Morning journal and courier., 1880-03-30

The Maryland Court of Appeals has jus
 been considering the question whether per
 son is disqualified as witness because ht
 does not believe in the existence of God | The objection had been raised in the lower
 court that a witness was incompetent to testi
 fy because he 'sdid not believe in God, and
 that under His dispensation, he, the witness
 would be morally accountable for his action,
 and be rewarded or punished therefor, either
 in this world or the world to come." The
 offer Was also made to prove by another wit ness that the witness objected to had ex-
 pressed atheistical opinions. The judge asked
 the witness assailed whether he believed in | God and in 8 system of future reward and
 punishment, to which the witness replied in l the affirmative. The judge then told counsel
 that impeaching evidence was admissible, but l counsel refused to introduce it. In the Court
 of Appeals it was contended that the witness
 objected to should not have been examined at
 all, or If examined that he should have been
 heard in rebuttal of the testimony against
 him instead of being permitted to testify be- fore that testimony was given. The question thus raised was rather technical than test one. The Court of Appeals holds that in a preliminary inquiry as to the religious belief of the witness the presumption is in favor of his competency, and that the lower court did not err in giving him an opportunity to purge himself of the imputation of atheism and then ruling to admit contradictory testi mony.
 The removal of many capitalists and large operators from San Francisco to New York has not greatly disturbed the people of the Pacific slope, if the San Francisco Bulletin is any authority. It says: ''Now, it is not misfortune that many large capitalists and mining operators have found that New York for the present is a better field for stock operations than San Francisco. If New York capitalists put $1oO, ,OOo, ,ooo of idle money in to mines on this coast so much the better It is said that the investments in gold and silver mining stocks made in New York with in the last four months exceed $20, 900, 900. There has been no great difficulty in selling good mine in that city. It is certain, also, that great many undevelopsd mines have been sold as mere speculative ventures. Now, if more money can be made by dealing in mines and mining stocks in New York than can be made in San Francisco, great deal of operating capital will go there. Californians will be there with and without capital. There will be this result Every good mine will in process of time be developed. Some addi- tional millions will be spent in the country for labor supplies and machinery For the first time in the history of the country, the mineral wealth of the Pacific coast has enlist ed considerable amount Of New York capi- taI But this did not occur until number of English capitalists had bought up good mines, worked them, and were deriving very satisfac- tory returns. The advent of hundred Cali fornia mining operators in New York, or the investment of hundred millions of surplus capital of that city in the mines of the Pacific coast, so far from having any unfavorable in- duence here of permanent character, is rather to be considered in the light of for tunate circumstance"