Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1874-02-02
VOL. LXXV.
How NICE IT is TO BE SUPREME COURT


PR ANEUM, payable in advance
How NICE 1T is TO BE SUPREME COURT
JUsTIC Col. Forney writes that the judges OF
justices of the Supreme Court are ra her jovla
with all their gravity. They are asked every
where. and they 90 everywhere that is proper.
sort of diyinitr hedges them around about.
They are first at every State occasion, or nearly
first. They are welcome figure heads at wed
dngs. They dominate at great dinners They
decorate receptions and balls. A justice or a
chief justice at party 10 Washington is like a
prince at a drawing room IN London or cardl.
nal iu Rome They futter in and out of the
Senate with sage and solemn air OF posses
sion think it is in evidence that they, often
condcscend to sherry and ch ampagne, and fear
that Grier aud Nelson exceptionally descend to
old rye and whskey. The whole nine effect the
drama. John Marshall undoubtedly shed tears
over Fancy Kemble just as the eminent Penn
sylvaula Chief Justice, John Bannster Gibson,
idoized old Joseph Jefferson. Davis, of H.
linoise, and Swayne, of Ohio, Miller, of Iowa,
AID Clifford, of Maine, do no deny their weak
ness for good opera or ballet, aud Joseph
Story, like Caleb Cushing enjnyed good
novel, and wrote some very fair poetry when
he was young man.
So that there are many reasons why a states
man who has got through with other offices
should aspire to round his career by a seat on
abe velvet cushions of the Supreme Bench. 1t
is for life. 1t is social power. 1t is cosy
lookout on politics. 1t is solid dignity. 1t is
not an exhaustive labor. The salary is good,
and never touched except to be raised. AS the
law is the royal profession in this country, so a
place in the Supreme Court is the only royal
laural that can be placed on the American law
yer's brow.
QUITE A WONDERFUL MACHINE. MIR. D.
r. Williams, Of CoviDgton, Kentucky, has in
vented q machine which may be well called one
of the wonders of the age, and brief descrlp-
ton of which can not fail to be interesting to
all engaged in the carpenter and joiner work.
1t is styled The General JOINER, a3d sguar-
anteed to operate as We'll 10 all the following
named characters as though it was designed
for each individual purpose onl ly: -,
1T will surface eighteen inches wide; 1t will
work flooring with speed Of from twenty to
thirty ueal feet per minute; it surfaces aud
tongues and grooves all at the same operations;
it makes the German, open or rustic siding, or
any other kind possible to be made oD first
class flooring machine; it will thrust, grain and
groove; cut tenons with single head-but very
perfectly; it will stick mouldings. from the
Smallest to the largest; it will stick sash (circu-
lar or straight) and doors with perfection not
surpassed by any machine; 1t will rip and cross
cut rapidly and accurately; it Is adapted to
turning circular mouidings up to eighteen H.
ches in diameter, or straight work; 1t Will bore
with aby bit or augur; is easily adjusted and
very accurate and rapid.
There are many other things that can be
done on this machine very pro6tably, such as
raising panels chamiering, traversiDg scantllng
for porch columns, gate posts, cellar frames,
wooden window aud door sllls, &c all OF which
is done correctly and very rapidly.
The committee of award at the great st.
Louis Exposition 10 October, 1873. without a
dissenting vote, gave the General JOINER the
highest premium offered for the best general
wood working machine.
The ISLANDS OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC. Re
cent adVices from Australia show that the Is
lands of the South Pacific are fast increasing IN
commercial importance. The Auckland Steam
Packet Company. having a steam service to
the Fiji Islands, will procure additional steam
ers to supply their increasing coasting trade.
A steamer is also to be placed regularly on the
passage between Auckland and Poverty Bay,
aud another steamer is on her way out from
London to engage in the coasting trade: Seven.
ty miles of the AucklaD and Wakalo Railroad
were opened recently. The Maori King and
his son were paying friendly visits to the set
tiers, The harvest promised to be abundant.
In the other colonies the wheat crop will show
falling off. There is great demand for Ia
Dor in the various parts Of the colonies Trade
with the Islands of FIJI and other groups 10
the South Sea is increasing. The sugar trade
is to receive an impetus by the establishment
of sugar refueries The Union Steam Ship
plug Company, with capital Of $3.50, 900, has
bceu organized at Duneden to meet the grow
ing requirements of the shipping trade of New
Zealand, and the New Zealand Navigation Go.
will enlarge its capital 10 order to provide ad-
ditional steamers to FIJI. The feeling is grow
ing stronger in favor OF the annexation of Fiji
1t is urged that England should at aoce assume
the sovereignty of the FIJI Islands, owing tc
the fr, quent troubles between the white settlers
aud the natives, and it is announced that an
envoy will be sent to Washington, and most
likely to Europe. to press upon the great pow
ers the claims of the British to full recognl-
ton of their rights In FIJI.
SINGULAR SUlT.-A queer case of litigation,
growing out ofthe yellow fever scourage iuMem-
phis last summer, is now 10 progress 10 Wash.
il gton. The complainant is David Aff1Ick, who
seeks to recover possession of his infant grand
daughter, who is said to be the sole helress of a
large fortune 10 Memphis, coming to her from
her parents. Iu May last Atfllck was suddenly
called to Memphis by the death Of his SOD, be
having fallen victim to the epidemic, which
had just then begun. Upon his arrival there
he fouud that his SOD, his sous wife and two
daughters had likewise died. Distracted by
this overwhelming calamity. that had in three
days taken every member of the family but
this babe, the cholera still raging, all business
suspended and having 40 opportunity to settle
bis sons affairs, no courts being in session, he
placed the babe 10 the hands of Mrs. Rogers,
promising to call for it in one mouth. Two
weeks subsequently, however, the respondent
in the case. a relative of the babes mother,
went to Mrs. Rogers, and torcbly took the
child from her in spite of her remonstrances
and tears, and without any authority brought
Ii to Washinp pton where be had channea The