The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1872-01-26
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FRIDAY, JANUARY 26, 1872.
NEWS OF THE DAY.

The New York cotton Earket closea aroop-
ing; uplands 22s; sales l774 bales
AT LIVERPOOL cotton closed strong; uplands
1oia10ad: sales 49, 900 bales; sales OF cotton on
shin named at Charleston or Savannah Iosu'
at New Orleans 10 15-l6d for middiinge.
The st. Paul Press says that General Han
cock refuses to be the Democratic candidate
for President.
"A Rochester young lady has sued q pho'
thographer Of that city for $4,000 damages. be-
cause he displayed one of her pictures IN
front OF his place of business with this placard
attached: "one.half dozen photographs or.
dered by this very stylish young lady, and
payment respectfully asked and insultingly re-
fused"
The efforts of the public spirited mer-
chants of Richmond and Norfolk have re-
suited in the establishment of steam commu-
nication between the latter port and Europe.
The Allen line Of steamers now regularly ply
every two weeks between Liverpool and
Norfolk. The ships are Of superior class,
with excellent passenger accommodations.
The favor with which the various forms
ofmeat extracts were received some years
ois now diminishing, and 1t Is even soutly
maintained that they are Inferior TO the beef.
tea prepared In the old.fashioned way. This
result has been caused by the fact that the
meat extract has been found TO be composed
almost exclusively of salts, and to be entirely
destitute Of albumen, and even OF the gelattne
which Is contained In beef'tea, causing It 10
coagulate when cold. Although the meat e4-
tracts are possessed Of some valuable qualities,
they are now generally believed to be lar
from having the virtues once ascrioea 10
them.
"A statue of Horace Greeley ls project In
the hands of I. W. Epgland, OF the New YORK
sun. The sum OF $5975 has already heen Sc
cured. and $4,000 is wanted. At the head Of
the subscrlptIon list Is Charles A. Dana for
$4,000. The statue is to stand In Printing
House Square, opposite that Of Franklin; and
the suu proposes that it be made directly and
unveiled next year on Mr.. Greeley'S birthday,
the Sd of February, when the philosopher will
be slxty-two years old. Mr.. Greeley's 1dee Is
that statues should not be made until the men
they represent are dead; but If his friends
choose to question its wisdom he cannot help
himself.
There died at Meadyille, Penn, the other
day, man far advanced in years, who was one
of those who, ten years ago, suddenly found
themselves possessed of Immense wealth oy
the discovery OF petroleum on territory IRON
which lifetime OF delylng and tilling n preVl'
ously failed to return more than subsistence
to Its owner. 1nlS60 John Tarr would readily
have sold his farm for $500; but in June, 1851,
long and patient boring was responded to by
the squirting up of the oleaglnous treasure from
several heavy wells, and then the rocky and
hilly acres of the old man could scarcely be
bought by covering them with money. Ia 1864
he refused s2,0OO,0 900 for what had then become
famous as the Tarr farm, and despite the TACT
that in common with other wells those OF his
own land had not been as profitable the last
four wears as before, he died possessed OF
larger fortune than that offered him In 1864.
The myths OF geography, as well as his
tory, are dissolviog before the remorseless
criticism ofour age. The school boys OF thirty
wears ago remember well the pictures of the
terrible maelstrom off the coast Of Norway,
said to be fatal to all chips coming within Its
fatal whirl. The school boys faith in this phe-
nomenon was - strong as the sailors faith in
the Flying Dutchman. But the poetry has
tnrned to prose In this scientific age, aud the
vhirlpool has lost all its horrors, like the Scylla
and Charyodis of Virgil. A recent traveller
saws: There g no such whirlpool as Pontippidan
and Purchas described, and 1t is only when the
tide, current, and wind are at ''logger-heads"
in the narrow strait between Moskenaessoe
and the lofty Isolated rock of Mosken that any.
agitation is visible. S>me such circumstance
az this, observed from the shore, and exagger-
ated by the horror OF the beholder, doubtless
gave rise TO. the prodigoas legends of the
maelstrom.
"A petition was presented in Congress, on
Tuesday, from Mrs. Lee, widow OF General
Robert E. Lee, asking that an appropriation
be made to purchase the Arlington estate from
her. whereupon she will give the government
a clear title. This estate was the property of
Mrs. Lee, not of her husband, having been
beoueashed to her by her father, George W..
?. Cus,ia. in 1857, and occupied by herself and
family until the commencement Of the late
civil war. 1t was sold for non-payment of
direct tax of ss2 OF, and, by order Of Presi-
dent Lincoln, bid in by the United States Gov
ernment for s26,s00, no portion Of .,ohich sum
has euer bse, paid to the oconer Of The proper
ty. The petitioner, after reciting these
facts, argues that they were INSULT
cient to pass valid title to The United STATES,
for legal and constitutional reasons which
are given, and 1t Is also asserted that the
amount of the tax was duly rendered to The
tax commissioner before The sale. 1t is diff.
cult, therefore, to see how the petition can be
refused, unless law ar njuslice are 10 be alike
dlsregarded because the petitioner is the
widow OF General Lee. Even if Arlington had
belonged to General Lee, Instead of being his
wife's inheritance, Congress ought 10 be
ashamed to perpetuate now an act CT spoe-
tion incident to and perhaps excusabe By the
necessities OF war, which has no samblance oil
legal or constitutional warrant in time Of
peace, to say nothing of good morals and
equity. But 1t Is the Custis estate, descended
to q lady Of that family, in which General Lee
had no further interest than by marriage.
The New Year dawned brightly on the re-
united royal family, In Camden House, at