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Terms, $4 per Annum
CHARLOTTE, N. C, JULY 3 1865.
Volume 13 Number 673.
i a s? it tri
INTERNAL BEVENUB IN THE
SOUTHERN STATES.
The Secretary of the Treasury has issrred the
following highly important circular relative to
the collection of' Internal Itevenue in the South
tra States :
Treasury Department, June 21, 18G5!
Section forty-six ot the Internal Revenue
Aet, approved June 30, 1864, provides that
trhsoever the authority of the United States
shall have been re-establisned in. any State
where the execution of the laws had previously
beoa impossible, the- provisions of the act shall
be put in force in such State with such modifi
atioa of inapplicable regulations in regard to
tssessweut, levy, time and manner of collection,
u may be directed by the department, without
waiving in any degree the rights of the govern-
I Mctwij or assuming to exonerate the tax payer
from bis legal responsibility for such taxes. Ihe
tjartmeot docs not deem it advisable to insist
tt present upon their payment, so far as they
rere payable prior to the establishment of col
lection district embracing the territory in which
rbe tax payer resides. But assessors in the
several collection districts recently established
o the .States lately in insurrection, are directed
to require returns, and to make assessments for
the several classes of taxes for the appropriate
legal period preceding tbe first regular day on
which a tax becomes due after the establishment
vl trie district; that is to say in the several dis
tricts iu question thvj proper tax will be assessed
upon the income of the year 1861, inasmuch as
the tax for that year is due upon the 30th day
ufJune subsequently to the establishment of
the district. All persons lound doing any buei-
uess for which a license is required, will be ass
essed lor the proper license from the first day of
the month in which the district is established.
Persons engaged in any business for which
monthly or quarterly returns are required to be
made, will be assessed for the month or quarter
ior which returns should be made at the first
return-day after tbe establishment of the dis
trict, and tho same principle will apply to those
taxes which are payable at different periods. A
manufacturer of tobaSfco, for instance, in a dis
trict established after the 1st, and before the
2Uth day of May, will be assessed upon his sales
tor the month of April. When 'any 4 manufac
tured articles are found in the hands of a pur
chaser, and it is shown to the satisfaction of the
assessor that tbe goods were actually sold and
passed out of the hands of the manufacturer be
t'ure the commencement of the period for which
he is properly taxable, the articles will not be
subieet to tax in the hands of such Durchaser.
I unless transported beyond the limits of the States
lately iu insurrection. The holder of any dis
tilled spirits, manufactured tobacco, or other ar
ticle wbich is liable to seizure on account of the
absence of inspection marks, may present -to the
assessor the evidence that the articles in his
hauds, or under the circumstances which obtain
iQ the particular case, are not subject to tax ex
cept as above stated. And 'if the assessor is sat-
l i5ed, he will cause the packages to be so mark
et ,1 .1 u., :.i.:c. :i .
tvi mat iuejr uiay ue lueuuueu uuu &u;u wiluuuu
liability of seizure. Whenever any- collector
fthall hive reason to believa that the boldei of
any goods on which the tax has not been paid
niteiids to remove the same beyond the limits
ft the States lately in insurrection, and to evadt?
the payment ot tho tax, he will seize the goods
and take the necessary steps-for their condem
nation, unless the holder shall give bond, as
hereinafter prescribed, for the transportation or
exportation or tbe goods, or shall return the
-me to the assessor, and pay to the collector
the amount of tax that shall be found due. In
all cases in which a seizure shall be made un
itr these instructions, the department, on being
informed of such seizure, will consider the case,
and extend such measure of relief as the facts
hail justify. In the States of Virginia, Ten
nessee and Louisiana, collection districts " were
some time since established, with such bounda
ries as to include territory in which it has but
recently become possible to enforce" the laws of
the Uuited States iu those districts. The rule
laid down above will be so modified as to require
Ithe assessment and rvillpntinr. nf'thp firs. Lisps
which become due after the establishment of
assessment divisions in the particular locality.
Whenever assessments are to be made, based
upon transactions which may have been carried
'Q in a depreciated currencv. it will be proper
f ior the assessor to ascertain the amount of the
iticouie, or value, or sales, or receipts, in lawful
tiwney of the United States, according to the
k-cst information which he can obtain as to the
average value of such depreciated currency for
the period covered by the assessment. The
utio upon cotton and spirits of turpentine,
are, by a special provision of the statute, made
payable by the person in whose hands the ar
ticles arc first found by officers of internal reve
nue. With reference to those articles, there
fore, the rule laid down will not apply; but ass
essments will be made wherever they are found.
Whenever any person holds, as a purchaser, any
articles which, under the internal revenue laws,
may be transported under bond, and dusires to
transport the same to any Northern port or place,
he may apply to the assessor to have the amount
of tax ascertained and determined. The proper
examination having been had, the assessor will
certify the amount of duties t hereon Jo the Col
lector, and the Collector will thereupon grant a
permit for their removal. After the execution
of a bond for their storage in bonded warehouse,
snch permit and bond being in the form requir
ed by the regulations for the establishment of
bonded warehouses. On or before the 10th day
of each month the Assessor will transmit to the
office of Internal Revenue, a statement showing
the amount of duties thus certified during the
month preceding, and the .Collector will, on or
before the same date transmit a descriptive
schedule bf all bonds thus taken by him in the
course of the preceding month. Wiien goods
arrive in any Northern port under such trans
portation bond, of under a permit issued by a
Collector of Customs under the regulations of
May 9, 1865, they will be received into the pro
per warehouse established under the 1 Internal
Revenue laws, in the district into which the
goods are brought, and the necessary certificates
will be issued for the cancellation of the bond
in the same manner as if the goods were trans
ported from another bonded warehouse. When
ever any person" who is assessed for a license is
found to have paid a license tax to a special
agent, appointed under the regulations of the
Treasury Department for commercial intercourse
with insurrectionary districts, the Collector will
issue a license for the year endingIay 1, 1866,
and'will collect only so much as may be due for
the time intervening after the expiration of the
license issued by the special agent. The
amount assessed and thus left uncollected will
be abated when the proper claim is presented to
the Commissioner of Internal-Revenue.'
HUGH McCULLOUGH,
Secretary of the' Treasury..
Suicide of Edmund Ruffix. The Rich
mond Republic contains the following :
On Saturday last Mr Edmund -Ruffin, avery
distinguished agriculturist of Virginia, commit
ted suicide at his residence, near Mattoax depot,
on the Richmond and Danville Railroad. He
retired to his chamber at an early hour jn the
morning, and taking a seat -in a chair, took a
gun, loaded with shot and slugs, and placing the
muzzle to his mouth, discharged the piece by
pushing the trigger with a stick. The upper
portion of bis head was entirely blown off. In
a diary of his was found a memorandum stating
that he could never live under the United
States Government, and took death in prefer
ence. In the same memorandum 'he said that
he would have committed the deed on the 9th
of April (the day General Lea surrendered) but
was prevented by the presence of visitors in his
house. Mr Ruffin was well known in Virginia
by his efforts in behalf of agriculture in the
State, and was once editor, we believe of the
Southern Planter. He was well known through
out the country during the first of the war from
the ardor with which he embraced the Confed
erate cause, and particularly from the fact that
he was the man who fired the first gun at Fort
Sumter when General Beauregard bombarded
that work in 1861. He was over seventy years
of age. A paragraph in the letter loft for the
perusal of family and friends explained the tra
gic deed.' It reads; "I cannot survive the Ipss
of the liberties of my country."
South Carolina. Charleston correspon
dents state that that city has again assumed a
business like aspect. The work of rebuilding
the portion of the city destroyed during the war
was in active progress, and the wholesale mer
chants were rapidly disposing of their stocks of
goods, purchasers from the interior coming in in
large numbers. Heavy mortality1 was prevail
ing among the negroes in Charleston.
It is said thaf there are at least one hundred
thousand bales of cotton along the line of the
railroad between Charleston and Columbia,
awaiting the completion of the line to be for
warded to market.
Certain Northern papers complain that the
prices accorded to negro labor iu ' Virginia are
grossly inadequate. We conclude, therefore,
that much higher wages ae given there, and we
advise our colored, neighbors to migrate thither.
Petersburg Express. '
IMPORTANT CIRCULAR.
Col. E. Whittlesey, Assistant Commissioner
of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Aban
doned Lands for the District of North 'Carolina,
has located his -headquarters at Raleigh, N. C.
The following circular defines hts duties. As
it is issued from the bureau of the War Depart
ment over which Maj. Gen. Howard presides
and is approved by the President, it is the final
decision of the Government on the subjects
which it touches, and effectually repeals all or
ders from any other source that may conflict
with it :
If vies and Regulations for Assisstant Commis
. , sioners.
War Department,
Bureau of Refugees, Freedroen and Abandon
ed Lands, Washington, May 30, 1865.
Circular No. 5.
'I. Jfhc headquarters of the Assisfant Com
missioners will, for the present, be established
as follows, viz :
For Virginia, ' at Richmond, Va.
North Carolina, at Raleigh N C.
South Carolina & Georgia, at Beaufort, S C.
xYIabama, at Montgomery, Ala.
Kentucky & Tennessee, at Nashville, Tenn.
Missouri and Arkansas, at St Louis, Mo.
Mississippi, at Vicksburg, Miss.
Louisiana, at New Orleans, La.
Florida, at Jacksonville, Fla.
II. Assistant Commissioners, not already at
their posts, will make all haste to establish their
headquarters, acquaint themselves with their
fields, and doalll in their power to quicken and
direct the industry of Refugees and Freedmen,
that they and their communities may do all that
can be done for the season, already so far ad
vanced, to prevent starvation and suffering, and
promote good order aud prosperity. Their at
tention is invited to Circular No. 2, from this
Bureau, indicative of the objects to be attained.
III. Relief establishments will be discontin
ued as speedily as the Cessation of hostilities
and the return of industrial pursuits will permit.
Great discrimination will be observed in admin
istering relief, so as to include noue that are not
absolutely necessitous and destitute
IV. Every effort will be made to render the
people self-supporting. Government supplies
will only be temporarily issued to enable desti
tute persons speedily to support themselves, and
exact accounts must be kept with each individ
ual or community, and held as a lien upon their
crops. The rations for the destitute will be that
already provided in General Orders, No. 30,
War Department, series 1864. The Commis
sioners are especially to remember that their
duties are to enforce, with reference to these
classes, the laws of the United States.
V. Loyal Refugees, who have been driven
from their homes, will, on their return, be pro
tected from abuse, and the calamities of their
situation relieved, as far as possible. If desti
tute, they will be aided with transportation, and
food when deemed expedient, while in transitu,
returning to their former homes.
VI. Simple good faith", for which we hope on
all hands from those concerned in the passing
away of Slavery, will especially relieve the
Assistant Commissioners in tbe discharge of the.
duties toward the Freedmen, as well as promote
the general welfare. The Assistant Commis
sioners will, everywhere, declare and protect
their freedom, as set forth in the Proclamations
of the President and the laws of Congress.
VII. In all places -where there is an interup
tion of civil law, or in which local Coujts, by
reason of old codes, fn violation of the freedom
guaranteed by the Proclamation bf the Presi
dent aud the laws sf Congress, disregard the ne
gro's right to justice before the laws, iu not al
lowing him to give testimony, the control of all
subjects relating to Refugees and Freedmen be
ing committed to this Bureau, the Assistant
Commissioners will adjudicate, either them
selves or through officers of their appointment,
all difficulties arising between negreos themselves,
or between negroes and whites or Indians, ex
cept those in military service, so far as recogni
zable by military authority, and not taken cog
nizanee of by the 'other tribunals, civil or mili
tary, of the United States
VIII. Negroes must be free to choose their
own employers, and be paid for their labors.
Agreements should be free, bona fide actg, ap
proved by proper officers, and their inviolability
enforced on both parties. The old system of
overseers, tending to compulsory unpaid labor
and acts of cruelty and oppression, is prohibited.
The unity of families, and all the rights of the
family r elation, will be carefully guarded. In
places where the local statutes make no provis
ions for the marriage of persons of color, the
Assistant Commissioners are authorized to des
ignate officers who shall keep a record of marri-.
ages, wbich may be solemnized by any ordained
minister of the poepel, who shall make a return
of the same, with such items as may be required
for registration at places designated by the
Assistant Commissioner' Registration already
made by United States officers will "be carefully
preserved.
IX. Assistant Commissioners will instruct
their receiving and disbursing officers to make
requisitions upon all officers, civil or military,
in charge of funds, abandoned lands, Ac, with-,
in their respective territories, to turn over the
same in accordance with the orders of tho Presi
dent. They will direct their medical officers to,
ascertain the facts and necessities connected
with the medical treatment and sanitary condi
tion of Refugees and Freedmen. They will in-
struct their teachers to collect the facts in refer
ence to the progress of the work of education,
and aid it with as few changes as possible to the
close of the present season. During tbe school
vacations of the- hot months special attention
will be given to the provision for the next year.
.X. Assistant Commissioners, will aid Refu
gees and Freedmen in securing titles to land ac
cording to law. This may be done for them as in
dividuals or by encouraging joint companies.
XI. This Bureau being in the War Depart
ment, all rules and regulations, governing offi
cers under accountability for property, apply as
set forth ia the Revised Regulations of the Ar
my. All other persons in the service of (he
Bureau are also subject to military jurisdiction.
XII. Assistant Commissioners will require re
gular and complete reports from their subordi
nates, and will themselves report quarterly, as
directed by law, aojdfcorrespond frequently with,
this Bureau, directing to the Commissioner iu.
person. "
O. O. Howard, Maj. Gen.-,
Com. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmeu,'&c.
45? The Richmond Whig says that fifteen
or twenty years ago the military bands in Rich
mond were composed exclusively of colored meu.
Now, and for a number of years past, the bands
have been composed exclusively of whites.
Colored men were formerly the only musicians .
at balls and dancing parties. Now, the German
is preferred. Some years ago, a white porter iu
a business house was. a rare sight. No", they
are met with as frequently as negro porters. No.
one thought ef employing while servants jvhen
the men of the present day were boys; but they
are now quite numerous. Since the changed.
State of affairs, in Richmond, this substitution of
white for negro service has been progressing
rapidly, and is chiefly noticeable in the vehicles
running upon the streets. Formerly a white
Jcbu W88 seldom seen occupying, the driver's
seat.. Now, one seldom observes a negro hack
mau. The white man rooted the Indian out, and
the negro will go the same way, unless he is
very industrious and behaves himself well.
Virginia. -Vifginia presents to the nation.
a most striking and impressive spectacle of a
people honestly, anxiously, and cheerfully en -raged
in the work of reconstruction and State
re organization. By common consent agreeing
that by-gones shall be by-gones, all are putting
their shoulders to the wheel, and county re
sponds to county froui the Valley to the Sea
board, through great, primary meetings which
everywhere proclaim the intention of oar citi
zens to sustain tbe laws and Constitution of the
United States. Frapkly admitting the utter ex
tinction of the Confederacy, they are taking tho.
amnesty oath without the slightest mental reser
vation, and are honestly determined to faithful-,
ly perform its .obligations. The proclamation,
of President Johnson having swept away every
yestige of the late State organisation, Governor
Pierpont is everywhere - receiving a support
which he well merits, for the admirable manner
in which he is discharging the delicate and re
sponsible duties of his office.
Many things have contributed to brbg about
this happy result. Much of it is drfe to the
striking peculiarities of our people. They fought
bravely to tke last, and for four years endured
the enumerable horrors of war without a mur
mur of complaint; but when defeated, they at
once prepared to perform with honor and integ
rity all the duties, which their changed condi
tion imposed upon them.i Richmond Times.
. :
A school was recently opened near Zanesville,
Ohio, where burglary, pocket-picking, tricks in
gambling, counterfeiting, &o., were actually
taught. Quite a class of young bpys bad been
organized when the existence bf the '"institu
tion" was at once discovered and terminated.