leavenworth, arid Jno Hutch
inson of Lawrence, for the defence; and for the
prosecution, Messrs. Coe, Collamer, Stafford (pros
ecuting attorney) S. N. Wood and ex-Secretary
Staunton.
The medical testimony showed that Col. Jenkins
had died from wounds inflicted by the defendant,
and that there were ninety-eight shot wounds in
the body, most of which were in the right side, the
breast and abdomen.
Narrow Escape of a Train.—Track Dis
placed by the Heat of the Sun. —The tiain
which left Buffalo yesterday afternoon for this city,
narrowly escaped being thrown from the track by
the diplacement of the rails. The train had only
proceeded a couple of miles before it was stopped
by a signal from some of the track men, who had
found the rails bent in two places. The train came
to a star.d still without accident, when an exami
nation of the track was made. It appeared that
the heat of the sun had so expanded the rail, that
it had curved each way — it being the combination
rail—full six inches out of line. All this expan
sion must have taken place within two or three
hours, as not more than that tithe had elapsed since
trains had passed over this track. It appears that
when the track was laid the rails had not been
placed far enough apart to allow for the greatest
possible expansion under the heat of summer.
The passengers felt much relieved when they
learned the cause of the stop and the narrow es
cape they had made.
It took about one hour to fix a track so that the
train could pass. It then came on and nearly made
up the time to this city, coming down in one hour
and fifty minutes, which is first rate time.—Roch
ester Advertiser, 24.
U. S. PUBLIC PRINTING, ETC.
Mr. George Taylor, from the Select Committee
on Printing, made the following— Report.
THE ENGRAVING
The engraving for Congress and the depart
ments is done in a manner not dissimilar to that ot
the printing and binding. It has been satisfacto
rily ascertained by the committee that it can be
done fully thirty- three and one-third per cent, less
than it is done at present. The wood engravings
or cuts for the mechanical part of the Patent Office
Reports for 1856 may be taken in illustration of a
g eneral manner. The engravings cost the govern
ment per page of inches, S2B 50 for the work
alone, the drawing being $5 per page, wood sl,
and the electrotyping $2 per page additional. The
original contractor had a large portion of the work
done in New York. He sold his contract to a
second party at a very fair per centage lor his
services as broker, and the second contractor sub
contracted with a third party, the unfortunate ar
tisan who did the work at sl6 per page. The
engraving, wood, drawing and electrotyping cost
the government $33 50 per page ; but in making
up the 513 pages paid for, they extended to 534
pages, which reduced the average cost to $32 10
per page as made up. The whole ought not to
have cost more than $22 to $25 per page.
The cost of the Arden horses in the agricultural
report for 1856 was $5 per hundred plates, for
those furnished to the House, which, for the 211-,
530 copies, cost $10,576 50. This, your commit
tee are advispd, was from twenty-five to thirty per
cent, more than a most liberal price for the plates.
As an evidence of this fact, your committee need
only to state that the same plates were furnished
to the Senate lor $3 75 per hundred, although the
Senate requitedjonly cne f >uith as many copies.—
The same remarks may be made respecting the
South Down sheep, and the strawberry plates, each
of|which cost the same amount. The cost of the four
colored plates, and the wood cus of birds, &c., in
the agricultural report of 1856, for the Senate cop
ies, 56,420, together with the paper on which they
were printed, was $28,000 94. For 211, 530 cop
ies for the House the cost $147,199 64.
The largest size of wood cuts in the fifth volume
of the Pacific railroad reports of surveys cost the
government $45 each ; but your committee are in
formed by responsible and reliable parties that they
ought to have been done for from S2O to $25 each.
The investigations which your committee have
made authorize them to say that a deduction equal
to that so shown to have been possible might and
shonld have been made upon the engravings
generally, with the single exception of that done
on the report of the coast survey officer, which is
at present executed in that office und%r the di
rection and supervision of the head of that bureau.
At first, Professor Bache, in conformity with the
general practice, gave out the work by contract;
but finding it done so badly, and at such high rates,
he abandoned the contract s ystern and commenced
having it done under his own immediate supervi
sion by T artisans employed by himself. The results
have fully justified the experiment. His work is
much better done and at far less expense.
The whole amount of the cost of engraving,
lithographing, and electrotyping, for the 33d Con
gress is $829,858 25. For the 34th Congress it is
$351,824 62.
The saving of but twenty per cent, on these large
amounts, more than which it was possible to have
made, would have left with the government an
aggregate of $237,342 57 ; which sum could have
been used much more profitably in promoting the
interests of the meritorious artisan. As it was,
this class was undoubtedly .compelled to do the
work at the smallest price, while the politician and
speculator were paid a premium for their suspi
cious connection with the work.
In order to arrive at the most certain information
upon this subject, a member of your committee for
warded to the firm of W. 11. Arthur & Co.—one
of the most prominent and responsible houses in
that business, in connection with 1 link books and
stationery, in the city of New York—copies of
works containing samples of the engraving, litho
graphing, and electrotyping, referred to, with a re
quest to have the same examined by artists, to
ascertain what similar work could be done for, and
communicate the results to the committee. From
their letter in reply the following extract is made:
“We regret exceedingly that we were not in
possession of the precise points? upon which you
desired information, but we presume your inves
tigation thus far has elicited facts which cannot
well fail to satisfy you that a change in the gov
ernment’s method of having its work done is im
peratively demanded.
“We are satisfied from our own knowledge that,
under the present system, government has paid for
sr>me works issued by it prices abundantly suffi
cient to have had the work executed in a manner
far superior to what it has been, and yet the arti
san doing the work (being the third or fourth re
move from the real contractor) is generally so
poorly compensated for his labors that he has no
incentive to do his work well.
“With scarcely an exception, the works now ex
hibited have been condemned by many art.sts who
have examined them as being unfit to be issued by
the government; and they aecouut for this by
averring that very frequently the contracts pass
through a number of hands before they reach the
party who finally does the work, and who receives
a price so diluted from the original contract price
that it is possible for him to furnish creditable work
for the compensation given. It is further alleged
that in many cases contracts are awarded to parties
who, although engaged in the business, have
really very little kuowledge of the work which they
undertake to perform, but who, under force of what
appears to be a natural desire to prefer govern
ment to all other work, are constrained to take the
work, at prices which not only do not compensate
them, but degrade and demoralize the trade or
profession to which they belong; and the entertain
ment of this view by our first class artists deters
them from entering into competition with a class
who have much to gain, and little, if anything, to
loose.
“All the points contained in your communication
have been fully laid before all parties desiring in
formation, as also every facility extended to those
desiring to make estimates, even, in one or two
cases, that of allowing them to be taken away from
the store.
“Bat there was evidently no disposition on the
part of any who had performed any part of the
work to disclose the prices they had received for
it, except in one or two instances, and in those
cases we ascertained the fact that the work had
reached them after passing through three or four
hands, at a price at least one hundred per cent.—
less than the work was known to have cost the
government. This state of facts had become so
notorious that but a few months since a large body
of operatives of this city held a public meeting,
first to petition the government to change its mod®
of having the work done, and next to refuse to al
low men to work with them who suffered them
selves to be employed on government work taken
by their employers at such ruinously low prices;
and a house in this city, heretofore largely engaged
on government work, has resolved to do no more
unless as the original and not as sub-contractor
We can readily conceive how the committee can
arrive at the absolute cost of the work to govern*
ment, but to arrive at the price paid to the various
parties for doing the work or furnishing the mate,
rials is not so easily achieved, from the fact of their
unwillingness to disclose the manner of their ob.
taining the work and the terms on which they per
form it.
“The final point contained in your letter, viz;
‘that yon desire to arrive at the best modeol doing
this work, so as to secure justice both to the gov
ernment and to ‘the parties engaged in the various
branches of business*’ With these facts and in
formation of the same tenor which you have prob
ably elicited from other sources before you, the
necessity of an utter abandonment ot the present
system, and a resort to some belter mode, would
seem to be necessary. Goverement does not re
quire, does not ask for cheap work; what it re
quires, and what it should insist upon having , is
good work ; and this can only be obtained by deal
ing with the producer directly, and without the
intervention of other parties. Government has its
bureas for the regulation and disposition ot affoirs
of no greater importance than this subject ot the
public printing has become. Remove the disposi
tion of this deserip ion of patronage from the con
trol ofJSenateJand House comm t ees, and place it in
charge of a competent person who shall be respon
sible to Congress for the quality and cost of the
work, and who shall be restrained by statute from
receiving bids for nny description of work from
persons not actually engaged in the business for
which they present themselves in competition. If
we have indulged in a line of remark which you
may deem uncalled for, we beg you to ascribe it j o
our earnast desire to do all iu our power to serve
you in your very praiseworthy undertaking of re
forming what we believe to be one of the greatest
abuses existing under our government.”
[From the London Herald. Jane 11-3
The English Press on the Search Question.
The American difficulty is the third of Lord
Palmerston’s legacies to his successors. Whether
it was prepared expressly to be at hand for use
when wanted, we, of course, are unable to state;
but the question is open to very shrewd conjecture
Whatever may have been the orders which have
led to the unwonted activity of our cruisers in the
Mexican Gulf—for that activity is an unquestiona
ble fact —they were orders sent out by the late gov
ernment, nol by the present; and we fancy we can
trace their origin in the correspondence towards the
close of the last year between Lord Napier and
Gen, Cass, in which our minister complained of the
remisnessof the American government in its duty
of helping to suppress the slave trade, notoriously
carried on as it is in American ships sailing under
American colors. The reply of the United Slates
Secretary could not have been deemed satisfactory
to the British government, which seems to have
been suddenly seized with an inexpressible desire
to put down that particular branch of the slave
trade which flows tnto Cuba while showing itself
quite regardless of the new slave trade between Af
rica and the French West India colonies, a re
markable illustration of the atrocities attending
which we printed on Tuesday in our intelligence
from the west coast of Afrfca. Is it possible that
Lord Palmerston may have seized the opportunity
to gratify a personal grudge against the govern
ment of the United States under cover of this
known zeal for the suppression of the slave traffic ?
And were orders sent out to exercise the right of
visitation and search rigorously, in order to excite
a quarrel with America , in which the “spirited”rain
ister might have an opportunity of avenging his
humiliation on the enlistment dispute, and perhaps
find anew lease of power?
We are, of course, unable to answer these ques
tions, or to affirm anything on the grave point they
raise. But we know what is said in the U. States,
and what the circumstances, so far as they are yet
ascertained, do not contradict. Lord Palmerston
is held to be answerable. “When,” says a New
York paper, (the Herald) supposed to know very
well what the opinions of the Cabinet at Washing
ton are, “when Lord Palmerston found that he
could not compel Louis Napoleon to desist from
his scheme of African apprenticeship —the slave
trade revived—he determined to make a great fuss
about the slave question in other quarters, in or
der to attract attention trom his failure in connex
ion with the French Emperor’s plan. Ihe sup
pression of the slave trade is but a pretence a
subterfuge on the part ot Palmerston to carry out
his double purpose of screening his own failure and
indulging his spleen against the United States.
Whether this be the true solution or not, time will
show. We mention it here because it is important
to hiow what the Americans think of the matter.
But, however that may be,it is perfectly plain
that the American government can never be
brought to acknowledge the right of search, and it
would become the British nation to inquire and
decide how far it is worth while risking a war with
a great and kindred people for the sake of a con
tested right like this, in promotion of R o doubtful
a means of suppressing the slave trade as is the
blockading squadron. Tue conduct of England
on this subject has been most contradictory, and its
results most unsatisfactory. We almost altogether
ruined our West Indian colonies by suddenly sup-
ruiueu uui ~ -j - * .
pressing slavery, and subsequently, while binding
Spain by a treaty and a payment of £400,000 to
stop the slave trade in Cuba, we allow that treaty
to leraain a dead letter, at the same time opening
our ail-important market to the slave-grown sugar
of Cuba at the same duties as free labor sugar.
Thus, with one hand we apply the utmost possible
stimulus to the Cuban slave trade, and with the
other irritate the American government to the very
point of war by our right ofsearch for the avowed
purpose of suppressing that trade. Can anything
be more absurd than such a position as this?—
And how can the Americans or Spaniards believe
in our single-minded desire to put down the abom
inable traffic? VVe shall, of course, be accused of
reviving projects of protection when we say that
the only way to put a stop to the slave trade is ab
solutely to prohibit the importation of Cuban slave
grown sugar. If that is not to be thought of,
blockades and right of search will do little good,
and may produce much evil.
Northward Bound. ‘
The Savannah News says : Our citizens have
rarely had a more beautiful sight than was presen
ted to them on Saturday evening last, in the de
parture of four first class steamships: the Augus
ta, Capt. Lyon, and the propeller Huntsville , Capt.
Post, lor New York ; the State of Georgia, Capt.
Garvin, for Philadelphia, and the City of Norfolk ,
Capt. Greene, for Baltimore. By reference to our
shipping column, it will be seen that they were all
well filled with passengers, and freight.
We are pleased to notice that much of the tide
of travel North, which has heretoford gone by way
of Charleston, has been turned towards Savannah,
and we feel confident that the excellent accommo
dations afforded by our hotels and steamship nut s
and the great saving in price, will have a tendency
eventually to swell it to n still greater extent So
mote it be.