Georgia Historic Newspapers

    Cljrnuirlf k ImtiiiH.
AUGUSTA. GA.^
UKDYKfcOAI HORintt, MAY SO.
.Hr. Datlj’ Trial.
At last w* have the assurance from Washing
ton that the distinguished State prisoner,
Hon. Jefferson Davis, late President of the
Confederate States, will be afforded a speedy
trial. Ue and bis friends have been anxious
ever since his arrest that a jury of his peers
should be empannelled to decide what degree
of guilt, if any, attaches for the part taken by
him in the recent abortive attempt to estab
lish an independent Government. The only
count in the indictment of Mr. Davis is for
Treason in levying war upon the United States.
The Government has abandoned tbs infamous
charge of complicity with the assassins of Mr.
Lincoln uud the alleged barbarities at Ander
sonville, and will go to the jury upon the single
charge of Treason.
Recent advices from Washington inform us
that the bill providing for a special term of
the United .States Court for the State of Vir
ginia, to be held in Richmond in June next,
has passed both Houses of Congress, and only
awaits the signature of the President to be
come a law. We understand that the Presi
dent will sign the bill, and then the only fur*
ther difficulty in the way of a trial will be the
possible continued refasal of Chief Justice
Chase to bold the Court, Our readers will re
member that for some months past President
Johnson has been anxious for the trial of Mr.
Davis and has in bis message to Congress as
serted that the only or main reason why the
trial has not long since taken place was
on account of the refasal of the Chief
Justice to hold the Court. Mr. Chase, it
seems has been, and isstill so very sensitive on
the subject of hie authority as the great bead
of the Judiciary Department of the Govern
ment, that he would not oonsent to degrade
the Court by sitting in a State where martial
law prevailed. This every one knows is anew
Imru scruple of the grave Chief Justice, and
only assumed by him to avoid the sitting In a
case where the only point in issue has long
since been openly held aDd proclaimed by
him as a valid constitutional right, to be exer
cised whenever and wherever a sovereign
State shall decide for itself the degree of na
tional usurpation which will justify resistance.
This has been the life long theory of the Chief
Justice, and leaves him in the case of a trial
in tho unfortunate dilemma of being com-
pelled to eat his own oft repeated words or be*
tray his party.
We are not surprised that he should resort
to all sorts of expedients to avoid this dire ne
cosaity. The President seems, however, deter
mined to deprive the Chief Juctice of any fur
ther pretext for the failure to do his duty.
We are informed that if Mr. Chase still enter
tains conscientious scruples against holding the
Court on account ol the pretended existence
of martial law that auother proclamation will
be issued by the President expressly annulling
martial law and fully restoring the Btate of Vir
ginia to the sway of thecivil law. This done the
Chief Justice will he oompelled to either hold
the Court, or adopt some other subterfuge to
avoid it. If ho adopts the latter course, which
would not surprise us much, tho point under
which he will seek to relieve himself from the
responsibility of the trial will be that which
has been urged with bo much pertinacity by
Huruaer, Wilson, and Stevens, that Mr. Davis
should be tried by a military commission. But
if tho District Attorney is faithful to the trust
he holds, the matter must necessarily be, by
tho strict rule of practice, brought before the
Court, a true bill having already been returned
by the Grand Jury. In that event it is difficult
to peroeivo how the Chief Justice will be able
to prevent a trial except by the exercise of the
most arbitrary and unlawful power, in refusing
to proceed with the legitimate business of the
Court.
Mr. Davis and his friends have no fears as to
the result, if a fair trial ts afforded. His coun
sel expect to justify every act alleged against
h>m by tho written and deliberate opinions of
tho Chief Justice himself, as well as by the
judgment of the fathers of tho Constitution,
buckod by the almost unbroken deci
sions and opinions of the great statesmen
and jurists, who from the foundation
of tho Government framed and administered
the laws. We do not believe that in the long
catalogue of illustrious names which have
adorned our history aud given character and
position to tiie government, a single instauce can
be cited against tho position held by Mr. Davis’
counsel, exoept perhaps, Hamilton and the
elder Adams. It is the consciousness that tho
history of the Government, and the opinions
of the lathers are alike against the right which
is claimed of punishing the citizen for the acts
of tho Sovereign, whioh causes the Centralists
to tear the result of a fair trial.
We, in common with the whole people of
the South, aud, as we believe with a majority
of the North, desire that the illustrious
prisoner may have a speedy hearing. Long
confinement, anxiety of mind, and separation
from family and friends, have already serious
ly impaired, if they have not wholly destroyed
iiis constitution. It would be a crime upon
humanity, and a blot upon our race to deprive
him any louger of th(*opportunity to be heardi
upon the grave charge alleged against him.
There is not a household in this broad land,
from which daily aud nightly prayers do not
ascend to the throuoof Grace, from pious
hearts, in behalf of the patriot ohristian—
now pining in louley confinement in the
gloomy recesses of the damp and unheal
thy casemates of Fortress Monroe. May the
good God grant him a speedy trial and safe
deliverance !
Immense Mineral Wealth of Nevada.
Nevada has produced within tha last five
years sixty million dollars of silver, and it is
estimated that the amount of bullion that is
uuw being taken out reaches the enormous
suui ot three tons of solid silver per day. An
extraot from Harpers’ Magazine in June, from
the pen J. Roes Brown, in speakiug of the
iniues upon Lander Hill, says that of tha ore
that is now boiug worked, the lowest grade
seldom tails short ot $l5O to the ton, while
from S3OO to SSOO is a common yield, and
that the actual development of the mines is a
sufficient guarantee of the richness, depth and
permanence of the ledges. He concludes by
saying, “alter three months 'of hard experi
ence during which I hardly passed a day with
out exploring oue or more of the miues upon
Lauder Hill, 1 am thoroughly conviced that
this is the richest of our mineral regions.”
Lotai.tt is Martlaxd. - A Baltimore cor
respondent of the National Intelligencer save"
••it is a singular fact, worthy the attention of
true Union men, that those who have origina
ted this movement—the leaders of this disor
ganisation of the Union party of Maryland,
and false guies who are striving to engineer
it upon the negro suffrage platform—are. for
the most past, men who were originally open
mouthed advocates of secession, and who
sneaked into the ranks of the Union party Only
after it was made manifest that Maryland
would not be dragged into the rebellion.”
He proceeds to prove this declaration by
extracts from the speeches of Judge Bond,
Stockett Mathews, and by extracts from the
writing of Fulton of the Baltimore American
now allay in this "loyal'' movement.
Governor Pierpent has appointed Alexander
Kivere. Esq., of Albemarle, to fill the vacancy
upon the bench of the Virginia Supreme
Oourt of Appeals, occasioned by the death of
Judge Lueae P. Thompson, of Staunton.
ilßtiunaU Luzßttt—“.\e*s»aper Diet.»»
Our leader of the Bih inst., based upon an
“item” clipped from our contemporary, The
Augusta Constitutionalist, of the 4th inst.,
called forth the following letter from the
Editor of the Cincinnati Gazette:
Cincinnati, May 17, IfeGG.
Editor Chronicle & Ifentinel :
Sm 1 fiad in a late number of your paper
the following item :
COWARDLY UTTRRANCES.
The Cincinnati Gazette (do not forget the
name of the paper) informs its readers in a re
cent i j3, ie that “the calamities of the South
furnish cause for unmixed joy and unbounded
entbusia=m. ’’ ,
o such article or sentiment appeared in
the Gazette. No such sentiment could appear
in it. Yours, verv respectfully,
Richard Smith,
Editor Gazette.
The Gazette of the 15th inst., with leaa aert*
mony than we Ciuld have anticipated, makes
a queer disclaimer in a review of our article,
which omits all reference to the fact that the
Chronicle had in previous articles, endorsed
and commended the efforts of many good men
at the Nortb, without regard to party—Repub
lican or Democrats, who were working earn
estly for the restoration of harmony and the
re-establishment of peace. The sentiment was
savagely ferocious, although the Gazette can
see no difference in the present “Unionism of
tho Southern press, which is conditioned on the
everthrow of the popular majority who pre
served the Government against rebellion, and
the former determination that the South wonid
secede if it could not control the Government.”
We submit that our condemnation is exceeding*
ingly moderate, when measured by the fiend
ish malignity exhibited in the paragraph which
he disclaims.
We are unwilling to assist in the dissemination
of errors. We are still more unwilling to aid
in doing a wiong to any person whatsoever,
particularly when the character of an individ
ual is debased, and humanity degraded. We
give, therefore, the editor the benefit of both
his private denial and his public disclaimer.
But we cannot forbear the opportunity which
the editor offers to examine somewhat iuto the
matter of newspaper diet of those beyond our
colonial confine*. We will not indulge in criti
cism or attempt reply, but submit a very lew
specimens “o( the policy of magnanimity and
mercy” observed in ‘‘fooling the spirit of ven
geance” wh ch they illustrate.
The Gazette charges that the “Chronicle”
“fires the Southern Heart.” Ashes do not af
ford fuel—and we would especially commend
fact that lire seldom burns twice in the same
place. But to our selection of specimens, from
current exchanges of the Radical type :
MA UNANIMITY !•
“But if the opportunity of a foreign war
should present itself to them, their pretended
loyalty would be put to a dangerous test.’’
“The result of this struggle was the overthrow
of slavery by tne military power of the North.
Millions worth of human property was thereby
lost to the slave barons.’’
“There is indeed, but little loyalty to be ex
pected from the present generation of the
South, which has the impress of slavery upon
its character.’ 4
“So it was a strewing of garlands hit-or miss.
The graves of national dead were beflowered
lest some of the Confederate dead should remain
unhanored. The liowers were placed hythe ten
der hearted females with the following mental
formula : “If this is the grave of a Lincoln
hireling—a hated yankee, I spit upon it ; but
lest it be the grave of a Confederate, I place
these flowers upon it, which are to be taken
with that understanding.”
MERCY.
“The President found himself an absolute
ruler over what were recently eleven States,
which bad voluntarily forfeited their rights
and been conquered in rebellion.”
As Governor (not President) Johnson
in 1864 insisted upon it that open traitors
must take hindmost seats in the march
of reconstruction, and make room for loyal
men in the foremost place?, then we confi
dently intrust the further development to the
laws of natiiaal economical necessity, promis
ing in the meantime, we prevent violent out
break of the southern mob spirit, and protect
loyal people, be they white or black, against
the vindictiveness of a Southern rabble.
Let us look at the present acts of the Presi
dent toward the rebel South.
1. All the rebel armies, whoso hands are
red with the blood of patriots, were paroled,
and this parole, which has no possible effect or
meaning beyond acts of war—the President
continues to excuse them from tho liabilities
to the civil law ! This is the first act.
2. Five thousand pardons are issued—mixed
up of ail sorts of rebels and criminals, from the
robber guerrilla up to the rebel Congress.
3. Nobody is hanged for slarving our priss
oners but the Swiss Wirz, who acted under the
orders of Winder and Davis.
4 Tlhe local laws, courts, usages, &c. of the
rebel States are restored ; everything legal in
those communities goes on as if they had never
done a wrong.
5. The State Governments are all restored,
as if there had never been such thing as seces
sion, or war, or murder, or robbery, or treason.
There they are, Governors and Legislatures,
doing what they piease. They have even
honored us by electing Senators aud Represen
tatives to Congress, and we- have little doubt
they will condescend to govern us, if the com*
pensation is large enough.
FIRE !
“What would become of our national debt,
the pensions of the soldiers, and ot their
widows and orphans, if, through the sudden
admission of unrepentant tebels, tho Demo
cratic party united to them should obtain a
majority in Congress?’’
“There is uot, between these two extremes,
oue leader in the lale rebellion who is not to
day the assailant of the representatives of the
people, comprising more than three to one of
the present Congress of the United States.”
“So insolent and defiant are these men in the
assured immunity from danger, that they are
absolutely waiting to be called upon again to
take arms against those who defeated them on
the field'of battle.”
“The loyal element iu the Southern States
(white and black) Is utterly ignored by the
President and bis party. Every part of his
policy is intended to humiliate them and ele
vate their oppresso'B.”
“If the opposition to the report of the Joint
Committee on Reconstruction was confined only
to the Copperheads of the North, it would be
beneath contempt. But when these are re
inforced by the contrivers of the rebellion and
their followers, the struggle assumes vtry dif
ferent, if not formidable proportions.’’
“horrible stories of southern crime.
“A letter just received by Senator Wilson,
from Texas, says murders are of daily occur
rence in the country, though they soldom ap
pear in newspapers. Avery intelligent negro
by the name of Avery, who had written about
the true state of things irom Middle Georgia,
was found dead in a well, with a bag of stones
tied to his neck. A few weeks since, two
negroes were arrested for some trifling offense,
and tied together. Two white men rode np;
one tired and killed one of the negroes, and
then ripped open his abdomen, and his bowels
protmdiug, hitched them to the ramrod of his
gnn, aud pulled them out from the body ot the
dying negro. We talk of savage barbarity,
but where will auything be found to surpass
th's this ?” .
frops iu lennessre.
A correspondent of the Nashville Gazette,
writing from Mossy Creek, East Tennessee
says :
“ In this and adjourning counties the pros*
peet for corn crops is good, large crops having
been planted evetwhere. and looking very
promising, a« the season now bids fair to be
very tavorable. The wheat crop dees not
look so promising as the corn, for a great deal
of it has been frozen out. Provisions here are
rather scrace at present, and some predict
that before harvest those who have not a full
j supply on baud will suffer for provisions. Some
! fear* have been entertained that the late
! frosts had killed the fruit ; this, though, is a
1 mistake, as it now appears the ftosis did not
i injure it in the least.
j The Robertsou (Tenn.) Register savs the
wheat will be short in that county. Coni and
oats are promising. There will be a full crop
j of Tobacco planted.
! The Bristol (Tenn.) News of the ISth inst.,
says . "The growing wheat does uot promise
well in this section, the severe cold spell of
! February having materially injured it. Old
; farmers inform us that a larger area of ground
j has been planted in corn this season than us
ual-larger than ever before.”
.Hattnanituoui !
The following corre-pondeuce which we clip
j from that sterling paper, the Macon Ga. Jour
nal is Messenger, shows the indifference of
i some of tho Government officials to the de
! mandsof justice and humanity, in a stronger
light than we have heretofore seen.
A poor Catholic Priest involves himself per
sonally, for the payineut of money, which he
expended for the relief aaci support of Feder
al prisoners at Andersonville Georgia, when
our own Government, owing to the blockade
of our ports and the diffi.uUy of inland trans
portion, was unable to supply these prisoners
of war with the necessary supplies of food,
clothing, and medicines, and now, when worn
down by watching and mining those prisoners,
and his health destroyed by a too close appli
cation to their wants and comforts, he seeks,
by the advice of his physicians, relief for his
shattered constitution by travel and change of
air, and finds himsyif without the means ne
cessary to defray the expenses of the trip, he
calls upon the Secretary of War of the best
Government on the earth, and asks to be re
funded the (to him) small amount which he
had advanced, to these poor unfortunates, he i3
insultingly turned off with the cool dliection
that hia account must be sworn to and the
different vouchers verified.
We had thought that the sacred character of
the priesthood itself would have been a suffi
cient guarantee that the demand was just.
But when that good man shows by proof incon
testible and irrefragable that these funds, bor
rowed by him from a benevolent friend, were
applied to the reliet and comfort of • ichile
Union soldiers at a time when their own gov
ernment, by its course in regard to exchanges,
had left itself powerless to afford them succor
or protection, we are at a loss to conceive
any reason why this sacred obligation ot Gov
ernment should be evaded or refused.
Millions of dollars are being squandered by
a reckless majority in Congress for tho support
and education of hordes of black people who are
physically able to support themselves, while a
few hundreds are withheld from this man of
God justly due to him for expenses incurred in
providing for unfortunate white soldiers. Thus
we go: *
Washington Dep't, )
Adjutant General’s Office, V
Washingtjn, Oct 19, 1865. )
Rev. Peter Whelan, Washington, D. C.:
but—.l have the honor to inform you that the
Secretary of War requires that your account
for money expended for the relief of prisoners
at Andersonville, Ga., be sworn to oetore be
ing paid—as there.is no other evidence of the
correctness of the amount nor any statement
of the account. You are requested to make
an k a<count in form and attest it.
I am, Sir. very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
E. D. TONBEND.
Assistant Adjutant General.
Macon, Georgia, May 21, 1866.
E. I). Townsend, Ass't •Adft General, Wash -
ington, I). C.:
Sir—l received the above disnatch about
the end of last February. I wot' ilavo ans
wered it sooner, but illness prevented me. I
propose to answer you through tho press, and
lay the matter before the public.
About a year ago I wrote to the Secretary
of War, the Hou. Mr. Stanton, soliciting him
to refund me four hundred dollars and enable
me to pay Mr. Henry Horne, of Macon, Geo
da, who then stood in great need of the money
I borrowed of him for the use and benefit of
Federal prisoners at Andetsonville, Georgia.
1 was then, as now, under the impression
that, as a public fact, he must have known
my connection, as a Catholic Priest, with the
Federal prisoners at Andersonville. In my
letter to the Hon. Mr. Stanton it was stated
that I borrowed of Mr. Henry Horne, of Macon,
Georgia, sixteen thousand dollars in Confed
erate money to aid the Federal prisoners at
Andersonville, many of whom, under God,
owe to me the preservation of their lives. For
this snin i paesed my note to Mr. Horne for
four hundred dollars, payable in gold. It was
borrowed for the special benefit of the sick and
dying at Andeisonvilie. A good God has en
abled me to pay Mr. Horne, but not through
the generosity of the Hon. Mr. Stanton Secreta
ry of Wai.
On the 9th of last March I was taken down
with a severe attack ot conje3tion ot the lungs,
contracted at Andereonvilte. Being partially
relieved, my physiciaus advised a change of
climate to regain health and strength. Having
no funds to go North, my friends in Savannah
furnished tbeih ; but pre;erring justice and
bonestv to health and strength, I bought gold,
and thus was enabled through my friends to
pay Mr. Horne. Sir, I write in truth and jus
tice when I state that the Catholic Priests were
the true friends of prisoners of war, North and
South. The Federal prisoners at Macon and
Andersonville were attended only by Catholic
Priests. Father Hamilton attended chiefly the
Federal officers confined at Macon. ; he being
stationed thore with his congregation. I at.
tended Andersonville aided, tor several weeks
by Father Kirby, of Augusta, Georgia, Father
Clavreii, of Savannah, and a Jesuit Priest, of,
Springhili College, near Mobile. I gave the
prisoners my time aud labor during the months
of June, July, August and September ol 1864.
I gave them all the money I had of my own,
besides the flour bought with the money bor
rowed of Mr, Horne. My duties as a Catholic
Priest brought me daily, for some months, in
close contact with the sick and dying when I
had to inhale effluvium for hours on hours,
and be covered, as with a coat, with vermin.
I seek no remuneration. It was only justice
to Mr. Horne, as I was not able to pay him
when I wrote, that couid induce me to solicit
Mr. Stanton to refund the four hundred dol
’lars.
No amount of salary could induce me to stay
at Andersonville for one week, and attend the
sick and dying. No sir, not all the gold and
paper money in the Treasury at Washington
My motive was not money, it was to allay mis
ery, and gain souls to God. I am satisfied
that I am much, much farther above Mr. Stan
ton in kindness ot heart, than he is above me
in office of State.
Your despatch indicates that sworn vouchers
and bills of the purchased flour are required
before tho money given iu aid of the prisoners
can be refunded. All I say, let Mr. Stanton
keep it. I have not the health, nor strength,
cor money to run over Georgia to hunt Up
vouchers and bills of purchase. It might do
very well to require such of a money hunting
army chaplain, a commissary man or quarter
master. lam none ol these, but th3 Catholic
Priest who gave his time, labor, money, and
health for the good of the Federal prisoners at
Audersonville, without hope of earthly remu
neration. If Mr. Stanton possessed one par
tical of gratitude, he would have refunded the
lour hundred dollars when solicited, and in
consideration of my services to the prisoners.
So the world goes! Some worthless spy or
detective is honored and rewarded, whilst the
Catholic Priest, the true benefactor of the
prisoners, is ignored, aud perhaps cast off as if
he were a noted swiudier.
Did I solicit the President or Gen. Grant, I
have no doubt but that either of them would
have refunded. Fool like, 1 knocked at the
wrong door when I solicited Mr. Stanton. Did
1 appeal to the surviving prisoners at Ander
seuville, or to the Federal officers who werd
prisoners at Macon, I would have gotien ten
times the sum of four hundred dollars.
Had men in authority the pity and mercy
that I bad and have for prisoners of war, their
I parole and exchange would have gone on and
not stopped, and as a consequence, the many
; thousands of them who fell the victims of
prison life, and are now sleeping the sleep ol
1 death in their graves, North and South, would
be living and enjoying the pleasing society of
their family and friends. Theyare dead, upon
whom is their blood ?
I have the honor to be. sir,
Yours respeatfuliy in Christ,
Peter Whelan,
Catholic Priest of Savannah, Ga.
Tbe Jewels of Atlanta Lodge.
“ Cousin Norma,” writing from St. Louis to
; the Memphis Appeal, says :
When the Federal army occupied Atlanta,
some of the soldiers, ont of cu.-idity or curi
osity, robbed the Masonic Lodges of their
| jewels, etc A number of these were dis
covered in Boston, Mass . by Mr. L. L Barrel,
! importer of liquors. 23 South Lievee. St. Louis,
! Mo. After some considerable difficulty r.na
expense, fie succeeded in purchasing ail he
! could find, and he has them now in his posses'
; sion, subject to the order of the rroper aulhori
j ties of the lodges in Atlanta. This conduct is
worthy of most honorable mention, and I
write this item, hoping it may meet the atten
tion of those who are especially interested, and
also that it may cause the return of many
other jewels and material to the different
asylums where they belong.
The Freediuen’s Bureau.
The following article, which we clip from
the New Yotk Journal of Commerce, shows
that there are some persons at the North who
have not become entirely deranged from the
Hoo great pressure of “negro on the brain.” If
reason could have her sway, the Northern
mind would soon come to the conclusion ar
rived at by the Journal of Commerce. The
best thing that can be done for the African
race now in the South, is to withdraw at once
the Freedmen’s Bureau, and leave to the
people ot the Southern States the duty of carv
ing for and protecting the negroes. As long
as the machinery of this Bureau is retained
here there will be not only conflicts between
the races, but the white race will feel that, as
the General Government undertakes to inter
fere with, and in some measure control tbe ! r
conduct towards the blacks, they are, therefore,
iu some measure, absolved lrom what would
otherwise be regarded as a solemn duty—the
support, maintenance and protection of the
negro, and especially the old, decrepid and in*
firm.
We w’*h to be understood. We do not com
plain of the manner in which the officers of the
Bureau have pet formed their duties in this
State. Our objection is to the system. If it
is to be continued, we know of none whom
we would sooner entrust with its management
than Gen Tiltson and his present assistants.
The Journal of Commerce says :
“Whatever be the estimate placed on the
philanthropic motives of those who prefess the
highest interest in the negro race in this coun
try, there is no possibility of disputing the
melancholy facts which have resulted from
their efforts. Tho worst sufferers of 'he ?/ar
have been the negroes of the South. Terrible,
indeed, has thus tar been the effect of emanci
pation upon them. However severe the iot
of slavery, it was never so hard, so bitter, so
fata! in its effects on mind and body, on health
aud life, as freedom has proved under its at
tending circumstances. This is not an argu
ment for a return to slavery, but it is an
appeal to those who have the interests of
humanity at heart to do something better than
they have done yet for the race which the
Providence of God has thus brought into a
position of dependence never before tried.
For freedom is cot independence, and to the
black race never will be independence, unless
new light be thrown cm the future. The facts
are no louger doubted, however they have
been covered up and concealed. The misery
of the freed negroes has been beyond descrip
tion, It is a Temarkabla truth, illustrating
the peculiar characteristics of the race, at least
in their present condition, that the mortality
of the negro regiments, organized during the
war, far surpassed anythin!? known ia mili
tary history. Reports are on silo in the
War Department, showing that in some
regiments more than half the negro
soldiers died of disease within a few months
after enlistment, and this too where they had
better care and quarters than white soldiers
alongside of them. This mortality was not
owing to contagious or infectious disease, but
to the lack of physical stamina in the poor
fellows, and their inability to stand the new
order of life. The hosts of negroes who have
perished from exposure and starvation number
doubtless hundreds of thousands. Nor has
this sorrowful state of things ceased to be visi
ble among them. There is probably nowhere
on the face of the eartli to-day an equal popu
lation in any one country among whom there
is so much suffering as among the freedmen in
America.
What is the remedy ? Let philanthropy
answer. The Frecameu’s Bureau, tor ait bene
ficial purposes, is a failure. Geu. Howard is
entitled to the highest credit lor his good in
tentions in its management. He does tho best
that he can. He commits a serious error,
however, in denying, by sweeping phrases,
the statements ot Generals Steedman and Ful
lerton. The evidence of their truthfulness is
too abundant, and it would show more caution,
and more of a desire to learn the truth, if Gen
eral Howard should, instead it denying, Bet
himself to work at once to rectify the wrongs
as well as may be. But he cannot do it, nor.
is it probably,within human power to organ
ize at Washington a bureau which properly
looks after the interest of the freedmon scatter
ed over the immense territories of the South.
This statement may seem broad and discourag
ing. So it is. Bat it is reasonable. The very
principle ot our government, which is agains’i
centralized power at Washington, is against
such a bureau ; and the reasons- are much the
same. The interests of any dependant popula
tion are best taken care of by local govern
ment. It would be a very foolish thing to
supposeffhat the poor laws oi our State could
be improved by condensing them into a United
States statute, and giving to a bureau at
Washington the management of affairs for the
thousands of paupers in the various counties
and villages ot the land. It would be the
height of absurdity to attempt to organize a
bureau at Washington to supersede the laws
ot New York in relation to the Indians now in
this State.
in fact, if the subject were divested of all
political partisanship, it would be at once
manifest to the entire body of intelligent men
that tne interests of the negroes in (he South
ought to be remanded to the States in which
they are found. The idea that these States
will oppress them and prosecute them is with
out foundation, and needs no refutation The
interest of the South is to mako its laboring
population as valuable as possible, and to this
end every Southern man knows well that the
negro must be taken care of, nursed, provided
with that which he cannot get for himself, and
treated in every way kindly and gently. Let
us endeavor to dismiss Horn our minds the
hideous stories of the past, which were de
rived from exceptional cases, and remember
that the great mass of Southern slaves were
.kiudly treated and that the free colored* men
are likely to be kiudly treated hereafter. Let
us also bear in mind that one great economi
cal fact of-the old labor system, What is
needed for the laborer is production of the
same practical result with freedom substituted
for slavery. That practicil result may be sta
ted in one^sentence —namely, tffat the laborer
•shall be paid for his labor at least a support
from birth to death, medicine in sickness, care
and attention in old age, with absolute insur
ance against starvation. Fix the mark of
payment as much higher than this as men
pleaSß ; they will do well for the present to
be content with reaching this point. The prob
16m involves the introduction of poor-laws
and public support instead oi the old system
by which the owner was compelled to give it
Every dollar of the millions now expended on
the Freedmen’s Bureau is an expense which
was formerly borne,*and o»ght again, and as
soon as possible, to be borne by the Southern
employers of labor. Heretofore the South has
paid for its labor full, even though simple and
plain, food and clothing for the laborers and
their iamilies. They have no longer the right
*o force the labor, but if they have it at all
they must pay for it, and they are wise enough
down there to proceed at once in organizing
the new labor system so as to make the vol
untary labor as productive as possible, it be
ing a lesson better understood there than even
here or in England laborer who is well
taken care of in person and in family, is by
far the best laborer, and producss the best re
subs of labor.
Until the government and the people of the
United States abandon the idea of regulating
the affairs of the freedmen by national laws,
with Washington appointees to administer
them, the negro will continue to suffer, glaive
and perish. The state ot war, undoubtedly
imposed on the government a heavy response
bility, and the Freedmen’s Bureau may j>ossi«
bly have been a necessity of the times through
which we have been passing. But its mission
is rapidly approaching an end. It can do lit
tle more good, and it is doing a vast amount of
evil to the race it is intended to protect.
Giving to its supporters and friends ail credit
and philanthropy and the best of motives and
desires, it is nevertheless plai-i that- it is now
likely to become an engine of vast harm to the
negro as well as to the best interests of both
South and North. The negro tace mu3t bo
taken care of, as a dependent race, unable to
take care of themselves, and if there is any
thing in our principles of government, this
care can best be administered by local law,
suited to the special circumstances of each
State and county inhabited by freedmen. If
this be error, let philanthropy devise some
thing-to take the place of the present terrible
system which is destroying the negro race.
American Ships Destroyed by Rebel Priva
teers.
New York,' May 24.—From reports prepar
ed by the Chamber of Commerce it "appears
that the number of vessels captured by Con
federate privateers was 283 their tonnage be
ing 132,307. . The estimated value of the ves
sels and cargoes was $2-5,546,000. &,me of
these were bonded and released, leaving §25,-
as the value of property actuaily*des
troyed.
The May Term of the Troup Super inr Court
began on Monday the 21st instant. Judge
Hiram Warner presiding.
JDTUAGS F.iOB THE CtPliAt.
[SPECIAL CORRESPONiiENCS OF THS CHRONICLE AND
BZNTINEL.]
Washington, Monday May 21.
The greater part of the inevitable politcal
froth and buncombe incident to the discussion
of the question of Reconstruction Having now
spent itself, and it being settled beyond ail
question that the South will not be admitted
to representation within the present year, much
of the attention of Congress, during the rt>
mainder of the session, will be devoted to tho
consideration of the three great mdlsures in
which all the material interest, of the country
are involved. I refer, of coarse, to the finance
bill, the tax. bili and the tariff.
THE TAX BILL *
Is now in course of revision in the House of
Representatives, its multitunous provision be
ing taken up, section by section, and discussed,
altered, amended, rejected or adopted, as the
case may be. As the bill covers something like
175 printed pages, this process of considering
all its sections in detail is, of course, a very
tedious one, and it is not likeiy that the Rouse
will dispose of the bill before the close of this
week, if ro soon. Mr. Morrill, ot Vermont’
the Chairman of the Committee of Ways and
Means, upon whose shoulders devolved the
lion’s share of the work in framing the bill,
remarked a day or two ago that the tendency
of all the amendments thus far adopted by the
House was to cut down the revenue to be de -
rived from the internal tax ; and ho seemed
to be apprehensive that unless this tendency
was soon checked, the bill would be, to a large
degree, shorn of the features which render it
the main prop of the national credit. I can
not now recall any of the important amend
ments made up to this time, that would be of
special interest to your readers, except the
cotton tax, of which I have already given you
the full details, and the amendment ia relation
to gas companies, by which it is provided, that
the companies must in future pay their own
tax, and not shift it upon the shoulders of con
sumers by adding it to the gas bills. This will
be good news to everybody that uses gas.
THE FINANCE BILL
For funding the public debt and reducing the
rate of interest on the same, of which I have al
ready sketched the leading features in a previ
ous letter, has been reported by the Commit
tee on Finance to the Senate, and is now
before that body for consideration. If adopted,
it will save the Government $20,000,000 per
annum. There is little doubt that, sooner or
later, tne debt will be consolidated, as pro
posed, in five per cent, thirty year bonds ; and
parties have already offered to take large
amounts of these bonds as soon as issued.
Tho main objection which has thus lar been
urged against the project is that it exempts the
bonds from any taxation, either by tho Gov
ernment, or by the States, or by cities. At
present there is no Government tax upon
United States bonds, except the income tax,
which is not objected to. But it has been
thought that Congress would, by popular
clamor, be induced to render the bonds taxable
by States, and the bill is so framed as to pro
vide against it. This is tho chief sticking
point. It will undoubtedly be popular to tax
the United States bonds ; but, on the other
band, if they should be rendered exempt from
all direct taxation of any kind, it would have
a wonderful effect in invigorating our public
credit and would impart to our natilonal securi
ties as strength and solidity scarcely inferior
to that which distinguishes Iho “consols” of
Great Britain. Our able "and long-headed
Secretary of the Treasury is ardently in favor
of the bill, and the friends of the Andminis
tration generally trust that it will pass.
THE MODIFICATIONS LIKELY TO BE MADE IN THE
TARIFF
may be summed up very briefly. The advo
cates of “protection’’ are stronger now‘in
Congress, both numerically and in point of
ability and influence, than ever before. There
is but little doubt that they will carry the day
and enact a tariff framed spec tally in accord
ance with the views of th 6 manufacturing in
terests in this country. New England 3till
ieads the Northwest by the nose ; and though
t he leading representatives from, the latter sec
tion occasionally squirm and w rithe under the
constant inflictions of unequal legislation, they
are too well trained in the practice of submit
ting to dictation from “ down Es.st ” to with
stand the denunciations of Stevens, Kelley,
Bontwell and Banks. So we may make up our
minds to expect a still highe# tariff. As for
the people of the South, they are all consum
ers of imported goods and nobody will give'
himself much concern about their interests..
Even if their representatives could ba heard
upon the floors ot Congress,little heed would be
paid to their remo astraces. As it is, the South
must suffer in silence, as best it may, and
patiently bide tb.e hour of its deliverance.
NE«KO SUFFRAGE FOR THE TERRITORIES.
Your readers will doubtless .be eager to note
every phase and development of Congressional
sentiment on the subject of negro suffrage.
Let it not escape them that the House of Rep
resentatives ha< passed a bill to amend the
organic acts of the several Territories, and that
one of the provisions of the bill provides :
That within the Territories aforesaid, there
shall be no denial of the elective franchise to
citizens of the United States, because of race
or color, and all persons shall be equal before
the law. And all acts, or parts of acts, either
of Congress, or of the legislative assemblies of
the Territories aforesaid, inconsistent with the
provisions of this act are hereby declared mill
and void.”
This delectable measure was carried by a
strict party vote, Thad. Stevens having been
successful in whipping in all the stragglers of
his party to its support. The Democrats made
as good a fight over it as they could, but were
utterly powerless to prevent its passage.
TJIE FKEEDME.n’S BUREAU AGENTS IN TROUBLE.
The good effects of the thorough ventilation
of the affairs of the Freedmen’s Bureau by
Gens. Steedman and Fullerton are already ap
parent. The President on Saturday last di
rected Gen. Howard to cause the arrest of
every officer of the Bureau in North Carolina
who is engaged or peculiarly interested in the
cultivation of plantations, and Brig. Gen. W.
E. Strong has been sent to execute the order.
The President has also instructed Judge Ad
vocate Gen. Holt to make out charges and
specifications against these officers with a view
to their trial by Court Martial. There is a
good prospect, I am glad to say, of a thorough
reform of the abuses so rife in the administra
tion of the Bureau.
MgRE MENTION.
Snubbing the South is the order of the day.
Speaker Colfax, the other day, in laying be
fore the House of Representatives a letter
from Gov. Patton, of Alabama, in regard to
the direct land tax, styled it “a communica
tion from one R. M. Patton, signing himself
Governor of Alabama, without the seal of the
State.”
The Senate has passed a bill prohibiting the
admission to West Point of any cadet who has
served in Confederate army.
Leufza, the artist, is here, for the purpose of
painting a picture of the Great Grant.
The following is the latest batch of pardons
issued : Thos. G. Clemson, South Carolina; H.
H. Allen and J. D. Rother, of Alabama; L. L.
Thomasson. Georgia, and David Murphy, of
Nortn Carolina. Ail under the fust and thir
teenth exceptions of the mnesty Proclama
tion. Butternut.
The Firs Wrdnrsday Night.—The huge
alarm of fire last night, which caused so much
excitement with the firemen and the machines,
resulted from the burning of a “chicken coop’
on the plantation of Mr. Jonathan Aliller, be
low the city. Loss—“destruction of chicken
coop and ten or twelve ducks,” roasted as bad
as Dead Duck. Forney.— Constitutionalist 25th,
[From the London Daily Heics, April. 30]
THE ATLANTIC CABLE.
Progress of the Hanufactare—Coiling the
Wire hi the Bold of the Great Eastern—
Interesting Experiments—Picking-up. Ap
paratus.
Ihe slender Birmingham wire, which we
recently traced from its arrival from the gutta
perchr. work* in the City road, through the
various processes of manufacture, until it left
Mordea wharf, Greenwich, a complete sub
marine cable, is now being coiled at the rate
of two miles an hour iu the vast tanks of tire
Great Eastern. The Amethyst hulk, which we
saw receiving its precious freight the other day,
is now moored alongside the great ship off
Sheerne«B, while the Iris is being laden in her
turn at Greenwich, and will supply the Ame
thyst’s place directly the latter is emptied.
Thus, manufacture and stowage go on concur
rently, and at the moment one part of the great
wire is receiviug its elementary coating of
Chattertofl’s compouud, or perhaps being spun
at Birmingham, other portions are. laid
down iuthe great ship ready for the final and
momentous 'paying out. Standing on the
deck. 01 the Great Eastern, a few yards from
its stern, you see the cable slowly pass up the
ship’s side, and over a series of wheels and
pulleys, ail ingeniously constructed and care
fully watched, and follow it under its covered
way until it disappears into the large wooden
but erected for its reception. This hut is the
size of a modern barn, and is the deck-cover
ing of the aft tank. Entering by its door
way, you look into a yawniug, dimly-lighted
circular gulf, the bottom of which seems to be
composed of light oak, symmetrically turned
The uniformity of tho slightly corrugated
circles within elides —the mathematical exac
titude with which each appears to fit into, and
be part 01, its neighbor—the set ming solidity
and unity of tho great whole—all speak of the
lathe; and it is only when the eye has becoma,
as it were, acclimatized to the pale glimmer of
the swinging lamps below, that the silent white
figures squatted at regular intervals, and
moving noiselessly around, are seen to be
cablemen, and the apparent wood carving to
be the cable. The external distinction be
tween last year’s electric rope and this is now
seen to be very marked; the absence of the
tarry coating, and the clean, substantial look
of the manilla strand, giving an impro sion of
mingled strength and ductility, which is aus
picious in itself. It may be repeated that this
year’s galvanization of the outer protecting
wires afiords all the security against corrosion
given by the final coat of tar formerly applied,
while in the event of an unlucky bit ol wire
defying precaution and finding its way into
the tank, the chauces of sticking in the rope
are sensibly diminished, through the latter be
ing repelientiy yielding instead of ghitinously
adhesive. Very gradually and regularly are
the ciicles within circles increased. No word
is spoken as the rope slowly passes tho officer
on guard at what we may call the top story of
the tank, and is received by two of the white
figures below. These march slowly round,
handling tho -gracefully descending coil as
tenderly as if it were alive, and UDder the close
and constant inspection of the officer on guard
■ below pass it to other white figures, who, with
equal tenderness, fit it into and steady it in its
appointed place. Thus ring aftor ring is
formed, each layer beginning with the large
oilier circle of the tank itself, and ending with
the. centre irame work of wood, which is its
bull’s eye, and serves to “shore-up” and keep
all steady. Every man entering the tank is
searched before going in, puts on the nailless
gutta percha shoes provided by the Company,
aud goes through his work* of cable-stowing
under the constant and watchful-supervision of
tried aud experienced officers.
Besides these presentations, tests both of in
sulation and continuity are being carelessly
put by the electricians. Nor are these confined
to this year’s venture. The old cable on board
is for this purpose connected with the new, and
messages wero transmitted on Saturday through
a total distance of 1,506 nautical miles. There
were then 485 of these miles in the after tank,
757 in the main tank, and 267 in the fore tank;
and to make the test more searching and com -
plete, communication has lately been estab
lished between all these and the shore, An
end from each tank if brought into the testing
chantber on deck, is there jointed together, so
as to make for electrical purposes one cable,
while another end is passed over the ship’s
side, laid in the mud und oozy bottom of the
unsavory Shcerness waters, in which the Great
Eastern rides, and landed on the stony, slip
pery bank hedging ia tho shore. The portion
thus running from ship to land has been re -
cently added for the sole purpose of proving
Mr. Willoughby r-'mith’s improvements In the
process of testing; and to do this L has not
even been thought necessary to use the com
pleted cable This particular succursal leaves
the ship without any other protection than its
gutta-percha covering, and runs to lend, and
into She cowherd’s cottage, where a room has
been borrowed, a mere string of slender pi
ping, like a stick of slender chocolate. Yet,
unfair as it seems to work this bit of core,
without the jute, galvanized iron, and Manilla
strands, wb’ch are its proper protectors, the
experiments tried have been eminently satis
factory. On Saturday, messages were sent
from ship to shore, and from shore to ship,
with never-failing regularity; aud, more inter
esting still, upon artificial faults being created,
the iif«-like indicator betrayed thorn instantly
and unerringly. This was tried several times,
and in different ways; for, through the ends of
the different lengths passing up - to and bemg
joined in the testing-chamber, it is easy to
create a fault, now at a distance of a few bun
dled miles, now at a distance of as many yards
from the operator, in all cases the exquisitely
delicate apparatus made instant and decided
protest, and tho result *of tho experi
ments proved that, as in the forthcom
ing expedition insularity and continuity
will be tested concurrently anti constantly, in
stead of at intervals, as heretofore, messages
may and probably will pass to and from Valen.
tia and the Great Eastern during the whole
voyage, so thiit those on shore will be as fully
informed of the condition of the cablo as those
on board. It is estimated that in the event of
a fault arising in the nejv cable, it will he dis
covered instantly, and be localized, and tho
process of paying out reversed to that of pick
ing up, within a very few minutes of its oc
currence. It w hid be difficult to speak too
highly of the advance in the science of cablo-
these facts imply; aud it is impossible to
inquits into the plans of this year’s expedition
without being impressed with the care taken,
not merely to guard against disaster, but to
prevent disaster affecting result. The whole
machinery for both paying out and picking up
has Been repeatedly tested; the latter is entirely
refitted with two high pressure boilers, and
will now be of from five to seven and a half
times the strength of the breaking weight.—
Whereas, too, the extreme breaking strain in
paying out is ten tons, the large wheels em
ployed will bear seven times aud the smaller
ones nine times that strain. The mishaps of
Ijist year were, it is useful to remember, at
tributable to the possibility of picking up a
cable from the bottom of the Atlantic never
having been contemplated. Neither ropes nor
gear were provided for such a contingency, and
those pressed into the service gave way when
put to a strain they were never made to bear.
Now, proficiency in picking up at great depths
is recognizad as a necessity in submarine tele
graphy, and every provision has been made to
make such picking up easy and safe on board
the Great Eastern. Last year it could only be
done from the fore part of the shin; this year
matters will be so arranged that the oablemay
be brought in as well as paid out at the stern;
and the saving of time and complications is
obvioUs. The whole of this machinery—ropes,
wheels and gear—has been manufactured, as
before, by the Telegraph Construction and
Maintenance Company, under the immediate
superintendance of Mr. Glass, his Managing
Director, and of Mr. Canning, its Engineer-in-
Chief, aud the responsible head of the cable
layers, mechanics and Engineers, employed in
the expedition.
Passing from ihe Atlantic cable to the grand
vessel which is to carry it, it is gratifying to
know that her keel and hull have been thor
oughly and carefully cleaused, and tnat the
divers reports show them to be iu good sail
ing order. Considerable time and ingenuity
have been expended on the construction of
huge brushes and scrapers to effect ibis,Tor the
immense mass of shellfish, weeds and dirt
which have accumulated and hardened at the
bottom of the great ship made her cleansing no
easy matter. A strong implement something
like an agricultural harrow, has been con
structed, and by aid of this and other brushes
constantly applied, so much impedimenta has
been removed that an addition of two knots
an hour to her speed is counted on. This, it
is hoped, will give a power of nine knots,
when fully laden ; higher than is needed for
cable laying, and calculated to iusure the
fullest speed necessary, even against a head
wind and an averse sea. The directors of
the Telegraph Construction Company have
chartered the Medway, a ship of 1,813
tons, to accompany the Great Eastern’ on
her voyage out. The Medway will carry some
hundreds of miles of the cable of last year,
and in the event of the expedition being suc
cessful, will redischarge this into the then
empty tanks of the Great Eastern, at New
foundland. The Medway will then start to
locate the spot where the broken end lies, to
fix buoys, or it may be to commence the pick
ing up. Captain Anderson, to avoid taking
the Great Eastern to Nore this year, will go
direct to Beerhaven.from Sheerueas. and will
there supply himself with coal for the voyage.
The length of rime to be occupied in an expedi
tion during which the double process of laying
00-.vn one cable and picking up another is to
t>e gone through, is necessarily estimated at a
much higaer rate than tho one ot last
year, and some seventy days are spoken
°* 8S period the Great Eastern
will be away. Assuming her to leave
Sheerness from the 20th June to the 3d July,
next; three days will take her to Beerhaven,
where she will stay nine days to take iu coal.
Allowing five days for writing for favorable
weather, tor Splicing with the here end, and
fifteen days for the pa-avge to Trinity B.ty, we
may look for messages from America about the
beginning of August next. The Great Eastern
will again supply berself with yoal at Trinity
Bay, and at once follow the Medway to the
grappling ground ; this will take three days,
and eight more are given for grappling, and
five for returning to Trinity Bay and laying the
remainder of the old cable. ' This done, the
return of the Great Eastern to England will
take twelve days more, ami bring 'her home
about the second wrok iu September.' Iu each
case a margin must bo given to the foregoing
figures, but they are based oa present calcula
tions, and may be taken as authentic. It will
be seen that they assume success throughout,
and it may be added that on an elaborate series
of problems having been drawn up by au
thority, as to what would be the effect of dif
ferent calamities or casualties, should they
arise, the responsible leaders of the coming eu
terprise have answered every supposition satis,
lactoriiy in writing. The issue time alone can
solve ; but whatever may be its result, the
more the preparations tor the Atlantic expe.
dition ot ISOli are known the more they will
be regarded as marvels of forethought, of pre
caution, of skillful auaiysis of cause aud effect,
nad of logical deductions patiently, laborious
ly, and courageously woikeu out.
From Brasil.
The Houma Civic Guard (of Terrebonne
parish), ot Uie 3d instant, publishes a long
and interesting letter, addressed to Gen. R. L.
Gib«-on, of that parish, by Mr. S. Swain, of
Paragua, Brazil, October 4, 1865 We give a
summary, as the letter is desultory;
A regular line of steamers connects Paragua
and Rio do Janeiro, passage $25, freights rea
sonable. Mr. Swain’s plantation is on the As
- river, one of the tributaries of the
Bay of Pamague, the town of which uum-■ is
ton miles from the head of the Bay.
Mr. Swain was alone for tour mouths, aud
was then joined by Dr. John H. Blue aud Judge
JohuGuitiet and bis two brothers trom Charles
ton county, Missouri, Since then thirty-five
Southerners had settled there, and many more
were expected from Missouri. The principal
merchant ut Paragua i& Seuor Manuel Miro, a
Brazilian, educated in England, whom Mr. S.
speaks highly of. At Rio de Janeiro. H. N.
Lane & Cos., W. Davis and Thomas Baldwin,
American merchants, are recommended to
American immigrants. A large class ship can
sail from New Orleans direct to within tea
miles of the settlement. The inhabitants are
universally kind, polite and generous; the low
tr classes ignorant, superstitious and degraded;
the better classes are mostly educated iu Eu
rope and are a superior people, but the fight
ing material does not come up to tho Anglo-
Saxon race.
The better classes extended the hand of fel
lowship to the new comers. The laborers did
not know or care where they came from, or
who they were ; but a:e well satisfied to work
for jerked beef, black beans ahd bananas.
Doctors and lawyers npt wauled. Slavery
exists ; but free labor is pr-f erred. Cotton
is an uncertain crop; Sugar and coffee are the
safest, the former paying a man ot means best.
The cost ot establishing a coffeo farm is small,
but it takes six years to make a full crop. It
pays in three years. There is no frost to
check vegetation and open the bolls of cotton,
which continue to blooia, grow and ripen all
the" year round. Sugar is natural to the soil
aud climate; growsYrom planting the tops ;
seed costs nothing; is ripe in July, August and
September; grows larger and is much sweeter
than Louisiana cane, without any cultivation
ac all. The cost of raising it is nothing as com
pared to Louisiana cane culture The cane is
all made into molasses. There is not a sugar
toiler or a regular set of ketilesin the province.
Corn ia produced as in Louisiana, but not as in
Illinois. It is planted, however, at auy time
ot" tho year, and three crops can be made, on
tlio same laud, in a year.
Mr. Swain says that all Southern plantation
agricultuial implements are; of service, except
steam boilers and machinery attached.
The climate is healthy, uniform, a perpetual
Spring; no dry seasons, no wet ones. The
rain is plentiful, and fairly dmtributed through
out the year The air ib pure, water good aud
puro. Land is very cheap. Improved places
can be had at from SI,OOO to $4,000. There is
great variety of lands, with plenty of table
lands that lesembie those on Bayou Teche, ex
cept that they incline towards the rivers in
stead of from them. Near the river mouths
the lands are low and flat, subject to inunda
tion. From ten to fifteen miles further up the
lauds are high and rolling, and excellent On
the hills the soil is a yellow loam ; on the table
lands, a darker loam; in the bottoms still
darker—all veiv fertile, easily worked, does
not wash or bake into lumps, and is inexhaus
tible. Mr. Swain saw land there that had been
under cultivation two hundred years. Com
parativeiy little land is in cultivation, the peo
ple turning their attention almost exclusively
to the timber, and to the cultivation of
“matte, ’’ the native tea. Square lumber and
plank are cut from the “caneiia,” the “peubu,’’
the “imbioura,” the “jackaronda,-’’ and the
“giericska epa.” There is no cypress, or any
thing like it near the Bay of Paraguay ; but
forty miles from the coast, a belt of superior
pine timber commences. •
Plantations arc necessarily small, in propor
tion to the number of hands employed, from
the fact that the plow wa's unheard of before
Mr. Swain came to the country. The Brazi
lian farmer’s outfit is a hoe and the espada, a
cross between a sword and a bowls knife. The
country is not well settled ; there are people
enough to do it, but they are indolent. Other
wise, land would bo worth SIOO per acre, in
stead of only ten cents. Near two hundred
good sugar plantations could be made around
the Bay of Paraguay, all within twenty miles
ot ship anchorage. As many more farms for
coffee or sugar can be opened on the highest
mountains or tho lowest valleys. The natives
prefer planting on the highest hills.
A man worth $20,000 to $30,000 is consid
ered rich. Money is worth twelve per cent
per annum. There is plenty of refined society,
and the professions are well represented,—
“Nature has done her part to make this coun
try a pleasant one to live in, and we Ameri
cans are trying to do our part, and are san
guine of success.”
Banks in Sew fork.
The following table shows the capital and
par value of the sticks of the banks of New
York city : •
Banks, Capital. Shares.
American Exchange $ 5,000,000- 100
Atlantic 300,000 100
Atlantic of Brooklyn... . 500,000 50
America 3,000,000 100
Broadway 1,000,000 25
Bull’s Head 200,000 25
Butchers’& Drovers’.... 800,000 . 20
Bank of the State 2,000,000 100
Bank of New York 3.000,000 100
Bank of Commsrce 10,000.000 100
Bank of North America. 1,000,000 100
Bank of Commonwealth.. 750,000 100
Bank of Republic 2,000,000 100
Chemical 300,000 100
Continental 2.000 000 100
Corn Exchange 1,000,0.00 100
Chatham 450,000 25
Citizens’ 400,000 25
City 1,000,000 100
East River ' 206,525 26
Fulton 600,000 30
Greenwich 200,000 25
Grocers’ 200,000 40
Hanover 1,000,000 100
Importers’ and Traders’. 1,500 000 100
Irving. 500,000. 50
Leather Manufacturers’. 600,000 50
Long Island, Brooklyn.. 400,000 50
Manufacturers’. 210,000 30
Manhattan Company 2,050,000 50
Manufacturers’ & Mer’ts. . 500,000 100
Marine 400,000 .30
Market..... 1,000,000 100
Mechanics’ 2,000,000 25
Mechanics’Bank’gAss’n. 500,000 12 50
Mechanics’ & Traders’.. 600,000 25 &
Mercantile 1,000,000 100
Merchants 2,810,037 50
Merchants’Exchange... 1,255,000 50
Metropolitan 4,000,000 100
Nassau... 1.000,000 100
National 1,500,000 50
New York County 200,000 100
North RiveT 400 000 50
New York Dry Dock.... 200 000 30
Ocean 1,000,000 50
Oriental 300,000 25
Tbe Herald on the Financial “Situation.”
The Herald asserts that the Government
has lately lost from twenty to thirty millions
of dollars to keep down the price of geld, but
tbe effect was disastrous. Speculation is ram
pant
A Valuable Library.
we steal an hour from the busy
haunts of men and the stirring pursuits of com
mer ml circles, to wander into the more seclud
ed walks of literature, painting or music ; and
one day last week we had the pleasure of visit
ing one of the finest libraries ever collected by
or regained in tl le possession ot a Southern
gentlemanj and which was the property and the
pride of the late Mr A. A. Smets. the man
who could amid a ii the C!lres au j perplexities of
mercantile toe, preserve the taste and incline,
turn for books, and those selected from the
classics ot every country alll ] time, is as much
by hia example a public benefactor as he who
rests upon the laurels of building railroads or
opening manufactories.
No bibliopole, nor even a simple lover of
books can visit this choice library without ad
miration. In our country, where so few enjoy
the means of accumulating valuable books, and
where so few whp have the means have the
taste for literary treasures, it is rare to meet with
vefy large or very rare collection-. But here is
certainly one of the fiuest and most recherche
private libraries in the country. It does not rest
its claims upon the number of volumes which
it contains, ot which there are, perhaps, ten or
twelve thousand, but upon the choice selection
of its authors and the great variety of the edi
tions. It is composed of works in all branches
of learning and the fine arts, embracing the ear
lier and later poets, the more celebrated nov
elists, the best historians and biographers, and
every standard work in the realms of literature.
The library contains the riches of learning,
from the elaborate missal of the twelfth century
to the recent files of modern magazines. The
antiquarian delve in the black-letter tomo bear
ing the imprint of Caxton, and the admirers of
Dickens finds his author clad in his best typo
graphical dress. The enthusiast in large paper
copies, where “a rivulet of text meanders
torough a meadow of margin,” can revel in his
own peculiar delight, and the bibliopole who re
joices in “only copies, “suppressed editions,”
and works valuable only from some imperfec
tion which gives them rarity, can herq find am
ple room for the indulgence of his taste. Here
can be seen one of the original editions of Ho
garth, than whom, no greater pictorial satirist
ever existed; and there, too, is one of the early
subscription copies of Boydell’s Shakspeare,
whose plates, worn by frequent impression, have
reduced engravings to cartoons. He will find
on the shelves a magnificent copy of Month
fancon’s antiquities, bound in vellum, a work
which Sir Walter Scott always had by him,
and here, too, are the literary remains of tho
Great Wizard of Scottish talc.
The library is peculiarly rich in illuminated
missalcs, several of which, both in rarity and
workmanship; are almost priceless. The world
owes a great debt to the monks of the middle
ages; a debt seldom dreamed of, and still more
seldom acknowledged. During that period of
history well and truly known m “the dark
ages,*’ it was only in the monastics that tho
smouldering embers of literature ffere kept alive,
and by the reverend fathers of that day, whose
equal leisure and taste induced the task of pre
serving such fragments of learning as were then
extant.
Neither time nor space permits us to go into
an elaborate enumeration of the treasures which
grace the shelves of this magnificent library. It
is to be sold, and should, if possible, never leave
tho State, but be purchased either by some weal
thy gentlemen of literary tastes, or, far better,
by sdme public institution, whose access to it
would tend to foster a love for books—the pur
est and most ennobling of all loves. We trust
never to see or hear of its being dismembered
and its contents going to enrich various collec
tions. A well selected library is a harmonious
whole, and can no more spare any of its parts
without losing its completeness than the human
body can be deprived of a limb. —Savannah
Republican.
In republishing the above, tile Millcdgcville
Recorder, says :
We have often visited the above named libra
ry of Mr. Smets, and to the lover of literature
no greater treat presented itself to the eye.—
Mr. S. was peculiarly fond of old -and rare
works, nor did he count the cost when he found
a work he desired. We have known him to
give as much as from SIOO to S3OO for a single
book, and in Iris life time, he was often request
ed by the literati of Paris and London to con
sult his library as to authors and books that
could not be found in those cities.
The collection of such a varied and choicet
selection of books was the work of forty years
with Mr. S. It was not his intention to buy a
library or accumulate such a collection, but his
thirst for knowledge, and his inexhaustible and
unsalable love of reading led him step by step
to buy books that he saw mentioned in his read
ing; and the more he read, the more he bought.
Being a gentlhmen of wealth, ho had agents in
London and Paris to purchase many of the
old and rare works as they were sold from the
libraries ot the nobility of Europe.
The library should be seen to lie appreciated,
the artistic skill of the prints, engravings and
illustrations, running as far back as the twelfth
century can alone give one an idea of what was
done and is now doing in the way of printing,
&o. The oldest book in the library, was writ
ten by one-of the Gregories, Pope of Rome, and
is something over a thousand years old. The
library is for sale,, and we understand that sev
eral gentlemen from the North are bidders for
it. It is the wrish of the family of Mr. Smets,
that as it must, be sold, that the State of Geor
gia would purchase it. If not taken by the
State or bid for by gome Southren institution, it
will pass out of the State to adorn the shelves
of some Northern gentleman or university. A
catalogue is now being prepared, and if neces
sary, will be published, if not, the library will be
advertised and sold privately*
What two Virginia Girls Did.
Among the Btrangers in Philadelphia at this
moment are two ladies from Martinsbarg, West
Virginia, Yesterday they were purchasing a
seed drill, a mowing machine; aDd other agri
cultural implements, whose cost in the aggre
gate was about eight hundred dollars. Their
home was very close to the theatre of the late
war. Belwoun the two contenditig armies
Kheir houses and their barns were burned, their
lorses and their cattle driven off, their only
brother conscripted into the Confederate army
and themselves loft utterly destitute and home
less. Any one who, seeing a young lady 9uch
as we saw yesterday, had been told that she had
personally ploughed and planted many acres of
land, would have laughed to scorn the party so
informing him. Such, however, is literally the
case. We leerned the facts from a gentleman
residing in the vicinty. The smoking ruins of
the farm upon which these young people re
sided bad scarcely cooled when the neighbors
clubbed together, built them a log house, and
extemporized them a sort of barn Horses
were loaned to them, and the girls with their
own hands ploughed the ground aud seeded it
with corn: The crop grew apace, and with
their owu hands they harvested it. They sold
it to good advantage. They had owned forty
seven slaves. Some of these went into the
Union army, others deserted the locality The
giris were left alone to battle with the vicissi
tudes of the war.
Oar informan , whose respectability is be
yond a question. Bays that these-iris produced
by their work iu tho field more decided and
productive results than were accomplished by
the entire gang of slaves. They toiled for
three years, aud now have a comfortable bouse
and most substantial barns upon their pro
perty, while improvements have been made
upon it to an extent that makes it of consid
erably more value than before the torch of
conflicting armies reduced its buildings to
ashes. One of the young ladies fias since mar
ried, bnt the others still do duty* as their own
“overseem, ’’ and they themselves purchased
yesterday aud directed the shipment of the
agricultural implements to which we have
above referred. The wonder to the dealer was,
that a lady delicately gloved, and attired as
though she had never overstepped the bounds
of the boudoir, should descant experimentaUy
and intelligently upon the respective meritSrif
the different reapiug machines, and upon the
comparative value of the different patents for
threshing out the cereals .
These young ladies were educated in Phila
delphia, and are well known to many of our
bent people.— Phil. American.
Abolishing Imprisonment for Debt in Eng
land-A new lefotm is proposed iu England.
The Bankruptcy bill now pending in Parlia
ment provides for the abolition of imprison
ment for debt. The London Times says :
“This change, at first desired on the ground
of humanity, may now be defended on tho
simple principles of common sense. If it were
cruel to put a man in prison to lie there for
ever, it is absurd to put him there only for the
purpose of taking him out again, and that at
public expense. With imprisonment for debt
falls, as we apprehend, almost the whole
jurisdiction of insolvency as opposed to bank
ruptcy. A vast amount of time and trouble
hitherto expended in getting debtors who had
no means of payment released from arrest, will
be swept away, and persons will no longer ob
tain credit on the strength of the chance that
some compassionate relative will release them
from imprisonment. It is impossible to speak
too nigbly of this change, whether viewed
with reference to the principles of political
economy, of law, or of morality.”