Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, October 25, 1866, Image 1
lewis m. geist, proprietor.J $ni>epcnlitnt Jramilg itctospperi Jfor t|e $romotion flf t|e political, Social, Agricultural anb Commercial Interests of tjjt Sontj). jteems-? so a yeai^ aotahce.
VOLUME XII. YORKVILLE, SOUTH CAROLmA, THURSDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 25, 1866. NUMBER 27.
Original jaetrg.
Written for the Yorkville Enquirer.
HEBMIONE.-A SONQ.
BY A.NACRKOS.
Come back, my own, my wayward lore,
There are no eyes like thine ;
No other voice, which, like the dove,
Drivcth music Into mine;
Come to the shelter of this breast,
Which ever pants for thee,
O, come and soothe its wild unrest,
Beautiful Hermione!
The pale white roses of the spring,
The violet's modest glance,
But visions of thee ever bring?
Of thee and the old romance:
The stars which nightly gem the sky,
Remind me but or thee?
So bright, so pure, so calm aud high, ,
Beautiful Hcrtnione.
Come back my own, my loved and lost,
And give me hope and light,
For thy absence is a killing frost,
And thy smile the topaz bright:
Come back, and ever reign supreme,
Life, light and love to me;
The source of every golden dream,
Beautiful Hermione.
Original Articles.
Correspondence of the Yorkville Enquirer.
LETTER FROM ARKANSAS,
Resources of Arkansas?a Brazil nearer
home?Great inducements to Emigrants
?How the Freedmen work?Our Railroads,
dec.
Pine Bluff, Oct. 15, 1866.
Mr. Editor: I have often promised myself,
to write a brief sketch of the resources
and future prospects of Arkansas, for the
Enquirer, as many of your readers contemplate
seeking new homes?some in the
sunset west, and others, more visiooary,
looking to Brazil as the laod of promise.?
If you will glaoce at the map of Arkansas,
you will see the mighty Mississippi sweeping
her entire eastern border. Along this
Father of Waters extends a broad scope of
the fioeet alluvial lands, averaging forty
miles in width, and as fertile as the far-famed
delta of the Nile. Tributary to the
Mississippi are the St Francis, White and
Arkansas rivers?all fine navigable streams
and belted with rich alluvial bottoms, as
productive as any lands in the world. On
the south-western side of the State, Red
River, with its tributaries, offer the same
flattering inducements to the farmer and
cotton grower. Then there is the Ouachita,
Bayou Bartholomew and innumerable
smaller streams, all of which make Arkansas
the best watered State in the Union ?
You can form a correct idea of the inexhaustible
land resources of the State, from
oue significant fact. In I860, our white
population amounted to 324,823, while
South Carolina had 308,000?less than that
of Arkansas. Notwithstanding this fact,
Arkansas had 2,000,000 acres of unentered
land, some of it capable of making a bale
of cotton to the acre ; and the United States
held cithin her limits, 16,000,000 acres
While there was so much government land
in the State, private individuals owned
large tracts of unimproved land, and many
of them are now offering them at from one
to Jive dollars per acre, and in some instances
allowing them to revert to the State for
taxes. These facts show the land resources
of the State, and that Arkansas, when settled
up, is capable of supporting a population of
one million with as much ease as South
~ - -~-l
Carolina supports tier present Duuiuer w
inhabitants.
When we are told about the oheapness of
land in Brazil, we reply, here it is just as
cheap. You can enter it at Government
prices, or buy from private parties at the
lowest figures, and on your own terms as
to time of payment. Those who go to Bra
zil expecting to get fine improvements and
fine lands for the same price they can pur
chase wild lands, will be greatly deceived.
To those who are able to make a cash
payment, it is always cheaper to buy improved
places. To buy improved places,
generally requires a cash payment of one
fourth or one-third. The first year's crop
will pay the balance. What cheaper land
should any one desire? The improved
places on the Arkansas river are selling at
from twenty to forty dollars per acre. The
cost of clearing, feociug, draining and otherwise
improving these places, is estimated
at from forty to one hundred dollars per
acre. They can be purchased now for less
thaD the cost of clearing?to say nothing of
the other improvements. Besides, you are
living all the time in a christian communi
ty?so-called?and are not under the disagreeable
necessity of studying Spanish or
Portuguese, before you can accuse your
neighbor of stealing your hogs, or if yon
are a baobelor, or should get to be a widower,
before you can persuade some fairsigno- j
rita to naturalize you.
A great many people io Carolina may j
think the figures given above for improved |
lauds, very high, but they must not suppose
1 ? 1? ??J an ?naK q o Waam nrtAHC
I LIU litUU 10 duvu no iucy uavu ui'tu avvua- i
tomed to regard as the first quality. The!
best lands in York District are one hundred
per oent. below our best. Then some fear!
the; cannot hud good society in Arkausas
Here, too, they are in error. The people
here are iutelligeot and progressive. It is
also a hallucination to suppose that in comiog
to Arkansas, the emigrant is "going
out of the world." The nearer you get to
the Mississippi river, the nearer you get to
the great heart of the western world. Pine
Bluff is about the size of Yorkville, and we
have twice the fashion and extravagance
here now that Yorkville had before the war.
This is evidently a recuperative country.?
You can form a justideaof the difference between
your State and this from one fact ?
Here negroes hire, very readily, for twenty
dollars per month, and we cannot get enough
at that. Would the best lands in York District
justify such prices 1 (
A question of no little interest is the
'irrepressible" negro. The freedmeu here
are doing well?all things considered.
They, of course, will not do as much work
as before tbe "year of Jubelo," but then
they will make six or seven bales of cotton
to the band, besides the corn and otbei
crops?worth at present prioes twelve bundred
dollars
A Railroad spirit is beginning to manifest
itself in this State once more. Before
the war, three or four extensive lines bad
been chartered, surveyed and much of the
grading completed. Some of these have
passed into the hands of Northern capitalists,
and the work will be immediately resumed.
This will bring money and labor
to tbe State
The following extraot from the corres
? J r - \T_-.i ?v.
pOUUCUCC Ul a nuiuiciu paper, vruucu wjr
an ArkansaiaD, gives more in detail a view
of the resources of this growing State :
"Our best lands are of alluvial formation,
or as they are popularly termed, made or
bottom lands There is no State in the Union,
perhaps which has more bottom land
?land that will never wear out or wash away,
than Arkansas. The Nile, in its palmiest
days, never yielded more abundantly
than the lands on the Arkansas and Red
Rivers, and there are few more fertile lauds
than those on the White and St. Fraoois,
and numerous smaller streams, to say noth
ing of those sufficient lands bordering upun
the great Father of Waters, with an average
breadth of forty miles, and familiarly
known as the Mississippi bottom. Many
places in all these bottoms of course overflow,
but a great deal of it is either above
or adequately protected by proper levees
The bottom lands on all the rivers above
mentioned are of -the greatest fertility and
adapted to the growth of cotton, but the
lands on the Arkansas are, par excellence,
the ootton lands of the world. Those on
the Mississippi and Red Rivers yield as
much to the acre, but the crop on the Arkansas
is said to be more certain and freer
from disease, with less danger from overflow.
The average yield is one bale to the aore,
though sometimes two, and more rarely in
an extraordinary season, three bales have
been gathered; 400 pounds of ginned cot
ton is generally considered in most parts of
the south as a bale of cotton; but the planters
on the Arkansas by a bale of cotton
mean one weighing 500 pounds. At the
present price, 33 cents, this is equal to near
ly two hundred dollars per acre. How it
is under the new system of labor I cannot
aav hut hpfurn thfi war a pond hand Was
W*V ? - - o
expected to cultivate tea acres ia cotton
and five in corn. This was equal to ten
bales of cottoo, and coru enough to feed
himself aDd horse, to the band What other
farming will yield a greater profit ? Nor
are the lands on the Arkaoeas good for cottOD
aloDe They are equally good for corn
I have beard of eighty bushels, and in one
instance as much as one hundred and ten
bushels was said to have been gathered from
a single aore The average production
though is not more than fifty bushels, for
the planters seldom car^ to make more coru
than will do them, and take no pains in
its cultivation. Millet and Hungarian grass
grow luxuriantly; and the few who have
tried it say that timothy and other grass
will do as finely. The world cannot produce
finer peaches and pears, and when our railroads
to Memphis and Cairo are completed,
we can supply those cities and St. Louis
with the earliest fruits and vegetables. Unlike
most bottom lands, the lands on the
Arkansas are not stiff or wet lands, but for
the most part a fine sandy loam, for which
reason many farms never get muddy or
miry, and some of our best roads are found
in the river bottom. Gen. Shermau said
in his speech last winter at Little Rock,
chat be did aot know of a single good road
io the State, but be had uever traveled down
the river seveD or eight miles from Little
Rock, or he certainly would have thought
we had some good dirt roads. Another advantage
is that we sometimes have a good
deal of snow in the winter, which pulverises
the soil, and makes it easier to cultivate
the rich lands.
In fact, while we are far enough south to
raise the finest cotton in the world, we are
far enough north to raise fine corn, grain,
etc., so that, be the most profitable staple
for the time being what it may, no part of
the country promises richer returns to the
plaoter than the valley of the Arkansas.
At preseut, though, and probably for many
years, cotton wiil he the most profitable
staple, but when our railroads are completed
and under our new system of labor, the
large plantations have given place to small
farms, as they will, and villages and towns
have sprung up, there is no knowing the capacities
of the soii and the various profitable
purposes to which it will be applied.
I have said our alluvial lands are our
best lands; but there are ten or twelve counties
in whioh ootton is raised to advantage
on uplands. These uplands generally yield
from a fourth to a half bale per acre, aod are
more productive than the same class of
lauds iu Georgia, Alabama aud Tennessee,
from which the bulk of the cotton iu those
States is made. They were settled before
the war, mostly by planters working from teu
to twenty hands, or a less number, and
were preferred by them for their superiority,
cheapness aod greater advantages for
schools and churches?the plantations on
the rivers, under the old system of labor,
being generally too large, and the populatoo
scattered to keep up good schools.?
Many persons by practising industry and
ecouomy have become wealth by the cultivation
of these laode, and they have been
for the most part filled up with an active and
intelligent population.
North of the Arkansas, with the exception
of a few counties, not much cotton is
raised. It is generally a rocky, brokeD,
and in some places, mountainous country ;
well watered with beautiful streams, and
interspersed with rich valleys and fine settlements
of land. It is well adapted to
i grain growing and stock raising. It produces
fine corn, wheat and oats, and no
part of the United States, perhaps, produi
oes finer apples than some counties in north
Arkansas. Owing to the shortness of the
* winter, stock require muoh less feed than
in the colder regions of the extreme north.
Before the war, droves of cattle were driven
from this section to Illinois, and thenoe to
i the New York market.
I Horses and mules though, were generally
driven to south Arkansas and Louisiana,
i and sold to the cotton planters Sheep do
well, and there is an abundanoe of water
power sufficient to drive any quantity of
machinery. In this part of the State are
numerous lead mines, and fine beds of coal
and iron are said to exist io many places.
Considering its bealthfulness, its capacity
for producing grain, and its mineral treas
ures, it is easy to see that energy and en- I
terprise, with a denser population and a
few railroads, are all that is needed to make |
this a valuable section of the State
So far, I have only spoken of the agri- j
cultural resources of the State But many ;
intelligent men believe that the mineral >
wealth which lies hid in its bosom is equal, !
perhaps to any State east of the Mississippi, !
and that great fortunes arc awaiting those j
who understand the mining business, and j
bring the requisite capital and energy to the )
task. There are said to he valuable mines
of lead, iron and coal in various parts of the j
State, besides manganese, plumbago or j
black lead, and other mioerals Some of j
these mines have been worked, and, after a
few years, abandoned for want of eoergy, i
want of means or some other cause.
The true difficulty, 1 apprehend, was that
as long as slavery existed, everybody's am
bition was ??to make more cotton ; to buy
more negroes; to make more cotton;" and
the mineral treasures and every other source
of wealth in the State was negleoted.?
Within ten or fifteen miles of Little Rock,
the capitol of the State, there are valuable
lead mines, and also a bed of coul. Within
a less distance there is a bed of the finest
kaolin, or porcelain clay On the Ouachita
are fiue quarries of slate, and everybody has
heard of the Arkansas whetstones, which are
already worked to some extent, and the pro
ducts exported to the eastern cities. Why is
it these various mines have not been more
</?rieral!v worked ? I see no reason but the I
0 J
want of enterprise, and the fact mentioned,
that ootton was the absorbing pursuit, and
swallowed up every other ambition. Since
the abolition of slavery it is to be hoped
that a new era will dawn upon the State
for development; and the increase of mate
rial prosperity seems to be the necessary law
of free institutions. All that is needed, it
would seem, to make our mineral resources
a source of wealth and profit, is the right
sort of men, to take hold and "carry things
through " But, to do this, capita! is sud
ly Deeded, for the war has left most of the
people in an impoverished condition, and is
to the north and cast we must look for the
capital tooarry on new enterprises." B.
.. . . ? ?.
For the Yorkville Enquirer.
DEBT AND_PAYMENT.
Mr. Editor : Inasmuch as very many
persons are interested, aod much has been
said on the ways and means of discharging
the indebtedness of the people of our cood
try, I will also give my opinion. Hitherto,
little or nothing has been effected towards
this end by public meetings or legislative
action, except that a few mouths of time is
afforded, wherein debtors may do much with
their creditors, towards an adjustment .of
their debts. i
It seems to me that the ways and means
of settling our debts, is properly within the
province of the contracting parties, and not
by legislative or other action ; and when all
other means fail to afford relief to debtors,
then appeal may be made to legislative ac
tiou, to place toe debtor beyond the power
of au insatiable creditor.
Various platforms have been suggested
on whioh to settle a rule Sot the canceling
of debts It seems to me that no rule can
be set up for this matter, without having
many exceptions, by which anything like a
near approach oan be made to moral justice
(I say nothing of legal justice) alike to
debtor and oreditoi, for the following reasons
:
1. The attendant circumstances under |
which credit has been given and promises
to pay have been made are various,
and are irreduoible to an unit.
2. The basis on which very muoh of the
credit in our country was predicated, aod
on the legal possession of which tho prom- i
ises to pay were made, has been irretrievably
swept away. 1. By the aotion of an ir- I
resistable aod irrespousibio military power. <
2. By a couveotioual power of our own I
State. So that the Governments which i
vested in our people the legal right of prop !
erty in slaves, have destroyed that right <
against our wills. Whether now the pecu. (
niary losses so produced by the operations I
I of the late war shall fall on the oreditor I
alone, or debtor alone, or oo both alike, i
may become a mooted question A credi- I
tor will demand fall payment from his ored- <
tor, and plead the civil law in his proteo- i
| tion as the rule of right action in the case. <
j A debtor may resist his demands ana plead
! his non obligation for the payment of the i
whole, and olaim his exemption from some i
part of his debt upon the ground that he |
! has been robbed by government of all, or i
part of his available means, which had been i
the basis of all his promises to pay, and <
: that robbery was done iu a commou cause, i
for which he had no redress; and that he I
' is, therefore, made unable to pay the whole 1
debt. i
This inability of the debtor, it will be
joooteoded by the creditor, is not his releaso <
from his legal obligation to make good his
promise to pay, and haviog no other urn- :
i pire to decide between the contracting par- I
ties, we will not bo able to set up a rule for j
all the oases of indebtedness among us, ex- 1
cept the civil law. <
Mr. Editor, it seems to me that certain i
considerations enter into alt this matter, '
which brings this question within the pale
of morals, independently of the civil law, j
viz: The debts in question were contracted?some
before the war, some during the I
war, some for lands, some for slaves and
other porishable property, some in seourity-!
ships. Some are of loug standing, and
consist, in great part of interest accrued by
the run of time, some more modern, some
for property depreciated in value by the
operations of the war, some for merohan-1
diae at advanced rate of profit laid on, some j
for monies loaned for accommodation, some
for monies loaned as an investment for the
sake of the interest accruing, some for secu!_
T) 1_ ! C
ruv id dudu; issuer, Bome tur prupcujr cubanced
in value by the war, &c., &c.
Again. Some of us lost more or less in
every species of property by the war; others
increased their estates more or less by the
war Some persons gave their personal
services to our country and received nothing
therefor in return, or were maimed or
died. Others remained at home and spent
all their time and energies in securing
what they had, or increasing their estates
Now, Mr. Editor, in the face of all this
matter, I make the question, viz : Are
persons who made their debts before the
war, now bound in good faith to make good
to creditors to the full, their promises to
pay f I answer, No.
1 Because. All the credit which has
been given by oreditors to debtors, was given
by virtue of the faith of creditors being
predicated ou the property which he saw or
believed to be legally owned by his debtor;
and this consisted in lands, slaves, merchan
dize, manufactures, bonds or claims, jointcompany
stocks, and some other personal
property. Otherwise, no credit had been
given.
2. Because, all the promises to pay on
the part of debtors, were made on the fact
nf hia faith in hia ahilifn tn nuo nnrl thin
ability rested on bis being legally possessed
of lands, slaves, merchandize, manufactures,
bonds or claims, joint-company stocks, or
some other personal property. Without
this faith in an ability to pay on the part of
the debtor, he never would have made his
promises to pay. So then credit was given
and promises to pay were made, and both
were based on the same platform. The
basis of credit, and of promises to pay, having
been hurt or totally destroyed by the
operations of the war, and that too, with
out the agency of either party and against
the wills of both, the result should fall on
both alike as parties to a contract.
It will be said, however, all debtors,
when contiacting a debt, do, ipso facto,
assume the risk of a loss in part or of all
their property, and with that loss an inability
to pay. No claims, therefore, may be set
up now for remission or discharge of liability
in the present case.
I answer: Not so. True; debtors did
assume to run the risk of loss of property
by water, fire, adverse trade, robbery, theft,
fugivity, or death, in slaves, &c., but in
burglary, robbery, theft, fugivity, &o., the
debtor had the protection of the laws of the
land in which wo live, both to deter aud to
punish all offenders, and for a reoovery of
his property} but debtors never did assume
to run the risk of a robbery and destruction
of his property by water, fire, force, death,
by irresistable and irresponsible invading
armies, nor of the emancipation of slaves
by military power, in the very government
which recognized their property in slaves.
Yea, more, which government made their
property in slaves. The want of this as
mi motion. thflrfiforn. dons taka awav from
debtors, in part or in whole (as the case
may be) their obligations to make good to
the full, their promises to pay.
Again. It will be said, to discharge
debtors, in part or in whole from the payment
of their debts because of their losses
of property in slaves, &c , is to saddle their
losses only oj their creditors.
I answer: Not so, in ull cases. It is so
only in cuses where debtors owned no proper
ty but slaves, aud rightly soon the showing
above. Besides, the case before us is one
of mutual misfortune, in which both parties
are equally interested, the faith of both
parties predicated on the same basis for
payment, and in which ueither party acted
nor willed aotion in the production of the
loss. It is quite as muoh the misfortune
of a creditor to hold, or possess bonds of
promises to pay, as it is of debtors to have
lost their ability to make good their promises
to pay.
I have already shown that the estates of
3ome debtors maybe nothing altered by the
war. In such cases, tbey have no claim
for relief, but payment to the full. The
estates of some debtors have redeemiug
features, viz : whilst a confiscation (as I
call it) has been made of all pioperty in
slaves, aud robbery, &c., has been visited
cn many, there has been no confiscation of
cotton, and the gold value of cotton has
been very much enhanced by the operations
of the war, whilst a great part of the
means of others have been consumed in
living at the high rates of food, clothing,
&o. These may of right be held io a more
strict account io the reokoniug of their
debts.
Mr. Editor: Again I put the question;
?ro persons who made their debts before
the war, now bound in good faith to make
good to creditors, to the full, their promises \
to pay f Again, I answer No. The morality
of the case (if not the civil law) sus*
Inina m n in mn rlnnioinn T n mrvrolo
IWIUO UJ \j IV LUJ UliOIOIUU. XU UJUIU'0) IHU
spirit or binding force in all oontracts ia ;
the consent, the true inteQt and raeauing, j
understood alike by both contraotiDg parties.
For example, in a promissory note, i
whero it is expressed thus: "One day after j
date I promise to pay to A. I?., one hundred
dollars, &c." signed, C. D. Here, the i
next daj after the transaction is the time i
fixed in the note when C. D. is bound to
pay to A. B. one hundred dollars. In all i
ordinary business transactions of this sort, t
this is not the time when this promise is to (
be redeemed?neither party so understands <
it; bat some indefinite time in tbe future,
when demand is made for payment And
tbis "one day after date," only fixes the time
between the parties, when the rate of in.
tcrest begins to accrue. True, in the eye
of tbe civil law, demand may be made,
and a suit entered on the debt the next day
after the transaction, but to do so, the
creditor will make a breach of good faith
with his debtor. Here now is a promise to
pay the next day expressed in the note,
yet the creditor, in morals, may not enforce
it.
Just so it is in other promises In cases
TD Knfn A npn/1 i n! nnn n An tKil folfk
nugiu a uicuuui ^ivvo u wi^uib uu IUU IUIIU
of a creditor's ability to pay, aod this ability
to pay is predicated oo his legal seizure,
aod possession of certain property in lands,
slaves. &o., valued thus and so. And
where a debtor in this same legal seizure
aud possession makes his promises to pay,
they both intend and understand alike tbe
nature of their contracts, and they both are
bound in morals to abide by the terms
thereof. The basis must remain unchanged.
Now, since the basis of oredit aod of
promises to pay between creditor and debtor
is changed without the agency and
against the wills of both parties, so surely
the promises to pay of debtors are also
changed in complexion to suit the hue of
the changed basis of credit.
What, now, is the conclusion of the
whole matter? I answer: That creditors
do consent to compound with their debtors
who were solvent before the war ot who
have been made ioaoivent by the war, at
some per cent (according to ability to pay)
less than their indebtedness. And to this
end, let debtors make fair showings of
their estates, unto their cteditors, either by
assignments or otherwise, aod hand this
over to their creditors for their benefit, askiog
ouly some part of their estates to be
reserved to themselves, or no part, upon
Buch terms as may be agreed on by the
parties; asking for a disoharge from all
further liabilities in the premises.
Mr. Editor, I advocate, not as a general
nrinoinle for notion, renndiation of debt:
r i? ? 1 "i ? /
but sir, I believe that in our present condition
of indebtedness as a people, repudiation
would be a greater public good than
enforced payment. Repudiation would give
diffused wealth, enforced payment will give
concentrated wealtb. Nearly all the masses
of the people poor, whilst a few will be
very rich.
York District contaios about 616 square
miles, equal to 894,240 acres of land.
This land, I assume to be worth, in a forced
market on an enforced payment of debt,
on an average, two dollars per acre, equal
to ?688,480, which sum, I think, will fail
to pay the liabilities of the people Insolvency,
therefore, to a large amount, I
take it, must and will eusue on enforced
demand of the wb i'e indebtedness of the
people. He is a wise creditor, I should
say, who receves ourrcncy at par for debts,
and who compounds with his dobtors By
this last measure especially, wc will be
freed from innumerable fradulent transac
lions on the one hand, and a preference
made by debtors among their creditors on the
other All should fare alike.
As to thatolass among us where property
stands bouud as surety, for the issues of
the Banks, I only say, I sympathize with
them in their misfortune. We have regarded
Baokers as public benefactors; we
have need of some rich men in order to
conduct the commerce of our country, but
if these meu are required to make good
the failures of the Banks, we will be poor
indeed. But, Mr. Editor, it is usual even
now, for Northern merchants to compound
with Southern debtors; this is good policy,
it is magnanimous, it is but moral iustice.
? D , w
Hank issues, I take it, are chiefly held by
persons uut of our State. Let these securities
propose compounding too, on the best
terms they may. Legislative interference
is not to be expected iu the case. The
faith of the holders of BaDk notes in the
solvency of the Banks, gave them currency.
They have been robbed of their specie, as
others have been of slaves, &o Let us all
stand or fall together. E A. Crensfiaw.
Prisoner Davis. ?When the smoke!
aod dust of this conflict shall clear away,
and the record of the great assize of history
be made up, aud the sentence pronounced
on this most stupendous struggle for separate
nationality, there will stand forth no
figure so sublime as that of this gallant soldier,
brilliant orator, sagacious statesman
and christian gentlcmau, bereft of every
earthly possession, shot out from all converse
with the human family, guarded by
mutes, jailored by a tyrant, accused by an
assassio, trembling with paralysis, blind,
manacled, tortured with an iugeDious cruelty
which denied him sleep, with a brutal
mob of millions clamoriog for his blood,
yet calm, defiant aod undaunted, asking no
favor of the best, and no guard against the
worst, save a public trial in the oourts of
bis foes.
Life has been allotted to him well nigh
to the verge of his three-score years. Honors
have poured in on him for more than
half bis life, filling full the measure of Amerioan
fame. Yet wero his life to rival
the ages of the patriarchs, and his honors
to double the glories of the illustrious son
of David, the bright particular year of his
history would be that in which, a chained
oaptive, the lust viotlm of a lost cause, he
raised his voice iu perpetual claim for do
favor of twenty millions of ememies, but
justice.
A feeble tongue, it may >e, that makes
the appeal, but the cry pierces the tripple
iron of his duogeoo, pierces tho massive
walls of his basfile, drowns tbe multitudinous
roar of the neighboring sea, rises
above a victorious nation's ptens and a fallen
nation's wail, and will go "soundingdown
the ages," to assure the world that the virtue
men call Roman, and the courage they
call Spartan, died neither on tho Tiber nor
the Eurotas.?Petersburg Index.
PisallancflKS.
MANACLED.
The following touching lines Deed do
comment?every Southern bosom will feel
their application, aod a sigh of sympathy
will be heaved for him who is still languishing
in prison:
Stop, soldier, stop! tills cruel act
Will ring through all the land.
Shame on the heart that planned the deed!
Shame on the coward hand
That drops the sword of justice bright
To grasp these Iron rings!
wn uiein, not me, msnonoriaus,
To them tliis dark shame clings.
Manacled! 0 my God! my God!
Is tills a Christian land ?
And did our countries ever meet
And grasp each other's hand?
O Mexico! on thy red fields
I battled 'midst the fray;
My riflemen, with steady aim,
tVon Buena Vista's day.
Manacled I far down the South
Let this one word speed fast,
My country, thou host borne great wrongs ;
But this, the last, the last,
Will send a thrill through thy high heart,
Despair will spurn control,
And these hard Irons pressing her*
Will enter thy proud soul.
Manacled! O word of shame !
King It through all the world!
My countrymen, on you, on you,
This heavy wrong is hurled.
We flung our banners to the air;
We fought as brave men fight,
Our battle cry rang through the land:
HomeLibertyand Right
Manacled! For this I am here, ,
Clanking the prisoner's chain,
We fought?and nobly did we fight;
We fought, but fought In vain,
Down in that billowy sea of blood
Went all our jewels rare,
And hope rushed wailing from the scene
And took herself to prayer!
Manacled ! manacled ! Words of woe,
But words of greater shame;
I've that within me which these wrongs
Can never, never tamo
And standing proud in conscious worth,
1 represent my 'and.
And that Lost Cause for which she bled,
Lofty, heroic, grand!
Things in Chester.
We clip the following paragraphs from
the Chester Standard, of last week :
General Jail Delivery.?The pre- j
siding Judge, Solicitor, Sheriff and Grand
Jury will be spared much trouble next
week, owing to the fact that doring the
night of the 15th iost., the jail in this
town was emptied of all its occupants
Seven prisoners, two whites and five negroes,
escaped, leaving only two in confine
ment. One of the latter is severely wounded,
and the other refused to accompany
the fugitives. Among those who escaped
are the two negroes, Belton Kline, alias
Williams, and London Jones, alias Adams,
who so brutally murdered Mr. A. D. Walk
er of this District, on the 22nd day of
last July. Two whites, Janeway, charged
with horse stealing, and Street, acoused of
larceny, also affected their escape, together
with three negroes under arrest for cowstealing
The Jail was restored to the
civil authorities oo the 13th iost. The
matter demands astrictinvestigation, which,
we hope, will be rigidly instituted.
P. S?Since writiog the above lines,
London has been captured near Broad
River, and has been placed in his old
quarters, from whence it is to be hoped he
will not again escape. Nothing has been
heard of tue rest of the fugitives
Lamentable Casualty.?Miss Hannah
Moore, a young lady residing in this
town, came to her death, on the morning
of the 15th inst, under the following sad
circumstances About 8 o'clock, A. 31.
she rose and stepped into the front piazza
of her residence, and while re-entering her
bed room, was shot twice by her brother-in
law, Mr. G. W Teates, under the impres
sion that she was a burglar Medical aid
was at once summoned, but the sufferer
only survived an hour after receiving the
wounds. Before dying, she fully exonera
ted Mr. Teates from any criminal inteut
The deceased ladv was a native of Ireland,
about eighteen years of age, and had beeD
residing in this country about ten months.
The family have been most sadly afflicted
by this melancholy occurrence, and have
the sympathy of the entire community.
The Jury of Inquest returned a verdict in
accordance with the above faots.
Soldier Shot.?A difficulty occurred
on the uightof the 14th iost. between privates
Coliigan and Monaghao, belonging to
the garrison on duty at this post, which re!
suited in a severe injury to Monagban
Surgeon Jessup expresses the hope that
Mouaghan, although dangerously wounded,
will ultimately recover.
Progress.?The Provost Court at this
Post has been discontinued, and the Jail
restored to the custody of the Sheriff, in
accordance with the recent orders uf Geu
Sickles. Several culprits uoder senteoce
of imprisonment for a longer period than
thirty days, were sent down last week to
Castle Piockney. A number, in confinement
for trivial offences, were discharged.
The Neero Revolt in Tennessee.
We copy the following from the Memphis
Avalanche, relative to the reported insurrection
of negroes in the vicinity of Memphis
: I
For somo time past, the planters living
on and about the Burgett plantation, have
been watchful of the cooduct and manoeuvres
of the negroes about them, who, our
informant states, number somewhere ia the
vicinity of 500. As many as three or four
times have they (the planters) been warned
by their friends here to watob their every
aot, as it was known that they had purcbaso?ma
on/1 ommilnlfinn in frhia niftr anrl
U U CiiUJO UUU HUJUJUUibiVM *u vu v V J J Muva
had unwittingly hinted at their murderous
designs.
On Friday evening, while the negroes
were weighing cotton, the suspicions of the
overseer were aroused by hearing them in.
terpolate the text "Dixie," with the words
"Ohs will be wine to morrow," and "tomorrow,"
"We'll baje fun," &o. He said
nothing, but when the time ^rived, dismissed
the negroes from their labor, and
repaired as quickly as possible to his own
quarters, where he found the ownera of the
plantation, the brothers Burgett. He related
to them what had occurred, and sug- f
gested the propriety of immediately taking <
such measures of defence as in their judg- i
ment was necessary to preserve the lives of i
all the white people aboattbe pltee. Ia the .
meantime, the; bad learned that on the
following da;, the negroes intended to at*
tack them in the field. They then determined
on devising plans, whioh, they
thought, would entirely oiionmvent those
of the negroes', and obviate the necessity of
shedding blood. With this end in view,
they started next morning for the field, two
of the part; riding off toward the road?
two riding in rear of the plantation. Tbe
brothers Isaac and Henry took the road,
each heme armed witb a snot gun aoa revolver.
They had not advanced far before
they were met by a body of about fifty negroes,
who ordered them off their mules accompanying
the order with rapid and indiscriminate
firing.
Fortuoately, none of the shots had any
effect. Mr Isaac Bargett quickly alighted
from his animal, and, raising his gun to bis
shoulder, fired, killing the leader of the
crowd, and wouodiDg two others. His brother,
Mr. Henry Burgett, bad, by this time,
got in the rear of the sooundrels, and, together
with the other two gentlemen, who,
it will be remembered, had started in another
direction, poured a volley into their
ranks which had the effeot of scattering
them in all directions. It was here that
the other negro was killed, and two more
wounded. By this time, some ten or twelve
men gathered around the place, and quickly
succeeded in arresting and placing under
guard the entire gang. Forty new rifles,
thirty-five revolvers, a keg of powder and
two large bags of shot were captured. In
about an hour after the capture, two more
squads of negroes were discovered about a
half a mile off, but immediately dispersed
in confusion, upon hearing of the disastrous
defeat of their infamous brother-plotters
and assassins.
An examination, afterward, of about
twenty of the negroes, showed plainly that
it was conoooted by heads far more oapable
of doing misobief than those of the ignor
adt, deluded negroes; but the planners
lacked the courage of executing their damnable
schemes This part of the work tbey
left to a negro named Bill Dickinson, who
assumed the leadership, and who, as is stated
above, was killed. This outbreak, which
was to result in the murder of all tbe whitep
in the neighborhood, to be followed by an
indiscriminate plundering, was planned and
originated herein Memphis. There can be
no question about it. The ammunition and
arms for them were purohased by white men
in Memphis This is the testimony of tbe
negroes. They say, too, that they were
forced into the insurrection by the negro
leaders, wbo told them that if they would
but once take possession of the plantations,
their friends in Memphis and at tbe North
would stand by them.
Dissolution of the Bump Parliament.
The following account of the dispersion
of the rump Parliament, by Cromwell,
may be regarded with some interest just
now:
The Parliament by which Charles I had
been met and overcome had dwindled down
by various purgations to about fifty-three
members, who aimed at becoming a sort of
mild oligarchy for the administration of
the Commonwealth. They were deliberating
on a bill for the future representation,
in which they should have a permanent
place, when Cromwell resolved-to make an
end of them. It was the last incident in
the natural series of a revolution, placing
military power above all other.
Cromwell, having ordered a company of
musketeers to follow him, entered the
House, in "plain black clothes and worsted
stockings," and, sitting down, listened for
awhile to their proceedings. Hearing at
length the question put, that the bill do
pass, he rose, put off his hat, and began to
speak. In tbe course of his address, he
told them of their self-seeking and delays
of justice, till at length Sir Peter Wentworth
interruDted him with a remonstrance v
against such language. Then, blazing up
he said, "We have had enongh of this; I
will put an end to your prating."
Stepping into the floor of the House, and
clapping on his hat, he commenced a violent
harangue, which be occasionally emphasized
by stamping with bis feet, aod
which came mainly to this: "It is not fit
you should bit here any longer?you have
sat too long for any good you have been
doing lately. You shall now give place to
better men. Cull them in !" be exclaimed,
aud bis officer Harrison and a file of soldiers
entered the House. Then proceeding:
"You are no Parliament. Some of
you are drunkards"?bending a stern eye
upon Mr. Chalouer; "some of you are
- a word expressive of a worse immorality,
and he looked at Henry Martin
and Sir Peter Wentworth ; "living in open
contempt of God's commandments. Some
of you are corrupt, unjust persons; how
can you be a Parliament for God's people ?
Depart, I say, and let us have done with
you. Go!"
He lifted the mace from the table and
gave it to a musketeer, to be taken away.
He oaused Harrison to give bis hand to
Speaker Lenthal and lead him down from
the chair. The members, cowed by his
violence and the sight of bis armed men,
moved gloomily out of the house. "It is
the Lord that hath caused me to do this,"
be said. "I have sought that He would
rattier slay me than put me upon aoiug tnis
work." Sir Harry Vi-ne ventured a remonstrance.
.. i*Oh, Sir Harry Vane!" exclaimed
the Lord Gen-, ral; "the Lord
deliver me from Sir Harry Vane 1" When
all had gone oat, he came out, too, and
looked the door. From that time, he was
master of the three kingdoms forabont five
and a half years.
BOf A sausage-maker in Paris, having
announced that a five franc gold piece was
joncealed in one of every hundred snasages
for sale in his shop, the demand for
sausages immediately became enormous.