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--:-*, HOYT & CO., Proprietors. ANDERSON O. H., S. C, THURSDAY MORNING, JUNE 13, 1872. VOLUME VIE.?NO. 49. The Bailing of Jeff. BaTis. geo. alpe ed townsend's description of the memorable scene. Although years have passed and gone since the memorable events here recorded were enacted in the former capital of the Southern Confederacy, yet we think it entirely appropri? ate to furnish our readers with the annexed ac? count of the bailing of Jefferson Davis, writ? ten not long ago for the Chicago Tribune by its famous correspondent, George Alfred Town send, better known as "Gatk." It is the best description we remember to have seen of the most notable event, connected with the war since the surrender at Appomattox, and as a contribution to current history is weU worthy of preservation: Washington, May 13. ' Nearly at this day of the year, five years ago-7-a Friday in May?I received a liberal ?fter from a newspaper published in Philadel? phia to go to Richmond, Ya., and see Jsfferson Davis plead to an indictment for treason in the United States Court there. I had been home from Europe, where I hsd gone t? describe Napoleon's great Exposition, only one week; and the proposition to again review the battlefields in the environs of the late Confederate capital, and to conclude my adventures in the civil war with the last pa? geant it might present, affected me more favor? ably than the point to be gained at commerce. At that moment I little presumed that, for five years yet to come, the appearance of hostili? ties would continue, and the flame of the ex? piring brands of battle be nursed to light the career of parry camp-followers. I took the regular steamboat at Baltimore, and slept down the bay. At daylight Fortress Monroe was disclosed above the sand-pits of | Hampton Roads, with the flag of the recovered country lazily waving above tne parapet. We swung to at the pier, waited half an hour, and then I saw walk down the plank roadway from the fort, with a military officer on one side of | him and a lady on the other, a thin, bent, gray- [ haired, unimposing, village-looking man, in a suit of home-made gray or drab?Jefferson Da? vis. A couple of soldiers, I think, lagged be? hind, and, altogether, there were not above a dozen people on the wharf in sig at beside j these. Mr. Davis did not come directly out to the boat, but loitered there awhile in the warm sunshine of that quiet Saturday, talking to General Duncan and Mrs. Davis, with the smile of a sick man convalescent playing on his face. I was disappointed with hit* appear? ance, for I was familiar with his person and face only from portrait? on Confedera'ie money and from engravings. Those pictures; heroized him, and gave him a classical profile and an 2e of nahng decision, which now he did not ow. Still, in this setting of Hampton Roads, the man could not be else than the central fig? ure. The great law of association made him the personage to which everything in view was subservient?the old Fort, which was the en? tering wedge into the late Confederacy; the Sellow barrack peeping over the parapet where e had been imprisoned; the wrecks of frigates sunk in the roadstead by his navy; the oppo? site cape of sand and wood, where lurked that that morning, terrible as ever, tho superstition of the iron monster which had emerged thence for the deliberate work of destruction at the command of his will. And now he was the riddle and perplexity of his conqueror ; this thin old man, just permitted to feel the breath of liberty, whose name, for fear or wonder, j had gone round the world, and earned from a cool head like Gladstone the opinion that "Jefferson Davis had made a nation !" What should the United States do with Jefferson Da? vis t At law he might be hanged. Who would hang him ? The pulse of the country fluttered, and everybody wanted somebody else to take the responsibility. I shall not attempt to wreck expression upon the feelings that I entertained as I leaned over the deck-rai Is of the steamer, and looked down npon this man whose empire had been reab sorbed into ours, and whose active history was done. I have never got over the fresh country boy's surprise at seeing the world, and all real j news affects mo as phenomena. There was neither resentment nor judgment in my esti? mate of this man, whom I did not bold either wholly or in chief responsible for the great in? surrection and its calamities. There is nobody responsible for a general revolution like that which he led, any more than a deluge is the fault of the channels it chooses or the accesso? ries it receives. In the broad-spread evapora? tion of slavery rose the energies of the storm and the flood. This dam was treacherous, and yonder reservoir bursts. Here and there a staunch and loyal wall or column kept erect, to be revered when the waters subside; but he who had seeu the war for slavery from a news? man's eyrie was not fit for his vocation who should point out Jefferson Davis, and say: "This was the rebellion I" And, with an un? defined, half-conscious sense of the injustice of such an interpretation, the popular mind look? ed uneasily upon its prisoner, and wished he had escaped to Mexico, or Canada, or Europe, and not remained the elephant that he was upon our hands. Should we hang him, and afterward feel mean about it, and sanctify his gibbet to a dead cause ? Should we keep him in jail as Elizabeth kept Queen Mary, and, at the end, come to the same unwilling conclu? sion ? Should we set him free, and make re? bellion cheap ? Was it not a party necessity ? Was it a human and patriotic necessity ? What would he have done to us under like circum? stances ? Should we apply our low estimate of his magnanimity to our own in the period of power ? At*the moment of awkward irresolution, a man in New York, out of his own notions of the needs and fitness of things, obeyed an im Sulse which solved the problem. Horace rreeley took the public mind off Jefferson Da? vis, and became, in turn, the best-abused man in America. He obcyeci the old law of cards : "When in doubt, play trumps 1" He played mercy and magnanimitv, and closed up tho war without shedding a life to stain the victory of freedom. Whatever the motives of his de? cision, whether "a meddlesome impertinence," as Mr. Dan Voorhees says, or a high and con? sistent principle, ho made mercy a success. Not under the apple-tree at Appomattox did the Confederacy yield up its life, but under the gallows-tree at Richmond. Tho most promi? nent man in the North wrote his name to the chief traitor's bond of security, and while we cavil about it to this day, the South, ardent and anxious again for restoration to fraternal citizenship, and absorbed with mor-3 necessities than we, cry, "We accept Horace Greeley as he accepted us!" By reference to my diary, I find that we as? cended the James River, on the steamer John Sylvester, and were all day on the passage. General Duncan, Adjutant McElrath (a son of Thos. McElrath, once partner and publisher of Horace Greeley,) and other regular army offi? cers were on board, and wished to introduce me to the Davis family, for I was tho only newspaper mau on the vessel. I declined. Interviewing had not then become the fashion. dLhad too much respect for my profession and for Jefferson Davis' misfortunes, to snatch from him momentary expressions, and print them to mankind as his revealed and critical opinions. Mr. Davis was given the absolute freedom of the steamer on the way up the river. His wife?much younger than himself, a buxom brunette?seemed to hover round him with affection and admiration. The domestic life of the South, barring slavery, always comman? ded the respect of Northerners.. The women were true and good; the men believed in their wives. The best of slavery was the white mis? tress. We arrived, at night, near Rockett's, below Eichmond. There were gathered up a great lot of clattering cavalry, the sole attempt of the United States to give a monarchical gasconade to a small arrest. After the popular force sub? sides in this country, the representative crimin? al is a shadow. A young man named James McConnell cried out to me from the. pier (he represented the New York Tribune:) "Gath, you are the luckiest newspaper man alive." He supposed I had been taking advantage of Mr. Davis. My annoyance of Mr. Davis had been circumscribed by looking at him half a dozen times when courtesy allowed, during the daylight. If he sees this paper, he will be, perhaps, for the first time, aware that he trav? eled a whole day up the James river in compa? ny with a newspaper correspondent. The next day was Sunday. A beautiful Sab? bath-day indeed, with the green leaves out on the trees, and all the hills of Richmond grassy fresh. It is a beautiful city by nature?the Montreal of the States, rapids and tide-water meeting, heights and ravines all round about, and in very little a Southern town. We meet together, Northern and Southern journalists, as cordially as if the war had never been, using isms. What bosh to try to make two States out of the same man, two directions to the same river, and life-long enemies of two fellows whom echo can not but confound 1 We use the same grammar, smoke the same tobacco, spit and swear just alike, and do equally mean things under the cover of party loyalty. Sev? eral of us rode out to see the old forts?mighty works, and proof that the South was no more lazy than the North, and full as enterprising when it had a necessity or a resolve. There I gaped the bomb-proofs; there yawned the I magazines; there a black man was gathering faggots from the abattis for fire-wood. The I peace feeling was over all; the white sky hung out its cirrus standard; the water cooled the eyes of man; the grass almost grew in our j sight to cover the scars of conflict in the land? scape. Did you ever think what a great race of men live at the South,* to have been subject to the licentious and profligate contact of slav? ery for twenty generations, and still preserve such energies and so much manly character ? We miss them from our public couusels to-day. : How capable and direct they were iu foreign diplomacy?courtesy and chivalry, truth aud I death in their address 1 Then, slaveholders [ as we were, the world knew that we said no more than we meant. We did not needlessly irritate our peers among the nations with sar? donic sentences like Bancroft Davis'. With the glove in his hand, and the talk of a king's herald, the Southerner made his proposition, to the foreigner. Of him it might be said, as of Cromwell: "While he lived, no Dutchman swept the narrow seas 1 No Castlemaines dishonored the high places I Vice and folly trembled in his eye, and all good things lay safe beneath his mighty shadow." That Sunday there was a good deal of negro parading. Cuffy was.out in blood-red uniform and gold gimp, riding horseback at the head of bis column, and taking a malicious pleasure in passing before Jeffs hotel. They have had the good sense at Richmond not to be annoyed at , this, and now white troops and negro troops salute each other there on Washington's birth? day. Monday morning the United States granite building was the town rendezvous. It stood at the foot of the State capitol hill, where the Davis Government ruled with brief but tre? mendous energy, and where all departments quarreled, aud old Jeff, himself showed all the weakness and strength of a destruction ist. In this court-room presided a very forbidding looking judge, by name Underwood?a man ap Jmrently stunted and bleeched by wrougs and ears, but, for all I know, a consistent aud per? sistent man?born in the North, wedded to a slaveholder's daughter for whom he was tutor, and now very ambitious and uncharitable to his beaten neighbors. The charge this man had delivered to the grand jury, a few days be? fore, was a strong instance of merely tantaliz? ing declamation, bad spirit, mean in lan? guage and without the tone or intent of justice in it. The grand jury was composed of whites and blacks?the usual intelligent jury existing in a half-guilty dependence between the judge and the foreman. John Minor Botts was on the jury?a big-bellied, hale fellow, farmer politi? cian, two-thirds demagogue, and one third ob? stinacy, with the varnish and veneer of elo? quence over all; a talker by profession, who boasted that ho had never read a book since boyhood, but lived on newspapers and other stimulants. He is dead, and carved his page on the history of the country. What contrary and heroic things men do for many years to get that page! The light was fair in the court room, and, in due time. Jeff. Davis entered. He wore com? mon clothes, looked weak-eyed, was not an. im? portant-looking man, and seemed to me not worth so much hating and fuss. Ho had been very unpopular in Richmond, but the people naturally felt that he was now vicariously on trial for them, and they loyally stood by him. There are people, I know, who want the South? ern people to behave as Bancroft Davis expect? ed England to behave?like weeping flunkeys, running over at the eyes and lips with apolo fies. Our fellow-man is no swindler. When o carries Lis musket four years barefooted to keep up the interests and save the necks of politicians, he is slow to cry on order. I saw thero?Charles O'Conor, of New York, who was afterwards to be so potential and inde? pendent in prosecuting the Tammany ring, and thus insensibly heading the fraternal revolu? tion ; General Iraboden, who was to write a very beautiful letter to the Cincinnati Conven? tion in Horace Grcelcy's favor; and, I think, Frank Sternes, a fellow-Vermonter with Gree ley by birth, who was to bear Imbodcn's letter to Cincinnati. Lastly, I saw Horace Grccley himself enter the court room, and become the focus of observation. Mr. Greeley I had never spoken with up to that day. He was a large, fleshy, marked-look? ing man, with a smooth, healthy face, in which the colors were brighter than men usually keep. He had a deep, benevolent forehead, ami woro, I think, a suit of black broadcloth. He seldom wears a white coat at any time, although cari? cature so represents him, and his hat iu his hand was the samo quality and shape he has always carried since?a broad-rimmcd felt, soft and fine, and sensible and dressy enough for any person. He was dressed as well as any? body in Richmond. He looked to nie like a the ihrases, bon-mots, gestures, American man originally shy and bashful, and incurably retiring by native wish, and who, therefore, came forward on public occasions from propul? sion rather than irom enjoyment. His smile, at such times of exhibition, is that of a good humored boy who had much rather go play in the yard than exhibit before company; and it occurred to me there that, for worldly uses, a man might have such a thing as too exuberant health and temperance. He spoke to few, and then always by request;. and he was, to a grea? extent, the reigning influence in that presence. Underwood, the judge with whom lay the op? tion of taking bail, paid much more respect to Horace Greeley's intentions than to Mr. Davis. After the bond was signed, as?Mr. Greeley stepped back toward a column or pillar where ho had'first stood, Mr. Davis rose from his chair with a smile of respect, and reached out his hand, bowing like one under deep obliga? tion, and fully accepting the act in its benevo? lent spirit. Mr. Greeley took the hand, with? out speaking, so far as I could see, and the ac? tion lasted only a portion of a moment. The two have never had communications since. Mr. Voorhecs says that Mr. Greeley's act was meddlesome impertinence. A public man who could stigmatize a large and painstaking act of kindness like that, in such terms, has a querulous and provincial nature, and a gener? ous age wastes time upon hira. What meddle? some impertinence was not Mr. Voorhees guil? ty of during the war?prolonging it by his ex? ample, adding stup'iditv to the inevitable, and assuming that the'whole epic tragedy revolved about himself. To save nis seat in Congress, and remember some old grudge, personal only to him, this long-haired egotist would recom? mend personal government till doomsday, and load the carpet-bag hanging round the neck of the South. That impertinent act of Horace Greeley, brave as it was, had nearly driven him from the head of the Tribune. After the crowd left the court rooin? Mr. Greeley proceeded directly to his hotel, in the company of Mr. Botts, and, introducing myself, the former said: "Why, Gath, why haven't you introduced yourself to me before? Come, walk down the street" I That night the Richmond newspaper folks Sve us all a supper, and Mr. Greeley presided, e gave a toast in cold water that the enmities of the past be buried, and we lay our hands and hearts to the peace of the future. We all, Greeley excepted, drank a great deal of cham? pagne, and young MacFarland, editor of For? ney's Washington Chronicle (a paper now de? funct, I believe, killed by a Bohemian named Fox, by Holden, the North Carolina outlaw, and by Morris, a renegade preacher,) toasted Jeff. Davis, for which the small-minded and timid Forney afterward cut off McFarland's head. As nearly as I can remember my speech, it was to the effect that the Provost Ma-shal and the man in buttons had had his day; that the best way to spoil the American volunteer was to make him believe that nobody else had ever served his country from the noblest mo? tives ; and that for myself, long an army cor? respondent, I had seen a great deal of mean? ness, jealousy, intrigue and several penitentiary offenses committed in the army, and hailed its disbandment and the opening of the prison doors to them that were bound. Little did we know the fury that was gather? ing in the North for Horace Greeley. The New York Times, never truly in earnest except when it gets the Tribune foul, had its brief re? venge, and was meaner than ever. The Chris? tian press kept Christ's admonition with a ven? geance, "Be good to your enemies; pray for them that despitefully use you." I am afraid I have never been charitable to the Christian ?ress ever since I ascertained that the New 'ork Independent and several of its pious con? temporaries farmed out their financial columns. My own account of the Court-scene was gutted and altered in a very impertinent manner by the editor of the paper employing me, and Mr. Greeley sent to me in vain for j:ic MS. to use it on the lYibune. I do know that the city of Richmond appre? ciated that act. The feeling that day all over the fire-scarred Capital of the Old Dominion was a warming loyality to the Union again. The noisy rebuke is hushed now, and none ac? cuse the act but a very useless and showy Indi? ana Democrat. The man who went on the bond of Jefferson Davis will preside in the White House, at Washington, from the 4th day of next March, and prove the pen, in the hands of one entirely merciful, mightier than the sword. GATH. Charles Lever.?The Charleston Courier records the death of the celebrated Irish novel? ist in the following words: The telegraph has iust announced to a host of sympathizing readers, the death of a well known and well loved novelist. It is hardly one brief month since, in a pathetic preface to his latest story, Charles Lover told the public, who had welcomed him so often to their homes and hearths, that this book, begun in happi? ness, and ended "in breaking health and broken spirits," would be his last. Soldom has sad ?rophccy found sadder, speedier fulfillment? 'he ink was scarcely dry in which were written down the adventures and misadventures, the loves and flirtations and follies and failures of Walpole, and Atlee, and Nina Kostalergi, be? fore death took the pen from the nerveless hand and wrote his inexorable Finis at the foot of the well filled page. What a literary record the great Irish racon? teur has left to his generation. It is forty years since the rollicking humors of "Harry Loirc quer ? and "Charles O'Malley" delighted the world of readers, and in "Lord Kilgobbin," despite all its faults of artistic construction, there is the same irresistible geniality, the same nerve and vigor and vitality which we had come instinctively to associate with Charles Lever's name. He will be missed by thousands who had learned to look to him for that healthful and innocent amusement which is the true salt of existence. We knew that he was not a great novelist; but wo felt that he was the very prince of storytellers. It never occurred to us to name him with those who had exalted their art into a kinship, with the great moral and intellectual forces that mould their age, but we were not the less sure that in his brilliant pages, we would find not only the sprightlincss and humor which charm and entertain, but .ilso the manly vigor and simple enthusiasm which brace the heart and lift up the spirit of human? ity. And it is surely no mean epitaph, for one who has written so much, that throughout the long list of bis various productious, the finger of envious criticism can point to "Not one immoral, nne corrupted thought. Ouo lino, which dying, ho would wish to blot." ? An Irishman, who let himself to a farm? er, said, while selling his services, that he could hold a plow, and do all other kinds of farm work. He was taken to the field, and told to hold the plow. The horses started, and ho showed his incapacity in controlling the in? strument. "Did you not tell me you could hold the plow?" said the enrnged farmer. "And sum 1 did," said Paddy; "and I can honld it if you'll unhitch them two horses that are try? ing to take it away from me.'' Acceptance of Hon. B. Gratz Brown. In reply to the letter notifying him. of the action of the Cincinnati Convention in nomi? nating him for Vice President, Hon. B. Gratz Brown has responded as follows: Jefferson City, May 24,1872. Gentlemen: Your letter advising me of the action of the Liberal Republican Convention at Cincinnati has been received, and I return through you my acknowledgment of the honor which has been conferred upon me. j I accept the nomination as a candidate for Vice President, and indorse most cordially the resolutions setting forth the principles on which the appeal is made to the whole peoplo of the United States. A century is closing upon our experience of Republican government, and while that lapse of time has witnessed a great expansion of our free institution, yet it has not been without il? lustration also of grave dangers to the stability of such a system. Of those successfully encoun? tered, it is needless to speak. Of those which remain to menace us, the most threatening are provided against, as I firmly believe, in the wise and pacific measures, proposed by your platform. It has come to be the practice of those elevated to positions of national authori? ty to regard public service but as a means to retain power. This rosults in substituting a more party organization for the government it? self, which constitutes a control amenable to no laws or moralities, impairs all independent thought, enables a few to rule the many, and makes personal allegiance the road to favor. It requires little forecast to perceive that this will wreck all liberties unless there be interposed a timely reform of the administration from its highest to its lowest station, which shall not only prevent abuses, but likewise take away the incentive to their practice. Wearied with the contentions that are carried on in avarice of spoils the country demands repose and re? sents the efforts of officials to dragoon it again into partisan hostilities. And I will zealously sustain any movement promising a snre deliv? erance of the perils which have been connected with the war. It is safe to say that only those are now to be feared which come of an abuse of victory into permanent estrangement. The Union is fortified by more power than ever be? fore, and it remains as an imperative duty to cement our nationality by a perfect reconcilia? tion at the North. A wide-spread sympathy is aroused in behalf of those States of the South which long after the termination of resistance to tho rightful Federal authority are still plun? dered under the guise of loyalty, and tyrannized over in the name of freedom. Aloug with this feeling is present, too, the recognition that in complete amnesty alone can be found hope of any return to Constitutional Government as of old, or any development of a more enduring unity and broader national life in the future. Amnesty, however, to be efficacious, must be real, not nominal; genuine, not evasive. It must carry along with it equal rights as well as equal protection to all; for the removal of dis abilies as to some, with enforcement as to oth? ers, leaves room for suspicion that pardon is measured by political gain. Especially will' such professed clemency be futile in the pres? ence of the renewed attempt at prolonging a suspension of the habeas corpus, and the per? sistent resort to martial rather than civil law in upholding those agencies used to alienate the races, when concord is most essential; and in preparing another elaborate campaign on a basis of dead issues and arbitr?r}* intervention, all will rightly credit such conduct as but a mockery of amnesty, and demand an adminis? tration which can give better warrant of hones? ty in the great work of reconstruction and re? form in the array of sectional interests. A re? public as wide-spread as ours is never entirely safe from serious conflicts. These become still more dangerous when complicated with ques? tions of taxation, where unequal burdens are believed to be imposed on one part at the ex? pense of another part. It was a bold as well as admirable policy, in the interest of present as well as future tranquility, to withdraw the decision of industrial and revenue matters from the virtual arbitration of an electoral college, chosen with the single animating purpose of party ascendency, and refer them for a more direct popular expression to each Congressional district. Instead of being muzzled by some evasive declaration, the country is thereby invited to its frankest utterance, and sections which would revolt at being denied a voice out of deference to other sections would be content to acquiesce in a general judgmeut "honestly elected." If local government bo, as It undoubtedly is, tho most vital principle of our institutions, much advance will be made towards establish? ing it by enabling the people to pass upon auestions so nearly affecting their well-being ispassionatcly through their local representa? tion. The precipitance which would force a controlling declaration on tax or tariff through a Presidential candidacy is only a disguised form of centralization, involving hazardous reaches of Executive influence. A conclusion will be much more impartially determined and with less disturbance to trade and finance by appealing to the most truthful and diversified local expression. Industrial issues can be thus likewise emancipated from the power of great monopolies, and each representative heul to fidelity towards his immediate constituents.? These are the most prominent features of that general concert of action which proposes to re? place the present administration by one more in sympathy with tho aspirations of the masses of our countrymen. Of course such concert cannot be obtained by thrusting every minor or past difference into the foreground, and it will be for tho people therefore to determine whether these objects are of such magnitude and present urgency as to justify them in de? fending other adjustments until the country shall be first restored to a free suffrage, unin? fluenced by official dictation, and ours becomes in fact a free republic, released from apprehen? sions of a central domination. Without referring in detail to the various other propositions embraced in the resolutions of the convention, but seeing how they all con? template a restoration of power to the people, peace to the nation, purity to the Government; that they condemn the attempt to establish an ascendency of military over civil rule, and af? firm with explicitness the maintenance of equal freedom to all citizens, irrespective of race, previous condition, or pending disabilities, I have only to pledge again my sincere co-opera? tion. 1 have the honor to remain, very respect? fully yuurs, B. Git atz Brown. ? A fall of rain, it is observed, generally lessens sickness; while a drouth augments it. A heavy fall of rain is better than a light shower. A wet summer is more apt to be a healthy season than a dry summer. Dr. Bill? iard says that rain in summer operates more favorably than rain in winter. This must be true, especially in warm climates, as the air in summer is more apt to be in Avant of that de? gree of moisture which is necessary to the good of animal life, and wet air being a good con? ductor, is more apt to cany the malaria that may be created in one locality, to another, The Growing Crops. In accordance with an annual custom, which has invariably been attended with the most satisfactory results, we have this spring sent circulars to a large number of the most intelli? gent and carefully observant planters through? out the State requesting from them certain points of information respecting the growing crops, especially, of course, as to the condition and prospects of our great staple?cotton. In response to these requests we have received a great number of letters containing important and valuable information which has been promptly spread before our readers, and from the mass of information thus obtained, it is now possible to give in a compact form a gen? eral review of the planting operations through? out the State, with a comparison of similar op? erations in former years, and as complete and accurate a statement of the prospects and prob? abilities of the crops of South Carolina for i1872 as can possibly be obtained at this stage of the season. First, as to the area of ground occupied in the cultivation of cotton this year in compari? son with 1871, it is certain that there is an in? creased acreage devoted to cotton amounting in the whole State to certainly 10 per cent. In many counties the increase is much more than this, as in Eichland which reports an increase of 30 per cent., Anderson and Orangeburg 25 per cent, each, while in Fairfield, Clarendon, Darlington, Lancaster, Lexington, Marlboro' and Sumter an increase of from 10 to 20 per cent, is noticed; but in no county, with the single exception perhaps of Union, is there a less area than in 1871. The stand of cotton does not, however, com? pare favorably with that of last year, nor are the prospects of a yield at all equal to those at the same period of last year. The lateness of the stand is an almost universal complaint in many counties, and noticeably in Anderson, Clarendon, Darlington, Marlboro', Oconee, Richlaud and Union, the long drought in April and the first half of May having baked and hardened the soil, retarding the germina? tion of the seed. In many localities the pro? cess of planting was necessarily suspended, and only renewed since the rains in the middle and latter part of May. The reports are somewhat more cheerful from Barnwell, Lexington and Sumter, but, on the whole, the prospects at this date of an increased yield, proportionate to the increased quantity of cotton planted, are not by any means encouraging. As the crop, how? ever must depend upon the character of the seasons from this time out, we do not pretend to estimate the number of bales that may be expected to be made. The quantity of commercial fertilizers used this year has been very largely in excess of the consumption of 1871, and almost equal to the quantity used in 1870. This increase is report? ed in some counties as enormous. In Lancas? ter County it is said that three times the quan? tity of fertilizers used in 1871 has been used this year. In Anderson, Barnwell, Clarendon, Darlington and Orangeburg, twice as much, and in Abbeville, Chester, Fairfield Marion, Marlboro', Sumter and York the increase is re? ported at from 10 to 75 per cent. In Laurens and Oconee, it is said that about the same quantity has been used that was used last year, but in no county is a decreased consumption noticed. Tho probability is that throughout the State tho consumption has been about dou? ble that of 1871, and very nearly equal to that of 1870. This probability is strengthened by the report of the number of tons of fertilizers shipped to the interior of South Carolina and the adjoining States, by the various lines of transportation from this city, recently pub? lished in the New?. Those shipments were, in 1870, 44,485 tons, in 1871, 20.4S7 tons, and in 1872, 37,18fiktons. and it must be borne in mind, also, that many thousand tons were carried over in stock in the interior towns from 1S71 to the present year. The cost per bale of making the cotton crop, this year will, it is unanimously agreed, be about the same as in 1S71. The cost and effi? ciency of labor has been about the same as last year, and the increased expenditure for fertilizers has been counterbalanced by the cheapness of staple provisions, such as bacon and molasses, These remarks, however, will hardly apply to the counties which have been harried by Grant's night raiders, causing vex? atious and coutly suspensions of planting Oper? ations at critical periods, unsettling the minds of the frcediuen and frightening them away from their work. In all of these counties the cost of production will be materially increased, but the decreased expense in all the other counties, from the causes above enumerated, will prove an ample offset, and it is a perfectly safe statement that throughout the State the proportionate cost of making the cotton crop will be no greater than iu 1871. The prospects of the grain crop throughout the State are not flattering. In a very few counties, as in Chester, Lancaster, Orangeburg and Richland, rather more grain has been planted than last year, but in most of the counties the quantity is about the same. Corn appears to be doing well, but wheat and the smaller grains have been generally impaired by the dry season, and tho oat crop in many localities is reported as a total failure. About half the counties in the State will make enough grain to supply the needs of their own locali? ties until the next crop comes iu, but the other counties will, as usual, be purchasers. This is believed to be a careful, comprehen? sive and accurate review of the present condi? tion and prospects of the crops of this State. The reports from the interior will be continued throughout the season, with the continued co? operation of* our attentive correspondents, wnose courtesy and kindness in this matter we beg respectfully to acknowledge, as well as the hearty words of encouragement with which many of thctn have greeted these efforts on our part to furnish at all times the latest, the most complete and tho most trustworthy infor-1 mation upon this subject of vital importance to our State.?Charleston News. ? A young lady of Bangor, some three years since, lost a valuable diamond ring at a ball in Augusta, and could hear nothing of it, though she advertised her loss. Last Monday evening the ring was returned to her by a young man, who stated that a lady had found it at the ball, and though she knew to whom it belonged, de? termined to keep it. The matter weighed heav? ily on her conscience, however; she never dar? ed wear the ring, and for a long time dared not return it, but at length, coming to the conclu? sion that she could not bear it any longer, she related the whole circumstances to the geutle man who kindly returned the ring to its right? ful owner. ? Miss Kane, of Baltimore, set out to write a list of the wrongs of women, but found so many of them that she was driven to the con? clusion that women suffer a wrong in being born at all. This disposes of the whole ques? tion in a nutshell. ? An exchange tells us that Indianapolis has a firm with a woman as silent partner. Was the poor creature born that way, or was it the result of an accident? Letter from General Beaurcgard. New Orleans, May 27,1872. . To tlie Editors of the N. 0. Times : I am in? formed that mauy of my friends were disap? pointed at not obtaining a response to.their call for my views relative to the subject under consideration at the great meeting of the people at the St. Charles theatre, on the 25th inst., es? pecially when I was one of the signers of the call for that meeting, and had been selected as one of the vice-presidents on that occasion. I did not respond for two reasons: In the first place, able orators had been selected to address the meeting, and they were entitled to the floor; secondly, not being a public speaker, I might have used language which might not have expressed exactly my meaning, thereby doing, perhaps, more harm than good. It is but seldom that I take part in politics, which offer generally little attraction to me; but when the questions at issue are vital to the safety of our institutions and welfare of the State or country, every patriot should step to the front and assume the individual responsi? bility which belongs to a proper manhooa. We have reached, I think, one of those critical pe? riods of our history when we should "hangout our banners on the outer walls." We are now in greater danger of losing our liberties and the little that is left of our property than in the fatal year of 1865. We bad then "hope" to guide and cheer us along the dreary path we had before us; but now all is darkness and gloom above the horizon, and we should be careful in the choice of the pilots who are to take us to a port of safety; they should be well acquainted with the bars and quicksands which lay in our course. I proclaim it as my conviction, that thehonr has struck when the voice of the people shall be heard, reverberating in loud ana clear tones, from one end of the Union to the other. In times of national peril it is our privilege, as well as our right, to be heard in public assem? blies, and no citizen should shirk that sacred duty. The old parties are powerless to save us I We must call on all discontented elements and parties to unite with us to resist the encroach? ments and corrupting influences of the Gov? ernment under which we are living, or, I should more properly say, "dying," for a slow but sure political death is now staring us in the face. What, then, may be asked, is the remedy that we have at h.?.nd? It may bean unpleasant one to many of us, but we had better make a virtue of necessity and accept it ere it be too late. To me it appears plain, that to insure success, we must all unite under the banner of "the Constitution and the laws," "reunion and re? form," "honesty and universal amnesty." That banner has been lately raised at Cincinnati, under the leadership of Greeley and Brown ; in the past two of our most earnest and dan? gerous enemies, but two, also, of the purest and most honest of men, who, when they shall have said to the country, "Let us have peace," will mean it, and will give us peace in spite of all opposition. For my part, I prefer bavin? as a friend one who has been my open and fearless antagonist, to one who has "friendship on his lip*, but hatred in his heart 1" In conclusion, may I ask my friends if we are likely to go amiss by following the exam? ple of such men as Seymour and Blair, Demo? cratic candidates for President and Vice-Pres? ident in 1SG8, and of Chas. Francis Adams, who would have been very acceptable to the Democrats, it is said, if chosen by the Cincin? nati Convention in preference to Horace Gree? ley? Those gentlemen, we are informed, ap? prove and indorse the nomination of Messrs. Greeley and Brown, and adopt the Liberal Republican platform. Why should we be more hypercritical than they are? Are they not supposed to be better judges than we are of the merits and qualifications of the candidates who can or should command success? Let us, then, Lury the hatchet, forget and forgive, on both sides, and march in solid phalanx to re? form and victory. G. T. BEAUREGARD. Too Much Preaching.?The Standard, in a philosophical article on Sunday sermons and the way they are overdone, says: We think there is too much preaching, and that the church which sins most in this regard is neither the Roman Catholic nor the Episco? palian. In the majority of Protestant church? es, not Episcopal, two sermons are preached ever}* Sunday?one morning and afternoon, or one morning and evening, as the case may be. These sermons vary in length from three-quar? ters of an hour to one hour, and in some excep? tional and rare cases extend even beyond that period. But fixing the average at three-quar? ters of an hour, we thus have two discourses, on two different topics, regularly delivered once a week, and hcbdomadally occupying not less than one and a half hours. Under such cir? cumstances one is not surprised at the reply of the parishioner, who, on being asked by a di? vine, notorious for the length and abstruseness of his discourses, what he thought of the ser? mon, replied, that like the ways of the Al ! mighty, it was past finding out, and like His mercy, lie thought it would have endured for? ever. Two long sermons per week are too much to expect tue clergy to write or the laity to desire. They clog the spiritual digestion and overload the spiritual stomach. One good 6ermou per week is quite as much as a man of even more than the average intelligence of ha? bitual church-goers can take in. Never Heard of Greeley.?A corres? pondent of the Springfield Republican de? scribing a journey through South Carolina, writes from Beaufort as follows: Some have said the freedmen will vote for Greeley; he has been their firm friend and stroug champion, and they will be gratcfuL The Ifrccdmeu will vote just as their leaders tell them to, and, as for lirceley, not one in twenty hereabout ever heard of him, and I do not believe the proportion living in and about cities would greatly exceed that. I interview? ed one on the presidential question. He was of more intelligence than the average here, and said when Grccley's name was mentioned that Mr. Blank was "tellin' me de oder day 'bout Mr. Greeley?where docs he live?" He thought the representatives sent to Washing? ton would report how matters were there, and that he .should vote accordingly.^ Another one knew he had voted the Republican ticket last presidential election, but who the man was that he voted for he could not say. It is not to be expected that people so thoroughly ignorant, and whose political guides have been those who were bent simply on promoting their own interests, without regard to any principle what? ever, should vote with any degree of intelli? gence. _ _ _ ? A clergyman created quite a merriment the other day, on one of our steamboats, going over to lay out a new-* camp-meeting resort, by the inquiry: "What positive proof is there that King David and his eon Solomon were tailors?" No one in the crowd could answer, and the humorous divine quoted the familiar passage : "And Solomon mended the breaches which David his father had made."