The Sun.
London, England, 1867-03-06 00:00:00

Miscellaneous American News.

The following is the Springfield Republican's re-
view of the week ending 16th February :—The
movement of the President and the Southern Go-
vernors, looking to reconstruction upon a basis
combining the vital points of the pending Constitu-
tional Amendment, with a scheme of equal suffrage
qualified by educational or property tests, has had
the effect, contrary to natural and general expecta-
tion, to drive Congress to the opposite extreme, and
the House has passed, by more than two-thirds
votes, Mr. Stevens's Military Government Bill and
a bill from Mr. Eliot, of the New Orleans committee,
for reconstruction in Louisiana. The bills are at
several points antagonistic to each other. An
earnest effort was made by Mr. Banks, Mr. Bing-
ham, of Ohio ; and Mr. Raymond, of New York,
and other Republicans, to stave off decisive action,
in the hope that some course might be found by
which all the objects sought by the most Radical
might be gained, with the co-operation of the
President. But Mr. Stevens and his friends evi-
dently prefer that the war with the President
should go on, and be aggravated to the point of
impeachment as soon as possible ; and the Demo-
crats co-operated with them, for obvious reasons
of party policy. Neither bill was forced through
with indecent haste, and the Democrats were
allowed all the time they desired for the debate,
which was not much. The Louisiana bill establishes
a provisional Government, consisting of a Governor
and nine Councillors, to be appointed by the Pre-
sident and confirmed by the Senate. It orders
an election in June next for a Legislature and
State officers, and in October for delegates to frame
a new State Constitution. No one is to vote, hold
office, or sit on a jury, who will not swear that he
has not been a voluntary rebel since March, 1864,
land there is to be no distinction on account of
colour. Sufficient military force to carry through
the programme is provided for. Mr. Stevens's bill
provides for the government of the " so-called"
Southern States by military commanders, who are
to supersede the civil officers, laws, and courts, at
their own discretion. An effort of Mr. Blaine, of
Maine, to engraft on this bill a provision that each
Southern Stare shall be admitted to representation
when it adopts the pending Constitutional Amend-
ment and establishes equal suffrage was defeated by

the union of the Democrats with the Radical mem-
bers. Whether these bills will pass the Senate,
or, if so, whether they can obtain a two-thirds
vote in both Houses, to override the impending
veto, is as yet doubtful. If they should thus be-
come laws, it is expected that the President will
disobey and resist both, when the next Congress
will at once proceed to impeachment, and possibly
to the attempt to oust the President before trial.
Into the troubled future beyond no ray of light has
yet penetrated. In other matters beside reconstruc-
tion Congress has also made progress; both branches
have commenced holding evening sessions, and seem
to realise that the remaining time of the session is
short. The Nebraska Bill has been passed over the
President's veto in both branches, the vote in the
Senate standing 31 to 9, and in the House 120 to 44.
No vote has yet been taken on the Colorado Bill, but
that is hardly likely to fare as well as the other
should a vote be taken on it this session, though Mr.
Wade read in the Senate on Wednesday a resolution
adopted at a mass meeting at Denver, Colorado,
to the effect that the people of that Territory are
very largely in favour of a State organisation, and
pledging faith in its constitution, and in the State's
ratification of the Constitutional Amendment.
Another important thing accomplished is the pas-

sage of the Bankrupt Bill by the Senate, by a vote
of 22 to 20. Mr. Sumner tried hard to get the bill
amended, so as to exclude the late rebels from its
benefits, but he failed, and refused to vote on the
bill at all. The final debate was enlivened by a
speech from Mr. Conness, of California, who de-
clared his intention not to submit to the whip of
Nir. Sumner as leader any longer. The most
important amendment made in the bill by the
Senate is that which takes the appointment of Re-
gisters in Bankruptcy from the Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court and gives it to the District Judges ;
and for concurrence in this amendment the bill now
goes back to the house. Other bills that have passed
the Senate are the Invalid Pension Bill, the Post-
Office Appropriation Bill, the Contingent Fund
Deficiency Appropriation Bill, tho Bill to In-
crease the Salaries of Quartermaster-Sergeants,

the Legislative, Judicial, and Executive Appropria-
tion Bill,—which was first amended so as to strike
out the appropriations to the Daily Globe, for print-
ing the debates of Congress,—the bill to change the
place for holding the United States Circuit Court
in Rhode Island, the bill to punish the larceny of
Government property by a fine of $5,000 and im-
prisonment, not less than one' nor more than ten
years, and the bill to amend the postal laws, which
modifies the existing schedule charges for postal
money orders, authorises the re-issue of lost ones,
punishing the counterfeiting thereof, and authorises
the appointment of superintendents of foreign mails
and dead letters. The upper branch has also passed
the joint resolution giving increased compensation
to the Government clerks at Washington, with an
amendment extending the benefits of the resolution
to everybody employed by the Government at

Washington.
Four men lately belonging to the crew of the
steamship City of Bath arrived at Charleston,
South Carolina, from Georgetown, Wednesday
evening, the 13th of Feb. They report that their
steamer was burned at sea on Sunday morning off
Cape Hatteras, and of twenty-six persons on board
all are believed to have been lost excepting these
four. The City of Bath was on her way from
Boston to Savannah. Cape Hatteras will earn a
terrible notoriety for disaster. If small boats lived
in such a sea as that in which the Evening Star
foundered, what caused the loss of the twenty-two

persons who are said to have perished in the City ,
of Bath? The circumstance is mysterious, and will
require full explanation.
The following are the words addressed to us by
a distinguished citizen of America in a letter from
New York, dated Feb. 9 :—" Our national future
is one that requires, on the part of Congress, great
wisdom as well as firmness. Crude efforts at the
problem of Reconstruction, the difficulties of which
the course of the President has immeasurably in-
creased, will continue to be made and abandoned ;
and some persons may hastily conclude that the
case is hopeless, that a harmonious restoration of
our Union is impossible, and that anarchy or re-
newed civil war is inevitable. But such persons are
either ignorant or forgetful of the enlightened
patriotism and common sense of the American people,
by whom the subject is discussed in every part of
the country. And for my own part, although our
national dangers may even be greater in times of
peace than they were during the war, I look for
a happy issue in good time from the troubles that
encompass us ; and I am inclined to believe that the
lengthened time required for our extrication may be
atoned for, in the more thorough and permanent
adjustment, which I believe we shall reach at last."
These words of good cheer come from a man whose
illustrious descent can add little to the reputation
he has attained among his countrymen, by his great
and brilliant talents.
Congress has abolished the tax on cotton, and
made at least one move to conciliate the South.
Notwithstanding the restrictions imposed by roads
destroyed, and railways without rolling stock, the
staple is arriving from the interior at the ports in
increasing quantities. From an average of 65,000
bales a week the number has increased first to
70,000, then to 78,000, and now to 82,000. Dr.
Forbes has, after all, proved no prophet, and the
most liberal estimates are likely to be exceeded.
The estimate of the Indian officer was 1,200,000
bales, but it is believed now to be clear that the crop
will exceed 2,000,000 bales. Up to the 7th of
February last it is thought that 1,100,000 bales
have been received at all the ports. Of these
500,000 have been exported, and 600,000 are in
store, while over 92,000 are in the interior at
Memphis, Augusta, Macon, and other cities. This
accounts for 1,200,000 bales passed from the plan-
tations, and it is calculated that at least 800,000
remain to be brought forward. As we write, we
learn the tax is re-imposed.
The Iron Age is sorry to see that by a vote of 22
to 20 the Bankrupt Bill WM defeated in the Senate,

There appears to be still a prospect of its reconside-
ration and eventual passage, which, it is hoped, may
be realiSed ; but the time of the present Congress is
very short, and there should be nothing for the re-
mainder of the session but direct earnest, practica
work. It remarks, "We are disappointed to
find that so many as twenty Senators are opposed
to a bill so much needed, and so generally demanded
by the country. The bill is not by any means all that
we could wish. Especially do we object to the un-
limited homestead exemption clause, but still so desir-
ous are we to wipe out the national disgrace of having
no bankrupt law at all we were desirous to have
this, looking to time and further experience to cause
improvements in it. An earnest representation
should be made to the Senate not to delay action
on it. Its defeat would be a national disgrace and
misfortune."

The steamship City of Boston, of the Inman mail
line, which arrived at New York, Feb. 2, after a
ten days' passage from Liverpool, has completed
within the year no less than ten round voyages
between Liverpool and New York, being a distance
of more than sixty thousand nautical,•or seventy
thousand statute, miles—a performance believed to
have never before been equalled by any vessel.

An exhibition of the locomotive invented and
patented by Silvester Marsh, of Chicago, for over-
coming steep gradeson railways by means of an iron
centre cog-rail, took place at Boston. The minia-
ture model locomotive propelled by a small car,
loaded heavily with iron, up a grade of upwards of
1,700 feet to the mile, with great facility and steadi-
ness. Many members of the Legislature were
present.

Bangor has voted to loan its credit to the extent
of half a million to aid in the construction of the
railroad from that city to Milford, in Piscataquis
county, and the heart of the richest mineral section
of the State. A connection will be made at Mil-
ford with the European and North American Rail-
way, and some of the trade which would otherwise
go to Portland, Bangor hopes to secure to herself,
by means of the new route.
A portion of the bridge of the Illinois Central
Railroad, at Galena, has also been swept away. The
breakwater at Aurora, 111., was injured, and the
island was overflowed, covering the first floor of
business houses and compelling families to leave
their dwellings.
DISASTROUS FLOODS AT THE WEST.--DESTRUC-
TION OF RAILROAD BRIDGES.—The railroad bridge
across the Republican river at Fort Riley, Kansas,
was carried away by the high water on Thursday
morning, the 14th of February, taking with it ten
men who were endeavouring to make it secure. Part
of the bridge was secured at Womigo, and no lives
were lost. Other bridges across rivers in that sec-
tion are in imminent danger. The Missouri at
Kansas City has risen three feet since Thursday
morning, and is still rising. The flood in the
Ottawa river was very high, and several bridges
have been washed away.

Emory E. Hovey, of West Waterford, Vermont,
has sold from his nine cows, during the nine months
of last season, 1,896 pounds of butter for $824.84,
or about $9l per cow.
MUSCLE AND MACHINERY.—The great objection
to farming hitherto has been " hard work." Farm

labour is done too much by hand. What manu-
facturer of the present day could succeed with only
such aid ? The human drudge of the farm would
rise physically and intellectually in his calling.
Farmers cannot afford to be machines when think-
ing power rules the world. They must use machi-
nery, and harness either steam, wind, or horse power
to their car. This last must ever be the common
motor of the farm, as it is within the reach of all.
By horse power the farmer can mow and reap, turn
and pitch, thresh and grind, saw and bore, chop,
feed,. and crush roots. It is not profitable to

'arm as those did who lived centuries ago. Labour

is higher, taxes are steeper, and commercial
values rising. A better agriculture must arise than
the past has known, or the farmer will " go''under."
If our hills and valleys ever become properly culti-
vated, the farmer has got work to do. Leaks must
be stopped, time economised, intellectual and social
elevation must be achieved, farmers' clubs must be
sustained, and machinery must supersede muscle.
To make any business tolerable, it must be shown
capable of yielding something besides health and
bread, and that is about all that farming has
hitherto shown. Farming will become profitable
when the farmer understands himself and saves all
that he now wastes.—The Farm and Fireside.

The Iron Age gives an account of the recent dis-
covery of an immense vein of black-band iron ore
in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, and states
that, after full and exact inquiries, instead of
exaggeration in the former reports, its importance
and magnitude have been under-rated. The dis-
covery is attributed to Mr. E. MbGinnes, of
Pottsville. The Pottsville Standard states on this
subject :—" We are happy to announce that a
close inspection of the black-band vein of iron ore
has very much exceeded the estimate placed upon
its value by the public, and surpassed that pre-
viously formed of it by themselves. The vein is
first met with upon the south dip of an anti-
clinal axis, 60 feet from the surface. 'The dip is
gentle, perhaps not more than 30 degrees, and the
vein is being sloped upward to the axis, where it
dips down north. A gangway has been driven
westward, perhaps forty or more yards, and the
iron extracted in a manner somewhat similar to
coal. Eastwardly, however, the sloping is done
without gangways—the ore being moved down to
the shaft by sleds. 'The vein varies gradually from
3} to 41 feet in thickness. Its thickness has, in no
instance, fallen below 3 feet 3 inches, while the
greatest thickness attained is five feet. It is roofed
by a hard sandstone rock, with imbedded siliceous
pebbles, and upwards of 15 feet thick. The roof
is so hard and smooth that no prop timber what-
ever is required, a few small stumps only being
requisite along the gangways. The bottom of the
vein consists of two feet of slate, containing no-
dules of iron ore equally as rich as the main vein,
and it will doubtless prove advisable to rip up this
slate, extract the ore it contains, and throw the
balance away as gob to support the roof. The
process of mining is extremely simple and in-
expensive, and with proper system we have no
doubt could be accomplished on a large scale at
frotu fifty to sixty cents per ton. As yet every-
thing is new, and it will require time and experience
to introduce improvements and reduce the cost to
the minimum. Assuming that the owners of the
land were now working the ore on their own ac-
count, on a large and systematic scale, and that they
had arranged along the slope of Mill Creek some
twenty furnaces similar to those of the Dowlais
estate in South Wales ; assuming this, let us inquire
how far we might hope to compete with those
famous works or similar establishments in Scotland,
for the complete possession of the iron market of
the United States. First. It will require about
21- tons of the black-band to make one ton of pig
metal. We assume that it could be mined by the
owners at sixty cents per ton—(2,ooo lbs.) This
would make $1 65, to which add 10 cents per ton
for royalty, 271 cents, and the whole cost of the
ore at the furnace would be $1921—say $2. The
royalty here allowed (10 cents. per ton), estimating
each acre of land to contain 15,000 tons of ore,
would make it worth $1,500 per acre, exclusive of
coal and surface value, and would therefore be
ample for lands which have not recently com-
manded more than from $BO to $lOO per acre.
Second. To produce a ton of pig metal from time
ore would require, we judge, not over one gross ton
of anthracite coal ; because the ore itself is very
rich in coal and carbonaceous matter, as, indeed, are
all the ores of the coal measures ; and because it
is also open and porous, contains but little silica,
phosphorus, sulphur, or other sluggish matter, but
on the contrary is rich in lime and manganese, and
other light fluxes. In Wales it has to be roasted
to coke the bitumen with which it is associated, or
otherwise the tarry secretions, while undergoing
calcination in the furnace, would clog up the
draught, and produce scaffolding. Our ore being
associated with anthracite (coal already coked)
requires no such treatment, and is, moreover, much
richer in iron and coal. While the Welsh and
Scotch ores require roasting and 1,000 pounds of
fuel, our ores require no roasting and less than 900
i pounds and where they require 1,000 pounds of
•

ore, ours will require but 850 pounds, and in that
ratio to the production of pig metal.
The Vermont Chronicle not proving satisfactory
to the Congregationalists of that State under present
management, a new organ of the denomination has
been started at _Montpelier, called the Vermont
Congregationalist. It is edited by Rev. J. Q.
Bit-
tinger, of St. Alban's, assisted by a corps of clergy-
men, and published by C. W. Willard. The first
number has spirited editorials, and is generally
readable and interesting. The name is not well
chosen, as there is already a Congregationalist ill
Boston.

A new paper called the Leader, Radical in politics,
appeared at Washington on the evening of the

th February.

Mr. James F. Otis, a kindly, genial gentleman,
who, without great scholarship, was known for
some thirty years as a pleasant and graceful writer,
and was connected at different times with The Ex-
press and Spirit of the Times in New York, and
with The .Netv Orleans Picayune, died at Boston on
the 2d inst.
Mr. Bayard Taylor has jast arrived in Europe.
Mr. Donald G. Mitchell—lk Marvel—is pre-
paring a work on landscape gardening.
Mr. C. W. Howard, of Kingston, Georgia,
announces a Southern history of the war.
Mr. Coffin—Barry Gray—is said to be complet-
ing a novel of American life, founded on facts
which have occurred „within thirty years ; scene
near the Catskills.

Mr. Richard T. Colburn has nearly finished his
" Recollections of Twenty Campaigns," a work
which gives the author's experience as a cotton
planter near Natchez, and his army adventures
under Fremont and Lyon, at Vicksburg, in the
Army of the Potomac, and subsequently as cor-
respondent of the World.
M. Du Chaillu expects to visit America this
month or next.

" Why Coloured People in Philadelphia aro
Excluded from the Street Cars." (Philadelphia,
1866. Pamphlet, pp. 27.)—The author of this
paper, says the Nation, has put on record his pro-
test against one of the most curious relics of the
ancient barbarity still extant. It is a strange
anomaly that Philadelphia has done as much for the
extinction of slavery and the triumph of freedom
as any other city of the Union, that it was the seat
of the first organisation for raising coloured troops,
that it fed and clothed them at its refreshment
saloons, that it cares for them in its Soldiers' Hoene
now, and that, in spite of all this, to this day n°
negro can ride in one of its passenger cars. The
pamphlet tells in plain, straightforward, manly
phrases, and with a simplicity that lends strength to
its rare bits of sharp sarcasm, the history of the
efforts that have been made to remedy this mis-
chievous prejudice. In spite of committees, 01
public meetings, of courts of law with decisions
clearly against it, of applications for legislative
action, which were strangled and not discussed,
there is such a bad sentiment in the general public,
such a universal agreement in this wretched pre-
judice, that the mischief holds its own. Of course,
it is indefensible on any ground of sense or reason or
humanity, and nobody pretends to meet it with aI3Y
argument of that sort. Nevertheless, by common
consent, the privilege or right, call it which ril
please, that is accorded in every other town of the
country, is denied in Philadelphia. The calm,
measured tone of this pamphlet will lend its valrle
when, hereafter, the people of Philadelphia shall.
look back on the curiosities of their older daYs '

the same merit makes it worth reading and Pre-
serving in other places which can afford to look
down on Philadelphia with some complacency,
so
far at least as this particular fault is concerned. °l'
course the good to be done by it is not confined t°
securing to the coloured people the right of ricilu°
,
in street-cars, for that will come when the re3'
to
work of the pamphlet is done. It is meant
show to the white people of Philadelphia the wickcj;
f
ness of fostering and keeping alive prejudices. tin
f
race and distinctions of colour, in a way that in-
jures the whites in the eyes of all other white men,
and blunts their own perception of right and wrong
and holds the coloured people at a point lower than
their rightful place, humble as that may be.