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About Weekly chronicle & sentinel. (Augusta, Ga.) 1866-1877 | View Entire Issue (May 13, 1874)
010 SERIES -VOL. LIIII NEW SERIES VOl XXXVIII. TERMS. rilE DAILY CHRONICLE k SENTINEL, the oldest n.-w,piper In the Sooth, >* publish*-*! dally, ex cept Monday. Terms : Per year, $lO ; aii month*, ; three month*. $2 *®. THE TRI-WEEKLY CHBO GCLE k SENTINEL i» published every Tuesday, Thursday, and Satur day. Term* : One year, $5 : *ll m nth*, *2 50. THE W EEKLY CHRONICLE A SENTINEL i» pub lished every Wednesday. Term* : One year, $2; six months, sl. 8 JBSCttIPTIOXS * in ****«<*» an<l no paper c mtiuoeci sft r the expiration of tne time paid for. RATES OF ADVERTISING IN DAILY.-All tran sient advertisement* will be charged at the rate of $1 per square for each insertion for the first w ek. Advertisements in Tri-Weekly, two third* of the rat*-* in the Daily ; and is the Weekly, one-half the Dally rates. Marriage and Funeral Notices, $1 each. Special Notices, tl per square for the first publication. Hi*- ial rate* w.lllie made for advertisements running for a month or longer. REMITTANCES should oe made by Post Office Money tinier* or Kipre**. If tbU cannot be done, protection against !o«*e* by mail may be secured by forwarding a draft payable to the Proprietors of the Cnnouict-r. situ Sestmkl, or by sending the money in a registered letter. Addr(a , WALSH k WEIGHT, CttnoMCI.R kHi riser., Angueta. fia. Ctjromcle anti Sentinel. WEDNESDAY M W 1:(. 187-1. MINOR TOPIC*. I)r. Carry, tlie noted Northern Methodic prpachrr and editor, and one of the loyalist men that ever.anathematized a rebel, has been down South recently, and has gone hack home with Home of hie pet theories in a state of utter demolition. For instance, ho concludes that the project of mixing whites and blacks in churches at the South is an utter failure. If thg negroes predominate the whites stay at home, and if the latter predominate the darkey stays at home. Don I'iatt, in tho Capital, thus vindicates General Grant : “We meet the President almost daily as wo pass the Executive Mansion, going to and from onr oflioo, and while his countenance is not that of a teetotal Jouadab or Ita.-haway in good standing, there is nothing in his manner to indicate the frightful excess with which ho is charged. Ho looks to us like a bon nioant who puts himself outside of a bot tle or so after dinner, and retires at night in a happy state of elevation tli|t is as far from sobriety as it is from drunkenness.” 'I he actual suffering resulting from the over flow of a large portion of Louisiana lias caused the pecuniary damages to ho somewhat over lsoked. The New Orleans Itepublican of a late dale lias published a statement of tho esti mated loss of property by tho Hood. U esti mates the damage to tho sugar, cotton and rice crops alone at about $11,000,000, or about 0110- sixth tho total annual production. To this must ho added tho loss on the 500,000 head of live stock, the poultry, vegetables and other articles of food, which will help swell tlie ag gregate lohh very largely. ’1 ho w ar in Hpain is as atrocious in its charac ter as any of tho former civil conflicts in that most distracted country. In the recent combats tlie Republicans liavo lost not loss than 2.000 men killed and wounded. The war is conduct ed with such ferocity that in some instances no quarter is given. In a recent action at San Pedro a party of Carlists finding escape im possihlu fell on their knees and hogged for mercy ‘‘for tho love of God.” lint tho infu riated troops of tho Government massacred them on tho Hpot. with tho bayonet, in retalia tion of similar acts of inhumanity on tlie part of the Carlists. Morton is tho joiliost joker on tho floor of tho Senate. Hut ho is very exceedingly funny when ho chooses to bocomo absurd. Ho was speaking tho other day of tho blessings con ferred upou the country by Radicalism, anil by the reconstruction iniquities, and said, with the gravest face imaginable, that “ in Louisi ana confidence is reviving, prices of property are advancing, and tho prospects of tho Statn aro growing brighter.” If tliiH brightness Hash over the desolation of Louisiana, it is reflected from that “ hell of horrors" which Morton’s party organized when it gave Louisiana its Caseys. Warmoths. Durells and Kelloggs.” Tho Philadelphia Press has hoard of an en terprising citiaen who has promised to build a ship capable of carrying ten thousand passou gers in timo for uso at tho international cele bration, which is to combino a steam railway, a race course, theatre, shooting gallery, circus, and every imaginable attraction. Ho claims that liis plan is complete, and has boon ap proved by tomo of tho ablest engineers. Ho proposes to moor it in the Delaware, and con vey it at internals to tho different cities, ports and watering places of tho country. This monster machine will make about six miles an hour, ami will l>e three or four times largor than tlie Groat Eastern. As an instance of tho affect of heat and cold in expanding and contracting the iron of the dome of the National Capitol, it is stated that the colossal statue surmounting it inclines four and a half inches to the west in tho forenoon, nml tho sumo distance to tho east in the afternoon. This fact has been ascertained by fixing a plumb line to tlio statue and drop ing it to the rotunda below. As tho morning sun upon tho east sido of the dome lieatod tlie iron ami caused an expansion on tho side of tho statue it was thrown westward four and a half inches. In the afternoon, when tho sun upon the west sido heated and expanded that part of the domo, tho statue inclined to tho oas a similar distance. A fashionable paper at Si. Petersburg, the Orashdanin, expresses groat alarm at the spread of Protostauism in Russia. In, an article entitled "A New Apostle iu the Grand Monde of St. Petersburg,” it describes tho enthusiastic attachment with which Lord I!ad stook (who is the “new apostle") has inspired tho aristocratic circles of tho capital, Tho ladies of tho nobility, says tho writer, daily send hint doiena of invitations to religious conferences, go in crowds to hear liis sermons in the American church, and sing English psalms with him in liis own language. The (trastolanin says that it would not have alluded ti* these matters if what ia douo by the moth ers of tlie future supporters of the State and by persons ocoupyqig emineut positions in Russian society were Dot of the highest impor tance to their children and their subordinates. There are various ways of taking the trying occurrences of life. Some take them in the form of a husband. Mrs. Saunders did. Site lived in tho interior of Michigan, and Mr. Saunders took a trip soon after his marriage and nevt-r returned. Some years after Mrs. Saunders hoard of him in Detroit, in connec tion with an event of some importance to her. He was about to he married. Did she come on and make a fuss and disturb the happy day and make herself disagreeable ? She did the very contrary. She came on and attended the wed ding, considerately refraining from making herself known, avoiding a scene, and allowing the fond pair to go unmolested on their wt ti ding journey. Then this wise Mrs. Saunders having everything fixed, .--wed for a divorce. That was her littlo game, and very shrewdly she played it. A correspondent writes to Sir Henry Thomp son a notable suggestion in regard to crema tion namely, that instead of building furnaces to consume the dead the town gas works be utilized. Says this correspondent : “Nearly every town (Hvssessing a cemetery also pos sesses gas works. Therefore all that would be necessary would be a few retorts large enough to receive the coffin. If the public objected to the gas being used in tlieir private houses arrangements might be made to light euly the street lamps with it. If this plan of cremation was adopted tho rate payers must obviously be beuetitted.” but ting asido all the ordinary objeetious to this mode of crema tion. aud regarding it simply from its economi cal aspects, it has much to recommend it. It is obviously the cheapest method yet suggest ed. and it has other advantages which seem to have been overlooked. There is no estimating the brilliancy with which the public thorough fares would be lighted if certain Congressmen and other gaesv orators were thus enabled to show that "e’en in their ashes lived their wonted fires” by emitting their light for the ast time through the street lamps. The Tima gives an account of the strange practice of “flogging Judas Iscariot," which the Portugese sailors went through yesterday wet-k even in the Loudon Docks. This con sists in belaboring a wooden image of Judas Iscariot, roughly carved, and clothed in an or dinary sailor's suit aud a red worsted cap. This image is first hauled into the fore-rigging, after which the sailore go to mass; on their return, it is ducked three times in the water, hoisted on board* kicked round the deck, and lashed to the capstan, when tho crew, in a high state of excitement, belabor it with knotted ropes till every vestige of clothing is ripped off the wooden back, when the effigy is burnt. A more barbarous mode of commemonuiug the mild feproval, “Judas, betrayost thou the Son of Man with a kiss ?” than a ceremony the like of which Dickens invented ip express the pre ternatural malignity of.hie hideous dwarf. Mr. Quilp, can hardly be conoeived. But Chris -tianity itself assumes in different countries -shapes at least as divergent as that of Dickens' brutal dwarf and that of the perfect man. THE ATLANTA CONSTITUTION. Ia its issue of Sunday, the proprietors of the Atlanta Constitution announce that ‘hey have sold an interest in that paper to Mr. N. P. T. Finch, who has been one of its editors for more than a year past. The firm name and manage ment remain unchanged. We tender the new firm our best wishes for its suc cess and prosperity. HOW 18 THIS ? The New York Sun seys it is “certain that a small nnmber of favored specula tors in New York were informed of Gen eral Grant’s veto message the day be fore it was sent to Congress. One gen tleman, whose name can be famished, dealt in gold upon the strength of this private information. The same intelli gence. was also in the possession of Mr. Jay Gould, whose operations in conse quence are said to have been extensive. We learn, likewise that a lady who has become noted in public affairs had the benefit of the same knowledge.” NO MOKE I.ANDAULETB. The action of the House of Represen tatives, in Committee of the Whole on Saturday, in striking out the item of 81,400 for the care rtf horses and 8000 for repairs to carriage and harness be longing to the Department of Justice, was in effect a sharp rebuke to the head of that Department for indulging in the luxury of a private landaulet, purchased at public expense. It is an intimation to Government officers that while Con gress, representing the people, is dis posed to deal justly and fairly by them and allow them all the conveniences ne cessary for tlie transaction of public business, such willingness cannot be taken as an equivalent for permission to spend a thousand or so dollars for ele gant turn-outs. POE’S GRAVE. The Baltimore Gazette says that some time ago Mr. Pall 11. Hayne wrote for a Northern paper an account of the grave of Edgar Allen Poe. Mr. Hayne had obviously been taken by a friend to the Presbyterian Church, at Green and Fayette streets, and hud there seen for himself what is confessedly true, that Poe’s grave is still unmarked by any monumental tablet. With a little poeti cal license omitted, such as “the rank grass waving,” &c., the article then written stated but tlie facts, even to the unfortunate smashing of the tombstone nearly completed for the grave at tlie yard of Hugh Sisson. We have since met the item iu a condensed form floating around among onr ex changes in a reproachful kind of way. Now one “H. A.,” of New York, lias contributed ten dollars, and suggests that authors and journalists should con tribute additional sums until sufficient is raised to furnish a modest tombstone. Tlie object is ono that has enlisted at tention before. *lf “H. A.” is more suc cessful than has heretofore been the case, it will be a matter of congratula tion. SIGNIFICANT. Tho West and South are represented in the United States Senate by thirty five Republicans and eighteen opposi tion Senators. This includes those sec tions in the widest sense, excluding only in the whole country the four Middle and six New Eugland States. Os the thirty-live Republican Senators only nine, or barely one-fourth, voted on Tuesday to sustain tho President’s veto of the currency bill, and the three who were absent or paired wore all inflation ists. Os the eighteen opposition Sena tors six voted against passing the bill over tho President’s veto, and two others, Messrs. Cooper and Sohukz, would have done so if they had been present. While, therefore, three-fourths of tho Republican Senators from the West are for inflation, only five-tenths of the opposition Senators are. If tlie Republicans were divided as tho opposi tion my, twenty instead of twenty-six would favor inflation, and fifteen instead of nine oppose it. This shows most conclusively that tho opposition Sena tors kept more closely to the hard money moorings of tho Democratic party than the Republicans do to the specie planks iu Republican party platforms. TIIE RIGHT SPIRIT, The Macon Telegraph, and Messenger has a noticeable article upon Lamab’s eulogy of Sumner. It says : Disguise it as you will, despite the intense disgust which the people of the South entertain for the eivil rights bill and its defunct author, there is much in the catholic spirit evinced by the speech of tho member from Mississippi, which finds a cordial response in South ern hearts. The people do pant for peace aud j ustiee at the hands of the dominant section. They are sick of carpet-bag rule, Ku-Klux prosecutions, the tyranny of the United States Com missioners, packed juries, and all the diablerie of the Radical machinery. Any one, therefore, however, deeply dyed in fanaticism or objectionable otherwise, who dares to counsel mod eration at the North, and proposes, like the Massachusetts Senator, to obliterate from the flags of the Federal hosts the Union (so-called) victories inscribed upon them, aud banish every memento of the late unhappy fratricidal struggle, strikes a sympathetic chord, which vibratos from the Potomac to the Rio Grande. It was the sacrifice made by Mr. Greeley in standing surety for the ex-Confederate President, and his desire to bridge the yawning chasm opened by the war, that procured for him his largo following at the South. And now that Mr. Sumner is no more, with Chris tian magnanimity the statesman aud erst-while gallant Confederate from a sister State, sinks his faults, and pays a just tribute to the conciliating spirit manifested by the deceased. In com mon with our country.nen we loathe and detest the measure, which owes its pa ternity to Charles Sumner, but the grave has closed upon him, and surely we can afford to do justice at least to his virtues. The Rome Courier has also a strong article npou the decoration of Confeder ate graves by Union soldiery in Mobile on Memorial Day: These were eertainly touching inci dents worthy of conspicuous record. It is but additional evidence that, if the soldiers on both sides of the late con flict were left to settle the terms of peace and the restoration of fraternal brotherhood between the people North and South, without any other influence than the promptiugs of their own feel ings, that peace and harmony would long since have been restored,’ and the bitter asperities engendered by the late war virtually obliterated. Men who fought for principle—for what they be lieved to be right—know how to for give and to forget. They can appreci ate honest motives. They uudestaud the trite quotation of “enemies in war; in peace, friends,” and they act accord ingly upon all suitable occasions. We honor the impulses that actuated the ex-Federal soldiers residing in Mobile. We are for peace and fraternal brother hood between the sections at all times upon conditions of the strictest equality and npou 'errns of mutual forbearance aud recognition of honesty on both sides. We are ready to sheathe the sword and exchange the olive branch of peace on these terms; and for these rea sons we say that the incidents which occurred in Mobile, related at the out set of this article, ought to be conspicu ously recorded everywhere. We are in favor of reciprocating such tenders of reconciliation, coming from those who were manly enemies—men whoscornedto shirk their duty and respected the honest impulses of those who opposed them upon the ensanguined field. An Oglethorpe man picked up a fish which fell out of the clouds. THE HAMPTON HOADS CONFER ENCE. An unimportant issue of veracity be tween two distinguished Georgians— unimportant so far as the public and the truth of history are concerned, but important as, by its determination, fixing falsehood upon one of two men, both of whom have hitherto stood high ia the respect of the people of the South will probably lead to some im portant contributions to the history of the late civil war in America. Mr. Ste phens denounced the statements made | in Mr. Hill’s address to the Southern Historical Society as base and shame- j le.s fabrications. Mr. Hill replied to ; the assault by reiterating the truth of his assertions, denouncing Mr. Ste- I perns in language equally harsh as that ! used by his antagonist, and calling upon j the latter to make good his charges by ' proof under penalty of being branded a j malicious falsifier. To this manifesto ! Mr. Stephens is said to be preparing an : answer, but it has not as yet appeared. In the meantime Mr. Hill has pub- | listed another paper, purporting to be ; the unwritten history of the Hamp- j ton Roads Conference, or rather, of the appointment of the Con federate Peace Commission, which went to Hampton Roads for tho purpose of ascertaining upon what terms the war could he brought to a close. Os tensibly a historical paper, it is really a carefully prepared and certainly formid able assault upon the loyalty of Mr. Stephens to the Confederate cause ; and it is one which the object of the attack cannot afford to pass by in silence, or to refute by simple, however severe, denunciation of the assailant. Mr. Ste phens, in his first letter, boldly threw down the gauntlet at the feet of his ene my. It has been lifted with alacrity, and a duel to the death commenced between the two foremost men of the South. The lie has been given and returned, and “proof, retraction or infamy” asserted by Mr. Hill as the only solution of the quarrel. Not content with meeting the enemy upon the issue tendered by the latter, Mr. Hill has assumed the offen sive and carried the war into Africa. He has somewhat bombastically announced that he will fight under the black flag, and will neither give nor accept quarter. As we have said before, his history of the Peace Commission is nothing more nor less than an attempt to prove that Mr. Stephens turned against the Confederacy in its dving hours, and that he was in sympathy with designs which the people of the South, beaten and conquered though they be, must regard as treasonable.— Mr. Hill charges Mr. Stephens with hostility to tho Confederate Govern ment, with duplicity and bad faith in his negotiations with the Georgia dele gation in Congress, and with favoring and aiding a movement which had for its object tho desertion of Georgia from the Confederacy and separate action on her part for peace with tho Federal Gov ernment. He gives dates, circumstances and witnesses, in connection with some of his charges, and presents his whole article with the air of an advocate who is stating the substance of the testimo ny iu advance of the trial. He is evi dently bent upon the ruin of his enemy by proving him a traitor. But those who read Mr. Hill’s article, while im pressed with the gravity of the charges and the circumstantiality of the accusa tion, should also remember that they have heard but one side of the question, and that side the side of the prosecution. Mr. Stephens has not shown himself tho man to submit quietly to such imputa tions upon his integrity and patriotism, and it is but natural to suppose that he will speedily respond in his own vindi cation . Hon. John H. James, of Atlanta, in forms the public that he is not, at pres ent, a candidate for Congressional hon ors. He says, however, that the “time will come, iamy judgment, when I think I would like to go to Congress, for this especial reason: I think the Southern people have as much right to ask about three hundred dollars each for the slaves that were set free by the war as the man that stayed at home North during the war and male large amounts of money out of contracts and rise in property, etc., etc., have to ask pay for their Gov ernment bo|ds and greenbacks. Our Northern a ■ Western friends will see the justice if this in a few years, I think, as nc doubt many do already. Every man, woman and child in the South, while or black, is interested iti this. You fay, why ? I answer, if the South was piid this debt money would be plentiful here, and all persons and classes would get some of it, and all kinds of property and labor would ad vanced.” Good enough. This is as good a platform as any ever constructed by party carpenters at New York, Cincin nati or Baltimore. If Mr. James can carry out his views, by all means let us send him to Congress. A reporter of the St. Louis Globe late ly interviewed General Bragg, who was in that city, on the subject of the battle of Cliickamauga, aud the many disputed points concerning it. Next to Vicks burg, this battle, in which Gen. Bragg commanded the Confederate forces, was the most important in the Southwest. It appears that he had not. really as many men in his command as has since been supposed. He went into the bat tle with thirty-nine thousand men, and before eight o’clock in the morning he lost seventeen thousand of them. Os these over sixteen thousand were killed and wounded. The Federal loss was also very great. General Bragg is rep resented as emphatic in his statement that he could not have followed np his victory by capturing the Federal army, which he estimates as two to one or more than his own. He promised the Globe reporter to write a more accurate statement of the matter when he reaches his home aud has access to his papers and documents. Chester, on the river Delaware, is be coming the great centre, of iron ship building in this country. It is now stated that the directors of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company have decid.'d to contract for the construction of ’line more iron steamships, at least f.ve of which will be built at the yard o f Roach A Cos., in Chester. Also, thai Mr. Ed ward Faron, the company's superin tending engineer, who constructed the models of the City of Pekin and tffe City of Yeddo (now oa the ways at Roach's yard, and<to be launched on or before Wednesday, Ma/ 5), has just fin ished the model? two of the new vessels referred tw The new steamers will have the so lowing dimensions : Two vessels, each T 24 feet long, 44 feet broad, 34 feet depth of hold ; three ves sels, each 324 feet long, 38 feet broad and 26 feet deep ; lour vessels 200 feet in length, 33 feet b«am and 17 feet depth of hold. ____ It has been judVially decided that the man who comes to grief while play ing ghust is left without redress. The colored man in Carroll county who fatally stabbed yoing Hellon while the latter, wrapped in a white sheet, was endeavoring to frighten him, has been tried aid acquitted. Facetious fellows will soifle day discover that this species of humor does not pay. AUGUSTA, GA., WEDNESDAY MORNING, MAY 13, 1574. EXTENT OF COTTON PLANTING. Attention is called to a communica tion from a subscriber in this issue, in reply to an article from the Financial Chronicle, as to the probable acreage and yield of cotton for the present year. This article was reviewed in these col umns over two weeks since, and the fallacy of the extravagant estimates of the Chronicle pointed out. The promi nent idea in that article was that the crop now nearly marketed was a short one, and that the coming crop would not fall below it. The disastrous and general inundation of the best cotton lands in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, and the unprecedentedly heavy rains and freshets in all the cot ton producing States east of the Mis sissippi, will prove in a pecuniary point of view, to the South than Sherman’s march to the sea. The devastation from the waste of waters is fearful to contemplate. Millions of property have been destroyed. The waters have not yet receded from the overflowed lands, and when they do how are the people to replant their lands ? Their seed cotton and their corn, their supplies for plantation and family use, their cattle, and their farm ing implements and their household effects have been swept away. The people are famishing and crying for bread. Under this deplorable condi tion of affairs it is impossible for the people to recover themselves sufficiently in time to do more than make corn to keep themselves from starvation. They have no means at their command to make cottou. They have neither money nor credit. They will be compelled in self defense to try and raise supplies for home use. With favorable seasons from the first of June the people in the over flowed districts may be able to raise sup plies enough to keep them from starving during the Winter. A cotton crop in the overflowed districts is out of the question. The prospects for a cotton famine in the South were never so promising. In the States west of tho Mississippi mil lions of the most productive cotton lands have been overflown for weeks. In the States east of it continuous rains, followed by freshets and cold winds, have killed the cotton plaut. The wet weather has been so continuous as to prevent the cotton fields from being plowed up. Some planters will re plant cotton, but where the crop Jias been entirely destroyed, as in some of the upper Savannah river counties in this State, corn will bo sown as soon as the ground can be worked. Looking over the whole field, there never was a more favorable prospect for a cotton famine in the South. The speculators and manufacturers in Europe and the United States may be successful in “ bearing” the market for some time to come, in order to get all of the pres ent crop at low prices; but the time is not far distant when there will be an in crease in the price of cotton. A short crop is inevitable. Our people are pow erless to make a large one. They cannot control tho elements. A man may con trol fire, but He who rides the storm clouds and flashes the lightnings can alone control the winds and the waters. SOUTHERN IMMIGRATION. The St. Louis Republican, in a sensi ble article upon Southern immigration, gives what it considers the true reason of the failure of tho Southern States to secure European labor—viz: the failure to make any proposition for the sale of laud to the foreign settler. Heretofore the South has asked for laborers and tenants, while immigrants from Europe will only come with the hope of securing a proprietary interest iu the soil. We expect the Republican is cor rect and that the South has failed in her efforts in this quarter because of the mistaken policy by which they were di rected. The few Europeans who have come to tho South since the war have been required to labor only as hirelings and they have usually left the country, after a short stat 7, in disgust. Their condition is better than this in their own country and they left their homes with the hope of beuefitting themselves The tenant system is almost as objectionable. They are tenants in Europe and conse quently they do not care to submit to the despotism of a landlord in America. They wish homes of their own and these we must give them or tho stream of foreign immigration will never be turn ed Southward until all the vast territory west of the Rocky Mountains shall be filled up with settlers. The climate of the South is better than that of the West and Northwest, the soil is equally productive and agricul ture much more remunerative, but those sections offer the immigrants a home, while here he must become a day laborer or at best a yearly tenant, destined to sow where he may not reap and to toil where he may not enjoy the fruits of his labor. We must change our policy. The owners of large tracts of land must sell a cer tain proportion of it—a third or a half —at low figures and upon long credits. The laboring classes of Europe must be informed that by coming South they will obtain homes upon terms which will not bear hard upon any man of industry and steady habits. Such a system will not only bring us population and wealth but it will give a large and remunerative return to the landed proprietor. The planter who owns one thousand acres of land worth ten dollars per acre and sells half of it to immigrants upon time will not only get the full market value of the half sold, but in a few years will find the value of the remaining half doubly and trebly enhanced. The action of Governor Kellogg, of Louisiana, in pardoning murderers and other convicts of the worst order in a wholesale manner has roused the indig nation of all tho honest classes of so ciety in New Orleans. There has been talk or organizing vigilance committees to pnnish murderers, burglars, perjur er* and the like in a manner that will put them beyond the reach of Executive clemency. People all over the State are asking what the action of the Governor means. The Shreveport Times says: “It means that Radicalism in Louisiana is precisely what Radicalism was in Pasir when the slime of the prisons were belched upon the streets, when the Bas tile was stormed and the officers of the law butchered in cold blood after sur render. ” Among the “coming men” is Hon. William Walter Phelps, of New Jer sey. His speeches upon the franking privilege and the currency have excited general attention, and been most favor ably noticed by the journals of both parties. He is said to be a very young man, but his ability is pronounced of the first order. By the way, what a common mistake it is to measure a man’s capacity by his years. There are few men who have more talent, whose mind is more fully matured at fifty than at twenty-five, and yet the world gives but few men credit for ability until they reach the age of imbecility. New Orleans, May 6.—A1l the crevasses in Plaque me parish are closed. The work of replanting has com menced. Sugar cane in the inundated parishes has not been entirely ruined. CX WRITTEN HISTORY OF THE HAMPTON ROADS COMMISSION. BY B. H. HILL. [From the Atlanta Herald.] The Confederate situation in the Win ter of 1864 was such as to excite the most anxious solicitude in the mind of i every one who sincerely desired our suc | cess in the struggle. During that year I the Federal army, under Sherman, lad I passed through the entire length of the I State of Georgia, leaving a track of fire and a wail of sorrow behind, and was safely in tlie city of Savannah. The j Federal army, under Grant, though after losses almost unprecedented, had succeeded, for the first time since the war began, in making a permanent en trenchment almost within cannon shot of Richmond. The old year was pass ing away, bearing. whole hecatombs of our brothers and sons; and the new year was coming, bringing, we feared, burial caskets for our hopes. There had cer tainly been no period in Confederate history, and it may be doubted whether there had been one in any history,which was to put the wisdom ot leaders, and the courage and endurance of soldiers ,and people, to such a severe test. But our enemies, too, had their troubles, and they were serious. Gen. Grant’s march could almost have been cause wayed with the dead bodies of his sol diers; the Northern people were getting weasy of such a war, as Mr. Seward him self confessed; their finances were go ing rapidly; and foreign Governments, as Mr. Stanton admitted, were getting inipatient for peace—they wanted the Southern cotton crop. It was clear, too, from Mr. Lincoln’s annual message to Congress, in Decem ber, that he was too wise a man to con clude that a people were conquered be cause they had been defeated in battles, and had lost cities and territory. The will to be free was the citadel to be taken, before subjugation could be com plete. How to conquer this will of the Southern people was, therefore, the great problem with him. His plan to do ibis is simply set forth in this message. He represents the necessity of war as exist ing between the Federal Government on the one side, and Mr. Davis, “the insur gent leader,” on the other side, and be tween these forces he states the issue thus : “7/e,” the insurgent leader, “cannot voluntarily reaeeept the Union ; we can not voluntarily yield it. Between him and us the issue is distinct, simple s.nd inflexible. It, is an issue which can only be tried by war and decided by victory. If wo yield, we are beaten; if the South ern people fail him, he is beaten.” He then used these remarkable words : “What is true, however, of him who heads the insurgent cause, is not neces sarily true of those who follow. Al though he cannot reaeeept union, they can. Some of them, we know, already desire peace and reunion. The number of such may increase.” Having thus stated that the will of the iusurgent leader could not only be conquered by war, but that the will of the Southern people might be couquered otherwise, he proceeds to state how : “They can, at any moment, have peace by laying down their arms and submit ting to the National authority under the Constitution. After so much the Gov ernment could not, if it would, maintain war against them. The loyal people would not sustain or allow it.” This method, he said, had been tried for a year, with liberal offers of pardon and amnesty, and many had been won.— Some had accepted and proven faith less, but the means were still extended and the door was still open. It was generally believed in Rich mond that, from the fall of Atlanta, Gen. Sherman had been active in efforts to encourage a movement to win indi viduals and separate States from their support of the Confederate leader and cause. It was believed he was so en gaged front his headquarters in Savan nah. There were, certainly known, some acts and declarations of General Sherman in this direction, and Mr. Lin coln, in his message, certainly an nounced, officially, actual knowledge of partial success, and hopes of further success in inducing the followers of the “in-urgent leader” to desire peace and reunion. During the month of December, 1864, the whispers of a counter revolution, at first faint and then a full year old, were getting louder. Several State?, it was said, were to unite in calling a con vention of all the Confederate States, ostensibly to amend the Constitution and get rid of Mr. Davis as commander in-chief of the army; and a movement for peace by negotiation through sepa rate State action, was publicly advocated by many in State and Confederate posi tions. Whatever might have been the motives of such movements (and I am not now dealing with their motives), every reflecting man was obliged to know the only possible effects must be disintegration and subjugation. Aud we knew these effects were already go ing on, not only from Mr. Lincoln’s mes sage, but from a much more convincing quarter—our army. It was during the month of January, 1865, that Gen. Lee complained before a committee of Con gress (of which committee I was one) that he was losing more from his army by desertion than by the guns of the enemy. He thought the discussions against the constitutionality of Confede rate military laws, and tlie clamor for peace through separate State action, contributed milch to this result. De serters had been arrested with argu ments, on these subjects, from leading men in some of the States, in their pock ets. The hopes of Lincoln aud the com plaints of Lee united in a powerful ap peal to every true Confederate to do what lie could to promote harmony, bring about good will, make sacrifices of opinions and prejudices, aud unite all in earnest and patriotic efforts to bring, back deserters, and reinspire the people to resist subjugation, the evils of which no man could exaggerate. The Georgia delegation- hi Congress, perhaps more than any other, were embarrassed and disturbed by the rumors and facts al luded to. It was often said that Geor gia was to lead off in the cpunter-revolu tion, and invite other States to follow; and, more than once in my place in the Senate, I felt called oil to repudiate such allusions with energy and emphasis. A few days before or after, I think after, the first January, 1865, the Hon. Wm. E. Smith, the excellent and true member from the Albany District, re ceived a letter (I think Judge Hansell was the writer) giving an account of a j popular meeting held at Thomasville, at which resolutions were passed request ing the Governor to convene the Legis lature iu extra session, with the view of .calling a convention of the people of the State. He also staged that similar meet ings were called, or spoken of, in other counties of Southern Georgia, aud the letter was a most patriotic one in depre cation of the movement. It was generally believed in Richmond, and confirmed by letters from Georgia, that Governor Brown was ready and willing tc convene the Legislature and recommend the call for a convention; that the Vice-Presi dent was in full accord with the Gover nor, and that his brother, Judge Linton Stephens, an able member of the Legis lature, would take the lead for the move ment in that body. On the reception of this letter by Mr. Smitli, a meeting of the Georgia delega i tion was called to assemble at Mr. Ste ' phens’ rooto in the afternoon, after the adjournment of the two houses. Sena tor Johnson was not preseat, I think he was absent from the city. I think one, or possibly two members of the H«use were also absent. At this meet ing the letter referred to was read, other information on the subject added, and the threatened movemen t iu Georgia was discussed. The result of the discussion, or interchange of views, was a unani mous request from the delegation that Mr. Stephens would write to Governor Brown, and urge him, in behalf of the ! delegation, not to convene the Legisla ture, etc. Mr. Stephens said he would | not write the letter, as matters then stood, but if we would unite with him and aid in getting up a movement for a negotiation for peace from Rich mond, he would write to Gov. Brown and advise and reqnest him to suspend the call and movement in Georgia until the result of the effort at Richmond should be known. lat once sqpd : What plan do you propose, Mr. Stephens ? j He then said that Mr. Atkins, of Ten nessee, had a day or two before pre sented to him some resolutions for his review and revision, which he (Atkins) proposed to introduce in the House Committee on foreign Affairs for re port to the House, and that he (Mr. Stephens) had drawn a set himself in lieu of these of Mr. Atkins, which ex pressed his viewS on the subject. We asked him to read the resolutions he had prepared, and he did so. The substance of these resolution* was that, the House of Representatives, voting by States, should elect commissioners, with authority to proceed to Washing ton, aud, in the name and behalf of the States, propose peace on the great prin ciples of 1776 If the commissioners should not be received at Washington, or the offer of peace on the principles proposed should be rejected, then we were all to unite, fire the Southern heart anew, and rally the people to the strug gle for independence as the only re course left to avoid subjugation. I told Mr. Stephens I thought it would be more regular and proper for the resolu tions to leave the selection of the com missioners to the President, but I would waive all objection aud agree to sup port his resolutions without any change or amendment if he would write to Gov. Brown t'o stop the movement in Georgia, and I moved that the delegation agree to Mr. Stepnens’ resolutions as pro posed. After some discussion the vote was taken, each member expressing his views, and every member voted to agree on the terms proposed, except one.— That exception, I think, was the Hon. James M. Smith, now Governor. He stated that he voted nay because the re solutions did not meet the approval of his judgment; bat, he appreciated the motives of the delegation, and in de ference to their wishes he would not op pose the resolutions in the House, but go with the delegation. Thus we were unanimous. After this agreement was reached I said to Mr. Stephens, that if the House elected commissioners I did not doubt he would be chosen as one of them.— But if the House, as I thought was proper and probable, should amend the resolutions, and leave the selection of the commissioners to the President, I would insist that he be placed ftt the head of the commission, and, therefore, he might make his arrangements, in either view, to go to Washington. He said lie had no idea of going himself, and did not suppose he would be either elected or appointed. Ho said, also, he did not believe the commission would succeed, and ho doubted whether it would even be received at Washington, and he had no desire to be one of the commissioners. But we insisted that lie had made our people believe some thing could be done by negotiation— that the people looked to hint more than any ono else in that movement—that he was the leader of it—that, therefore, he could not decline to go if elected or ap pointed, and that if the commission was not received, or failed, and he was not on it, the people would say it failed be cause he was not chosen. * Wo then in terchanged views in the delegation, as to other proper persons to be associated with Mr. Stephens. He mentioned several. Judge Campbell, Senator Gra ham, and, I think, Gen. Benning and Mr. Flournoy, were all discussed.— Some of the delegation suggested Hr. Hunter, but Mr. Stephens ob jected to Mr. Hunter. It was at this meeting that Dir. Stephens, also, gave us his views of how the war onglit to be conducted. Compulsory laws should be repealed—only volunteers relied on— West Point generals removed, and civil ian generals appointed. The ideas were memorable. I went directly from this meeting, across the Street, to the Executive Man sion, and, iu a short time after my ar rival there, was left alone with the President. I gave Mr. Davis a full ac count of the reports from Georgia—of the meeting of the Georgia delegation, the resolutions of Mr. Stephens, and of all that was said and done in the meet ing. He was deeply pained at the move ments in Georgia. No man could be more anxious than himself to negotiate for peace, if there was any prospect of being met in that spirit by the other side. He greatly feared that such ir regular movements would tend, more than anything else, to eucourage the enemy and destroy the hope of peace. I told him I understood his views fully. I knew he was willing'to negotiate, if it could be done. But his enemies were clamorous in making the believe ho was actually opposed to it~ and were, by such means, causing desertions from tho army and divisions among our peo ple, and something must bo done to si lence these clamors. That while there was danger, as he suggested, that an ef fort to get up negotiations ou our part, without any indication of a willingness to meet us on the other side, and with Mr. Lincoln’s message distinctly repu diating all negotiations, might be unfor tunate in the impression made ou the minds of the enemy to our disadvantage, yet, to make no effort, and especially to oppose an effort when proposed by the malcontents iu our midst, would con tinue to weaken our army and divide our people, and this would be by far the greater evil of the two. I told him that Mr. Stephens had promised to write to Gov. Brown, at the instance of the Georgia delegation, if we would agree to liis resolutions, and this would, we thought, stop Gov. Brown, and now we must adopt a policy to stop Mr. Steph ens, and I believed this would effectual ly silence the negotiation clamor. That if an effort at negotiation had to be made and fail, it was better to make it iu any form by the Confederate authorities than let the agitation for such a move ment by separate State action go on. Af ter thus discussing the subject on its merits for some time, I told the Presi dent I had three requests to make of him. The first was if the House should not amend the resolutions, but pass them as drawn by Mj\ Stephens, and elect commissioners under them, that the Administration would not oppose the movement, and would promptly fur nish passports to the commissioners through onr lines. He said he would certainly respect the wishes of the House, and promptly furnish passports through our lines to any person or per sons they might desire to send to Wash ington. The second request was, if the House should amend the resolutions, as they ought to do, and leave the selection of the commissioners with him, that he would select Mr. Stephens and place him at the head of the commission. This led to a free discussion of Mr. Stephens. The President, neither then, nor at any time, said anything to me personally unkind of the Vice-President, though he greatly deprecated his course; but was it wise to place a man at the head of such a commission who was not only a known enemy of the Administration, but who was so constantly condemning the laws of Congress as unconstitutional, and the conduct of the war as oppressive and unwise ? I said the object of this movement was to silence the enemies of the Administration and stop this hurtful clamor about negotiation; that Mr. Ste phens had made himself the very head of this negotiation party— had made the people believe much could be done in that wav, and that if he was not on the commission, and «t failed, he and his friends would say it failed because he was not on it, and thus we would hazard the evil of the movement aud not pc complish the good intended. The third request was that he would appoint asso ciates agreeable to Mr. Stephens, and trammel the commission as little as pos sible with instructions. My reason for this request was, that, from my knowl edge of Mr. Stephens’ character, if the commission failed and he could find any excuse for doing so, I believe he would charge the fault of the failure on him, the President. You ask a great deal, said Mr. Davis, smiling. Appoint an enemy of the Ad ministration at the head of a commis gion to made peace with the enemy, al low him to choose his own colleagues, and then give them discretionary pow ers ! I said I was aware I was asking a great deal, and my requests were only suggestions to be weighed by him—that the disease we were seeking to cure-was great and growing, and needed a bold remedy, and I believed there was no way to cure it, and stop the demoraliza tion caused by this negotiation clamor, but by making the negotiation doctors take their own medicines, mixed to suit themselves; and that Mr. Stephe~s was under pledge, if the commission failed, to unite with us to rally the people to arms, and make a harmonious fight for independence. Mr. Davis said he had entire confidence in Judge Campbell, Senator Graham, and all the gentlemen named, but he would prefer to have one “straight jacket” on the commission. There was no better or truer man than Mr. Hunter, and there was no good rea son why Mr. Stephens should object to •Mr. Hunter. I agreed that the ob jection to Mr. Hunter was not reason able. He was President pro tern, of the Senate, but the Senate could easily remedy this. I did not believe a better man, every way, could be selected, and there was certainly no good reason why he should not be one of the number. This interview with the President lasted several hours, and it was mid night when I left him. I had not mis- taken the great character of this great man. While the President did not make, nor I ask, any positive yet, the responsibility I had assumed in presence of the delegation, I was satisfied, before the sun rose agaiu, was not recklessly assumed. Other members of the delegation approached the Presi dent on the same business, as both they and the President afterwards informed me. It is fashionable with soma to say Mr. Davis was unreasonable and imprac ticable. I did not find him so. Such men as Lee, Jackson, Early, Breckin ridge, Hunter, Howell Cobb, Sparrow and Henry,found no necessity to quarrel with Mr. Davis during the war, nor have they abused him since the war ended.— Those who were themselves notoriously impracticable, or whose zeal, efficien cy, or fidelity, in auv form, to the cause, was a matter of debate, could not agree with Mr. Davis during tho war, and, of writing books in their own defense since the war, there seems to be no end. For myself, I never saw Mr. Davis until he came to Montgomery to be inaugurated President. We had be longed to different political parties. For the first two years I knew him but slightly. The journals of the Senate will show I often differed with him. But I never decried the laws, nor weakened their administration. As the struggle grew harder we drew closer together. I studied his character well. A truer man to the cause he was chosen to lead is not furnished by the history of hu man struggle. Because I know him I shall honor him while I have breath. It is curious, too, that those who found so much to quarrel with in Mr. Davis and the Confederate laws have found so little to quarrel with in the most striking usurpations of those who were then our enemies and nre now our oppressors.— But this is not the time for comment, and I resume the narrative. I was informed by members of the Georgia delegation that, within a very short time—only a day or two—after our meeting at Mr. Stephens’ room, the identical resolutions then read by Mr. Stephens to us were reported froin the Committee on Foreign Affairs to the House in secret session. Mr. Rives, the chairman of that committee, declined to report them, not approving them, and they were reported by Mr. Orr, of Mis sissippi. Some indecisive action was had by the House, and a little discus sion, when a day about a week or less ahead was fixed for their consideration. The morning after they were so report ed I met Mr. Hunter ou his way to my house to see me He seemed to be as much troubled ns I ever saw him. He expressed alarm at the resolutions, aud especially at the rumor he had heard that the Georgia delegation, including myself, had agreed to them. Could it be that the rumor was correct ? I told him it was correct, and briefly repeated the reasons for our course. He seemed a little better satisfied ; expressed great confidence in the Georgia delegation, and said he hoped it would come out all right, but he was afraid a movement, so irregular and uninvited by the slightest indications from the enemy, would do mischief. In a day or two after this, and before the day fixed by the House to consider the nesohitions, Mr. Blair arrived in Richmond. His mission was at once understood by the authorities, and was the general topic of conversation by the people. He had consultations with tho President, and I soon called on Mr. Davis to learn from him what was pro per for him to communicate on the sub ject. He showed me that letter daied January 12th, in which Mr. Davis ex pressed his readiness to send a com mission whenever he had reason to sup pose it would be convenient to re ceive a commission if the United States Government should lie disposed to send one. The visit of Mr. Blair opened the way for getting up a commisssion in a proper and regular way, and rendered further action ou the resolutions of Mr. Stephens unnecessary. Mr. Blair re turned to Richmond again, bringing the letter dated January 18th, in which Mr. Lincoln expressed his readiness to re ceive any agent whom Mr. Davis, or auy other influential person resisting the national authority, might informally send. This letter was delivered to Mr. Davis about the 21st. Mr. Davis also showed me this letter and we discussed the prospects. Ho now had some expectation that an armistice, at least, might be secured, during which discussions might spring up that m gilt result in a fiual termination of the strug gle. Mr. Blair was careful to disclaim all authority from Mr. Lincoln and his Government, but these disclaimers did not greatly lesson the significance of his mission and his conversarions. The situation, all in all, was well calculated to inspire hope and even confidence. The change in the manner of getting up the commission was to work no change in the persons who were to compose it on our part. We still insisted that Mr. Stephens should head it. At this criti cal juuoture the proclamation of Gov. Brown, convening the Legislature of Georgia in extra session on the 15th of February was issued, and was telegraph ek to Richmond. It was dated the 25th of January, and my recollection is it reached Richmond the day, or the day before Mr. Blair left that city. This proclamation created no little consternation. It was inexpressibly un fortunate. Mr. Davis sent for me, and expressed great surprise at its appear ance. I had expressed to him great con fidence, indeed, no doubt, that the letter of Mr. Stephens conveying to Gov. Brown the views of the Georgia delega tion would stop this movement in Geor gia. It did not occur to either of us that Mr. Stepheus ha t not written the letter, and the appearance of the procla mation was wholly inexplicable on any hypothesis that Gov. Brown was willing to act in any accord with the Confede rate authorities. Nothing was better calculated to destroy the prospects of good results from the commission now about to be organized by the Confede rate authorities than separate State movements in what was believed to be a counter revolution against the Confed eracy; and if Mr. Lincoln should believe that these separate State movements were going on, it was certain he would abandon the idea of serious negotiations with agents from Mr. Davis. The President also received a tele gram from a high military official in Georgia, giving account of a deplorable demoralization in the State, and urging that something should be done, if pos sible, to arrest it. At Mi*. Davis’ earnest request, I agreed to come to Georgia in time to meet the Legislature on its assembling, and address that body in opposition to the recommendations of Governor Brown for a convention, which it was well understood he intended to make. It was the very movement which the Georgia delegation sought to pre vent by the meeting at Mr. Stephens’ room, and we agreed to support a move ment—even an irregular one—for a peace commission at Kichmond, in order to get Mr. Stephens’ aid in arresting the movement by Governor Brown. In the meantime, the President having deter mined to propose Mr. Stephens to the Cabinet as one of the commissioners, it became necessary for him to have an interview with the Vice-President, an event which, I believe, had not occurred for a long time. Mr. Hunter undertook to bring about that interview, and it took place on Friday, the 27th. On the afternoon of that day Messrs. Stephens, Hunter and Campbell were proposed as commissioners to the Cabinet, and were appointed. The President afterwards told me that when he' proposed the name of Mr. Stephens, it was objected to, and, I think he stat ed, it was either rejected or was about to be rejected. He then stated to the Cabinet the anxiety of the Georgia delegation on the subject, the assurances I had given him, and especially my speech that “the negotiation doctors must be made to take their own medi cine, and allowed to mix it to suit themselves,” and they ratified his nomi nation. On Saturday, the 28th, the President and the commissioners had the conversational interview preparato ry to their departure on their mission— a full account of which conversation the President reported to me on the 3d of February, preparatory to my departure for Georgia. On Sunday morning, the 29th of January, the commissioners left Richmond. Up to this time we all ex pected they were going to Washington City. This was desirable for many reasons. It was thought they would have the opportunity of seeing and con versing with many prominent men on the other side, and the prospects for a successful mission and good impres sions would be more favorable. But they were unexpectedly delayed at Peters burg, or Gen. Grant’s headquarters, and only got an interview with Mr. Licoln at last by a personal appeal for it from Gen. Grant to Mr. Lincoln. On the morning of the 3d of February Mr. Davis received dispatches of the day be fore, announcing that our commission era would not be allowed to go to Washington, but would meet Messrs. Lincoln and Seward at Hampton Roads. I spent much of that morning with Mr. Davis at his house, aud can never forgot it. The whole subject, from its beginning nn to that moment, was gone over. He had not trammeled the com missioners with any written instruc tions. He only interchanged views with them, iu conversation, leaving them a broad discretion, in the light of the circumstances as they would best understand them when they should reach Washington. Ho thought it would be advisable, as far as possible, to receive rather than make propositions. They might avoid allu sions to re-nnion and independence, and agree to preliminary terms of an ar mistice, to be perfected by another com mission, even though they might see that Mr. Lincoln, iu agreeing to the ar mistice, was doing so under the belief that it would result in re-union. But they would know how to talk and act when they reached Washington, and took a survey of the situation, and he trusted with entire confidence in their ability and discretion. The main idea of this conversation, ns repeated to me, by Mr. Davis, is most strikingly con firmed by Mr. Lincoln himself. In his message to Congress giving an account of the conference, he uses this language: “On my part the whole substance of the instructions to the Secretary of State, hereinbefore recited, was stated and insisted upon, and nothing was said inconsistent therewith; while, by the other party, it was not said that in any event or on auy condition they ever would consent to re-union; and yet they equally omitted to declare that they never would so consent. They seemed to desire a postponement of that ques tion and the adoption of some other conrs first, which, as some of them seemed to argue, might or might not lead to re-union, etc." It was evident to Mr. Davis, in the interview of the 3d, that Mr. Lincoln had changed his mind since he wrote the letter of the 18tli, delivered by Mr. Blair. The refusal to let our commis siners go to Washington, the refusal to let them see anybody but himself and Sewajd, and their hesitation in letting them go anywhere to see anybody, all showed that Mr. Lincoln had changed his mind. What had changed him ? Had Mr. Blair and the papers carried news to Mr. Lincoln of the separate State movement in Georgia, of tlie di visions among our leaders, of the pro bable counter revolution by the States, of the continued desertions from our armies, of which Lee himself had complained, and of the conse quent early disintegration of tlie Confederacy? Had Sherman informed him of movements in Georgia for a State Convention to get rid of himself (Davis) as commander of the army? Whatever was the cause of the change in Mr. Lincoln, lie (Mr. Davis) was now satisfied the commission would accom plish nothing. Seward was wily and treacherous, and would allow nothing to be done. Our only chance now was to realize that we had but one enemy, and that enemy meant our subjugation and utter humiliation. Ho hoped on reaching Georgia I would aid iu arous ing the people, and succeed in stup ing the movements proposed by Gov. Brown. If, on his return from Hamil- ton Roads, the Vice-President would tell the people that no hope was left for them but in arms, and aid in rally ing them to re-iill the ranks of the army, and wo should all co-operate, Mr. Lincoln and liis Government would soon be brought to treat indeed, and independence could and would be won. Rut if others chose, in such a crisis, to continue their war on him, he should not strike back—he had but one enemy and all his blows were for him. He should do his whole duty to the last; if defeat must come, the consequences must bo charged to those who will bo responsible. I said that one man could do but little, but I should cheerfully aid him to the utmost of my poor abilities to the very end of the struggle ; and of one thing he might be assured, and that was, that the Legislature of Georgia would refuse to approve Gov. Brown’s recommendation for the call of a con vention. It grieved me that officials in and from Georgia were continuing to give so much trouble in such a serious crisis, but he would find the delegation in Congress from Georgia true, able faithful, and they best represented the reid views of the people of flio State. He expressed warmly his confidence in the delegation and the peopl **, and, with expressions of thanks to myself for my uniform support and encouraging as surances, we parted. Tlie waves of sor row and adversity had passed heavily over the truest of leaders and noblest ol causes before we met again. Imagine my feelings when, on my re turn to the Senate to get leave of ab sence, I found Senator Orr, of South Carolina, on the floor, indulging in fierce, bitter abuse of Mr. Davis. I re plied to him, and closed with this sen tence: “If those who hurried us into this revolution would support the cause with half the zeal they exhibit in abus ing Mr. Davis, there would be more hope of success and deliverance for them and for us.” This was my last sentence uttered in the Confederate Senate. I left that afternoon and came to Georgia, and having to come by Ab beville and Washington), Ga., did not reach Macon until the 13th or 14tli. The Legislature assembled on tlie 15th, and Gov. Brown sent in his message on the 17th, and on that evening I address ed the Legislature in reply to tho mes sage. Unable to return to Richmond by reason of Sherman’s army, I took the stump for liberty in Georgia, and when the surrender came it found me appeal ing to our people to rally against the inevitable horrors of subjugation. If the reader is curious to know what I then thought would be the results of surrender, he can find them fully stated in the speech which was delivered at La- Grange on the 11th of March, 1805, and which was reported in full. I have recently learned that Governor Brown never received the letter which Mr. Ste phens promised the Georgia delegation he would write, and that if he had re ceived it he would have respected the wishes of the delegation and not have convened the Legislature. Great anxiety was felt in Richmond, and especially with the Georgians, as to the course Mr. Stephens would pursue on his return, if thecommission failed. His pledge was in the resolutions which the delegation had agreed to, drawn by himself. I was not in Kichmond when he returned. lam informed he was appealed to by Geor gians, in and out of the delegation, to join Mr. Davis at the African Church in an effort to rally the people and fir.’ the Southern heart anew. 1 believe he de clined to do so and came home. The important facts of the Confederate Civil Government, and the reasons for them, transpired in the secret councils of the President and Cabinet, and in the secret sessions of the Congress. Those who banished themselves from both during the most important periods of the strug gle are not fit to write Confederate his tory. The malcontents are not the men to pass judgment upon the faithful. The facts as they occurred, and by those who know them, will be written, and when written the true will be vindicated and the faithless will be made ashamed. As soon as my professional engage ments permit, I will give the public the “Unwritten History of Gen. Johnston’s Removal.” The Atlanta Light Infantry, colored, have signified their willingness to back up the police in any difficulty with the Federal soldiers. The Herald says in relation to matter: We learn from Jes-. ferson Wyly, the captain of the colored company, that his company was ready to back up the police force last Friday night, and not the disorderly soldiers, as was supposed by some. He says he and his men are with the people. He is acting under Gov. Smith, holds his commission from Gov. Sm.th and will stand by Gov. Smith’s people. He fnrther says that if there had been a necessity for lively action that night, he would have had as many men in line as any other company. We take pleasure in putting him right. To the Public.—The rumor circulated that the Atlanta Light Infantry, color ed, had expressed or taken any part on either side of the difficulty between the police and soldiers, is without the slightest foundation. The company, being organized under the laws of the State of Georgia,, is al ways at the service of the Governor, and when “he orders,” we shall be prompt to obey such orders. Very respectfully, Jeffkbson Wyly, Captain Atlanta Light Infantry. The ladies of Sparta have formed a Memorial Association, with Mrs. Dr. H. L. Bart as President. NUMBER 19. PROSTRATE SOUTH CAROLINA. A POWERFUL I‘LKA FOB THE STRICKEN STATE. The Minority Report of the Judiciary Committee. Washington, May fi.—To-day El dridge, from the minority of the Judi ciary Committee of the House, submit ted a minority report on the condition of affairs in South Carolina. The report dissents entirely from the conclusion of the majority, and is generally concurred in by the eutire minority of the Judi ciary Committee. The minority say it is impossible to turn a deaf ear to the supplicating wail of three hundred thfiu j sand oppressed and despoiled citizens !of that once prosperous and happy j State, praying only that, an inquiry bo j mad*' into their alleged .wrongs. Con gress cannot Hud in reproaches of the ! conduct of the memorialists in the ; past any reason or justification for refusing the hearing of their re quest now. Their fidelity to the Constitution and laws is now un questioned, and their plea made iu re spectful. terms. The report then recites briefly and pointedly the list of griev ances complained of, and predicates from them that the charges of the me morialists are true. The minority say : “We are aware of the doubts and diffi culty in pointing out the precise clause of the Constitution authorizing inter vention, lmt that protection in all thing#" is essential to good government no one denies. Its upholders never lost sight of that. For the condition of things now existing in South Carolina the Fed eral Government is primarily respon sible. Blink it, look upon it as wo may, horrible as the work if its bauds may now appear, Congress set up and estali tablished the state of tilings that makes the Commonwealth of South Carolina the foul stigma it now is in our system. Wo do not *rguo our right to • interfere on that ground at this time, but we sub mit that wo subject our governmental theories to the contempt of the world and all intelligent men in that we ware all powerful to inaugurate and estab lish the paudimonium now existing there, and the very moment it is done are utterly powerless to interfere with it at all, or to save the property of the people from the spoilsman. Nor can we forbear tho suggestion that if this ap peal were on behalf of three hundred thousand negroes, instead of three hun dred thousand white Southerners, of our own race and blood, such are tho sym pathies of the majority, as heretofore exhibited, that they would find by right or by wrong some means of relief—tho petitioners would not have been so coldly and flippantly turned away. It is a matter of the greatest delicacy for the Federal Government to interfere to protect a part of tho people of a State from the oppressions and misrule of the other. Conceded that it ought not to be done for trivial causes, but it is not a light or trivial cause that three hun dred thousand people, tho pioperty holders of a great State, are being stripped and despoiled by usurpation und fraud. That there ought to bo power and authority adequate in such emer gency to save, all lovers of honesty and good government will admit and it is a fundamental defect in our system if there be not. In view of tho thought ful wisdom of the authors of our Con stitution, are wo prepared to render such judgment that our constitution of gov ernment is so fatally, irreparably defec tive. The complaint of tho memorial ists is that .the rulers of the people have usurped tho power to tax property owners not for legislative purposes, not to support the government of the State, lmt for the purpose of impoverishing tho tax payers and enriching them selves; for the purpose of taxing tho white people down to the level of the negro; under the pretense of the taxing power are endeavoring to distribute tho property of the owners amongst those who have none. Is not this an usurpa tion by the rulers of a State against which the constitutional guarantee was intended to protect ? It is not a mere abuse of the taxing power, but an utter perversion of that power from all the legitimate objects of taxation. Can it be a republican form of government where this is done—the main object of the government being the protection of the property of the citizen and the citi zen iu the enjoyment of his property?” The report quotes from Ilamilion, Cal houn and other authorities as to the con stitutional guarantee. It concludes as follows : “Iu view of the whol« case wo cannot hesitate to recommend the ap pointment of n committee of both Houses of Congress with power and au thority to go into the State of South Carolina and fully inquire and investi gate into the condition of the State and the charges and complaint of the memo rialists. To do less we feel we should violate or neglect the most solemn and imperative duty. The cry of that out raged, helpless and suffering people has reached our hearts as well us our under standing. That once prosperous and beautiful State is on tho verge of ruin. She is indeed already prostrate. A horde of thieves and robbers worse than any that ever infested any civilized community on earth have her by the throat and are fast sucking her life blood. Three hundred thousand of her citizens, decendunts of those who fought and won with our fathers the battles of American in dependence and liberty, are crying to Congress for redress, for help. They have suffered all that humanity can en dure. They have exhausted every re source and are utterly helpless of them selves. To refuse their request is to drive them to despair and ruin.” TIIIS NEXT SENATOR FROM TIIE FIRST DISTRICT. A Card From Henry Smith. Bryan County, May 1, 1874. Editors Advertiser Republican : Being casually in your city yesterday afternoon for a few hours, my attention was called to an article in your morning edition headed, “Home Politics”—“from the Savannah correspondent of the Au gusta ( 'hkonicle and Sentinel' we take the following allusion to political mat ters in the First District,” which de serves a passing notice at my hands. This writer, speaking-of the next Sena tor from this district, represents me as being in Savannah a few days ago (when, in fact, I have not visited the city since the first of last month ), aud using lan guage which I disclaim. I admit lam sometimes careless in words. lam not ashamed < f being a descendant of the German family, and am inclined to tlio opinion that the correspondent who penned the words said to be used by me must be of the same blood. Whether this correspondent intended by his lan guage to bring mo in disrepute of pass a good joke upon me, I know not ; being, however, of a jocular disposition myself I, accept the latter construction. In regard to the next Senator from this district I have this to say: I shall not be a candidate for that position unless the nomination were generously tendered me by a convention representing the people of the district. I have, however, claimed that the coun try counties were under all rule entitled to the next candidate if they claimed him. At the first convention, in 1864, a resolution was unanimously adopted that there should always be a rotation between the three counties forming the district in the selection of a candidate for Senator. Again, the executive de partment of the government is not founded upon population, but upon ter ritory, nor is the size of the territory the governing rule in the selection of a Senator. The smaller States of the Union have the same number of Sena tors in the United States Congress ns the larger ones. Five elections havo taken place since the formation of the first Senatorial dis trict. The county committees have al ways yielded the selection of the candi date to Chatham county. Should the counties of Bryan and Effingham claim the candidate at the next election, they could not bo considered presomptious, as they would ask for nothing but their right. And now, Messrs. Editors, I am done. I very much dislike newspaper noto riety, and should not have troubled you at this time but for the remarks of the Chronicle & Sentinel correspondent. Very respectfully, Henry E. Smith. Au entire block of small buildings in Savannah was destroyed by lire last Sat urday. Loss between fifteen and twenty thousand dollars. Kerosene, as usual, the cause. The Greensboro Herald says : Twenty farmers, taken indiscriminately from all sections of this county, p anted in 1873 2,841 acres in cotton, 1,440 acres in corn, 210 acres in oats, 67 acres in wheat. This year they will plant 2,826 acres in cotton,-1,715 acres in corn, 410 acres in oats and 153 acres in wheat.
