Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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COLUMBIA. Tuesday Morning, October 3.1865. To Our. Readers. . The undersigned tokes great plea? sure in presenting to the public, as one of the editors of the Phoenix, Vf. B. Johnston, Esq., for many years editor of the South Carolinian, and more recently of thc Southern Guar? dian. This gentleman's abilities are fully known, and will, no doubt, be justly appreciated, not only in South Carolina, but the entire South. JULIAN A. SELBY. Tlie undersigned, in becoming con? nected with the editorial management of the Pho'nir, deems it proper to say a few words to its readers. Since Iiis retirement from the field of journalism, a mighty change has been wrought in our political and ' social systems. It is needless, ou this occasion, to revert to the causes of thc late gigantic conflict through which the people of this country kare passed. We have now to deal with its results, and he is the best cition and truest patriot who sincerely and earnestly applies all his talents and resources to the peaceful but important work of restoration and reconstruction. To aid in effecting tliis groat work, in the speediest way consistent with the welfare of the people of this State, will be the chief aim and purpose of the conductors of this journal, and it is to be hoped their labors will not be in vain. Let the dead past, with all its errors and political complications, remain unexhumed, and let us all work heartily and together for tlie re? storation of our beloved State to her rightful position among her co-States of the Union. lu this place, it is but just and proper, and it is eminently due to the proprietor of the Pkarnix, to say to its readers, that he deserves their cor-? dial support in establishing a daily journal at the Capital of the State. Had it not been for his prompt efforts in this respect, if: is probable that our community would have been without any medium of communication with the outside world, and our friends in other sections of the State without ? any vehicle of information, either from the seat of Government or other parts of the United States. He has labored faithfully and with untiring energy and perseverance, and, thus far, has succeeded. He has not only furnished to this community an admi? rable newspaper, but a journal con? ducted with sound judgment and great ability. He deserves success, and has a right to claim the earnest support and co-operation of all who have been benefitted by hie labors* Our readers have had enough of politics for the present, and it is, therefore, not necessary to make the Phonix a political journal, in the or? dinary acceptation of that term. It will endeavor to sustain the policy of reconstruction enunciated by Presi? dent Johnson, and wUl, to the extent oi its influence, aid and support all measures calculated to restore peace, harmony and prosperity to the coun? try. Further than this, politically, we need not go, but it will be our * great aim to give to our readers an acceptable journal in all departments. From the writer's past experience in journalism, he feels some confidence that if his right hand has not forgot? ten her cunning, he will, to some , extent at least, accomplish that aim and purpose. What our people need now is encouragement in -their efforts to develop the industrial resources which are still left to them, and that encouragement we intend to give them in every way, that the scope of our duties permits or enables us to do. It may be some days before we get again wea accustomed to the edi? torial harness, but have no doubt that, erelong, everything will work smooth? ly and satisfactorily. WILLIAM ]J. JOHNSTON. . FRACTIONAL CURRENCY.- The new ten cent fractional currency is circu? lating. The pieces are a little larger .than the old ten-, and shorter than the twenty-five cent slips. Upon the face is a medalion head of Washing? ton, with a factory chimney and a ship's rigging on either side, and a figure 10, in gilt, in four places; thc back is of a red color, and the figures 10 in large gilt. They are printed on bank-note paper, and promise to be more durable than the present cur? rency. A new issue of fifty cent fractional currency will shortly be made to replace the present issue, which has been greatly counterfeited? THE WILMINGTON JOURNAL.-The publication of'this paper, which was suspended in February last, has been resumed under the management of its former proprietors, Messrs. Fulton & Price, lt has been 'enlarged, and appears in new typo. We will be pleased to place it on our exchange hs.. AMI LETTERS MUST BE STAMPED. The Post Office Department has is? sued a circular, giving notice'that the penalties fixed by law for carrying letters outside the mails when not enclosed in Government stamped en? velopes, will be rigidly enforced in every instance where violators are kno ?TI to exclude only letters relating to cargo and freight of water crafts, or other vehicles employed upon mail routes, may be lawfully carried not enclosed as above. By the terms of this order, unpaid letters for delivery and those prepaid by postage stamps cannot be carried outside the mail by any of these conveyances, without subjecting captain, owners, drivers or other omplo3-ees to a penalty of for each offence. BELIEF OF SOUTHERN COTTON HOLD? ERS.-The Secretary of the Treasury and the Commissioner of Internal Revenue have now under considera? tion a circular, which will be issued in a day or two, to be directed to the ; Government Tax Collectors, with a j view of relieving the bedders of cot- ! ton in the Southern States. It is | found that these cotton holders are generally unable to raise tho money j to pay the immense tax, etc., required by the Act of July 2,18(34, to be paid before shipment to the. Government agent, in the nearest locality or district in which the cotton may be found, and it is also found impractica? ble and sometimes impossible for these cotton owners to come North and obtain the requisite funds by hypothecating their staple. The law, as heretofore construed, seemed to present an insurmountable obstacle to the shipment of cotton to the North? ern ports before the Government assessments should be paid; but the Secretary of the Treasury, with the I aid of thc Commissioner of Internal j Bevenue, has, it is believed, disco- j vereu a plan by which owners may ship their cotton to Northern markets and pay the Government charges in j those ports. If this.plan be carried 1 out, it will release and send to the [ Northern markets an immense amount I of property which is now tied up in the South by reason of the former strict and technical construction of I the law. TREATMENT OF PRISONERS.-The Cincinnati Gazette, an Abolition pa? per, gives the following description of a Federal prison at Chattanooga: "Of the treatment of rebel prison i ors at our hands, I have nothing to ?say; it is, no doubt, fully as good as I it shordd bo in retaliation. True, the prison is dirty, filthy and foul; true, it is I nt meanly wanned, always damp and unhealthy. Tlie place is almost dark, and seems infernal. Their clothing is a mere mockery, with socks, when they have any, that look like a rough coat of dirt or an un? washed hoot." One hundred thousand dollars, formerly a portion of the Confederate States treasure, and since the demoli? tion of that institution secreted in the South, was recently unearthed and turned into the United, States Treasure This sum, which consisted of $90,?t n gold, $8,000 in silver, and S'2,.)0h in silver bullion, was re? cently sent North in charge of a guard of twelve pieked men of the 19th United States Infantry. Tho Labor Question and Emigration. Tlie following extract of a letter sent by a member of. a commercial house in England to a friend in Charles-* ton we afford space for publication, although we by no means agreet with the author in his views concerning the Coolies. We think that class of people would be far lass efficacious than the negro. The only class of persons that will be of service to the (South are white men from flie other side of the Atlantic: "We fully expect, from thc know-' ledge we have of the idleness, "of the negro in all countries where they have been used as laborers und tillers ol thc soil, that they will not work with? out some degree of compulsion, and if the legislatures of the Cotton States do not poss sonic law that will compel thc negro to hire himself by the year, and also make him, under severe penaities, perform his. con? tract, thc South will be :i second Jamaica. Your people will be com? pelled to import white laborers*, and on tia1 sea-board of South Carolina ami Georgia we know of no labor better adapted to tho soil and pro? duction than the Coolie. They answer veiw well in tee West Indies I and on the cotton phu tations of Peru. The passage money is ?14 Ts. 6d. per ; head, and this, with shipping charges, | brings their cost laid down about ?20 1 per head, or ?100. Very few die on the voyage. The emigration is* entirely voluntary, and each man has the term? of his contract explained to him in the presencec of a Mandarin and the Consul. They contract for five years at eight dollars per month, find them? selves and pay back tho passage money by monthly instalments, and on these, terms they can be had in great numbers. The Chinese Coolie is very industrious and keeps faith? fully to his contract. This is a matter worthy the attention of your State authorities. Many of the West India islands would be totally unproductive without them. Some action should be taken by those in authority to work your rice fields with this cheap and desirable labor, and you cannot urge this matter on them too soon. We have seen the negro in every clime,'and we know they will not work steadily, particularly such la? borious crops as rice and cotton. Excuse our thrusting our views and opinions on you. Your own experi? ence will test their soundness." CANADA AND C?I?F..>T BRITAIN.-The truth is, that we have our choice of two courses of policy with regard to Canada-a warlike and a pacific, a. retrograde and a progressive policy. We may set ourselves to raise up a rival power to the United States, and. in order to defend that power from their atttx;k, may plunge it into such inextricable financial difficulties as to deprive it of all attraction for the intending emigrant, and even to drive out of it much of the population which h^s already chosen it. as a home. We may look op our colony as a mili? tary pos.tion to be defended, even as a Kornau colonia planted as a menace | or a curb to a rival people, which must be drilled and fortified and kept open dtring the inclemencies of a Siberiai. winter, at whatev??r cost to the mother country, and with a pros- ? peet of success, however slender. Or ! we map relinquish the hateful and use less occupation of struggling against Naturi and look at our colony more with icferenee to the future than the present more with regard to its geo? graphical position and commercial intereste than to the hopeless task of its military defence. Those who re? gard Canada from this point of view would rather expend the money of England in improving her communi? cation with those rich lands of which she is the natural outlet, than in forc? ing a vorthless passage for hopeless successors across burren and inhos? pitable deserts. The present moment is, as ve have crften shown, the very last in which we should seek to carry embarrassmen" into Canadian finance. It is-her-great opportunity, which, if well used, will do more to make her independent of all fear of invasion from America than ten times the fleets and armies of which we can dispose. The fortifications of Quebec and Montreal have, at any rate, this advantage-that they may for a while protect our troops, and possibly facili? tate their embarkation. The Inter? colonial Railway can do nothing but mock them with the prospect of a communication with tho sea, which is sure to fud them just at the moment when it becomes most imperiously ne? cessary tor their preservation. [ IjttmloiL Timm. General Howard estimates that at least 40,000 freedmen have learned to read and write since th? war broke ant. Thc Rich Men, of New York-How they Work. No bank clerk on thc salary of a thousand dollars a year goes to his bank as regularly, or works as many hours, as Wm. B. Astor, who counts up his 840,000,000. His little one story office, a step or two from Broad? way, on Prince street, with its iron j bars, making it resemble a police I prison, is the den where he performs j his daily toil, and out of his wealth j and labor gets only his victuals and I clothes. He attends personally to all i his business, knows every dollar of rent or income that is to become due, pays out every dollar, makes his en? tries in his own hand, and obliges his subordinates to come to him for in? formation, while he does not go to them. He generally comes- down in the omnibus at an early hour in the day and remains closely absorbed in ! business until five o'clock. He rarely I takes exercise, and finds his pleasure ! in the closest attention to business, i A friend of mine rode to Washington I with him in the saino car from New I York, lie neither spoke nor got ont j of his scat, and hardly moved, from I Jersey City to Washington. He ! I usually leaves his office at five o'clock, I and walks slowly up Broadway to Lafayette; place. He is over six- feet high, heavily built, with a decided German look, small hazy eyes, as if ho was half asleep, head round asa pumpkin, and about as destitute of hair. He is exceedingly hospitable, and in the "season"' gives a dinner to his friends weekly, at which the richest viands on services of gold and i silver are presented by liveried, ser? vants to his guests. Commbdore Vanderbilt never work- I ed harder in his life, never worked I mort* hours than now. He has a con? fidential clerk, who works like a pack? horse, who has been in his employ j for thirty years. Besides this, Van derbilt does his own business, makes and executes his own contracts, and this, with the business he does on twenty millions, is no small toil. The Commodore goes down to his busi? ness regularly every day, and can be found at certain hours. His only re? creation-euchre and fast horses. Moses Taylor, whose dividends from coal stock alone this year reached the pretty little sum of a million of dol? lars, began business in New York ?when he was sixteen years of age, kept his own books with his own bands, and has done so ever since. His library, in his own house on Fifth avenue, is a regular work-shop. Every night he brings up his own business with his own hand. His vast business as ! trustee is kept by himself. He makes '? all thc original entries of sort and kind, and goes to his office for no in- ; formation, and he knows just how : things must be thero to be right. And should every record kept by his book-keepers and clerks be destroyed, it would make no difference with him, for he has the original in his own hands. Many merchants spend the afternoon in riding, or m games, or in the excitement of the evening stock board; but Mr. Taylor finds his recreation in a bath, a good dinner, a ?omfortable siesta, and an evening levoted to work. [New York Cor. Boston Journal. CAPTAIN WERZ.-"Druid," the well mown correspondent of the New fork World and News, publishes a engthy letter, exculpating Captain Virz from responsibility in regard to he hardships of the prisoners at An lersonville. He closes thus: No-the responsibility for the suff? erings of our prisoners at Anderson rille rests upon those who are respon? sible for keeping our prisoners there, nstead of permitting them to be exchanged. The Confederate authorit? ies wen: anxious to have them ex hanged. But the Secretary of War efused to) have them exchanged, on he pretext that the equality of negro oldiers with white soldiers must first >e acknowledged by the Confederate rovernment, but really in order to irevent (ion. Lee's army from being einforced by the rebel soldiers whom ie held at Chicago and Point Look rot. EXTENSIVE BANK ROBBERIES.-The ?let has just been made public that xtensive bank robberies have lately >een committed in the States of ( )hio, 'ennsylvania and Indiana, amounting il the aggregate to nearly three hun? ted thousand dollars. From inform tion received at Chicago from Cleve ind, Ohio, a man named Love was rrested Sunday afternoon last, by he police of the former city, and hirty-one thousand dollars in bonds diich had been stolen were found in is possession. -?.? :-. Isaac WiHiams, a Virginian, has eon sentenced to three years im risonnient and a fine <>f ??1,000 for isregarding his oath of allegiance. Xiocal Items. "Cotton Blanks" and permita- indispen? sable to all persons purchasing or shipping cotton-can bo-obtained at this office. We owe to Messrs. Speck & Polosk a spe? cial bottle of the "Mumm Champagne"-a brand of peculiar virtues and high reputa? tion. MAIL FACULTIES.-A iaily mail leaves th'.? city at 4 p. m., by stage, for Winns j boro, Charlotte and the North. This is I pleasing intelligence, and wc hope in a few ! days to be able to report the opening of other rontes. Dav Goons COMMISSION HOUSE..-Parties in search of dry goods aro referred to thc advertisement of Messrs. Edgerton & j Richards, who have recently opened a large wholesale and jobbing house at No. 32and, 34 Broad Btreot, Charleston. The?gentle? men forming the linn arc well and favora? bly known by thc business community in j nearly every section of thc State. ! ASSAULTS AND RopBEiiiES.-Wc have been j informed that assaults and robberies have I been committed on some of our citizens on on.- or two evenings of last week, but we j are pleased to learn that the military au I thorities at this post are making arrange? ments to have an efficient police on duty throughout thc city, so that we may not expect a repetition of these outrages. Tnuoucu IN TUREE DAYS.-To thc kind? ness of J. P. Southern, Esq., we aro in? debted for a copy of the New York Herald, I of the 28th instant-just three days o?d? as it was received here on Sunday morning. Mr. S. has also furnished us with late Phi- . ladclphia, Richmond and Petersburg pa I p< rs. The Southern Express Company also came to the rescue again, Sunday I morning, with a full supply of Richmond, j Wilmington and Winnsboro papers. In j these days of irregular mails, such favors arc highly appreciated. TUE CAPTURE .VN? DESTRUCTION OF THE j CITV OF COLUMBIA, S. C.-Originally Pub? lished in liir Columbia Pktenix-Revised and Corrected, by the. Author.-About the middle of October, thc above work will bc issued from the prcr-.s of the Columbia, Phcenix-printed with new type and on tine paper. Persons desiring copies are re? quested to give their names as early as ? possible. Single copies will bc furnished ai $l."S?Thc trade supplied at a discount. NEW ADVERTISEMENTS.-Attention is call? ed to the following advertisements, which are published for tho first time this morn hag: Fenner. Bennett A Bowman-Com. Mer's. Durbec A Walter-Furniture, Ac. P. Cantwell-Goshen Butter. *W. Simons-Estray Mule. Nomination of Wm. Shiver for Legisl'rc. Calnan & Kreuder-Just Received. Richard Caldwell-- Groceries. Hardy Solomon A Co.-Bolting Cloth. Nomination of Candidates for Legisla're. Apply at this Office-Room to Rent. Udolpho WoHe-To the Citizens of S. C. A. fi. Solomon-Confed'te Bonds Wanted. F. H. Elmore-Removal of Clerk's Oftice THRILLING SCENE-On Sunday, while the lire in the woods at Cedar Swamp was at its height, an extra train of sixteen cars, bringing the Fourteenth Maine Regiment, on their way home to Augusta, came over the Eastern Railroad. On either side of the track' the flames rose forty feet high, the noise drowning the sound of the train. It was a fearful sight to behold. The oil- on the wheels took tire, and along the train were seen revolving wheels of fire, while the seven hundred officers and men of the Fourteenth were, nearly smothered in the dense smoke. Fortunately the long train drawn by the "Cape Ann" ?rent through the tembl? ordeal without accident, and ns the cars 'merged beyond the burning district, he smoke rushed from the car win lows into the ai?, giving an appear? ance of a train on fire.-Portsmouth X. J I. J Chronicle, Sept. 16. AN IMPORTANT DECISION.-Owing to he financial straits to* which a major-: ty of the Southern people have found hemselvcs reduced, now that the war s ended, to their want of information u regard to the requirements of the nternal Revenue law, and for other easons, the Secretary of the Treasury as ordered that all articles in the itely rebellious States which can be liown to have been manufactured efore the establishment of the col action district in which they are tund, shall be held free from the resent assessment or collection of ,x, unless transported beyond the bate limits.-Salisbury Watchman. They are neither true friends of the resident nor of thc colored people, ho attempt to**exciie distrust of his tentions. He will do for the freed en what he believes it his duty to >, not what Thad. Stevens or Gen. itleifltells him he must and shall do [Sjiri>oifield Republican.