Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1861-12-18
CONFEDERATION at Charleston. S. C.

The news of the great confagra;ion at
Charleston is fully confirmed. We have
received information of it, not only from
those who arrived at Fortress Monroe un-
der flag of truce, and from the dispatches
in the Richmond papers, but the captain
of the United States transport Illinois, on
his way north from Port Royal, saw, at 10
o'clock on the night of the 18th instant,
when he was about six miles distant from
Charleston harbor, that q tremendous fire
was raging in that doomed city. The
buildings destroyed were located in one of
the most important portions of the town,
and were nearly all constructed of very in
fammable material few or none of them
being built of brick or stone.
There are different reports in regard to
the origin of the fire, but it is quite pro-
bable that it was the work of a negro in
cendiary; and although it is scarcely pos
sible that, while such strong military Or
ganization Of the whites exists, slave in
surrection would break out, yet it cannot
be doubted that hopes of freedom are cher
ished BY many Of the slaves, and that they
will make desperate efforts to realize them.
No matter what may have been the origin
of the FIRE, the people who commenced the
rebellion and rejoiced over the fall of Fort
Sumter, must now be in a fearfully dis
tressed condition, and if it be indeed true
that to the misery caused by the confagra-
ton, the terrible horrors of a slave insur-
rection are added, their condition must be
inconceiyably deplorable.
The N. Y Herald of Sunday, in commen-
ting upon the late fire ct Charleston, truly
says:
It is worthy of remark that Institute Hall,
where the Democratic Convention was held,
which split the party, and split the nation:
the theatre, to which the Secessionists retired
t. nold a separate convention; ST. Andrews
Hall, where the Mozart faction figured the
Charleston Hotel, and the Mills House, where
the warning factions respectively held their
cession ordinance was passed the cannon
and ammunition foundries, the treason shops
Of the Mercury and Courier and the head
quarters of Governor Pckens. have been all
laid in ashes. Does it not look like a retri
button Of Providence, and an omen and
type Of the future destruction Of the rebel
lion?
The Charleston Courier Of the 18th gives
l..E e - !
says that the lose is estimated at from FIVE to
seven million of dollars.
The Charleston Mercury says that five hun.
dred and seventy six buildings were burned.
---~-s-S -Se-~---
pleted-The Branch Railroad from
Cresson to Ebensburg
Not com pleted-Thc Branch road to Reeds
vile.
e3-Colored laborers are advertised for in
Hamilton, Canada, to enter the service Of the
Australian Cotton Association, in New South
Wales. Passage paid, wages eighty four dol
lars per annum and full rations are the in
ducements offered.
Ezy~ Hon. Garrett Davis was on Tuesday
elected United States Senator from Kentucky
for the remainder of Breckinridges term -
He received 81 votes in the Legislature to 10
votes for his opponents.
Nsac Disc0reries.-A pair of spectaoles to
suit the eyes of potatoes. The club with
which an idea struck the poet. A stick to
measure narrow escapes. The hook and line
with which an angler caught cold.
u.s. Prentice's letter disavowing the article
in the Louisville Journal respecting the admin
istration policy on slaves, was addressed to
Col. Thomas a. Scott, Assistant Secretary of
War. The Lewistown Democrat kiaeag there
was no such letter, yet it has turned up.
gsaThe Democrat, with its usual peryer
sion, says the Gazette advocated gas in the !
court house on account Of its cheapness. We |
did no such thing. We said that if court was
held for a single evening, it would save the |
interest of the cost of the fxtures-and thus /
prove a saving to the county.
EgWe would respectfully inform the val /
liant fighting editor of the Dem ocrat that we
wrote precisely what we meant in our article /
aliuding to the locofoco press following the !!
course of the Southern Jacobins, and if he |
chooses to put the construction on it he does
we cannot helpit. No one else we have heard
of read it in that way he, however, can
r1aare binocaIf