Alexandria gazette. [volume], March 12, 1864, Image 1

About Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974

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j'TTBUSHED (DAILY) BY
EPG-AK- SNOW DEN, Jr.
OFFICE?No. 104 King street, ove.
S,one's, (formerly French's) Book Store.
CI. S. UOXGRESS.?In the Senate of the
United States yesterday.. Mr. Foot of Ver
iiiont was elected President pro fcem. The
joint resolution from the House authorizing
the Secretary of the Treasury to anticipate the
payment of interest on the public debt, by a
period not exceeding one year, from time to
time, either with or without a rebate of inter
tere.it upon the coupons, as to him may seem
expedient, with an amendment further author
izing the Secretary to dispose of any gold in
til3 Treasury of tue United States not necessa
ry for the payment of interest on the public
debt was passed by a vote of yeas 30 nays 8.
Is will have to be returned to the House for
its concurrence in the amendment. While the
bill was pending Mr. Hendricks offered an
amendment authorizing the Secretary instead
of selling the gold, to pay it out for purchases
by the Government at the rate of the differ
ence between paper and gold. This amend
ment was rejected. In some remarks made oil j
this bill by Mr. Sherman he stated, in reference j
to the commission received by Jay Cooke &
Co. from the Government for their agency in
the negotiation of the $300,000,000 loan, that
the commission allowed the said firm was
three-eighths of one per cent. ; of which one
fourth of one per cent, was paid by tl em to the
bankers who, in distant cities, acted as their
agents, leaving to the Washington firm in real
ity but o?ne-eighth of one per cent, for their
commission, and that this amount was largely
absorded by the necessary advertising expen
ses, &j. Mr. Clark introduced a joint reso
lution repealing so much of the amendatory
I internal revenue act as imposes an additional
| duty on foreign spirits on hand, which was
| referred to the Finance Committee. The b?ll
| making appropriation for the Post Office I)e
| partment for the fiscal year ending on the 30th
| of June, 1865, was passed. The committee
| on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on
| the deficiency bill made a report, which was
| concurred in, add the bill is therefore finally
I passed. President Lincoln sent a message to
I the Senate enclosing an order fixing the point
| of commencement of the lower branch of the
S \
I Pacific road on the boundary of State of Iowa, i
| east of and opposite to the east line of section
I ten, township fifteen, noit.h of range thirteen,
j east of the sixth principal meridian, in the
| Territory of Nebraska.
The House of Representatives parsed the
I bill making appropriations for the legislative,
I judicial, and executive service of the Govern
I went for the fiscal year ending the 30th of
| June, 1865; also, the Senate bill amendatory
I of the act regulating trade and intercourse
I vrith the Indian tribes. The latter bill has
I reference to excluding spirits and wines from
I the tribes under penaty. The greater part _ of
I the sitting was occupied in the consideration
I of private business.
The silver ware taken from the residence of
I ^Ir. Morson, during Kilpa trick's raid, has all
I been recovered/and seat to Richmond,
| Legal Decision.
A fevr days ago, in the Louisville Chancery
Court, suit was brought for the pavment of
rT1 1 V
1772, {.he amount of three promissory notes
given in purchase of a piece of i arid. The
notes had been made payable "in gold and sil
ver or its equivalent." The defendant offered
to pay the amount of the notes in "legal tender''
U. S. Treasurv notes, which was refused, and
he therefore claimed exemption from the pay
ment of the notes. 0a this state of facts
Chancellor Pirtle decided that where?
"A party has made a special contract to pay
what should be equal to gold and silver, at the i
time of payment, no matter what the payment ?
was made in, whether in one currency or anoth
er, it must come up to that point, just as it the
contract had been to make a payment in gold
of an amount to be equal to the rate of sterling
exchange. Judgment was accordingly render
ed in favor of plaintiff tor the amount of ihe j
notes and interest, ar'd the costs of the suit !
were thrown upon the defendant."
In the above decision no reference was made
as to what was a legal tender, the Court not
thinking any such question involved in the
suit.
?The Nashville correspondent or the Phila
delphia Inquirer'explodes the "Starvation the
ory," so far as Central Mississippi is concern- |
cernp<3- All that region of oountiy iLo "public
have been led to believe was one vast wilder
ness, the State having been-"cleaned out" to
supply the Confederate Commissariat. But
General Sherman's scouts report just the con
trary. They say the country abounds in every
thing necessary for the sustenance of man and
beast. As to the Confederate troops in the
field, the Inquirer writer undertakes to demon
strate that they are nearly as numerous as the
Federal. On th is point he submits statistics, !
derived, he says, Irom perfectly reliable sources.
The Mississippi papers make light of the
j damages done by Sherman to the railroads in
that State, The Chattanooga Advertiser pub
lished at Quitman was destroyed by special or
ders from General Sherman. The publishers
of the Southern Republic at Columbus. Miss.,
shipped their press and materials on a raft at
Sherman's approach, and floated down the
Tombigbee. Governor Brown, of Georgia,
telegraphed to the Confederate Secretary of
War, requesting him to furlough the members
of the Legislature now serving as officers in
the army, as he has called a meeting of the
Legislature for the 10th of March. The Sec
retary replied by positive refusal to accede to
the request.
Marcus I)u Val, esq., of Prince George's
county, Md., was liberated yesterday from the
Old Capitol prison, Washington, where he
has beeu confined over two months. Over
twenty Virginians from border counties have
also been released.
The Northern papers are denying that the
address and orders published in the Richmond
papers, and which, they assert, were found on
the body of Col. Dablgren, are genuine.
A Lectcrb by Henry Ward Bkecher.?
I Ilonry \v ard j3e?'Ch? i an ?sfjiiress H'C
rlio Academy of r.iusic. Nov Vovk. on Thyrs
! i ? - * - '
S a ay evening, on the subject o i *lOur Message
co Great i3iUain.
I?* speaking of tno grea.t m^n ot botn see*
tions, he admitted that uthe !Soath had de
veloped better statesmen, and better srenerals;
i but avordupois would at prevail against
i ' rni \t i* i ?
i good management-, inc. jsonh r>y us; power
| of endurance would evenhnilv be .successful
! in the struggle."
Mr. Lincoln, he said. 4'was not a staterrraru
I bat he has been under the insnucriosia of JefL
i i:-> for the past three years. and he had no
| doubt he learned a great deal from :hat cun*
' ning leader. Mr. Lincoln was the tkhomefy
President t-f a homely people.7' lie wa.-. hem
est and had made a great many mistakes. He
(the speaker) had no idea that the North
would ever gain the cause they were contending
for by brilliant management Some people had
an idea that not one man in ten thousand was
capable or governing. A woman who knew
how to bring up six boys, and bring them, up
well, was tit to govern a nation."
IU referred to an idea which some people
had in relation to the seeming prosperity of
the country. ff they supposed that war was
pro liable they mistook stimulants for food.?
The three thousand millions of dollars expend
ed in the prosecution of the war. was lost just
as much as ii it had been burned, far as the
material substance ot
, nnrl was a mortg&ge upon the resources or
the country for that amount.'
'
The majority for Gihnore, Rep., fur govern
or of Now Hampshire, will, it is said, be about
5,800. ^
The steamship Western Metropolis, from
New Orleans February 29, arrived at New
York yesterday. The Era, oi tht 28th' con
tains a brief account of the beginning of Ad
miral FanJigut-'s operations against Mobile.?
The bombardment ot Fort Powell at Grant's
Pass initiated"on the 24th nit,, by the mortar
flotilla, assisted by several gunboats, was
being prosecuted witli vigor, J ne uonreaer
af.es replied rapidly, and one of the Federal ves
sels was injured. The bay is reported to be
so obstructed three miles below Mobile as to
compel vessels to pass under the guns of two
iron clad forts and a battery. The city is also
said to be very strongly fortified. There is a
rumor that one of Farragut's steamers had
passed Fort Morgan under a terrible fire, and
another that he had captured the works.?
These rumors, however, are not credited.
The Bristol, Tenn., Gazette of Saturday
states that Longstreefc is again advancing to
ward Knoxville. The same paper thinks
; that within a week "the great battle for the
mastery of East Tennessee will have been,
i fought or the Yankees will have retreated."
Letters from Braxton county, in western
Virginia, report that Jackson and Imboden.
with a force of several thousand Confederates,
are within a short distance of Sutton, prepar
ing for a raid.
General Smith's Federal cavalry expedition
| has returned to Nashville, with, it is said a
\ lose of a t>o at 150..