Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1861-05-28

81; the description of the nature Of the subject
Tl aIu ne guI was, By mistake, omitted altogether
o.;,.;rl 49, was TO testators daughter. A. $50
Onl.eus sne word 'pounds.n But, immediately fol
lowing, there was a beauest tn his dangbta- r ~
five hundred and fifty pounds - =
| 1t was confended, that the legacy TO A. was void
Tor uncertainty; ppf the Chancellor, Lord Cowper,
held that the subsequent bequest To RI exnlained
and supplied the omission and ciaarv 49,, AZ
intention to give $50 pounds 20 A. and that the he
quest was as good, and the description AZ Certain
as if the word pounds had been expressed --'-'
From the foregoing authorities, we tbinl the
omission in the viii, under consideration, may be
supplied.
The mistake. it will be observed, consists sim,,v
in the omission to state the subject Of this gift which
was plainly intended to be- the remaining "half5 of
his tract of land The mistake is apparent upon the
face of the paper, without reserting to extrinsic
evidence.
The omission, in the language Of Mr.. Story, is
"demonstrable from the structure and scope of the
will" And it cannot in any way be reconcled
with the rest of the will
Nothing can be more clearly established, from
the face Of the WILL than that the testator intended
TO dispose OF all the property he possessed of every
description; and it is equally clear that he supposed
that he had done so, by the will The will, upon
Its face, shows what property he owned. ALI the
personal property including slaves, and chooses in
action, is specifically bequeathed One half of his
tract of land is also devised specifically to his son.
Turner =. IN his own right-the omission therefore
to dispose Of the Oher naoey of the and-where the
intention to dispose eff ali his estate is so fully man
ifested, is such an "absurdity or ambiguity on the
face OF the will )" according to the authorities
before referred to- would perhaps let II extrinsic
evidence to remove it. But the present case, does
not call for the introduction of extrinsc evidence
10 remedy the mistake.
The face of the will itself, not only demonstrates
the mistake but likewise furnishes the evidence by
which the palpable omission may be supplied.
We have the incomplete clause In the will forms
erly written, so far as it goes demonstrating the
purpose and intention of giving some other property
mot disposed of in the will itstands) to Turner B.
Estherly, in trust for Dolly c. Young for life with
the remainder to her children. What property was
intended to be given by the clause? The will itself
answers this question IL was the other Hoey of the
lGad For the will disposes specifically Of every
thing else he possessed, and the remaining half Of
the land not in terms, disposed Of as the will now
stands, is therefore the only subject which the unn
ished elsuse of the will could, by possibility, have
contemplated.
1t is not admissible to suppose, that the testator
caused this clause to be framed, wlthOu: really. n~
sendng thereby to make any oft. for the benefit of
his daughter and her children. We are consequent
y forced to the conclusion that the subject of the
gift was, by inadvertence, unintentonally omitted
ANU W ulSpOSe Oh All MS property
is manifest and yet in fact part of the land is not
in terms, disposed of the conclusion is inevitable
that the subject Of the gift omitted in the clause re-
ferred to, was the moisty Of the land
Upon any other hypothesis, it is impossible to re-
eonce the intention Of the testator with the facts
appearing upon the face Of the will
1t will therefore be decreed that the omission be
supplied, and the will reformed accordingly.
Decree of the Chancellor reversed.
Mckinney.
Correct copy: J. p CLARK. Clerk.
The Seizure of Private Telegraph Dis
patches.
From the New York News, Nay 81
The same newspaper which contained an official
telegraphic dispatch from Washington averring that
it was untrue that the telegraph there had been
taken possession of by the Government, contained
also the information that on Monday last, in every
town and city in the free States, sudden swoop
was made by the .. s. Marshals and their Depu-
ties, tooG loaTTant upon all the telegraph stations
and all the manuscript dispatches fled therein Sez-
ed. Il is added that Government officials were at
once set TO work to scrutinZe these confidential
documents, with view of searching for evidences
of treason.
Over qusrter of a million of private documents,
written under the seal of secresy and supposed to
be protected by the sanctity of private communities;
ITEMS are thus swept into the hands of the President
of the United States and his underlngs. Every
line and letter sent to families and friends, upon
matters of business domestic afairs-eyery mes
sage any citizen may have sent through the tele-
graph whether it related to his life or DEATH love
and matrimony, private credit intrigue advice, in
structOn information to absent frends-sH that |
any person among u.s. known to and hated by the ru
ngpowers, may have ever said or received, by this
medium, now likely to be overhsuled by the spies
Of an audaclous Government, and made the sport |
of prying inqusitiyeness and the of social
judicial oppression. The private affairs Of almost
every man, woman and child are at the mercy Of
the spies. What the despotic Governments of Eu
rope never dare to do, Mr.. Abraham Lincoln has
ventured to accomplish. There was time, not
many years since, when all Great Britain was con.
vused with political agitation because single let
ter had been discovered to have been opened in the
post Office by the order of Sir John Graham. In 1
France, Italy, and Austria even, during the recent
vars, the sanctty of the telegraph and post office
mas been most sedulogsly respected. There IS not \
IN arbitrary power ruling by "divine right" in all
Europe, which whOud have dared openly to seize on
and violate private correspondence. What said 1
President Buchanan in his celebrated dispatch sent
)r pretended to be sent to Queen Victoria, on the
supposed successful laying of the transatlantic tele
graph cable? He expressed the hope that the tele
yraph would always remain neutral. Here is the /
Government of the United States the first in the /
civilized world to violate the suggestion Of its own
thief!
"The right of the people to be secure in their
persons houses, papers and effects, against unrea-
onable searches and seizures shall be violated
ays the Constitution of the United States; "and no
shall issue but upon probable cause, sup
ported by oath or affirmation. aud particularly de-
crbng the place to be searched and the persons or
hings to be seized" Has not this provision been
lagrantly violated in these unwarranted searches
md seizures? Are we any longer secure in our
persons, houses, papers or effects?
Espionage, the sum of all meanness and villainy,
appears to have become o recognized measure of
,ur Government Keyhole witnesses, disguised
agents. rihed letters Intercepted and violated tele
yraphIc dispatches, are the means whereby they |
proceed from step to step IN the "Free States
narki this seizure of private papers has only been
made in the Free States of the Unioni o, for an
'ther Curran to portray IN those words OF burning
nvective which defy time She "miscreants '-''the 1
lbOminable instruments" worked upon," to use 1
lis language, "to give evidence under public en-
,loyment as informers, with promise of protec-
ion and of extraVagant reward" There are no
yerds, however, in the English language where
With to express with due emphasis the detestation
md disgust with which free people contemplate
lsurpatOn so unlawful and an espionage 80 mean
are contained in this last act Of the President of
he Party of Free Speech"
Do we live under Constitution? Is there die
ator-an autocrat at Washington, in place of the
resident, who should be there, serving the Ameri-
an people under the prescriptions and limitations
f the Constitution? Are the defelses and protec-
ions our fathers instituted for our civil rights
lready borne down and obiiterated by the might
f despottc power! VIII the american peOPie
olerate the spy upon their correspondence
aforuer within their thresholds We shall see.
The Truth OF History.
In speech delivered In Washington few days
inoe by Gen. B. F. BUTLER, that valiant chieftaIn
aid:
It is an historical fact, to which take pride in
ow referring, that in the Revolution Massachusetts
ent more men south of Mason and Dixon's Line to
IL A. aafx tho 1t--y4 han a
outhern Colonies put together"
Commenting on this assertion, the Richmond Wig
ays:
We have been living in very profound ignorance
the obligations we owed 20 these dear brethren.
Te have been under the impression that never be-
lre this present visitation did We have the honor
military company from that patriotic region.
Te know Ben Harrison, of Berkeley, declared to the
irginia Convention of lis8 in the presence of men,
witnesses to the fact that when this