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Jwaps and Jacts. ? Within the past week nearly 2,500 dogs have been caught and impounded in New York. Of these thirty-one have been redeemed by their owners, three have been sold, and something more than 2,000 drowned. ? Sellers of liquor in Oregon are not required, under a new law, to be licensed; but every drinker must pay $5 a year for license, and whoever sells to an unlicensed person may be imprisoned. The names of procurers of license are to be published every six months. ? A despatch from Washington says that the Allautic Coast line, via Wilmington ; the Piedmont Air Line, via Richmond and Charlotte; and the Kennesaw line, via Lynchburg, Knoxville and Atlanta, are making a desperate fight for the great Southern mail. It is carried at present over the Kenuesaw route, aud the indications are that it will continue to go over that line. ? Growing crops are now taxed in California ; but the Granger element is everywhere aroused in opposition. In some counties, says the San Francisco Bulletin, crops have been assessed as high as five dollars to the acre. In others the assessment has been placed at a mere nominal figure, while in some few the order of the State board has been disregarded. ? The railroad car of the Emperor Alexander can be run on any tracks in Europe, whatever the gauge may be, owing to a peculiar arrangement of the wheels. It contains a parlor, a bedroom and a dining room, all magnificently furnished. The Emperor sends ahead a pilot locomotive. Half an hour after the Imperial train starts, a wrecking train follows, to be on hand in case of accident Twenty minutes behind this is a train with the Imperial suite, and lastly an extra escort of three hundred soldiers. ? The Rev. Alonzo M. May was an Episcopal minister in Iowa, who turned Methodist and was admitted into the Methodist ministry. On the strength of the change which he made, the Episcopal Bishop of Iowa publicly deposed him "from the ministry of the Church of God," stating as the' reason that Mr. May had "renounced the ministry and entered upon secular pursuits." Mr. May thinks this is rather a rough way of putting it, as he is unable to see that in eugaging in the work of the Methodist ministry, he has "entered upou secular pursuits." He has issued a newspaper statement on the subject. ? The director-general of the statistical department in India, Dr. W. W. Hunter, believes that he has discovered a method of predicating before hand the year in which a failure of the crops and consequent famine are apt to occur in India. His investigations show that the great famines in Madras since the commencement of careful record in 1810, have occurred in the years during which there have been few spots on the sun, and that iu such years the rainfall has been lowest in Madras. He does not go so far as to say that the famines are dependent upon the sun spots in the way of cause and effect, but he shows that when there are fewest spots on the sun there is a minimum rainfall. ? The Rev. Dr. W. P. Harrison of Atlanta, Ga., who has recently made an extended tour to the Northern and Western States, in a recently published letter, expresses the opinion that the South is immensely better off than the North. He says he saw more life aud posperity in Richmond, Va., than in any | Northern city. He met with one family that owns 8100.000 of railroad stock who could not get an income sufficient to justify them in keeping a house servant; in Pittsburg, Pa., he heard of a house which cost 861,000 renting for S600, and one in Cleavelaud, Ohio, that cost 840,000 rents for 8400. Dr. Harrison is confident that iu the recuperation that is ahead of us, the South will be foremost. T * kw ikfi Pitlirfo nf It II ao UCCU UCW1UCU UJ V4IV VVUI vw vt Texas that the statutes of that State prohibiting marriages between white persons and black are obsolete, the reason for their enactment having ceased with the abolition of slavery. It is said that the main object aimed at by the law was Dot to preveut the amalgamation of the races, but to withhold from the slave the demoralizing spectacle of a fellow slave raised suddenly from the degradation of a boudage like his own to the dignity of a master, a mistress, or a slaveholder, which it might well be supposed, would naturally inspire a hope, whatever the folly or the fatuity of that hope might be, which would not fail to produce results evil and injurious to the slave. ? A curious story is current in Richmond ? to the effect that a strong effort was made by certain lawyers and politicians there and elsewhere to induce Miss Van Lew (late postmistress) to refuse to surrender the Richmond post office to her successor, Colonel Forbes, on the ground that his appointment was null and void, as President Hayes himself is not legally elected. The matter was to come up for trial in the Supreme Court of the United Slates. The scheme fell through, as Miss Vau Lew refused to become a party to it. Among the names mentioned as parties to the scheme aw T .TrvRrtaon R 1? Tint. ftJ C VjIClltl Ul 171 UU1UJ A* v WMMVWMf . v tier, of Massacussetts, the Hon. Simon Cameron, of Pennsylvania, Senator Blaine, of Maine, and others. ?The New York Sun tells, in a very touching way, the story of Horace Greeley's last days, and says it was not his defeat for the Presidency which broke the old man's heart, but the shabby manner in which he was ousted from the chief editorship of the Tribune. An article of which he did not approve was printed in the Tribune. He wrote and sent to the office an article in which he tried to set the paper straight. His article did not appear. He ordered it in on three several days, and each time the actual editor left it out. The light dawned on him. Another man had been put in his place. He drooped, and was sent to a private insane asylum. Among his last words were: "The country is gone ! The Tribune is gone ! I am gone!" Thus ended, in grief and disappointment, the man who had been the brains of the paper whose present owDer is proud to say that it was "Founded by Horace Greeley." ? The education of Queen Victoria's grandchildren is conducted on the principle that the Prince Consort introduced into the family. Particularly is this true of the children of the Crown Princess of Germany. They have to rise, early and retire early. During the day they are required punctually to perform their duties and to keep strictly the time allotted to the various branches of study and recreation. They breakfast at eight with their parents, and the time between ten in the morning and five in the afternoon is devoted to their lessons, with an interruption of one hour for dinner. Accomplishments, such as riding, dancing and skating, receive the 6ame attention as art and science. Their meals consist of simple dishes, of which they have their choice, without being permitted to ask for a substitute, if what is placed before them does not suit. Between meals they are not allowed to eat. Only inexpensive toys are placed in their hands, and the princess dresses themselves without the aid of chambermaids. ?Women are marching right ahead in England, as in this country. The 'Senate of the University of London lately heard a petition of two hundred men doctors agaiust the granting of medical degrees to women, the protest being grounded avowedly on their fear of competition. The Senate concluded to go on with its degree-granting, however. The chief prize in applied mathematics and mechanics in the university was won this year by Miss Ellen M. Watson, oyer a hundred or so young men; she has also won the Meyer de Rothschild scholarship of $250 per year. When Prof. Clifford called out her name for the honor, he said hers was the finest mathematical mind he had ever met with in ' a pupil of either sex, and that a few more students like her would raise the young uni versity above the older institutions. And yet Miss Watson is young and pretty. She was not the only woman to win distinction in the college, for Prof. Huxley's daughter, Marion, took the first prize in art, Mi9s Constance D'Arcy the first in art anatomy, and 1 Miss Orme. sister of Prof. Mason's wife, gained the Joseph Hume scholarship in jurisprudence. We observe that the Paris faculty i of medicine have given a doctor's diploma to Zeoaide Oukonoff, a young Russian woman, ; j at the same time complimenting her highly on ^ ; her scientific attaiments. lite fflthvtUe (frtiquiitr.! YORKTILLE, S, C.: 1 THURSDAY MORNING, JULY 19,1877. ' 1 i How to Order the Enquirer.?Write the name of the subscriber very plainly, give post-office, county and State in full, and send the amount of the subscription by draft or post-office money , order, or enclose the money in a registered letter. Postage.?The Enquirer is delivered free of I postage to all subscribers residing in York conn- | ty, who receive the paper at post-offices within , the county; and to all other subscribers the postage is paid by the publisher. Our subscribers, no ( matter whore they receive the paper, are not liable for postage, it being prepaid at the post-office here, l without additional charge to the subscriber. . Watch the Figures.?The date on the "addresslabel" shows the timo to which the subscription is i paid. If subscribers do not wish their papers dis- | continued, the date must be kej)t in advance. Cash.?It must be distinctly understood that j our terms for subscription, advertising and jobwork, are cash in advance. SOUTH CAROLINA NEWS. ? Attorney-General Conner, who accompa- ' nied Governor Hampton to New York, has 1 returned to Collimhia. ? The county convention of Newberry has nominated Judge Y. J. Pope as the democrat- 1 ic candidate for the legislature. ? Up to the date of our latest advices from Columbia, Governor Hampton had not re- 1 turned from his northern tour. ( ? The rumor prevails in Columbia that the ' post in that city is to be discontinued, and ' the 18th Infantry ordered to Atlanta, except ' one company, which is to go to Greenville. ' ? Ex-Comptroller T. C. Dunn unites with 1 Senator Patterson and other prominent South ( Carolina Republican leaders in denouncing ' Chamberlain's Woodstock speech. ? Mr. Theodore D. Kline has been appoint- 1 ed Superintendent of the Charlotte, Columbia 1 and Augusta Railroad, in place of Mr. James 1 Anderson, resigned. ? James R.Aiken, Esq., died at his resi- 1 dence in Winnsboro, on the morning of the ' 10th instant, after a lingering illness, from an ? affection of the lungs. ( ? The members of the Richland Rifle Club, 1 . .? 1__ .Li.. i IVCtCU HJ | ?u V* ? UV4I f >?4V, vi?v .. ..V W. ? prisoner went to the jail and asked permission i to see him. The jailer examined her before I allowing her to go in, and found a small saw | sewed up in the skirt of her dress. The ex- i cuse she offered for having the saw was, that I she put it there when she was baptized to keep 1 her dress down, and had forgotten to take it out. ? David Pearce and Geo. Stevens, two negroes, who waylaid, murdered and robbed a ! young man named Edings near Charleston, 1 May 11th, under circumstances of peculiar 1 atrocity, were hanged at 11:35 o'clock last ' Friday morning. They were baptized pre- ! vious to their execution by a Catholic priest, 1 with whom they left a full confession of their 1 crime. They died without a struggle. About 200 persons witnessed the execution. ' ? Judge Wright made a temperance speech ' at Beaufort recently, but when asked to sign 1 the pledge himself, refused to do so. He gave 1 as his reason for the refusal, that "he had ' been accused of drunkenness, and, for him to { sign the pledge in Beaufort, would be giving 1 his accusors proof that he was in the habit of 1 indulging in fluids other than tharthaparilla." J The excuse was considered rather thin, but he [ was obdurate, and is still at liberty to drink 1 rum and molasses if he prefers it. ? The following item has receutly appeared ' in papers published outside this State: 1 uTU. ? ? fKo T iKorion nminrro tinn I Ilie piUIUUkCIO U1 Lug UiU^l.Ul. vu?g.??.uu ; scheme from South Caroliua claim to have i ! enrolled the names of 2,500 colored persons | in Charleston, and 30,000 in the State, who < I conseut to emigrate." It is rather strange that 1 a movement assuming such proportions as here < | intimated, has attracted so little attention in < the midst of the people most directly interest- i ed. We doubt if there are 100 colored men I in the entire State who would consent to em-11 igrate to Liberia, if required to defray their j ] i own expenses. 1 ? The following report of the condition of j i , the cotton crop in South Carolina for the i < | month of June has been derived from 1 the replies of ninety-six correspondents, in thirty counties of the State: The first part | of the month was dry, afterwards showery, 1 and in portions of the State very wet. Fiftyeight report the weather for the month favorable. Thirty-eight report too vet and unfavorable. Thirty-eight report it more faI vorable than last year. Thirteen report as about the same. Forty-five report less favorable. Eighteen counties, containing twoi tKirrla nf thp norpnce of the State, renort a v* O" -- 1 I decrease in acreage since last report, owing 1 to bad stauds, etc., (grain and corn being substituted,) from 2^ to 15 per cent., and one j county an increase of 2 per cent., the average 1 for nineteen counties being a decrease of 3 1 per cent., equal to a decrease for the State of 2 per ceut. The stauds are reported fair to : ! good by sixty-four, and bad by thirty-two. The i condition of the crop is reported by twenty j < j as good and better than Inst year ; by thirty-1 i six healthy and clean, but late ten to fifteen ; i j days; and by forty, fields grassy, cotton late,;: condition bad, not so good as last year. Lice j are reported iu seven counties. 11 NORTH CAROLINA NEWS. ? Ice was formed on the mountains in Mitchell county last week. ? The Catawba people are in raptures over 1 steam thrasher. ? The grading on the Chester and Lenoir Railroad, between Dallas and Lincolutou, is completed to within four miles of Lincolnton. ? The Raleigh and Augusta Air-Line Railroad will be completed to the Carolina Central in the course of two or three weeks. ? Major Johu Smith, a soldier in the war of 1812, died at his home in Richmond county, last week, aged 90 years. ? The wheat crop of Caldwell county is immensely large, and corn is growing fiuely. The crop prospect was never better in that county. ? The Greensboro Patriot gives the following account of a case of attempted infanticide in that town, last week: A negro woman named Winnie Cole, gave birth to a child last Monday and took it out in the garden and buried it alive. Sometime afterward it was liacovered and taken ud. but died that night. The woman was arrested on the following day and is now in jail awaiting trial. ? Says the Gastonia Herald: Captain Dwight, the engiueer of the Narrow Gauge road, was recounoitering all of last week between Newton and Lincolnton, but did not begin the actual survey of the road until last Tuesday. All the company, (chain-bearers, axe-men, &c.,) except the assistant engineer, are from Newton. It will take about two or three weeks to find the most practicable route an which to build the road. One survey will be made directly along Clark's creek, and perhaps several others on the east side. POLITICAL ITEMS. ? The National Republican at Washington, says: "The course of Gen. Hampton while in the North is worthy of all commendation, for be said nothing which was not calculated to ~ * ? * t. .1 -VT . 1 ai tneir regumr umuunjf meeting nciu uu Thursday night last, decided to change the J name of the company to that of the Gover- ' nor's Guards. ? The number of prisoners in the State ? Penitentiary now amounts to 485, nearly all < of whom are colored. All but one or two are ' males, and four-fifths are confined for the ? crime of theft, of greater or less degree. < ? An old colored man in Darlington conn i | ty, was lately noticed gathering tip and eat- } ing chickens which had died of cholera. 1 When stopped from this he commenced eat- s ing toads, and a few days ago died. i ? The Charlotte, Columbia and Augusta ? Railroad Company has adopted the use of ? the patent air-brakes on all trains on that f road, and these are now being supplied and ? affixed to the coaches and engines as rapidly I as possible. 1 ? The Fairfield Register says that the crop S prospect in that county is not promising, f The unpropitious weather in the spring, and t the long drought, combined to make the cotton i very backward, while the recent raius have ] given a great impetus to grass. Dnnontll, Qt rjpoonuillo f K O W I fp f\f fl ( promote a triendly teenog Between tne norm and South. Would that all our public men were as wise and patriotic." ? The Tribune, & leading Republican paper if Chicago, says "there is one thing that exGovernor Chamberlain forgot to mention in bis Woodstock speech, viz.: That there have been no political murders in Louisiana and South Caroliua since Packard and Chamberlain stepped aside, and that the negroes have lot made any complaint of being maltreated >r abused in any way. Cau he say as much for his own administration ?" ? Advices from Jackson, Miss., state that ;he Republican committee of that State met -ecently and passed, by a mere majority, a esolution of confidence in President Hayes, rhe committee resolved to make no noinina,ious for the State ticket at the election next all, for the reason that the President's civil service letter forbidding Federal officials to mgage in campaign work, left them without irgauizalion, a majority of the committee beng office-holders. A vote was passed to adouru 8ine die, which was equivalent to dialanding the Republican party in Mississippi. ? The President seems to understand the lituation pretty well. He said last week to a jorrespondent of the Cincinnati Commercial: 'There are men who are making a great fuss ibout the Southern policy, when they don't :are two cent9 what the Southern policy is, so hey get some offices to distribute. A Congressman, for instance, will promise a lot of ocal offices in his district in repayment for telling up a convention and giving him a relomination. Under this vicious system we ire likely to have indifferent Congressmen md bad civil service. The system works an jvil both ways. Because I want to try to do loiuething toward reformation in this particuar, to divorce local politics from Federal of* ice-holding, there is an outcry against the Southern policy from men who are really ishamed to give the true grounds of opposition ,o my administration, for I am trying to car y out the civil service reforms that we, as Republicans, have been promising so long, riie Southern policy is a fixed fact, and every lay demonstrates that it was the wisest course, til things considered, that could have been :akeu. But it is really amusing to find this policy assailed by those who don't really care my thing about it, using it simply as a cloak io cover up their disgust for civil service reform." MERE-MENTION. Harrell, who killed Capt. Catesby Jones, it Selma, Ala., a few days ago, has been admitted to bail in the sum of 815,000. J. 3. Hester has been relieved from the duties cf an officer in the revenue secret service, ind gone into the business of selling jewelry. The first bale of cotton of this season was received at Brownsville, Texas, last Friday. It weighted 442 pounds, was classed low middling, and was sold at auction at 20 cents per pound. After a litigation of forty years, Mrs. Myra Clark Gaines has gained her suits, and is declared the legal cwner of a large amount of property in New Drleans. All the United States troops stationed in Atlanta, Ga., except two companies of the 18th Infantry, left, on Saturday last, for Oregon. They will go via San Francisco, and calculate to reach the seat of war in twenty days. The government of Hayti has intimated, with great diplomatic delicacy, a preference for a white man as minister from the United States. The New York Herald thinks it "not at ill improbable that New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and even Onio, will give DeraDcratic majorities this fall." A despatch from Washington, says that Wallace W. Gordon, a graduate of West Point, was recently arrested in Tennessee, accused of dealing in counterfeit money. It is said that there are upwards of seven thousand applications on file at Washington for consular appointments. To supply the demand, there is only oue vacancy with a salary attached, and this vacant post is on the coast of Africa. 'Most men love little women, and little women love most men. Lieutenant Bullis, of the United States Army, followed a party of Indian raiders across the Rio Grande, defeated them in a fight, and recaptured the horses they had stolen in Texas. A delegation of Alabamians, claiming to be true representatives of the Republican party of that State, have called upon the President, and on that issue seek to obtain offices in preference to carpet-baggers. It is rumored that the position of Minister to Russia has been tendered to Judge Bacon, of South Carolina. Justice Miller, of the tt i rr. o n? . united mates oupreme vuun, ic^uuj ubn<ered an opinion to the effect that a man in prosperous business who purchases real estHte and transfers it to his wife, may be held, in the event of subsequent failure, to have withdrawn funds to which an assignee in bankruptcy may lay claim in behalf of creditors. Joseph's baud of hostile Indians recently came across a party of thirty-oue Chinamen, who were coming down Clearwater jn canoes, and for mere pastime and recreation inhumanly killed the whole party, except one, who raauaged to escape. LOCAL AFFAIRS. NEW ADVERTISEMENTS. Mm. 0. Oraven?For Rent. Jamea A. Glenn, D. D. S.?Surgeon and Mechanical Dentist. J. C. Spears?Wheat and Corn Grinding. J.J. Hunter and John C. Kuykendal?important Notice. Latimer <fc Hemphill?Fancy Groceries?Hardware?Fresn Mackerel. R. H. Glenn, S. Y. C.?Sheriff's Sales. Kennedy Bros. <fc Barron?Groceries?Tin WareCigars?75 Founds. THE COUNTlTTjOMMISSIONERS. The County Commissioners will be in session, at their office in Yorkville, on Friday and Saturday, 27th and 28th instant. ELECTION* TICKETS. We are prepared to furnish tickets for the pending election on the fence question, at the price of 25 cents per hundred, or 500 tickets for 81.00, the cash to accompany the order. THE FIRST COTTON BOLL. Last Monday, Mr. Frank Happerfield plucked from his held of cotton, near town, a fully developed boll, which is the first we have seen. He could have shown us blooms as early as the 26th ultimo, but his modesty preveuted him from doing so. DK* licnvi V. Mr. J. A. Watson, our former townsman, and long known as one of the faculty of King's Mountain Military School, but who for two or three years past has been a teacher in the Baltimore Commercial College, has returned to his old home, and will make his future resideuee in his native State. ACCIDENTAL FIllE. About 10 o'clock last Monday night, the dwelling house of Ella Good, colored, living in the western suburbs of town, was accidentally burnt. The fire was supposed to have been caused by a defect in the pipe of his cooking stove. He was so unfortunate as to lose nearly all his household effects, which were destroyed with the house. "THE FENCE* QUESTION." Let no voter be deterred, by its length, from reading the interesting article, in another column, under the above heading. The writer is an eminent divine, and writes his convictions and the result of his observations of Panno In u? of Vila U1C piautiuai >TMI aiu^o \JI nig I^uvw <un uv mo immediate home in Mecklenburg county, N. C., where the law has been in operation for two or three years. THE COUNTY TAXES. Treasurer Robertson is meetiug with reasonable success in the collection of the quota of taxes called for during the present mouth. His collections up to last Saturday have been as follows: Rock Hill, $1,622 40 Fort Mill, 458 03 Clay Hill 694 42 Bethel, 707 16 $3,482 01 Of which sura, inclusive of the 10 per cent, contribution, he has sent to the State Treasurer $1,969. CATAWBA TOWNSHIP. On the petition of a number of the voters of Catawba township, the County Commissioners have ordered that the election heretofore ordered to be held at Rock Hill, in that township, on the question of altering the fence law, shall be held at Hopewell Church, in said township. Voters and others interested, will take notice of the change, and govern themselves accordingly. The reason assigned by the petitioners for desiring the change, is that Rock Hill is not centrally located in the township. THE FENCE LAW ELECTION. We deem it proper to direct attention to the fact that in the approaching election on the fence law, voters will be required to cast their ballots at the precinct in the township in which they reside. This is clearly provided by the wording of the first section of the act. Some may be led to suppose, that, owning land in two or more townships, they will be entitled to cast a vote in each township in which their land is situated. Such, however, is not the intent of the act, which will be readily perceived by giving it a careful reading. FINE FRUIT. Dr. J. F. Lindsay and Mr. M. Strauss have placed us under obligations for some fine peaches, the product of their orchards. Mr. R. Anderson Lathem has also sent us a basket of the finest pears we have ever seen?not only fine in quality, but fine in quantity. Of these pears, one variety is the Bell, which was grown from budding on an apple stocK, ana is larger and more luscious than the famous California pear. The other is the common variety met with in most orchards, though giving evidence of attentive and thor.-ugh cultivation. EDITORIAL INKLINGS. Hampton in Virginia. A dispatch from Salem, Va., gives the following account of the reception and welcome extended to Governor Hampton, in that place, on the 10th instant; Governor Hampton reached Salem at noon to day and is a guest of Lake Spriug Hotel, where his daughter, brother, sister and other members of the family are sojourning. At eight, p. m., a large concourse of citizeus, with the Salem hand, called on the Governor, many of whom were introduced. After this ceremony he was formally introduced to the large audience by Judge Graiffiu, of Salem. In response the Governor made a brief adflrnao 5n u'biph hp rpnnornized this demonstra tion as a compliment paid by Virginians to South Carolina, and expressed his high appreciation of the bond of sympathy which has ever existed between the Old Dominion and the Palmetto State. He would bear back to his State these greetings as a recognition of the peaceful victory achieved in South Carolina. He expressed infinite regret that feeble health would not permit him to give expression to the swelling emotion prompted hy this hearty and unexpected demonstration. He bade them good night with repeated thanks. Hampton and Hayes. There is considerably more truth than poetry in the comments of the Willmington Star, upon the sneering remark of the Houston Age that "the zeal of Governor Hampton to please Northern Radicals will lead him into that party." The Star says : "When Charles James Fox, the incomparable debater, was asked the difference between orthodoxy and heterodoxy, he replied, with great wit and wisdom: 'Heterodoxy is 'your doxy, and orthodoxy is my doxy.' ! Both in Church and State, there is a vast deal I nf intm1 pmnffl TurlppfK the American neo j pie are really more liberral and just in their I | religious than iu their political views. Let a I man dare think for himself on any measure, and at once a host of little bobtailed politicians and demagogues will set up a howl and ! do all they can to drive out of the party a man who, strange to say, has a political couHuience. Gen. Hampton on the stump, j with the full consent and endorsement of the 1 ! white people of South Carolina, made certain i ! grave and important pledges before the elec! tion, and now that he is Governor, he pro| poses, like an honest and true man as he is,i to carry out, in the utmost good faith, those j pledges. He is well pleased with the treati ment his Slate has received at the hands of. President Ilayes, and he has the frankness j and boldness to say so plainly and unreserv-' edly. This brings him under suspicion, and men who are not fit to dust bis shoes or sit in his presence, set up the cry: 'Hampton is going over to the enemy; he is praising Hayes; be will become a Radical.'" Hampton Tax Receipts. The Columbia Registerof a recent date furnishes the subjoined information in regard to receipts given by the special agents for the ten per cent, contribution, which may prove of value to some of our readers : The receipts issued by the special agents for the collection of the ten per cent, contribution on account of taxes, are made receivable for taxes the present year, and the act authorizing the same does not specify that they are only receivable from those persous who paid the contribution. The receipts are made negotiable by this action of the Legislature, and any person having possession of them can tender the same in payment of taxes. Doubtless, many of these receipts are lost or mislaid by the contributors, who did not so much regard their value, as they were anxious to sustain the Hampton goverument,and made their contributions as a free-will offering upon the altar of patriotism. In order to meet such cases, we are informed, the Comptroller General has issued instructions by which the County Treasurers will be required to make a memorandum of all persons so claiming to have mislaid their receipts, and which will ultimately secure the proper parties a credit for the amount paid. This arrangement will serve as a check upon improper persons receiving credit therefor. The hooks of the special agents are in the hands of the Comptroller General, and the memorandum list (when received from a County Treasurer) will be compared with the original entry, so that every person will receive the full benefit of his patriotic action. We make this statement because it has come to our knowledge that tax payers in some counties are perplexed about the loss of receipts. The Improper Sale of Stamps. The custom of quite a number of postmasters of the fourth class, who speculate in postage stamps, is attracting the attention of the post-office department, and the secret agents of the department are engaged in the work of overhauling those guilty of the questionable mode of dealing. The New York Sun exposes these trasactions as follows: These irregularities have been discovered exclusively in offices of the fourth class, in which, in lieu of salary, the postmaster is allowed 60 percent, on the first one hundred dollars' worth ofstamps sold, and 50 per cent, on the next three huudred dollars' worth, aud 4U percent. ou the next six tiimurea aonars worth. Some publishers and jewellers went so far as to send special circulars to postmasters, offering to take payment for their goods in postage stamps. The bait is snapped at, and only such of the postmasters as by their own blunders send misdirected or non directed packages of stumps in registered envelopes requiring the packages to be opened, are detected. Hence only a few of their many transactions ever come to the knowledge of the authorities. In order to escape detection, the postmasters frequently send remittances of stamps by express. Many of the rural postmasters are storekeepers, and arrangements are made by them with the mercantile houses from which they purchase goods to accept either whole or part payment in postage stamps. The result of all this is shown in comparison of the post office reports. Sales of stamps in some litte crossroad offices have literally swelled from fifty or a hundred dollars a year to several thousand dollars. The iucrease of sales in small offices, distributed throughout the Southern and Western States, perceptibly decreases the sales in the offices of the large cities. The government loses the amount of the commission paid to the country postmasters. The Cotton Prospect. The Department of Agriculture publishes the following information as to the condition of the cotton crop, from returns received during the month of July : OolMMia frnm 5fi(1 pminftPS nrnHlloinv six IkVbUIUO II v/IU wv VVwuiovwj |?? tenths of the cotton of the United States. Seventy-three counties of Georgia are represented. The average condition of the whole area is 93 410 per cent, 4 per cent, less than the July average of last year. It is less by 7 percent, than the average for 1876, but better than the condition for 1873 or 1874. Only Louisiana gives a higher average than in July of last year. The State averages are as follows: North Carolina 88; South Carolina 87 ; Georgia 90 ; Florida 95 ; Alabama 94; Mississippi 92 ; Louisiana 102 ; Texas 94 ; Arkansas 94; Tennessee 96. The crop is from one to two weeks late in ttie more northern belt. Nights have heeu too cold, and in many sections an excess of rain has retarded cultivation, rendering the fields grussy and the plant unthrifty. The rains have been general and loug continued iu Texas, but fine weather is producing a rapid improvement. An overflow of the Arkansas river has drowned out 60.000 acres of cotton. The low lands in Tennessee have been destructively inundated. While here the losses have been mainly owing to rains, there are localities east of the Mississippi that have suffered from drought. Insects have as yet done little damage. The cut worm is reported troublesome in Florida. Lice are abundant whenever the plant bus become unthrifty from cold nights and excessive moisture. Grass worms are doing some damage, mainly in Texas, and the cotton caterpillar is reported in Harden, Atascosa, Bazoria, Uvalde, Jasper and Victoria counties, in Texas. Cotton blooms in the Gulf States were reported at several points on the 19th and 20th of June. .LaOor is graauany oecouiuig iu?hc efficient. A great improvement in the morale and efficiency i3 reported in Louisiana. A Deserving Woman. The Charleston News and Courier publishes the subjoined letter to Col. D. Wyatt Aiken, from a lady residing on the lower coast of South Carolina: I am living on a single acre of land, which I expect to buy if I can ever raise the money ; price 850. This acre I have had plowed, for which I paid, and with a wheelburrow, chip manure and rotted pine straw, I myself have made so many Irish potatoes that after grabbling for six weeks to supply my table, where I and nine children sit regularly, I have in the past few days dug over three barrels. I have corn taller than my head, early cow peas, tomatoes turning, okra in bloom, and over one hundred heads of beautiful young cabbage, some squashes and cucumbers destroyed by my neighbor'3 pigs. I am not in ^ < __ (U'spjur, nowever ; iui no guuu ? n?j finish setting out their slips, I will buy enough for quite a patch, and pay for them in labor returned, by working on the sewing machine. Some persons say 1 am fanatical. Be it so; better that than gadding about and consuming precious time in idleness. I am quite indifferent to the taunts I hear of such work being unlady like. I am only doing work that has to be done, and I would like to have it nicer, | but there is no alternative. With all my j striving I find but little margin for clothing, and uoue for the education of my dear children. To the above the News and Courier adds : "Without her knowledge or consent, we pub-' lish the above extract from her private letter, J that it might encourage many a one now sitting upon the eaves of despair, or shame into more active life some of the many drones we have in almost every community in the South. Is there not some good Samaritan among our readers who will loosen his purse strings and send Col. Aiken enough money to pay for that acre of land ?" We call attention to the subject, trusting there are some among our own readers who are willing to help the heroic woman buy that acre of land. Contributions for the purpose will he received by the editors of the News j and Courier and faithfully applied. - For the Yorkvllle Enquirer. THE FENCE QUESTION. Kino's Mountain, N. C., July 13,1877." _ L. M. Grift?Dear Sir:?I am more interested in the proposed change in the fence law than any question that has been' before the public for a long time. I am wide awake. I hear that some of the leading citizens of York are not in favor of the change, and I am goiug to publish?by your permission.?a few papers that will be irresistible; papers from men who know how the law works in Mecklenburg county, N. C. I herewith present a letter from Rev. A. Ranson, D. D., widely known, and a practical farmer as well as a leading churchman. E. ?. Boyce. Huntersville, N. C., July 9, 1877. Rev. E. E. Boyce?Dear Brother .-?The same mail which brought your postal, brought a like request from B. F. Craytou, Esq., of Anderson, C. H., S. C. I do not know that I can do any better than to repeat what I have written to him: Dear Sir:?Your request for my "observaAvnAwiAnAA Sn tko moHoi* rtf fonoin r* LIUUO nuu CA|IG11QUWO IU buu luovvvi vi ivuviug j up the stock," has been duly received. Feeling a deep interest in the welfare of South Carolina?ray native State?I hasten to reply. This is the fifth year that I have had an opportunity to observe the working of the system, and the third that I have been experiencing its benefits.' These are, I am fully persuaded, as follows: 1. It saves a heavy expense. 2. It brings valuable laud into cultivation. 3. It improves land and enhances its commercial value. 4. It is favorable to renters. 5. It enables men to retain small, untimbered farms, and others to obtain farms for the first time. 6. It promotes the cultivation of the grasses. 7. It facilitates the improvement of stock. Now, each of these points I propose to illustrate. My interest in land comprises one hundred and fifty acres. It had through it a long lane aud a short one. While we were canvassing for the stock law, I often said I would rather have it than a present of five hundred dollars. But, now, I go up upon that. Were it possible for no one to be affected by it but myself, I would not return to the old system for one tbousaud dollars. That will sound extravagant to inauy, no doubt. But consider this : Besides my present pasture aud lot fencing, two thousand paDels of r.n?t fnn/io ntn.iM ho roonirofl T^ilf. wn.ild OT1A UCH 1CUVV ni/UlM uu iv^unvu. thousand dollars build that, aud leave a sum whose interest would he sufficient to keep it in repair from year to year? I reckon not. Then, why should I he willing to go back for the consideration of one thousand dollars ? Thus, in a financial point of view, I regard the chauge as being, practically, worth to me and my children, at least seven dollars per acre on our land. In a few weeks, we will have finished a neat, suhstnutial and convenient barn, forty feet square. Began it a year ago. Did most of the work ourselves; and worked at it only when farm work was not needed, or could not be done. Fifty dollars will cover the whole amount paid out for hired labor, nails and the sawing of plank. But under the old system, we could not have touched it at all; would have been kept in a continual strain to renew our fences. And thus the new system gives all farmers an opportunity to make necessary improvements, to drain land, to make compost heaps, and to give their sons a better education. 2. On this point, I need only remark that 'L - L? * 1-.-J I- O ia ?V,o I LUtJ LICSL JttllU IU UUUkil uaiuinia 10 uuuni >uv fences. That is obvious to all. Now, were they removed, and the ground they occupy 1 cultivated in wheat and corn, would not the yield bread all the peopk if the State ? All through the old fields, too, are many rich 1 spots. Our people have hunted up all these, and are letting the poorest of the laud they had been cultivating lie and rest. Besides, it is a nice thing to be rid of the brush aud briers in the fence corners, and to drive out into the clean road to turn. 3. Our most observing people are now convinced that the injury they did their fields by pasturing them, was far greater than all the beuefit to the stock. If turned in, for only a few days, to glean the wheat, oats and corn left, and not suffered to remaiu in when the ground is wet, the damage would be ' small. But not one in a hundred would be \ so careful. Forty-five years ago, I heard men discussing the question: "Why is it that a field, cleared now, will not produce more than half of what the same kind of land, in au adjoining field, produced when the country was first settled ?" Some young men were disposed to deny the fact, and to hiut that the old men had forgotten, or had fallen into the habit of telling "big stories." But Mr. James Hamilton Lowry, of Laurens Dis- i trict, who was then an old man and a close i observer, explained it thus : "When I was a j boy, the untrampled earth was, almost every ' ?? nf i/klr ilAlll/) Ka ' wnere, au juusc mm a nai?iug duv.b wuju wv. easily run down twelve or eighteen inches. Perhaps, for hundreds of years, the growing roots had been raising the ground, and as they died aud rotted they left it very open. It held the most of the rain, and slowly supplied the crops as needed. But by the time the , cattle men had destroyed all the pea-viues and , canes, the ground was trampled hard, aud ceased to produce, as I know it had done be- j fore." I believe he wus right. And if you ( could see the crop of vegetation on our old ( fields which were formerly clipped bare by everybody's hungry stock, you would thiuk so, too. For vegetation growing and decaying?the top above and the roots beneath the | surfaee?is what enriches laud. But when it is cropped off, just when starting to grow, and the ground trampled hard, there is no chance for the land to improve. Now, that which hinders the recuperation of old 6elds i cannot be good for tilled land. Let no hoof 1 go on it, only to haul out manure, to till the , crop, and to gather it in; then, far less sub- { soiling will be necessary to maintain the primeval looseness of the soil. j 4. While canvassing for the stock law, some asserted that the enclosed district would soon be without laborers ; that renters would i have no place for their stock and would move out. But some of us believed that the thing would work just the other way. With us, and I suppose with you, renters had to repair fences to protect their crops. But they soon saw that it was much easier to move old rails and make a pasture, than to repair fences around all the fields. Nobody has ever thought of refusing them a pasture, any more than a house. Nor are the rents any higher than when they had all the fences to repair. Take a case illustrative of many. Mr. C., a renter, was much opposed to the proposed change. He and his sou went to an election and helped to defeat it, for a time, in their township. He boasted that he and his son could kill the vote of the laud owner and another tenant as often as they wished to try that thing. But the law provided for it, and , it was convenient to take that and a few other farms, whose owners were willing, into the ' enclosure of another towuship. Mr. G. was i furiously mad, and threatened to leave,j though it was the first of April. By moving < about sixty panels of old fence, he got an excellent and convenient pasture?much better ! than the land owner had. Still he grumbled? i he did not like to be beat in that kind of way. i Toward the close of the year, it was signified | to him that he might go out to where he could ! find things as he liked them. But he made a j contract to rent over in the towuship which i had voted for (hestock law. However, before i he moved, he and his man disagreed ; but not < about a pasture. Then he had to move out i and take a large old place, where he could I < repair fences to his heart's conteut. Now, j i guess what he did. He and an adjoining < laud owner, who had also been opposed to the 1 change, resolved on having a little stock law be- i tween themselves. Accordingly, they put up i gate-i, euclosed both places with one outside i fence, and made at pasture for themselves. A might/ revolution of thoughts and feelings in one short year, was that I But this year they arabappy in having the great enclosure extended far beyond them. And many such like cases have we. 5. When moving for.the change/many, of us held it as theory that the stock law would enable many to hold on to farms from which the old fence law was about to drive them. Now we are happy to know that we wet*e net mistaken. -Almost every neighborlwxwMwruishes one or more cases to the point. Take one as a fair sample: Mr. ff. owns about sixty acres. He had cut his last rail tree to repair bis fencing. His neighbors?the brothers ? G.?had talked the matter over, not veiy secretly, that he could not '.'hold.the fort much longer;" that the place would be ofverylittle use to any one who did not have adjoining land ; that they would get it at last and divide it in a certain manner Itetween themselves. But the stock law came to the rescue of H.; aud the brothers G., who favored the law, have candidly acknowledged that "that game is spoiled." On the same principle, the law facilitates tlie dividing up of large old farms, now unwieldy and unprofitable to their owners. Many of .L? L_ I U..? uiese uavo several uuuuicu avieo yi wicaivu land, all in one body ; and skirting'around this, in one place, thirty; in another fifty; in another seventy ;and in another one hundred acres of woodland. These, with some of the old field, could be readily sold under the fence law system. But the owner cannot do that, because it would render more than half uf bis land, practically, worthless. The stock law, however, has began a change already. There are men who prefer an exhausted old field?* that is pretty level and clear of stumps and stones?to the best heavily timbered forest. J There they caq use the improved implements 4 of culture. And they claim that with the ' same outlay of labor, they can pay for their fertilizers and lay up more money than they could clearing land, rolling logs, and burning them for a dozen of years, hitching on roots, and hoeing around trees and stumps. Hence, there is arising a class of enterprising farmers who, if not able to buy a plantation, wHI buy a field. Now, far less importance is attached lnn/1 all in nnn kn/lfr fknn utao ivj iiaviug lauu an 1U uuc uuuj biiau nau iy?raerly, if only there is a road from one place to another. 6. As to the grasses, I have this to say: I have rode about a little this spring and summer, and being one of the pioneers in the grass business, I have noticed carefully the clover, millet and lucerne (which is the best of all the forage plants) that have been sown ; and I feel that I hazard nothing in saying that for every acre five or six years ago, there are twenty now. It is true the stock law has made these a necessity. But human nature is a curious thing. It is hard to get up out of the old ruts. Our judgment may be well convinced that some change should be made; still, we need something to push us a little before we will move. Ten years ago ther$ were very few among us who did not say that we ought to sow clover, and peas, and corn, and / " such like. But nine-tenths of our farmers did not do it It was so much easier to ran in the old rut. Now, however, since the change has forced them out of it, no one regrets having made a grass lot of any kind. All say it is the best investment they have; and many wnnrlpr thuf. thpv did not. <?pt nt it Kofnrp 7. As to the improvement of stock, it is tod soon for marked results. But even those who oppose the change uuite with others in the opinion that, as the matter is now completely under control, it will be as easy and far more profitable to have good stock than bad. There are yet mauy things which I would like to say; but this communication is already so long that you will never read it, unless you are an enthusiastic stock law man. I would say, however, don't be discouraged. You will he sure to get it, though you may he defeated the first trial. We were at the first election ; and in some of the townships at the second. I never knew anything more unpopular, when first meutioned; never, anything to make friends so fast. Were it at all practicable. I would be much pleased to spend a few weeks in my old mother State and help to canvass for this thing. I was identified with the movement here, from the first, and wrote several articles for the county papers. I have studied the suhject. I think I understand it. If you cannot carry the State, go it by counties. If you cannot carry a county, go into it by townships. Take old rails and fence a single township, if two or more cannot go together. You will never have the fence to repair. The adjoining townships having seen the working of it for one or two years, will come in. It worked so here. Yours truly, A. Ranson. THE STATETlOCSE PLOT. Several days aero, one James Shannon dropped a note to the editors of the New and Courier, informing them that he could give some of the inside history of the latter days of the Chamberlain administration in this State, he having been one of the men who guarded the State House doors. Upon the reception of this communication, the reporter of the Neves and Courier was directed to seek Mr. Shannon and obtain his statement, which is as follows: Mr. Shannon gives an interesting narrative of his adventures from the time that he received his dicharge from the United States navy, July 21, 1876, until his arrival in this State. He says that he made his way in 3earch of work from Brookland across the country until he reached Darlingtou on the ^ 8th of November last. Upon his arrival there, he accidently came iuto coutact with Burucb, then a Trial Justice, and now Sheriffof that county. Through him he was introduced to Whittemore as one who could, probably, procure him employment. Whittemore seemed to think he found iu Mr. Shannon a man with nerve and recklessness enough to do the work which he himself said that his "niggers" lacked the courage to do. He accordingly promised him a situation as United States deputy marshal, to execute warrants which he was prepared to issue. Mr. Shannon witnessed much of the process of manufacturing affidavits against some of the most nrnminant. and rparw.tnhlfl whitA men in thfl county, who were marked out for arrest aud persecution. He described the modxu operandi quite minutely. He says that Whittemore kept his blank affidavits ready, and sent out his agents to drum up negro intimidation wit* uesses. A negro who made his appearance was invariably given to understand about what he was to swear to, and against whom. When he was too stupid or too couscieutious, (this latter rarely happened,) his language was twisted and contorted to suit. About forty of these were prepared ; one, he remembers, against Col. Law, a prominent Democrat of that county. The manufacture was continued N until the time arrived for the convening of the Legislature, when Whittemore left for Columbia. Almost immediately upon his arrival thorp hp apnf. rlnnn An urcent massacre for Mr. Shannon to come up, tendering him the position of "Arresting Sergeant" of the Legislature, and offering at the same time to defray all expenses. His idea evidently was that he had gotten hold of a desperate and courageous man who would hesitate at nothing. On the morning of Mr. Shannou's arrival, he was met by Whittemore, who went into the State *~uuse, and returned in a few minutes bearing a commission as Deputy Serjeant-at-Arms, which he banded hint. Mr. Shannon immediately went on dut}', and was given virtual command of the negro constabulary about the doors. Here he remained until the storming of the House by the Democratic members. He states that that movement was a complete surprise. He was the only man at the door at the time, and was iwept out of the way, despite his resistance. On that day, about three hours after the entrance of the Democrats, Mackey came to Mr. Shannon and asked rather abruptly if he did not have a pistol. Upon his replying in the negative, Mackey told him to call at his office