National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-03-09

In series of articles in opposition to the
exemption Of church property from taxation,
published in our editorial columns last summer,
We referred incidentally to the advanced
IDEAS on that subject held by the Baptists. We
observe with pleasure that the leading minds
of this denomination are now giving this sub
ject much earnest attention. The question is
discussed with great ability BY DR.. Hovey In
the Bapt,st Quarterly, and the churches of this
denomination in Boston and Philadelphia be-
lieve that the complete separation of Church
and State, which has always been prominent
pat of the Baptist polity, requires the repeal
of the laws exempting church property from
taxation, which is precisely the position we
maintained in the articles referred to. 1t Is ex-
pected that this subject will be discussed at the
meeting of the Baptist social union, to be held
this evening in the Thirteenth street church.
The chair will be occupied by Mr.. Young, chief
Of the bureau of statistics, and it is expected
denomination will be present, including num-
Der Of members of Congress. The discussion
will undoubtedly possess great interest.
IT HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED that Senator
Sumner gave dinner party to Mr.. J. B. Smith,
q colored caterer from Boston, last week. 1t
will not be many years before announcements
of this kind of attention to the leaders Of the
colored race will become frequent; but how
strange It sounds when We remember that but
few years ago the colored people were under
the strictest surveillance, and that the few mea-
gre privileges accorded to them were bestowed
as the condesccnsion of master to slave. It is
only by such 6omparisons as this that we can
arrive at due appreciation of the miraculous
political Transformation that has occurred dur
ing the past ten years. The change has been
gradual, the encroachments of q new liberty
have asserted themselves step by step, and pa
tient exertion for the reward of honest toll has
only been recorded after long waiting; but as
we look back to the days of the slaye-pen in
Alexandra and the night-bells in Washington,
the interim Of courage and desolation seems to
have been an impossible dream, while the new
condition Of affairs is accepted as very natural,
and as the ordinary result of habits which,
though of recent origin, assert themselves as
founded upon the principles of lasting justice.
The following letter from Northern tourist
appears in the New Orleans Republican Of the
5th instant
Editor Republican: came here to enjoy .
few weeks Of your delightful climate, and to kill
time have spent several days in attendance ut
the ''Grant parish hotel" - It II generally
called. have listened closely and attentively
to the evidence, and ~ Q Northern man am TO-
tally bewldered and unable to see how II 10 that
seventy respectable citisens Of New Orleans"
have raised . sum Of money, and employed eoun-
- g.
mistakably guilty Of the horrible massacre Of
one hundred and ten negroes last April at Colfax
With rs, in the North, ''ssventy Of the most re-
spectacle citizens" would have raised fund to
have hunted up and brought to trial those guilty
Of such an inhuman outrage. Blu. It appears that
your respectable seventy" have not expended .
single peunyto ind out and punish the perpetra-
tors Of this nsndish and brutal murder and massa-
ere. This Il quite difference between respecta-
BILE conduct st the North and respectable conduct
at the South, and think any unparalleled per-
son will see ct glance that men Of wealth In the
North will be slow to allow thar capital among
community where seventy men, claiming to be
leaders Of the commercial classes, band together
to prevent those guilty Of brutal murder from
being punished.
HON. JAMES h. PLAEr, chairman Of the
House Committee on Public Buildings and
Grounds, will soon press the Senate bill pro-
viding for the employment Of Mr.. Olmstead to
execute designs and plans for the grading,
dressing, planting and ornamenting Of the
public grounds of the capital. Heretofore the
science of landscape gardening has been with
out order or harmony here. The supervisors
Of the several different plat. or Enclosures
have cultivated and embellished according to
their individual tastes, snd the result has been
an unpleasant variety. Mr.. Olmstead 10 q
sifted artist in landscape gardening, - has
been well attestcd BY his success in that line
in khe great Central park, New York. Should
the present bill become law Il 4 expected
that Mr.. Olmstead viii furnish plans and de-
agns uniform IN character for the complete
ornanentstiou Of al the public grounds In the
District nom the Pressdent's house to the
Capitol, which, carried out, win render them
the most beautiful Of any in the same latitude
in the world. It = TO be hoped that the bill
win be passed.
6uAfoa LOGAN, Of Illinois, has prepared an
exhansttve srgansut = favor Of his financial
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