gincigif:Vtelligenor; WEDNESDAY; 11, 1565 "The printlngpresSes• shall be free . to every person who undertakes to examine the pro. ceedings 01 the legislature, or any branch of government ; and no law shall ever be made to restrain the right [hereof. The free column nlcatiodof thought and opinions is one of the Invaluable rights of men: and every citizen may freely speak, write and print on any sub lect ; being responsible for the abuse of that liberty. 'ln prosecutions for the Publication of papers investigating the official conduct of offi cers, or men in public capacities, or where the matter published is proper for public informa tion, the truth thereof may be given in evi dence."—Cbrislif slius qi I.'ennzyfrania. Pike oP the Weekly lntelligeneer. Owing to the continued high price of white paper and all the other materials used in the printing business, we are compelled to raise the price of the Weekly Intelligencer. The price here- after Will be $2.50 a year, invariably in advance. It is with great reluctance that we take this step, but we feel con {.fident our subscribers will not complain, but see the justice of it. Even at the advanced rates, we willibe furnishing them the cheapest weekly paper in the State. ' . The Intelllieneer. With this number 'commences . the sixty-sixth volume of THE INTELLI GENCER, it having launched its bark to the stormy sea of polities in the closing year of the last century-1799. It was established by WILLIAM bICK SON & BROTHER during the campaign which resulted in the election of Trios. MCKEAN to the Chief Magistracy of this State, and THOMAS JEFFERSON to the Presidency of the United States, and was published regularly by Mr. DICKSON until the time of his death, which occurred about the year 1824. During the "Reign of Terror," inaugu rated by the elder ADAMS, Mr. D. was imprisoned for a time for puldi , hing his honest sentiments. After the death of Mr. DIXON the paper was continued by his widow, who was assisted in its management first by her son-in-law, Mr. BEDFORD, since de ceased, and subsequently by THOMAS FERAN, Esq., now of Washington City. It then passed into the hands of Col. JOHN W. FORNEY, about 183 . 6, who subsequently purchased the Journal frOID HUGH MAXWELL, Esq., and noi ted it with the Intellifiencer. Mr. F. continued to publish the paper until 18-1-3, when he removed to Philadelphia, and for a short time afterwards it we issued in the name of FORNEY & BROOK. Mr Hoi.mtooK bei•ame tinr riblisher alone in 1846, hut in a fm, months transferred it to FRANKLIN G. MAY, Esq., of Chambershurg,, sine, deceased. On the first of January, 184 it passed into the 11010 Is or EDWIN 1.% lIUTTEIt E4(l , (now a Minh,:tur Of th Gospel) and he continued his connexio: with it untit the first of July, IS-Iti -when the late ed:tar, lion. GEORGI SANDERSON, bee,one the proprietor.— in connexion with his son (now one of the new firm) continued the publication of the paper until the first of July, 1864, when he disposed of it to Messrs. COOPER, SMITH, SANDERSON & MORTON, the present proprietors,who issue it as a Daily and 'Weekly paper. THE INTELLIGENCER has always been soundly Democratic, and has Sustained with distinguished ability, for a great portion of its existence, the men and measures of the great party founded by JEFFERSON. It is now', we believe, the oldest Democratic paper published in Pennsylvania; , if not in the Union, and has, in its day, wielded as much in fluence as and other journal in the State outside of Philadelphia. Al- though battling all the time against fearful odds in phis county, it has ever maintained its ',integrity, and at the present time its publishers have the prowl satisfaction of knowing that the Democratic party has been steadily in creasing in strength. until it now num bers over eight. housand good and true men who have fiever " bowed the knee to the image of,Baal"—ancient or mod ern FederalisM; That it shall con tinue to fearlesSly bear aloft the glorious old DemocratM banner, is the purpose of the present editors, and they hereby pledge thems4yes to keep the paper in the old channel despite the storms and tempests with:: which it may be sur rounded. All they ask in return, is that the Demoeratie party of the coun ty may give it that generims and liberal support which is essential to its very existence in these perilous times for our country. With this infroduotor3weeommence, with joyous hearts and unithichn:Lz courage., the sixty sixth t volume of the old and thne-honored I YEZI. LI& i,:kLE Thts.Dlo speAliers On the :I , , e!iibl:ltg cm Tue.,day laa . A. G. WU, :jpi - 11:t•I (1 the Hou , e of I.tepre , entattve,, and Wm J TuttRELL, (,)r Spe.tic, ill . the 6ellAte. We Lb) 10.1. klit,W of themigentlenien, Chef: by Llie:r reinai.l , ;, on taii.ng iluir sd_ietive choirs, we feel warranted u. OL:NISI'EAD ilk' tol' ills bate: ULM 1/1" the two. His runiarli, to the occasion—brief, ino.IJ-t and .sen.,ll,e, and without thc sllghtest einft:at kr. TL , ltßatit, deported himself very differently. He seemed to imagine that , he had before him a convention of no groes assembled to celebrate the anni versary of the slaughter of the wliite people of San Domingo by the blacks. His sunarnaryi of the "great results " which have been secured by the war, has the stink of thenigger all over it. - He hugs the negro to his bosom with every possible demonstration of ex travagant delight.. He blabs about "freedom and " in the usual style of itinerant abolition lecturers of the GREELEi school; and apparently not satisfied With the "great results" already accompliShed at the cost of more white WO than would suffice to drown all the negroes in the country, he calls upon heaven to "speed the day when the spir4 of liberty shall so per vade the whole nation," that the long est-neeled, thidkest-lipped and kinkiest wooled negro that may come or be brought here from Congo or the coast of Guinea, shall be welcomed as the worthiest brother. Mr. 717RRELL delivered his spread buzzard speech at the wrong time and in the wrong place. He snould have waited till the fourth of July, when, climbing to "the topmost limbs of the higherinost trees" in his district, he should have made his speech to a mass meeting of his abolition constituents, andthen set file to the tail of his coat and Come down in a blaze of glory. The Governor's Message, We lay before our readers to-day, the Annual Message of the Governor print ed from an advance copy. By reference thereto it will be seen that the :debt of Pennsylvania, after deducting the amount of bonds held by tile State against the purchasers of the public im provements is, $29,079,603.94. Attention is called to the fact that the national tax already presses heavily upon the people, and is likely- to be come still more burthenson.e, while local taxation, authorized by unwise legislation, is far from being.light. The Legislature is, therefore, exorted to be economical in its appropriations. The Governor deals the President a well deserved rap for failing to recom mend that Congress appropriate money to pay the soldiers raised by Pennsyl vania for defence of the border, and advises the Legislature to take steps to ensure justice being done in this mat ter. The troops were taken charge of by the national authorities and used by them as they saw fit, many of them being retained in service after their term of enlistment had expired. tinder these circumstances the complaint of the Governor seems to be fitting and proper. Indeed he may justly, be re garded as dealing very mildly with Mr. Lincoln, considering how palpably he is shown to have disregarded his promise and violated his word in this important matter. The Governor states that, in considera tion of the more favorable condition of affairs, brought about by Sheridan's occupancy of the Shenandoah Valley, ho has deemed it proper to have equip ped and prepared for actualservice:only .5,000 of the 15,000 State troops, which he was authorized to raise. The balance, 10 (5)0, will, however, be organized, so as to be ready in case of an emergency. Attention is called to the labors of the State Agencies under control of Colonel Jordan. Claims against the General Government are collected by thisagency free of charge. It is important that this should he generally known. The Governor wisely recommends that fewer facilities be allowed nit. se curing grants of corporate powers in this State. He calls attention to the apparently unsatisfactory character of the act al lowing soldiers to vote in the army, and 'recommends a general review of the election laws of the State, in order that any abuses may be remedied. In alluding to the recent call for 300,- 000 men, the Governor declares his ina bility to comprehend how so large a de ficiency can be cyphered out. He is of ficially informed that the quota required trout this State is 66,909. The figures surprise his excellency, as no doubt they will the people. He is at a loss how tp account for this large' lack, since it is :mown that most of the counties of this state strained themselves to their ut most, and tilled their quotas by raising :urge bounties. The only way in which t,e can account for it is by supposing that the men, though paid for and mus wted in, never reached the army. If ley did not, what became of them? declareslc that the people of this State .ace been robbed of not less than 'lO,OOO by this operation, estimating re mits who were paid for and mustered Ai. but for whom, it seems, we got no credit, at the low sum of 5400 bounty each. And this is independent of the amount fraudulently taken from men who actually went into service.' The Governor says: " The continuance of these monstrous and unparalleled abuses cannot be tolerated," but he fails to sug gest any practical plan by which they may be avoided. He recommends the appointment of a commission to examine into the dama ges done in the border counties by the rebel army in 1863; refers to the reasons which influenced him in refusing to take any official action in relation to the new army corps to . be raised for General Hancock ; and makes a statement show ing the number of troops put into ser vice by the state since the war began. According to the message, Pennsylvania furnished 91,704 men last year, and 336,444 since the war began. This does not include the twenty-five thousand militia raised in 1862. The Governor clailus that he has been careful at all times to keep himself within the bounds of his Executive authority. This we presume no one will be so unfair as tp dispute. The great cause of complaint against him has been that he has been rather too little than too much the Governor; that he, in too many cases, seemed to regard himself as rather a mere appendage to the Ad ministration at Washington than the Governor of a great and sovereign Com monwealth. The message is a fair State paper, however, and, as such, we suppose will not meet with much unfavorable crili- Pretty Little Family Fight For some days past quite a pretty lit tle family fight has been going on be tween those superlatively "loyal" sheets, the Philadelphia Pies., and In ,rtir(r. The dispute between them is n reference to which of the two has the largest circulation. As it is only a family quarrel, our situation is similar to that of the old woman whose hus- band was fighting the bear, we "don't care much which whips." So far pe PicBs,seeins to have the best of the o con ixve sy. We suppose, however, that - hey '• will fight it out on this line," if takes all winter. Why don't Old Abe ider;ere, and prevent his " loyal" pets ern "scratching each other's eyes Peace Humors Again The Er airs, father and son, are again routc, jut Richmond, this time doubt ess clothed with some sort of official a it hurl ty to treat with the Confederate chiefs tor the purpose of bringing about peace upon the basis of the Union.— l'hat they may succeed, if such is their intention, will be the earnest desire of all,- without distinction of party, who love their country. From the state ments of Washington correspon dents, and the tone of the extracts from the Richmond press, it would seem as if it were barely possible that the war was substantially over. Evidently these peace negotiations have been going on longer, and have progressed further, than has been generally suspected.— Until the result of the Blair mission is known there will be but little interest in the movements of our armies. THE PRESIDENT'S FIRST LEVEE for this season is to take place this evening at the Executive mansion. The intima tion is thrown out for the benefit of whom it may concern, that " the rules of etiquette usually governing gentle men at drawing-room dress receptions, will be expected to be observed on this occasion." We fear a rigid enforcement of this rule would rule out Old Abe him self. MINERAL _RESOURCES OF THE UNI TED STATES.—The report of the Di rector of the Mint, just published, with other official documenks, shows that the gold deposits for theyear 1863 amounted to 523,936,989, the silver to 5933,818 — a total of near twenty-five millions of bullion. The coinage amounted to $21,- 6.19,345 in gold, 8548,214 in silver, and $463,800 in cents—making in all nearly forty-seven millions of coins of every de nomination, being an increase over any previous year..:.: • . llMlN'arl tip nirrmizl We, would respectfully advise those Republicans, both in and out of the Legislature, who are finding fault with Governor:Vuß*; for hiA(exposure the bad laith'of the nal;lenal tration in certain ritattirs of great im portance .to Pennsylvania , to read the "Proceedings 'and Debates of the Con vention to Amend the State Constitu tion" in 18.37. It might do them good, and it certainly would do them no harm, to acquaint themselves with the views of some of the distinguished public men who sat in that, Convention, upon the importance of keeping the -State free from the influence of the Federal government. The prejudices that have grown out of the present unhappy state of our country have so drowned the reason of most members of the Repub lican party, that they snuff treason in any dissent from the will of the nation al executive that may be expressed, no matter how capriciously, how unjustly or how unlawfully that will may be exercised. The biassed minds of these deluded people regard it as rank dis loyalty to expose the shortcomings of the President, and as downright treason to maintain that the power or influence of the Federal government should be in any measure restrained or restricted.— Gov.., CURTIN has fallen under their condemnation, because heshowed in his late message that Mr. LINCOLN had violated his promise to4recommend an appropriation for the p4ment of troops who had been called out by the Gov ernor under authority from the Presi dent.; and because, in the same docu ment, he had the independence to avow that he was "not ready to participate actively in transferring to the United States illegally the right of appointment vested in the State." To show these advocates of unre stricted Federal power how widely they differ from men who exercised an in fluence over public sentiment in this State in earlier and better days, we in vite their attention to the following pro ceedings of the Constitutional Conven tion on the first of June, 1837, which may be found on the fourth page of the second volume of the " Proceedings and Debates" of said Convention : " The Convention resolved itself into committee of thelV-1 1 0. 1 e M 1 , 2oRTER, of Northampton, in the chair, and pro ceeded to the consideration of the first article of the Constitution. "The question pending being on the motion of Mr. STFtvENs to amend the amendment of Mr. DUNLAP—to strike out the word foio(h and insert the word third—by striking therefrom the word third and all that follows the same, and inserting in lieu thereof the following, viz: "Second Monday and Tuesday of November, at which time the Electors of President and Vice President shall also be chosen, unless otherwise ordered by the Legislature," .l-c. "Mr. FumyAlin, (of Allegheny,) said he hoped the amendment would not be passed without some remarks. It was an important question whether we should blend the elections of our State officers with the Presiden tial elections. Ile hoped the gentleman who had offered the amendment would favor the Convention with his views on the subject. It strikes me, isaid Mr. FoRwARD,) that by making both the State amt the general elections on the same day, the influence and feeling which are called into action in refer ence to the choice of suitable officers for the State Government, may bemade to operate do the Presidential election, and that thus the inter, Nis of the Statt will tic 1720/T elliwtetulty merged and lost sight of than if the elections are at dis tinctperiods. It:is known that our rela tions to the General Government are such as to render it certain that great exertions will be always made to olitain the election of a particular President. * The concurrence or these elec tions would, in all probability, be fatal to the State influence. All would be made to yield to the Cabinet influence, unless it should so happen that then' should be raised an opposition powerful enough to countervail this Cabinet in- Ilueffce. It was well known by all who observed the course of tiiings, that the Federal influence was expanding itself daily, and that it was now twice as great as it was twenty years ago. Th , nwnber Of Paq Mrov'crs (old (Icy, ;I,:c Ofri CC C. , hod her nprndigious!y and err ry one of /lase was 0 stare to the Federal Oar, ham nt, brought into of fice by the patronage of sonic' one of in fluence with the Administration; liable to be turned out if a different party should prevail ; « inlfcet dr pi ndan and slave. Every one of these was cx petted to do his duty ; to attend to the interests of the Cabinet. I am not ;con tinued Mr. FORwAanI speaking in ref erence to any particular party. I .uu stating facts as they exist under all Ad ministrations, and in all parties. Who ever sways the rod of power, his breath is sufficient, and every one who holds office by this tenure of thread is liable to be 'displaced by it. All this Cabinet influence will be brought to hear on the State influent - ins = The people ape jealous of this and wish to cripple this Federal influence. r '• They wish to prevent their own State affairs from being mixed up with and int, rhuic/(//«I with by this danyceon influence, He (lid not know how many officers there were in the State. In every county there were some. Look at the Philadelphia Post Office and see the number there; and every county too has its Post office. Ad the »lililary and harry are thpciaThit On this influence, and these arc present ceerylein CC, and their presence involves the interests of the State. It should be the illteN_,3t of the State, and the object of the State, to divorce 1 , ( f COM this po it I (OW 2»•c judicial influence. What is the les son which history gives to us on that subject? Yielding to the superior power, State interests have in all cases been forced to bend and give way to this irresistable influence or the Cabinet. The country will not hear . , This fastening of our State t(7 the Fed eral government—this attaehing of our State elections to the car of the Cabinet, and bringing tilt' influence of the (ten-- eral government into our ward and town meetings for the purpose of oper ating, on the elections, ought to be par licurarly guarded against. Hu would carefully avoid this cabinet influence, from which, once zalmitted, all our elec tions would soon take their hue. The greater influence would.soon merge the less, and the interests of the State would be overshadowed and lost sight of. He hoped all our officers would be elected without the interposition of Cabinet in fluence, which, like the plagues of Egypt, could be omnipresent, and seen and felt everywhere throughout the Commonwealth." " Mr. CHAMBERS, of Franklin, said : He could not shut his eyes to the in fluence exerted upon State elections through the agency of officers, depend ants and expectants of the National government. If there is any question on which public opinion is divided, it is always brought to bear upon the State elections, and to extend and increase the excitement which prevails in the Commonwealth on that occasion. Great as was the patronage of the Governor of this State, influential as it might be, it was still small in comparison with that of the General government. There were, perhaps, a thousand Postmasters in this State—live times the number of all the officers who hold their offices at the will and pleasure of the Governor of this State. 77w patronage of the .National El:maim had become infinitely greater than was erer contemplated by the Con stitution: The patronage of the Gov ernor of this State we had it in our power to limit, and it would probably be reduced by the action of this body; but there was no hope of ever reducing or limiting the patronage of the General Government. So great were the diffi culties in the way of any amendment to the Constitution of the United States, that we must despair of obtaining one for this purpose." "air. STEVENS said he felt satisfied, from the reasons he had heard from va rious quarters of the House, that it would probably be better that the amendment he had subMitted should not prevail. The reasons given by the gentleman from Allegheny (Mr. FOR WARD) were veryowerful, and he very true. ve true. H e agreed that the General Government could bring to bear upon the State elections a vast influence, and he also concurred in opinion with that gentleman that it had always been exercised to the full eaten t." The speakers whose remarks we have quoted were all of them opponents of the Democratic party. Mr. FORWARD 'is, dead, but Mr. CHAMBERS and Mr. STEVENS axe still alive. What they said in the Reform Convention in favor of State interestsand against the eitenskin of Federal influence, would, iftaPioken IsiOw, be cried down as the rankest dis loyalty by those wrong-headed Repub- Hams who are displeased with Gov. CURTIN'S exposure of the cheat prac ticed upon the State by the national ad ministration. Mr. FORWARD spoke of " the mili ttary " and their "presence every where." This was in 1837,-when the whole military force of the United States could not have amounted to more than ten thousand men! He said their presence " involved the interests of ,the iState." How much greater is the dan ger now, when that arm of the Federal government has been increased a hun dred fold. He also protested against " festering the State to the Federal gov ernment," whereas it is now contended that patriotism requires every State to 'hitch on to the Federal car and exercise no power save those which the Federal government gives it permission to exer 'else. Judge CHAMBERS thought the pa tronage of the Federal Government at 'that day was immense. He putthe num ber of Postmasters in the State at one thousand. There are two thousand of them now—perhaps three thousand. And as for Revenue Officers, Provost Marshals, and their satraps, ckze., they may be said to "occupy the land." Mr. STEVENS, as has been seen, en dorsed the views of Mr. FORWARD, whose speech Was the strongest made 'against allowing the State to be ruled by the General Government. All the arguments used by these gen tlemen at that time will now apply with redoubled force—for never were State interestg, : Jim' State rights in so much .danger being swallowed up by the General Government as they are at this present W lit Recognition and Invasion Runioxs Some weeks (Igo news was brought from some point in the neighborhood .01 Itiehmond, that Oen. LEE designed 'shortly to make a move that would astonish the world." Whether this originated within our own lines, orwas .brought to us by sonic " reliable de serter" or " intelligent contraband," has not, we believe, been clearly aster tallied. Of the nature of the movement ontemplated bs LEE, very few even PFentured to guess. The season of the year did not seem favorable to a repeti tion of his twice-tried experiment of a northern invasion, and it (lid notappear probable that he contemplated an aban donment of the rebel capital, after -hav ing defended it so long and so well. The rumor had about run its time as a nine-days' wonder, when a far more startling piece of news took wind at Washington and spread over the coun try. From this story it is made to ap pear that England and. France have agreed that front and after the fourth day of March next, they will recognize Ann_iigist Ltxeot,x as President •of such States only as may have been rep resented in the Electoral Uollegewhich chose him for a second term. An air of plausibility has been given to this,story by the Canadian papers, as may be seen from the following : Pr,i th , .11,nto ri n Iwen pr, , vaiont for some time of an increase to the imperial military t•tinit.lit. tuts now stated, in min i tart - and other welt-informed circles, that rrgirncnts ( , urn , hgre bee n • , 1 , 1 reason given in tilt. 4:Muni. in the !P , Cf!111,, , of FlUifee Mid ( rution . , f Mr. ~,, ~•1, (18 e, for inhirk hr Ivin thusolticially the disuilion of theinrinerly United States sp , ,ken Earl in his letter to ' the (•,lifellerate commissioners. IVe have never lwlieved that England had touch intention of interfering ae- F tively in our s:maldile, hut \Ve never trusted the French Emperor, who has shown as mischievous a disposition F -everywhere . as England ever exhibited in her most ine:hitesoine day. If it he true, however, that England has at length aeceded to French importunity, and the two Governments have 'agreed to give the.rehels :t lift in the way of recognition, the ?;,/:, which they are said to have fixed On has been well chosen, and the tin most I plausible they could find. If these Powers contemplate a recog nition of the Mouth after the fourth of March, and have so assdred the rebel (iovernment, it may he possible that Gen. LEE intends to helium the scheme and " astonish the world " by such an illVatiioll of Maryland or Pennsylvania as would compel Gen. tuANT to aban don the siege of Richinond, in order to save Baltimore or Philadelphia. As hearing upon this subject, the fol lowing extracts from a Baltimore letter to the New York ll'or/d of Saturday last will lit , l . ead with interest—the writer being _Du r ID, whose comtrathientio4s to the Iror/illlave excited•so much atten tion at the North, and whose predic tions have generally beeit fulfilled : THE ni:r.l;T or A 5ol1T1(1.1N Two reports, which arc a good deal talked about here, may merit 11 few words. The first is, that preparations are being made to evacuate Richmond. The second, that General Lee is preparing for a grand offen sive movement into Pennsylvania. Of course. no reader of /be froth/ will believe the first for a moment. It is too ridiculous fifr serious.refuuttion. There is more plaus ibility in the settild; but your readers may rely upon it that no such design is enter tained at present 'by the Confederate lead ers. The design or a northern invasion forms a I tart ut tht•ir scheme fir gaining their independ. tit!, and it is their dearest hope to dictate the term:: of peace to the North, some day, from Independence Hall, in Philadelphia. But the time for such a movement to be attempted has not come yet. The movements of General Sherman, and the peril which so recently threatened Wilmington, and which they think has not yet entirely passed away, are quite enough to occupy their whole attention at present. When General Sherman's intentions be come sufficiently developed r if they do not threaten Charleston, and when the attempt to take - Wilmington shall be definitely abandoned, then it is not improbable that a northern expedinon may be undertaken. Fears for thesafety of Richmond or Peters burg will not deter them front makinot Those strongholds can be held against Gen. Grant's whole army by a much less force than General Lee now commands. Nor will the fact of its being winter be any oh stacle. The march can be made from Gor donsville through the Shenandoah and the Potomac can be crossed at a dozen points between Cumberlandtand Williams port. Om., in Pennsylvania, tho column would be in no need either of food or-cloth ing. Nor is it a lack of troops that would pre vent them from making such a movement. The tong number of troops now under Gen. Lee immediate orders is 113,000, of whom 60,000 are in Richmond and Petersburg, 25,000 fate at Wilmington,!lo,ooo are under Early in the valley, and 10,000 are at Wel don and Hicksford. If the expedition against Wilmington shall be definitely abandoned, 15,000 of the troops now there can he recalled ! and 25,000 can safely be drawn front those • at Richmond. These, with Early's ten thousand, will make a column of fifty thousand men,which is as large a force as can be used with ad vantage as a movable column with the invasion of hostile territory in view. Of course, if this movement is made, it will be attempted'with the reasonable expectation that General Grant will at once detach an equal number of troops ftom the James river, and send them by steamers to Wash ington. But if General Grant does this it will be instantly known to General Lee; all fears for the safety of Richmond will be at an end, and there will be no need of keeping more than twenty thousand troops there. This will give General Lee twenty-five thousand more troops for hiS northern ex pedition, which he can use either as reserves, or in keeping open his line of retreat.— Whatever may be the ultimate result of such a movement, if it should be attempted, no man can say. Its immediate result would certainly , be, however the forced abandonment of the siege of Richmond by General Grant. • • • CI • . The listory of the world in all ages silooW - talk the people are - subject to 10dical delusions. These all run their cc:Or:mol4e the small-poor cholera, and attir a few years are fOrgOten'..ex . teptutoon: the pages of historyi 'But of all the delusions of which the nine teenth century has been :so . prolific those dinineeted with the terrible civil war which' has been raging in our country-for the last four years are the most silly and ridiculous, and would be considered inexplicable upon any other fiypotheidilliazi that the masses of the ArrieriCanpeoPle — delidht in being hum bugged and befooled. And the greatest delusion Of all is, the imp*sion,that gains ground about once every three months that the resources ofrebeldom are exhausted—that every available man the Southern States have is in the field— and that it will be utterly impossible for them to recruit their armies to what they were a twelve-month before. Another equally unfounded and danger ous error is, the belief by, many that there is a very strong Union feeling in the South ; that Georgia and North Carolina.and several other States are anxious to come back ; that Jeff, Davis and General Lee are trembling in their boots at the terrible fate .that awaits them ; and that all-that is necessary to end the war in a few week's or months at most, is for General Sherman to march from Savannah to Richthond and assist General Grant in capturing the Rebel Capital. That multitudes of our countrymen are thus deluded at the present time is a fact too obvious to admit of a doubt,— just in the same way that they were made believe four years ago that the war would be over in sixty or ninety days, and, more recently, that, in the event of Mr. Lincoln's re-election, there would be no more drafting or conscrip tion. This latter delusion has been painfully exploded already, just as the sixty or ninety days one of Mr. Seward was, and the others above alluded to willshare the same fate within the next six or nine months. The Administra tion may continue to " light on the present line '' of policy all winter and the ensuing summer, and, when twelve months more have passed into history, be as far off the subjugation of the South as they are at the present moment, and will find the nselves con fronted by as large armies as they have boon at any time since hostilities com menced. It is well that the people should know the whole truth, and not suffer them selves to be misled into dangerous error by the folly and fanaticism of those who control the destinies of the Gov ernment. The war is not yet near its close, nor will it be ended for ten years to come unless the policy of conducting it is changed. Had Gen. McClellan been elected President we would have had strong and well-groatted hopes of a speedy termination of the war ;and a restoration of the Union; as it is, we are almost without hope. We believe the country has been brought to the very verge of destruction by the insane conduct of our rulers, and nothing but a special interposition of Providence can save US from total and irretrievable ruin as a Nation. Mr. STEVENS made another unsuc cessful tilt at the gold dealers on Wed nesday last. He offered a resolution instructing the Committee on Ways and Means to inquire into the expediency of bringing in a bill to prevent combina tions being formed to raise the price of coin and depreciate the value of the lawful money of the United States." He made a speech in support of his resolution, and was replied to by several gentlemen of his own political house hold—Mr: BROOMALL, of our neighbor ing county of Chester, being one of them—when he withdrew his resolu tion, fairly beaten again. We have met some few Republicans who denounced as traitors, deserving of the severest penalties, all persons who did not admit that a greenback dollar was worth as much as a dollar s in gold. These poor creatures were ex cusable bectruse they were ignorant.— But there is no excuse for Mr. STEVENS. He knows that agreenback is not worth its face in gold, and he knows, too, that if the administration goes on squander ing money for the next four years as it has sUuandered it for the last four, his favorite greenbacks will be worth noth ing at all. He knows, also, who it was that set the example of " depreciating the value of the lawful money of the United States." The President and Congress A , re sponsible for the existing difference in value between greenbacks and gold s — When they issued their first batch of "legal tender" notes, they sowed the seeds of depreciation in them by refus ing to receive them in paymentof dutieS on imported goods at the Custom Houses. The Collector of the Port of Philadelphia, who holds his office by appointmentof President LINCOLN, will not receive " legal tender" greenbacks, because Congress and the President, by a solemn public act, have prohibited him from receiving them. And it was this prohibition, this official deprecia tion of what Mr. STEVENS dign Ries with the high-sounding title of "the lawful money of the 'United States," that first lifted gold to a premium in the com mercial centres of the country. If, therefore, Mr. STEVENS Is desirous of punishing the ring -leaders of the gold speculation, he will have to begin with his Abolition President and run down through the Legislative-body of which he himself has been a member too long for the good of his country. 1. There are only two things certain : Death and Taxes. Mr f . Lincoln gives plenty of both ; the One, through his minister, Mr. Stanton ; the other„ through his minister, Mr. Fessenden. "It cannot be denied that the debt of England upholds the English state, and that so firmly that the worst of devils cannot break it down ; but it has also resulted in making of England one vast tread-mill, where the people must work night and day to fatten theircredi tors. It has made Englatid old and grey with the cares of payment, and has banished from her every cheerful and every youthful feeling." 3 "We have bought many victories —they were splendid, and we got them at a bargain—they were worth three or four times as much as wegave for them, as Lady Teazle says to her husband, when she comes home from buying-- there was much inquiry and a great demand for victories; in short, we could have done nothing more reasonable than to supply ourselves at such cheap rates, with so great a quantity of reputation. But—we have, like many other people, borrowed the money with which we bought these victories as we wanted them, and now we can no more get rid of the debt than a man can of his wife." 4. "Not long ago an Englishman observed a stone roll down a staircase. It bumped on every step till it came to the bottom ; there, of course, it rested. ' That stone,' said he, ' resembles the National Debt of my country: it has bumped on every grade of the communi ty, but its weight is on the lowest."'—New ark Journal. Tosacco.—Att indtistriotu3 statistician calculated that a tobacco chewer spits 525 gallons in 25 years of the most nau seous juice, or more than four hogsheads of the detestable stuff; that he uses a ton and a half of the weed in that time, and that his old quids piled up, would make a heap as large as a hay-stack. What a mass of unhealthy and nasty stuff to pass through one's lips !, In the United States Senate, on Wed nesday last, Mr. SHERMAN, (Republi can,) of Ohio, moved to amend the - bill "-to amend the enrolment - Act !! by in sertingas an additional section--- "That no alien who has .resided irkthe United States for.fice years - continuously before the 19th of April, 1861, shall be natur alized under the laws of the United States after the first day orApril, 1865, anything in any acttothe contrary notwithstanding."' Mr. SHERmAN said that many aliens who had resided in this country 'prior to 1861, had, since the commencement of the presentwar, shirked its burdens by refraining from carrying out, per haps, an original intention to be natur_ alized, and he did not think such per sons should be afforded the advantages of naturalization hereafter. We would like to know how much of the burdens of the present war Mr. Senator SEIERSIAN has borne. We knOw that he has drawn over three thousand dollars a year from the Treas ury 'of the United States ever since the war began, but we do not consider that a very burdensome kind of business.— He has never put his precious body within range of a Confederate rifle; but because certain aliens have been equally (übt not more) regardful of their personal safety, he proposes to cut off all aliens who have resided in the country five years continuously before the 19th of April, 1861, from the privilege of be coming citizens after' the first of April next. The great aim of all Republican statemcn in this golden age of African- American progress, is to increase the number of free blacks and restrict the number of white voters. We believe it was Mr. SEWARD himself who propoAed, some years ago, in conversation with a Southern gentleman, to exchange the foreigners residing in the State of New York for an equal number of Southern negroes. Such are the insults that Re publican leaders. offer to the foreign born portion of our population; and yet SEWARD and SHERMAN do not hesi tate to court the vote of foreign-born citizens, when they have partisan or personal ends to subserve. Report of the Surveyor General The annual report of Hon. JAMES P. BAER, Surveyor General of Pennsyl vania, which was laid before the Legis lature along with the Governor's mes sage, exhibits a marked improvement in the business of the Land Office over previous years. The number of Patents paid for during the year is two thou sand one hundred and seventy-eight, being about the number paid for in the previous ten years. The receipts were, in round numbers, ninety-two thousand dollars, being about equal to the receipts from the same source for the seven years beginning December 1, 1836, and ending November 30, 1863. • The Surveyor General expresses the opinion that, by judicious legislation, the sum of two or three million dollars, which is esti: dot to be still due on unpatented ds, might be brought ,into the State treasury in the next ten 'years, without inflicting injury or 4- tress upon a single debtor. The plan by which he proposes to effect this desirable purpose, is the one suggested by Mr. JOHN C. LEWIS, late Surveyor of this county, viz: to tax unpatented lands higher t han those that are patent ed, and thus make it the interest of all holders of unpatented lands to extin guish the claims of the commonwealth upon them. As there can he but very little unpatented land in Lancaster county, it would be to the interest of our citizens to have this plan adopted and carried out. There is certainly no good reason why the large amount still due the State on account of Lands should not be collected, and there arc many and very obvious reasons why it should be brought into the Treasury within a reasonable period from this date. To collect it summarily would be a hard ship to many of the debtors; and to avoid this, the Surveyor General hu manely suggestsa plan by which it may be got in gradually. From statistics furnished in the lie port, it appears that in the year previous to Mr. Bator's election as Surveyor General, the whole receipts of the Land Office did not defray much more than half its expenses. But the past year lias yielded the Treasury an income from Lands of at least eighty thousand dollars over and above all expenses.— This is by far the most gratifying ex hibit that any Surveyor General has been enabled to make for many years, Abolition Patriotism What is the " Union League" in this city doing at the present time by way of responding to the President's kill for three hundred thousand more men The members all, every mother's son of them, voted for Father Abraham, and talked lustily about the " last man and the last dollar" before the election ; and it was natural and reasonable to suppose that, upon the first sound of the bugle from the White House, they would crowd the ranks of the Union Army and not wait for the tardy and compulsory process of drafting or conscription. It was expected that the Headquarters of the Leaguers, in North Queen street, would have been th Tonged day and night with loyal and enthusiastic patriots, anxious to do and die in defence of the ---n fig(' . But it seems this is all a mis take. Their boasted patriotism, Bob Acres' like, has all oozed out at their fingers' ends. They areperfectly willing that " Copperheads" and " Traitors," as they are pleased to term the Demo crats, shall don Uncle Sam's uniform and shoulder the musket ; but as for their own dear selves they prele: stay ing at home to otli ciate as treason, mellers and vote the shoddy ticket. Seriously, we consider every able bodied man who voted for Lincoln, and thereby sanctioned a continuance of the war, and who now refuses to fight in defence of the country,. a traitor at heart, and deserving all the odium which attaches to such craven and dis reputable conduct. They deserve to have the "slow, unmoving finger of scorn " pointed at them during the balance of their unnatural lives, and a • whip should be placed in every true patriot's hand to "lash the rascals naked round the woW." Another Accident from Coal Oil (in Saturday morning last Miss Virginia Miller, aged about sixteen years, daughter of Mr. F. Miller, residing at Owings' Baltimore, but engaged in business in the city, having been up during the night attending two'of the younger members of the family, who were ill with croup, lighted the wick of a metalic lamp filled with coal oil, when an explosion immediately took place, throwing the burning fluid into her lap, and setting her clothes on fire. Assist ance was promptly on hand, but before the flames were extinguished the body of Miss M. was terribly burned, particularly her hands, arms and neck. Experiments made with some of the sauce oil after the accident showed that for the purpose of making it a cheap article it had been diluted with some dangerous explosive substance, supposed to be benzine.—Baltimore Sue. We have several times expressed the opinion that much of the coal oil now sold throughout the country was ren dered highly dangerous by adulteration, and-above we have the proof of it. This is the filth or, sixth explosion that has occurred in Baltimore and its vicinity in the last month or two—in every case doing serious injury, and in several cases producing death. We really think this matter worthy the consideration of City Councils and State Legislatures. IT IS SAID that 'Old Abe intends to have the White House painted Black, so that the color of his residence may conform to the taste of his supporters. The idea was suggested by that original genius, JOHN W. Fourrzy, who is to superintend the job. sts - Ite ,eeit - essrs. Cox and Steens—The Latter's "Feathers" Most Effectually "Pittiiked." In the House of Representatives at Washington, on ThursdaY, a passage .trornnttook place between Mr. Cox, of Ciltid; : and 'the representative from this district, Mr. STEvrays. It will be seen from "the report, ,which is published in full below, that the gallant little chain • pion of Democracy came off' the decided victor in the contest with, his venerable' antagonist. The latter's "feathers" have been most effectually " plucked :" The House resolved itself into Com mittee of the Whole on the state of the Union on the President's annual mes sage, when Mr. Cresswell, of Maryland, made a speech against slavery, which he characterized as an unmitigated evil to be tolerated for a time only. Mr. Stevens said although the Presi dent's message was brief, it treated a subject of the utmost importance, not only to this nation, but to the whole family of man. He was not extrava gant when he declared that it was the most important and best message ever communicated to Congress for the last sixty years. :Mr. Cox, (Dem.,-Ohio,) said he was touched by the earnest appeal of the gentleman in the name of God and hu manity, to vote for the amendment to abolish slavery: He desired in the name of the God of mercy, to appeal to the' entleman to help to stay the effus ion of blood and restore peace ; instead of hospitals, wounds, taxes, mourning, and death, to substitute order, peace, and union. Such sentiments bring re proach. This. side of the House has been reproached to-day by the gentle man from Maryland (Mr. Cresswell ) and the gentleman from Pennsylvania, (Mr. Stevens.) The epithets of the campaign are re-applied, because we eiuleavor to make peace. Vet while the gentleman from Pennsylvania is using his epithets of copperhead and traitor, I see on the other side of the House the editor of the Tribune, Mr. Greeley, conferring with members as to measures of peace. That editor, in his issue of yesterday, urges that at tempts be made for peace ; at least as a Christian people we are bound to ascer tain what the rebels will do. Mr. Stevens—l (I() not agree with Mr. GreeleV, though I believe him to be a patriot. Stevens-1 do not agree with Mr. Greeley, though I believe hint to be a patriot. Mr. Cox—Yet you denouuee the elji cage eont•entiou—_MeClell:ur, and my colleague, Mr. Pendleton, by odious words for saying what the Patriot, Mr. Greeley, published yesterday. I ask to have the article read for the instruction of the other side. The Clerk read the article in the New York Tribune on the Blair embassy. Mr. Cox inquired, why does not the gentleman denounce Mr. Greeley for saying only what we have said ? lie is frank and outspoken, yet he dare not denounce the elector of New York, who is to vote for Mr. Lincoln. lam not prepared to say that Davis will agree to peace except on the basis of indepen dence. But, tls Mr. Greeley says, there is no harm in trying. A million men ' in the North believe that an attempt would result in peace and Union. The gentleman asks us to give up our views of the State and municipal control over domes tic matters, and change our form of government by voting for the amend ment abolishing slavery. I appeal to hint first to try to make peaceand bring the South back to the unamended Con stitution. if you we on this side may then consider the questik,n under new lights. Ido not say we can vote for it. But let the gentleman make an honest ellort for peace. Give up some thing he desires of vengeance ; his no tions of negro equality-- Mr. Stevens—l do not believe in negro equality. Mr. Cox—Does not the gq,utleman be lieve all men were created equal? Mr. Stevens—Equal before the law. Mr. Cox—Black and white equal be ibre the law. Then give up that, and instead of your pagan ideas of ven geance, follow Greeley's advice. Be civilized and Christian, and seek to know authoritatively at least what the South will do. No harm can come from the trial. Send the gentleman, Mr. Blair and his son, who now sits in this House, to confer, no doubt, on this mat ter, to Richmond, or the gentleman from Pennsylvania himself. Mr. Stevens—They would not let Inc come back. Mr. Cox—The persuasiveness of the gentlemen, his appeals to God and hu manity, could not he resisted. Atleast, make the trial. If it fails, you will secure unity in the North. One mil lion seven hundred and fifty thousand voters who agree with us, ask this trial. Mr. Greeley asks for it. I will offer a resolution in his language, and when in order, try to get a vote on it. The resolution is as follows: W HEREAS, The country hails with manifestations of patriotic joy and con grat, lations the victories recently act eved by our brave armies ; and, 117e , ,reas, The recognized object of the war, at least among civilized and Chris tian nations, is ait honorable and satis factory peace, and that, although we do not know that the insurgents are pre pared to agree to any terms of pacifica tion that our Government either would or should deem acceptable, yet as there can he no possible harmresulting from as certaining precisely what they are ready todo,and in order to refute the imputation that the Administration contemplates with satisfaction a continuance of hos tilities, for their own sake on any ground of mere punctilio, or for any other reason than because it is compell ed by an absorbing regard for the very ends of its existence; and, whereas, an established and rightfully constituted , government, combatting an armedmen acing rebellion, should strain every nerve to overcome, at - the earliest mo ment, the resistance it encounters, and should not merely welcome, but seek satisfactory, however informal, assur ances that its end has been attained; therefore, /?esotred, That in the present hour of victory, which ought to be the hour of magnanimity, and before any action be taken to change the Constitution of the United States, it is eminently the duty of the President, on the basis of the present rightfully constituted govern ment, to send or receive commissioners or agents with a view to national paci fication and tranquility, or by some other national means known to civilized and Christian nations secure the cessa tion of hostilities and the Union of the State. The committee then roee, and the House adjourned. Ills Voice is Still for War Mr. Stevens spoke briefly in favor of con tinuing the war till slavery was abolished, when lie believed the afflictions of the coun try would cease. Thus readeth a paragraph in the rertrt of the proceedings of Congro , ,s on Wed nesday last. It is the fashion of the, ranting Abo litionists who afflict the country to talk about " humanity." This is the ever lasting cant of the snivelling philan thropists who inhabit the section in which Mr. STEVENS drew his first breath, and from which he still draws his political principles. They and he esteem it no affliction that the blood of white men is being poured out in tor rents. To stop the war now and restore the Union under the old Constitution, would be to them the heaviest of afflic tions. But to go on with the war, five, ten, twenty, fifty or a hundred years, till the whole white population shall have become extinct, and the negro alone shall inhabit the land—this is the way to rid the country of her "afflic tions!" A Family Jar A rebellion has broken out in the royal family of England. The Princess Mary, of Cambridge, it is currently rumored, has married Viscount Hood. According to the royal marriage act, a member of the royal family cannot marry without the consent of the sovereign or giving notice to the Privy Council, and even when this notice is given the marriage may be declared illegal by act of Par liament. Queen Victoria positively re fused her sanction, asshe hasinvariably done every time the poor Princess has had an offer, and the latter, who is now thirty-one, and has no time to lose, has now " gone and done it" regardless of consequences. Whether :Parliament will eventually take the part of the royal rebel, or of the offended Queen, is still uncertain; but meantime we are constrained to recognize Mrs. Hood, as a belligerent and very determined le male, who can safely defy Victoria to make her an old maid again by act of Parliament. A Bold Moira o : Sbolltfonfete In Ifela tlon to tke.Vntwo London papers of becember 16th fn form us that on the previous day a very large- deputation of Englishmen waited upon-Alr. Charles-Frahcis Adams, Min ister of th &United ! States to Great Britain at his residence in London, to present him, for official transmission to Wash ington, an address adopted by a Com mittee of the Emancipation Society, congratulating President Lincoln upon his re-election. The papers give quite a parade of names—chiefly of the class called I?everend,by what has come to be a very empty courtesy—and inform us that the chairman of the deputation presented the address, which was such a composition as might be expected froin such a source, with some rreliminary remarks of his own. With modest as surance the representative man says, to our representative in England, that while lie confesses that it would be im proper for those he represents, under or dinary circumstances, to interfere in a matter which has reference entirely to the people of the United States and their own government, yet that there is a significance in this second election of Mr. Lincoln, which it is not, perhaps, altogether unbecoming in those Exeter Hall people to allude4to. This modest prelude of the chairman leads to the more important, we had almost said im prudent, statement, which, it seems to us, ought to e the blood of cm Amer ican citizen boil with indignation.: He said to the representative of the United States You ar aware, sir, that we have in this country taken an important part in the emancipation of the negro—and by enor mous sacrifices of money, by diplomacy, and by ()tiler means, we have endeavored to arouse the sentiment of the world to the horrors of slavery; and we belieVe that the efforts, the influence and the example of this country have been the means of inducing your own countrymen to take, as we believe, the sound view upon this question, and that the awakened con science of •tho North had driven the slave holders of the South into revolt, and that is the sole cause of the war. Yes, "by enormous sacrifices of money, by diplomacy and other means,'' (such as sending miscreant missionaries of the Geo. Thompson type to preach discord among us,) Great Britain has " awakened the conscience of the North" and boasts that the result has been that "the North has driown the slaveholders uf the South to revolt ''-- adding with fiendish exultation, that England thus directly contributed to produce " the sole cause of the war." Exeter Hall hussticeeeded. A million of slaughtered and crippled men ; a deso lated country, so recently the abode of a happy people, thousands of whom are houseless and homeless; a subverted government at the North, with scarcely a hope of a restoration to the constitu tional rights and privileges of freemen ; these attest the success of British eflbrts to divide the United States into hostile sections. And such is the success over which she gloats, and of which the rep resentation of Exeter Hall philanthro py insolently boasts in the complacent presence of the American minister. "You are aware, sir," he says to 11lr. Adams, of these things, of the agencies by which England has accomplished great ends—" you are aware"—and to this personal appeal to Mr. Adams as to his knowledge of the truth of the decla rations that follow, Mr. A. does not make a single objection, nor does he even attempt to modify the language describing so gross an atrocity. England has succeeded, and to her heart's content. She desired, above all things, to cheek the progress of "the great republic." She desired to break the great and growing power of this na tion. She was jealous of our constantly spreading commerce upon the high seas —our white sails were invading what she arrogantly assumes to be her own peculiar domain. She is satisfied now ; and so exultant, that she cannot repress the expression of her delight on occa sions which would seem to be most un fitting for its exhibition. In the pres ence of the official representative of the United States at her court, this repre sentative of British Abolitionism pa rades the instrumentalities by which England has wrought to produce such an " awakening of the conscience " of one section of our country that it has " goaded " another section to revolt.— A lid for this insulting and nwst un seemly display the American minister has no rebuke—of the resentment it ought to have aroused he makes no sign. Have we fallen low enough, or are yet deeper depths reserved for us as the re stilt of such statesmanship as that with which our land is cursed - The Proposed Reduction of the Duty on There is a movement on foot to induce Congress to repeal the ditty on paper. This movement originates out West, and with the editors of republican papers. Some time ago a number of theseeditors —principallyofChicago and St. Louis papers—met and made their arrangements in the usual way to in fluence Ciingress on this subjeet. They adopted resolutions, appointed commit tees, delegates, and so on. Their reso lutions denounced the duty as onerous to publishers and not beneficial to the. Treasury: :mil their committees and delegates were sent around to influence the press at large, to buttonhole Con gressmen and other influential persons, and in all wars to make as much outside pressure as possible. We have been visited on the subject, and were at first glance disposed to aid in the movement, but on a little reflection we are opposed to the whole thing. We are in favor of the duty, and if Congress is disposed to increase it to, one hundred or even five hundred per cent.it will be quite agreea ble to us. In our opinion the Western editors look at this subject through a pinhole, and consequently only see a very small part of it. They never consider the subject in any light save that of their own particular interest, and conse quently they do not understand it at all. They see that the price of paper is high, and they . put down their heads and rush at the duty, which they sup pose to be the cause; but they rush in the wrong direction. The high price of paper isnot in consequence of the duty, and an import duty cannot have any but the most temporary influence on that price. Import duties cannot have any permanent effect on articles that call be produced here of a satisfactory quality. If au article can be made here as well as in foreign countries heavy import duties will only affect the place where it is made. Import duties on such articles merely stimulate domestic manufacture. But, says the man who loots through l he pinhole, import duties also protect domestic manufacture, and the high duty that makes the imported article dearer also makes the domestic article bring a higher price. ThiS is not true. Import duties give the market to the domestic product and the priCe of the domestic product is regulated not - by that fact, but by demand and competi tion. If the price of paper is very high and the demand is great, paper manu factories will spring abundantly into existence wherever capital seeks invest ment, and prices will find their natural level. The proof of this position is found in the fact that, in spite of the high duty, the price of paper is Inv, in simple fact, exactly what it was four years ago.— Then it was ten gents a pound, with money at par ; and With gold at two hundred and forty, paper is worth twenty-four cents. It thorefore keeps its position with the nicest exactness, and its apparently high price is due en tirely to that bad financial system to which we owe our depreciated curren cy. And who is responsible for that system? These very republican editors who now complain at the result of it and endeavor to evade the ruin it is likely to cause. They have urged on and upheld this most ruinous financial-sys tem, and we hope they will suffer for it. We believe that they will. The reduc tion or repeal of the duty, even if they effect it, will riot bring down the price of paper. That price is kept up by the currency ; and only the return to specie payments will take it down. This is a fatal fact to the republican papers ; for it is absolutely certain that if there is not a greatimprovementin the finances within a year, half the republican pa— pers that are still in existence must in evitably die. And they ought to. It is but just they should feel the calamity they have clone so much to cause,—.N. iirra/d. - YEW- YORK PIANO FORTES.-011r readers are requested to read the adver tisement of Mr. Earnest Gabler in an other column of this paper, con ducts one of the largest Plano Factories in this country; and with the new facto ry, now nearly finished, he will be ena bled to furnish dealers promptly, as ordered, with any number of his very elegant, and justly popular lustrualea4,
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