The Southern Intelligencer. (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 2, No. 26, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 27, 1866 Page: 1 of 4
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& FOSTER,
" Wfctí n it tat a
may 01 wsjr lift?
PUBLISHERS.
GITY OF AUSTIN,
THURSDAY,
jJsot'THERN INTELLIGENCER.
a fCBUSHKD tVmraMIBlI XOBMIMO.
currency.
94 o
it 39
1 5®
gingie copy W cent . _
~ gtTE8 OP AOTBBTIMKW.
. (i jo for the flrrt and 75 ce U for each
•Sg-'TSSi-. •;«.
o**?r> m •• * so
fEKMS-U. S.
. fcr " *«**;-
13 "
12
17
25
30
40
9 00
11 00
12 00
13 50
15 00
H.«> or lew, this '*e l3Te> make one square
Ü .,mh or leu constitute • square.
Tha «boro rates are in legal tender. Sped.
\!rtd at to market ralne, or at the rate of 3 fa
jfripede.
Departure of the Mails.
„ _Arr]Tes Wednesday, Friday and Sunday,
Departs Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday,
"T._ ifiil close* at 11 a. m.
'¿^aonio.-Atrite* friday, Sunday and Tueaday,
-jTm Depsru Wednesday, Friday and 8undaj,
í m Mail eloses at 9 p. m. day previous.
!„,-Arrives Thursday, Saturday and Monday,
Departs Wednesday, Friday and Sunday,
£ ?' n Mail closes at 9 p. nn. day previous.
_Arrires Wednesday, Friday and Sunday,
JiTT o «parts Monday. Wednesday «nd Friday,
?«!• Mail closes st 11 a. m.
"z^swuss -Arrives Thursday, at 6 p. m. Departa
fcíufltí ■ . Mail closes at 9 p. m. day preview.
otLti -Arrives Wednesday, at 6 p. m. Departa
io«ur. «6 •• m- Mail cl0,e• " 9 p- m-
"cbURCH DIRECTORY.
"cfc*Wta «~ReT- JuDe*a hervios every Sun-
morning, at 11 o'clock.
rLksriaat rw byieri i .—Revs. Finia E.
•¿¿«d J. J. A. Koacb, alternately. Service eve-
_ jgniisi St 11 O'clock-
BeiscefMSI.—Kev, B- A. Rogers, Rector. Ber-
,¡,t eirrr Sunday at ll o'olock.
Cetkelic —Kev. N. Felton. Service every Sun-
j.. ,i to o'clock.
jlnr i.«—Bay. R. U. Taliaferro. Service every
'undif st II o'clock,
Matbedi*!.—Hav. J. W. I'hlUlps. Service every
•«■ill* tt II o'clock, and evening at 8 o'clock.
prwbyierlan.—Hcv. Tbaddeus Mellar. Ser-
fa efttj Huadav at 11 o'olock, and 8 o'ohtek, p. m.
PROFESSIONAL.
flllVER, I W., Attorney and Counselor at Law,
U Houston, Texas, Will do a (ieneral Law Business
liik« Counties of Harris, Galveston, Fort Read, Bra
«rii, Colorido, Austin, Washington, liras os, Grimes
Kast|uinTy, Liberty, Jefferson and Orante. Spe-
oil attention «tren to the Collection oi Claims,
Droukoat lbs State.
or Office Corner Main and Congress streets, up
A otfeat
NO. W. lAMHAL, I. A.. PASCHAL,
Austin, Ttxas. dap Antonio, Texas.
I AW OFFICE ol Geo. W. PasohAT, New York City
li Mb> US, exchange Place, Special attention given
aTsssstsnd TUlaa and Southern tiuslness.
BLACK., Attorney at Law, Austin, Texas.
' Pvtleular attention given to the collection of
ehlM. Office west side of the Avenue, Glasscock's
MUlos. ol'J:97
g. h. sow i an a. a. walkm.
DOWERS k WAl.KKlt, Attorneys at Law, Austin,
0 Tstas. Office on Congrma Avenue-
SMITH, JAMK3 W., Attorney at Law, Austin, Tex-
0 u. Can be found at his former office on the
limn . > '
SCOTT, GEO. R., Attorney at Law, Aania, Texas.
Offlcn on Congress Avenue
1:96
a bam .................a. aavMAMM.
4. BAHN * CO.,
MAHUrAOTURBRS AND 1 ALIRS IN
(IILD AND 8II.VBR W4 RB,
Oa Congrtu Anenunjutt btlow SsMjuon 4
Hmrickt' Start.
ANNOUNCE to the publl: that they have now, and
will constantly keep on hand, a large assortment
of Jewelry, Gold and Silver Ware, a fino assortment
Congress and Article Tth.
To the Editor of the N. Y. Tribune:
Sir—The war between the two
great parties of the nation is fast
narrowing down into a contest con-
cerning constitutional law. The ques-
tion is no longer one of policies. It
is one of political first principles. Is-
sues deeply affecting the general wel-
fare, having no legal aspects, demand
consideration ana will receive it in
due time. But to-day the voters,
young and old, learned and unlearn-
ed, must examine for themselves the
abstruse metaphysics of the Consti-
tution. Dry questions of construc-
tion and interpretation which proper-
ly and ordinarily belong to the Su-
preme Court alone—dry questions,
perhaps, they are, but just now in-
tensely interesting, because upon
their wiBe solution at the ballot box
depends largely the life of the Re-
iblic. The question to be decided
by the people of the loyal States is,
Have we an organic law capable of
preserving the national life and in-
tegrity through great crises, or only
a feeble parchment which the breath
of revolution will scatter to the four
winds? ' Democracy charge the
Republican party with lawless Jaco-
binism, and Congress with open and
perjured usurpation. The action of
that body say this is .not the mistake
of honest and short sighted states-
men, but the mad endeavor to tear
down the ark of constitutional liberty.
Let the party of Congress see to it
that they place themselves upon a
proper footing before the country.
It is not wise, Decause not neoessary,
to urge the plea of public necessity.
That plea announces a desperate and
heroic treatment that npthing but
the terrible alternative of national
perdition will justify; and the pa-
tient will frequently prefer the risk
of death itsclr to such surgery. That
lea brought the heads of Charles
Stuart ana Louis 16th to the blook,
and plunged Paris into the horrors
of the Septombrizing days. The
part/of Congress are driven to no
Its " "
qualifications"
members,
and does not embrace that of their
constituents who elected them. In
other words, if the character and
credentials of the candidate for a
seat in Congress are as they should
be, that body cannot go further, by
virtüe óf tins provisión, and pass
upon the loyalty of the Statés which
they represent. The qualifications
of members are one thing; the qual-
ifications of the primary voters are
a totally different thing. And when
no Senator or Representative, how-
ever properly certified ai>d loyal, can
obtain his seat, he must be rejected
solely for the reason that his constit-
uency is disloyal. He repeats, there
is nothing in the Constitution itself
which by a torture of construction
can be made to ignore or qualify at
any time the last clause of Art. 5th.
What then was there to prevent
Toombs, Mason & Co., and men of
like kidney, from pressing forward
among the shattered and flying col-
umns of Pope's army after the second
llanassas, pushing their way to the
capitol and the committee on credejt
tials, certificates of election in hand,
and holding above them the ample
aegis of the Constitution, demanding
their seats in the senate chamber ?
)oubly steeped in perjury, they
would be doubtless provided with a
sworn oath of allegiance. Of course
the committee would stand aghast at
the impudence of these Catalines. If
)emocratic in theory, they would be
confounded at their (logic. True,
these " representatives " are sent by
armed traitors, but what of that"?
They appeal to the supreme law attfl
demand a trial of their claims under
it. The Carolinas and Mississippi
States in the Union ; the ordi-
such plea. Its forces,, if they only
appreciated their vantage ground,
are marshaled around the same time-
honored citadeWhich the hands of
Madison and Hamilton wrought in
1787.
What are
the indictment
Congress ? First
of 8Uk Guards and Uibbons. Gold, Sliver and 8teel
gpeetacleo from 35c. to tlO, Spectacle Glasses, Mag-
atfying (Masses. A large assortment of Thomas'
Clucki, Railroad Spectacles, Periscopio Colored Spec-
hdes, Psrabolic, Pebble and plain Spectacles. Gog-
■lee la esses, 25c. each- We give notice to watelimn
km tbst we wlM sell, at wholesale and rotall, all
Ms of material in their line of justness. Watch
Jtwth of all kinds, watchmaker's tools, main springs,
vkssk, hands and glasses, regulators, crucibles, See..
We «ill continue to repair watches and jewelry as
warranting our work. ota:35
the prinoipal counts in
of Democracy against
and foremost as
their chief argument, they allege the
violation of the last clause of Art.
BLITRN A WALKER,
Saddle and Harnea Manufacturers,
Congrm Avenue, Austin, Texas.
(THANKFUL for past favora. are now prepared to
i axecnte all work in the above line, in a superior
Xrls and st reasonable figures. ¡
We keep constantly on band, in addition to our own
mssaisctare, from the Eastern market,
Saddles or all kinds, Baggy
TrlDtmlBgN, Saddle-Bags, Ac.
Smsll Country Manufacturers can have orders
ÜM os short notice.
Oat Saddle Trees are the beat made in Texaa, and
we guarantee all work done by ua to give satisfac-
tion. Our terms—
CASH OS DELIVERY.
ty Carriage Trimming attenjed to.
LOSSES PAID Iff 1865,
9410,613.91.
PfiSNjx Insurance Company,
Hartford, Connecticut.
Cash Assets, January 1st, 1866,
$1,006,790 33-100.
The undersigned is authorized to issue policies in the
wove popular and leadint cornoration. at nreper rates.
wore popular and leading corporation, at proper ratei
LOSSES ALWAYS PAID PROMPTLY.
«M7
SWANTE PALM,
Ruident Ajfent
B. C. BEÜGEHER,
Coaaaaas Avnu*, Aran*, Tocas,
HfLEK IN BOOTS, SHOES, LEATHER, AJfD
SHOE FINDINGS- Boots and Shoes made to
order sad
Tbankfu
sasrwt ENTIRELY'NEW STOCK,
"Mer and repaired.
jJbMkful for past favors, would respectfully
~~ 'y, that he has reopened hi*
inform
old
' hUnself, of the above named article*.
Ajjoraw premptly attended to. Price* low,
1 Boot anc
and Shoe Maker, wanted im
47ot2 46
I Bread IS.
UAVIBg a large and superior lot of FLOUEonhand,
j f_ ■* prepared to furnish families at their resi-
every morning with FKESH BREAD ou the
rui-.r^ontb,e ^ms. Also have extra How for
*?li *> or 100 lb. ~
with Fink, Kllers tt Co., wiH be prompt!;
ot -50 R. BERTRAM.
mSITURE! FURNITURE 1!
lyWWtlB) at the old established stand of Jno.
Imrr1' on P®6*® street, and am prepared to
¡¿JJ^wre and Repair Furniture on reasonable
-2JÍBTAKING! UNDERTAKING! I
attended to at satisfsctorrgrices.
EVAN8.
I*UT, SABVHAB * M
UTK J?,0™!11" A«romo-|
and fancy Dry
Bat*, Tobaceó
43
-CiSKaSKi,,*.
y. . . wool a d hides,
the highest market ptjee. ^
r- boardmam. Dentist Austin, office op-
P*k Aven,„ Hotel. Save yoor te«th by faithful
to cleanliness; if decayed, Of artistic plug-
SF'* replace them by Iffe-Wte artificial repa
ope^ttons guaranteed. Examinations without
««aWished in Awtin in 1861; [ r« 3Ba)t81
AT
HEW OOODSI
the old stand,
I ON PECAN STREET.
J, is uow receiving and opening a gen-
««-orhne, of ~
Maple and Fancy Dry Good*,
XXX # BOYS CLOTHING,
. SROCBRIE&,
'Han,- SttMr do^-
^c2r,^ery'"tew ptec-
5th. A clause so essential to our
form of government, that among all
constitutional amendments it was
decreed to be perpetual. Whatever
changes might be wrought in the
organic law, it was ordained as a
sheet-anchor provision that "no State
shall, without its consent, be depriv-
ed of equal suffrage in the Senate of
the United States." This sacred
and changeless clause, say the John-
son party, Congress are openly vio-
lating.
Let us suppose, at the outset, for
the sake of argument, that this asser-
tion is true. The question immedi-
ately presents itself, can no exigency
arise in which this particular provis-
ion may be violated in order to pre-
serve the rest of the Constitution
intact? Suppose no condition of
affairs however desperate can justify
the violation of Art. 5th; and this
of course is the cardinal docrine of
Democracy. Then we affirm that
upon their .own theory (not that of
Congress,) in a great emergency like
that which arose during the late war,
this particular claim may be made to
destroy the whole fabric of the Con-
stitution from " turret to foundation
stone." To preserve a part they
will jeopard the whole. The clause
in question has no greater foroe now
than it had in the days of Bull Run
qpd Chancellorsville. If it holds
good now it held good then. The
stroke that shattered Sumter and
McDowell's grand army, did not
touch its supreme authority. It was
neither dead nor dumb during the
rebellion. Nothing in the Constitu
tion, either expressed or implied,
makes it silent during war. The
clause attending the writ of habeas
corpus during periods of war, takes
away for the time the right guaran-
teed by the 6th Art. of the Amend-
ments to " a speedy and impartial
trial." So the clause of Article 2d,
which makes the President Comman-
der-in-Chief of the army and navy,
gives him, through his lieutenants,
the war power to deprive persons of
" life, liberty and property with-
out due process of law." But
.what clause of that instrument gives
him power to settle by a Gordian
stroke or Cromwellian purge a ques-
tion of congressional membership
Congress has power in war and peace
to determine the " qualifications " ~f
are
nances of secession are null and void,
and all rebellious legislation is null
and void, oven though from the
)lains of Manassas, hard by the be-
euguered capital, the cannon of
Jackson are singing paeans over the
nation's dead. If thé seceded States
are in the Union, does not the Con-
stitution giferantee them seats in th«
Senate? Let the apostles of the
ohnson party show what law there
iis to prevent these miscreants from
taking their seats in the halls of
Congress in ike doadlioat hour of
national trial, and then and there,
side by side with Democrats, Copper-
heads and renegade Republicans,
)1ying their devilish tactics to com-
jlete that good work of anarchy and
ruin so nearly accomplished by John-
auU) Lee and Beauregard ? And bo
the Constitution in the hands of these
treason-plotting " representatives " is
converted from the shield of the Re-
)ublic into a parricidal sword to be
thrust into her own vitals.
Hardware,
off
its members. But a fair and time-
honored interpretation of this pro*
vision limit the consideration of
Of course the friends of the Ad-
ministration will attempt to draw a
distinction by saying that the picture
just jpainted is taken from the worst
days cf the war, and furnishes no
)recedent for the present action of
Congress in excluding Southern rep-
resentatives in the case now before
Congress. But wherein consists the
distinction ? The Constitution, which
is both law and gospel to -Democracy,
makes none. The brandishing of an
insurgent bayonet has no charm to
dissolve the supreme and organic
aw, like the spear of Ithuriel. The
difference between the cases is one of
degree and not of kind. It may be
true, but not-necessarily so, that one
íundred thousand men in open and
armed hostility are a greater danger
to the Union than a like number
plotting and mining in a treacherous
and false peace. A secret foe is
ofteu deadlier than an open and ho-
nest one. And the distinction here
drawn only amounts to this, that in
1861 the danger was so appalling
the admission of Southern represent-
atives then was plainly madness and
political suicide-; whereas, it is now
more remote and impalpable. - But
if the letter of the Constitution is
violated in one case, it is in the other
also. To separate the oases is vir-
tually to admit that there may be a
crisis when Art. 5th may and must
be ignored or the nation is lost. And
the question remains stripped of its
sophistries and side issues. Who is
to judge when that crisis exists ? Is
it the national legislature appointed
by the people at large in a manner
pointed out by the Constitution for
the protection- and preservation of
the commonwealth, ór a mass meet-
ing, the mongrel and bastard off-
spring of Democrats, Copperheads
and weakened Conservatives, "the
cfcild of folly withoutTather bred."
We assert, therefore, that the po-
litical creed of the Johnson party
transforms the Constitution from an
ever-enduring life .ordinance to a
wretched and suicidal thing, which,
in seasons of extreme peril when, if
ever its vigor and conservative power
are called for, turns its fifth article
against itself and viper-like stings
itself to death. Such a method of
construction takes note only of " the
letter which killeth," and blindly
loses sight of " the spirit which mak-
eth alive." The Republican theory
is that no construction is legitimate,
or to be tolerated for a moment which
makes the. Constitution embody its
own death-Warrant-,
We have assumed thus far that the
Democratic argument is correct; that
Congress by their recent action have
violated the Constitution. But the
assertion is not true.
What is the Constitution ? It is
simply and solely, what appears on
the face of the parchment; does it
not contain principles as important
by implication as assertion ? He is
doubly blind 'Who fails to see that
there are certain unwritten principles
as self-evident and essential as axi-
oms which enter into it and form a
part of it, which can no more be ig-
nored than its written law. They
are not set down in black and white,
simply because they are everywhere
admitted in any republican govern-
ment that deserves the name. They
form the subtle and hidden life-blood
of free institutions. Foremost among
these^xioms is the proposition that
the eight op suffrage implies
the duty of allegiance. This
right, like everf other, has its cor-
relative obligation which is incorpo-
rated with it. The obligation forms
a P^.0^ the right, and when the
bligation fails, the right ceases also.
The right of suffrage is no inalien-
able right prior to and independent
of any particular form of govern-
ment, like that of life, liberty and
property. It is purchased in all
countries where it exists by allegi-
ance, either sworn or presumed. In
One pithy sentence, suffrage is de-
signed by the framers of government
as the means of national conserva-
tion, and not of liational anarchy.
Now what are the facts with which
Congress has to deal ? It is a fact
that the Legislatures of ten States
have expatnated themselves by a
Jslikwata, formal and moot notorious
abjuration of allegiance to the nation,
and have written their solemn ordi-
nance upon four years of history in
fire and blood. Now, is the clause
of Aritol* 5*1 ♦<* «nil# +kait>
legislation and place them again in
the Utiion. It declares that*"no
State shall, without its consent, bé
deprived of equal suffrage in the
Senate." What is meant by agitate ?
Not its Constitution ot governmental
departments, or territory. Its life-
less political machinery and its soil
can bear no relation to>its suffrage.
Obviously a State in the sense of
Article 5th is the people of a State,
speaking by its representatives in
senate chamber. And who are the
people who thus cast their votes in
Congress? Not the whole voting
population, but the majority; gene-
rally speaking the minorities have no
voice whatevor in the Senate. The
" State" is the State majority, and
in the present case a majority which
has by the most solemn and notori-
ous legislation cast off and trampled
under foot its allegianoe. Did the
State majorities to which Article 5th
had reference mean a body of avow-
ed traitors ? • Could it have meant
to commit the Sacred trust of the
national preservation to the nation's
enemies ?
At this stage of the argument we
are doubtless confronted by the dis-
ciples of Wood upon Yattel and Sto-
ry, armed with formidable reams of
authorities, and prepared to do battle
with an erudition more subtle than
that of Hudibras. The alpha and
omega of their argument divested of
its verbiage amounts to about this:
No citisen can ' constitutional^ be
convicted of treason and disfran-
chised without due process of law.
But Congress, upon the theory ad-
vanced are to condemn as traitors
and banish from the councils of the
nation the voting population of ten
entire States, loyal and disloyal tó-
ther, without the shadow of a trial.
e act of the Southern Legislatures
is not in the eye of the law the act
of their constituents; surely not that
of the loyal minorities who opposed
their election, yet they are one and
all, "at one fell swoop" robbed of
their citizenship, without a scintilla
of legal evidence.
These zealous champions of the
law are sadly adrift from the true
bearings of this question, and prove
only that " muck learning-" has be-
reft them of the faculty of discrimi-
nating differences, patent enough to
common sense, when not darkened
by prejudice or technical quibbles.
It is not true that the action of Con-
gress disfranchises a single indivi-
dual. The right of the Southern
people to vote ib not denied or ques-
tioned. True, their voice is not
heard in Congress. But this disa-
bility does not disqualify the private
citizen ¡ it affects the State at large
in its corporate unity. Let us put
this distinction to a practical test. If
the private citizen were disfranchised,
the disability and the infamy would
follow him wherever he went through
the Union, and cleave to him like a
curse forever. How different is the
fact when he may, by passing á State
line, resume his voice in the making
of the laws as readily as though he
had resided in a territory ? In sLort,
there can be no case of disfranchise-
ment when the disability belongs to
the place and not to the man.
The parties before Congress are
not private citizens, nor is the evil
legislated upon by Congress a crime
coming within the jurisdiction of any
court. It lacks evory feature of a
criminal cause. -There can be no
indictment, trial, or sentence, when
not a single individual is named in
the bill, or the verdict, or arraigned
at the bar. Congress does not at-
tempt to legislate concerning A, B,
or C. But what learned Blackstone
is prepared to say that Congress
may not legislate concerning a pub-
lic enemy ? Congress is not dealing
with personal crime, but with the
organized hostility of ten States.
The parties at the bar of the nation
are not private citizens demanding
the right to vote, but public bodies
representing masses and majorities,
and knocking at the doors of the
senate chamber in the persons of
Stephens & Co. Let it be always
remembered that these acts of abju-
ration are not the isolated acts of a
certain number of individuals. Trea-
son as a crime may be brought home
to the private citizen. But treason
as a conspiracy that winds its Python
folds about the national government;
treason as the organizer of the rebel
armies; treason as the author of
military appropriations; treason as
the foe and nearly the destroyer of
the nation, was not a congeries of
oradic and disconnected crimes,
engross had no Shav or Aaron
Burr to deal with in toe late war.
cm— '-***•" ífici «on.«.monster*
Argus-eyed and Briarius-armed,
wielding under the direction of a
single genius and 500,000 muskets,
and holding nearly two-thirds of the
fiwA o von nf t.Via TTnit. ri States,
le attempt to confront and con-
found this dreadtfbl spirit of ruin
through 'the indictment of a court-
room would'only'rende!* the Govern-
ment an object of pity and contempt
to men and angels. How long would
such a remedy be in effecting its
results, when the criminals embrace
judge, witness and jury, as well as
defendant, through pretty much ev-
ery county in the disloyal States ?
Meanwhile this sphynx's riddle of
statesmanship must be solved both
wisely and speedily or the Republic
must die.
But let us look a little more close-
ly at the clause of Article 5th, whose
cabalistic words are to be the "open
sesame" of the doors of Congress.
It prescribes one condition upoh
which the suffrage of a State may be
lost, viz.: " by its own consent."
Have not the ten seceded States
." consented " to such a forfeiture by
refusing for four years to elect sena-
tors? The Southern States have
not simply failed for a certain period
to exercise the right of suffrage in
the Senate, but have solemnly and
forever renounced with contumely
the right itself, and so far as their
desperate and bloody endeavors could
bring about such a result, have torn
them8elves adrift not only from Art.
5th, but from the Constitution and
nation. And having once forfeited
their suffrage, what power on earth
except the voice of the nation, utter-
ed through Congress, can restore it
for the asking ? *
The action of Congress may seem
at first blush to work some hardship
to the loyal minorities at the-South.
But this evil is more apparent than
real. These minorities never had a
voice m the Southern State Legisla-
tures, or the United States Senate.
They have been simply and only
misrepresented, and as appears tri-
umphantly by their recent action at
Philadelphia, are the most hearty
supporters of the policy of Congress
to be found North or South.
Let no one take alarm lest this
policy shall work a disintegration of
the Union. The Southern States
are still in the Union, and by a
stronger tie than ever before. Thgir
soil, their wealth, their system of
laws, their population are still in the
Union, by the purchase treasure of
400,000 lives and 3,000,000 of mo-
ney. They are not in the Union as
in the good old slaveholding days
when Toombs and Mason lorded it
over the Senate. They are in the
Union, if you will so have it, as the
felon is in jail for safe custody. They
are in the Union for the purposes of
national security and not for the pur-
poses of national anarchy.
Such are one or two of the argu-
ments which have presented them-
selves tp the writer as peculiarly fit-
ting at the present tour. They have
been barely touched upon. They
deserve a much more exhaustive dis-
cussion, and a bold and manly advo-
cacy in the Republican press. The
topics they embrace are necessarily
abstruse, put they could not bv pos
sibility be more momentous." The
wild political storm that now, rages
uncovers the first principles of our
governxaent. The genetic days of
" 76 " are upon us again ; it is high
time to see to it that the foundation
of our hope is secure. The foes of
the Union and of Congress are try-
ing to force us from the stronghold
of the Constitution ; and here let us
erect our standard, "in hoc signó
vincimus."
I am, Sir, yours truly, N. B.
■ —-— . 1
Too Much Reading.—I never
knew but one or two fast readers,
and readers of many books, whose
knowledge was good for anything.
Miss Martineau says of herself that
she is the ssiwést of readers, some-
times a page in an hour; but then
what she reads she makes her own.
Girls read too little. I will answer
for it that there are few girls of 18
who have not read more books than I.
I can count on my fingers in two
minutes all I ever read, but then
they are mine. Sir Erskine Perry
said that in a conversation with
Comte, one of the most profound
thinkers in Europe, Comte told him
he had read an incredibly small nuni-
ber of books these last twenty years,
I forgot how many, and scarcely ev-
er a review; but, then, what Comte
reads lies there fructifying, and
comes out a living tree with leaves
and fruit. Multifarious reading
weakens the mind more than doing
nothing, for it becomos a necessity
at last, li}(e smoking, and is an ex-
euse for the mind to lie dormant,
while thought is pourod in and runs
through, a blear stream, over unpro-
auctiveTgravet, our nhi«h not oven
mosses grow. It is the idlest of;
idleness, and leaves more of impo-
tencv than any other. I do not
Siver myself as a specimen, for my
ervuutj energies are autntercu uj
stump oratory, its excitements and
reactions, but I know what reading
is, for I could read once, and did.
I read hard or not at all, never
skimming, never turning aside to
more inviting bookjy and Aristotle,
Plato, Butler, Thuekydides, Sterne,
Jonathan Edwards, have passed like
iron atoms of blood into my mental
constitution.—J7. W. Mobertsdn.
A Wife.—The Buckeye (Ohio)
Statfe says : There is a woman resid-
ing in this county who can plow, fish,
nurse and sing, all at once. She
yokes her oxen to the plow; then
stowing her twin babies in a corn
basket, suspends it to a tree; at-
taches the Cow bell to the end of her
fishing rod, which íb forced into the
ground at the water's edge; she
then drives on her team, and every
time she comes opposite her babes
the basket receives a send, which
keeps it vibrating until she performs
another circuit around the " land,"
practicing in the meantime various
pieces of sacred music; and if a
thoughtless fish swallows her baited
hook the obedient boll informs her,
when she sails across the field and
straightway hauls the victim ashore.
The value: of the heroine of this sto-
ry, compared to sickly sentimental-
ists who can't sweep a room or bring
a bucket of water without being
broken down, is inestimable.
Marriage and Death.—Why is
it that the marriage announcements
are immediately followed by the obi-
tuary notices in our papers ? Does
death follow so close on the footsteps
of marriage ? Is grief tho page that
follows the train of happiness ? Does
the tomb open wide its dark and
ponderous jaws beside the nuptial
couch ? 'T is the plan of life. The
gleeful songs of light and merry
hearts to day will to morrow turn to
funeral chants, and sobbing and lam-
entation be heard instead of glad
pealing laughter. We read to da;
of our friends' marriage and wis
them joy; to morrow we see their
death recorded and say " peace to
their ashes." Our merriest songS
are timed by footfalls of death, and
the " silver cord " is as fragile as a
spider's thread, and the "golden
bowl" is more brittle than glass.
Southern Chivalry.—A corres-
pondent at Washington says infor-
mation has .been received there that
an aged negro in Georgia, employed
as a preacher by some Northern so-
ciety, has been sentenced to twelve
months in the chain-gang as a va-
grant.—Ex.
National Banks.—-The late re-
port of the Comptroller of the Cur-
rency says sixty-two national banks
have been organized since the previ-
ous annual report, of vrhich fifty-one
are new associations, and eleven are
conversions of existing State banks
to the. national system, making the
total organized up to Oct. 1st, 1,063.
Of these 1,647 are now in operation,
with $417,245,154 of capital paid
in, and bonds deposited to the amount
of $322,467,700. The circulation
is $292,671,753.
Texas has four national banks in
operation. Capital paid in, $548,700;
bonds deposited, $403,500; circu-
lation, $337,750.
Louisiana has three national banks.
Capital paid in, $1,800,000 ; bonds
deposited, $853,000.
Arkansas has two banks, Alabama
three, South Carolina two, Mississip-
pi two, Georgia nine, North Caroli-
na five.— Galveston New .
Under the Rose.—The .phrase
implies secresy, and had its origin
during the year 477, B. C. Pausan-
ias was engaged in intrigue with
Xerxes for the 1 marriage of his
daughter, and subjugation of Greece
to the Median rule. Their negotia-
tions were carried on in a building
attached to the temple of Minerva,
the roof of which was a garden cov-
ered with roses, so that their plot
was literally conducted under the
rose. But alas! for their seeming
secresy—their plans were discovered
bv a slave, and as the sanctity of the
dace forbade the Athenians to kill
'ausania thore, they walled him in
and left him to din by slow degrees.
It afterward grew to be a custom
ataong the Athenians, to wear roses
in the hair whenever they wished to
impart a secret. Hence the saying,
sub rosa—-'which is now in common
use among all christian nations.
i
A Wife.—-If you are for pleasure,
marry; if you prize rosy health,
marry. A good wife is Heaven's
last, best gift to man ; his angel of
mercy; minister of graces innumer-
able ; his gem of many virtues; his
casket of jewels; her voioe his sweet-
est music; her smiles his brightest
day ; her kiss the guardian of inno-
i he balm of his health the bal&aui uf
his life; her industry his surest
wealth; her economy his safest stew-
ard ; heHips his faithful counsellors;
her bosom the softest pillow of his
cares; and her prayers the ablest
advooates of Heaven's blessings on
his head.
The Washburne family will be well
represented in the fortieth Congress.
Four Washburnes are already elected
to the next House of Representatives
—Elihu B. Washburne of Illinois,
well known as a chairman of the
committee on Commerce in the pres-
ent Congress; Gen. C. C. Washburne
of Wisconsin, a former member of
Congress, and a Major General of
volunteers during the rebellion; H.
D. Washburne of Indiana, a member
of the last House; and William B.
Washburne, re-elected from our 8th
district.—Exchange.
I won't play with Swearers.—
A man, looking up from sawing his
wood, saw his little son turning two
boys out of the yard.
" See here ; what are you about,
George?" asked the man.
" I am turning two swearers out of
my yard, sir," said George. "I
said I would not play with swearers,
and I won't."
That is the right time and place to
say " I won't." I wish every boy
would take thejatand, No play wtth
swearers!
the name
vain." ,
A diminutive lawyer appearing as
witness in one of the courts, was ask-
ed by a gigantic counsellor what
profession he was of; and having
replied that he was an attorney—
"You a lawyer!" said Brief;
" why, I could put you in my pock-
et."
"Very likely you may," rejoined
the other; "and if you do, you will
have more law in your pocket than
ever you had in your head."
If we would have powerful minds
we must think; if we would have
faithful hearts we must love; if we
would have muscles, we must labor ;
and these three—thought, love and
]abor—include all that is valuable in
life.
There is one advantage in being a
blockhead—you are never attacked
with low spirits or apoplexy. The
moment a man can worry he ceases
to be a fool.
An old sailor at a theatre said he —
supposed the dancing girls wore their
dresses half mast as a mark of res-
pect for departed modesty.
" Thou shalt not take
of the Lord thy God in
it
r
'1
1
¡I
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Scott, G. R. The Southern Intelligencer. (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 2, No. 26, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 27, 1866, newspaper, December 27, 1866; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth180078/m1/1/?q=technical+manual: accessed July 9, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.