Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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HOYT & CO., Proprietors. ANDERSON 0. HM S. C, THURSDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 6, 1873. VOLUME VEX?NO. 31. An English Tiew or the Condition of the South. Almost every mail from America brings tts some new illustration of the miserable condi? tion of the Souther a States under the rale of the party which has acquired another fonr years' lease of power. Three facts concerning three of the noblest States of the Union, are no led in a single paper. Louisiana has fallen into such utter anarchy that two several sets of Stete officers and two separate Legislatures have claimed the obedience of the citizens; of which it would seem that neither party was ?even decently respectable, and the quarrel was altogether so disreputable that, though the in? terests of the dominant faction at Washington were involved, General Grant shrank at first from interference. Finally, he decided to in? terpose in behalf of his friends; and, support? ed by * decree of the District Court of the Union (which seems to have about as much to do with the matter, under ancient constitution? al rules, as the Court of Queen's Bench,) he has ordered the Federal troops to uphold the authority of the party represented by the negro Lieutenant Governor, Pinchback?-the party moire odious of the two to the respectable peo? ple of Louisiana. The Legislature of South Carolina, from which the South Carolinians are excluded, and which is composed of eman? cipated negroes and Northern adventurers, has elected as United States Senator a member of the latter class, who has secured his election by wholesale purchases of the votes of negro leg? islators. A dispute arose thereupon, and one of the supporters of the beaten (negro) candi? date expressed his disgust in such very explicit language ss led, in American parlance, to a "free fight" around the speaker's chair. Final? ly, the State of Alabama, once among the most solvent and best trusted in the Union, has pur? chased and sold a railway; and, having neither paid the money for the first purchase nor re? ceived that for die oeeond, is exposed to the humiliation of seeing the property held and sold under an order in bankruptcy. It is need? less to say that no such things could have hap? pened under the old regime lien like War moth and Pinchback would never have been elected to govern the citizens of Louisiana while the Southern whites elected their own rulers. A Patterson would never have dreamt of offering himself as a candidate for the seat once filled by John C. Calhoun; and if he had his election would have been as impossible as the receipt of bribes by the chivalry of the Palmetto State. And in the old days Alabama's credit was as good as that of Canada, and her citizens were as justly proud and jealous of her financial honor as Englishmen of the fiscal credit and good faith of England These I wretched scenes are part and parcel of the I system of reconstruction pursued by a Radical Congress, aud applauded by English Liberals. The first object of that system was revenge? the punishment and degradation of the South? ern "rebels." The second was the establish-I ment of Radical ascendancy in the South. The Radicals knew that at the time of Lincoln's election they were a minority in the North; and after the war, which had given them the ascendancy there, was over, they might become a minority again. But it they could appropri? ate the franchises of the Southern States to their creatures, and thus secure a number of ^'rotten boroughs," whose representatives would be nominated by themselves*without regard to the wishes of the people, they might contrive, though in a popular minority everywhere, to maintain themselves in possession of the Pres? idency, the Electoral College, and a majority in both branches of Congress. In order to effect these ends, it was necessary to disfran? chise the real people of the South, and create a "bogus*' people in their stead The first was done by means of the penal acts so lavishly passed by Congress. America prides herself upon having shed no bfood on the scaffold. It is true that she did not, as other conquering governments have done, take the lives of the chiefs of the vanquished party. But it is equally true that she has inflicted upon the cor quered people, as a whole, heavier punish meat than has ever been imposed by modern ? conquerors upon a large portion of their sub? jects. Wholesale diefranchisement, subjection to the rule of enfranchised slaves, and a system of ^government directed to fleece the conquered country for the benefit of the conquerors, have for seven or eight years perpetuated the distress and exasperated the bitter feelings left by a wair carried on with unusual ferocity. In half the-States of the South a negro constituency, organized under the leadership of adventurers from the North, has monopolized political power; has excluded the Southerners from all participation in the control of their own affairs; has taxed them without allowing them rep re - sensation, and misspent the produce of those taxes in such a manner as to add the keenest sense of humiliation to the bitterest conscious* neas of injury. The honor of States as honor? able as Great Britain has been dragged in the dust; their debts have been left unpaid while their people have been fleeced; their rulers hare filled their own pockets with the produce of. unlawful bonds issued at au enormous dis? count; and while the negroes, who pay no taxes, have been kept in good humor by liberal appropriations, nore of the real needs of the country have been attended to. The forces of the Federal Government have been at the dis Snition of the peculators and jobbers from the orth, who exploit the negroes for their own benefit. All remonstrance has been in vain.? It was as easy as it was useless to expose the injustice, to foreshadow the effects of such a policy. The Radical majority in Congress cared neither for the injustice nor the conse? quences, so long as they profited by the one and the Southerners suffered by the other. They maintained and aggravated a tariff which compels the Southern planter or farmer to pay twice the value of everything he buys?taxes him, that is, to the full extent of his proper yearly outlay on implements, clothing, every? thing necessary to his cultivation, not for the benefit of the Union, but for the personal ad? vantage of Northern traders and manufacturers. Show tbem that this is ruin to the South, and they are all the better pleased; for hostility to the. Southern people is the avowed policy of their party. Gallant and high-spirited nations have been misgoverned before now. Hungary I and Venetia were ill ruled after 1849, but at least their rulers have intended them to prosper if they would but be content. But never before has nation been governed as the South has been governed since 1865, by rulers whose avowed object is to punish and injure them ; never be? fore have rulers been the open enemies of the country they ruled. It is in vain, of course, to appeal to such a faction against the folly of their course. But we might have thonght that those who had no selfish end to gain must have seen that every object, we do not say inherently good, but de? cently plausible, must Buffer by such a policy. Grant that the welfare of the negro is of in? definitely more moment than that of the white man?grant that it is right to sacrifice the lat? teir as completely as may be necessary for the elevation of the former?grant more than the ' wildest of negrophile fanatics would dare to | claim?is it not clear that to embitter the strong j against the weak, the larger number against1 the smaller, the higher race against the lower, most end in the ruin of the latter ? The pres? ent state of things cannot last forever, and every year that it lasts males the change more dangerous to the hapless creatures who are made the tools of oppression and injustice. A time must come when the tyranny and jobbery of the carpet-baggers, the ruin of the richest part of the Union under their rule, will disgust American common sense; when negro ascen? dancy will seem a worse thing than the com pletest amnesty to rebels; ana then the whole fabric of Republican despotism will crumble in a day, and the Southern people be once more masters of their own fate. Had that mastery been restored to them in 1866 the ne? gro would have been safe. They were heartily willing to accept emancipation, and they would have known how to work it. Then the ne? groes still looked up to their former masters, and the latter felt kindly toward their former servants. Now the servants have been taught insolence and the masters have learnt a but too just resentment, and when the hour of re? tribution comes, and the natural balance of power ia restored, it will be too late to restore a healthful state of mutual relations. The ne? gro has been rendered unmanageable and the white man distrustful; the Object of the South? ern people will be rather to do without the ne? groes than to do the best with them, and when once that policy comes to be tried, it is the certain ruin of the inferior race. With those who fancy a negro and an Anglo-Saxon popu? lation can either amalgamate or live side by side as equals we need not reason. Men who draw their opinions on such subjects from ex? perience and from nature, and not from their own inner consciousness, entertain no such dreams. If the two races are to co-exist, the white man must be chief and the negro subor? dinate ; the brain of the white must direct the labor of the black; the first of human races must rule, the lowest of human races must be ruled. And if the anomaly of the ascendancy of the inferior is so protracted that the restore-, tion of the natural relation becomes impossi? ble, the result cannot be doubtful. Anglo Saxons can do without negroes, but negroes cannot hold their own against Anglo-Saxons, any more than they can permanently be per? mitted to keep some of the fairest regions of the earth waste and unproductive for lack of Anglo-Saxon enterprise, and that honest in? dustry of which all inferior races seem capable under our direction, but of which, hitherto, the negro has been found capable only on the one condition of absolute slavery. Slavery is gone forever; it remains to find a new condition un? der which negro labor may be made availabe if the negro is not to perish. The Southern States offered the fairest chance of solving that problem; but the spite and greed of an unscru? pulous faction, and the mad attempt to invert the order of nature, prevented the trial of the experiment when it could have been tried un? der every possible advantage; and the longer these influences remain in operation the less chance is there of ultimate success. The South cannot be permanently ruined; the Southern Eeople perhaps may; but in their ruin the last ope of the negro, the future of the great Re? publican experiment, and the "manifest desti? ny" of the Union itself, will have been irre? trievably sacrificed.?London Standard. Singular Mortality.?The Rev. Dr Amaza Converse, editor of the Louisville, Ky., ana Richmond, Va., Christian Observer, and formerly of Philadelphia, died at Louisville on the 9th of December last, after a four days' illness. The intelligence of his death reached a relative of his in Richmond on the 10th, and she communicated it by letter to another rela? tive, Gov. Converse, of Vermont, then at Woodstock in that State, on the same day. The letter reached him on the 13tb, on which day his wife, who was standing by his side, after reading the letter, suddenly fell dead on the floor, no previous intimation of disease having been given. The Governor's niece, Miss Luna E. Edson, who had lived for many years in his house, was absent at the time, be? ing on a visit at Burlington, Vermont. A telegraphic dispatch was sent to the lady whom she was visiting, so that the news might be broken to ber gently, but, although this was done in the kindest manner, the young lady was so overcome by the shock that she became unable to swallow anything or to sleep. She could not start for Woodstock that evening, as the last train had departed; but next morning the lady escorted Miss Edson, by rail, to Wood? stock, the latter taking a violent chill on the road. Miss Edson, on her arrival at her un? cle's, was just able to kiss the lifeless features of her aunt and retire to bed, where she lay, gradually sinking, until the 27th of December, when she died. Her mother, who was sister to Mrs. Converse, and had long lived with her, worn out with watching and grief, thereupon took to her bed, and died on the 1st of Janua? ry And thus Gov. Converse, who is universally beloved and respected, has been bereaved of his entire family. He has no children. He was elected Governor of Vermont by a Repub? lican majority of twenty thousand.?Richmond Enquirer. A Shrewd Business Manager.?It is well known that Senator Sprague, of Rhode Island, is one of the largest manufacturers of cotton goods in the United States, and that he holds other important interests in various sections of the country. In the course of his manufactu? ring operations he has found it advantageous not only to export provisions from Texas for the use of his thousands of operatives, that they may be enabled to save more of their earnings by thus obtaining supplies at a small advance on the first cost, but the distinguish? ed manufacturer has also taken an interest in the construction of a railroad in Texas, and the erection of cotton factories at convenient points along the line of the road, in order that he may purchase his cotton direct from the planters, and thus save many thousands of dollars an? nually in freight, commissions, storage, &c., and be able to keep his mills running the year round. Then again, instead of paying tribute to others to transport his raw material and meat supplies, he will convey them over his own road. It is also quite probable that he has an eye to the Texas wool crop, which is annually increasing, and will soon excel that of any other State in quantity, as it now does, in some respects, others in quality.?Boston Globe. ? Sand of the best quality for the manufac? ture of glass exists in abundance in the Gulf States, and several preliminary efforts have been made to start glass factories, particularly in Southern Mississippi, but these attempts have so far been of no avail for want of capital. It would prove a great thing for the South could this industry be successfully established in her various States, for the cultivation of fruit for canning and preserving in large quan? tities has become so general in seme sections that glass jars and glassware generally are greatly in demand. Having the fruits and the sugar, the South only needs her own glassware to obtain a monopoly of the trade in preserved fruits. Washington News and Gossip. Washington, D. C, Jan. 28. Th'3 committee on appropriations, yesterday, completed their consideration of the items to be appropriated for Light Houses, Beacons, &c. TLi; House Committee of Ways and Means, yestei day morning, unanimously rejected all propositions now be fere them in relation to the refunding of the cotton tax. This action does not preclude Mr. Beck's bill which has not yet been formally brought before the committee. It will be considered at the next meeting, prob? ably on Wednesday, but the Southern members now Lave very little hope of any action at this session. Mr, Beck's bill may not be rejected with the unanimity with which other bills were laid aside yesterday, but a majority is believed to be opposed to all action on the subject at pres? ent. Mr McKee, of Mississippi, in order to bring the sabject directly to the attention of the House;, subsequently offered a resolution direct? ing the Committee of Ways and Means to re? port ft once, and fixing a day for the consider? ation of the subject. The House rejected this proposition by an almost sectional vote. Mr. Beck and Mr. Porter were the only two Repre? sentatives from the South who voted against the re solution. Mr. Beck did so, because he was a member of the Ways and Means committee, and at he had had his bill referred to that com? mittee he did not wish to be embarrassed in the committee by any vote that he might give in the House favoring it; as he says, his bill is subjec t to modification by the committee, and he may accept the modification. The National Theatre is on fire with prospect of being entirely consumed. The houses on the east side, mostly occupied as drinking saloons, are in great danger, and the proprietors are moving out their goods. The Imperial Hotel, on the west side, is on fire, itlso the entire front, second floor of the Theatre. The building is occupied by Miller and . ones, billiard saloon; the finest in the city. They are now moving out everything, and n'ill probably suffer great loss. The Theatre is an old wooden building, and is burning rapidly. AH the engines are on the ground, and being worked manfully. Great crowds of people are on tin ground, and much excitement prevails. The National Theatre is consumed, with all fixtures and large amount of private property. Imperial Hotel badly damaged by fire and water, and guests hare left Miller and Jones lost everything in the billiard saloon and sam? ple room, but are fully insured. No casualties reported during the fire. The excitement was great, and large crowds of men, women and children gathered from every part of the city. Buildings on the east side of Theatre were not injured. At the present time the fire is almost entirely out and everything comparatively quiet. Washington, D. C, Jan. 29. Th< Attorney General is daily in receipt of applications from his subordinates in the South for troops to enable them to perform their du? ties. The Attorney General is very much bored by th<:!se frequent requests, and expresses the opinion that if these gentlemen would use proper diligence they might be able to perform the duties of their offices without the aid of United States troops. There are applications pending in the De? partment of Justice, for the pardon of several alleged Kit Klux from South Carolina, now in confinement at Albany. These application are recommended by the District Attorney aud other, actively engaged in the prosecution ; and there seems to be no doubt but what these will be grunted some time this week. The view taken that no original action could lie, ir: the Senate, against Mr. Colfax, was sus? tained. The request made by Mr. Colfax for a special committee to investigate his Credit Mo btlier transactions, was shown by Mr. Thurman to be one which the Senate had no authority to grant The Senate, evidently, was of the opin? ion that if any proceedings at all were called again it the Vice President, it was for the House to t?te the initiative by impeaching him.? There was no excitement whatever displayed in the matter by Senators, and the request of Mr. Colfax was unanimously refused. After he preferred his request the Vice President left the cl air and was not seen in the Senate Cham? ber for the remainder of the day. It is unde? niable that the recent testimony before the Poland-Credit Mobilier Committee, including particularly that given yesterday, places the Vice President in a very awkward position be? fore Congress and before the country. It is very certain that perjury has been committed by some one, and painful as it may be to give utterance to such a suspicion, it is a fact that not a few of those who have been among the warm ;st personal and political friends of the Vice President are not satisfied as to which party this crime can be fastened upon. The Vice President expresses the utmost confidence in his ability to clear himself entirely of all damajring charges and suspicions. It is now very plain that the opportunity which he asked of tho Senate, yesterday, can be afforded him by no other process than that of impeachment. Rumors are very thick about the Capitol, that t je motion to impeach the Vice President will certainly be made in the House of Repre? sentatives. The general impression that no movement to this end can be made by the House in advance of the report of its commit? tee is erroneous. The investigation into the Credit. Mobilier, being conducted with open doors, all the statements which have been made implicating Mr. Colfax and others, are matters of common notoriety. It is, therefore, within the province of any member, of the House to rise in his place, recite the allegations against Mr. Colfax, ana move for instructions to the Judiciary Committee to report Articles of Im? peachment. The Honse being in the possession of the same Information as has been spread before the country, can instruct or refuse to instruct the Judiciary Committee, according to its discre? tion. Washington, D. C, January 30. Th? Attorney General yesterday presented his annual report to Congress. The report is voluminous, covering all the work of the de? partment in all sections of the country during the p ist year. The statistics of course are not given on account of inability to obtain them in such form and with sufficient, accuracy to render them valuable. On this subject the Attorney General recommends such legislation as will enable the department to make proper and necessary arrangements for an annual re? port of criminal cases coming within its juris? diction. The suits lost and gained by the government against individuals and corpora? tions, together with amounts, damages, ?See., &c, recovered, are given in full. Accompanying the report, of the Attorney General are reports^ of th-3 District Attorneys in North Carolfna/7 South Cr rolina and other Southern States i when the Ku Klux have existed, relative to I Operation? of the Ku Klux and enforcement acts. They all agree that prosecutiou under both the.- e acts has been vigorously enforced during the post year, and think tho passage of these acte by Congress and the prompt prosecu? tion of those who have been violating their I provisions, have had a most salutary effect I throughout the Southern States. In North Carolina there are numbers of persons yet held for trial, mostly young men, who had been persuaded into joining the Ku Klux, being ut? terly ignorant of the objects of the order. These young men, the District Attorney of North Carolina is of the opinion, should not be punished further than they have already beeu by confinement in the jails of the State. At present the clerks of the United States District Courts seems to be almost entirely in? dependent of the department of justice, they being appointees of the district judges, and only give bond in the sum of $2,000. This bond is filed in their respective offices and no account of it sent to headquarters here. They also disregard the law relative to reporting the amount of their fees to the department here. The Attorney General recommends that bonds of such clerks be increased from two to ten thousand dollars, with such conditions that will compel them to comply with the above men? tioned law, and that duly certified copies of bonds be filed in the department here. The case of the clerk of the eighth Illinois district is instanced, the present clerk having held the appointment for eight years, and up to this time has failed to report the amount of his lees. The report further recommends the build? ing of a penitentiary in connection with the new jail, which is now being erected in this district, to which not only the persons convic? ted in the courts here may be sent, but those convicted in the United States Courts within a convenient distance, and where there are no suitable places for their confinement. The de? ficiency in the department of appropriations is, as has already been stated, $300,000, for which an appropriation is asked. This amount was incurred in expenses of attorneys, mar? shals and other officers in prosecutions under I the law of Congress, principally in the South? ern States. A Dreadful Death.?A man named Jen? kins met a terrible death in the great storm of two weeks ago while journeying from Sibley, Minn., to Rock Rapids, la. He set out with a mail-carrier at ten o'clock in the morning be? fore the storm began. It was not long, how? ever, before the blinding snow fell thick and fast, and when thirteen miles bad been travers? ed the two lost their road and their horses were floundering in drifts. They attempted to urge them forward, but it was of no avail; and finally despairing of making further progress, they blanketed the horses, and after making them as comfortable as possible crawled back themselves into the hack. Their clothes were covered with snow and their hands and feet were benumbed with the biting cold. In this way they passed the terrible night. When daylight came, the horses were found to be frozen dead. The storm, far from abating, was increasing in violence every minute. Leaving the carriage was certain death, and suffering all the pangs of cold and hunger the unfortu? nate men remained within their contracted quarters, fully concious of the terrible peril they were in. Thursday morning found them alive. The mail-carrier turned to his compan? ion and found him a maniac. The fearful suffering and anxiety of those two days had robbed him of his reason. The day wore on, and Friday morning came. The storm had partially abated, and travelling was practicable. Two men passing along the road in a sleigh Ereceived the stage, and drove to it. A horri le spectacle met them. A few feet from the hack lay the stiffened and lifeless body of Jen? kins, his feet and hands terribly bruised from the endeavors to keep his blood circulating. The carrier was found within the carriage, muffled in robes and furs, and apparently dead also. But as he was touched he awoke from the almost fatal drowsiness. He was conveyed to a place of safety, but it was feared that his legs would have to be amputated. The man Jenkins who met so awful a fate was well known throughout that part of the country, and was an agent of the Ohio Bridge Compa? ny. Strange Capture of a Murderer.?The power of conscience and the unbearable weight of guilt could not be better shown than in the case of the man Caldwell, of Coldwater, Miss., who murdered his employer, Johnson, and robbed him of $1,100, and escaped, leaving no traces behind him. Last Saturday, Dr. Ritchie, who lives at a small interior town thirteen miles from Cold water, known as Tbyataia, was on a spree, and the murder at Cold water being fresh in his mind, he accused every oue he met, in a jocular way, of being the man who had committed the murder. Finally, he met a stranger, and, just being tipsy enough not to care what he said, addressed the stranger in the same manner: ''Yes?you?you are the man who murdered Johnson at Coldwater." A look of guilt overspread the man's face, and simultaneously he ran his hand in his bosom as if to draw a weapon. Dr. Ritchie collared him with bis left hand, and with his right drew a dirk from his pocket, and told him if he attempted to draw a weapon he would plunge that knife to his heart in a second. He then commanded the man to withdraw his hand, which was speedily obeyed, when, instead of a weapon, be drew out the sum of $1,100, which he dropped on the ground at his feet. Mean? while a crowd had gathered around the doctor and his prisoner, and the evidence of the man's guilt was by this time so palpable that he was placed under arrest and securely tied. The next morning the suspected man was taken to the residence of Mrs. Johnson by his captors. She at once became frantic, and begged to be allowed to treat Caldwell in the same manner that he had treated her husband, and it was with difficulty that she could be restrained from doing the prisoner harm. On the way to Hernando, Caldwell confessed to both the murder and the robbery, but gave no other ex? cuse for the crime than the desire for the $1,100 which he had seen paid to Mr. Johnson and deposited in the trunk. ? In Coffee County, Georgia, several gentle? men have gone into the stock and sheep rais? ing business. One man owns a flock of sheep four thousand in number; another has three thousand, and several others have smaller flocks that are still larger than any previously known in our section. The pastoral occupation is a noble one and can be made profitable in the South. ? An old gentleman in Almanance County, N. C, knows something about the blessings of a home and family. He has had four wives, eight daughters and one son, seventy-three 5rand children, four hundred great-grand chil ren, fifty great-great-grand children, fifteen great-great-great-grand children, and nine great-great-great-great-grand children. And he thinks of marrying again. ? An old toper, who lately attended the Polytechnic, where the learned professor caused several explosions to take place from gases un? der the water, said: "You don't catch me put? ting much water in my whiskey after this. I had no idea before that water was so dangerous, though I never use much of it." The Art of Speaking and Writing. A musician is not counted an artist who, al? though thoroughly versed in the science of mu? sic, knows nothing practically of the art. It matters very little to the listening world how much he knows, if he can neither play nor sing. A man may talk or write very intelligently ot pictures and sculpture without the slightest Sractical skill in either branch of performance, o there are multitudes of men with well stored minds, who live without access to the public, simply because they are not accom? plished in the arts of expression by pen and tongue. These men have been trained for pub? lic life. They have expected to obtain a live? lihood by public service. All their education has been shaped to this end, yet they lack just one thing which will enable them to do it. That mode of approach and expression which is essential to their acceptableness as writers and speakers is lacking; and so their lives are failures. The professorship of rhetoric and elocution has been regarded in most colleges as rather ornamental than useful; and only here and there has its incumbent manifested the disposi? tion and the power to magnify his office, and Eerform the great duty that is placed in his ands. Slovenly writers and awkward and un? attractive speakers are turned out of our col? leges every year, almost by thousands, whose failure in public life is assured from the first, because they have acquired no mastery of the arts of expression. Men of inferior knowledge and inferior mental culture surpass them in the strife for public favor and influence, by address and skill. They are disgusted with the public, and charge their failure upon the popular stu? pidity. "Our honest toil has been in vain," they say; "for the people cannot appreciate what we are, or what we have done. They like the shallow man best." This is not a just judgment. The brighter and stronger the man, the better the people like him, always provided that be understands the art of writing and speech. Mr. Beecher, Mr. Phillips, Mr. George W. Curtis, and Mr. Collyer, are not shallow men, but they are ac? cepted everywhere, and in all assemblies, as the masters of oratory. Mr. Webster, Mr. Clay, and Mr. S. S. Prentiss, in the old days, were not shallow men, but they were orators, and their power over multitudes was the power of giants. Not one of these men would now be heard of as men of national reputation had they not won the mastery of expression. There is a quality in all good writing?wri? ting thoroughly adapted to its purpose?which we call "readableness." It is hard to define it, because in the different productions it depends on different elements. Wit and humor impart this quality, if they are spontaneous and un? obtrusive. Eminent lucidity, gracefulness of structure, epigrammatic terseness and strength, downright moral earnestness, gracefulness and facility of illustration, opposite antithesis, forms of expression and uses of words that are characteristic of individual thought and feel? ing?each and all these have their function in imparting readableness to the productions of the pen. We find Carlyle readable through a quality which is Carlyle'sown?while Emerson and Lowell and Holmes are readable because of their individual flavor. There are ten thousand educated men in America who are fairly capa? ble of comprehending these writers, yet who would render them all unreadable by underta? king to clothe their thoughts and fancies in their own forms of language. When this strong individual flavor is lacking?an element that belongs mainly to genius?art must be more thoroughly cultivated. No man of moderate ability and education can possibly make him? self acceptable as a writer without a skill in the arts of expression which can be won alone through patient study and long practice. We have but few men in the country who designedly write for the few. We all seek to write for the million and to find the largest au? dience. Readableness, then, must depend very largely upon still another element, which is, perhaps, more important than all?direct, in? telligent ministry to the public need. People will not be interested in the discussion of sub? jects that have no practical relation to their life. Any production, in order to be readable, must be based on a knowledge of the wants of the people and the age. What will amuse, in? struct, enlighten, or morally and intellectually interest the people? The writer who is not sufficiently in sympathy with the people and the age to answer this question intelligently to himself, cannot be readable, except by accident. The man who shuts himself up in his library, away from his kind, and refuses to make him? self conversant with their wants and with the questions that concern them, has no one to blame but himself if they refuse to read what he writes. The clergyman, conscious of Christian pur Koses and of thorough culture, and earnestly elicving that be understands the message of his Master, finds with grief that he is not an accepted teacher. Let liira learn, if it be not ton late, that it is his mode of presenting truth that makes him impotent. Water tastes better from cut-glass than pewter, and people will go where they are served from crystal. Salt is salt, but what if it have lost its savor? There are very few preachers who fail in knowledge of their message, but there are multitudes who know nothing of the people to whom they de? liver it, or of the art of so proclaiming it that men will pause to hear and heed. The art of writing and speaking is both shamefully and fatally neglected. Without it, cultivated to its highest practicable point, the learning of the schools is comparatively useless. Without it, the preacher is utterly unprepared for his work; for the grand, essential thing which will make his knowledge and culture practically available is wanting. The man who cannot say well that which he has to say may safely conclude that he has no call to the pulpit. There is no editor of a newspaper or a maga? zine who is not constantly returning manu? scripts full of useful and good material, which he cannot nublish because it is not readable. The style irgid, or involved, or affected, or slovenly, or diffuse. If the style happens to be good, the subject is uninteresting, or it is treat? ed for scholars, and cumbered with redundant learning. Of course the editor would not hurt the pride of the writer^ and in his politeness he simply says that their productions are not "available." They think the editor stupid, and he is content so long as they do not accuse him of ill nature. It is only when they charge him with the purpose of refusing all writing that is better than his own that ne loses pa? tience, and regrets that he had not been frank and definite in the statement of his reasons for declining their offerings.?Sanbner's Magazine. ? People who are always complaining of their bad: luck are generally those who have done nothing to deserve any better. They dawdle away years in the hope of making a fortune "some day," by a single lucky stroke, and find, when it is too late, that the "some day" never comes. Patient, enduring industry wins more of the world's prizes than the spas? modic efforts of the most brilliant genius. ? Because horses are used to reins, it does not follow that they are indifierjut to wet. weather. ' A Missing Link in the British Peerage. It was about the year 1818 that the British Parliament reviewed the ancient title of Earl of Marchmont, lineally descended from Robert the Bruce of Scotland. It was theo necessary to ascertain who it was among living men enti? tled by descendant to bear the title. After a careful investigation it was found that John Hume, Sr., of Charleston, S. C, was the legiti? mate heir. At this time John Hume was a wealthy and thriving rice planter in South Carolina. Dreams of belonging to the peerage never disturbed his equanimity, and he had gone on' amassing a fortune in the cultivation of rice, all una? ware that he was really entitled to emblazon the panels of his carriage with a noble and an? cient coat of arms. He enjoyed the true roy? alty?that of an American citizen?and when the intelligence came to him that across the ocean an earldom awaited him, it failed to fire his latent ambition. By carefully enquiring, he learned that the estate was encumbered by debts fully equaling its value, and therefore re? solved to have nothing to do with the empty honor. Acting on this principle, he relinquish? ed all claims to the earldom in favor of bis next of kin, the late Sir Abrain Hume* Bart. Sir Abram, not being the legitimate heir, could only bear the title of Baronet. He received the estate, however, and by good management, assisted by his own ample property, became immensely wealthy. Robert Buist, floricultu? rist, near Philadelphia, was gardener to the late Sir Abram Hume, and is now a living witness in this country to the family record. Sir Abram Hume died recently. John Hume died in 1841. They were first cousins. At this date, January, 1873, the sole sur? viving son of John Hume lives near Rome, Ga., very aged and infirm. By a recent treaty between Great Britain and this country, Amer? icans can inherit not only property, but also titles in the British realm. This John Hume is now undoubtedly the legitimate heir to the vacant Earldom of Marchmont; but a nice question here arises, i. e., whether the succes? sion will be continued in bis family after his death or in that of the eldest child of Earl John Hume. This child was the late Mrs. Ann Simons. The eldest son of Mrs. Simons is Dr. John Hume Simons, editor of a new com? mercial paper, called the Southern Independent Advocate, and located at Savannah, Ga. The said Dr. John Hume Simons is now in New York, awaiting further issues and developments before visiting England to investigate the sub? ject. If the claim is prosecuted, the succes? sion will have to be determined by the British Parliament We are informed that all the Humes in this country are willing to relinquish all claims in favor of Dr. John Hume Simons. But another question is likely to arise, the most important of all. When Earl John Hume relinquished his claim to title and estate in favor of his cousin, Sir Abram Hume, he could not will them away, for such is forbidden by the British statutes. The estate left by Sir Abram Hume is of immense value, and all the March monts of England, relatives of the family, are immensely wealthy. This gives room for spec? ulation as to what may be the results, if the claim of the American Hume is prosecuted. We have been credibly informed that offers have been made to Dr. John Hume Simons, and that he has now at his control ample ! means to defray all the expenses of prosecuting his claim, whatever may be the result. Such proceedings being instituted this case will be a very interesting one, as proving what are the real international relations between this coun? try and Great Britain in such matters. There is another interesting fact in this nar? rative worthy of note. The family of Simons, the paternal branch from which Dr. John Hume Simons is descended, dates back to a very remote period. The name Simons is a corruption of St. Simon. The progenitor of the family in this country was a Hugenot, driven out of France at the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. He married in London the daughter of one Dupre, also a nobleman and Huguenot. He is said to have settled on St Simon's Island, which derived its name from him. The family escutcheon inthe Herald's office at Paris, is a bird buried, with one wing still flapping, and the motto, "Resurgere Ten? te." The arms of the Hume family is a griffin, surrounded by four jackmuths?a fabulous bird. Finally the family tree of the Hume family is now preserved in Charleston, S. C. The first Earl, whose patronymic was Hume, obtained bis title by his prowess in guarding the marches of Wales during the days of the Heptarchy. (Marchmont means march moun? tains.) The Hume family tree shows the de sent of the family through Robert, the Bruce, and the Earl of Douglass.?New York Evening Telegram, _ _ _ Plant Corn.?We insist upon singing this old tune again. It is perfectly disgusting, no doubt, to our friends, the planters, who know their own business so much better than we do, but we like to be a nuisance occasionally, and so we sing, "Plant corn," by way of variety. What we xnow about farming can be put in one very short chapter, but it is long enough to teach us that he who buys corn to make cotton finds himself in the vocative When settling day comes. Brethren, we have been there and know whereof we affirm. We can tell a man who has corn enough to last him till fall from one who hasn't, half a mile off. The corn man cocks his hat on one side and swings along with a free and easy stride?there's courage in his steps and hope in his eye. The no corn man has his hat pulled over his eyes and sham? bles along with a slouching gait and a sidelong look, as it he expected every minute somebody would sing out: "I know what ails you. You haven't corn enough to last till May." He takes the bray of any casual or lonesome mule as a personal reflection, and can't look the critter in the face. We don't know any man who has gone to pot since the war through planting too much corn, but we do know many who have traveled that road through an overdose of cotton. If there is any stronger argument on the corn side of the subject, we haven't been introduced to it, as yet?Telegraph and Messenger. The Fr?nking Privilege.?It actually looks as if that longlived abuse,'the franking privilege, were doomed at last. The House passed a bill for its abolition at the last session of Congress; now the Senate, which has been ruefully looking at the matter for many months, has enacted that bill with some important amendments. If it were not for these addi? tions to the bill by the Senate, the death of the franking privilege would be to-day an accom? plished fact. As it is, the House is likely to concur; at any rate, it does not seem likely that the two branches of Congress will disagree on any point which would be fatal to the final !)assage of the bill. This seems a great victory or reform and economy. But we have been disappointed too often?we do not mean to rejoice now till the result is beyond recall.? Tribune. ? The art of saying appropriate words in a kindly way is one that never goes out of fash? ion, never ceases to please, and is in reach of the humblest.