The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1866-03-24
ORIGINAL AND SELECTED.

CO In the country about Vicksburg, both in
Mississippi and Louisiana, eight Union gen.
erals, between fifty and sixty late colonies and
majors, and several hundred privates and nom
commissioned officers, discharged at the close
of the war from the Union army, are now en-
gagged in various occupations many of them in
partnership with officers and soldiers of the
| rebel army. So writes a late colonel in the
Union army. ~
| E The Canton Qllinois) Register says that
new cattle disease has made its appearance in
that State. The animals are perfectly well one
day, and ole the next. The Register is informed
that number have died fromit
SS- Mr.. N. F. Doubleday, father of Major
General Abner Doubleday, died at Belvidere,
Illinois, on the 10th inst. Mr. Doubleday was
formerly resident Of Auburn, New York, and
represented that district in Congress. ~..
| D~ 1t is stated that the Hudson River Rail-
road Company have ordered 5000 tons of steel
rails, suffcien to lay sixty miles of road and
| as the ironwears out it is to be replaced by
steel. They cost twice as much and will wear
ten times as long as iron.
turbed last week by the flight of prodigious
fioeks of pigeons, the whir of whose innumera-
bic wings at times was heard like the rush of
the wind through the leafy wilderness.
gy The Secretary of State, through Gen.
Banks. has laid before Congress a correspou-
| dence with our Consul at Lyons, France, rela-
ting to flag presented by the working people
of that city, in honor of the memory of the
late President Lincoln. The subscription to
the flag was essentially popular, the lists al
ready returned numbering over $4,000 SUBJ
scr bers, at ten confines, each nearly all of
whom bslong to the laboring class The sue
cess of the movement, says the Consul, is a
proof of the sincere admiration and affection
of the liberal working class for our country and
its late Chief Magistrate. The flag was made
by the Society of Viewers. 1t is of "a very rich
and heavy texture, and is made in new and
peculiar manner, being unlike any other ever
manufactured. On the blue square are thirty
five double-faced silver stars and the following
inscription in gold popular subscription to
the Republic of the United States, offered in
memory of Abraham Lincoln. Lyons, 1866"
GBThe annual report of the National Acad-
envy of Sciences was laid before Congress
Thursday by Professor Joseph Henry, its vice
president. Accompanying Professor Henrys
report is report made by the academy to Sec
rotary McCulloch, on the subject of a uniform
system of weights, measures and coinage.
They admit that reform is very desirable, but
see great difficulty in adopting the best system
and in introducing it in opposition to the preju-
dioac d,,Sa If fho Ia Ln
of the French system, so generally urged, can,
in their opinion, only be brought about by
time and the education of the rising genera
ton, and if the proposed Bureau of Education
is established, the system might be taught un-
der the sanction of the government in all the
common schools of the country. The minority
of the members of the academy thought this
system not well adapted to the Anglo-Saxon
mind, and were of opinion that a new syste a.
which might be agreed upon by England and
this country, would, in time, become universal.
Ew Kean Buchanan was playing Hamlet at
Terre Haute, Ind, few nights ago, while his
wife was dangerously ill at a hotel near by.
He bore up under it until he commenced the 1
soliloquy, ITO be or not to be" when his falter-
ing voice broke, and falling into CHAIR he ex-
claimed, MY wife is dying-take your money
run down the curtain-I cannot play I" and
the audience dispersed. Mrs. Buchanan was
dead when her husband reached the hotel
BB-New cotton fields are being reported in
various parts of the world. The people of
Honolulu, Sandwich Islands, recently held
meeting congratulating each other upon their
success in raising Sea Island Cotton. Utah
last season produced about 100000 pounds of
cotton, and California has gone quite extern
sively into the culture of this staple
The entire route of the Russian-Ameri-
can Telegraph has been explored.
EThe Senate Naval Committee Thursday
reported a bill granting over two and quarter
millions of dollars extra compensation to the
builders and contractors of vessels of war and
steam ma .hinery, contracted for by the Navy
Department in 1862 and 1853 1t is accompa-
MED by very long report setting forth the
difficulties under which the contractors labored,
by reason of the changes made from time to
time by the department in the plans of the
vessels. and on account of the continually in
ereasing price Of labor and materials They
say the extra compensation recommended will
only cover the extra cost of the vessel to the
builders The report was not concurred in by
all the members of the committee, and will
probably lead to some serious discussion
Among the claims we notice two BY Mr.. G. w.
Lawrence for $3.50 II apiece on the Agawam
and Pontoosuc, and two by the Portland Loco
motive Company for $40,433 70 apiece on the
same vessels.
Er In the Texas provisional convention
now in session at Austin, one Mr.. Degener,
German delegate from San Antonio introduced
report in favor Of qualified negro-suffrage.
The effect was like the exp. osion of bomb
shell. The boldness and ability of the report
astonished the majority ofthe convention, who
W tnout attempting to answer its arguments,
surmounted he difficulty by ignoring them al
together, and incorporating into their new con-
stituhon the ideas of caste and prescription in
herlted from the long reign of slavery. The
new constitution, as far as it has progressed, ex-
cludes Africans and descendants of Africans nv
rame from the ballot-box forever. and also from
the witness stand, except in cases where thew
are personally interested. 80
1 EV The argus calls the act of Booth "the
remarkable Providence that placed such man
as Andrew johnson in the Presidential