HARRISBURG LETTER. -4-11.inausnimorFebruary:1,:-1870 The ordinary routine ,of - business - - transactions. and -( iscussions was hroken in upon last week, by the public recep tion given by Govsernor Geary and his estimable- lady, on, Thursday evening. The Executive Mansion, wag thronged with fair ladies and gentlemen, who up- - predated the cordiality with which they were.greeted, and who will remember . with pleasure the enjoyment of the evening. Every portion of the-State was represented, and persons of all political creeds were present. Tho aSsomblage . was a very brilliant one, and_ in all re spects the reception was' a decided ' • success. • The Legislature is moving on in the even tenor of its way, and has made con siderable progress witliThome iinjiortant measures. • On Thursday last the xecord question was disposed - Of, at least in the. shape it was 'desired to have passed. The Senate bad ratified the contract by the eonlinittce vi•ith ilir'Beranor,but theliOnse tool( gi - rptite different view of affairs, and infused, by a heavy majority,, to approve it. Of course, under the , present vote, the. record is still among the things that were. There are sur mises that the project will be revived, and this may be posSilile. Time, how ei-er, is rapidly passing, and the most important nicasnres are crowding them selves on the Legislature, and these circumstances may make it, difficult to revive ther record in any shaPh. On Monday evening the Senate deter- Mined to take up Senator Lowry'i bill for the erection of the new county of Petrolia. The passage ofthis bill to the third: reading bad developed the fact that almost all the Republicanswcre l Apposed to the measure, and all, the Deffiocrats in favor of it. Sonic malicious persons • had seen fit, on this discovery, to inti mate that the Democrats and the vener able Senator from Erie bad made it'bar gain by , 'which they agreed to vote for the pew county, as a consideration for Mr. EMU ' S vole, in their favor, on the two contested election cases. This rumor gave the bill a general importance, and the Senate lobbies were crowded in an ticipation of a lively . personal-disenssion, between Mr. Lowry and the opponents of his bill. As soon as the bill was reached, .4r. Albs, who represents the Warren district, from which a slice is to be taken for the new county, moved to ego into Committee of the Whole to.rtmend the bill, which was lost by axote of 17 to 12. -All the Democrats present, with Low tie and Watt, Voted nay, and the Re - Publicans yea., This was the test vote ; the bill was put on its final pas sage and the epoch making began. Mr: Allen opened against the bill, and charged a political combination on the part of the Democracy with Lowry, and protested against securing local legislation by such means. IIe• presented the protests of the Democracy of that region a,gaittst the actiOn of the . Senators belonging to their party. :Mr. Lowry followed -Mr. Allen in .one of, those rather pecinlia• efforts which he is supposed to considerelo • (pent, and which his audience usually find amusing. As the result was a fore gone conclusion after the first wife, there -was no further discussion of the merits of the bill. It was, however, deemed I necessary that the Democratic party should be vindicated, and for this pun pose Senator Buckalew took the floor. His high standing in his party, and ad mitted ability, secured for him, the closest attention, while he disclaimed being a . _ invty to any combinationon_tith. — lion. and declared that no caucus action hurl Legit had by the Democrats on it. He admitted that certain causes had sorted Senators on the subject, and hail driven the Democracy en norksr to one side, lint that it was not in pursuance of any bargain. He further declai:ed that if any such action had been _taken, it would be cause fur him to vote against the ineasnre, irrespective of its merits, to vindicate the honor and dignity of his Senatorial office. This sounded mag nificently in a speech, and was received by the crowd with becoming attention. Doubtless the Senator spoke the truth in • • 'this individual case, and there was doubt less no formal action taken by the caucus in the matter. Tt is too much, however, for our credulity to believe there was no concertg . action with regard to the bill, which every Democrat understood as well as Ito understood- whylee voted for Irwin. There may have been Mrsale in the matter, and doubtless was none, but irthe Democracy arc not offering pretty big bids ,for somehody's vote WO. ace:- mistaken . in the gentlemen. There aro some serious doubts, however, that these bids wiltbe accepted. After' the Demo ' cratic Seifators were placed before the country as models of purity for legislators; tbe'vote was taken and the bill paned— yeas 16, nays lit. • Alter thniew county was disposed of, Mr. Connell called up the Metropolitan police bill for Philadelphia, which ho passed a second reading under tlio pre vious question.. There was a strict party vote on it except Mr. Lowry, who voted with the Deinocrats. This morning it. was- put on its final passage and we's carried. This bill and the now county bill will be the occasion of some lively . fighting and-,scheming in the Dense, with a fair prospect of being carried in that branch; - • 'OUR cOAL SUPPLY. As the coal question has, during part of this year, excited considerable :Wen . lion and many complaints, tr•o have been . led to make a careful examination of the subject, -in order ito ascertain, if poSsi , ble, how the supply of this necessary of . life MAU-regulated to meet all demands. tind-the following to be . the kmown . coal bearing territory of the world : 311144 of Col I furl. .... 00:146 ' ... . 7,630 .4 400 • 084 • , . , 800 • 10 10 0 BF° L-. British—North A 111P1411 (brat Britian .• Franco :•1;11 ' ' • ilnlinhilx Yrinin Chinn anti Japlit, koilret vet annum of the prlnclpfll cOunt;lee MO', ;I Flut. I;relkt. . : ... 11;lash Nor,lt A tai•rlen Nritue.. . ... ; ... , It will bo..4:Aiserved that;•althOuglt the '• United States possesses 0110 hundred and ;.:nirieteen times the • coal ~ forritory :of Greet;firitian, Ole produces abotit"one: fourth thp amountof coal. ' In regard to lbe*price of coal, foci from a' careful, annalysis of the prices fora nruubcr of years back, that although it bas apparently ruled very high during parts lif,.this the average bag dean IcSs.thanln a' inueber, of-previbu4 s'ea nojim: The average price of'ivhite, aeh Irpnp coal: by MO Cargo at 'Philadelphia had fanged, follows, viz : . • Highest 50.1-1 y ,Averafie Lor,st Yeaq Awing° i rric" Per I 84 er ; 0.1 . 2 1842 " 4 ]6;6.a.;, 1808 4 ,27 1843... a5_41,._.:,1,,. ..., 6•16.1641..:. 1834 • 6:161861:::, 1863 ^ 6 on' 1864 8 30 , , 1868 . . • 7 80 1806 5 soi • :,, - And it is quite a curious coincidence that • during the periods..of frog traq supremacy and financial disasters the highest prices Were reached& (except the war years of 1863, 1804, 1805,) while un der the effect of the protectivO tariff -Of 1842 and 1864 the price of coal haS been uniformly - Qui ; and since the clOse of the War the prices of bituminous coals; both native and - foreign, hayo steadily . de clined, notwithstanding the fact that the abrogation of the reciprocity treaty,- in . March, 1866; put ,$1.25 per ton duty upon coal from British 'Ainerica, that being the principal source 'from which we draw our supply of foreign coal. As there as been a great deal said about re ducing, or removing entirely, the duty on coal,-it will be-well - here-to ex actly what kind of a support , we, 'would be leaning upon should ,such a course be pursued. The 'coal area of British North America, as stated above, is 7,530 square miles ; and under - the inipressfon that our seaboard could be supplied with cheap fuel from that source, coal was admitted free of duty under the recip rocity treaty; with this result. During the six years preceding •J 854 (the date of the treaty), we imported from Nova Scotia an average of 115,570' tons per annum, while the succeeding sir years, in which that coal was minified free, the average import was only 125,060 tons per annum ; and there was no percepti ble advantage to home consumers in the supply of coal until the general start of trade during the war, or in 1863, 'and our average import for the closing five years of the treaty rose to 202,308 tons ; and during the two years succeeding the ex piration of the treaty, arnifiluringwhich the duty of $1.25 per ton was collected; the imports from Nov , a• Scotia have averaged 283,312 tons per annum. ,We have seen the effect of free, trade and protection upon the quantities of ported coal, now what has it been - upon - the, consumers, upon the reyenuei of our treasury, and upon the producers of American bituminous coals ? The following table'will give the av erage yearly pries of Piston (the best) Nova Scotia coal, delivered by cargo in Boston, their nearest American market ; al.§h-average cost of Cumberland , coal at same point : Pl, ton. Ctool''d. Per t n. Per tuts. 1601 Prue of dot. ' 9.4 67 ' ' ft' CO 1h62 d 0.5 or .. . . ..... 0 67 13113 do. 7 4u N 04 10.316 du. 'lO 40 ' 10 88 1,116 do. U tO 10 89 1860 Duty paid 4 , 1 25 per 14/11 h 84 ' 9 IT 1067 do. du. 8 10 - 7 07 1664 du. do. 8i 41 , 770 1860 do. du. 788 ' 742 It will be observed sines the duty was put on' coal the price has steadily fallen, both of American and foreign coal, while the stimulating effect upon the American production_ hanbeeu enormous. lii.. the year 1865, while coal was free, the con sumptibn of American bituminous coal upon the seaboard was 1,989,247 tons; in 1868 it had increased to 3,142,683, and the shipments the presein year will be about 4,900,000 tons. Notwithstanding the great inducements that were offered the Nova Scotians Under eleven years of free trade, they never produced in any year over 607,990 toukt of coal ; would we not, therefore, be - lbaning upon a very weak reed when wo propose to suspend-the further development of our oivn - irast - rninerat - Wealthiaild - ro - ffejie - nd for our supply of bitUminons coal upon neighbors who have shown themselves utterly uniaffe to supply our wants, al though they had no objection to 'take advantage of our kindness in admitticii their products free of duty by adianc ing their prices to the utmost during the trying times of 1864 and 1865. The effect of this duty upon the treasury is .manifestly to increase its revenues with out adding one cent to the price of coal to the consuiners in the United States. - . It is 'not evident from the foregoing statement : 'fret. That the United States pos sesses sufficient coal territory to supply all the wants of the nation for genera- tionc to come ? Second. That coal, like other articles of commerce, is subject to the known rule of supply and demand. Third. That the way to insure rea sonable prices for coal is to encourage the development of our own varied and vast veal fields (spreading from Puget Sound, or oven Alaska on the nothwest, to Alabama on the southeast ; and from the Blue Mountains on the, east to the Pacific on the west,) with the full as from past experience, that the home competition will grout - to Quell a degree as to preclude the possibility of• any monopoly or undue advancing of prices.—The Protectionist. --,--BRIEF ITEMS. The Pews in the SeraMou Pretitit:erian Church sold for $B,OOO. Kansas- has 3,500,000 sores timbered In Saoramonto the boot blacks , are uniformed. An apple trco in Vermont yielded 70 .busliels last .season.. . ' A Kontooky town of 3,009 inhabitats fins no schoo) bonne. Johnstown has an average daily at tendallOo' of 745: scholars at her public schools. The bonds of the State of Poutisyl vaniacOmmand a higher figure than Viose of any other,State. A Eitato Temperance Convention will be held litho court lionse.inparrieburg, on Tuesday, February 8, A little four 'year.old, watching from the ;window 'a procession of children from .the orphan' asylum, exclaimed "flow I'd like to • Uo an orphan anil illay 'sol diers 113 i • A joint resolution has been intriidneed into the Kentucky Legislature provid ing for the removal of President Taylor's rennains-tOCave Hill Cemetery, at Louie villo, and.tlie erection of p. Hutt:dile. nitin unaent over them. ad• 5 . , 100 not rept rind The Allentown Rolling lifilU.Company Ims finished rails' on hand to ' the amount of over s3oo,pob, with no:demand: The Roberti Iron Company lave about $60, ,, 900 worth of from, laid 'up Awaiting put , chasers. : ' . 28,000,000 112,000,t 00 000,0,0 '4,600,000 0,000,000 13 000,000 300 000 At Wilkesbarm Jast , week, a young Man named Veasoy, „while intoxicated, stepped into the troUgh•of the: great fly wheel of a rolling,mlll, was caught and eru'shed ppd thrown fo!M horn the place, 6o much for inteninpq7, ,A huFbatul 11l Bb, Joseph, Mo., pa, 'tioutly ! lop ~iyhon-, his' ys . r,i, s co do- SOrtell. him , ' but whim' a goods, 4uod him I'o . gootisibought by her as an Mittitilo stoutly resisted!.theelsbn, and Mo Court sustained Lim,' 't A w iailroad g euddtm tho ground to atoms. A Pennsylvania editor Lae .been post ' ng his books, and sums up as follows I .Weathered a three month spell of sick' noes ; built a now office; purchased a com ilete-Chitilt*Of: new' tyPs 'the* paper"; adding the names of many now advance paying subseriberi to bur- list, and an other boy baby to our Family Circle. Good bye, 1869." • - In the the State of Kentuay there are nine hundred Baptist churches, foitSt , . three associations, and one tundied thou- Sand communicants, of whom twenty thousand are colored. The London' Directory for 1870 con tains the names of eight hundred Browns, niuo hundred Jonesce, while the Smiths; Smythe, and Smythos muster eighteen hundred strong. In the vote on tho Fifteenth (negro suffrage) amendment in the Rhode-Island Legislature, the Providence Journal says that two or three Democrats voted forthe amendment, and two or three Republi cans against it.. Senator Sprague was opposed to the ratification. 'Tis over thus that the proprietors take the lion's share and the poor em ployoqa„take what theymay. We allude to the giving of men montlui' imprison ment to the owner 01 a French radical newspaper, while the editor got duly sit months. An old-fellow who dwells near Ironton Ohio, has a portable whiskey shop. It &midge Of a jackass and two jugs. The jugs are swung" across the animal, And thus the propriotortransports them wher ever there is a ehance . of meeting a de mand: Kansas his on the walls of its new Capitol pictures which cost $25 each; is very much pleased on being assured by good judges that some of them are equal to some in the Capitol at Washing-. ton which cost from $5OO to $l,OOO. The number 'of births in Paris in 1808 was 55,002, of which 39,258 NV ere legit imate,- land -15,450 —27,979 boys and 23,029 girls. The deaths were . 45,890 or 0,112 less than in births. In the same year 18,590 marriages wore cel ebrated. A ToledO German, who has been keep. ing a saloon' for the accommodation of printers, has ,been obliged to suspend. Gillis books were found the following named members of the' craft : "Dor Laim l3rinte?; •" "Dor Ladle;' " Dor "Pon; Puller Brinter ;"" Der Tivcll; " "Der Brinter mit der red hair ;" " Der Brinier wit hair not shooed so red." Some San Francisco newsboys' sell other articles than newspapers, and as tonish-. -Eastain visitors by crying; "Here's yer Evelainb' Tribune and cough candy cures coughs,colds, and eore-tkroat latest 'count of. the earthquakes—only five cents a copy, or six. sticks for a quarter. It is estimated that the amount of money depOsited in all of the savings banks • of . the United States aggre gates 500,000,000. If 'our population is 400,000,000, this sum would give $l3 .50 per.-head for every man, woman and child in the country. As most of this vast wealth comes Iron the'earaings of the poor and middle classe4; - it is plain. that labor is: well rewarded in - ' . the United States. tnCessago was the seventy-ninth since the organization 'of the present State Government. G. W. Haupt. • esq., a rising young member of the Sunbury bar, died last week of consumption.. IfrS. Esther Reed, aged nintey-six years, died suddenly last week at her residence in Woodward, Chester county. T. S. Reed, esq., 'veteran Cambria sdunty editor, is about to write the rem:. iuiscences of his life. Forty-one years ago,he printed ,a paper in Johnstown. Rufus Choato was , the .worst penman ever coniocted with the Boston bar. Ito could not decipher his own manuscript, and made it out only by recalling the senso of the subject matter In hand. After his death his friends could , Make little or no use of the anahuscript mat ter which he left and to this circumstance is mainly due the fact that no complete volume of his life, writings, kc., has yet been published. The Hon. George G. Wright, the new U. S. Senator from laws, in.his Profes sion of faith addressed to the Legislature just before his election, says : I would stand by. Protection to home Industry, and ...Manufactures. This is part of My boyhood's kith, and is the conviction of manhood ; and this not to build up the individual, but to protest and benefit the Million." Mrs.l McFarland-Richardson is publish_ ng sorno - of Mr: Ricbardson!s works: the billiardiet, has pur cha'sed a $12,500 - reSidence in Cincinnati. • 8. Generals feglellan'etpilettes at• tract attention at Wa 7 c!hingten. , • James Gordon Bennett, sr., of the Now York Herald, is confined to his reorn,,and too ill to see friends who call. "Fairy Betsy" is the name of a•Pawneo belle of Omaha. She is an ardent ad mirer of whisky straight. . Mr. Burlirigame7s mission has been ox tended.fOr two years more, with $70,000 in gold' per annum for. his travelling ex penses,. „ . , Donn Piatt writes that any one pos sessed of a whole coat and a clean shirt,,. and who is a member of Congress, oats go into Washington society, at once. The Hon. jorehaialt S. Black is writing a history of Buchanan's administration from November, 1880, to . March, 1.801. He was Buchanan's Secretary of State after the retirement of Cass: • Jeff Davis is hard at work as President of tho . Carolinti'Life Insurance Company, of Memphii, 'Term. Gen. Braxton Bragg is the Company's agent for New Orleans. ' Alexis 'St.' Martin, whose side was idiot away in'lB22, in such a Manner 'as to nose the action of the digestive organs to, the surgeons's eye, is slilyolive rind well in Cavendish, Vt... •• • Bill Childs, a notorious • busdnvaolcOr during.tho war,. recently hung in a barn on tho . farm of his. mother, in La fayette county, Ifo:, by !is party of citi .zons Nyho knew Wan and appricb :Mod his dame.!' •. . • tiorioral 'doioribed aa loOking.aa bright and young eat' worhark; of forty. Her, arm ' aro clear, coinpleo4;. Lion fresh, auditor:stop elastic: flaving; after toilseme yearii,',imieve.red a vast es tnte, she announces that tlio bulk of- it 'shall be OinepdOd.iti pulilia chart toe. " ,A diyhtity,stuflent recently sahl i te • th 6 llov. Wray Wartpleeehor tlo Yois preach ,the, doctrine of election?" / 0 Well;" was the ronlY, "whoa alniat is , soundly converted, I toll WI ho. is eleete'd. I riveach that aftttr,the fact rather than hotore." *r 1 11 v;. PERQNAL. •'.;; • . f ilikrrin_Death'!'livos in • Warren, ;Ohio. When he.. m-ntinister,'-aaid,- Vion dolt this woman for thy wife, to tiratelti over .hor in life Orrin Death." A iiekt celebrated tho event 'in linerbegining, "Thou host sons for thine own, 0. Death." , • Colonel Jones, of Monnioirth, N.. 3., owns the original. topi• of z the famous Lecompton ConStittition'ovOr which the tho . eountiyhoursuch a wrestle. It is on a square yard of pnrchment,- - was twice captured during the Kansas troubles, and went safely through tbe•, sacking of Lawrence. ' A Cuban grandee, who-died seeently,. goes on tho mortuary record as " tho ExcellentissiuMScnor Don Pedro Pablo O'Reilly, Count of Santiago, , and Mar quis of San Felipe, Colonel of Volunteer Cavalry, andtlie possessor of five aroma andgcat crosses of an many different Spanieh ordera." Poor old roan I ne wonder he died. Ore rarli,slt VOL. 70. NO. CI UNDER WHICH KING The harmonious Democracy aro in trouble, and this time strange to say, the nogio is at the bottom of it. In Philadelphia they are' having series of meetings' at which their great men it're expected to instruct their followers in the pure doctrines of Democracy.. The first of these meetings was hold some time since. and the speech_ making for it was done by'Mr. John O'Byrne, He certainly took new ground for the party. Ho' advised the discarding of 61d issues, and declared that ho personally wanted no restrictions of political rights on ac count of color or race. As Hr. O'Byine declarei to be a Democrat, and as it is quite probably he is an 'lrishman by birth, this was being as liberal as any ono could desire. Some very credulous people supposed that this speech indi cated. an - abandonment of their old ideas by the Democratic party, but thin proved . 're mistake. Their papers didn't very heartily endorse Mr. O'Byrne, although they wore prudent enough to denounce negro euffragoAn as strong ternis as formerly. They, however, wanted anothe oracle and got one. Hon. Richard "Vaux was gently. re minded by sonui body that the country needed a speech from him, and he forth with, got one up. It - did'nt surprise any body on account of the progress it Indicated. Mr. Vaux don't believe in „negro voting, nor negro citizenship, nor the coLercion of States, nor any. thing else that is contrary to the ancient land mark of the Dcmo - Cracy.' , The' Phila delphia papers used to get off =MY jokes abontati old hat that Richard per sisted -in wearing long after -it should have been laid away, but s his political ideas aro more antiquated than any head piece he ever wore. They belong to the generation that sold men for money, and robbed other men for being abolitioniits. Yet doubtless Mr. Vaux is regarded to day by his party as , entirely orthodox, while Mr. 013yrno, is. considered almost heretical enough to be excoliamunidated. • There is no use fora man who is will ing to believe in ,progress of any kind, to allow himself to remain in the Demo cratic party, in the hope that it will ad- The great mass of the party now believe that the institution of slavery was right, that the rebellion existed in the North and not in the South that the men who maintained the government wore .disloy al, and those who fought to overthrow; were right in principle,' and, but slightly wrong in action. They dream to-day that some lucky chance will some day take the ballot &mane negro, and drive him again into bondage. It is hopeless to attempt their conversion. Good men tried it at the commencement of the slave holders troubles in. Kansas, but they were turned out and formed the Repub lican party. Again it was tried at the beginning of the war, but the men who attempted to teach the party patriotism, found they had attempted an impossibil ity, and some gained their politioal for tunes with the friends of Union and Lib erty. And now, when for party and country, and individual, it is necessary that the exploded follies of bygone years should be dropped, 'the men who had brains enough to .realito ,this fast, and honesty enough to admit it, need n't waste their energies on the Democratic party. Lot them come, and from it ad ., vanes. Senator Buckalow has introduced a bill into the Legislature which is intended to develop his " pot theory of minority representation. It relates to county com missioners and auditors. It provides for ttio elvction of three commissioners at the sable time to . servo for three years each, this making•an eistiro new board .every third year, instead of putting in a now in pomissioner oach.year. Tho same provision applies to the auditors. The bill also abolishes the office of jury com missioners. Those are some very impar-. tial 'Changes, but in tho minuet of elect ing is the great feature of the bill. This is provided for in tho third section whieh.reads its follows : Bac. 8. In the triennial elections of county commissioners and county audi tors provided for in this ,act, (com mencing with 'the election of county . commissioners, at the general election in October next,) each 'voter duly qualified may distribute his throe votes to and among candidates as he shall think fit ; may bestow them all upon onti candidate, Or may give ono vote and a half .to each of 'two candidates, and the candidates highest in vote shall ho declared elecied. The intention, of this is to givo ,the minOrity,party a chance to elect a, por tion Of'the Board by combining their votes on one or two candidates instead of tho•wholo three. liThen tho Lill comes up . llr. BucicaloW , will doubtleds speak to it at length, find tho matter will then, be pi:for general discussion. The mount:o is somewhat novel in its nature, but'any change in this county must bo. an improvement. dolui Ledig, eig„ our Repredenta .ibio'at Idarrisinirg; has presented a re thoistranoe from the citizens of this bar oUgh, againet the passage of an act lowing this",authorlties 'to dnoreass ihn ratO of taxation. Ile had' also "preionted . a, remonstrance from the