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0 r 15 -i I j f 'J : ' ' i s in 7iA t 3 NEW-YORK, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1865. PRICE FOUR CENTS. VOL. XV NO. 4421. rs .... ml TIIE 1DERS0MTLLE PRISON A Careful and Accurate Survey of the Place. Ratnre and Condition of the Surrounding Conntry. The Military Arrangements the Care of Prisoners. for Fearful Revelations of the Character of Their Treatment. Irresistible Evidence of Inhuman Treatment, Done by Order. A Repulsive Chapter that History Must Record. From Our Own Correspondent. Anderhonvillk Stockade, 1 OronGii, Tuesday. Oct. 31, 1BC5. J While we are merciful, we ehould not forget to be Just We must pour oil upon the troubled waters, and ointment on the yet suppurating wounds of the late wicked rebellion, but in our zeal to prosper aa a body politic and get rich individually, we must not hut our eyes to the palpable, cogent lessons taught us by bitter experience. History must be impartially written, and to be honest, let us call things by their right names, Ind " nothing extenuate nor aught set down in malice." From the lips of our fathers and mothers we were not taught to forget the sufferings of tmr soldiers at Valley Forge or on the British priaon-ahipe. They told us the simple truth conscience must decide thereafter. Or all the blood, bravery, patience, horror and death of this terrible war, nothing stands out In bolder relief, corroborative of " man's inhumanity to man," than the true history of Ander-eonville. Innumerable have been the "eye-witness" accounts, explanations, counter-explanations, report and histories of this noted spot. Much of what baa been said concerning it, like "foreign correspondence " of unscrupulous journals, which is written in a rear sanctum, conies from hearsay. Having spent several days laboriously, accumulating facta and figures, I have arrived at as near an approximation to the true state of the case" as one well can. Now that the Wirz trial Las attracted the attention of the whole civilized world to Anderson ville, its actual character and history should be preserved intact. LOCATION, NAME, C. The Southwestern Railway runs from Macon, Ga., to Enfaula, Ala., and sixty miles from the former town, iu Sumter County, was established, in 1862, a station and a post-office. That year ilaj. Ajjdersu too command of Fort Sumter, Charleston, and the Major being a friend of the railway BunerinLendent here. this new-made station was chriirteued " Anderson." The addition of ville " was made sinre the war. Thus we see that by a strand coincidence the most mfamens spot on American soil bears iU name from our country's ancestral glory. The fcealthfulcess of the place is variously stated to be pood, or bad, depending upon the success of te particular-individual inquired of in preserving bis own. Bet from a close observation of the personal appearance of the people who congregated around the depot, 1 was deeply impressed with their wan and sickly appearanoe. Miatunauc affections prevail nine months of the year to a great extent, and people complain of general debility and unusual disturbances of the alimentary canal, which Is in fact a chronic and almost universal malady. The malaria of the atmosphere and impurity of the water are the exciting causes. The couatry hereabouts la very sparsely fettled. A more God-forsaken place, except it be the Dry Tarings or Desert of Sahara, could not be imagined. Oourds and " gubbor " peaa the peanut sold In the Sorth are spontaneous productions. By considerable irrigation and skill, sweet potatoes can be produced. The soil is a barren sand-field, extending from valley to .hill-top, in open field or the pine. Where Abe w ood is cut away, the face of the earth ia one vast sand-field, into which animals and vehicles ink. several inches in traveling. Beore the prison-pen was established here, the whole country around the station, including the ground on which the stockade was constructed, was covered with a thick growth of p ne and oak. It is asserted by many that no bade su found where the atockade stands. This la mistake. The surveyor who resides here, and aided in selecting the grounds, aaserta that a road had' to be cleared by ax-men before he could proceed, the ood was aodense. Up to that period, one or two nouaea. a Methodist Church, and the little frame depot, were the buildings constituting the town. All others found .there now, adoztn or mora, were constructed by the rebels for quarters, Ac. The railroad follows a direction nearly due South when passing Andersonville. THE STOCKADE la situated nee rjy half a mile east of the depot, while the Tillage -t-"l- an a .high ridge or plateau west of it, A diagram which I send yon win show that on either side of tbe depot and the village, and crossing the railroad some hundreds of yard both north and aouth of them, running eastwardly. are two small rivulet which meet a little distance from the stockade, and the eanfljaenoe runs through or acrosa it. The stockade is a wooden pen, with walls twenty feet high, inclosing twenty-seven acre. The landscape gardener, Mr. H. 11 Weltok, (who resided in Atlanta In 181. and paid the price of hi loyalty by many snotiAvis' imprisonment by the rebels,) gave me the measurement a thirteen hundred feet long by eight hundred and seventy-five foet wide, therefore containing 1.W7.500 square feet. Tbe dead-line, the existence of which ha bee o persistently denied, ia a vtsiblewerity. It stand on an average of eighteen -fret front the stockade wall, and tbe forbidden or Ieeth-poe covered therefore an area of about 62.000 which decrease the actual space occupied by the pnnooer.to aa aggregate f 1.0". 500 quar feet. Count ng half of this spec to have been occupied by abed, dirtiuU, cave, well and accumulated filth andjrubbish. about three and a half feet square waa left per "v jvhen the contents of the sen were at the snaximnm. The walls of the atockade proper are built of pine log. aaxd upright, five feet in the ground, twenty above. The timber used is of an average thickness of a foot, some of it being hewn. om with bark airujsy pulled off. some in a natural, rough state. The dead-line consist of pine stake, three teet above the ground, and three or four inches in diameter, on ths square toes of whieh narrows and thick strips Ofc jeilow pine lumber, twenty feet locg, are nailed. TnvJ sk tion of (he weather, intrusion of cattle, demolition el relic hunter and thieving propensity of the wretcfi-ad rebel inhabitant -of that region have together octroyed and earned away a goodly portion ol tbe efoad-line. but a fwsaf ntjficit remains, with all the stakfP. to mark indisputably the narrow tnrcad b-weej the hie and the death of many brave patriot. Koniecf the prisoners there dug Yankee wells near the wall, and tunneled out to liberty. To prevent th s. a second or outer wall, constructed aa the one described, waa built forty or fifty yard from the firet it-vura, Jo eel clr of both ia tanueh&x therefore TLAX OF TIIE ANDERSONVILLE PRISON. ' j R- makowlI; ii;;ip'lli!i ccutTcar 5 -4 t ' 2.1 ACRES?' if ' Hl c3 f A Stockade. : B. Bakery. HPs5, jff 2. H. Confed. HoepiUl f f JT CHU. Church. WK J if D.-Depot. Ib3 f E. Sink. 11 M&T Deadline. r3 J 0. 8. Union Officers' jiSa U Stockade. ZJ j& H. H. Entrancea to Cj Stockade. the . boy would have to bore beneath three " defences, "-the dead-line, inner and outer walla. Then they would have to run the blockade of fort and earthworks and outer picket-guards, for half a mile. This effectually prevented tunneling out. The sentry-boxes are along the inner wall at intervals of a hundred feet or less. They are simply covered " lookouts," elevated to the top of the wall, where the guard could sit down and watch that no Yank intruded upon the forbidden ground outside the dead-line. These sentry-boxes are reached by ladders from the outside. Two extensive earthwork or forts with an armament of six or eight guns each, and several smaller ones with various armaments, composed the bulk of the artillery snrraanding. THE GUARD during the Summer and Autumn of 1864, consisted of six regiments of infantry and two companies of artillery, in all about 8,000 men. Those not employed on duty, hunting escaped prisoners with blood-hound, standing sentinel over the Yankee, or manning their tortifi cation s, occupied three log-hut village, one adjoining and east of the depot, on the ground sloping toward the confluence of the little stream lata which ran across the stockade, another on the hill-side southwest of the prison, the third, beyond the ridge to the south, which sent it waters in anothar vaJlev. The officers of the guard mostly lived in frame buildings erected west of the depot. Lei us take a look at THE INTERIOR. of the prison-pen. It stands to-day materially as it was occupied by our soldiers, and vacated by the rebels in April last. The greatest dimensions of the stockade is from north to south. 1,300 feet. About four hundred feet from the south wall, the diminutive creek runs across it in a latitudinal direction. From the south wall to the branch, the descent is gradual; but on the side of it, the general level of the prison- proTinde ia reached by a nearly perpendicular bluff. In this abrupt bank of sand ia where tbe weary, starving, emaciated, freezing and dying victims burrowed in excavations or caves. Several of them yet exist in a perfect state of preservation, and I satiated a morbid curiosity by exploring some of ths most inviting. I found the walls and ceiling smooth and hard; shelve and closet cut in the earth; the name (or door-plate a la T oodles) at the proprietor engraved over tbe entrance ; a neat fire-place on one aide, with an aperture leading up to the top where a sun-brick chimney graced the lowly roof; and a pile of wood in an Ottt-of-the-way corner. Eleven sheds, sufficiently commodious to coin tain and ahelter five hundred men each, are within the stockade. They are not boarded up on the aides, only roofed. The whole ground, every toot within the dead-line not occupied by wells, dirt-en d-a tick huts, accumulated filth, rubbish, running water and the sink, is burrowed by those seeking shelter from the burning sun of Bummer, the heavy chilling dews and rains of Autumn and blasts of mid-winter. At least a thousand ruins of dirt-and-stick huts, one-half beneath and the other above ground, yet remain a so many monuments to the patient hope and enduring loyalty of our aoldiera. There being no SHADE, and the whol face of tbe aoil being sand, unmixed with a redeeming blade of grass or root, the heat waa intense in the Bummer, often reaching 120 degree. Every tree and shrub had been carefully removed by the rebel authorities, before driving their Yankee flock to tbe shambles. Tbe eleven sheds, built at a' 1st dsy of the existence of the death-pen. would but j?over about 6.000, while the tent and hut and cava x ay be estimated a ahelter for 4,000 in all, 10,000. There having been at one time 85,000 imprisoned here. 23,000 would thus be without shelter from beat or cold. And thousand of them bad lost their blankets and great coats; also, thousands had worn out Uair pants, boot snd other garments, their only clothing remaining being a dirty shirt and pair of drsw- ers. THE WATTS is boasted of by those who. like that vile rebel sheet and popular journal among the traitors, the New-York .Vt w, asrome the defence of this inhumanity and cruelty nnyaraileled in the annal of murderous warfare, and the special championship of Wikdeb and u, ikz. and the southern Confederacy generally. It a chuckltd over a a great triumph when it is ss ertrd that tbe water" ccrnes frtm rrrirg?. Let me ak. ci what special purity is spring water which rtecLt yi'ur it strcsgij unrregnated with arsenic or strychnine ? The inhuman wretches who selected the spot for this death-pen apparently had in view a forthcoming Judgment, where they must be prepared to explain and defend. They could point to the pure water furnished our soldiers. Let the reader bear in mind that every drop of sluice or filth from at least two-thirds of the three thousand rebel guards, a few hundred horses, all other animals, two large rebel hospitals, the residents of the village and of the bakery, ran into the branch above the stockade, and likewise through it. Dr. Thorsbubo, one of the rebel surgeons on duty at the prison during the whole of its continuance, and whose testimony ha been taken in the Win trial, told me that the water waa so filthy on entering the stockade as to be unfit for the use of man or beast. Now add another, far more offensive source of adulteration. Dr. Thobnbcbo informed me that on several occasions 10,000 of the prisoners were sick enough for hospital, three-fourth of whom had diarrhea or flux. The sink was constructed lengthwise of the branch, beginning at the lower (east) side of the stockade, and running in the bed of tbe creek for three hundred feet. Thus but about one hundred men could occupy it at onoe, white often five hundred or a thousand poor, suffer-iisg victims would be compelled, by loathsome morbidity and dieease, to go to stool st the same time. Furthermore, the crowd was so thick that in passing from either end of tbe grounds to the other, one would have to push and elbow bis way through, as in any other throng. Let me ask how far a sick man, acaroely able to walk if aided, could go to deposit excrement, or how long it would require him to go from either end oX the stockade to the sink t This state of things ooinpelled two results, viz. : Thousands of the suck would crowd along the water and around tbe sink, and there remain day and night, till death relieved them. Thousands of others could not reach the place of deposit, and would be compelled to do what, under different circumstances, would have been an act of filth and indecency, wherever inexorable disss demanded. All the water in the grounds, then, except one little spring, (which, as if by the providence of Ood, burst forth, though unfortunately outside of the dead line, around which the soldiers dars not gather.) was poisoned. Tbe A'ewt will not deny the statement of Dr. Iborhoso, in reference to the awful FIXTH of the place. Hs Informed me that it was so offensive thst nausea would attack all who came near the prison, and that tbe whole bed of the creek the spring branch, a the AVw would have it waa so impregnated with poison, that the mud coming in contact with an abrasure ot the skin would produce " hospital gangrene " and inevitable death. Human language ia devoid of power to express tbe loathsome suffering of these patriot. Dr. TaoaxBuao said Grey would often pray him to cut off their limb, that they might either die or be relieved. Death usually ensued from amputations, the patient not. having vitality to sustain them. Tbe rains would wash the prison filth by the natural declivity it) to ths narrow bottom land of the little creek, and, by the constant kneading of the low ground by the soldiers' feet, tbe w hols mas became a lob-lolly," or mortar, composed of sand, muck, feces, decomposing vegetable matter, and grass and slop from aQ sources, in whieh maggots germinated and worms and Other specie of vermin festered and fattened. It was horrible and indescribable. Ths JVews, In It article of the 6th instant, speaks o the immense baaery." In addition to baving seen and noted the size and appointment of THE BAXIRT, I have obtained some additional evidence as to kind ot food furnished, which tbe Asm teQa ns was just what tbe rebels got, The " immense bakery," to obtain material to build which we are told they bad to send to stichsoond. stand just outaid ths inner stockade wall, on the edga ot the brook, and as an immense" frame shed, 30x40, containing one room and two bake-ovens, eight or ten feet square. There it stands, not a plank gone, nor an incb in sise deducted from it. Can vastly employed, it could not bave supplied food (bread) for a village of 8,000 inhabitants; while it waa tbe only bakery for a dry of 36,000 population. A man who served a term of seven months in rebel prieons, informs me that the kind of bread furnished was a compound of unsifted eorn-meal, often containing pieces of cob aa large as the first thumb-joint. A loaf ct thia, 30xlG inthe. two inches thick, waa given to tn asen lor three dare' supply. Dr. Thorxbcko stated that he gave the meal issued to him to his cow, and purchased food suitable for human consumption, acknowledging that It was unfit for any man, and that it alone would produce disease and epidemic in any stockade. The article in the Xetos of which I speak is, from beginning to end, a tissue of exaggerations and fabrications. It refers to Judge Hodges, and praises the Confederate Government lor good intentions, in permitting such honorable men to select a site for tbe prison. The " Judge" may be one of tbe JVewr friends, but I should prefer better company. He owned a number of the dogs used in catching Union prisoners, and ha some of them yet. He was recently eatcommunicated from the M. E. Church for engaging in the manufacture of " pine-top" whisky, and has been arrested within a fortnight for brutally whipping a negro boy, in which, be indulged in the pastime of lacerating bis ear, almost severing it from the body. The A'ewt says there is no marsh in this region; that there were no shade trees; that the bakery here was so " immense" that the rebels had to send to .Richmond for " material" to build it; that the pine's have short roots, and were cut away, that they would not be blown down on to tbe prisoners ; that Millen was selected as an additional prison because of it healthfullness; that all of tbe unusual suffering in this molern " Block Hole of Calcutta" was caused by the filth, crime and murders of our own soldiers ; that Anderson ville was no worse than our prisons for rebels in the North; and that the lood we gave rebel prisoners was as poor as that furnished thj dying thousands in this iniquitous place. To which I reply: L There is marsh not only all over this part of Georgia, but in the immediate vicinity of this prison. 2. There waa a dense body of shade tree. 3. The bakery is not "immense," a I bave shown by giving measurement; and the " material," which had to be obtained from Richmond, was the cast-iron ovens articles not generally manufactured in an agricultural and " wooden " country which has no foundries. 4. The pined have long instead of short root a tact known by all in this vicinity. 5. Millen was not selected because of It healthfulness, but because it had good railway connections, rendering it a place easy to skedaddle from in the contingency of a "forward march " from the Yankees.' 6. Our imprisoned soldiers were not filthy the charge is s gross insult to the cleanliness and dignity ol a brave people; snd there were no more murders in this body of 85,000 men than occur in a city of that population in an equal length of time. 7. We all know the falsity of the statement that our prison for rebel were such murder-pens as An. ierson ville; snd the equally base slander on the nation that we fed our prisoners on ground corn-cobs, putrid bacon and decaying vegetable. I can brand the Xwt' statement on this subject a falsehood from personal knowledge. I visited during the war the prisons at Chicago, Indianapolis and Elmira, and know that, comparing the food snd shelter the rebels there had, with what I saw them have In Stonewall Jackson's Corps of their own army, they fared bettor than with their "friends st home." Dr. Thobs. bubo, though s pretty fair "reconstructed" Unionist, asserts that notwithstanding the treatment of prisoners here was bad, it was no worse than the Federals treated rebel prisoners in the North, " after the Yankees began to retaliate." I should be glad to know when the Yankees retaliated. The Doctor further avowed that " when we dare speak the truth, and have our God-given right to speak at all, we'll depict the horrors of Northern prisons," and he added, "lam now prescribing fur a patient, who contracted scurvy in Elmira, Kew-York Yankee prison." What an age of accurate history and loyal literature we shall have when treason assume the prerogative of enlightening the people of this Yankee Nation 1 J. Q. T. ALABAMA. Judge Bnsteed Grants a. Writ of HsVbest Corpus T He Military Autliorities lle-fukt to Obey It Prompt Action of the Judge. Mobile, Als, Fridsy, Nov. 25. 8. C. Dexter, Treasury cotton agent at Mobile, who bad been arrested and held in custody by Gen. Wood, the military commander of this department, for alleged malfeasance in office, sued out a writ of habeas corpus before Judge Bcstxed, of the United States District Court of Alabama, which writ was served on Gen. Wood and Provost-Marshal Brooks. The military authorities declined to obey this writ, claiming that a military commission had been convened for the trial cf Dexter, and that they would proceed with tbe trial and not permit of any outside interference. Judge BxrsTEKD, upon this, ordered the discharge of Dexteb from custody; that Gen. Wood should have no longer any control over said Detteb; that the body ot Dexteb be produced in court, In order that be might be bailed to answer any complaint made against him, snd thst Gen. Wood be ordered to appear at 10 o'clock to-day to show cause why he shall not be proceeded against, as the law directs, for contempt of court. Additional Particulars Gen. Wood Still Refuses to Appear Judge Bus teed Isaacs st Proclamation for his Arrest. Mobile, Fridsy, Nov. 24 P. M. On the opening of the United States District Court, yesterday, Mr. Akdbews, counsel for Dexteb, read a certificate from the Sheriff of Mobile, showing personal service of the order of Judge Bustxxd npon Gen. Wood, requiring him to show cause wby he should not be proceeded against for contempt of court. Thereupon Judge BrETEED ordered that a proclamation be made for the arrest ot Gen. Wood. Gen. Wood still not appearing, counsel moved for an attachment directed to the United State Marshal against him. Judge BvsTEED granted the motion for the attachment, and expressed bis regret at the course the military authorities bad elected to pursue, snd disclaiming all personal feeling, be declared hi purpose to maintain the authority and dignity of the United S tatea District Court. The Judge further said that in the absence of tbe United 8tates Marshal, and being himself compelled to go to Montgomery, be would make the writ of attachment of the court against Gen. Wood, returnable two weeks from Monday next. Mobile, Friday, Nov. 24. Gen. Thoxas arrived in thia city thia afternoon. His mission is purely on mail matter connected with his department. Intelligence from central Mississippi report a healthy condition of affairs there. Personal enterprise was active, and provision were plentiful. Tbe negroes were also well disposed and returning to their former home. A Columbus (Mississippi) newspaper is Informed of $8,000 being collected by a government agent, wbo accounted for bat f 8,000. It adds: -The stealing mania Is rampant." In accordance with the law Juat passed by th Mississippi Legislature, the Tax Collector at Vicksburgh give notice that he will collect tax of $2 upon each persom Cnstrga ot Ei ibcxxlemeut Dlsprawed Suicide. PBiLaDSxrwa. Saturday, Nov. 25. Edward 8rmoi(, late master-caulker at the Navy-yard, charged by the government with a criea of embezzlements, covering a long period, ws cleared to-day by a jury in the United 8tatcs District Court. ' A Prussian, named Hkbha Powxll. a manufacturer of gaa-oven, committed suicide to-night at sis office, ia Walnut-street, by shooting himself with a a carbine. - Tn Murder of Jacob Cruuse. Bedford, Penn., Saturday, Nov.' 25. Johr P. Reed, Jr., indicted for the nrarder of Jacob Cnocsx. waa acquitted to-day in ' the Court of Oyer and Terminer of this county. The killing of Caocax waa caused by pohtical disagreement arising out of th late rebellion. Frai Suai Francises. 8aa FRAVcnco, Friday, Not. 34. . Arrived eteamer Golden CUv. from FaaJi:a. TOE FLORIDA COMMON. Conclusion and Results of the Session. Freedom Guaranteed Beyond Legls-UtiTe Interferences Entire Repudiation of the Rebel War Debts. Judicial Officers to be Appointed by tbe Governor and Senates Address to the Convention by Gov. Llarviii. Serious Riot Among Negroes in West Florida. From Our Own Correspondent, Tallahassee, Tuesday, Nov. 7, 186S. The Constitutional Convention has, to-day, closed its session and consummated its work in a manner highly creditable to tbe State, and, I think, satisfactory to the government Tbe " sober second thought," under the influence of Gov. Hartut, and the desire to have no further controversy with the General Government, baa secured a fundamental law free from all objection, save some of a trivial and unimportant character. The freedom of the former slave is fully established and guaranteed by the following provision, which were adopted yesterday: Whereat, Slavery ha been destroyed in this State by tbe Government of the United State; therefore, be it Ordaintdb tkepeopU of tke StaU of Florida, in convention assembled. That neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall in future exist in this State, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been convicted by the courts of the State: and all the inhabitant of the 8tate, without distinction of color, are free, and shall enjoy the rights of person and property without distinction of color. In all criminal proceedings founded npon injury to a colored person, and in ail cases affecting the rights or remedies of colored persons, no person shall be incompetent to testify aa a witness on account of color. In all other cases, the testimony of colored persons shall be excluded, unless made competent by future legislation. The jury shall judge of the credibility of the testimony." The obnoxious word white," in the sixteenth section of the bill of rights, was stricken out, and no discrimination on account of color now appears. A intimated in my last, the convention, under the intimation received from President Johssoh'b telegram to Gov. Holdes, or North Carolina, reconsidered it action in regard to the rebel war debt, and has adopted the following: Be it ordained by the people of Florida, in convention assewtbled. That all State Treasury note issued, and all other liabilities contracted by the State of Florida, on or after the 10th day of January, A. D., 1861. to the 25th day of October, A. D., 1865, except such liabilities as msy be due to the Seminary and School Fund, and such other liabilities ss are provided for by this constitution, be and are declared void, and the General Assembly shall have no power to provide for the payment of the same, or any part thereof. A proposition was made, but defeated, to submit the constitution to the people lor ratification. It was made by an opponent of negro equality and of the rejection of the rebel debt, and was resisted by the friends of the government That the convention has acted in good faith, and did not intend to secure any legislative or other dodge, I give you as evidence the provision on AMENDMENTS AND REVISIONS OT THE CONSTITUTION. 1. Ho part of this constitution shall be altered except by a convention duly elected. 1 No convention of the people shall be oalled unless by the concurrence of two-thirds of all the members of each House of the General Assembly, made known br the ossein- of a bill which shall be read torse times on three severs! days in each House. tion of an election for delegates shall be w hamerer a eonvenuon toiu w cauvu, ynisi.- by ths Governor at least thirty daya before the day of election. Every County and Senatorial District shall be entitled . -. I.a.to. , it hu renraeantaUves in ths As- sembb?. The same qualifications shall be required In deiesates and in electors that are required in members of Assembly sad voters for the same respectively, and the elections for delea-atea to a convention, and the re-turna of such election, shall be held and made in the manner prescribed by law for regula in election for mem era ot Assembly, but the convention shall jadg of the qualifications ot its members. The convention, by a vote of 34 to 8 this morning, reconsidered its action making the judiciary elective by the people, and provided that the Judges of the Supreme Court should be appointed by the Governor, by and with tbe advice of the Senate. The convention also this morning paid a graceful and appropriate compliment to President JoHSSoa and Provisional Governor Marvtx, by the adoption of th following resolution, offered by Mr. George K. Walker, one of the de from Gadsden County: RmJi by lAe ropU af the Sintr of rlorlda, That the policy of AXDUW John bow. President of the United States, has been marked by a degree of liberality and mJnuiunitT toward Florida that entitle bun to the conndsnos and gratitude of this Stats. HeMjUed,m Marvin. Proi fvrihrr. That in th administration of. WaL "rovisional Governor of Florida, ws recognise only an earnest desire to advance tne best interest oi uie Kuta. and for his able and. patnotie eervtoes we tenner we tender him our sincerest acknowledsinenca. The Provisional Governor ia authorized to appoint three suitable persons to revise the law so as to comport with the new constitution snd submit them to the Legislature for ratification. He 1 authorized to open the State Land Office and to organize the militia when be shall deem necessary. In every possible' way it baa expressed Its confidence in him, and to him is due the credit of overcoming their prejudices and harmonizing their action with the requisition of freedom and the desires of the Federal Government In my observation of twenty-five year among legislative bodies it baa never been my lot to witness an assemblage where there was so little asperity of feeling, so little collision and excitement: or where there was manifested a deeper or more earnest desire for the public weaL Discussion and Interchange of sentiment gradually brought all Into harmony with aach other, and with the duties Imposed by the abolition of slavery. They have met their responalbilitiea nobly, and are entitled to commendation, and they win return to their constituent with a more earnest and true loyalty of feeling than they came with, and their influence win be felt in securing a better feeling among the people, and allaying th asperities Inci dent to the radical change which ha been mad by tb results of tbe war. , ' . , At the close of the session this evening," a commute was sent to Invite Gov. Mart to address the convention. He came m, and with" much embarrassment addressed them briefly a follow: : I thank yon. gentlemen, for thia invitation but a my mind ts suddenly and unexpectedly called from ths business which ns extgagsd. aas through ths day. aay remarks will necessarily be unconnected. - .-. , I eongrstnlate you on the conclusion of your labors. Th result of them meet my entire approbation aa the Provisiorial Governor of the Ststs.. tveu sea eittssa, I approve ot most of your acts- Some things, a citizen of the State, I could bave wished might have been dona differently: yet even on these points I may be wrong. But aa Provisional Governor, I am sntirs-hr satisfied with what you have done. 1 ou have dons eTe?ytbirg that to my P"?. LlXe? to do. XOU navs oons is au. wi w u Tour action, in regard to negro testimony. receives my especial commendation. . aoi bave met tbe iseus fairly ana squareiy, sua have been desired of you. hare don all that could The eonventlona of all the other Southern States have evaded it by tracsferring it to their Legislature. I nope tney wui ne successful and prosperous, but feel thst the action of Florida, to fully in accordance with tbe wishes of the President will place her in a better position than their. I feel no hesitation in saying that, with such a conu-tntloa as you have adopted, ths Florida delegation will be admitted to seat in tb Congress of the United 8tatesv' ---. - J congratulate myself toe, cn my success in bring- bag together so fall a convention. Nearly, or quite every county in ths 8tate, except Duval, is represented. For thi w are indebted very much to th MiUt-ance of Maj.-Gen. Foster, tbe officer commanding the district He ha fully cooperated with ntstnaamy fforts, and has refused nothing that I hav asked ol him. I shall rely on hi further assistance to bring about s full representation of Us Stat in tb LgU-latur which meet on the third Monday of December. S " I : p I have a single remark to make, before concluding. In regard to our domestic affair. I fesl great anxiety for the preservation of psscs and good order throughout th State, during tb approaching Christmas holidays. A I hav had th opportunity. I bsvs conversed freely with the more intelligsnt colored people, and with other ot leas Intelligence. Although I an an old dexsn of th State, and all my hU a Uveboldr, vet s I came bore from the North, and with my ap itment from the President ot tn Lnwea ntas talk more freely to me than tbey do to you. , i their minds ar exercised with lean as totheat treatment hereafter by their former owners. The fear that their old owners will love them leas, and treat them with lea respect and kindness, than in time past This I aQ very natural. ' They themselves formerly looked down npon free negroes, ae beneath them ; and now finding themselves free negroes, they fear ther will be Utile kindness and respect ehown them by their former owners. ! I most earnestly recommend thst they be treated justly and kindly. Near-ly all of them, at tb end of the year, will srantM leave their old homes. Their feeling 1 that tbey will not be free, unless they go off from where they have been living. This Idea lain their beads, and I find there is no use in talking to them on tbe subject i My advice is, when Christmas com, to give them fuD liberty to go where they pleas. Offer no objeo tions, and attempt to interpose no restraint upoe their movement. And I will say to you that th officer in charge of the operation of tb Freedmen! Bureau ia now, with my assistance, and guided very much by my suggestions, preparing a circular on this subject They will be given from Christmas until tlu middle of January to roam where they please, and d what they please, provided tbey do not violate th law. By the end of that time, it ia hoped, they wit have made arrangement for next year, either by re . turning to their old borne and contracting wltl their former owner, or entering Into engage menu elsewhere. Should i thia not be tht case, and should they still be wandering about the country, without homes, and with no via ible mean of rapport, tbey will be taken 'Ul and dealt with as vagrant, under the tew. I shall make it my duty, a opportunity offers, (and my engagements will give me more time in future.) to g about and address them. I shall tell them who art their true friends: that their real friends are not Northern, but Southern people their former maUrs And I shall point them to what yon hav don foi them, gentlemen. In the constitution which you have adopted, to secure their right, liberty, persona an property, by prohibiting the existence of slavery 1 thia State, and allowing them to sue and testirj In the courtaef tbe country. And I appeal t yon, as you go to your homes, to exert your Inflnertc for the maintenance of good order and tbe preservation of peace and quiet " ' ' Tbe colored troop are all to be withdrawn from the interior to the seaboard. About one thousand white troops will be left in the State. But properlj distributed, so as to form a nucleus for the militia in race of insurrection, will, I am oonvlneed, be sufficient to prevent any disturbance or outbreaks on th part of the colored people. ' i i I repeat in conclusion, my congratulations a Provisional Governor on the result of your deliberation, Florida, under tb constitution which you hav adopted, h8 before her a future rich in It promise ot prosperity and happiness to her people," '. The speech waa heard with th deepest interest snd gratification on th part ot tbe assemblage, and was concluded amid loud applsuse. And thereupon, a few minute before S o'clock P. M., tbe convention adjourned without day. ; " 13' In refering to the action I of the Convention la re' gard to the black race, the leading 8tate paper; ths old organ of tbe Democrats, snd during tbe war; tbe rankest and most virulent rebel sheet hold the fo -lowing language: i f ! " The effect of thi action ia to prohibit the Legislature from excluding tbe Freedmen from access to the courts tor the purpose of protecting themselves from injustice snd oppression. It gives them the privlleg of testifying in the court as against white men In all matters wherein their own rights ofperson or property are concerned but no farther. The Legislature, however, has the power of extending the privilege nd making them competent witnesses In all case, civil and criminal. ' We cannot withhold the expression of our gratification st this action of the convention. Bur are we that the people will approbate it aa necessary, proper and right To leave the negro without the protection contemplated would have been to place him In an infinitely worse condition m thia respect than when he waa bendmsn, for then be bad a master whoa property be wss, and whose interest U not humanity, prompted him to protect him from Injustice snd wrong. He would have been the victim of every dishonest man, with no means of redress for enforcing hi rights, and the effect of such helplessness eould not have been otherwise than injurious to the best interests of all classes. Excluded from the courts, save through " his next friend" denied tb privilege of making complaint before magistrate of injuries done him, and of giving o Introducing testimony of his own color on the trial, even when there was no white man present a witness of the transaction be would nave had no motive for being industrious. Th Convention baa acted wisely in relieving him from this unfortunate condition, and we are glad to be able to say that it has taken tbe lead in this matter, neither the Conventions of Mississippi. Alabama nor South Carolina, so far a w have been able to gather, baving mad any such provision in their constitutions. Each of these Bute has left this important question to tb varying and uncertain action of their L egislaturea, where and before the people it will be made a football for demagogue to rid into office state of affair from which tb people of Florida bav been aaved by the firmness snd wisdom of their delegate " la conven-Uon assembled." i . ; i . Information ha been received here of seriou estate among the negroes near Marianns.'West Florida. The rioter had burned! Thomas Tbii'i gin-bouse, with about sixty bale of cotton.and aerioua apprehen- ' ion were entertained. . A number Of negroes were ' breathing vengeance and threatening hostility to th White. There were no troop at Marianne, and Gen. Fosm forthwith ordered a company of tbe Seventh regulars to quell the disturbance. . ? -r .-Xbe announcement in the Herald of the 35th that . a reverend gentleman of Florida waa in consultation with Secretary Harlax tt Washington," and purposing to colonize thia State with negroes, occasions some amusement, and the inquiry 1 made M Who i Ibis reverend gentleman wo tnu propose to dispose ' of ths State." Fourteen soldiers of the Third Colored Regiment . have been tried and are now In prison, at Jacksonville, awaiting sentence for their participation tn ths late mutiny in camp at that place. : Under proper -administration of military discipline, all would be hot but perbspe. ae th rebellion waa so extensive. . tbe sentence msy be modified. The remainder of the ' regiment baa been mustered out and nt North. No tidings ar yet received at the missing snmsr , 2. H. Mount, and it la now considered almost cer- . tain that she is lost Judge BxraaiTt, of Jacksonville. 1 known to bar been on board, but many other -who were reported among tb passengers, bave been beard from. Th lisl ia awaited here with painful suspense. "' " An interesting practical jok waa played off en one of the leading opponents of negro testimony, a few v day since. In one of our principal town. planter 4 lost a bale of cotton: hie negroee Informed him that -they -bad een a white neighbor teas it away: he fan- 1 mediatelyappealed to tb Provost-Marshal, and brought tn hi sable witnesses; he waa politely informed by , the Provost (who knew his feelings against negro ; testimony,) that he had no testimony, admlaeabls an- der ths laws of ths State, establishing ths case, and 4 dismissed it leaving tbe unfortunate planter to pock et his Ice and consider th effect of hi doctrine. , , ; . , -I A Letter frwaa 43w Xatrwlai. I TT10 TiTTshsnnnt FruH-trl r-i-i foDow ing note from Got. KaRror: . f 1 " ; ;r -.-i Omcsor m Paor. Ooterror.! r-i-1 Taixahahee. Fhv, Not. 10, 186. Drab Bra: Tour paper of yesterday' contain a statement ia the telegraph cohsmn, to the affct ths O Secretary Seward ear that the President la a letter. to me, I much gratified with the . progres made toward reorganization la the State, and regard the ratification of the eonaTesaional amsudmsnt aboW-w I ashing slavery aa Indispensable to a letorstlonnf loyal WUI WWII" m m. kj i , f editorial notice of it ace ma to imply that you think;' ueh tetter or telegram bad been received by me. 1 I bsvs received no letter or telegram from ths Preat-- y dent Secretary Seward, or any other person connect. d with th Federal Government. n- the subject r- fetred to, or on any other subject priding before the -1 convention- , Th action of th convention waa fres,,., voluntary and nnlnT" by any other consider- ' tion than a regard tor yastiee, rUrhtead sound poUcy. , j. . j, WM. MA&TlN.PnoT, GovtrnoV;.rj i: ... ft ti ft' ' 1 - .t..5 .''- i'-'l . j..,. rd J rh9 EieeUpav . ) -.,if ! On Hot. 8 Got. ILaryxr issued proclamatkm.. naming Nov. 29 aa tb day tor the enaction of State1 officers, member of th State Legislature. 4evt i . . , ; : ": Harp.! '-,---.. :l - FMirn : asatBasnieV .U j"1 .1 ss1 Baltimore, Saturday, Nor. 29L t tit Tbe ahta SomerBtt, from Liverpool'on tbe 8ti r4 last, has arrived here. She reached the Cape on ths 24th inst, at 11 A-M. She reports a heavy gal off " 3 the coast She onng a ran cargo a nacrriianqissw 1-1 eonsisned to the Bilnnw st Ohio Jti limed, ! - - r i 1 i hi It ?! 4 s i 71 m 1 m ' J.' s I A' ,. : 3 . .i -4 if". 4 . a. 1 is v ! J: : t ill 41 :t t t V y: f : J I' I - i v in 1 - s i -1 i 1 i