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American
QUARTERLY REGISTER
MAGAZINE.
Causas rerum videt, earumque progressus. — Ciceho.
:;:;■
€onlmkl bjj lames Striker.
MARCH, 1849. . . . Vol. II. No. I.
PUBLISHED BY THE PROPRIETOR,
NO. 520 CHESTNUT STREET.
/7?S~
4-
' Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1849, by
JAMES STRYKER,
in the'Ci3rk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
W.lliam S. V'ouno, Printer.
CONTENTS
No. 1. Vol. II.
Introduction, ......
Historical Register of 1848, United States , Mexico, Guatemala, Ve
nezuela, Buenos Ayres, France, Great Britain, Germany,' Prussia
Denmark, Russia, Spain and Portugal, Italy, Jlsia and Africa,
Statistics :
Common Schools of Connecticut, with statistical tables,
do Pennsylvania, do
do New York, do
do Michigan, Wisconsin, New Jersey, with sta-
tistical tables,
Smithsonian Institution, ....
Schools of France, ....
Commerce of the United States, with statistical tables,
Tonnage of do do do
Imports and exports for a series of years, do
Public debt of the United States, do
Estimate of population and crop for 1848, do
New Census bill, do
United States Navy, do-
do Army, do
Post Office, do
Coast Survey, do
National Armories, do
Steam boiler explosions, do
Coinage at the mint during 1848, do
\ British and Irish produce and Manufactures,
Mahogany trade, .....
Debts of European nations — income and expenditure,
American Colporteurs, ....
Religious denominations of England and Scotland,
French Church and Catholics,
Accounts from the Sandwich Islands,
Reports of Emigrants arrived in 1848 at New York,
Religious Items, .....
Climate of Europe and cold winters,
Meteorological Table, ....
Emigration to California, with statistical tables, .
Exports to do do
All the Presidents of the United States, .
Executive Governments, ....
Thirty-first congress, ....
Electoral votes for President and Vice President,
Popular vote for do do
6—56
56
60
63
68—69
69
71
73
84—85
86
87
89
91
93
95
96
98
99
100
101
102—103
104
105
106
107
107-8
108
109
111
113
114
115
118
120
120
121—123
124
125
17
Contents.
Original Communications :
Memoir of Governor Belcher,
The Press and Periodical Literature,
China and the Chinese,
California, a descriptive account of,
Junction of Atlantic and Pacific Oceans,
Historical Sketch of Slavery,
Agriculture,
Education of Orphans,
President of France,
Miscellaneous :
Anecdotes of Talleyrand, .
Phenomena of Death,
Insect Slavery,
Wild beast fight, .
Introduction of Forks,
First Newspaper,
Man — his mental power,
The Friendless,
The ten Tribes,
Poetry:
Translators and Translations,
The Old Tree,
California Adventurers,
To my Mother,
Doubt not, ....
Quarterly Chronicle for December, January, and February, from 221 to 243
Obituary Notices, ......
Documents :
The President's Annual Message,
Reports of the Secretaries of War, Treasury, Navy, and Postmas
ter General, ......
Inaugural address of President Taylor,
Speech of the Queen of Great Britain,
Message of the Mexican President,
Letter of President Roberts, ....
Manifesto of Pope Pius IX., ....
Protest of do ....
Protocol to Mexican Treaty, ....
Message of President in relation thereto,
Report of Col. Mason, .....
Letters of T. 0. Larkin, Commodore Jones, and William Rich,
Revenue Laws of California, ....
Proclamation of Gen. Persifer F. Smith, .
Memorials of Aspinwall and Hargous,
List of Acts of last session of Congress, .
126
137
144
151
158
169
176
180
187
191
196
202
203
204
205
206
208
209
213
216
217
218
220
243—256
256
267-
-273
273
275
276
277
278
279
281
282
288
292—294
295
296
296—300
301
THE AMERICAN
QUARTERLY REGISTER
AND MAGAZINE.
NO. I. VOL. II.
MARCH, 1849.
TO THE PUBLIC,
The present number of the Register having been delayed beyond the regu-
lar period of publication, it is due to the patrons of the work to state the
cause of this irregularity.
The materials for the third number were mostly prepared and ready for the
press by the first of November last, when the editor being called from home
in relation to necessary business arrangements, was suddenly and severely
attacked by sickness. During a confinement of several weeks, rendered
wholly incapable of completing his arrangements, or of superintending the
press, he was obliged to abandon all hope of getting out the third number in
the month of December. Having but recently been restored to a state of suf-
ficient strength to resume his labours, he has at once recommenced the pro-
secution of his work.
The second volume therefore begins with the month of March instead of
December, but there will still be two volumes within the year as originally
proposed ; so that from this temporary delay and derangement, there will re-
sult, in fact, no loss to the subscribers.
In addition to the circumstances just related, it is proper to state, byway of
further explanation, that the editor has hitherto been compelled to depend
mainly on his own personal efforts in regard to the preparation and publication
of the work j an arduous task, it is true, but one to which he has cheerfully
applied himself, and which he has hitherto accomplished, until the recent
providential hinderance. He is now making arrangements to prevent, as far
as possible, the recurrence of a similar failure^and no effort will be want-
ing on his part to secure the regular quarterly issues hereafter.
VOL. II. — MARCH, 1S49. 2
Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March.
HISTORICAL REGISTER.
THE HISTORY OF 184 8, CONCLUDED,
UNITED STATES.
Our country being now at peace with all the world, and the na-
tional legislature having terminated its session on the i4th of August,
it has furnished few incidents deserving the notice of history, since our
last number. Its late harvest was unusually abundant, and the crops
of wheat and maize were equally good, which is not often the case, as
the dry summers, which are most favourable to wheat, are unpropi-
tious to Indian corn.
Thus blessed with abundance and peace, the public concerns which
have chiefly interested the American people, have been the political
changes that are now going on in Europe, the election of a President
for the next four years, and the emigration to their new possessions on
the Pacific.
The features of the presidential contest have differed from most
of those which preceded it, in having more than two candidates,
and in being attended with less popular excitement. In general, those
distinguished individuals who are at once deemed worthy of this high
office, and are sufficiently known and esteemed by the people to be
likely to obtain their suffrages, however numerous at first, have finally
settled down to two. In the fifteen elections which had previously
taken place, there were but two exceptions — that in 1824, when there
were four candidates, all hoping for success, either with the people, or
in the house of Representatives, and that in 1836, when Gen. Harri-
son of Ohio, and Judge White of Tennessee, were brought forward in
opposition to Mr. Van Buren. On the present occasion, there were
in like manner, three prominent candidates, General Taylor, General
Cass, and Mr. Van Buren. That the popular interest should have
been far less than at the election in 1844, may be ascribed to the ex-
traordinary enthusiasm with which Mr. Clay's public and party ser-
vices had inspired his friends, and the almost equal hostility felt by his
opponents. That this interest should even have been less than has
been usually felt at such elections, may be referred to the fact that the
public mind, so often and so forcibly excited by the victories in the
Mexican war, and by the late astounding events in Europe, was less
sensitive to the wonted stimulus of political controversy.
It has, of late years, been the practice of those conventions, which,
by mere party machinery, without any operation of law, voluntarily
assemble for the nomination of suitable candidates of the presidency-
1849.] History of IS AS. — United Slates. 7
to set forth the leading principles of their political faith, and this ex-
position, by a figure of rhetoric, like that which extended the mean-
ing of the word rostra* at Rome, it has been the fashion of late to call
the platform of the party.
The more ostensible and avowed principles of these parties are ever
varying with the changing circumstances of the times, but there are
some more fundamental points of difference which undergo no change.
These, having their foundation in human nature, make an essential ele-
ment in political parties every where, and have the most activity and
force in the countries that are most free. Society in such countries
naturally divides itself into those who., having more than an average
share of property, feel solicitude for its preservation, and those who
own less than an average share, and view the richer class, if not with
envy, at least with jealousy of the power and influence produced by
wealth. Too many of the one class, like Ceesar, are intolerant of
equality, while most of the other class, like Pompey, resist the claims
of superiority. The one, having more to gain than to lose by change,
are ever ready to attempt reform : the other, having more to lose than
gain, instinctively dread innovation. Other circumstances besides
wealth, doubtless contribute to engender pride on the one hand, and
jealousy on the other, but property is the chief agent in dividing all
civilized countries into two discordant classes; and a large majority of
those who compose the great political parties, are ranged under the
one or the other, by the affinities and sympathies to which the posses-
sion of property, or the want of it, give occasion. Fortunately, for
the peace of society, many, both of the rich and the poor, are placed,
by the force of circumstances, in the class to which they do not natu-
rally belong.
Other principles occasionally may be mingled with the fundamental
one that has been mentioned, but unless they have the closest natural
alliance with the apiamoi on the one hand, or the ttioMuh on the other, they
are sometimes found in the ranks of one party, and sometimes in those
of the other. Thus, a bank of the United States was supported by the
federal party in 1790, and opposed by the republicans. In 18i6, it
was supported by the latter party, then in power, and opposed by the
federalists. Afterwards it was supported by whigs and federalists, and
opposed by the democratic party, headed by General Jackson.
War has generally been denounced by the democratic party as re-
pugnant to republican principles, and unfriendly to civil liberty ; yet
the recent war was defended and justified chiefly by the democratic
party, and the war in 1816 was exclusively the act of the same party.
The restrictive policy in commerce, by way of retaliation, was ad-
vocated in 1793 by the republicans, and opposed by the federalists;
* rostrisque earum, suggestum, in foro extructum, adornari placuit :
rostraque id te7nplum appellation. — Livy.
8 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
but, of late years, a similar policy has been supported by the conserva-
tive party, and opposed by the democrats. So, too, with the exercise
of the President's qualified negative on questions of public, policy,
which the whigs now condemn, and the democrats not only justify, but
exalt into a merit, it will probably not be long before the parties change
places.
Bearing in mind that the radical principles growing out of man's
moral nature, are at the bottom of this, as well as of all preceding
presidential contests, and animate nearly all those who are not operated
upon by personal ambition, or the desire of office, and their adherents,
let us see what are the minor principles which the three parties severally
profess, and by which they seek to recommend themselves to popular
favour.
The principles of the democratic party were set forth by the con-
vention which assembled at Baltimore on the 22d of May, and were as
follows :
" Resolved, That the American democracy place their trust in the
intelligence, the patriotism, and the discriminating justice of the
American people.
" Resolved, That we regard this as a distinctive feature of our poli-
tical creed, which w r e are proud to maintain before the world as the
great moral element in a form of government, springing from and
upheld by the popular will ; and we contrast it w T ith the creed and
practice of federalism, under whatever name or form, which seeks to
palsy the will of the constituents, and which conceives no imposture
too monstrous for the popular credulity.
"Resolved, therefore, That entertaining these views, the democratic
party of this Union, through their delegates assembled in general con-
vention of the states, coming together in a spirit of concord, of devo-
tion to the doctrines and faith of a free representative government,
and appealing to their fellow citizens for the rectitude of their intention,
renew and repeat before the American people the declarations of prin-
ciples avowed by them, when, on a former occasion, in general con-
vention, they presented their candidates for the popular suffrages.
" 1 . That the federal government is one of limited powers, derived
solely from the constitution, and the grants of power shown therein
ought to be strictly construed by all the departments and agents of the
government; and that it is inexpedient and dangerous to exercise,
doubtful constitutional powers.
"2. That the constitution does not confer upon the general govern-
ment the power to commence and carry on a general system of in-
ternal improvements.
"3. That the constitution does not confer authority upon the federal
government, directly or indirectly, to assume the debts of the several
states, contracted for local internal improvements, or state purposes ;
nor would such assumption be just or expedient.
1S49.] History of 184% — United States. 9
" 4. That justice and sound policy forbid the federal government to
foster one branch of industry to the detriment of another, or to cherish
the interest of one portion to the injury of another portion of our com-
mon country ; that every citizen, and every section of the country, has
a right to demand, and insist upon an equality of rights and privileges,
and to a complete and ample protection, of persons and property, from
domestic violence or foreign aggression.
" 5. That it is the duty of every branch of the government to enforce
and practise the most rigid economy in conducting our public affairs,
and that no more revenue ought to be raised than is required to defray
the necessary expenses of the government, and for the gradual but
certain extinction of the debt created by the prosecution of a just and
necessary war, after peaceful relations shall have been restored.
" 6. That Congress has no power to charter a national bank ; that
we believe such an institution one of deadly hostility to the best in-
terests of the country, dangerous to our republican institutions and to
the liberties of the people, and calculated to place the business of the
country within the control of a concentrated money power, and above
the laws and the will of the people ; and that the results of democratic
legislation, in this and all other financial measures, upon which issues
have been made between the two political parties of the country, have
demonstrated to candid and practical men of all parties, their soundness,
safety, and utility in all business pursuits.
" 7. That Congress has no power under the constitution to interfere
with or control the domestic institutions of the several states, and that
such states are the sole and proper judges of every thing appertaining to
their own affairs not prohibited by the constitution; that all efforts of
the abolitionists or others, made to induce Congress to interfere with
questions of slavery, or to take incipient steps in relation thereto, are
calculated to lead to the most alarming and dangerous consequences:
and that all such efforts have an inevitable tendency to diminish the
happiness of the people, and endanger the stability and permanency of
the Union, and ought not to be countenanced by any friend to our
political institutions.
" 8. That the separation of the moneys of the government from bank-
ing institutions is indispensable for the safety of the funds of the govern-
ment, and the rights of the people.
" 9. That the liberal principles embodied by Jefferson in the declara-
tion of independence, and sanctioned in the constitution, which makes
ours the land of liberty, and the asylum of the oppressed of every
nation, have ever been cardinal principles in the democratic faith, and
every attempt to abridge the privilege of becoming citizens and owners
of soil among us ought to be resisted with the same spirit which swept
the alien and sedition laws from our statute books.
"Resolved : That the proceeds of the public lands ought to be sacredly
applied to the national objects specified in the constitution ; and that
10 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
we are opposed to any law for the distribution of such proceeds among
the states, as alike inexpedient in policy and repugnant to the con-
stitution.
" Resolved : That we are decidedly opposed to taking from the Presi-
dent the qualified veto power, by which he is enabled, under restric-
tions and responsibilities amply sufficient to guard the public interest,
to suspend the passage of a bill whose merits cannot secure the ap-
proval of two-thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, until
the judgment of the people can be obtained thereon, and which has
saved the American people from the corrupt and tyrannical domination
of the bank of the United States, and from a corrupting system of
general internal improvements."
Then follow several resolutions relative to the war with Mexico,
the recent revolutions in France, and approving the present adminis-
tration.
The Whig Convention which met at Philadelphia in June, and
nominated General Taylor, deemed it most prudent not to make any
formal exposition of its principles. The candidate whom they had
selected to receive the suffrages of their party, while he had repeatedly
declared that he was a whig, had also professed great moderation in
his political sentiments, and had affirmed in his letters, expected to be
published, that, if elected, his purpose was to be the president of the
American people, and not of a party. He had even gone so far as to
declare that, adhering to his political opinions and predilections, he
would accept the nomination of any party.
The convention, content with the evidence thus afforded of his
general concurrence with them in sentiment, and which had the more
weight for the not very conciliatory avowals which accompanied it,
did not wish, in tendering their nomination to General Taylor, to sub-
ject him to the alternative of cither discountenancing, perhaps dis-
claiming, any of the principles they cherished, or of seeming to abandon
the elevated ground he had taken. To his published letters, then, we
must look for the principles, which the whig party, by adopting him
as their candidate, may be considered mainly to have supported and
approved on the present occasion. We say mainly, because it is
absurd to maintain, as has often been done, that every single political
principle or opinion which a presidential candidate has avowed, has,
by the election, received the popular sanction ; since on that particular
question he might have been in a minority, and, consequently, have
been elected not by reason of it, but in spite of it.
Many letters of General Taylor have been published in answer to
those who have importuned him for his opinions; but two, addressed
to a friend and relative, Mr. J. S. Allison, of Louisiana, may be re-
garded as an exposition of his political sentiments, and seem to have
been so intended ^by him. Acquiring additional importance from the
recent election, they will be given at length.
1S49.] His tory of 184S. — United Slates. 11
The first is dated April 22d, 1848, and is in these words :
"Dear Sir, "Baton Rouge, April 22, 1848.
"My opinions have so often been misconceived and misrepresented,
that I deem it due to myself, if not to my friends, to make a brief ex-
position of them upon the topics to which you have called my atten-
tion.
"I have consented to the use of my name as a candidate for the
presidency. I have frankly avowed my own distrust of my fitness for
this high station ; but having, at the solicitation of many of my coun-
trymen, taken my position as a candidate, I do not feel at liberty to
surrender that position until my friends manifest a wish that I should
retire from it. I will then most gladly do so. I have no private pur-
poses to accomplish, no party projects to build up, no enemies to
punish, — nothing to serve but my country. I have been very often
addressed by letter, and my opinions have been asked upon almost
every question that might occur to the writers, as affecting the inte-
rests of their country or their party. I have not always responded to
these inquiries, for various reasons.
"I confess, while I have great cardinal principles which will regu-
late my political life, I am not sufficiently familiar withall the minute
details of political legislation to give solemn pledges to exert myself to
carry out this or defeat that measure. I have no concealment. I
hold no opinion which I would not readily proclaim to my assembled
countrymen ; but crude impressions upon matters of policy, which may
be right to-day and wrong to-morrow, are, perhaps, not the best tests
of the fitness for office. One who cannot be trusted without pledges
cannot be confided in merely on account of them.
"I will proceed, however, now to respond to your inquiries. ^
" First. I reiterate what I have so often said. I am a whig. If
elected, I would not be the mere president of party. I would endea-
vour to act independent of party domination. I should feel bound to
administer the government untrammelled by any party schemes.
" Second. The veto power. The power given by the constitution
to the Executive to interfere his- veto, is a high conservative power ;
but in my opinion should never be exercised except in cases of clear
violation of the constitution, or manifest haste or want of considera-
tion by Congress. Indeed, I have often thought that, for many years
past, the known opinion and wishes of the executive have received an
undue and injurious influence upon the legislative department of the
government, and for this cause I have thought our system was in dan-
ger of undergoing a great change from its true theory. The personal
opinions of the individual who has happened to occupy the executive
chair ought not to control the action of Congress upon questions of
domestic policy ; nor ought his objections to be interposed where ques-
tions of constitutional power have been settled by the general govern-
ment, and acquiesced in by the people.
12 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March.
" Third. Upon the subject of the tariff, the currency, the improve-
ment of our great highways, rivers, lakes, and harbours, the will of the
people, as expressed through their representatives in Congress, ought
to be respected and carried out by the executive.
"Fourth. The Mexican war. I sincerely rejoice at the prospect
of peace. My life has been devoted to arms, yet I look upon war, at
all times, and under all circumstances, as a national calamity, to be
avoided if compatible with the national honour. The principles of our
government, as well as its true policy, are opposed to the subjugation
of other nations, and the dismemberment of other countries by con-
quest. In the language of the great Washington, 'Why should we
quit our own to stand on foreign ground V In the Mexican war our
national honour has been vindicated ; and, in dictating terms of peace,
we may well afford to be forbearing and magnanimous to a fallen foe.
" These are my opinions on the subjects referred to by you, and any
reports or publications, written or verbal, from any source, differing in
any essential particular from what is here written, are unauthorized
and untrue.
"I do not know that I shall again write upon the subject of national
politics. I shall engage in no schemes, no combinations, no intrigues.
If the American people have not confidence in me, they ought not to
give me their suffrages. If they do not, you know me well enough
to believe me, when 1 declare I shall be content. I am too old a sol-
dier to murmur against such high authority.
"Z. Taylor.
"To Capt. J. S. Allison."
General Taylor's first letter having set forth his political principles,
he afterwards found it necessary to write another to the same corre-
spondent, to correct some misrepresentations, and to deny opinions
imputed to him.
After noticing at some length the circumstances that induced him to
become a candidate for the presidency, and to accept nomination from
one or all of the gre*at political parties, he adds :
"The Democratic convention met in May, and composed their
ticket to suit them. This they had a right to do. The National
Whig Convention met in June, and selected me as their candidate. I
accepted the nomination with gratitude and with pride. I was proud
of the confidence of such a body of men, representing such a consti-
tuency as the Whig party of the United States, — a manifestation the
more grateful because it was not cumbered with exactions incompati-
ble with the dignity of the presidential office, and the responsibilities
of its incumbent to the whole people of the nation. And I may add,
that these emotions were increased by associating my name with that
of the distinguished citizen of New York, whose acknowledged abili-
ties and sound conservative opinions might have justly entitled him to
the first place on the ticket.
1S49.] History of 184S.— United States. 1 3
" The convention adopted me as it found me — a Whig — decided, hut
not ultra in my opinions, and I should be without excuse if I were to
shift the relationships which subsisted at the time. They took me with
the declaration of principles I had published to the world, and I should
be without defence if I were to say or do any thing to impair the force
of that declaration.
"I have said that I would accept a nomination from Democrats; but
in doing so I would not abate one jot or tittle of my opinion as written
down. Such a nomination, as indicating a coincidence of opinion on
the part of those making it, should not be regarded with disfavour by
those who think with me ; as a compliment personal to myself, it should
not be expected that I would repulse them with insult. I shall not
modify my views to entice them to my side : I shall not reject their aid
when they join my friends voluntarily.
"I have said that I was not a party candidate, nor am I, in that
straightened and sectarian sense which would prevent my being the
president of the whole people in case of my election. I did not regard
myself as one before the convention met, and that body did not seek
to make me different from what I was. They did not fetter me down
to a series of pledges, which were to be an iron rule of action in all,
and in despite of all the contingencies that might arise in the course of
a presidential term. I am not engaged to lay violent hands indiscrimi-
nately upon public officers, good or bad, who may differ in opinion
with me. I am not expected to force Congress, by the coercion of the
veto, to pass laws to suit me, or to pass none. This is what I mean
by not being a party candidate ; and I understand this to be good Whig
doctrine — I would not be a partisan president, and hence should not
be a party candidate in the sense that would make one. This is the
sum and substance of my meaning, and this is the purport of the facts
and circumstances attending my nomination, when considered in their
connexion with, and dependence upon one another.
"I refer all persons, who are anxious on the subject, to this statement
for the proper understanding of my position towards the presidency
and the people. If it is not intelligible, I cannot make it so, and shall
cease to attempt it.
"In taking leave of the subject, I have only to add, that my two
letters to you embrace all the topics I design to speak of pending this
canvass. If I am elected, I shall do all an honest zeal may effect to
cement the bonds of our Union, and establish the happiness of my
countrymen upon an enduring basis.
"Z. Taylor.
"To Capt. J. S. Allison."
The convention which met at Buffalo, in New York, on the 10th of
August, not approving of either of the other nominees, as not being
sufficiently opposed to the extension of domestic slavery, indicated their
particular principles, or "platform," in the six following resolutions:
14 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
"1. Resolved, That we demand freedom and established institu-
tions for our brethren in Oregon, now exposed to hardship, peril, and
massacre, by the reckless hostility of the slave power to the establish-
ment of free government for free Territories; and not only for them,
but for our brethren in New Mexico and California.
"And whereas, it is due not only to this occasion, but to the whole
people of the United States, that we should declare ourselves on cer-
tain other questions of national policy : therefore,
"2. Resolved, That we demand cheap postage for the people; a
retrenchment of the expenses and patronage of the federal government ;
the abolition of all unnecessary offices and salaries, and the election by
the people of all civil officers in the service of the government, so far
as the same may be practicable.
" 3. Resolved, That the river and harbour improvements, whenever
demanded by the safety or convenience of commerce with foreign na-
tions, or among the several States, are objects of national concern, and
that it is the duty of Congress, in the exercise of its constitutional
powers, to provide therefor.
" 4. Resolved, That the free grant to actual settlers, in considera-
tion of the expenses they incur in making settlements in the wilderness,
which are usually fully equal to their actual cost, and of the public
benefits resulting therefrom, of reasonable portions of the public lands,
under suitable limitations, is a wise and just measure of public policy,
which will promote, in various ways, the interests of all the States of
this Union ; and we therefore recommend it to the favourable conside-
ration of the American people.
"5. Resolved, That the obligations of honour and patriotism re-
quire the earliest practicable payment of the national debt ; and we are,
therefore, in favour of such a tariff of duties as will raise revenue ade-
quate to defray the necessary expenses of the federal government, and
to pay annual instalments of our debt, and the interest thereon.
"6. Resolved, That we inscribe on our banner, "Free soil, free
speech, free labour, and free men," and under it will fight, and fight
ever, until a triumphant victory shall reward our exertions."
Such were the rival principles which struggled for ascendency, and
aspired to the honour of administering the affairs of this great Con-
federacy for the next four years. / nd although the Whigs were re-
proached by their adversaries with having no political principles, or
with being afraid to avow them, and that they supported General
Taylor only for his military merit, yet in point of fact, this presidential
contest as decidedly hinged on party principles as any which preceded
•it, and with the exception of the "free soil men," who voted for Mr.
Van Buren, and who deemed the question of extending domestic sla-
very the most important of any, nineteen-twentieths of the American
people voted for General Taylor or General Cass, as they agreed with
one or the other in political sentiment, as they favoured or disapproved
1S49.]
History of 1848. — United States.
15
a protective tariff — a metallic currency — the power of the general
government to make river and harbour improvements, and other
facilities of transportation — the exercise of the presidential veto —
and as they inclined to range themselves under the class of reform-
ers or conservatives. At the present day, whoever would obtain
the popular suffrage, must elect between the two great parties, which
by well-known lines, and in nearly equal portions, divide the Ame-
rican people. Nor could General Taylor, though his personal popu-
larity is, perhaps, greater than that of any other citizen, have possibly
been elected, and in all probability, would not have received the votes
of a single State, if he had not belonged to one or the other of those
parties.
After a less animated and active canvass than has been usual, except
in a few States, on the 7th of November, electors were chosen in all
the States, as a late act of Congress requires. Although the power of
electing a President from the citizens at large is vested absolutely in a
majority of the whole body of electors, without regard to any nomi-
nation whatever, and though the framers of the Constitution intended
that they should exercise this power according to their own discretion,
without limitation or control; yet, according to the settled usage ever
since the retirement of General Washington left the presidential chair
a subject of controversy, the electors are held bound to obey the
wishes and instructions of their constituents, and the choice of the
electors, in the conflict of parties, is, by the force of this moral law,
now regarded as deciding the choice of the President and Vice Presi-
dent.
Regarding the two elections then as identical, the returns from the
several states showed that General Taylor and Millard Fillmore had
received from
Massachusetts,
12 votes.
Maryland,
SVG
Vermont,
6
North Carolina,
11
Connecticut,
6
Georgia,
10
Rhode Island,
4
Florida,
3
New York,
36
Louisiana,
6
New Jersey,
7
Tennessee,
13
Pennsylvania,
26
Kentucky,
12
Delaware,
3
—163
General Cass and General Butle
r received the votes of
Maine,
9
Missouri,
7
New Hampshire,
6
Ohio,
23
Virginia,
17
Indiana,
12
South Carolina,
9
Illinois,
9
Alabama,
9
Wisconsin,
4
Texas,
4
Iowa,
4
Mississippi,
6
—127
Arkansas,
3
in Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
Mr. Van Buren and Mr. Charles Adams received no electoral vote
whatever.
The popular vote for the three prominent candidates, or rather for
their respective electors, was as follows :
For Gen. Taylor, - - - 1,356,697.
« Gen. Cass, - - - 1,220,071.
" Mr. Van Buren - - - 291,470.
The whole number of votes given in 29 states — for in South Caro-
lina, the legislature chooses the electors — was, 2,872,783, which is
about one-seventh of the present population, after deducting the
coloured portion, a very small proportion of which have the privilege
of voting.
Gen. Taylor and Gen. Cass received the suffrages of an equal number
of states, fifteen states having voted for each. Of these, seven free
and eight slave-holding states, voted for Gen. Taylor; while eight
free, and seven slave-holding states, voted for Gen. Cass. These
three millions of votes were given on the same day, without tumult or
disorder, freely, fairly, and with very few exceptions, according to
conviction of right ; and though the result of the election was looked
to with anxious interest by all, yet when once the result was known,
it was quietly acquiesced in by the minority, as well in those states in
which that minority was the stronger party, as in those in which it
was the weaker. The disappointed, as well as the successful voter,
returned to his wonted pursuits, and all the great and the little wheels
of the social machine continue to perform their appropriate parts, just
as if this great movement of the whole had never taken place.
After the territorial government in Oregon was established, and the
acquisition of California by the Mexican treaty, the executive, under
the authority given by congress in August last, provided for the trans-
mission of the mail between those distant points, and other parts of
the Union. Once a month it is to be carried by a line of steamers,
from Charleston to Havana and to Chagres, a small town on the
Atlantic, east of the Isthmus of Panama, across the Isthmus to the
town of Panama, and thence, by another line of steamers, to be con-
veyed to the several towns on the Pacific, in California and Oregon.
It is expected that this communication between New York and Oregon
will require thirty-five days, and that it will be in complete operation
in the ensuing spring.* From San Francisco, in California, it is
expected that there will soon be an active and increasing commerce
with China, and that the voyage from that port to Canton, though
upwards of 6000 geographical miles, may be made by steamers in
from 25 to 30 days.
A traffic between two countries under the relative circumstances of
* See a statement on a subsequent page in this number, of the several routes to
the Pacific.
1S49.] History of 1S4S. — United States. 17
China and California, would seem to be particularly profitable, not-
withstanding the distance which separates them, since in one, the price
of manufactured goods is at its minimum, and in the other, the price
of raw produce may be expected to be so.
But the recent discoveries of gold in California seem likely to check
this trade for a time, or at all events, to alter its character. That
metal has been already found there in abundance equalled no where on
the globe, except it may be in the Ural mountains ; and the success of
those who have lately engaged in searching for it has been so great as
to divert the labour of that country from every other species of in-
dustry ; and consequently to make the prices of the necessaries of life,
and of every species of human labour exorbitantly high. This feverish
thirst for gold is rapidly extending to other parts of the Union, and
companies are already formed in several of our principal sea-ports to
send off expeditions to this new Eldorado of the west.
The effects of this abundance of gold may be very beneficial to the
commerce of the United States, and may greatly hasten the settlement
of California, but this benefit must be taken with the disadvantages
inseparable from all countries, which owe their prosperity to mines of
the precious metals. The extraordinary profits they occasionally give
to adventurers, cause them by the illusions of hope to attract more
than a fair proportion of labour and capital so as to reduce the profits
of both so employed to less than the average rate ; and, thus to divert
industry from a more profitable to a less profitable employment.
When, moreover, rich mines, after having built up flourishing towns
and improved the surrounding country, cease to be worked, from
having been exhausted or filled with water, or for want of a supply of
fuel, &c, of which there are many examples in Spanish America, those
towns and the neighbouring country, no longer nourished by the mines,
sink into poverty and decay.
Another good consequence of the mines in California, may be in
affording employment to the Indians in that Territory, by which they
will be at once kept quiet, be trained to habits of industry and advance
in civilization. It is gratifying to learn that the experiment now going
on with the tribes west of the Mississippi, promises to be successful.
They steadily improve in husbandry, the mechanical arts, and above
all in the school instruction given to their children.
On the 4th of December, Congress assembled, and the next day the
President sent in his annual message. As it not only sets forth with
much detail the condition of the country, but superadds copious argu-
ments on some controverted topics, it is, among papers of this character,
of unprecedented length.*
* The extreme length of the presidential messages is become the subject of general
remark, and is seriously objected to. The first two presidents, following the ex-
ample which prevailed in the colonies, as well as in the mother country, made
speeches to the two houses of Congress on the opening of every session; and when
IS Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
After congratulating the country on its unwonted prosperity, both
in its foreign and domestic relations, it dwells with complacency
on the benefits resulting from the war with Mexico, in proving the
capacity both of our people and their government, for even offensive
hostility without a standing army, and in the value of the territory
acquired. He estimates the area of Texas, New Mexico, and Upper
California, united at 861,598 square miles, which estimate, supposing
Texas td contain 260,000 square miles, rates the new acquisitions
about 590,000. With these recent accessions, he remarks that the area
of the United States is now nearly equal to that of all Europe exclusive of
Russia ; and that 970 miles have been added to the line of Coast on
the Pacific, which, including that of Oregon, amounts to 1620 miler.
The value of California, in reference to the whale fishery, to a vast
commerce with China, and other parts of Asia, other ports on the west-
ern coast of America, and the islands in the Pacific, and to its fertile
mines of gold, quicksilver, and other minerals, are particularly dwelt on.
In consideration of the great abundance of gold, he recommends the
establishment of a branch mint in California. He urges on Congress the
importance of organizing territorial governments for New Mexico, and
California ; and the conflicting views on the subject of slavery, in those
territories which such organization produced at the last session, are
adverted to, and earnestly deprecated. He argues at some length that
this subject should be left exclusively to the territories themselves, but
that under the example of the Missouri compromise between the slave-
holding, and non-slave-holding States, the line of 36° 30' may, and should
by a like compromise be extended to the Pacific. The immediate atten-
tion of Congress is invoked to this question, which he remarks is the
only one that seriously threatens, or probably ever can threaten to
disturb the harmony of the Union. The hostilities of Indian tribes in
Oregon is mentioned as an additional reason ibr the establishment of a
territorial government there. A liberal policy towards the Indians is
recommended.
By the increase of foreign commerce the imports for the year ending
on the last day of June, the exports amounted to 154 millions of dol-
lars ; and the imports to about a million more, of which 132 millions
were retained for domestic use. The receipts into the treasury were
35,436,000 dollars, and the expenditures 42,811,000 dollars. The re-
ceipts into the treasury for the succeeding year, ending in June 25, 1849,
including a balance in the treasury, are estimated at 57,480,000 dol-
lars, and the expenditures at 54,195,000 dollars. Of this sum, about
26 millions are thought sufficient for the ordinary peace expenditure,
and the residue will be expended in the reimbursement of Treasury
notes, and in the payment of the public debt.
Mr. Jefferson, thinking there was a tinge of royalty in this mode of executive com-
munication, substituted written messages, the change was hailed as a decided im-
provement. These written papers have, however, given rise to a prolixity of detail,
which probably no spoken address would have hazarded.
1849.] History of 1848.— United States.
19
He notices the greater productiveness of the tariff of 1846, notwith-
standing the predictions to the contrary, and recommends a continuance
of it, as equally beneficial to the people and the treasury. He also
recommends the constitutional treasury, to which he attributes an ex-
emption from that inflation of the currency which the heavy import of
the precious metals would otherwise have caused.
He strongly urges the adoption of a system for the certain and early
reduction of the debt, and suggests a reduction in the minimum
price of such public lands as have long remained unsold.
In the notice of some particulars relative to the departments of War,
Navy, and Post-Office, he states, that within the last four years eight
treaties had been made with Indian tribes, by w T hich, for the sum of
1,842,200 dollars, 18,500,000 acres of land had been regained, and
that with some insignificant exceptions, the title to all the Indian lands
within the limits of the existing territories has been extinguished ; that in
the course of another year there would be not less than 17 war-steam-
ers afloat, which in time of peace will be employed in the transporta-
tion of the mail. The importance of a line of steamers from New York
to Chagres, and from Panama to California and Oregon, is pointed out :
the success of the policy of low postage has been so great, that a fur-
ther reduction is recommended.
Something less than two-thirds of the Message having been given to
customary and official topics, the remainder is a dissertation on the
true construction of the federal Constitution, which, he thinks, denies to
congress the power to establish banks; or a protective tariff; or a sys-
tem of internal improvements ; or to distribute among the states the
proceeds of the public lands ; and he concludes by giving his reasons
for refusing his sanction to tw r o bills (for internal improvements,) and
with an elaborate defence of the exercise of the executive veto on the
ground of expediency no less than of constitutionality.
Without offering any opinions on these important topics — we take
the liberty of remarking, that they are all questions on which the two
great parties of the United States are divided ; that the doctrines urged
by the President are those which are most strenuously maintained by
most of the democratic party to which he belongs; and that they are
as strenuously opposed by nearly all the whig party; and that, if the
election of Mr. Polk as President may be regarded as a sanction to
those doctrines by a majority of the people, the election of Gene-
ral Taylor may be with equal propriety regarded as the disapprobation
and rejection of them by a more recent popular majority ; but we con-
sider all such inferences unwarranted, for the reasons already stated.
On the 11th of December, Mr. Douglas of Illinois introduced a bill
for the admission of the newly acquired territories of California and
New Mexico into the union, and to be entitled to two representatives
until the next census. This admission of a new state before it had
passed through the probationary course of a territorial government,
20 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
was prompted by the wish to get clear of the question of slavery in
the new territories, on which two great divisions of the states were di-
rectly opposed and apparently unchangeably fixed. . . It soon, how-
ever, appeared that there was as little probability of evading the ques-
tion as of settling it.
This agitating subject was presented to the House of Representa-
tives in a new form. On the 18th of the month, Mr. Giddings, of
Ohio, obtained leave to introduce a bill to give the people of the Dis-
trict of Columbia an opportunity of expressing their sentiments on the
question of abolishing slavery in the district ; and in answer to in-
quiries as to the persons who were to be permitted to vote on the ques-
tion, he promptly replied, that the bill meant to comprehend both
whites and blacks, bond or free, between whom he knew no difference
on this question ; a motion to lay the bill on the table was carried by
105 votes against 77.
On the 21st, a resolution offered by Mr. Gott of N. Y , instructing
the committee on the District of Columbia to bring in a bill prohibiting
slavery in the district, was passed in the house, by a decided vote of
98 to 87. These movements on the part of the anti-slavery members,
produced a great sensation among the members of the slaveholding
States, and a few days afterwards a meeting was called of these mem-
bers, at which 68 attended. Resolutions in vindication of their rights
were offered, but were not finally acted on, and the meeting was
postponed for further deliberation. Subsequent meetings were held,
and their final action will be stated in our next number.
The question of slavery and that of aiding in providing a communi-
cation by railroad across the Isthmus of Panama, were the only mea-
sures of importance brought before congress during the month of De-
cember, and the last appeared as little likely as the first to be brought
to a successful termination.
MEXICO.
The armies of the United States had scarcely left the Mexican Ter-
ritory before the civil dissensions from which that ill-fated country has
been never free, broke out into open war. Political rivals contended
for power with arms, and some frontier states already formed schemes
of independence. Herrera, who had been elected President in the pre-
ceding May, was supported by Bustamente; and Paredes, who opposed
him, was the friend of Santa Anna, who was still in exile — Paredes
was finally defeated, and saved himself by flight. The new President
had now to contend with the difficulties of an empty treasury, a pre-
carious revenue, a mortified and discontented people. He seems to
have met them, however, with firmness and prudence. Under the re-
laxation of the laws, and the interruption to regular industry, numbers
had taken to highway robbery, and the frontier States were harassed
by incursions of the Indians. One of his first measures was to establish
three military colonies on the frontier; one at Tamaulipas and Cho-
1S49.] History of IMS.— Mexico. 21
lula, another at Chihuahua, and a third at Sonora and Lower Califor-
nia. The three millions of dollars received from the United States,
afforded a very seasonable, though temporary relief.
On the 6th of June, President Herrera officially informed the Pre-
sident of the United States of his election, to which Mr. Polk answered
on the 9th of August, in a letter of congratulation, with the expression
of sentiments of amity, and a desire for the continuance of peace be-
tween the two nations. The suspense in which the treaty, after it was
amended by the United States, remained in Mexico, had doubtless
caused the delay of Mr. Polk's answer. On delivering it, Mr. Clif-
ford, the American minister, took occasion to make a brief address to
President Herrera, in which he enforced the friendly sentiments ex-
pressed by President Polk.
Immediately after the Congress of the United States adjourned, ru-
mours were afloat that an expedition was in preparation in the United
States against Sierra Madre, in Mexico, for the purpose of forming an
American settlement, with a view to its future annexation to the United
States, and to disguise its purpose, it was got up under the pretext of
a great Buffalo Hunt. The government, on hearing of this lawless
scheme, lost no time in taking steps to arrest it at once. The Secre-
tary of State, Mr. Buchanan, immediately directed the District At-
torney of the United States in Texas, to prosecute all enlistments and
other measures contrary to the act of Congress respecting military en-
terprises against nations at peace with the United States, and Mr.
Mason, the Secretary of the Navy, instructed the naval commander
on that station to prevent the execution of such enterprise. It was of
course abandoned.
About the same time, schemes were formed in the State of Tamau-
lipas, especially in Tampico, and also, it is said, in the States of Vera
Cruz, Cohahuila, and Nuevo Leon, to separate from the Mexican con-
federacy, and some of the agitators had the further object of annexa-
tion to the United States, and were probably connected with the pro-
jected enterprise called "The Buffalo Hunt." But this restless spirit,
enkindled by the war, has already effervesced, and under the restora-
tion of law and order, is not likely to revive. Much, however, remains
to be done to effect that restoration. The Indians on the frontier
are still troublesome — the highways are still infested by banditti — the
revolt in Sierra Madre is not yet quelled — and Santa Anna still
has his partisans who desire his recall. The Congress too sees ruin
before it, without reducing and regulating its tariff, by which the re-
venue would be increased, and the government finds it very difficult,
if not impracticable, to borrow $800,000 at 1 per cent, per month on
the credit of the $3,000,000 which the United States is to pay to
Mexico in 1849.
Under these circumstances, the future of this fine country is involved
in gloomy uncertainty.
VOL. II. — march, 1S49. 3
22 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
Yucatan, which had withdrawn from the Mexican confederacy, has,
since the peace with the United States, received aid from the Mexican
government, and is now recognised as one of the Mexican states, but
the war between the whites and the Indians, in which each party has
alternately prevailed, still rages with its original fierceness and bar-
barity. A regiment of volunteers under the command of Col. White,
which was permitted to go to the assistance of the whites, has had several
severe encounters with the Indians. On the 24th December, a detach-
ment about 300 strong, under Lieut. Col. Besancon, engaged a large
body of Indians at Tihosuco. The Indian force was estimated at six
or eight thousand. Capt. Kelly and Lieut. Campbell were severely
wounded. The next morning, (Christmas day) the action was resumed,
Col. White being now in command. The Indians were driven back
several miles through a constant rain, when the Americans, having
expended their ammunition, returned to Tihosuco, with a loss of thirty-
eight in killed and wounded. Lieut. I. H. Gallagher was among the
killed. On the 27th, Col. White marched for Tela, an Indian town,
six leagues distant. The road was barricaded in many places, and
the Indians made a desperate resistance; but after a hard day's work
and much fighting, the Americans reached the town and burnt it.
They lost, on this day, eight men killed and wounded.
A still more decisive battle was expected with the celebrated chief-
tain, Pat, who is represented to be in great force near Bacala, a
port on the bay of Honduras.
GUATEMALA.
This southern neighbour of Mexico, and the largest of the states of
Central America, having separated from the other four, in March of
the preceding year, has been ever since the scene of political contests,
and of civil war. A part of the population in the mountainous
districts, following their example, formed themselves into an inde-
pendent state. The late president, Cabrera, having resigned, Don
Juan Antonio Martinez has been elected in his place, and there
is some reason to hope that under his auspices, the confederacy of
Central America will be re-established as it was. Their federal go-
vernment was modelled upon that of the United States, but the popu-
lation of the five states is less than two millions, of whom, more than
two-fifths are Indians, and two more fifths are of mixed races, called
there hadinos.
VENEZUELA.
The contest between the two parties, of which Monagas heads one, and
Gen. Paez the other, appears to be nearly terminated. Monagas being
in the possession of the power and resources of the government, had so
far succeeded, as to compel Paez to leave the country. In September
last, the latter went to the Dutch Island of Curagoa, off the coast, where
1849.] History of 1S4S.— France. 23
he remained, while his whole fleet had possession of the fine harbour
afforded by lake Maracaybo, ready to take him back to Venezuela,
as soon as the expected ascendency of the constitutional party should
offer him the promise of success, or an addition to his fleet would give
him the superiority at sea. The two fleets, then nearly equal, engaged
on the 13th December, and the result was disastrous to Paez. On the
31st, a still more decisive action took place. The insurgents, to the
number of 1200, were surprised by the government troops, at a place
called San Carlos on the river Zulia, and after a lively combat of four
hours, were defeated. The steamer Buena Vista, with several feluc-
cas and piroques belonging to the Paez party, were captured — Among
the prisoners taken, were three sons of Paez. Congress was to meet
on the 20th January, when Monagas intended to announce the paci-
fication of the Republic.
BUENOS AYRES.
Montevideo, the only part of the republic of Uraguay, or Banda
Oriental, that had not submitted to the victorious arms of Rosas, had
not surrendered on the 16th of September. The city has been sustained
by a subsidy from the French government of $40,000 a month. Rosas
continues to defy the intervention of the English and French, and
makes heavy exactions from both for affording them the benefits of a
commerce with Buenos Ayres.
FRANCE.
The insurrection of June, which had sacrificed so many lives, both
on the part of the insurgents and the government, and filled the friends
of the revolution every where with alarm and anxiety, afforded ample
occupation to the national assembly, and the new administration under
General Cavaignac. Their purpose was to punish the offenders; to
make provision for the sufferers; and to investigate the causes and cir-
cumstances of the insurrection so indicative of military skill, and so
marked by daring valour and unappeasable ferocity.
The punishment decided on by the national assembly was transpor-
tation. In the month of July, it decreed that such of the prisoners as
should be proved to have taken part in the insurrection should be trans-
ported to some distant French colony, Algeria being excluded, and
that their wives and children should be permitted to accompany them.
It was also decided to abolish the national work-shops; to close the
political clubs for the time ; to disarm the insurgent quarters of Paris ;
to maintain a force in the city of 50,000 men, and to interdict anti-so-
cial and anarchical publications.
In proposing the abolition of the work-shops, General Cavaignac
stated to the assembly that the number of workmen engaged in the in-
surrection did not exceed 50.000; and as the whole number employed
amounted to 105,000 or 106,000, less than one-half were actually en-
24 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
gaged: he admitted, however, that a decided majority sympathized in
the efforts of the rest. He considered, that guilty as they were, so
large a number in indigence, and out of employment, had claims on the
public bounty; and he recommended that they should have pecuniary
aid for the present, but that it should be distributed to them at their
homes, uncler the superintendence of the Mayor: which plan was
adopted.
Pensions were occasionally granted to the widows of meritorious
officers who had lost their lives in the insurrection. By way of fa-
vouring those classes of workmen who were employed in house-building,
those buildings begun since Feb. 22d, were exempted from taxation for
five years, and those begun since the 1st of July, were exempted for
ten years.
A committee of fifteen members, with Odillon Barrot at the head,
had been appointed to investigate the circumstances of the insurrection,
and also the emeute of the 15th of May, and on the 3d of August
they made their report. After some opposition, it was decided to pub-
lish the evidence on which the report was founded, (p?-eces justicatifs.)
This fills three large volumes, which were distributed amongst the
members on the 18th, 21st, and 23d of August.
The committee state, as the principal causes and elements of the
insurrection in June, that after the revolution, the rich left Paris, and
the poor of all countries flocked thither. Among the last, some came
from the provinces, and some from Italy and Germany.
Clubs were formed, and towards the end of March their number was
about 140. In many of these the rich were attacked, and were feebly
defended. Hence naturally arose social animosities with the indigent
classes. The government then adopted the unfortunate expedient of
organizing the national workshops. These have never ceased to be a
cause of disturbance. The workmen there fell into habits of indolence :
their labours amounted to little or nothing. Instead of the order es-
sential to productive industry, crowds of clock-makers, blacksmiths,
jewellers, carpenters, and others, congregated in one spot, produced
nothing but confusion. The committee say that if half the sum thus
thrown away had been lent to great manufactories, every workman
would have been left in his own workshop, and a ten fold value would
have been produced. The richer classes too, thus inspired with confi-
dence, would have returned, and business have resumed its ordinary
course.
One of their documents, from the prefect of police, thus enumerates
the classes who took part in the insurrection :
1. A large number of working-men, whose w T ives and children were
dependent on their labour for subsistence, and whom they saw without
bread.
2. Men, ardent and honest, but ignorant and easily duped. They
1S49.] History of 1S4S.— France. 25
were made to believe that the national assembly meant to restore, by
degrees, Louis Philippe's system of government.
3. Communists, and other Utopian dreamers, each one according to
his own fancy.
4. The legitimists, who insisted that it was necessary to pass by
the republic to reach Henry V. According to them, the republican
government was but the halt of a moment, but one that was indispen-
sable.
5. The Bonapartists, who joined their money to that of the legiti-
mists, to effect civil commotion.
6. The partisans of the Orleans regency, who were known by their
unwillingness to pay taxes.
7. And lastly, the scum of all parties, convicts and vagabonds, men
instinctively inclined to insurrection, robbery, and plunder.
The committee showed that the disturbances in Paris in April and
May, were closely connected with the insurrection in June ; and they
openly charged that Ledru Rollin was implicated in the affair of May,
and Louis Blanc and Causidiere both in that and the insurrection of
June. It afforded general satisfaction that Lamartine, who had been
the friend or the apologist of these men, escaped all accusation ; for,
though most of his former admirers believed that he was not suited to
the times, and was disposed to view the schemers and visionaries of
the day with too much indulgence, they still had confidence in his in-
tegrity and patriotism, and a grateful recollection of his signal services
in the first days of the revolution. The report stated that the money
found on the persons of the insurgents was furnished by the work-
shops. It averred that, after the most diligent search, the committee
had been able to trace it to no other source. The assembly, on the
faith of this report, having ordered prosecutions against Louis Blanc
and Causidiere, notwithstanding their remonstrances and protestations,
they made their escape to England.
The revolutionary government soon began to experience difficulty
in its finances. Nearly 200 millions of francs, when the revolution broke
out, was the amount on hand, and this sum being soon exhausted, there
was found to be not only a diminished revenue, as was to be expected in
the interruption to every species of industry and commerce, but also an
increased expenditure which seems to require explanation: but if some of
the expenses of the monarchical government were now saved, other
were increased. The cost of maintaining upwards of 100,000 workmen,
whose employments yielded little or no return, was, of itself, a most
burdensome charge on the treasury. Indeed, such was the indigence
and suffeiing in Paris at this time, that it was said the number of
persons supported by the government was not less than 200,000.
The expenditure, too, of the legislature and the members of the admi-
nistration, was not an inconsiderable item. Besides, where so many
men are thrown into offices for which they were unprepared, as must
26 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
be the case in the first stages of revolution, some loss must be set down
to the want of skill, and something, perhaps, to peculation. The bank
of France proved a convenient resort in this financial distress. Gamier
Pages, the first minister of finance, obtained from it, in March, a loan
of 50,000,000 francs; and subsequently, 3,000,000 more. Duclerc,
who was his successor, contracted a further loan of 150,000,000, to
pay for the railroads, of which the government with an unwise cupidity
took possession ; and to enable the bank to make these heavy loans
with safety, the government authorized it to suspend specie payments.
These aids, however, afforded but a temporary relief, and Duclerc,
as well as his predecessor, Gamier Pages, being professedly incompe-
tent to devise a system of taxation suited to the wants and circum-
stances of the country, General Cavaignac appointed M. Goudchaux
minister of finance. He took an early occasion to declare in the
national assembly that the government would not take possession of
the railroads and insurance companies, which had been among the
financial projects of his predecessors ; but he, at the same time, asserted
the right of the state to take the property of joint stock companies, on
paying them an indemnity. He showed that the treasury had a deficit
of 210 millions of francs for the year 1848, exclusive of the 230 mil-
lions required to reimburse the bank. To meet the deficiency, he
proposed, in addition to the existing taxes, an income tax, and a tax
on property acquired by inheritance. " Such property," he said, " not
being the fruit of labour and intelligence, it is just that he whom society
permits to enjoy this property should pay for the privilege." The
national assembly gave its sanction to the income tax, but by so small
a majority — 378 to 339 — that he did not venture to avail himself of
it. To supply the deficiency, application was again made to the bank,
by which 150 millions more were obtained, and a public loan of 200
millions was decreed. But it was found that for this sum, the state,
which a year before had been able to borrow money at four per cent.,
was obliged to pay what was equivalent to seven and three quarters
per cent.; and financial critics undertook to show, that the difference of
rate caused a loss to the nation on its several loans of 482 millions.
These are difficulties which the government must obviously encounter
in its finances; and the same difficulties may serve to explain, if not to
justify, some of the wild schemes that were suggested on that intricate
and important subject. Gamier Pages, when at the head of the trea-
sury, had proposed a progressive impost on property, that is, one in
which the per centage rate of the tax should increase with the amount
of property, and he looked to the constant tendency of such an impost
to break down large estates. His purpose, it Was said, was to destroy
all fortunes that exceeded 30,000 fr., (less than $6000,) of income.
The project of M. Proudhon went a step further, and what M.
Gamier Pages aimed to bring about slowly and indirectly, he proposed
to effectuate openly and at once. He was one of those who maintained
1849.] History of 1848.— France. 21
that all property was a robbery, and he proposed in committee, "by
way of conciliation and compromise " with its unrighteous holders, that
one-third of all incomes and capitals should be given to the state.
This compromise, he said, would allow property to exist 300 years.
He grounded his defence of these views upon the rights of labour as-
serted in the new constitution. He stated that the way he proposed
would bring three milliards, or 3,000,000,000 francs into the treasury,
one-half of which he would assign to the public creditors. This pro-
position being unanimously rejected in committee, M. Thiers, one of
their number, thought proper to bring the subject before the assembly,
and to expose the absurd extremes entertained by some of the members
concerning property and the rights of labour, which he did in a speech
of great ability.
After M. Thiers had concluded, M. Proudhon asked for time to
reply, and that day week was fixed upon for the purpose. When the
day arrived, the galleries were crowded to hear Proudhon's defence of
the extremes attributed to him. In a prepared discourse which he
read from the tribunal, he boldly avowed the proposition that all pro-
perty had been destroyed by the revolution, since which time, if debtors
submit to their contracts, it is because they choose to do so. He further
insisted that the rent of land is a gratuitous privilege, which society
may at any time revoke. But common sense prevailed, and M. Proud-
hon's scheme received the support of but two voices against 690.
An anecdote which circulated in Paris at this time, is not a bad
commentary on M. Proudhon's text. Among the presses which Gen.
Cavaignac, under the authority given him, thought it prudent to sus-
pend, was one set up by M. Proudhon. While he was declaiming
against this tyrannical act, one whom he addressed, said to him, " Do
you own that press?" "Certainly." "Then, what do you complain
of? you know that all property is robbery!"
But with all its financial embarrassments, the national assembly
refused to confiscate the property of Louis Philippe. The report of M.
Jules Farres proposed to sequester the private domain of the late King
— pay his creditors out of its revenues, and to allow him and his
family an annual sum. The moveable property of the princes to be
restored to them. The ex-king's debts were estimated at 70,000,000
francs, and his property from 80 to 100 millions. This report was
adopted, and it is said that Louis Philippe has consented to the arrange-
ments.
On the 3d September, the national assembly having disposed of the
various matters of legislation which grew out of the insurrection of
June, entered on the consideration of the new constitution, which had
been referred to the several bureaux for revision and amendment, which
were fifteen in number. Some of the questions and votes on this sub-
ject, are very characteristic of the prevalent views and feelings of
the members.
Among the original inherent rights of the citizen, asserted in the
23 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
first chapter, is the right of labour. This being thought to favour the
doctrine of communism, which had produced such serious consequences,
was rejected in the bureaux. Its friends in the assembly offered a
modification of it, by substituting for the term " right of labour," that
of "right to existence by labour;" and though this amendment was
supported in an elaborate speech by M. Lamartine, according to his
usual course of conciliation, it was negatived by an immense majority-
The assembly then passed this amendment of the clause; " that society
is bound to assist the necessitous."
The punishment of death for political offences having been abolished
by the constitution, it was proposed to extend this provision to all
offences whatever, but the amendment was rejected by a large majority.
On the subject of the impost and taxes, the draft of the constitution
was silent on the question whether they should be proportional or
progressive ; that is, at the same rate on all property of the same descrip-
tion, or increasing in rate with the amount of the property. On an
amendment proposed to this article, there was a majority of 644 to 96,
in favour of the proportional taxes. An amendment was also pro-
posed, that the legislature should consist of two houses or chambers
instead of one. It was supported by M. Odillon Barrot, and opposed
by MM. Lamartine and Dupin. A decisive majority voted in favour
of a single assembly. They seemed not to think it necessary to have
any guard against excessive legislation, or to admit that no legislation
was often better than hasty legislation. On this subject, an unwilling-
ness to seem to copy the English constitution more than neutralized the
example afforded by the general government of the United States, and
by all the separate states.
An amendment, by which the holding of a public office was rendered
incompatible with the character of a representative — was carried by 523
votes to 212. Exceptions, however, were to be provided when they
framed their organic laws.
But the most exciting of constitutional questions was the mode of
electing the president of the republic. Three different schemes were
spoken of. One was, that he should be elected by the national assem-
bly, and removable by them at pleasure. Another was, that he should
be independent of the assembly when thus elected. A third was, that
he should be elected by the people. In the discussion that ensued,
M. Lamartine supported the mode by universal suffrage, with more
than his wonted ability. The first plan was moved by M. Grevy, one
of the party of the Mountain, who would have dispensed with the office
of president altogether, as bearing too close a resemblance to monarchy:
but if they must have a president, wished him removable by the na-
tional assembly. His motion was rejected by 653 votes to 158. The
second, supported by MM. Labland and Flocon, was also rejected.
That by popular suffrage was supported by MM. de Tocqueville and
Lamartine, and was carried by 637 votes to 130.
Gen. Cavaignac, and most of the administration, having voted in fa-
1849.] His tory of 1848. — France. 29
vour of giving the election to the national assembly, seemed to lessen
his chance of obtaining the votes of those whom he was thus un-
willing to trust.
The constitution further provided on this subject, if no candidate ob-
tained at least two millions of votes, and one-half of the whole number
given, or if the conditions of age or nationality were not fulfilled, the
national assembly should elect a president out of the five highest on
the list. These conditions are, that the president must be thirty years
of age, have been born a Frenchman, and never have lost his national
character. He serves four years, as the original draft of the constitu-
tion had provided, and is ineligible till after an interval of four years.
His salary was fixed at 600,000f., though lower sums were proposed.
In the original draft of the constitution, the votes of the people were
required to be given at the chief town of each canton, instead of each
commune; and as many were thus prevented from giving their votes
on account of the distance, it was proposed that the votes should be
taken in each commune; but the motion, after some discussion, was
lost: (the number of communes in France is 36,000.) In the revision
of the constitution, this clause was so modified that it is discretionary
with the local authorities to divide each canton into electoral districts,
not exceeding four.
That clause of the constitution which prohibits substitutes in mili-
tary service, was first adopted ; but the provision having given rise to
much complaint and remonstrance, the question was reconsidered, when
M. Thiers showed, with much ingenuity, that it was more consonant
with the principles of equality and republicanism to allow the citizens
to make contracts of substitution for their mutual convenience, than to
interdict them, and the clause was reconsidered by the decisive majo-
rity of six. Here, too, the ministers were in the minority. The clause
relative to the legion of honour was retained.
In the final revision which the constitution underwent, the com-
munists, though so often defeated, again moved to insert in the decla-
ration of rights, that of labour ; but it only obtained 86 votes out of
714. A system of agricultural instruction, by a number of pattern
farms, was authorized at the instance of the agricultural committee,
and 200,000,000f. was appropriated for that purpose.
On the 10th October, the same committee, by way of affording re-
lief to the landed proprietors, proposed to issue two milliards fr.
(2,000,000,000,) of paper on landed security. The scheme was op-
posed by MM. Faucher, Thiers, and Goudchaux, in speeches which
clearly pointed out the mischief of such a measure. The scheme was
rejected by a large majority.
It appeared in the discussion, that the rental of France is two mil-
liards (two hundred millions) of francs, about four hundred millions of
dollars, which M. Thiers supposes makes the gross value of the landed
property to be seventy-two milliards francs. The mortgages and ac-
tual incumbrances on it he estimates at four and a half milliards, and
30 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
the metallic circulation at two milliards, so that the proposed emission
of paper would have doubled the currency.
It further appeared from the statement of the minister of finance, that
of credits obtained from the bank, but seventy-five millions had been
used at that date, (Oct. 10th;) that the average daily expenses of the
government, since the revolution, have exceeded the daily average re-
ceipts one million, and that the money and credits then possessed by
the treasury, amounted to four hundred and twenty-eight millions ;
which, at the same rate of expenditure, would be sufficient until Fe-
bruary 28, 1850. The expenses of the year 1848, he estimated at
six hundred and forty-six millions of francs, equivalent to one hundred
and twenty-two millions of dollars.
The most important acts of the national assembly, in the way of or-
dinary legislation, may now be noticed.
Provision was made for the indemnity of the slave-holders in the
colonies. There were two partial attempts at insurrection in Marti-
nique, and some lives were lost ; but order was at length restored.
The three members which that island was allowed to send to the na-
tional assembly, were elected in August. They were MM. Schcel-
cher, Bisette, and Pory-Papy. The last two were people of colour,
and the first has been denominated the Wilberforce of France. The
whites complained of fraud and irregularities in the election, and M.
Bisette has since resigned.
In Cayenne, the slaves quietly awaited the day of their emancipa-
tion, which was the 10th of August. The colony had previously
elected two deputies. A like tranquillity seems to have prevailed in
Gaudaloupe.
In the Isle of Bourbon, or Reunion, the republic was proclaimed on
the 9th of June, and the decree of liberation having arrived on the
20th July, a colonial assembly of ninety members was formed, and the
31st of December was appointed for the emancipation of the slaves.
The Republic was proclaimed at Tahiti, (Otaheite,) on the 20th of
June. The sanguine hopes entertained concerning Algeria, seem not
to have abated under the new government. The national assembly
voted 50,000,000 francs to aid new settlers in that colony, but only
■ 5,000,000 of the sum to be expended in the present year.
The clubs, which had proved such formidable political machines
were, after the insurrection in June, subjected to regulations. Among
other restrictions, they were required to be open to the admission of
all, and one third of their seats to be reserved for strangers. They
were forbidden to discuss propositions that had been declared criminal,
and the members were to attend without arms.
Periodicals published more than twice a week, were required to give
security to the amount of 24,000fr. Those published less frequently
in a smaller sum ; but this restriction is to be abrogated on the first of
May, 1849. The favourite public amusement of the Parisians, was
thought to afford a good claim on the treasury, straitened as were
1S49.] History o/lS48. — France. 31
its means, and the sum of 1,300,000 francs was voted as an aid to the
theatres.
In the foreign relations of France, the government was studiously
pacific; though there was a party, not inconsiderable in numbers,
vehemently for war ; not merely from sympathy with the nations that
were struggling for independence, as Italy, or for greater civil liberty,
as Prussia and Austria, but because, it would strengthen the cause of
revolution at home. It was known that General Cavaignac, and the
provisional government, had united with England, in an intervention
between Prussia and Denmark, in their dispute about the duchies,
and also between Austria and Italy ; but though strongly urged to
grant efficient aid to Italy, General Cavaignac could not be brought
to do more than to use equivocal language on the subject, and to keep
himself uncommitted as to his final course ; and subsequently, when the
King of Sardinia sent deputies to France, after the insurrection at
Vienna in October, they were advised against the renewal of hostilities.
In the latter end of October, another change in the minister of
finance but too plainly indicated the difficulties of the treasury depart-
ment. M. Goudchaux, at once pained by those difficulties and worried
by the attacks of members in the opposition, which he was not skilful
at parrying, resigned, and M. Trouvel Chausel was appointed to
succeed him.
On the fourth of November, the new constitution, consisting of 116
articles, was completed, and the vote in favour of its adoption was 739
against 30. It was received with no signs of popular enthusiasm, and
it had excited so little interest, that the first guns fired from the Inva-
lides in honour of the occasion produced among the Parisians the alarm
of a new insurrection. It was however promulgated with great pomp
and solemnity, in the Place de la Concorde, on Sunday the 12th, and
in the departments on the Sunday following.
But all other subjects ceased now to excite interest compared with
the approaching presidential election, which, after some ineffectual
efforts to postpone, was appointed to take place on the tenth of
December, and became the most engrossing topic in France.
Of the various individuals named for that high office, the most con-
spicuous were Prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, General Cavaignac,
General Changarnier, M. Raspail, Ledru Rollin, and M. Lamar-
tine. The latter had publicly declared, in language not widely dif-
ferent from that used by Mr. Lowndes, of South Carolina, on a
similar occasion, that he neither solicited the office nor should feel him-
self at liberty to refuse it.
In the national assembly, besides those members who were friendly
to the Bourbon, or Napoleon dynasties, there were clearly three dis-
tinct parties — 1. Those who favoured the doctrines of communism. 2.
Those who would resort to violence and proscription, to carry out
their ultra schemes of republicanism ; and 3, Those who not being op-
32 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
posed to extremes, aimed to give their more moderate notions of a
republic a fair trial.
The most active exertions were made by the friends of the respec-
tive candidates, especially by those of General Cavaignac, who were
believed to comprehend a large majority of the national assembly; but
the popular feeling was so decidedly favourable to the nephew of
Napoleon, that the public journals, with few exceptions, confidently
predicted his election.
It was generally believed, out of France, that the cause of civil
liberty and republicanism would be entirely safe with either General
Cavaignac or Lamartine, so far as depends upon purity and upright-
ness of intention. But both of them, in discharging offices of great
power and responsibility, under very embarrassing circumstances, and
surrounded by enemies and rivals, had lost much of their first popularity.
The decline of General Cavaignac's popularity merits special notice.
If the possession of power is sure to bring flatterers and friends, it is
equally sure to make enemies of those who do not share its favour,
of those whom it punishes, and those who hate it from sheer envy.
Besides, surrounded as General Cavaignac was by rivals or their agents,
who lost no occasion in lessening him in the popular estimation, it was
morally impossible that he could retain the high place he had first held
in the public esteem. But the cause of these rivals was greatly aided
by certain acts of his administration.
In the first place, by suspending such journals as he deemed sedi-
tious or dangerous, he excited the resentment or the sympathy of a body,
who, of all others, were most able to injure him with the people. On
the 24th of August, about sixty of them had a meeting in Paris, and,
after protesting in very strong terms against the arbitrary acts of the
executive power against the press, they appointed deputies to present
their address to General Cavaignac. This was done on the 27th.
The General somewhat surprised them by the frankness of his reply,
which was to this effect :
" Your demand," he said, " does you honour. It is your duty to
protest, as it is mine to suspend you. I will do the same with ' The
Constitutional,' if it continues its attacks on the republic, in behalf of
monarchy. I act officially in thus notifying its editors that if they
continue their attacks for the benefit of a dynasty I have had the
honour of serving, but which I no longer support, because France no
longer supports it, I will suspend the Constitutional with as little
hesitation as I have suspended the Lamp. The republic is yet in its
swaddling clothes; it is too weak to withstand the journalists of the
opposition : when it has its growth, you may make what attacks on it
you please."
This answer was not satisfactory, and one or more similar meetings
were held afterwards.
General Cavaignac also suffered greatly from the discussion in the
1S49.] History of lS4S.—Fra?ice. 33
national assembly, on the 30th September ; which is memorable, also,
for the disorder produced among the members.
There had been several banquets on the 22d September, at which
great disaffection for the existing republic, and a decided preference
for that of 1793 had been manifested. These having altogether escaped
the animadversion of the government, on the 30th September, M. Den-
joy brought the subject to the notice of the national assembly. At
Bourges, he said, a representative of the people had demanded that
the real equality which makes an equal share of the goods and evils
of life, should become our law. He entered into details of the banquet
at Toulouse, where the toasts of the national assembly and General
Cavaignac were hissed, while in the street cries were heard of "Down
with the national assembly ! Vive Marat — Vive Robespierre — Vive
la guillotine !" He also adverted to a speech made by Ledru Rollin
at the banquet of the Chalet at Paris, in favour of assignats, and he
ask*ed if it was by bankruptcy and the guillotine that they expected to
make, friends for the republic. This produced a burst of indignation
from the Mountain party, many of whom ran to the tribune as if to
attack M. Denjoy, who was immediately surrounded by his friends
and the officers of the assembly. In the uproar and confusion which
ensued, the President put on his hat, and it was some ten or fifteen
minutes before order was restored. The intrepid orator kept his place,
and after the tumult had subsided, he asked the ministers what they
had clone, and what they intended to do? M. Senard, the minister of
the interior, said he had not been informed of the real character of the
banquet at Toulouse, and he doubted the correctness of the reports:
but General Lamoriciere, with characteristic and soldierly frankness,
admitted that he was informed of that banquet, and had written to the
military authorities at Toulouse, not to partake of it ; but that he had
not found time to confer with the minister of the interior on the subject.
This affair greatly injured M. Senard, and, in some degree, General
Cavaignac, in the public estimation.
Six days afterwards, the ministers made a false step, in voting
against the election of a president by the people.
On the 11th October, M. Durriens, the editor of a journal, from the
tribune made some inquiries of the ministers concerning the indefinite
suspension of certain journals. He was seconded by two members.
The minister of justice replied, that the course of the Executive had
been sanctioned by the assembly, and that they should persist in it as
long as the city remained in a state of siege. M. Senard then calling
for the previous question, it was carried by a majority of only five
votes; so as to show, that deducting their own nine votes, the admi-
nistration was in a minority.
General Cavaignac's prospect of success was also clouded by a deve-
lopment made just before the election, of the names of the persons
recommended for pensions in the projet of a law presented by the
34 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
president of the council, on the 19th of September. The list of names
which the minister of the interior was required to produce, embraced
some flagrant violators of the law — even assassins and galley convicts.
It appeared that General Cavaignac did not, in fact, know what names
were on the list, and was exonerated by the assembly from all blame ;
yet the explanation came too late to reach all parts of the country
before the day of the election. With the loss of popularity on the part
of General Cavaignac, the chances of his most favoured rival, Prince
Louis, were greatly increased. Of the requisite qualifications of the
latter, but little was known. His principal support was expected
from those classes with whom the prestige of his name and family
would have weight. He would also combine in his favour all those,
who favoured the old regime, but who having no present hope of
putting at the head of the nation a Bourbon prince, in their hostility
to republicanism, preferred the elevation of the descendant and heir of
an emperor.
The success of Louis Napoleon was greater than was expected.. He
received nearly four-fifths of all the votes polled.
The results of the election of the 10th of December, were as follows :
Number of votes in the 86 departments, not in-
cluding Algeria, 7,449,471
Number of votes expressed, 7,426,252
Majority of votes expressed, 3,713,126
Votes for Louis Napoleon Bonaparte,
5,534,520
" Eugene Cavaignac,
1,448,302
" Ledru Rollin,
381,431
" Raspail,
36,964
" Lamartine,
17,914
" Changarnier,
4,687
Divers votes,
2,434
7,426,252
Unconstitutional votes, 23,219
Total as above, 7,449,471
Universal suffrage was deemed a bold experiment for such a country
as France, but the election passed without any disturbance of the pub-
lic tranquillity ; and on the 20th December, the ceremony of the pro-
clamation took place in the national assembly. M. Marrast* the Pre-
sident of that body, in a loud voice declared Louis Napoleon Bona-
parte President of the French Republic from that day to the second
Sunday in May, 1852. After he had taken the oath required by the
constitution, the new President in a firm voice read the following ad-
dress : —
1849.] History of 1S48. — France. 35
" Citizens— Republicans — The suffrages of the nation, and the oath
I have just taken, trace out to me my future conduct. I shall follow
it as a man of honour. I shall regard as the enemies of our country
all those who shall attempt to change by illegal means what all France
has established. Between you and me, citizen representatives, there
cannot be any real difference of opinion: our wishes and desires are the
same.
"I wish, like you, to place society on a true basis, to strengthen de-
mocratic institutions, and to alleviate the miseries of that generous and
intelligent people which has just given me such striking proofs of its
confidence. The majority I have obtained not only penetrates me
with gratitude, but will give to the new government that moral force
without which there is no authority.
"With peace and order, our country can again improve, can cure its
wounds, and bring back the men that have been misled, and calm down
every passion. Animated by a sincere spirit of conciliation, I have
called around me capable and patriotic men, who, in spite of the diver-
sity of their political origin, are ready to devote themselves with you
to the application, the improvement of the laws, and the glory of the
republic.
" As a republican government coming into power, we owe a debt of
thanks to its predecessors, where the deposite of its authority is handed
over to it intact; and, in particular, I owe it to Gen. Cavaignac to say,
that his conduct has been worthy of the generosity of his character,
and that sentiment of duty which is the first quality of a statesman.
(Hear ! hear !)
"We have, citizen representatives, a grand mission to fulfil. We
have to found a republic in which the interests of all shall be guarded
by a just and firm government, which shall be animated by a sincere
desire to progress without being either reactionary or Utopian. Let
us be the men of the country, not the men of a party, and with the aid
of God, we will at least do good, if we cannot achieve great things."
At the head of the ministry chosen by President Bonaparte, was
placed M. Odillon Barrot; who, on the 26th December, ascended the
tribune in the national assembly, and said that the new cabinet per-
fectly concurred in the declaration of principles made by the President
of the republic, and that he came forward to repeat the same engage-
ments in the presence of France and of Europe. The country, he said,
wished for material and moral order; for order in the streets, as well
as in the administration of the government. In strongly constituting
the national force, the government had given the best guarantee of its
determination to maintain order. Security was the first want of all.
It was indispensable that calmness and confidence in the future be re-
stored, as otherwise, manufactures and trade would not revive. The
cabinet would exert itself to introduce the severest economy in the pub-
lic expenditure, and to impart a salutary impulse to public works. He
36 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
would not enter upon any expose of the foreign affairs of France. Ne-
gotiations were pending which imposed great reserve on the govern-
ment. All he could say was, that the cabinet would not rashly engage
the word of France, and that it would exert itself to preserve peace as
the interest of France and Europe. He pledged the efforts of himself
and his colleagues to consolidate the republic, and promote the deve-
lopment of the political education of the country.
Gen. Changarnier was appointed commander-in-chief of the national
guards ; Gen. Bugeaud to the command of the army of the Alps, and
the prince of Montfort, (Jerome Bonaparte,) Governor of the Invalides.
On the 24th, the new President made his first appearance at a grand
review of the troops. He was received with enthusiastic cheering by
the national guards and the people generally. The cries were princi-
pally, "Vive Napoleon !" " Vive Louis Napoleon !" His own bear-
ing on the occasion is said to have been " graceful, engaging, and dig-
nified."
Many approve or disapprove of the election of Louis Napoleon for
no better reason than that they approve or disapprove of every thing
done in France ; but others looking to it only as an index of public
sentiment in France, think it affords conclusive evidence that republi-
canism is not in high estimation in that country, since it has elected as
its chief magistrate one, whose great recommendation was his rela-
tionship to a former emperor, and has thus shown its favour to that
principle of hereditary sovereignty, which is most fundamental in mo-
narchies, and most repugnant to popular government ; while others,
again, find in the fact that the imperial conqueror, to whose memory
homage is thus paid, sprung from the body of the people, the extinc-
tion of the principle of legitimacy, and, therefore, in the elevation of
his nephew and appointed heir, they see the vindication of popular
rights.
When it is recollected that M. Lamartine, who was the lowest on
the list, would have once stood the highest ; that a few months later,
General Cavaignac, now so far behind, would have been the popular
favourite, it leads us to inquire whether -this tide of unbought popularity
is likely to last, and whether the wheel of fortune, which has whirled
so rapidly with others, will stand still with Napoleon. His character
as a ruler is to be developed, and it remains to be seen how far he is
competent to guide the helm of state of a people so impulsive, and
placed in circumstances, both at home and abroad, so likely to agitate
them : and whether, after the example of his far-famed relative, he will
use his great popularity to convert the present government into one of
more pomp and energy, or whether, abiding by the promise made at
his installation into office, he will maintain the ascendency of the re-
public ; and lastly, whether his administration will be able to raise the
requisite revenue without calling forth discontents dangerous to the
public tranquillity, and perhaps fatal to his power, or will seek to pre-
vent them by engaging in war.
1849.] History of 1S4S. — Great Britain. 37
These are questions which time will solve ; for the present, however,
his popularity has experienced no decline, and he is firm in his govern-
ment.
GREAT BRITAIN.
In June, the subject of the repeal of the navigation laws was dis-
cussed in the British parliament. The advocates for the repeal main-
tained in the House of Commons, that all the arguments in favour of
free-trade in corn applied to free-trade in shipping ; and that if the na-
tion had been benefited by removing the restrictions on the importation
of foreign corn, it would be similarly benefited by removing the re-
strictions on transportation in foreign ships. That the English ship-
owner and sailor are better able than the English agriculturist to meet
foreign competition, because they are not, like the last, subject to pe-
culiar taxes, as poo'r rates, highway rates, and church rates. That
ships can be built as cheaply as elsewhere, if regard be had to their
quality. It was admitted in the discussion, that American shipwrights
were superior to the English, and that American captains and their
crews also had some superiority : the former, because they commonly
had an interest in the cargo, and consequently in the shortness of the
voyage; the latter, because more sober and better educated. It was,
however, insisted that the English sailor had natural advantages su-
perior to the sailor of any other country.
It was further urged, that English ships had no protection in the ex-
port trade, which was extensive and flourishing; why, then, it was
asked, should they have protection in the import trade?
The opponents of the repeal relied on the past benefits of the navi-
gation laws, as was shown by the steady increase and vast amount of
British shipping ; on the greater cost of English ships, from the work-
manship being higher than in most countries, and the timber being
higher than in any, and from the rapid increase of American shipping,
notwithstanding the preference given to English ships by the naviga-
tion laws ; all of which arguments were elaborately supported by sta-
tistics. On the question of going into committee on the subject, the
ministry prevailed by a vote of 294 against 177. The subject was,
however, subsequently postponed to the next session. It seems pro-
bable that in ship-building the respective advantages of Great Britain
and the United States are nearly equal. Timber, masts, and spars,
tar, pitch, and turpentine, are much cheaper in the United States. Iron,
copper sheathing, carpenter's work, and sails are cheaper in Great Bri-
tain. But in navigation the United States have the advantage — their
ships are generally better constructed for speed — they crowd more sail,
and, though wages are somewhat higher, they navigate with fewer men:
provisions are also much lower. The difference, however, is not so
great but that the shipping of both nations will continue to increase
with the increase of population and wealth.
VOL. II. — march, 1S49. 4
.38 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
Ireland continues to afford a subject of undiminished anxiety to the
British statesman ; for, although all attempts at rebellion are effectu-
ally put down, yet the deep-rooted discontent of its people still con-
tinues ready to break out whenever a favourable occasion is presented.
The sufferings of the peasantry, too, in three-fourths of the island, from
scarcity, though far less than they lately were, are still very great, and
neither humanity nor policy permit the administration to look on them
with indifference. Yet as the immediate cause of the distress in Ireland
is in her over-crowded population, it is not seen that the evil admits of any
speedy remedy, or how the government can greatly meliorate her condi-
tion. In the mean time, its power has been chiefly exercised in its harsher
attributes of restraint and punishment. Besides acts of parliament for
the suspension of the habeas corpus, and to confine all suspected per-
sons until March, 1849, a force of from 40,000 to 45,000 men were
sent over to suppress insurrection the moment it should break out, and
prosecutions were commenced against the most conspicuous and effi-
cient leaders of the malcontents. Some of these being men of family,
fortune, and great private respectability, their conviction, which has
always followed prosecutions, powerfully appealed to the feelings of
the Irish, and met with no little sympathy both in foreign countries
and other parts of the British dominions. Among these, Mr. Smith
O'Brien has been the most distinguished. He was on the 9th October
sentenced to undergo the punishment which a barbarous age had affixed
to treason, but which the administration wisely commuted for transpor-
tation. He would deserve a statue of gold who would devise a plan of
securing an average of national comfort permanently to the Irish peo-
ple ; but so long as between eight and nine millions are crowded on a
territory of no greater extent than the state of Maine or South Carolina,
and who, for the most part, are wanting in capital, skill, and industry,
it would seem that such a result must be the slow work of time, even
if they were left to the sole management of their own affairs.
It appeared by the budget of the minister that the deficit of the
year was about £2,000,000. After some hesitation on the part of
Lord John Russell, and an apparent disposition to increase the income
tax, it was decided to be the safer course to supply the deficiency by
exchequer bills, and of course by an addition to the public debt. Pro-
bably but for the revolution in France, and its consequences, certain
and uncertain, which caused the conservative party to support the whig
ministry, a change of administration would have been the result of this
financial difficulty in a time of peace.
The session was protracted to the 5th of September, when it was
prorogued by the Queen, who embarked the same day with Prince
Albert in a steamer for Scotland. Parliament, thus prorogued, was
not to meet till January.
The relief granted to the West Indies gave satisfaction neither at
home nor in the colonies. In the latter it was considered to be alto-
1S49.] History of IMS. — Germany. 39
gether inadequate, and in the former to have conceded too much. In
Jamaica, which has commonly taken the lead in complaining of colo-
nial grievances, the language of discontent has been unusually bold,
and the difficulties and losses of the planters have been very great. It
is still obstinately maintained in England that free labour is, under all
circumstances, cheaper than slave labour, and that it has not yet had
a fair trial in the West Indies, though every experiment as yet made
in the English islands seems to show that the sugar-making business
in the torrid zone is an exception to the general rule.
Symptoms of discontent have also manifested themselves in Canada
and other British possessions in North America ; nor are they likely to
abate unless there is a repeal of the navigation laws, or at least some
partial relaxation of them in the timber trade.
Rebellion to British authority has again shown itself in that part of
northern India known as the Punjaub country. In the month of June,
Moolraj, a chief of that country, attempted to surprise and overpower
a small British force under the command of Lieutenant Edwardes, but
was gallantly repulsed. A second battle was fought with the like
result. Moolraj took refuge in the city of Moultan, to which the Bri-
tish, after they were re-enforced, laid siege. Moolraj made efforts to
seduce the Sepoys in the British service, but without success. He
seems, however, to have defended his capital with valour and talent.
It was attacked by the British with a force of 26,000 men, and
though it was defended by only from 7,000 to 12,000, the British
were compelled to retire. The whole of the Punjaub country, con-
taining about four millions of people, is said to be opposed to English
dominion, but, according to past experience, that fact would but the
more certainly provoke and afford a justification for its complete sub-
jugation, and, accordingly, the British government has since decided
that it would be expedient to annex the whole of the Punjaub, esti-
mated at about 60,000 square miles, and containing 4,000,000 of in-
habitants, to the British dominions. Notwithstanding some partial
successes of the insurgents, the large force brought into the field against
them by Lord Gough, and said to be 80,000 men, seems to leave scarce
a doubt of that result.
GERMANY.
The seed sown by the late French revolution seems likely to produce
as abundant a harvest of good or evil in Germany, as in France itself.
The republican spirit, formerly confined to her students and a few spe-
culative minds, after the events of February 1848, rapidly increased,
and was extensively diffused among the people.
The most prominent event in that part of Europe, since our last
number, was the outbreak in Vienna, happening on the 5th and 6th of
October, and which threatened to put an end to the Austrian monarchy.
40 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
The civil dissensions in the Austrian dominions are very complicated,
not merely from the different nations of which the empire is composed,
but also from the different races which are sometimes found in the
same portion of the imperial domain. Their mutual jealousies and
animosities have so mingled in their political contests, that the latter
cannot be well understood without some historical notice of these diver-
sities.
Hungary, which has been so conspicuous in the recent history of
Austria, contains with its associate or dependent states, eleven or
twelve millions of inhabitants. It has always claimed to be an inde-
pendent kingdom; the emperor is there called king of Hungary, and it
has its own legislative council or diet. Of the distinct races found there,
the Magyars, so called from the oriental or Turkish name of their an-
cestors who conquered the country in the ninth century, claim supremacy,
though they constitute but one-third of the population. They are
exclusively the landholders in Hungary, and have many special privi-
leges; which circumstances, making of the other races an inferior caste,
have not only prevented an amalgamation, but kept the races in a state of
perpetual hostility. Another circumstance has contributed to strengthen
the national feelings of the Magyars. Joseph II., amonghis other schemes
of reform, endeavoured to identify the Hungarians with the Germans,
and the enthusiastic opposition thus excited among the Magyars laid
the foundation for that sentiment of nationality which is known by the
name of Magyarism. This sentiment, which is often in conflict with
Austria's supremacy, is no less opposed to the equal rights of the Sla-
vonian races. Their principal landholders live in great pomp, often
maintaining large bands of armed retainers; and they regard even the
nobility of the other provinces as inferior to the humblest Magyar.
They alone have the right of voting in their county diets; and the
poorest of them becoming farmers to the more wealthy, the latter are
thereby able to control their votes. With the personal pride thus
engendered, these county diets being deliberative assemblies, have been
a school for orators and politicians. If in the cities this feudal haugh-
tiness disappears, the taste for politics and talent for public speaking
are no less conspicuous there, and makes the Magyars members of
clubs, and active in all political meetings. Their ancient privileges
and franchises, which have been abridged under Austrian rule, have
been the subject of continual claim from the emperor, and about twenty
years since they succeeded in substituting their own language for the
latin, which had been previously used in all solemn acts and public
proceedings. Not content with this success, they insisted that the
Magyar language should be similarly used throughout all Hungary.
The Croatians, the Slavonians, and Transylvanians vehemently resisted
this attempt, maintaining that they too had a language of their own,
and pleading the example of the objection made by the Magyars to the
latin, they universally cried " nolumus Magyari" Bohemia, whose
1849.] History of 1848. — Germany. 41
population is three-fourths Slavonian, sympathized with their brethren
in Hungary, and the reaction thus produced, evoked and strengthened
the antagonist nationality of pansiavism, which comprehended ten times
the numbers of Magyarism. These feuds between the Magyar and
Slavonian races, were systematically fomented by the tortuous policy
of the Austrian cabinet.
It is said that from policy or liberality still further concessions were
about to be made to the Magyars by the Austrian government, when
the revolution broke out in Vienna in March. This was a signal for
the Magyars to enforce and enlarge their claims. But if it was
thought a favourable occasion for them to press their demands on
Austria, it was deemed equally favourable to the Slavonians for resist-
ing the oppression or injustice of the Magyars. They insisted upon
equal representation according to numbers — upon a separate ministry
for Hungary, and for the removal of the diet from Presburg to Pesth,
and upon equal civil rights with the Magyars. The emperor, in no
condition after March to refuse popular demands, granted them all
they asked ; and it is due to the Magyars to say that the diet of Pesth, in
the assertion of their political rights against Austria, admitted that all
the inhabitants of Hungary, of whatever race, had equal claims with
themselves: but notwithstanding this admission, they still contended for
the general adoption of their language. The little that was thus refused
outweighed the much that was surrendered, particularly when joined
to the recollection of past wrongs. The Croats and other Slavonians,
encouraged by the central government, were more violent in their
opposition than ever, until the dispute broke out into open war. In
an address by the Croats to the emperor, in defence of their course,
they declared that they preferred the Russian knout to Magyar inso-
lence; and they reminded the emperor that though their country is but
a 35th part of the Austrian empire in extent, it furnished one-third of
the infantry of his army. The ban or governor of Croatia, baron Jel-
lachich, at the head of one of the most warlike people in the Austrian
dominions, stepped forth as the champion of the Slavonian cause, and
declared that he would never lay down his arms until he had obtained
for it ample justice.
The Magyars, or rather the diet at Pesth, having no troops embodied,
and unable to contend against the regular forces under Jellachich, who
also had the sympathy and favour of all the Slavonian race, found it
prudent to temporize. They determined to send a deputation to the
emperor ; and to secure it a welcome, voted by acclamation 200,000
men, and 100,000,000 of florins, (about $50,000,000,) for the double
purpose of terminating the war with the Croatians, and of assisting
the Austrians in Italy. They also ordered an issue of paper money of
2,000,000 florins. The deputation consisted of 160 members. They
insisted that Hungary is a free and independent kingdom. They made
professions of loyalty, and invited the emperor to make Pesth his resi-
dence.
42 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
In the negotiations which took place about this time between the
Austrian cabinet and the Hungarian diet, each party accused the other
of double dealing and bad faith, and the charges of both appeared to be
but too well founded.
Notwithstanding their professions of amity, other measures showed
that the Hungarians looked to independence. They sent agents to the
national assembly at Frankfort, to negotiate for assistance. They re-
presented to the latter that the Austrian army composed mostly of
Slavonians, could not be regarded as German or as consistent with
German safety, and that Germany had the same interests as Hungary
in a separation of the different states of the empire.
The Austrian cabinet, as we shall see hereafter, was not inferior
to the diet in acts of diplomacy. The emperor declined the invita-
tion to Pesth on the score of health, and gave evasive answers to the
other applications; except that he positively refused to sanction the
proposed issue of paper money. The diet, indignant, threw off the
mask, asserted complete independence, and made the refusal of their
assignats punishable with death. The leader of the patriotic party in
the diet was Kossuth, a lawyer of great talent and force of character,
who had been for many years an obscure country attorney, and had been
active in preparing and enlightening the public mind, as the editor of
an humble journal, for which he had suffered imprisonment.
In September, Jellachich entered Hungary with a large force, and
published a proclamation in which he stated his purpose to be to defend
the rights of the emperor, and to quell the rebellious spirit manifested
in Pesth. The diet then tried a second deputation, which was on the
17th September, sent to the assembly at Frankfort, with instructions
to denounce the central government, and to demand assistance against
the Croats. The assembly refused to receive them. On learning this,
the diet gave unlimited powers to Kossuth, who associated seven other
persons with him in the duties of the government, but their acts con-
tinued to be, as before, in the name of the king, and they set about
making preparations for defence. The Archduke Stephen, having
resigned his office of Palatine of Hungary, the emperor appointed Count
Mailath in his place, and sent Count Lamberg commissioner extra-
ordinary to Hungary, and gave him command of the whole Austrian
force there. He reached Pesth on the 29th September, and the Hun-
garian party decided on his arrest that evening, as well as on resisting
the emperor's orders. The count, unaware of his danger or rashly
braving it, while passing in a carriage without guards or attendants,
was seized by some peasants armed with scythes and hay forks, and
savagely murdered. Having taken off his clothes, they fastened a
rope to the naked body, and dragged it through the streets. It appeared
that the Austrian government, pursuing its wonted policy of playing
off the Slavonians against the Magyars, had ordered or encouraged
the march of Jellachich into Hungary, under the expectation that the
1849.] History of 1S48. — Germany. 43
diet at Pesth would appeal to the emperor for his interposition or
assistance, and that he might thus obtain from them a surrender of their
recent claims, and also of his former concessions, without violating his
oath. Count Lamberg, the instrument for carrying out this crooked
scheme, thus became its first victim.
An imperial edict was forthwith issued at Schoenbrun, dissolving
the diet of Pesth, appointing Jellachich to the command of the Austrian
forces, enjoining the severest punishment on Count Lamberg's mur-
derers, and proclaiming martial law in Hungary.
The diet responded by declaring itself a national assembly under
the dictatorship of Kossuth. It appointed a committee of public safety.
The whole country took up arms.
Jellachich, now likely to encounter a more formidable resistance than
he expected, arrested his march, and while he hesitated whether he
should persevere in his attack on Pesth, or form a junction with the
Austrian troops on the upper Danube, the intelligence from Vienna
decided him to hasten to the metropolis.
The insurrection at Vienna on the 6th of October, which for some
weeks absorbed the attention of all Europe, arose from the order to
two battalions of grenadiers, suspected of disaffection, to march to Hun-
gary, and a part refusing to obey. They were ordered to be escorted
by a regiment of cuirassiers. In approaching the bridges on the Da-
nube, they were met by armed peasants, who fraternized with them
and broke down the bridges.
The national guards joined the disaffected troops, and an engage-
ment took place between them, supported by the people and a batta-
lion of fusileers, together with some troops from Prague. In the after-
noon, the office of the minister of war, Count Latour, was attacked ;
he was seized and hung at the lamp-post. It was supposed that there
were 150 killed, and 500 or 600 wounded in the insurrection. It
is said that among the papers of the minister of war, was found the
correspondence with Jellachich, concerning Count Lamberg's mission,
which confirms the suspicion of the intrigue that has been mentioned,
and to which, consequently, Count Latour must be regarded as the
second victim.
The Emperor, who is known to be nervously timid, as well as men-
tally imbecile, fled to Innspruck, and a message was despatched to him
by the provisional government in Vienna, demanding a popular minister,
and the revocation of the order appointing Jellachich to the command
of the troops in Hungary. They then made preparations for the at-
tack they were certain to encounter from the troops still faithful to
the Emperor.
The Bohemians have always sided with the Slavonians in these con-
tests of race, from a recollection of their common origin ; and their de-
puties at the diet of Vienna after the insurrection withdrew to Prague,
where they formed a distinct diet, and protested against the proceed-
ings at Vienna.
44 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
Prince Windischgratz lost no time in marching to Vienna with the
troops under his command, and he was there joined by Jellachich, whose
united force was said to amount to 80,000 or 100,000 men, and which
Vienna, without assistance, could not long resist. The Hungarian
diet, on the 12th, sent an address to the diet of Vienna, expressive of
their liveliest sympathy and gratitude, and their determination to make
common cause with them, as well as to adjust their respective interests
to their satisfaction. They further declared Jellachich a traitor, and
requested the diet of Vienna to do the same, adding that if they should
pursue him into the Austrian territory, the soil of Austria should be
sacred, and the rights of the Austrians scrupulously respected.
A force was despatched from Hungary, and it is said to have en-
countered on its march a detachment of Jellachich's army, and to have
obtained a decisive victory over it, but the particulars are not fully
known, and there is reason to believe the success to have been greatly
exaggerated.
In the mean while, the aid so anxiously looked for from Hungary
not having arrived, and the danger which threatened Vienna becoming
more imminent every day, negotiations were opened between the par-
ties, and the Viennese offered to admit Windischgratz and his troops
into the city on certain conditions ; but he refused to enter unless all
the disaffected were disarmed, and the Count Latour's assassins, whom
he named, were surrendered to him. If these terms were refused, a
bombardment was threatened, which was accordingly commenced on
the 28th of October, and on the 31st the city surrendered.
On the 1st of November, Prince Windischgratz issued a proclama-
tion, by which Vienna and its environs were declared to be in a state
of siege in consequence of the breach of the terms of capitulation.
The victors exhibited little clemency or moderation in their success,
and military executions soon followed the surrender of Vienna. Among
the victims were several students, the general who commanded the in-
surgent forces in Vienna, and Robert Blum, who was a deputy from
Saxony in the German parliament at Frankfort, and who having been
elected an honorary member of the academical legion at Vienna, had
been induced to come to Vienna to aid the republican party by his
counsels. The severity of these punishments producing great sensation
throughout Germany, have contributed to widen the separation be-
tween the opposition, and the execution of Blum was regarded as an
indignity to the parliament of which he was a member.
The imperial authority being completely re-established at Vienna, the
whole force of the government was concentrated on Hungary, which,
however brave and determined, is not likely to make effectual resist-
ance.
On the 2d of December, it was unexpectedly announced by a pro-
clamation from the emperor of Austria at Olmutz, that he had abdi-
cated in favour of his nephew, Francis Joseph, the son of his brother,
1S49.J History of 1848. — Germany. 45
Francis Charles, who is still living, and who also resigns all claims to
the Austrian crown in favour of his son.
The reason assigned by the emperor for this step is his conviction
that "more youthful powers" are required for that comprehensive re-
formation he had been desirous to effect.
The proclamation of the new emperor, who is said to be but nine-
teen years of age, and to have made a favourable impression on those
who know him, breathes a very liberal spirit. " We are convinced," he
says, "of the necessity and the value of free institutions, and enter with
confidence on the path of a prosperous reformation of the monarchy."
After predicting that the country will rise to its ancient grandeur
"on the basis of true liberty, on the basis of equal justice to all his
people, on the equality of all citizens before the law, and on their
equal share in legislation and representation," he avows himself "jea-
lous of the glory of the crown," and resolved to preserve the monarchy
uncurtailed, but ready to share his privilege with the representatives of
the people. He adverts to the existing rebellion, and appeals to the
loyalty of the people, the fidelity and bravery of the army.
The central diet or parliament at Frankfort, are still in session, and
labouring to effect a federal union of the several German sovereignties.
The details of the constitution they have formed, are of a liberal cha-
racter, as might have been expected, not only from the known senti-
ments of most of its members, but also because the sovereigns there re-
presented w r ould concede power with the same jealous caution as indi-
viduals in the structure of a republican constitution. But the chief
difficulties in their main purpose still remain, and the success of their
labours can be tested only by experiment. That alone can determine
whether the several sovereigns will submit to duties and burdens more
or less onerous, and to restraints to which they have not been famili-
arized, and whether states differing so widely in numbers and power,
in religion and local interests, can permanently remain united. Nor is
this all. In the structure of the executive power of the confederacy,
the diadem of the federal empire presents a tempting object of ambition
to the individual members, and though but two of them, Austria and
Prussia, have any reasonable pretensions to it, it can be given to nei-
ther without furnishing new aliment to that ancient jealousy and ani-
mosity which had long subsisted between these members of the empire,
and for which the confederate government was looked to by many as
a remedy. The new emperor of Austria is, apparently, not a candi-
date for the honour, either because he thinks, as some not doubtful
symptoms seem to indicate, that a majority of the states prefer the king
of Prussia, or because he sees in the confederation a diminution of his
authority in his own dominions, and is therefore averse to it. The
king of Prussia has always been supposed ambitious of being placed at
the head of the confederacy.
46 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
Questions of right and political power are, of all others, the most
fruitful of controversy, and arguments of the greatest subtlety. During
the sixty years that our federal government has existed, a majority of
the states, probably a large majority, have severally committed acts and
passed laws, which most of their associates have thought unconstitu-
tional : but violations which we here wisely suffer to pass unnoticed,
when they are intrinsically unimportant, or which merely give rise to
a question in the supreme court, might in Germany occasion bloodshed
and w T ar. It remains then to be seen whether the new confederation
prove an ill-compacted mass which will soon fall into its original frag-
ments, or will hold together until time has hardened its cement; or,
whether it may not give rise to new and more embittered jealousies,
which will outweigh the benefits conferred by the qualified unity of
the government.
PRUSSIA.
The republican spirit was yet stronger in Prussia than in Austria,
for it had been of longer standing and was more widely diffused among
the people. The national assembly or diet which met at Berlin, in
May, to frame a constitution, were thus employed until the beginning
of November, without having completed their work. The king, who
it was generally believed by the public was really disposed to make
those concessions to the people which his father had repeatedly promised
and had always evaded, was perplexed with difficulties on all sides. On
the one hand, he found his people, whom moderate concessions would
lately have satisfied, now under the contagious influence of the recent
revolution in France, rising in their demands, and not a few of them
fondly looking to the entire subversion of the kingly power. Supposing
this party either not formidable, or encountered and subdued, he also
had apprehensions from the new confederation of the German states,
which would deprive him, in common with the other members of the
confederation, of some sovereign attributes, and of that ascendency in
German affairs which he shared with the emperor of Austria. Besides,
now that Austria seemed likely to lose part of her dominions, and to
hold a more circumscribed power over the remainder, he was disposed
to contest with her the honour of becoming the head of the confedera-
tion; and, lastly, he was engaged in a contest with Denmark, whose
power indeed was not very great, but who was supported both by Eng-
land and Russia. If he insisted on maintaining the Schleswig Holstein
claims, he might be brought into open collision with those powers;
and if he abandoned those claims,Jie might make himself unpopular
in Germany, and thus defeat his aspirations at Frankfort. These
conflicting considerations occasioned a hesitating and temporizing
course on the part of the king, that gave more boldness to the repub-
lican party, and which on several occasions manifested itself in popular
1849.] History of 1848. — Prussia. 47
tumults and rencounters between the citizens and the military ; and
occasionally, some of the latter, as in France, sided with the people.
The march of the imperial forces on Vienna, and its actual bom-
bardment, naturally called forth the sympathies of the popular party
in Berlin. They made most earnest solicitations to the constituent
assembly, to interfere in behalf of the Viennese. The assembly, aware
that their efforts would be unavailing, even if they could be legitimately
exerted, yielded so far to the popular clamour as to vote that the
national parliament at Frankfort should take measures for the protec-
tion of Vienna. This, however, not being satisfactory to the people,
they continued to besiege the assembly with fresh applications, in so
disorderly a way that it was found necessary to call out the burgher
guard to protect the members from insult.
In the mean time, the jealousy which had for some time existed
between the king and the popular party in the assembly, grew every-
day wider. The purpose of many of the latter to establish a republic
became more manifest every day. On the 25th of October, the aboli-
tion of nobility was proposed, but it w T as rejected by a large majority.
After the surrender of Vienna, General Pfuel, the prime minister of
Prussia, resigned, and the king appointed Count Brandenburg in his
place, instead of some member of the assembly, as that body wished.
This appointment was vehemently opposed by the assembly ; on which
the king, profiting by the recent attempts of the populace to overawe
the assembly, by proclamation on the 9th of November, transferred it
from Berlin to Brandenburg, a town containing some 12,000 persons,
thirty-five miles from Berlin. The assembly resisted the order, declared
its sittings permanent, and further, voted that if the government
attempted to prevent their assembling in the hall they then occupied,
their president should call a meeting at some other place in the city.
The burgher guard was thereupon ordered to prevent the members
from passing to the hall. They openly refused to obey, alleging that
it would be destructive to the liberties of the people. The troops of
the line, under General Wrangel, were then called out with orders to
close the assembly, and the burgher guard were ordered to deliver up
their arms and to be disbanded. Berlin was declared to be in a state
of siege. The burgher guard refused to surrender their arms, and but
for the interposition of the respectable citizens of Berlin, these guards
and the regulars might have come into open collision. But some six
or seven thousand of the guards having voluntarily surrendered their
arms, the rest finally consented, or were forced to yield. The triumph
of the Austrian ministry over the popular party, had, without doubt,
its influence on all parties during this controversy.
The assembly, prevented by the troops from meeting at its own hall,
were, in accordance with it, convoked at another place. They there
passed a resolution on the 15th of November, that no minister was
authorized to levy taxes, until that resolution was revoked ; and that
4S Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
the Brandenburg ministry was not authorized to levy taxes, or disburse
public money, until the national assembly could fulfil its duties in safety
in Berlin. The same day an officer with an escort entered their
chamber, and stated that he had orders from General Wrangel to eva-
cuate it. After a scene of great confusion, in which all the members
protested against this violation of their privileges, and some were dis-
posed to make resistance, the president proposed an adjournment, adding
that he would communicate to them the time and place of their future
meeting, and they accordingly adjourned. During these agitations,
General Wrangel took possession of the several rail-roads which lead
to Berlin, to prevent any accessions to the popular party from the
interior. He also suppressed nearly all the journals.
During these occurrences in Prussia, the confederate assembly or
parliament at Frankfort, by resolutions or votes, required the imperial
commissioner at Berlin to endeavour to procure the nomination of a
ministry which would have the confidence of the people, and at the
same time it pronounced the attempt of the Prussian assembly to pre-
vent the collection of taxes, to be null and void. Archduke John,
as regent of the empire, issued an address to the German people, in
conformity with the views of the imperial assembly.
On the 27th of November, a number of the members of the assembly
met at Brandenburg, but there not being enough to make a constitu-
tional quorum, which is two-thirds of the whole number, they adjourned
to the following day.
They attempted several subsequent meetings, but either because there
was not a quorum, or because eighty members of the extreme left, or the
ultra liberals, who at length attended, refused to join in the election
of a president, they adjourned to the 7th of December; but before
that day the king dissolved the assembly, and, at the same time, pub-
lished the outline of a new constitution of a liberal character. By
another decree, he convoked the chambers to meet in Berlin on the
26th of February, ordered the primary elections for the choice of
electors, to be held on the 22d of January, and those of the second
degree (the election of the members) on the fifth of February. Thus
the cause of monarchy seems to have regained the same ascendency
for the present in Prussia that it has in Austria.
DENMARK.
The convention or treaty of Malmac, between this power and Prus-
sia, w r hich produced a suspension of hostilities between them, w T as as
unacceptable to the German generals, as to the people of Schleswig,
and the German parliament at Frankfort refused their sanction to it
by a vote of 238 to 221. The claim thus asserted by the parliament,
does not seem to have been admitted by Prussia, but its exercise in the
present instance probably not being really unacceptable, she readily
acquiesced in it. In consequence of this defect of ratification, the rela-
1849.] History of 1S4S. — Russia. 49
tions between the two countries remained in the same unsettled state.
The provisional government in Schleswig, which the treaty had abro-
gated, continued to exercise authority. The Danish ships which had
been seized, were not restored ; persons imprisoned by Prussia for politi-
cal offences, were not discharged, and the Danish emigrants from Schles-
wig, were not allowed to return. Denmarl^ seems to have acted with
good faith throughout the whole affair, but if she escapes a renewal of
hostilities, it may be mainly attributed to the mediation and friendly
offices of Great Britain and Russia, both of whom, however, would
for different reasons be unwilling at this time to be at war with the
Prussian monarchy.
Though the constitution of Denmark was absolute in theory, the
power of the crown was greatly restrained by public opinion, and was
generally exercised with moderation. It was, however, deemed pru-
dent, as well as liberal in the present monarch, on his accession, to
offer a free constitution to his people, and that promise, was this year
carried into execution. According to the new constitution, the legisla-
tive power, which had been solely in the king, is now vested in the
king and the diet ; a popular assembly, chosen by the general suffrage
of all persons over thirty years of age of good reputation. In default
of a successor to the throne, the diet may elect a king, and establish
the order of succession. The new states, in which there was a large
infusion of the democratic spirit, assembled at Copenhagen on the 23d
of October. The main purpose of their meeting was to consider the
provisions of the new constitution. The king, however, frankly de-
clared to them, in his opening speech, that he should not permit the
new constitution to go into operation, until it was submitted to a new
diet. It would seem from this declaration, that more is demanded by
the leaders of the popular party than he is willing to concede.
There was some months since an insurrection of the negroes, at the
Danish island of Santa Cruz, of no very serious character. It was
soon quelled, and since that time the slaves have been emancipated.
RUSSIA.
The forbearance of Russia to take an active part in the civil com-
motions of Europe still continues ; and her colossal power has as yet
been exerted rather in the way of diplomatic influence, than in that
of physical force. The only way in which the last has been manifested,
has been in marching troops into Moldavia in the month of July.
■ The principalities of Wallachia, and Moldavia, lying on the north
side of the Danube, near its mouth, and containing "from two to three
millions of inhabitants, on an area of about 40,000 square miles, though
nominally appertaining to Turkey, were by treaty in 1829, placed
under the protection of Russia, and have been, in fact, ever since
subjected to her control. They are each governed by a hospodar,
or prince, selected from a list presented by the Boyars, but he
50 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
really owes his appointment to Russian intrigue. After the revolution
in France, the contagious spirit of liberty broke out in this remote
corner of Europe. A democratic constitution was adopted at Bucharest,
the capital of Wallachia, and a provisional government appointed. It
is however believed, that this popular effervescence was the result of an
intrigue between the Rusfian general, and the Hospodar Bidisco, that
it might afford a pretext to Russia for marching troops into the prin-
cipalities. When they entered Wallachia, General Luders, the com-
mander, issued a proclamation, in which he stated that the Emperor of
Russia, in accordance with the sultan, had resolved to put a stop to
the disorders in Wallachia, and to re-establish its legal government.
He, therefore, when joined by the troops of the sultan, purposed a
military occupation of the country until the propagandists of insur-
rection were put down, and the lawful authority was restored. The
force under him was about 16,000 men, and 40,000 more were said
to have crossed the Pruth into Moldavia.
Notwithstanding this public declaration of the concurrence of Turkey,
the sultan early in September, viewing this movement of his formidable
neighbour with a natural jealousy, and, to say the least, as derogatory
to the dignity of the Sublime Porte, earnestly protested against it, in-
sisted that he was able to protect his own rights, and ordered troops
into the principalities, as much apparently to maintain his authority
against his domineering neighbour, as against his rebellious subjects.
Russia, on her part, looking to the more important occasions for her
intervention, which the troubled state of Europe was likely soon to
present, met the spirited course pursued by Turkey in a more pacific
mood than she was likely to have done under other circumstances, and
ordered her troops to withdraw from the principalities. She still,
however, keeps up her warlike attitude on her western frontier, and
has, a large army ready to march into Europe, whenever policy shall re-
commend it. With that spirit of moderation which it suits the Russian
cabinet now to assume, Count Nesselrode, in a circular to all the
diplomatic agents of Russia, in July, asserts the pacific intentions of
the emperor ; and while he expresses doubts about the success of the
French in their scheme of national government, he says that if, however,
they should succeed, without disturbing the" repose of other nations, the
emperor would rejoice at it.
These professions, accompanied as they are with warlike prepara-
tions, do not hinder the nations of Europe from watching her movements
with lively interest, which is increased by their utter ignorance of her
schemes and purposes. But, in truth, her future movements are pro-
bably as unknown to herself as her neighbours, since, with that con-
summate policy which characterizes her cabinet, she will be influenced
by circumstances, and either use her vast physical means to extend her
conquests, or be content with an increase of her influence in diplomacy,
according as one or the other course shall promise the most advantage
and the surest success.
1849.] History of 18 48.— Italy. 51
Several of the recent political events in Europe appear to be very
auspicious to the further aggrandizement of Russia. The Schleswig
Holstein controversy has made her intervention a. protection to Den-
mark, and converted that nation and Sweden, to whom she has always
been an object of jealousy and dread, into grateful friends. The po-
pular struggles for civil liberty or national independence in Prussia and
Austria have weakened the two powers which would, by position, be
the first objects of her incursions into Europe : and lastly, the war now
waged among the different races has divided those whose obvious inte-
rests lay in a united resistance against her power, whether Magyars,
Germans, or Slavonians, and has also greatly weakened, and perhaps
neutralized the hostile feelings of the Poles, who, like the Russians,
belong to the Slavonian family.
The only deduction to be made from these accessions to her weight
and influence is to be found in the new confederation of all the Ger-
man states, and which, presenting a stronger barrier to her on the
west than ever before existed, may be more than an equipoise to all
the favourable circumstances that have been mentioned. But this po-
litical union may be ranked, as we have seen, among the uncertain
problems of the future.
SPAIN AND PORTUGAL.
Both of these countries indicate a restless and discontented people,
and an unsettled state of things. In Spain, the energy of the minister,
Narvaez, has repressed popular commotions, but has not proved suffi-
cient to prevent them. Partial insurrections have, throughout the
year, appeared in different parts of the kingdom, but these disturbances
in their details seem to be as little deserving of historical notice as the
disputes and wars of our Indian tribes. They do, indeed, show an
unsound state of the body politic, but do not afford evidence of the
character of the distemper, nor, indeed, whether the disease is simple
or complicated, and of course leave us ignorant of the remedy.
ITALY.
This ill-fated country has met with sad" reverses of late, and its
emancipation from Austrian rule is now as distant as ever. The suc-
cesses which first attended the arms of Sardinia and Lombardy, under
Charles Albert, surprised the world as much as it gratified the hopes
and pride of the Italians. But the military character of the Austrians
has at length resumed its wonted ascendency, and the hopes of Italian
independence, and yet more of Italian liberty, are for the season extin-
guished. The Austrian army under Radetsky, receiving large re-enforce-
ments, while the efforts of Charles Albert gradually became feebler*
had an uninterrupted tide of success until it entered the city of Milan
on the 9th of August. .From that moment Charles Albert lost the
character both of a great captain and a patriot, and the cause of which
52 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
he had been the leader became hopeless. It was to no purpose that
England and France interposed, in behalf of the independence of
Lombardy. The Austrian government felt too well assured of her
power, to surrender any part of her former dominions in Italy, and
it suited neither France nor Great Britain to present to Austria, if she
refused their intervention, the alternative of war. So far from taking
that course, they made a merit of necessity, and when envoys from
Sardinia, seeking to profit by the insurrection of October in Vienna,
applied to those governments for aid, they both positively declined
giving any promise of assistance, and Lord Palmerston stated that he
had advised against the unequal struggle with Austria, and that the
renewal of hostilities would lead to a war of extermination in Lom-
bardy. He added that if Sardinia refused to confide her destinies to
her friends, France and Great Britain, the latter would withdraw from
the mediation.
The French government, in a gentler tone of refusal, urged that the
recent events in Germany threatened to produce complicated diplo-
matic relations with other powers, alluding, no doubt, to the probable
hostile interposition of Russia, for which France must be prepared;
and that as France had decided to enforce non-intervention in Germa-
ny, she was compelled to conform to it in Italy. Thus the only hopes of
Italian independence now rest on the success of the republican party in
Germany, or, perhaps, the separation of Hungary from Austria.
Sicily, too, after she thought her independence was achieved, has
experienced like disappointment. The king of Naples having succeeded
in quelling the rebellion in Calabria, set about regaining the sove-
reignty of Sicily. On the 31st of August, two Neapolitan frigates,
and about twenty steamers, anchored opposite Messina, but in their
first attempt to land, they were repulsed by the Sicilians. They then,
according to their previous practice, tried the effect of a bombardment,
not on the forts, but on the city, and thus destroyed some of its best
buildings. They finally effected a landing, and the inhabitants either
fled to the mountains, or took refuge on board the English and French
ships of war at anchor in the road. Great excesses are said to have
been committed both by the invaders and the Sicilians. The resentment
of the people was roused to the highest pitch, and the commanding offi-
cer at Syracuse being suspected of cowardice or treachery, was first
thrown into prison, and then torn to pieces by the multitude.
The French admiral Baudin urged an armistice on the Neapolitan
admiral, and being seconded by the English admiral Parker, it was
signed on the 4th of September.
The offer of the sovereignty of the island was prudently declined by
the king of Sardinia, and it being thought by the English and French
governments that Sicily, exposed as she was to a maritime invasion,
would not be able to maintain her independence, they exerted them-
selves to bring about a reconciliation between the Sicilians and the king
1849.] History of 1848.— Italy. 53
of Naples, which, it is said, will be effected, as the former have again
agreed to accept Ferdinand as their sovereign, on the condition of their
constituting a separate kingdom altogether independent of Naples.
The Pope, with all the disposition he has shown to ameliorate the
condition of his subjects, had a difficult part to act between his desire
of peace and his unwillingness to break with Austria on the one part,
and the very lively sympathy of the people for Venice and Lombardy
on the other, and especially as the more turbulent part of the Roman
population has been more than once on the verge of insurrection and
revolt.
It has for some time been evident, that while the Pope was
actuated by a sincere and anxious desire to improve the condition of
his people, he meant not essentially to abridge his own temporal au-
thority, and that in this respect his schemes of reform have been some-
what misunderstood both at home and abroad. As soon as this fact
became known, the popularity of his Holiness began to decline, and this
result was furthered by the character of his prime minister, Count Rossi,
who was understood to be unfriendly to reform, and to have decided
on employing military force, if necessary to check it.
The fears and suspicions of this sensitive population were strongly
excited by the sudden arrival at Rome of a body of carabineers ; their
review by Count Rossi, and a violent attack on the chamber of depu-
ties in the official gazette. While the minister was on his way to
the chamber, he was first hooted and insulted by the mob when he
alighted from his carriage, and then mortally stabbed by an unknown
hand. There was great agitation among the people during the night,
and the next day a large body of people assembled in a public square,
and hand-bills were circulated among them proposing five points of
reform, to wit: The adoption of Italian nationality: the convoca-
tion of a constituent assembly, and the federal pact : a war of indepen-
dence : the adoption of the entire programme of Mamiani, and his
appointment with that of six other named persons as ministers. They
proceeded in a body with these propositions to the chamber of deputies,
but when there, it was then proposed to go to the Pope's palace, where
they accordingly proceeded, and the chamber itself consented to com-
municate their requests to the Pope. Cardinal Soglia replied, that his
Holiness would take the subject into consideration. But this answer
not proving satisfactory, the crowd insisted that their deputation should
have a personal audience with the Pope. This was granted, and the
people were duly informed that the Pope would not grant applications
thus made. It was by this time evident that the native troops, in-
cluding the carabineers, sided with the people, and that a small body
of Swiss soldiers was the only part of the public force on whose fidelity
he could rely. This guard barred the gates of the palace and prepared
to resist the attack of the mob. The attack was made, and some were
killed on both sides, among them Signor Palma, the Pope's private
VOL. II. — march, 1S49. 5
54 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
secretary, but the Swiss, finding it impossible to resist the assault of
6000 men, re-enforced by two cannon, capitulated. The people renewed
their demand of the five propositions, and allowed the Pope one hour
to answer it, declaring at the same time that if it was not granted, they
would put to death every inhabitant of the palace except the Pope
himself. The Pope yielded, and the next day Mamiani and his five as-
sociates were proclaimed as the new ministry.
The business of the government was then conducted by the ministers
thus appointed, but in the name of the Pope, who remained a cypher
and a prisoner in the palace of the Quirinal. On the 24th, however,
he effected his escape to Gaeta in Naples, which he reached on the
following night. He succeeded in eluding the vigilance of his keepers
by the friendly agency of Count de Spaur, the Bavarian envoy, whose
footman the Pope assumed to be, and whose livery he wore. He
was immediately visited by the King and Queen of Naples, and two re-
giments were sent from Naples to attend him as a guard of honour.
Three days after the Pope's arrival at Gaeta, he issued a manifesto
to the people of Rome, in which he states that the outrages committed
against him personally had compelled him to separate himself from
them for a time. He denounces in strong terms the wickedness of
those who have brought about this necessity, and threatens them with
the anger of Heaven. He formally protests against all their acts. He
nominates commissioners to act as a temporary executive : he enjoins
on his subjects the preservation of tranquillity and order ; and he requires
daily prayers to be offered for his safety.
The commissioners thus named lost no time in disclaiming the dan-
gerous honour; and the manifesto was promptly answered by a pro-
clamation from the chamber of deputies, in which they deny the
Pope's constitutional power to issue such a paper; and recommend
that the present ministry should continue to manage the affairs of the
country; that a deputation from their body should wait on the pope,
and request his return to Rome; that the upper house should be
invited to join in the deputation; and that the national guards should
be invited to preserve order.
AFRICA AND ASIA.
Having now noticed at some length the interesting occurrences of
America and Europe, we pass to the other quarters of the world, which
will not detain us long.
In Africa, Algeria remains tranquil, and, to all appearance, a per-
manent colony of France, under all the changes of its government.
Ali Pacha, of Egypt, who was emphatically the maker of his own for-
tunes and celebrity, after a protracted state of disease and utter help-
lessness, has at length paid the debt of nature, and has been succeeded
by his son, Ibrahim Pacha, who was, by late accounts, also suffering
from ill health.
1849.] History of 1S43. — Africa and Asia. 55
Liberia continues gradually to advance in numbers, prosperity, and
in the estimation of mankind. Its President, Roberts, has lately vi-
sited Europe for the purpose of obtaining the recognition and favour of
the leading nations there, and he seems to have been every where re-
ceived with favour and distinction. Although this settlement seems
less and less likely to make any important reduction of the slaves in
the United States, the chief purpose for which the colonization society
established it, it does bid fair to exercise an influence, perhaps a great
one, on the destinies of Africa itself.
The unequal contest between the British government and the indi-
genous Africans near the cape of Good Hope, has been revived, but it
has, probably, ere this, been terminated by Sir Harry Smith.
It is somewhat remarkable that the only instances of war of which
we have any accurate knowledge at this time on these great continents,
are carried on by England. . These are, that in Africa, which has been
just mentioned, and the war against the Sikhs in India, and their allies.
Without doubt they will soon share the fate of one hundred millions
of their countrymen, but their subjugation will scarcely bring more
money into the treasury of India, than it will cost to keep them in
subjection. The obstinate valour of these people seems to indicate that
whenever the British empire in India is subverted, it will be affected
by its north-western inhabitants.
In the early part of the year, there was an insurrection of Chinese
labourers in Siam, against their Siamese task-masters, and the insur-
gents were finally overpowered, but not until there had been some
hundreds of lives lost on both sides.
A collision similar to those which have of late so frequently occurred
between the Chinese at Canton, and the English, took place some
months since with the Americans at Canton, and which had very
nearly ended in the bombardment of the city by the American squad-
ron then before it. It is attributed by some to an undue importance
attached by a Chinese mandarin to some frivolous points of etiquette,
and by others to a want of discretion in the American consul.
Christianity seems to be making its way slowly but surely in that
vast empire, and the intercourse between its ports and the territories
of the United States on the Pacific, will be very conducive to the same
great result.
Note. — The next number will contain a continuation of our history, commencing
with the first of January, 1849.
By referring to the quarterly chronicle of the present number, the reader will
find a record of the most important events that have occurred within the current
quarter.
DS^There is an omission of the vote of Michigan in the table on the fifteenth
page of the history, which was overlooked until the form was struck off. A cor-
rect statement of the presidential vote is inserted under the statistical head.
56 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
STATISTICS.
We commence the articles under this head with a continuation of the
Education Statistics from our second number.
The first in order is the contribution of Hon. H. Barnard on the Common
Schools of New England, continued from page 433, Vol. I.
COMMON SCHOOLS OF CONNECTICUT.
Prior to 1650, the education of children in Connecticut was left to parents
and the magistrates of the several towns, after making some " allowance " out
of the common means of the town towards paying the schoolmaster. In 1646,
Mr. Ludlow was requested to compile " a body of laws,'' which was done, and
adopted by the colony in 1650. The enactments respecting children, or do-
mestic education schools, were literal transcripts from the Massachusetts law
on the same subjects, and need not be repeated in this place.
In 1838 official information respecting the condition of the common schools
was, for the first time, laid before the legislature, in the form of returns from
104 out of 21 1 school societies in the state. As the particular attention of the
General Assembly had been called to this subject by the Governor in his annual
message, a select committee on the part of the House and Senate was raised,
to whom these and other documents were referred. Among these documents
were complete returns respecting every school society and district in one
county, and letters from school visiters, teachers and friends of common
schools in 105 towns, embracing nearly all which had made no returns to the
Comptroller. In addition to this documentary and written information, one
member of the committee had spent one month in visiting schools, and con-
ferring with teachers and parents in three counties previous to the meeting
of the Legislature; and several gentlemen interested in the improvement of
schools were invited to present their views to the committee.
With these facts before them, the committee unanimously recommended
a bill for a public act ' ; to provide for the better supervision of common
schools/''" which was passed into a law by the unanimous vote of the Senate,
and with but a single dissenting voice in the House.
This act constituted the Governor the Commissioner of the School Fund,
and one person for each county in the State, a u Board of Commissioners of
common Schools,'' and aims to secure the better supervision of schools, by
bringing their condition in the form of annual reports, first before the school
societies by the local visiters, and afterwards before the Legislature and the
State in the communications of the Board. To make these reports subserve
the progress of the system, both the State Board and the local visiters are re-
quired to submit such plans of improvement as their observation and reflec-
tion may suggest. To enable the Board to ascertain the condition of the
schools, and collect the material for sound legislative action, they are au-
thorized to call for information from the proper local school authorities, and
to appoint a Secretary, who shall devote his whole time, if required, under
their direction, "to ascertain the condition, increase the interest, and promote
the usefulness of the common schools."
In 1839 the Board submitted their first Annual Report to the Legislature,
including a report from their Secretary, [Henry Barnard.] with minute statis-
tical information respecting more than twelve hundred schools.
1849.] Statistics. — Common Schools. 57
The following are some of the facts in the condition of the schools and of the
public mind respecting them, as ascertained by the measures of the Board —
"That out of the 67,000 children between the ages of four and sixteen
returned, not more than 50,000 attended the common schools in the winter
of 1838-9, or more than 54,000 of all ages, and that the average daily attend-
ance did not exceed 42,000 ; that there were in the State, 12,000 children in
private schools at an expense of more than $200,000, which exceeded all that
was expended on the education of the 54,000; and that 4.700 children of the
proper school age were returned as in no school, public or private, and the
whole number could not be less than 8000 in the State —
That previous to the act of 1838 requiring annual reports, there was but one
town or school society which had made provision for a written report from
school visiters, as to their doings, or the condition of the several schools; —
That it was difficult to find any one who could give information of the com-
mon schools out of his own district ; —
That school meetings, both of school societies and school districts, were
thinly attended; —
That school officers were appointed at meetings, where, apart from the
officers of the preceding year, there was not a quorum to do business; —
That the length of the school varied with the compensation of the teacher,
which was governed not so much by his qualifications, as by the amount of
public money accruing to the district; —
That there was not even a formal compliance with the law requiring
teachers to be examined and approved, and schools to be visited twice
during each season of schooling in regard to summer schools; —
In 1841 the laws relating to common schools were revised and consolidated
in one Act, drawn up by Mr. Barnard, and among the visible and immediate
results, not of compulsory legislation, but of the voluntary efforts of parents,
committees, and districts, acting on the information and impulse given di-
rectly and indirectly by the measures of the Board, the following were speci-
fied in the fourth Annual Report of the Secretary of the Board, in May, 1842.
" The attendance at society and district school meetings is more numerous."
More than fifty new school-houses have been built, and a much greater
number repaired after approved models, and more has been done in this
respect within four years, than for twenty years before.
School visiters are more strict in their examination of teachers, and regular
and vigilant in visiting the schools as required by law.
A uniform set of books in all the schools of a society has been in some in-
stances prescribed, and in others recommended, by the proper committee.
The evils of crowding children of different ages in a great variety of studies
and in different stages of progress in the same study, under one teacher, have
been obviated in more than one hundred districts, by employing a female
teacher for the younger children and primary studies, and a male teacher for
the older and more advanced scholars — and in a few instances, by the estab-
lishment of a central or union school for the older children of a society, or of
two or more districts.
In 1844, Gov. Baldwin strongly called the attention of the legislature to
the importance of more liberal and enlightened Legislation in behalf of Com-
mon Schools, and that legislature authorized the Governor to appoint a com-
mittee to ascertain the condition of the schools, and to report plans to the
next session.
In 1845, the committee on education, of which John T. Norton of Farmington
was chairman, reported to the legislature a plan for the improvement of the
common schools, according to which the state was to resume its supervision
over the schools, the school societies were required to report to a state officer,
or board, the condition of the schools every year, and a normal school tor the
education of teachers was to be established by the state. The plan was in
5S Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
part adopted. The office of superintendence of common schools was esta-
blished, but its duties were devolved on the Commissioner of the School Fund.
School visiters were required to make annual reports, and were authorized to
appoint "an acting school visiter," with a small compensation for the time
devoted to the visitation of schools.
In 1846, Mr. James M. Buner of Hartford offered a premium of $100 " for
the best Essay on the improvement of the Common Schools of Connecticut.^ The
premium was awarded to an Essay by the Rev. Noah Porter, Jr., now Pro-
fessor in Yale College. This essay was printed, and widely disseminated
over the state, in a pamphlet form, and in connexion with the Annual Report
of the Superintendent of Common Schools.
The essay, after pointing out in severe, but correct terms the condition of
the schools, and rebuking the niggardly policy which had characterized the
recent legislation of the state on the subject, recommends that teachers' in-
stitutes should be held throughout the state, and a normal school established
for the education of teachers, that in the cities, and large villages, a gradua-
tion of schools, and especially a public high school to be established, and
that the old doctrine of Connecticut, that the support of the common school
is a proper charge on the property of the community, should be again revived.
In the plan of operations which accompanied the essay, the formation of vo-
luntary associations of teachers, and of the friends of school improvement;
the publication of facts and suggestions by a journal or tract, &c, were recom-
mended.
In the fall of 1846, a teacher's institute, or convention, was held in Hartford,
which was attended by 256 teachers; and a school journal was started by
Rev. Merril Richardson. In 1847, the legislature made provisions for holding
the teachers' institute in each county in the state.
In 1848, a bill to establish a normal state school, passed in the House of
Representatives almost unanimously, and was lost in the Senate by one vote.
The outline of the school system as it now stands is briefly this : —
The state is divided into school societies, (215,) which were formerly
ecclesiastical corporations created without reference to the boundaries of
towns, but to the convenient attendance and support of divine worship. They
are mainly subdivisions of large towns. These societies have all the powers
given in the other New England States to towns in reference to schools, viz.
the power of creating school districts, establishing, supporting and regulating
schools, and of appointing committees and laying taxes for this purpose.
Each school society is divided into (1655,) small territorial corporations called
school districts, with powers to build school-houses, appoint local committees,
establish schools, lay taxes, and make regulations not inconsistent with those
of the school society to which they belong.
The authorities intrusted with the administration of the system are, 1. A
district committee of one or three persons, chosen annually by the legal voters
of each district, with other district officers, such as clerk, collector and trea-
surer. 2. A school committee of three persons in each society, who take care
of all the financial business, with a clerk, collector and treasurer. 3. A Board
of school visiters or overseers, of not more than nine persons, also elected annu-
ally in each society, who theoretically are intrusted with the entire manage-
ment of the schools. This board must examine teachers ; visit all the schools
twice during each season of schooling; annul the certificates of teachers
whom they find unqualified, and make an annual report to the school society.
4. The commissioner of the school fund, who is intrusted with the manage,
ment and distribution of the avails of the school fund. Mis duties are strictly
financial. This board may appoint "an acting school visiter " to perform all
the duties of visitation, examination of teachers, and make an annual report.
5. A superintendent of common schools, whose duty it is to collect, and dissemi-
1849.] Statistics. — Common Schools. 59
nate information, to hold teachers' institutes in each county, and to report
annually to the legislature.
The support of the common schools is derived from the following sources:
1. The annual income of the school fund. This amounted in 1848 to one dol-
lar and forty cents to each person in the state over four and under sixteen years
of age. 2. One half the income of the town deposite fund. The sum depo-
sited with the different towns was $764,670 61. The avails appropriated to
the support of schools from this source estimated at $33,000. 3. The avails
of local school funds. 4. The avails of school society tax. This source has been
abandoned in nearly every society. 5. The avails of the district tax. Except
in a few city districts, this tax is not laid except to build and repair school-
houses, and little or no help is derived for the annual expense of the schools
from this source. 6. Avails of a tax or rate bill on the parents and guardians
of the children who attend school. Most of the districts realized something
from this source. It is not levied till the close of the winter or summer
school, and the amount corresponds to the excess of the expenses of the school,
over the avails of the several school funds.
Teachers must by law be examined and receive a certificate of qualifica-
tion. Some facilities for their improvement are now afforded in the teacher's
institutes, which are held in each county, and continue in session for one
week.
Table exhibiting the condition of the common schools in 1848.
Population of the State in 1840, ----- 309,978
Number of children between the ages of 4 and 16, in August, 1847, 87,512
Number of towns, ...... 145
School societies, ..... 215
School districts, .... - 1,655
Capital of the state school Fund in September, 1847, - $2,077,64119
Amount of dividends to the school societies, in 1847-8, - $126,126 80
Rate for each child between 4 and 16 years of age, in 1848, - $1 45
Amount of town deposit fund, derived from U. S. surplus revenue
fund, ....... $763,661 83
Amount of annual income of this fund, appropriated to common
schools, ------- $33,441 60
Annual income from local school funds, - - - $8,289 57
Amount raised by quarterly bills on parents, - - - $16,000 00
Number of scholars of all ages in the district schools, in the win-
ter of 1846-47, 72.500
summer of 1847, 57,620
Number of private schools in summer, - - - - 210
" scholars in ditto, ----- 4 ; 300
Number of private schools in winter - - - - 179
" scholars in ditto, ----- 4.120
Length of school term in weeks — summer,. ... 18
winter, ... 17
Average length of schools in months for the year, - - 8
Teachers employed in summer — males. ... 250
females, ... 1,490
winter — males, - - - 1,320
females, - - - 420
Monthly wages paid to teachers — males - - - $16 50
females, - - - $7 00
Number of teachers who u board round," — in summer, - 1,200
winter, - 1.090
Number of school-houses in the state, ' - - - 1,620
60 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
THE COMMON SCHOOLS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
(contributed by professor vogdes.)
The constitution of Pennsylvania makes it the duty of the legislature ll to pro-
vide, by law, for the establishment of schools throughout the state in such man-
ner that the poor may be taught gratis. " Many difficulties arose to prevent the
adoption of such a system of schools throughout the commonwealth for many
years. The Friends, in the eastern counties, had already established society
schools under their own rules, and they neither wished to give them up, nor to
support others; the Germans, in the interior, did not wish to give their support
to any untried scheme, especially one which they thought was intended to teach
the English language only, to the neglect of that which they were in the habit of
speaking. The conflicting interests of the representatives of the different ranges
of the state, thus long prevented the adoption of such a general system as was
intended by the framers of the constitution. Nevertheless, attempts were often
made to frame laws for certain districts, which were necessarily partial and tem-
porary in their operation. Prior to 1834, the common schools, under these laws,
were few, and badly managed. The laws passed for their organization into a
system, and their government, were found to be so defective that they were com-
pletely changed at almost every session of the legislature. As soon as one law
was published and understood, it was superseded by another so different that
much of the labour bestowed upon the different provisions and exertions made
under the first were round to be useless. These continual changes disheartened
many of the warmest friends of the common school system, and created a strong
prejudice against it in the minds of many others.
As early as 1818, the city and county of Philadelphia were created into a sepa-
rate district for common school purposes, and the success which there attended the
efforts of public education, finally led to the passage of a consolidated law in 1834,
for the establishment of a general system of education by common schools through-
out the state. By that act it was made the duty of the Secretary of the Com-
monwealth, who was constituted superintendent of common schools, to make an
annual report to the legislature of the condition of the schools, stating also the
estimates and accounts of expenditures of the money appropriated for school
purposes. He was also directed to submit to the legislature such plans for
the improvement of the system as he should deem expedient. These reports,
making' known to the teachers and directors of the schools in every part of the
state the plans for the improvement of the schools under their charge, the opera-
tion of those improvements in the schools in which they had been tried, the pro-
gress of the system elsewhere, and their position in comparison to all others,
added to the fact that the schools under their charge were no longer to be pauper,
but common schools, had a material effect in giving form and stability to a system
which has since become of vast importance to the state, of which it is one of the
proudest ornaments.
The act of 1834, though incomparably superior to those which had preceded
it, was not yet perfected. In the course of two years, various defects were found
in it, and plans for its modification were submitted to the consideration of the
legislature. Accordingly, in June, 1836, a law was passed " to consolidate and
amend the several acts relative to a general system of education by common
schools." This law is still in operation, having undergone but very slight modi-
fications since its adoption. It was designed for the whole commonwealth, with
the exception of the city and county of Philadelphia, which were still to consti-
tute one district, and be governed as before provided.
By the law of 1836, every township, ward, or borough, in the commonwealth,
not within the city and incorporated districts of the county of Philadelphia, forms
a separate school district. Each district has a board of school directors, consist-
ing of six members, two of whom are chosen every year. The directors are au-
1849.] Statistics. — Common Schools. 61
thorized, if they deem it expedient, to divide the district into sub-districts, with
power to elect a primary committee of three in each, who act as a committee of
the board to attend to the local affairs of their respective sub-districts, subject to
the orders of the board. In wards and boroughs, the directors have power to ap-
point an inspector, for the purpose of visiting- , inspecting, and superintending the
schools. In all other cases, each board of directors is required, by one or more
of their number, to visit every school within their district, at least once in every
month, and to cause the result of such visits to be entered on the minutes of the
board. Neither the directors, their treasurer, nor the primary committees, receive
any compensation for their services as such. The directors have also the power
to examine and appoint teachers.
Each district thus constitutes a distinct and independent organization, repre-
sented by the board of directors, and having no connexion with the township or
county officers; the only other officer being the secretary of the commonwealth,
who is ex-officio superintendent of common schools, and to whom the directors
are required to make a report on the first Monday of June in every year, setting
forth the progress and condition of the schools, the expenses incurred in main-
taining them, and communicating such other information as might be of use in
forming a just estimate of the value of common schools. The whole number of
districts during the school year 1847, was one thousand two hundred and forty-
nine, of which number one thousand one hundred and five, had accepted, and one
hundred and forty-four had not accepted, the provisions of the law. An act,
however, was passed on the 11th of April, 1848, making it obligatory upon all
the districts in the commonwealth to accept the provisions of the act of 1834, and
by which the common school system was established throughout the whole state.
A fund for the support of common schools was first established in Pennsylva-
nia in 1831. By an act of the 2d of April of that year, certain moneys arising
/from the sale of lands, and other sources, were set apart for a common school
fund, to be held by the commonwealth, for the use of said fund, at an interest of
five per cent. The interest was directed to be added to the principal, until the
proceeds thereof should amount to one hundred thousand dollars annually, when
the whole was to be applied to the support of the common schools.
By the act of April 1st, 1834, seventy-five thousand dollars were ordered to be
paid out of the school fund, for the year 1835, and annually thereafter, to be dis-
tributed among the several counties that should entitle themselves to it under the
provisions of that act. The portion due each county was deposited in the re-
spective county treasuries, to be paid out to the accepting districts in each county.
The appropriation of 1835 was paid to whatever districts in the county adopted
the system ; those that refused to adopt thereby forfeiting their share. But under
the act of 13th June, 1836, the appropriation for that year due to the non-accept-
ing districts, was to be retained in the county treasury for their use, for any term
not exceeding one year, from the first of November, 1837.
By the act of 13th of June, 1836, one hundred thousand dollars, in addition to
another one hundred thousand dollars, payable by the United States Bank, were
appropriated to common schools, for the school year 1837, which was made to
commence on the first Monday of June following. These two hundred thousand
dollars, instead of being deposited in the county treasuries, like the appropria-
tions of the two preceding years, were to remain in the state treasury, subject to
the drafts of the superintendent; and warrants for the payment thereof were to be
issued by him in favour of such districts as should entitle themselves to the
same, by adopting the system, and levying a school tax not less than equal to,
nor more than treble, their portion of the appropriation under this act.
By resolution of 3d of April, 1837, the sum of five hundred thousand dollars
was appropriated to common schools for the year 1838, to be expended either in
building or in defraying the expenses of tuition.
On the 12th of April, 1838, the school appropriation was increased to a sum
69
Quarterly Register and Magazine.
[March,
equal to one dollar on every taxable inhabitant in the commonwealth, and was to
increase triennially with the increase of inhabitants, so as always to equal one
dollar per taxable, but without any increase of taxation above that mentioned in
the act of 1836.
The appropriation for 1844, was two hundred and fifty thousand dollars; and
since that time two hundred thousand dollars have been annually appropriated
for the use of common schools. These several sums were divided among
the districts, including the city and county of Philadelphia.
The undrawn balance of the appropriations made under the act of 1834, and all
subsequent acts, had been allowed to remain and accumulate for the use of such
districts as should entitle themselves to the same. By the act of the 8th of April,
1843. these and all subsequent balances were to remain in the treasury and ac-
cumulate for the benefit of the district entitled thereto, ''for any time not exceed-
ing two years from the first of November, 1844." But by the act of the 31st of
May, 1844, all these balances, including the undrawn balance of the appropria-
tion for the school year 1844. were repealed, and the state treasurer was prohi-
bited from paying out any money not appropriated in that act.
It will appear, from an inspection of the annexed table, that the schools of
Pennsylvania are rapidly improving. The number of schools and scholars is gra-
dually increasing — the interest felt by the people in the cause of general educa-
tion is becoming greater — customs and prejudices that have existed for years,
and furnished the greatest obstacles to the progress of the school system, are fast
yielding to its influence, and districts, before hostile, are year after year becom-
ing reconciled, and voluntarily adopting its provisions. A knowledge of the be-
neficial influence of these schools, and their happy conformity to the character of
our citizens, and the principles of our government secure for them the favour and
support of the people.
A Tabular vieiv of the progress of the present common school system of Pennsylva-
nia, since its establishment in 1835, exclusive of the city and county of Philadel-
phia.
Date
Schools.
TEACHERS.
SCHOLARS.
Male.
Female
Total.
Male.
Female.
Total.
1835
762
524
284
808
16,734
15,810
32,544
1836
3,384
2,428
966
3,394
74,253
65.351
139.604 !
1837
4,089
3,351
1,490
4,841
98,763
83,592
182,355 ;
1838
3,939
3,546
1,488
5,034
127,677
106,012
233,719|
1839
5,488
3,363
1,669
5,032
141,063
113,845
254,908
1840
5,649
4,488
2,050
6,538
141,124
113,784
254,908
1841
6,470
5,234
2,368
7.602
156,225
128,244
284,469 !
1842
6,116
5,176
2,318
7,494
154,454
126.631
281,085
1843
6,156
5,264
2,330
7.594
161,164
127,598
288,762 ;
1844
5.993
5,175
2,410
7,585
158,787
129,615
288,402
1845
6,690
5,551
2,480
8,031
180,328
147,090 327,418
1846
7,096
5.775
2.693
8.468
188,138
150,667 338,805
1847
7,320
5.907
2,767
8,674
183,844 148,123l331,967i
Expense.
$41,635 50
;305,775 91
1695,301 91
709,582 92
'40,548 84
711,646 69
'647.352 85
608,879 32
577,203 13
546,147 30
453,155 50
547,436 41
547,612 39
1847.
1846.
1845.
1844.
10,621
8.070
5,462
11,052
8,241
5,565
11,008
8,327
5,348
11,018
8.419
5,311
1849.] Statistics. — Common Schools. 63
NEW YORK COMMON SCHOOLS.
The last annual report of Hon. Christopher Morgan, Secretary of state, and
ex-officio superintendent of common schools in New York, is a long and able
document, filling nine columns of the Albany Evening Journal. We regret
that we have not space to give it entire, and content ourselves with an abstract,
for which we are mainly indebted to the New York Tribune.
From an abstract of the reports of the town superintendents and commis-
sioners, it appears, that on the 31st day of December last, there were in the
state, 10,621 school districts, the school-houses of which were situated in the
town or ward; 8,070 whole districts; and 5,462 parts of joint districts.
The following' is a comparative statement for the last four years:
Whole number of districts,
Number of whole districts,
Parts of joint districts,
The number reported the past year less than the previous year is, whole
number of districts, 431; whole districts, 171; parts of joint districts, 103.
The variation from year to year shows either remarkable inaccuracy in the
reports, or numerous alterations and divisions of districts.
Returns were received from 8,006 whole districts, and 5,315 parts of dis-
tricts, showing 54 whole districts, and 147 parts of districts, from which no
reports were received.
The following is a comparative statement of the number of districts and
parts of districts from which reports have been received for the last four
years :
1847. 1846. 1845. 1844.
Whole districts, - - - - - 8,006 8,013 8,193 8,291
Parts of districts, ... - 5,315 5.400 5,207 5,042
The number of non-reporting districts and parts of districts for each of said
years, is as follows :
1847. 1846. 1845. 1844.
Whole districts. 54 139 134 124
Parts of district's, 147 165 12» 269
The deficiencies for the past year are so few in comparison to the whole
number reported, that it may justly be assumed that most of them have
occurred through accident or justifiable causes.
The number of incorporated and private schools reported, is 1,785; in 1848,
1,704; in 1846, 1,730; and in 1845, 1,981; exhibiting an increase of eighty-
one during the past year, but a decrease of ninety-six since 1845.
The reports of the number of scholars attending private schools are very
unsatisfactory, but it is estimated that about 75.000 children are annually
taught in them. It is suggested that such schools ought not to receive any
assistance from the state, but that our district schools may be so elevated,
that those who seek superior advantages for their children, can find them
only in the common schools.
The whole number of children between the ages of five and sixteen, reported
on the 31st day of December, 1845, exclusive of the city of New York, was
625.399
The whole number reported on the 31st day of December, 1846, exclusive
of New York, was 624,848.
The whole number reported on the 31st day of December, 1847, exclusive
of New York, was 718,123.
64 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
The whole number of children reported as attending school during some
portion of the year 1847, is 775,723.
And of these, 17,805 attended school the whole year.
25,028 attended ten and less than twelve months.
50,823 attended eight and less than ten months.
104,016 attended six and less than eight months.
154,673 attended four and less than six months.
194.892 attended two and less than four months.
198.625 attended less than two months.
The aggregate of this periodical attendance is 745,892. while the whole
number reported taught during the year is 775.723, a difference of 29,831. If
the returns were accurate, those two aggregates would be equal.
.Measures are suggested to secure correctness in the reports hereafter.
The average time during which schools have been kept during the past
year, in the state, may be stated at eight months, which is the same as last
year.
In Hamilton county, the average is five months, and In Warren, five and
seven-tenths.
No other counties average less than six months.
In the counties of New York and Kings, the average is eleven months; in
Richmond and Queens, ten, and in Suffolk, Westchester and Rockland, nine.
The average of Rensselaer, according to the reports, would be twelve mouths.
SCHOOLS FOR COLOURED CHILDREN.
The reports of the county clerks in regard to coloured schools are unsatis-
factory and in many instances palpably incorrect. The superintendent says :
Such reports are worse than useless, for they are false and delusive. It is
plain that, in a large number of counties, no effort has been made to collect
accurate statistics relating to schools for coloured children, and that such as
have been collected are in many cases deficient and deceptive.
By chap. 25S, sec. 3, laws of 1847, a sum not exceeding $5,000, was ap-
propriated from the income of the United States deposit fund, to the trustees
of any incorporated village which should, during one year from the passage
of this act. support, for three months or more, a school for the exclusive in-
struction of coloured children.
As the coloured population is enumerated in the census of the state, and
forms a part of the basis of the distribution of the school fund, and where un-
reasonable prejudice excludes them from the white schools, the trustees are
empowered to establish separate schools for them, the superintendent sees no
good reason for the special appropriation provided for above, and respectfully
recommends the repeal of the anomalous act.
INDIAN SCHOOLS.
Schools for the instruction of Indian children are now established upon the
St. Regis, the Onondaga, the Cattaraugus and Allegany, and Shinnecock re-
servations.
The Shinnecock Indians occupy a small promontory, containing about 600
acres, on the southern shore of Long-Island, and within the limits of the town
of Southampton. The whole number of children between the ages of 5 and
16 years, is 50, and the number who have attended school some portion of the
time is 40. They are represented in an improving condition. The number
of children between the ages of 5 and 16 years upon the Cattaraugus reserva-
tion is 322, and the whole number who have attended school the preceding
year is 229; and the whole number between the said ages upon the Allegany
reservation, is 180, and the number who have attended school is 110.
1S49.] Statistics. — Common Schools. 65
These Indians feel very grateful for the instruction which the stats is be-
stowing upon them, and take an increasing interest in the schools.
The agent of the St. Regis reservation reports that a school has been kept
nine months during the year, with an average attendance of 50 children.
Upon the Onondaga reservation a school was kept by a male teacher for
five months previous to the 1st day of May, 1848, and for the ensuing six
months by a male teacher with a female assistant.
The whole number of scholars who had attended at the date of the agent's
report was 61; of whom 40 had been quite regular, and 25 had been absent
but a few days during the year.
The whole number of children on the reservation between the ages of 5 and
16 is about 94.
The Indian reservations in Allegany, Erie, Cattaraugus, Onondaga and other
counties, comprise many thousand acres of the finest agricultural land in the
state. Yet the Indians on these lands are, in the main, miserably poor and
destitute. This state of things the superintendent attributes to the system of
communism prevailing among these red men. The labour of the industrious
(says the report) contributes alike to the support of the idle. The usual incen-
tives to toil and thrift, the hope of personal gain, and the acquisition of exclu-
sive property, are wanting.
It is intimated that a remedy for these evils might be found in the passage
of a law by which the Indians could be allowed to divide the land equitably
among themselves, and giving to each an estate of inheritance, but not per-
mitting the land to be disposed of by devise, or deed, nor to be encumbered by
mortgage or judgment. It is now held in common and inalienable ; it would
then be held in partition, not devisable nor alienable, nor subject to any lien
or incumbrance.
OF THE ORGANIZATION OF THE COMMON SCHOOLS.
The number of school districts in the state, according to the last report,
is 10,621.
The school money is apportioned to the several counties and towns in pro-
portion to their population. If we divide the amount of public money by the
number of the districts, we have $580,000, (the sum distributed the coming
year,) divided by 10,621, giving $54.60 to each district. And yet there are
twenty-five towns in the state receiving less than that sum, and seventy-nine
receiving less than $100. *
The distribution among the districts of the several towns is made in propor-
tion to the number of children in each, between five and sixteen years of age.
The distribution of the school money according to population, gives the
cities an advantage over the rural districts. New York has 80.500 children
between the ages of five and sixteen, and the portion of school money is
$40,621 53, or fifty cents for each child. Madison county has 10,705 children
between five and sixteen years of age, and has $4,485 05 school money, or
about forty-two cents for each child. The difference in favour of New York
is eight cents for each child.
Dividing the number of acres of improved land in the state, 11,757,276, by
the number of districts, 10,621, we have 1,107 acres to each district. The
aggregate valuation of the whole state in 1847 was $632,699,993, or $60,000
to each district; or including the valuation of New York, ($247,152,303,)
about $36,000.
There are many towns in the state with a valuation less than $100,000, and
there are very few towns which do not contain districts with a valuation less
than $5,000 ; but as each district must have its school-houses, &c, the expense
of maintaining the present system is much more burdensome to the agricultural
districts than the cities and villages. And yet while the cities and villages
66 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
are consolidating and uniting districts, thus lessening the expense and in-
creasing the means and facilities of supporting schools, the operation of di-
viding and creating new districts is still going on in the country.
The number of districts in the state is too large, and should be lessened.
As a means of checking the increase of districts it is proposed to repeal that
section of the law which authorizes a sale of the school-houses and other
property of the districts from whose territory the new one is formed, and a
division of the proceeds of such sale among the several districts entitled
thereto.
It is also proposed that the formation of new districts of the town superin-
tendent shall have the concurrence of the supervisor and town clerk, and give
the trustees and others interested an opportunity to be heard before the board.
ESTIMATES AND ACCOUNTS OF EXPENDITURES OF THE SCHOOL FUND.
The balance of this fund, on the 30th Sept., 1847, was - $124,947
Amount received during the year ending Sept. 30, 1848, - 117.220
Amount from income of U. S. deposite fund, - 165,000
$407,167
RECEIPTS AND APPORTIONMENTS FOR 1848.
The whole amount of public money received from all sources, by the
commissioners of cities and town superintendents, during the year ending-
July 1, 1848, was ..-.-- $858,594 84
Apportioned for teachers' wages. .... 657,33109
For libraries, ...... 91,485 92
$748,817 01
Balance unapportioned, ..... $109,777 85
The capital of the school fund is .... $2,211,47514
The productive capita] of the school fund, provided the legislature shall
continue its annual appropriation of $165,000 for the support of schools, may
be stated as follows : —
Productive capital of the school fund as above, - - $2,211,475 14
Amount from the U. S. deposit fund, which would produce the
sum of $165,000 annually, appropriated for the support of
common scrjools, at six per cent, interest, - - 2,750,000 00
To this may be added a sum that will produce annually $25,000,
which is reserved by the constitution, to be added to the
capital of the school fund, ----- 416,66667
Making a total of ..... -$5,378,14181
The annual interest on this sum at six per cent, is $322,688 50.
SCHOOL DISTRICT LIBRARIES.
The number of volumes in the school district libraries in 1844 was 1,145.280;
in 1845, 1,203,139; in 1846, 1,310,986; and in 1847, 1,333,848. Reports'from
sixteen teachers' institutes have been received, situated in so many counties.
The number of teachers in attendance was 1096. An increase of the appro-
priation for these institutes is recommended.
FREE SCHOOLS.
The present system of schools is regarded as imperfect, and in its practical
working, in many respects, extremely vexatious. A system of entirely free
schools is recommended to take the place of the present system. It may be
1849.]
Statistics. — Common Schools. 67
applicable only to the towns, requiring the cities, however, to make their
schools free, but allowing them to adopt such an organization as their pecu-
liar circumstances may require. Free schools now prevail in New York.
Buffalo, Brooklyn, Syracuse, Rochester, Lansingburg, Williamsburg, Pough-
keepsie, Flushing, Newtown and Bushwick. These cities and towns are esti-
mated to contain about one-fifth of the population of the whole state. Adding
Albany, Troy, and Utica, where the schools are substantially free, although
not so by force of law, we find that free schools now prevail in about one-
fourth of the state.
It is believed that the people are not opposed to a free school system.
The money now raised by the supervisors, equal to the amount appropriated
from the funds of the state, is cheerfully voted and paid. In addition to
this, many towns at their annual meetings, vote to raise another sum equal
to that required to be raised by general laws. The aggregate sum thus voted
in the state is very large.
It was in 1847 $199,008 00
" 1846 ..---.- 155.974 20
« 1845 - - - - - - - 195,051 15
" 1844 191,473 93
" 1843 179,800 52
These sums were raised by the inhabitants of towns, voluntarily, and under
special laws inserted in the charters of cities and villages.
The probable taxation, and the rate per cent, necessary to support a free
school system, can be ascertained, by showing the actual expense in the cities
and towns where it is established.
In the following table the first column shows the valuation of the city or
town in 1847; the second, the whole amount of school money from all sources;
the third, the amount of public money apportioned to the city, or town; the
fourth, the amount actually raised in the city, or town, besides the public
money; and the fifth, the rate of tax upon $100, of valuation:
Valuation. School money. Public money. Amount of tax. Rate upon.
Albany, 11,387,376 13,044 50 4,331 50 8,713 00 0,07.5
Brooklyn, 29.565,189 26,039 50 6,286 35 19,753 15 1.06.7
Buffalo, 8,'497,152 21,142 60 3,142 60 18,000 00 0,21.2
Brunswick, 755,160 1,289 30 196 00 1,093 30 1,14.6
Flushing. 2,393,135 1,593 03 413 60 1,179 43 0,00.5
Hudson,' 1,159,550 4,084 27 597 11 3,487 16 0,30.0
Newtown, 1,989,175 3,743 77 582 75 2,763 54 0,15.0
New York, 247,152,303 295,453 80 39,183 58 256,270 22 0,10.4
Poughkeepsie, 3,499,191 5,470 66 1,244 58 4,226 08 0,12.0
Rochester, 4,634,681 11,808 47 2,666 83 9,141 64 0.19.8
Utica, 3,480^766 10,278 16 1,286 70 8,991 46 0,25.8
Williamsburg. 3,125,162 8.640 37 420 31 7,443 77 0,23.8
With this table, any one can tell what would be his tax for the support of
schools in either of the places named.
If he is a resident of New York, and is assessed $4,000, he pays a tax of
$4 17. If he is assessed $100,000, he pays $104. The sum raised in New
York for school purposes appears to be very large, but when it is apportioned
upon the tax payers according to their property, it is a very little tax. And
it would be light, even if it were doubled. If the common schools were
what they used to be, and a system of high schools were engrafted upon them,
every child could be educated in them — the poor gratuitously, and the rich
at a less expense than at a private school.
In the city of Brooklyn the free schools are supported at the low rate of $6
tax upon ^10,000 valuation.
68 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
In the cities the support of schools by a general tax, is but the association
of all the citizens to effect an object in which all are mutually interested,
and which can be better done by a combination of the means of all.
The Normal School, under the direction of its accomplished principal, con-
tinues to meet the expectations of its founders and friends, and to deserve
the patronage of the state
The continuance of the annual appropriation of $2,400 to the District
School Journal is strongly recommended.
There is a gradual improvement in the construction of school-houses
throughout the state. The log huts and unsuitable structures built at the
first organization of many of the school districts, are giving place to more
comfortable and convenient buildings.
The institutions for the deaf and dumb and blind in the city of New York,
are commended to the continued favour of the state.
There are instances in the state, of trustees who are unable to read or
write, intemperate, averse to schools and education; of town superintendents
incompetent, and dishonest; of districts quarrelsome and blind to their true
interests; yet these are all exceptions to the general rule.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN MICHIGAN.]
The report of the superintendent of public instruction in Michigan, just
rendered, evinces a clear appreciation of the wants and the capabilities of
the school system of the state, and proves the superintendent to be a zealous
and very efficient officer. Beside his weekly labours, he has been en-
gaged daring the past year, in addressing the churches' of the state, every
Sabbath, on the subject of popular education, and with such success as
thoroughly to persuade himself of the utility of the practice. In the sta-
tistical information of the report, a gratifying improvement in the workings
of the common school system is observable. Reports have been received
from four hundred and forty-two townships — seventeen morethan the preceding
year. The number of school districts reported is 3,071 — one hundred and
twenty-nine more than in any former year. Of this number, 2,548 have main-
tained schools for the constitutional term kept by qualified teachers — an
increase of one hundred and seventy-seven over former years. Of children
who have attended school, the number is 98,044, between the ages of four
and eighteen — an increase of 9,964 over former years. The whole number
reported in the state between these ages, is 117,952. The interest money of
the school fund, last year, was $32,605 20— an increase of $1,330 46. Little
doubt is entertained that the annual increase of the primary school interest
fund, will be eight or ten thousand dollars per year, for several years to come.
The report slates that while the number of scholars in the common schools
has increased, the last year, nearly 10,000, the number in select schools has
decreased upward of a hundred, whence an inference may be drawn of the
increasing favour with which the common school system is regarded.
The libraries of the three hundred and forty-five townships contain 58.203
volumes— an increase, in the last year, of forty-five libraries and 14/277
volumes. The annual increase, it is presumed, is even much greater than
this, as many libraries are not reported. The superintendent has also visited
every organized county in the state, except the upper peninsula, and has
established an educational society in each. In many counties, auxiliary
societies have been organized in the townships, and another has been formed
under the title of the Michigan State Educational Society. The aid of the
press is acknowledged by the superintendent, and he also urges the import-
ance of an exclusive journal for the state.
1849.] Statistics. — Education. 69
SCHOOL FUND IN WISCONSIN.
In Wisconsin, the school fund, set apart for the purpose of securing to every
child in the state, hereafter born, a good and sufficient school education, is a
munificent and charitable provision. From a report on schools recently made
to the senate, by Col. Philo White, we gather the following items of the pre-
sent extent and value of this fund : the number of townships in the state, is
2,200; school sections, 2,200; number of acres in these sections, 1,408,000 —
add to this 500,000 acres ceded by congress, and- the total number of acres is
1,908,000. The estimated number of acres in the surveyed portion of the
state, is 272,571 — the average value of which, at three dollars per acre, is
$817,713. Annual interest on this, at seven per cent., $57,239, and half that
amount to be raised by the people, and an annual available fund is formed of
$85,859.
Here, then, is a school fund of nearly 2,000,000 acres of land ! The present
value in the surveyed portions of the state, at the moderate estimate of three
dollars per acre, is almost sufficient to educate every child. Many of these
lands are now worth, and will bring, fifteen dollars per acre. With the rapid
growth of population, the fund hourly increases, and an average of five dollars
per acre will undoubtedly in time be realized, for the whole fund, or
•$10,000,000.
The university fund comprises seventy-two sections of the best land in the
state, in addition to the above; thus, common schools, academies, normal
schools, colleges, and a parent university are all provided for.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN NEW JERSEY.
From the last report of the superintendent, made to the legislature, we
gather that there are one hundred and sixty-four townships, and 1,640 school
districts in the state, of Which reports were received last year from 1,446. In
1845, only nine hundred and ninety-one districts were reported, and the
amount then raised and appropriated for school purposes, was $54,632; in
1848, it was 101,767. Of this sum, $30,000 was appropriated by the state
government.
In 1845, the number of scholars was 41,752; in 1848, it was 66,406. The
amount of money raised for school purposes by the townships, it would seem,
has overrun the limit of the law, which is $60,000 for the whole state.
Several townships have petitioned for permission to lay a tax for the support
of free schools, and the superintendent recommends the establishment, at
some future but not far distant day, of a general free school system. The
advantages of district school libraries are urged, and the institution of a
normal school recommended.
The pupils supported by the state in the institutions for the blind and the
deaf and dumb in this city, have been visited by the school authorities of
New Jersey, and very favourable accounts are given by them. Among the
specific alterations recommended in the school laws, is one to authorize the
trustees to exempt from the charges of tuition, the children of parents unable
to pay; and another to authorize the townships to raise by tax, for the sup-
port of schools, four times as much as they receive from the state. There
are other good features in the recommendations of the report.*
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.
The National Intelligencer has the following notice of the proceedings of the
Board of Regents of this Institution which met at Washington on Monday last:
* We have further statements relative to the progress of school systems, and public instnic-
tion in other states, which we will insert.as we have room, in future numbers.
VOL. II. — MARCH, 1S49. 6
70 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
Mr. Seaton, on behalf of the executive committee, presented a report of the
state of the funds of the institution. From this report, it appears that its finan-
cial affairs are in a very prosperous condition. At the time of the establishment
of the institution, in addition to the original fund of $514,169, there had accrued
in the form of interest, $242,1295 the latter sum the regents were authorized, by
the act of congress, to expend for the erection of a building, and for other pur-
poses. They have, however, thus far encroached upon this sum only to the
amount of about $30,000; and, it is confidently believed that, by adhering to the
plan of finance adopted, at the end of three years (within which time the build-
ing is to be completed,) there will be left at least $150,000 of interest, to be
added to the original principal for other objects of the bequest.
General Totten, from the building committee, reported upon the progress of
the Smithsonian edifice. From this it appears that the east wing will be finished
by the first of January, and the west wing early in the spring. The main part
of the building has been commenced, and, from the results thus far, it is confi-
dently expected that the building will be completed, and the grounds improved
for the sum of $250,000, appropriated by the board for these purposes.
The secretary, Professor Henry, presented his report of the operations of the
past year, from which we glean the following particulars:
The programme of organization has been submitted to a number of literary and
scientific societies, and has, in every case, received their approbation. The offi-
cers of these institutions have expressed a willingness to co-operate with this in-
stitution in carrying out the plans which have been adopted. Until the end of
three years from next March, only one-half of the income of the original fund is
to be appropriated to the active operations of the institution, the other part of the
whole income to be devoted to the building fund; and, therefore, the institution
cannot be put in full operation until after the end of the time above mentioned.
It will be recollected that the programme embraces, 1st, The plan of publish-
ing original memoirs on all branches of knowledge, in a series of volumes; 2dly,
the institution of original researches under the direction of suitable persons;
3dly, the publication of a series of reports, from year to year, giving an account
of the progress of the different branches of knowledge; and 4thly, the foundation
of a library and a museum of objects of nature and art.
The first volume of the contributions has been published, and partially distri-
buted to colleges and learned. societies. Before the types were distributed, the
authors were permitted to strike off an edition for their own benefit, and it is this
edition which is now offered for sale. Applications have been made for the first
volume from many academies and minor institutions, and, were the means suffi-
cient for the purpose, the institution would supply all demands; but, with its
limited incoir.e, this is impossible. The periodical reports, however, being less
expensive, will be much more widely distributed. Preparations have been made
for the publication of the second volume of the contributions, and a sufficient
number of memoirs have been already accepted, or are in preparation, to supply
the materials.
Under the second head is mentioned the publication of occultations for facili-
tating the determination of the longitude of important places, ordered at the last
meeting of the board. These have been so well received that another set has
been prepared, and is now ready for distribution for 1849, among all persons in-
terested in practical astronomy. An ephemeris has also been prepared and pub-
lished of the planet Neptune. A beginning has been made towards establishing
a system of meteorological observations, ordered at the last meeting, the blank
forms being now in the hands of the lithographer, and will shortly be ready to
send to those who may be willing to join in the observations. Several sets of
instruments have been sent to remote stations on the coast of the Pacific, and in
the interior of our continent, ani investigations in reference to terrestrial magne-
tism have been instituted. Under the auspices of the institution, an important
1S49.] Statistics. — Education. 71
literary enterprise has been commenced, viz.: the preparation of a biographical
account of all books relating to or published in America prior to the year 1700;
the expense of preparation of this work being defrayed by the subscriptions of a
number of institutions and individuals. This work will indicate the libraries in
this country and Europe where the books are to be found. Instruments have
been ordered for observations in astronomy, magnetism, and other terrestrial phe-
nomena, to be placed under the direction of Lieut. Gilliss, in his expedition to
Chili. These, it is hoped, will be paid for by a further appropriation by the ge-
neral government towards this object.
With regard to the periodical reports to be published, we learn the following
particulars: These reports are to be as extensively circulated as the funds of the
institution will allow, and are intended to give an account of the progress of the
different branches of knowledge throughout the world. In many cases the peri-
odical reports will be preceded by preliminary reports on the previous state of
the branch of knowledge to which the former pertain. A number of these are in
processof preparation, viz.: one upon chemistry, applied to agriculture; one upon
the forest trees of America; one on the phenomena of lightning; one on the later
discoveries in astronomy; and on the practical use of meteorological instruments.
Appended to the Secretary's report, is the report of the assistant Secretary.
(Professor Jewett,) on the library ; an account of which we will give our readers
in a future number.
Professor Henry's report ends with an allusion to the munificent donation of
Dr. Hare, of Philadelphia.
THE SCHOOLS OF FRANCE.
BY G. W. SNETHEN.
Under Bonaparte, a body of educated men was organized under the title of
" Universite," which has continued, with some modifications, to the beginning
of the present year, to hold the chief direction of education in France. Of this
body, which is incorporated by law, and which possesses large disposable funds,
arising from real estate of government grants, and pay pupils, all public teachers
are members. The highest officer of this university is the minister of public in-
struction, who has a seat in the cabinet. He makes all the appointments in the
university, and fills all vacancies in the academies and colleges upon the re-
commendation of the local authorities, by whom the strictest examinations are
instituted. He is assisted by a council of ten members, men of the highest rank
in the literary and scientific world. No school of any kind can be opened in any
part of France without permission from the university. The proposition to
abolish this restriction in the new constitution failed. Twenty-six university
academies are established in France, and the whole territory is divided into as
many academical circuits, of which the following towns are the seats of the re-
spective academies, viz:
Aix, Amiens, Angers, Besancon, Bordeaux, Bourses, Caen, Cahors, Clermont.
Dijon, Douai, Grenoble, Limoges, Lyons, Metz, Montpellier, Nancy, Nimes.
Orleans, Paris, Pau, Poitiers, Rennes, Rouen, Strasbourg, Toulouse.
Each academy consists of a superintendent, who inspects all schools of public
instruction within his circuit, and reports to the university at Paris. He is as-
sisted in the exercise of his functions by a council of ten, and this body is an ad-
ministrative portion of the academy. If the academy be complete, the course of
instruction comprehends five faculties, theology, law, medicine, literature, and
sciences. To each academy is attached one college or more, which is a prepa-
ratory school, and corresponds to the American high school. Paris has several
colleges, and all the principal towns one or more. No one is admitted into the aca-
demies who has not passed the colleges. In 1833, a law was passed requiring that
every commune by itself, or by union with other communes, should have one pri-
12 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
mary or elementary school, in which, reading, writing, and the system of weights
and measures should be taught. Every commune having more than 6.000 popu-
lation was also required to have a high school, in which the elements of geome-
try and its application to the arts, the elements of chemistry and natural history
as applied to the ordinary habits and pursuits of life, the elements of history and
geography, and especially of France, should be taught. It was further required
that every department should have a national school, or school for the instruction
of teachers, either by itself or by union with an adjoining department. These
schools might be established and supported by private foundations, donations,
and legacies, but the commercial, departmental, and general governments were
required to establish and support them in the absence of private enterprise.
All who are incapable of paying for the instruction of their children have them
educated gratis at the elementary institution, and a certain number of the non-
paying pupils are selected, after an examination, and educated gratis at the com-
mercial high schools, the colleges, and the academies. The teachers of the ele-
mentary schools have a residence, and receive forty dollars annual salary. The
teachers of the commercial high schools have a residence also, and receive eighty
dollars a year.
The whole charge to France of the department of public instruction, according'
to the budgets of 1838 and 1848, is exhibited in the following table:
General administration, ....
General services,
Departmental and academical administration,
Academic instruction, — .
Collegiate instruction, -
Elementary instruction, -
High school instruction, -
Normal schools, -
Literary and scientific establishments,
Subscription to literary works, encouragement to authors,
and publications of unedited works,
19.005,673 18,258,183
Notwithstanding this great annual expenditure, the French people, at the pre-
sent hour, are universally deficient in common school education. The law for
creating common schools has not been, and is not now rigorously executed. The
monarchy of Louis Philippe was recreant to the cause of education. It kept up
a show in favour of it, but in reality did nothing to promote it.
In 1836, there were
36,000 elementary schools for boys,
11.000 elementary schools for girls,
17.000, containing in winter 2,170,000 pupils, and in summer 1,300,000.
In the same year there were 73 normal schools for training teachers for the
elementary schools ; 873 boarding schools; 9-4 high schools; 322 commercial col-
leges, with only 27,000 pupils; 41 royal colleges, with 15.900 pupils.
In the year 1829, out of every 100 young men enrolled in the military census,
the proportion of them that could read and write, in the department of Meuse,
was 74; in that of Seine, 71: and in that of Corege, 21. Going to the field
to learn the military art is not a very favourable school for the acquirement of
letters and morals.
1838.
1848.
Francs.
Francs.
686.623
622,000
238^000
716,700
919,900
749.100
1,972^50
3.007.206
1,655;600
2,511/700
1^600,000
7,767,000
3.500,000
'200,000
7,676,500
2,086,277
557,000
767,200
1849.]
Statistics. — Commerce.
COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES.
EXPORTS AND IMPORTS.
(For the year ending 20th June, 1848.)
Compiled from the Annual Report on Commerce
and Navigation for the
N. Y. Tribune.
DOMESTIC EXPORTS.
THE
SEA.
FISHERIES.
Value.
Dried fish, or cod fisheries .
$609,482
Pickled fish, or river fisheries, her-
ring, shad, salmon, mackerel .
109,315
Whale and other fish oil
552,388
Spermaceti oil .
208,832
Whalebone ....
314,107
Spermaceti candles
186,839-$ 1,980,663
THE FOREST.
Skins and furs ....
607,786
Ginseng .....
162,647
Products of Wood.
Staves, shingles, boards, hewn timber
$2,429,883
Other lumber ....
283,433
Masts and spars ....
129,760
Oak bark and other dye
184,126
All manufactures of wood
.2,042,695
Naval stores, tar pitch, rosin, and
turpentine ....
752,303
Ashes, pot and pearl .
466,477
6,288,657—7,059,084
AGRICULTURE.
Products of Animals.
Beef, tallow, hides, horned cattle .
1,905,341
Butter and cheese
1,361,668
Pork (pickled,) bacon, lard, live hogs
9,003,272
Horses and mules
190,295
Sheep .....
20,823
Wool
57,497-
12,538,896
Vegetable Food.
Wheat
2,669,175
Flour .....
13,194,109
Indian corn ....
3,837,483
Indian meal ....
1,807,601
Rye meal .....
174,566
Rye oats, and small grain, and pulse
376,572
Biscuit or ship-bread .
619,096
Potatoes
86,277
Apples .....
88,944
Rice ......
2,331,824-
25,187,647-37,726,543
74
Quarterly Register and Magazine.
[March,
Tobacco
Cotton
Hemp
All other Agricultural Products
Flaxseed .
Hops
Brown sugar
Indigo
MANUFACTURES.
Soap and tallow candles
Leather boots and shoes
Household furniture
Coaches and other carriages
Hats ....
Saddlery .
Wax.
Spirits from grain
Beer, ale, porter, and cider
Snuff and tobacco
Linseed oil and spirits of turpentine
Cordage
Iron.
Pig, bar and nails
Castings
All manufactures of iron
Spirits from molasses .
Sugar, refined
Chocolate .
Gunpowder
Copper and brass
Medicinal drugs .
Cotton Piece Goods.
Printed and coloured .
White
Nankeen .
Twist yarn and thread
All other manufactures of
Flax and Hemp.
Cloth and thread
Hags and all manufactures of
Wearing apparel
Combs and buttons
Brushes
Billiard tables and apparatus
Umbrellas and parasols
Leather and Morocco skins,
Fire engines and apparatus
Printing presses and type
Musical instruments .
7,551,122
61,998,294
27,657
1,584
17,671
8,891
1,100 29,246
670,223
194,095
297,358
89,963
55,493
27,435
134,577
90,957
78,071
568,435
331,404
29,911
154,036
83,188
1,022,408
269,467
253,900
2,207
125,263
61,468
210,581—4,750,440
not sold per lb.
351,169
4,866,559
2,365
170,633
327,479—5,718,205
495
6,218
574,834
16,461
2,160
12
2,916
16,483
7,686
30,403
38,508
1849.] Statistics. — Commerce.
75
Books and maps
•• . . 75,193
Paper and stationery .
78,307
Paints and varnish
\> 50,739
Vinegar ....
13,920
Earthen and stone ware
8,512
Manufactures of glass .
76,007
" " tin
12,353
" " pewter and lead
7,139
" " marble and stone
22,466
" " gold and silver and gold leaf. 6,241
Gold and silver coin .
2,700,412
Artificial flowers and jewelry-
11,217
Molasses ....
5,563
Trunks ....
6,126
Bricks and lime ....
24,174
Domestic salt
73,274-
-9,586,624
Coal . ...
.
47,112
Lead .....
84,278
Ice .....
75,547
Articles not enumerated.
Manufactured
1,137,828
All other ....
851,383-
$1,989,211
Total domestic exports
$132,904,121
EXPORTS OF FOREIGN PRODUCE, &c.
Bullion, Silver .
. . . 174,971
Specie, Gold
8,370,785
" Silver .
4,595,448
Other articles free of duty .
1,410,307
Total, free of duty
. $14,551,511
" paying duty
6,576,499
Total foreign exports
$
tic Exports . $1
21,123,010
Total of Foreign and Domes
54,027,131
Of the goods exported there were from the
warehouses
$2,869,941
FOREIGN ARTICLES IMPORTED.
Animals for breed
$53,432
56,882
« Silver .
.....
392,939
Specie, Gold . .
3,351,873
" Silver .
2,558,590
Cabinets of coins, medals, and othe
r collections of antiquities
32
Models of inventions and improvements in the arts .
36,799
76
Quarterly Register and Magazine.
[March,
Teas
Coffee
Copper in plates suited to the sheathing of ships
" ore ......
Cotton unmanufactured .....
Adhesive felt for sheathing vessels .
Paintings and statuary of American artists and others
Specimens of natural history, &c. .
Sheathing metal ......
Platina unmanufactured .....
Plaster unground ......
Wearing apparel, and other personal effects of immigrants
Personal and household effects of citizens dying abroad
Old junk
Oakum .......
Garden seeds, trees, plants, shrubs, &c. .
Articles, the produce of the U. States brought back
Guano ........
All other articles
Total free of duty ....
Of which there was imported in American vessels
" " " in foreign vessels
PAYING DUTIES.
Manufactures of Wool — Cloths and cassimeres
" Merino shawls and wool
" Blankets
" Hosiery and articles made on frames
" Worsted stuff goods
" Woollen and worsted yarn
" Woollen and worsted articles, embroidered
" Manufactures of, not specified, &c. .
" Flannels .....
" B?.izes ......
Carpeting — Wilton Saxony and Aubusson
" Brussels, Turkey and treble ingrained
" Venitian and other ingrained .
" Not specified ....
Manufactures of Cotton — Printed, stained or coloured
" White or uncoloured
" Tamboured articles
" Velvets wholly of cotton
" Velvets of cotton and silk
" Cords, gimps and galloons
" Hosiery and articles made on frames
" Twist, yarn and thread .
" Hatters' plush of silk and cotton
" Manufactures of, not specified .
6,217,111
8,199,129
831,848
158,302
6,814
7,328
67,822
9,143
226,014
12,778
61,194
65,511
26,819
16,605
5,237
83,125
187,117
20,839
63,660
$22,716,603
18,575,317
4,141,286
$6,364,145
1,357,329
1,146,587
731,009
3,858,416
143,407
18,856
771,252
88,909
117,986
110,275
485,190
38,895
8,827
12,490,501
2,487,256
495,576
189,029
28,942
175,090
1,383,871
727,422
5,015
438,887
1849.]
Statistics. — Comm erce.
Manufactures of Silk — Piece goods
" Hosiery and articles made on frames
" Sewing silk .....
" Articles tamboured
" Hats and bonnets ....
" Manufactures not specified
" Floss silk .....
" Raw silk .....
" Bolting cloths ....
Silk and worsted goods .....
Camlets of goats' hair or mohair,
Manufactures of Flax — Linens bleached and unbleached
" Hosiery and articles made on frames
" Articles tamboured or embroidered .
" Manufactures not specified
Manufactures of Hemp — Sheetings, ticklenburgs,
burgs, &c.
" Articles not specified
" Sail duck
" Ravens
Cotton bagging
Clothing ready made
Articles of wear
Laces, thread, cotton, braids, &c.
Floor Cloth — Patent, painted, &c.
Oil cloth of all kinds
Hair cloth and hair seating
Lasting and mohair cloths for shoes and buttons
Gunny cloth ... ...
Matting, Chinese and others, and flags, &c.
Hats, Caps, Bonnets, fyc. of— Leghorn straw, grass, chip, &c
" " Palm leaf, whalebone, &c.
Manufactures of Iron and Steel — Muskets and rifles
" Arms, fire and side
" Drawing and cutting knives
" Hatchets, axes and adzes
" Socket chisels
" Steel-yards and scale-beams
" Vices ....
" Sickles and reaping hooks
" Scythes
" Wood screws
" Sad irons, tailors' irons, &c.
" Spades and shovels
" Squares
" Needles, sewing, darning, &c
" Cast iron butts and hinges
" Cutlery not specified
" Other manufactures not specified
" Bonnet wire ....
10,762,801
427,703
561,027
1,026,235
59,866
1,640,343
14,204
340,769
65,659
2456,652
54,704
6,012,197
1,998
21,018
589,435
244,703
105,329
153.886
126,632
27,525
98,283
553,939
980,411
7,351
25,637
150,442
143.360
87,070
104,643
982,923
108,701
75
307,914
21,343
4,043
12,163
13,602
37,415
2.481
29,828
756
1,429
6,629
4,381
218,330
21.000
1,146,843
3,590,172
25,047
'S
Quarterly Register and Magazine.
Manufactures of Iron and Steel — (continued) —
" All other '
" Tacks, brads and springs
" Nails
" Spikes .......
" Chain cables ......
" Mill, cross-cut, and pit saws .
" Anchors, and parts thereof
" Anvils, and parts thereof
" Smiths' hammers, and sledges
" Castings, vessels of ...
" " all other
" Round or square brazier's rods from 3-16 to
10-16 in diameter ....
" Nail or spike rods, slit, rolled or hammered
" Band or scroll .....
" Sheet and hoop iron ....
" Pig iron
" Old scrap . . ....
" Bar manufactured by rolling .
" " otherwise .
Steel — Cast, shear, and German ....
" All other
Copper, and Manufactures of Copper— In pigs, bars, and old
" Wire and screws .....
" Brazier's, and copper bottoms
" Manufactures of, not specified
" Rods and bolts
" Nails and spikes .....
Brass, and Manufactures of Brass — In pigs, bars, and old
" Wires and screws ......
»; " Manufactures of, not specified
Tin, and Manufactures of Tin — In pigs and bars .
" In plates and sheets
" Foil
" Manufactures of, not specified
Lead, and Manufactures of Lead — Pig, bar, shot, and pipes
" Manufactures of, not specified
Pewter, Manufactures of
Manufactures of Gold 8p Silver— Lace, galloons, tassels, &c
" Epaulettes and wings
" Gold and silver leaf
" Jewelry
" Gems, diamonds, pearls
&c, set or otherwise
Manuf. of, not specified
Glaziers' Diamonds
Clocks .....
Chronometers
Watches, and parts of watches
[March,
44,085
124
88,390
444
369,574
8,016
42,449
117,606
5,288
15,665
16,798
13,296
4,734
16,720
729,955
815,415
140,037
3,679,598
975,214
1,061,560
223,377
702,907
1,226
14,264
137,993
97
477
24,191
11,641
164,087
438,520
1,586,754
13,010
25,166
6,288
904
2,216
34,334
3,939
1,183
162,596
130,348
61,326
206
57,488
16,505
1.733,221
1849.]
Statistics. — Commerce.
I'J
Metallic pens 61,566
Square iron for umbrella stretchers 37,778
Pins in packs, and otherwise ...... 30,363
Buttons, metal and other 385,893
Glass — Silvered and in frames ..... 359,130
" Paintings on glass, porcelain, and coloured . . 22,370
" Polished plate 212,267
" Manufactures of, not specified .... 95,507
" Cut 70,557
« Plain 37,808
" Watch crystals 9,874
" Glasses or pebbles for spectacles .... 4,363
" Apothecaries' vials ...... 2,415
" Perfumery and fancy vials ..... 167
" Bottles not above 2 quarts 52,075
" Demijohns 14,942
tc Window glass not above 8 in. by 10 in. . . 58,130
" 10 in. by 12 in. . . 71,406
« " above 10 in. by 12 in. . • 31,491
Manuf. of Paper — Antiquarian, imperial, and superfine . 4,975
" Medium, cap, demy, and other writing . . 57,857
" Folio and quarto 82,838
" Bank and bank-note paper . . . 33,704
" Binders' boards, box, pressing, and paste . . 579
" Copper-plate, printing, and drawing . . 6,393
" Sheathing paper 77
" Playing cards ...... 1,825
" Paper, mache articles and wares of . . . 22,129
" Paper boxes and fancy boxes .... 85,620
" Paper hangings ...... 72,784
" Paper, and manufactures of, not specified . . 45,051
« Blank books 2,336
Books Printed — In Hebrew 914
In Latin and Greek 4,808
In English 315,102
In other languages ..... 144,068
Illustrated periodicals and other works, &c. 7,980
Leather — Tanned, bend, and sole ..... 5,491
" Tanned and dressed upper 26,005
" Skins tanned and dressed .... 295,605
" «' and not dressed .... 4,596
Skivers 84,272
Manufactures of Leather — Boots and shoes . . . 30,454
" Gloves . . . . . . 794.976
" Manufactures of, not specified . . 149.993
Wares — China, porcelain, earthen, and stone . • . 2,332,996
Plated or gilt 192,934
" Japanned, Britannia, and wedgewood . . . 72,616
" Silver plate, and silver or plated wire . . 2,307
" Saddlery, common tinned, plated, and brass. . 310,779
so
Quarterly Register and Magazine.
[March.
Furs — Undressed on the skin
" Hatters' dressed or undressed
" Dressed on the skin
" Hats, caps, and manufactures
Wood-
■Manufactures of
" Unmanufactured
" Dyewood in sticks
" Bark of the cork tree
Marble ....
Quicksilver .
Brushes and brooms
Black lead pencils .
Slates of all kinds .
Raw hides and skins
Boots and bootees of silk and prunella
Shoes and slippers of do
" of India rubber
Grass cloth .
Gunny bags .
Umbrellas, parasols, and sun-shades
" all other
Flaxseed or linseed
not
of,
on the skin
not specified
of silk
and
Thibet, angora, and other groat's hair and mohair
Wool ..-..-,.
JVines in casks — Burgundy
" Madeira
" Sherry and San Lucar
Port .
Claret .
" Teneriffe and other Canary .
" Fayal and other Azores .
" Sicily and other Mediterranean
." Austria and other of Germany
" Red Wines not enumerated
White do
In Bottles — Burgundy .
" Champaigne
" Madeira
Sherry
Port .
Claret
" All other .
Foreign Distilled Spirits — Brandy
" " From grain .
" " From other matter
" " Cordials
Beer, Ale, and Porter — In casks .
" " In bottles .
Vinegar ......
Molasses
1849.]
Statistics. — Commerce.
SI
Oil of foreign fisheries — Spermaceti, whale, an
d other fish
16,899
Olive oil, in casks ........
Linseed ......
484,101
Castor, rapeseed, hempseed, and neatsfoot
674
Tea ....... .
8,868
Coffee
50,868
Chocolate ......
1,058
Cocoa .......
86,019
Sugar — Brown .....
8,963,654
" "White, clayed, or powdered
347,052
" Loaf, and other refined
109,111
" Candy
889
" Syrup of sugar cane.
885
Fruit — Almonds . .
190,291
" Currants .....
111,171
" Prunes and plums
26,382
" Figs
96,203
" Dates
14,046
" Raisins ....
582,540
" Nuts
137,753
Spices — Mace .
15,367
" Nutmegs ....
205,705
" Cinnamon
13.790
" Cloves ....
44,537
" Pepper, black .
136,436
" " red .
8,004
" Pimento ....
130,440
" Cassia ....
83.717
" Ginger, in root .
74,252
Camphor — Crude ....
52.224
" Refined
159
Candles — Wax and spermaceti
, #
527
" Tallow . . . .
10
Soap, other than perfumed
14,343
Tallow
67,162
Starch
2.021
Pearl Barley .....
804
Butter
202
Lard ......
9.179
Beef and pork ....
2.6S8
Hams and other bacon .
2.7(19
Bristles. .....
175.025
Saltpetre, crude and refined
501.415
Indigo ......
961.849
Woad or pastel ....
1.774
Ivory or bone black
1.689
Opium ......
129,379
Glue
S.586
Gunpowder .....
583
Alum ......
•
2.494
S2
Quarterly Register and Magazine.
[March,
Copperas .....
4,993
Sulphate of quinine
45,005
Oil of vitriol .....
18
Bleaching powder ....
133,058
Soda ash .
575,024
Sulphate of barytes
3,276
Tobacco — Unmanufactured . . •
415,727
Snuff ....
320
" Cigars ....
1,360,468
" Manufactured, other than snufl
' or cigars
1,720
Paints — Dry ochre
29,299
" Ochre in oil
331
" Red and white lead .
15,288
" Whiting and Paris white .
3,383
Litharge ......
105
Sugar of lead .....
2,031
Cordage — Tarred and cables .
223,904
" Untarred
15,622
Twine . . . .
41,575
Seines ......
502
Hemp, unmanufactured .
1 87,905
Manilla, sun and other hemps of India
342,445
Jute, sisal, grass, coir, &c.
379,399
Cordilla or tow of hemp and flax
1,512
Flax, unmanufactured
102,261
Rags of all kinds ....
626,607
Salt
1,042,500
Coal
461,140
Coke or culm .....
29
Breadstvffs — Wheat .
194,415
" Barley
1,809
" Rye
36
" Oats
1,838
Wheat flour .
163,424
" Oat meal
1,363
" Potatoes .
14,385
Fish — Dried or smoked
127,799
" Salmon .....
80,944
" Mackerel ....
535,128
" Herrings and shad
24,566
" All other ....
47,208
Unenumerated — At 5 per cent.
2,052,111
10 " .
1,313,834
15 " .
568,374
20 " .
2,971,149
25 " .
137,823
30 » .
1,693,097
40 " .
180,047
Total ........
$132,281,325
1849.]
Statistics. — Commerce.
83
Of which was imported in American vessels
" " Foreign vessels
110,070,915
22,210,410
A STATEMENT OF THE VALUES OF THE EXPORTS AND IMPORTS FOR
THE SAME YEAR, DESIGNATING THE COUNTRIES TRADED WITH.
VALUE OF EXPORTS.
Countries. Dom. Produce.
For. Produce.
Total.
VALUE OF
IMPORTS.
Russia
1,047,582
108,428
1,156,010
1,319,084
Prussia
145,074
15,385
160,459
22,817
Sweden and Norway
625,972
32,844
658,816
750,817
Swedish W. I. .
75,496
800
76,296
13,785
Denmark
164,661
17,252
181,913
19,617
Danish W. I.
876,969
76,874
953,843
535,738
Holland
1,595,450
271,513
1,866,963
1,417,908
Dutch E. I.
133,905
107,954
241,859
249,346
« W. I. .
316,666
22,147
338,813
453,616
" Guiana
115,501
1,517
117,018
51,297
Hanse Towns.
3,856,676
465,109
4,321,785
6,293,280
Belgium
1,989,764
200,171
2,189,935
1,325,061
England
62,928,024
3,924,291
71,852,315
59,763,502
Scotland
2,456,426
38,419
2,493,845
1,666,694
Ireland
2,379,291
1,303
2,380,594
415,923
Gibraltar
310,400
61,545
371,945
4,445
Malta
33,128
15,955
49,083
384
British E. I.
510,284
156,715
666,999
2,069,632
" W. I.
4,344,536
40,347
4,384,883
1,158,563
" Guiana
595,114
1,365
596,479
24,254
" Honduras .
249,648
44,181
293,829
185,684
Cape of Good Hope
100,338
19,939
120,277
60,431
British Am. Colonies
6,399,959
1,982,696
8,382,655
3,646,467
France Atlan.
14,159,798
1,278,159
18,437,957
27,059,714
Medit.
1,215,087
166,266
1,381,353
1,036,317
French W. I.
. 469,353
20,071
489,224
127,039
" Guiana
48,737
1,684
50,241
63,988
" Fisheries .
52,866
52,866
733
Afric. Pts.
839
839
Spain Atlan.
. 597,797
597,797
277,105
" Medit.
• 1,741,474
6,875
1,748,349
919,346
TenerilTe, &c.
9,921
1,229
11,150
35,061
Manilla
36,949
13,543
50,942
1,197,027
Cuba .
. 6,432,380
464,333
6,896,713
12,853,472
Porto Rico .
. 801,722
37,012
838,734
2,106,296
Portugal
. 112,260
2,984
115,244
214,782
Madeira
. 110,842
7,407
118,249
9,432
Azores
3,660
3,660
11,438
Cape de Verds
101,723
6,849
108,572
225
Sardinia
175,583
18,389
193,072
Tuscany .
5,197
5,197
Sicily .
17,754
9,075
26,839
618,029
S4
Quarterly Register and Magazine.
[March,
Italian States
1,101,113
159,488
1,260,601
1,616,100
Ionian Rep.
15,106
Trieste, &c.
1,708,495
107,727
1,209,222
385,813
Turkey-
114,830
110,321
225,151
406,028
Mexico
2,095,485
1,962,951
4,058,436
1,581,247
Central America .
34,940
15,438
50,378
18,272
New Granada
79,165
45,438
124,603
213,296
Venezuela .
400,230
62,798
463,028
1,225,611
Brazil
3,092,736
279,698
3,372,434
7,992,048
Cisalpine R.
339, S59
43,869
383,728
523,064
Argentine R.
208,703
25,225
233,928
1,026,097
Chili
1,073,625
220,886
1,924,511
1,310,451
Peru
124,618
16,731
141,349
317,759
China
. 2,063,625
126,388
2,190,013
8,083,496
Hayti
937,586
156,229
1,093,815
1,367,174
Asia generally
266,452
28,279
294,731
255,4-00
Africa
771,388
61,403
832,792
655,585
West Indies .
132,961
1,337
134,298
10,594
South America
86,385
86,385
Pacific Ocean
305,118
67,483
372,601
9,960
Sandwich Islands .
6,5?8
Uncertain places ,
371
Total
$132,904,121 $21,132,315 $154,038,436 $154,998,928
Statement showing the number and class of vessels built in each stale
and territory of the U. 8. in the year ending 30th June, 1848, with
their tonnage.
Sl'ps &
To'l No.
Total ton-
States.
Ships.
Brigs.
Schrs.
cal. bts.
Stmrs.
ves. b'lt.
nage.
Maine .
130
118
114
3
1
366
89,974.18
N. Hampshire
7
—
2
—
—
9
5,326.33
Vermont
—
—
7
—
2
9
1,189.18
Massachusetts
53
17
107
2
2
181
30,366.39
Rhode Island .
5
4
4
—
13
4,059.44
Connecticut .
2
4
36
8
5
55
7,387.19
New York
27
5
100
229
21
382
68,434.88
New Jersey .
—
—
51
24
2
77
8,177.63
Pennsylvania .
7
5
26
210
40
296
29,638.12
Delaware
—
—
21
9
I
31
3.205.59
Maryland
15
13
117
—
1
146
17,480.93
Virginia
4'
1
24
5
—
34
2,980.28
North Carolina
—
40
3
—
43
2,946.85
South Carolina 1
1
2
—
—
4
449.65
Georgia
—
—
—
—
1
1
212.09
Ohio .
1
8
26
11
17
63
13,656.20
Missouri
—
—
—
18
20
38
6,256.24
Illinois
,
Tennessee
—
—
—
—
1
1
54.90
Kentucky
—
—
—
—
39
39
9,274.60
Louisiana
1
—
11
4
2
18
18,620.39
1849.] Statistics.— Commerce. S5
Sl'ps & To'l No. Total ton-
States. Ships. Brigs. Schrs. cal. bts. Slmrs. ves. b'lt. nage.
Florida — — 3 — 1 4 317.57
Michigan . 1 2 8 — 9 20 5,301.89
Alabama . — — 2 — 2 4 265.01
Texas . . — — — — — —
Dis. of Columb. — — — 17 — 17 500.46
Totals . 254 174 701 547 175 1851 318,075.54
Statement showing the increase of the registered tonnage in 1848.
ships, brigs. schs. sips, stmrs. tonnage.
Built during the year . . 213 72 36 1 5 135,885.70
Sold to foreigners . 18 18 10 1 11,079.00
Condemned, unseaworthy . 9 4 6 3,602,11
Lost at sea ... 48 28 20 1 26,872.42
Increase . . . . 138 22 4 94,332.17
Totals . . . . 213 72 36 1 5 135,885.70
Statement showing the increase of the enrolled tonnage in 1848.
ships, j brigs. schrs. sips. stmrs. tonnage.
Built during the year 41 102 666 546 170 182,189.79
Sold to foreigners . 4 1 1,377.31
Condemned, unseaworthy 1 19 16 8 3,552.71
Lost at sea . 9 55 9 35 14,794.91
Increase ... 41 92 588 521 126 162,464.76
Totals 41 102 666 546 170 182,189.79
The total increase in the tonnage of the United States during the year,
is 314,996.08 tons, as follows:
Increase in enrolled . 30,914.75
do. licen. under 20 tons 2,042.54
New registered . 94,332.17
New enrolled . 162,464.76
Increase in register 25,241.71
Total 314,996.08
TONNAGE OF THE UNITED STATES.
Tons. 95ths.
The aggregate amount of the tonnage of the United States,
on the 30th of June, 1848, 3,154,041.85
Whereof permanent registered tonnage 1,067,976.60
Temporary registered tonnage . . 292,910.25
Total registered tonnage *1,360,8S6.85
Permanent enrolled licensed tonnage . 1,691,327.20
Temporary enrolled and licensed tonnage 56,304.41
Total enrolled and licensed tonnage .... *1,747,631.61
* Of the registered tonnage as above, 1 ,3(50,886.85 tons, there were employed in the whale
fishery, on the 30th June, 1848, 192,179.90 tons.
VOL. II. MARCH, 1S49. 7
86
Quarterly Register and Magazine.
[March,
Licensed tonnage under 20 tons, employed
in the coasting trade . . . 38,328.67
Licensed tonnage under 20 tons, employed
in the cod-fishery .... 7,194,62
Total licensed tonnage under 20 tons .... 45,523.34
Total 3,154,041.85
Of the enrolled and licensed tonnage there were employed
in the coasting trade 1,620,988.16
Do. in the mackerel fishery ...... 43,558.73
Do. in the cod-fishery 82,651.82
Do. in the whale fishery 432.75
Total as above 1,747,631.61
Of the enrolled and licensed tonnage employed in the coasting trade,
amounting, as stated above, to 1,620,988.16 tons, there were employed in
steam navigation, 411,823.40 tons.
TABLES OF THE IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF THE UNITED STATES
FOR A SERIES OF YEARS FROM 1821 TO 1848.
UNITED STATES IMPORTS, &C
The following table will exhibit the value of articles of foreign growth
or manufacture imported, expo
rted and consumed in the United States,
during a series
of years.
Foreign imports.
Re-exported.
Consumed.
1821, .
$62,583,724
$21,302,488
$41,283,236
1822, .
83,241,511
22,286,202
60,956,309
1823,
77,579,267
28,543,622
50,035,645
1824, .
80,549,007
25,337,157
55,211,850
1825,
96,340,075
31,590,643
63,749,432
1826,
84,974,477
24,539,612
60,434,865
1827,
79,484,068
23,403,136
56,080,932
1828,
88,509.824
21,595,017
66,914,807
1829,
74,492,527
16,658,478
57,S34,049
1830,
70,876,920
14,387,479
56,489,441
1831,
. 103,191,124
20,033,526
83,157,598
1832,
• 101,029,266
24,039,473
76,989,783
1833,
108,118,311
19,822,735
88,295,576
1834,
126,521,332
23,312,811
103,208,521
1835,
149,895,742
20,504,495
129,391,247
1836,
189,980,035
21,746,360
168,233,675
1837,
140,980,035
21,854,962
119,134,255
1838,
113,717,404
12,452,795
101,264,609
1839,
162,092,132
17,494,525
144,597,007
1840,
107,141,519
18,190,312
88,951,207
1841,
127,940,177
15,499,081
112,447,096
1842,
100,162.087
11,721,538
88,440,549
1849.]
Statistics. — Commerce.
1843,
64,753,799
6,552,707
58,201,092
1844,
. 108,435,035
11,484,867
96,950,168
1845,
117,254,564
15,346,830
101,907,734
1846,
121,691,797
11,346,623
110,345,174
1847,
146,545,633
8,011,158
138,534,480
1848,
154,977,876
21,128,010
133,849,866
DOMESTIC EXPORTS.
The following statements show the total value of all articles of domestic
produce and manufacture exported from the United States since 1821, and
also the value of bread-stuffs and provisions, alone, during the same period
— in order to show the per centage of these articles in the whole amount.
Total Domestic Exports. Bread-stuffs and Provisions.
1821, .
$43,671,894
$12,341,901
1822, .
49,874,079
13,886,856
1823, .
47,155,408
13,767,847
1824, .
53,649,500
15,059,484
1825, .
66,944,745
11,634,449
1826, .
53,055,710
11,303,496
1827, .
58,921,691
11,085,556
1828, .
50,609,699
11,461,144
1829, .
55,700,193
13,131,858
1830, .
59,462,029
12,075,430
1831, .
61,277,057 •
17,538,227
1832, .
63,137,470
12,424,703
1833, .
70,317,698
14,209,128
1834, .
81,024,162
11,524,024
1835, .
101,189,082
12,009,399
1836, .
106,910,680
10,614,130
1837, .
95,564,414
9,558,359
1838, .
96,033,821
9,636,650
1839, .
103,533,891
14,147,779
1840, .
113,895,634
19,067,535
1841, .
106,382,722
17,196,102
1842, .
92,969,996
16,902,876
1843, .
77,993,783
11,204.123
1844, .
99,725,179
17,970,135
1845, .
99.299,776
16,743.421
1846, .
102,141,869
27,701,121
1847, .
150,637,464
68,701,921
1848, .
132,904,121
37,472,754
PUBLIC DEBT OF THE UNITED STATES.
Statement, exhibiting the public debt, the receipts, exclusive of treasury
notes and loans, and the payments on account of the debt each year, from
1791, to September, 1848, inclusive.
* Prior to 1843, the commercial vear ended 30th September.
30th June.
In 1843 and since, on the
ss
Quarterly Register and Magazine.
[March,
Debt.
75,463,470 52
77,227,924 66
80,352,634 04
78,427,404 77
80,747,587 39
83,762,172 07
82,064,479 33
79,228,539 12
78,408,669 77
82,976,294 35
84,038,050 90
80,712,632 25
77,054,686 30
86,427,120 88
82,312,150 50
75,723,270 66
69,216,398 64
65,196,317 97
57,023,192 09
53,173,217 52
48,005,587 76
45,209,737 90
55,962,827 57
81,487,846 24
99,833,660 15
127,334,933 74
123,491,965 16
103,466,633 83
95,529,648 28
91,015,566 15
89,987,427 66
93,546,676 98
90,775,877 28
90,269,777 77
83,788,432 71
81,054,059 99
73,987,357 20
67,475,043 87
58,421,413 67
48,565,406 50
39,123,191 68
24,322,235 18
7,001,032 88
4,760,082 08
351,289 05
291,089 05
1,878,223 55
4,857,660 46
11,983,737 53
Revenue, exclusive of Loans
and Treasury Notes.
4,418,913 19
3,069,960 31
4,652,923 14
5,431,904 87
6,114,534 59
8,377,529 65
8,688,780 99
7,900,495 80
7,546,813 31
10,848,749 10
12,930,335 95
14,995,793 95
11,664,097 63
11,826,307 38
13,560,693 20
15,759,931 07
16,398,019 26
17,060,661 93
7,773,473 12
9,384,214 28
14,423,529 09
9,801,132 76
14,340,409 95
11,181,625 16
15,696,916 82
47,676,985 66
33,099,049 74
21,585,171 04
24,603,374 37
17,840,669 55
14,573/170 72
20,232,427 94
20,540,666 26
19,381,212 79
21,840,858 02
25,260,434 21
22,960,363 96
24,763,629 23
24,827,627 38
24,844,116 51
28,526,820 82
31,865,561 16
33,948,426 25
21,791,935 55
35,430,087 10
50,826,796 08
24,890,864 69
26,302,561 74
30,023,966 68
Principal and Inte-
rest of Debt paid.
5,287,949 50
7,263,665 99
5,819,505 29
5,801,578 09
6,084,411 61
5,835,846 44
5,792,421 82
3,990,294 14
4,596,876 78
4,578,369 95
7,291,707 04
9,539,004 76
7,256,150 43
8,171,787 45
5,369,889 79
8,989,884 61
6,307,720 10
10,260,245 35
6,452,554 16
8,008,904 46
8,009,204 05
4,449,622 45
11,108,123 44
7,900,543 94
12,628,922 35
24,871,062 93
25,423,036 12
21,296,201 62
7,703,926 29
8,628,494 28
8,367,093 62
7,848,949 12
5,530,016 41
16,568,393 76
12,095,344 78
11,041,082 19
10,003,668 30
12,163.438 07
12,383,867 78
11,355,718 22
16,174,378 22
17,840,309 29
1,543,543 38
6,176,565 19
58,191 28
21,822 91
5,605,720 27
11,117,987 42
1849.]
Statistics.
— Commerce.
89
1840,
5,125,077 03
19,442,646 08
4,086,613 70
1,
6,737,398 00
16,860,160 27
5,600,689 74
2,
15,028,486 37
19,965,009 25
8,575,539 24
*3,
27,203,450 69
8,231,001 26
861,596 55
4,
24,748,188 23
29,320,707 78
12,991,902 84
5,
17,093,794 30
29,941,853 90
8,595,039 10
6,
16,750,926 33
29,699,967 74
1,213,823 31
7,
38,956,623 38
26,437,403 16
6,719,282 37
8,
48,526,379 37
35,635,779 21
15,429,197 21
1848,
69,805,104 56
9,607,914 82
3,451,400 20
Treasury Department,
Register s Office,
September, 1848.
DANIEL GRAHAM, Register.
ESTIMATES OF THE POPULATION AND CROPS OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE
YEAR 1848.
By Mr. Burke, U. S. Commissioner
of Patents.
Present esti-
States and Terri-
Population in
mated popu-
Number bush-
Bushels
Bushels Oats.
tories.
1840.
lation.
els wheat.
Barley.
Maine
501,793
615,000
900,000
290,000
2,000,000
N. Hampshire
284,574
308,000
620,000
132,000
2,500,000
Massachusetts
737,699
875,000
260,000
175,000
2,300,000
Rhode Island
108,830
135,000
4,600
55,000
220,000
Connecticut
309,978
340,000
130,000
30,000 2,000,000
Vermont
291,948
310,000
680,000
60,000
3,500,000
New York
2,428,921
2,880,000
15,500,000
4,300,000
28,000,000
New Jersey
373,306
425,000
1,200,000
12,000
5,800,000
Pennsylvania
1,724,033
2,220,000
15,200,000
155,000
20,000,000
Delaware
78,085
85,000
450,000
4,500
700,000
Maryland
470,009
510,000
5,150,000
3,000
2,200,000
Virginia
1,239,797
1,295,000
12,250,000
94,000
11,000,000
N. Carolina
753,419
780,000
2,450,000
4,200
4,000,000
S. Carolina
594,308
620,000
1,400,000
4,880 1,250,000
Georgia
691,392 825,000
2,100,000
12,600 1.500,000
Alabama
590,756| 716,000
1,300,000
7,800, 2,000,000
Mississippi
375,651' 670,000
550,000
2,250 1,500,000
Louisiana
352,411 490,000
... 1
Tennessee
829,210 980,000
9,000,000
6,800 10,500,000
Kentucky
779,828 890,000
1,500,000
20,000 15,000,0001
Ohio
1,519,467
1,980,000
20,000,000
400,000
30,000,0001
Indiana
685,866
1,000,000
8,500,000
42,000
17,000,0001
Illinois
476,183
800,000
5,400,000
120,000
5,000,000
Missouri
383,702
589,000
2,000,000
15,000
7,000,000
Arkansas
95,574 200,000
500,000
1,100 500,000'
* See note to p. 87.
90
Quarterly Register and Maga:
[March,
Present esti-
States and Terri-
Population in
mated popula-
Number bush'ls
Bushels of
Bushels Oats.
tories.
1840.
tion.
of wheat.
Barky.
Michigan
212,267
420,000
10,000,000
300,000
6,000,000
Florida
54,477
80,000
13,000
Wisconsin
30,945
250,000
1,600,000
35,000
2,500,000
Iowa
43,112
150,000
1,300,000
40,000
1,500,000
Texas
150,000
1,300,000
....
Dist. of Col.
43,712
48,000
20,000
17,000
Oregon
Total
50,000
100,000
....
17,063,353
21,686,000
126,364,600
6,220,050
185,500,000
States and Ter-
Bushels Rye
Bushels Bushels Indian
Bushels Pota-
Number tons
ritories.
Buckwheat.
Corn.
toes.
of Hay.
Maine
100,000
80,000
3,000,000
9,000,000
1,200,000
N. Hamp.
500,000
175,000
2,600,000
5,000,000
680,000
Massachus's
750,000
145,000
3,800,000
4,800,000
750,000
Rhode Island
55,000
5,000
900,000
800,000
90,000
Connecticut
1,500,000
500,000
3,400,000
3,500,000
650,000
Vermont
370,000
350,000
2,500,000
8,000,000
1,400,000
New York
4,000,000
3,860,000
17,500,000
27,000,000
4,200,000
New Jersey
3,300,000
1,000,000
9,000,000
2,100,000
470,000
Pennsylva'a
13,500,000
3,800,000
21,000,000
8,200,000
2,000,000
Delaware
65,000
16,000
3,850,000
200,000
25,000
Maryland
1,200,000
120,000
8,800,000
1,000,000
130,000
Virginia
1,800,000
270,000
38,000,000
3,500,000
430,000
N. Carolina
300,000
20,000
26,000,000
3,200,000
140,000
S. Carolina
60,000
13,500,000
4,200,000
35,000
Georgia
80,000
27,000,000
2,000,000
28,000
Alabama
85,000
27,000,000
2,500,000
21,000
Mississippi
30,000
17,000,000
2,600,000
1,000
Louisiana
2,500
10,600,000
1,800,000
30,000
Tennessee
400,000
34,000
76,600,000
3,000,000
50,000
Kentucky
2,800,000
18,000
65,000,000
2,200,000
140,000
Ohio
1,250,000
1,500,000
70,000,000
5,000,000
1,600,000
Indiana
300,000
110,000
45,000,000
2,500,000
500,000
Illinois
170,000
130,000
40,000,000
2,300,000
450,000
Missouri
90,000
30,000
28,000,000
1,200,000
100,000
Arkansas
12,000
8,000,000
800,000
1,500
Michigan
100,000
340,000
10,000,000
5,000,000
400,000
Florida
. . . , .
1,250,000
500,000
1,500
Wisconsin
10,000
40,000
1,500,000
1,250,000
150,000
Iowa
15,000
25,000
3,500,000
1,000,000
60,000
Texas
1,800,000
300,000
Dist. of Col
8,000
50,000
25,000
2.000
Oregon
Total
1,000,000
32,952,500
12,538,000
588,150,000
114,475,000
15,735,000
1849.]
Statistics. — Census of 1850.
91
Rolls of
Tons
States.
Tobacco.
Pounds Cotton.
Pounds Rice.
Hemp.
Pounds Sugar.
Massachus's
150,000
Connecticut
825,000
New York
36,000
Pennsylv'a
610,000
Maryland
23,000,000
Virginia
45,000,000
2,800,000
3,500
N. Carolina
13,000,000
45,000,000
3,600,000
S. Carolina
33,000
105,000,000
90,000,000
Georgia
220,000
220,000,000
18,000,000
Alabama
360,000
165,000,000
350,000
Mississippi
215,000
245,000,000
1,200,000
Louisiana
190,000,000
5,000,000
200,000,000
Tennessee
36,500,000
36,000,000
12,000
800
Kentucky
68,000,000
2,200,000
25,000
11,000
Ohio
9,500,000
500
Indiana
3,950,000
480
Illinois
1,340,000
9,000
550
Missouri
15,600,000
7,000
Arkansas
220,000
25,000,000
Florida
350,000
18,000,000
1,000,000
Texas
Total
12,000,000
218,909,000
1,066,000,000
119,199,500'20,330
200,000,000
THE NEW CENSUS BILL,
Reported by Mr. Cameron, provides for returns to be made under plans and
forms prepared by the Secretary of the Treasury. The following are some of the
principal items —
White males under five and every five years over.
Females, do. do.
Free coloured under ten years, ten and twenty-four, twenty-four and thirty-seven,
&c, number taxed and entitled to vote.
Free coloured females, same.
Slaves under ten, ten and twenty-four, twenty-four and thirty-six, thirty-six and
fifty-five, fifty-five and one hundred, over.
Female slaves, do. do. do. do.
Number of persons subject to militia duty.
To vote for all elective officers.
Aliens not naturalized.
Paupers.
Married females under forty-five.
Unmarried between sixteen and forty-five.
Marriages preceding year.
Births do. males and females.
Deaths do. do. do.
Persons born in the state.
Do. New England States.
Do. other States.
92 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
Persons born in Mexico or South America.
Do. France.
Do. Germany.
Do. other parts of Europe.
Deaf and Dumb under twelve, twelve and twenty-five. Total number.
Number do. do. do. whose parents are una-
ble to support them. Whose parents are able.
Blind under eight, eight and twenty-five, poor and not poor as to education.
Idiots do. do. and number supported by charity.
Number of persons employed, value produced, and capital invested in mining,
agriculture, commerce, manufactures and trades, navigation, ocean, canals,
lakes, rivers, fisheries, products, forests, learned professions, engineers, &c.
Pensioners, and for what service.
Schools and universities of all kinds, and number of students, and cost of build-
ings and property.
Churches, cost, improvements, members, Baptist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian,
Congregational, Methodist, Roman catholic, Dutch reformed, Universalist,
— Unitarians, Jews, Quakers, Lutherans, and all others.
Agriculture and Horticulture. — Acres improved, uncultivated, average value.
Acres sown and products, barley, peas, beans, buckwheat, turnips, potatoes,
flax, wheat, corn, rye, oats, hemp, cotton, rice, silk.
Mineral lands, all kinds, value per acre, number of mines worked, capital.
Neat cattle and hogs, horses, mules, and sheep, do.
Number of fleeces, pounds of wool, yards of woollen, cotton, linen goods, and
those manufactured by families.
Mills, number and cost of construction, value of material raw and manufactured.
Returns of grist, yarn, oil, fulling and carding mills.
All cotton, woollen, and iron works.
Glass, rolling mills, furnaces, forges, distilleries, asheries, pot and pearl, oil
cloths, dyed and printed goods, flour mills, paper do., tanneries, breweries,
and all their products. ^
Internal improvements. — Railroads completed, and cost, in progress and cost of
completion. Canals completed, and cost of same, in progress and cost.
Turnpikes do., bridges and cost.
Assistant Marshals to receive $2 for every one hundred persons, instead of
$2,25 as before, and where the people are sparsely settled, $2,25.
Marshals of Maine and N. Hamp-
shire to receive as compensation, $400
Massachusetts and Vermont, 450
Connecticut, . . . 350
Rhode Island and Delaware, 250
New York, the two marshals each, 450
New Jersey, . . . 350
Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ken-
tucky, North Carolina, Iowa,
Also extra compensation when performing the duty of deputies.
South Carolina, Georgia, Wis-
consin, Indiana, Illinois, each, 450
East Tennessee and west Tennes-
see, each, . . . 250
Two marshals, Mississippi, each, 200
Michigan and Arkansas, each, 300
Ohio, .... 500
District of Columbia and Florida, 100
1849.]
Statistics. — U. S. Navy.
93
UNITED STATES NAVY.
The official documents recently communicated to congress contain the follow-
ing statement of vessels in commission on the 1st November, 1848.
SHIPS OF THE LINE.
Ohio,
Pacific squadron.
Pennsylvania,
Receiving ship, Norfolk.
North Carolina,
" New York.
Franklin,
" Boston.
RAZEE.
Independence,
Pacific squadron.
FRIGATES.
United States,
Mediterranean.
Congress,
Pacific squadron.
Brandywine,
Brazil station.
St. Lawrence,
European seas.
Raritan,
Home squadron.
Constitution,
Mediterranean.
SLOOPS OF WAR.
Saratoga,
Home squadron.
Albany,
Norfolk.
Germantown,
Home squadron.
Portsmouth,
Coast of Africa.
Jamestown,
Mediterranean.
Plymouth,
East Indies.
St. Mary's,
Pacific squadron.
Warren,
do.
Ontario,
Receiving ship, Baltimore.
St. Louis,
Brazil station.
Decatur,
Coast of Africa.
Preble,
Pacific squadron.
Dale,
do.
Yorktown,
Coast of Africa.
BRIGS.
Flirt,
Home squadron.
Wave,
Coast survey.
Phoenix,
do.
Taney,
Mediterranean.
STEAMERS.
Princeton,
Mediterranean.
Michigan,
Upper lakes.
Allegheny,
Brazil station.
Union,
Receiving ship, Philadelphia
Iris,
Home squadron.
Waterwitch,
do.
Engineer,
Norfolk.
General Taylor,
Pensacola.
STORE-SHIPS.
Erie,
Mediterranean.
Lexington,
Pacific squadron.
Southampton,
do.
Fredonia,
do.
Supply,
Mediterranean.
Relief,
Brazil station.
94 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
From this statement it appears that there were in commission 4 ships of the line,
1 razee, 6 frigates, 14 sloops, 4 brigs, 4 schooners, 8 stSamers. 6 store-ships.
Total 47.
The following is a statement of vessels in ordinary at the same date :
SHIPS OF THE LINE.
Vermont, Boston.
Columbus, Norfolk.
Delaware, do.
FRIGATES.
Potomac, Norfolk.
Columbia, do.
Cumberland, New York.
Savannah, (repairing,) do.
Constellation, Norfolk.
Macedonian, New York.
SLOOPS OF WAR.
John Adams, (repairing,) ■ Boston.
Falmouth, (equipping,) do.
Marion, do.
Vincennes, (repairing,) New York.
Fairfield, Norfolk.
Vandalia, (repairing,) do.
Cyane, do.
Levant, do.
STEAMERS.
Mississippi, (repairing,) Norfolk.
Vixen, do.
Fulton, New York.
STORE-SHIP.
Electra, New York.
'' There were thus in ordinary 3 ships of the line, 6 frigates, 8 sloops of war, 3
steamers, 1 store ship. Total 21.
The following is a statement of vessels on the stocks, and in progress of construc-
t ion at the same date :
At Kittery, Me., the Alabama ship of the line, the Santee frigate, and the Sa-
ranac steamer, of the first class.
At Charlestown, Mass., the Virginia ship of the line.
At New York, the Sabine frigate, and the San Jacinto steamer, of the first
class.
At Hoboken, N. J., an iron steamer is in process of construction.
At Philadelphia, the Susquehanna, a steamer of the first class.
At Gosport, Va., the New York ship of the line, and the Powhattan steamer,
of the first class.
At Sackett's Harbour, the New Orleans ship of the line.
There are thus 4 ships of the line, 2 frigates, and 5 steamers — total ] 1 — on the
stocks, and in progress of construction.
The following is a statement of vessels broken up, sold, or lost, since the last
annual report:
Broken up — As unworthy of repairs, the Austin sloop of war, at Pensacola.
Sold— Brig Boxer: Experiment, Bonito, Reefer, Mahonese, Falcon, and Tam-
pico, schooners; iEtna, Stromboli, Vesuvius, and Hecla, bomb vessels; Spitfire,
Scorpion, and Scourge, steamers, at Philadelphia.
Lost — On-ka-hy-e schooner, on Caicos Reef- Petrita, (captured from Mexico,)
at Alvarado.
Making in all 1 sloop, 1 brig, 7 schooners, 4 bomb vessels, and 4 steamers
Total 17.
1849.]
Statistics. — U. S. Army.
05
THE UNITED STATES ARMY.
(From the official report of the adjutant general.
The authorized regular force of the army consists of 865 commissioned offi-
cers, and 8940 enlisted men — aggregate 9805 :
and is constituted as follows :
DESIGNATION OF CORPS AND TROOPS OF THE LINE.
-3
<u
5
1 £
11
o o
Noiw onimissioned
officers, musi-
cians, artificers,
and privates.
5d
General officers,
General staff,
Medical department,
Pay department,
Officers of the corps of engineers, .
Officers of the corps of topographical engineers,
Officers of the ordnance department, .
Military storekeepers,
Aggregate,
Two regiments of dragoons,
The regiment of mounted riflemen, .
Four regiments of artillery,
Eight regiments of infantry,
Aggregate troops of the line, .
One company of engineer soldiers, (sappers, miners,
and pontoniers,)
Ordnance sergeants,
Aggregate of the authorized military establishment,
5
75
81
31
43
37
37
5
75
81
31
43
37
37
17
309
326
72
36
216
288
1230
765
2600
4192
1302
801
2816
4480
612
8787
8399
100
53
100
53
*921
8940
9878
The authorized number of troops of the line, consisting of cavalry, artillery,
and infantry, (15 regiments,) is 8,789 non-commissioned officers and men.
The actual force in service, non-commissioned officers and men, is 8,458 —
leaving a deficiency of 329 to be recruited.
The mechanics and labourers belonging to the ordnance department not
being restricted in number by law, are not included in the foregoing exhibit.
The number now in service is 495.
Immediately after the President's proclamation of July 4, 1848, announcing
the termination of the war between the United States and the republic of
Mexico, prompt measures were taken by the department for the withdrawal of
all the troops from the field, and the disbanding of both regulars and volun-
teers raised for the period of the war, who were honourably discharged the
service as soon after their arrival at the places of rendezvous within the
* The actual number of commissioned officers is 865 ; fifty-six hold commissions both in
the staff and line, are counted twice, and should be deducted from the number 921, obtained
by adding the full number allowed by each regiment and corps. This number (921 ) does not
include the military store- keepers, (17,) but these are accounted for in the column of '"aggre-
96
Quarterly Register and Magazine.
[March,
United States as was practicable. The measures adopted may be best seen
by reference to "general orders," Nos. 25, 35, and 36, respectively dated
June 8, July 6, and July 7, 1848, submitted with the report.
The accompanying returns show the number of regulars and volunteer
troops in service at the termination of the late war, as follows: —
REGULARS.
Commissioned officers, 1,338
Non-commissioned officers and men, 22,695
Aggregate regulars,
VOLUNTEERS.
Commissioned officers,
Non-commissioned officers and men,
Aggregate volunteers,
24,033
1,527
21,590
23,117
Aggregate regulars and volunteers, 47,150
Of the regular force in service at the close of the war, (enlisted men,) 9,418
were recruited for five years, and 13,277 for the period of the war.
POST OFFICE STATISTICS.
(From the tables accompanying the Report of the Post Master General.)
The entire length of post routes in operation during the year ending 30th
June, 1848, was 163,208 miles. The aggregate transportation of the mails
over these routes during the year was 41,012,579 miles; and the cost for the
year was $2,394,703.
The following table will show what amount of the above aggregate of mail
service was performed in steamboats, and by railroads, and also the propor-
tion of cost which was paid for those kinds of mail service :—
Maine, .
New Hampsh
Vermont,
Massachusetts
Rhode Island,
Connecticut,
New York,
New Jersey,
Pennsylvania,
Delaware,
Maryland,
Virginia, .
North Carolina
South Carolina
Georgia, .
Florida, .
Ohio,
Michigan,
Indiana, .
Illinois, .
Wisconsin,
Iowa,
Missouri, '
In Steamboat.
By Railroad.
Miles.
Dollars.
Miles.
Dollars.
__
70,824
6,733
144,768
10,504
62,574
2,888
906,284
70,706
30,264
4,850
230,444
22,192
720,306
42,311
735,076
62,958
14,560
250
208,728
37,551
356,720
43,357
■ -'■
.
391,768
95,745
287,872
36,610
118,248
25,043
162,824
39,500
179,816
46,700
116,480
14,000
150,696
39.812
74,464
7,500
404,196
74', 037
39,000
4,100
353,862
11,713
95,928
9,115
50,960
2,700
149,760
13,374
38,688
3.000
53,664
3.729
475,696
7,800
1849.] Statistics.— Post Office. 97
In Steamboat.
By Railroad.
Miles. Dollars.
Jfifai.
Dollars.
Kentucky,
. 1,504,872 20,230
Tennessee,
Alabama,
182,210 36,272
70,512
13,843
Mississippi, .
23,400 1,975
28,704
3,943
Arkansas,
55,536 6,000
Louisiana,
205,856 15,920
Texas, .
16,640 1,250
4,385,800 $262,019
4,327,400
$584,193
Some of the results shown by these tables are : —
I. The average cost of transporting the mails, taking all the modes together,
is not quite six cents per mile.
II. The average cost of transportation in all modes, exclusive of steamboats
and railroads, is thirteen and a half cents per mile.
III. The average cost of transportation in steamboats is six cents per mile.
IV. The average cost of transportation by railroads is thirteen and a half
cents per mile.
V. If the cost of transportation by railroads were at the same rate as by
other modes, (and the uniform result of the substitution of steamboats and
railroads for other modes of conveyance, has been in all cases, except that of
the mail, a reduction in the prices of passage and freight) then the cost of
transportation for the past year would have been $1,966,218 instead of
$2,394,703, being a difference of $428,485.
The post office army directly under the control of the post office department,
numbers twenty thousand four hundred and twenty-four.
Deputy post masters 16,159
Contractors 4,017
Route agents 47
Local agents 21
Mail messengers 180
Total 20,424
And this is entirely irrespective of the immense army of drivers, owners of
coaches, teams, &c, indirectly under the influence of the department. It is
not, therefore, wonderful that the people should be jealous of the manner in
which such a powerful department is controlled.
The immense mass of business performed in the office of the post office
auditor, may be imagined from the following statement of the number of ac-
counts, &c, during the last fiscal year: —
The number of quarterly accounts of postmasters examined, was 62,048.
" " '• " contractors examined, was 9,688
il u u iC errors discovered and cor-
rected in former accounts, was 8.977
" " " letters of packets received was S4. s 25
(( <: u u ti u pent 68,011
An idea may be formed of the immense number of letters and packets re-
ceived and sent, by reflecting that they averaged four hundred and ninety for
every day in the year, except Sundays.
98 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
THE COAST SURVEY.
From the report of Professor Bache, superintendent of the coast survey, we
gather the subjoined results of the last four years' labours. The work has
been carried into every state on the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, with
one exception, and surveying parties' are now on their way to the Pacific
coast :
The differences of longitude of New York and Cambridge, New York and
Philadelphia, and Philadelphia and Washington, have been ascertained by
telegraph. The primary reconnaissance and triangulation have been carried
from the south-west part of Rhode Island into Maine. A base line of verifi-
cation, of eleven miles in length, has been measured. The topography has
been carried from Point Judith to Cape Cod, and has included the shores of
Boston harbour and its approaches.
The map of New York bay and harbour and its environs, in six sheets, and
the smaller map in one sheet, have been published. Five charts of harbours
of refuge, &c, in Long Island Sound, have been published. One large sheet
of the chart of Long Island Sound has been published, and another is well
advanced toward completion. The complete chart of Delaware bay and river.
in three sheets, has been published. The off-shore chart, from Cape May
to Point Judith, is nearly completed. One sheet of the south side of Long
Island, delayed for work of verification, is nearly completed.
The primary triangulation has been extended across from the Delaware to
the Chesapeake, and down the bay to the Virginia line. The triangulation
of all the rivers emptying into the Chesapeake, north of the Patuxent, and
part of the Patuxent, has been made. The triangulation has extended over
Albemarle, Croatan and Roanoke Sounds. The triangulation of the rivers
emptying into the north and south sides of Albemarle Sound has been made,
ancl the topography of the shores (with one exception) and of the Sound, has
been completed.
A general reconnaissance has been made of the coast of South Carolina
and Georgia. Also a part of the coast of Florida. A complete reconnaissance
has been made of the coast of Alabama, Mississippi, and part of Louisiana.
The topography of the shores of Mississippi Sound, as far west as Pascagoula,
is complete, and of Dauphin, Petit Bois, Round, Ship, and Cat Islands. The
hydrography of the entrance to Mobile Bay, and of Cat and Ship Island Har-
bours, and their approaches, and of part of Mississippi Sound, is complete.
The computations and reductions have been kept up, and charts of the en-
trance to Mobile Bay and of Cat and Ship Island Harbours, are in preparation.
During this period, an area of 17,555 square miles has been triangulated ;
the topographical surveys, with the plane table, have covered 2,318 square
miles, and embraced an extent of shore line, roads, &c. of 7,179 miles. The
hydrography has covered an area of 20,086 square miles, of which 16,824
were principally off shore or deep sea work. Four thousand four hundred
and four copies of maps and charts have been distributed to literary and
scientific institutions in our country, and to departments of our own and
foreign governments. In the estimates for the next fiscal year, the total sum
asked is $ 186,000.
In answer to a call from the senate, the president sent in the following
statement of appropriations for the coast survey from the commencement of
the work.
Dates of appropriations. Amount.
1807, February 10, - - - - - 850,000 00
1812, February 26, re-appropriation, - - 49,284 05
1816, April 16', do. - - - 29,720 57
1816, April 27, 54,720 57
.849.] Statistics. — National Jlrmories. 99
1832, July 10, 20,000 00
1833, March 2, 20,000 20
1834, June 27, 30,000 00
1835, February 13, - - - - - 30,000 00
1836, May 9, - - - - 80,000 00
1837, March 3, 60,000 00
1838, July 7, ..... 90,000 00
1839, March 3, 90,000 00
1840, May 8, ..... 100,000 00
1841, March 3, 100,000 00
1842, May 18, 100..000 00
1843, March 3, - - - 100,000 00
1844, June 17, 80,000 00
1845, March 3, 100,000 00
1846, August 10, ..... 111,00000
1847, March 3, 146,000 00
1848, August 12, - - - - - 165,000 00
$1,605,725 39
Deduct amounts carried to the surplus fund, viz.:
In 1809, .... 849,284 25
In 1814, .... 29,720 57
In 1822, - - - ' 14,816 75
In 1826, - * - - 2,586 00
96,407 57
$1,509,317 82
DANIEL GRAHAM, Register.
Treasury Department,
Register's Office, December 22, 1848.
THE NATIONAL ARMORIES.
The secretary of war transmitted to congress the following statement
of the expenses of the national armories, and number of arms and appendages
manufactured under government, during the fiscal year just closed, which we
find in the Philadelphia Bulletin.
EXPENDITURES.
Springfield — For repairs and improvements, including lands,
buildings, dams, &c. $65,911 29
For materials, workmanship, salaries, &c. - - 161,632 92
Total $227,544 21
Harper's Ferry— For repairs, improvements, &c. - - - 75.269 63
For materials, workmanship, &c. - - - 183.264 56
Total 258,534 18
Total expenditures $486,078 3S
ARMS AND APPENDAGES MANUFACTURED.
Springfield— Muskets (percussion,) 15,817; rifles (percussion,) none; sapper's
musketoons, 252; cavalry musketoons, 4; artillery musketoons, 701; ball
screws, 1,994; wipers, 24,273; screw-drivers, 22,020; bullet moulds, none:
spring vices, 302; cones, extra, 2,081; cone wrenches, none; arm chests, 287^
Harper's Ferry— Muskets (percussion,) 11,000; rifles (percussion,) 2,802;
100 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
sapper's musketoons, none; cavalry musketoons, none; artillery do., none;
ball screws, 1.810; wipers, 12,664; screw-drivers, 13,296; bullet moulds, 918;
spring vices, 1,321; cones, extra, 18,882; cone wrenches, 483; arm chests, 624.
STEA.M BOILER EXPLOSIONS.
At a former session of congress a resolution was adopted by the senate
calling upon the commissioner of patents for information in regard to explo-
sions of steam boilers, with a view to farther legislation for their prevention,
should it be deemed proper. In obedience to this resolution, Mr. Burke sub-
mitted to the senate a full and valuable report upon the subject. We copy
the following summary of its statements from the Courier and Enquirer.
Whole number of boats on which explosions have occurred - 233
Whole number of passengers killed (enumerated in 6 cases,) - 140
Whole number of officers killed, (enumerated in 31 cases) - 57
Whole number of crew killed, (enumerated in 25 cases) - - 103
Whole number killed (in 164 cases) • 1805
Whole number wounded (in 111 cases) 1015
Total amount of damages (in 75 cases) $997,650
Average number of passengers killed in the enumerated cases - ' *23
Average number of officers " " ".-".- 2
Average number of crew " " "'•:".■ 4
Average number of killed " " " u - 11
Average number of wounded " " " " 9
Average amount of damages - $13,302
The cause is stated in 98 cases; not stated in 125; unknown, 10;
together 233
I. Excessive pressure gradually increased was the cause in - 16
II. The presence of unduly heated metals 16
III. Defective construction 33
IV. Carelessness or ignorance 31
Accidental (rolling of the boat) 2
NATURE OF THE ACCIDENTS.
Bursting boiler 10
Collapsing flue 7
Bursting steam-pipe
" chests ...
Bolt of boiler forced out
Struck by lightning
Blew out boiler-head
Breaking cylinder-head
" flange of steam-pipe 2
Bridge wall exploded -------... 1
Unknown - " 3
Not stated 38
Total 233
CLASSIFICATION OF CAUSES.
1. Under pressure within a boiler, the pressure being gradually increased.
In this class are the cases marked "excessive pressure/'
2. Presence of unduly heated metal within a boiler. In this class are included,
* This average is not a fair one, as it is derived from but six cases, in one of which (the
Pulaski) the very unusual number of 120 lives were lost.
.849.]
Statistics.— U. S. Mini.
101
Deficiency of water ...
Deposits _-_•--
3. Defective construction of the boiler and
' In this ch
ts appendages.
>s are included — ■
Cast iron boiler-head
Inferior iron ....
Iron too thin -
Cast iron boiler -
Defective iron in flue
Want of proper gauge cocks
Defective flue ...
Extending wire walls
Pipe badly constructed
Want of slip joint on pipe
Defective boiler (nature of defect not stated)
Improper or defective
materials.
Bad workmanship.
U
2—16
5
5
3
1
1—15
3
1
1
1
1— 7
11
Total in this class, 33
4. Carelessness or ignorance of those intrusted with the management of the
boiler.
In this class — Racing 1
Incompetent engineer -------2
Old boilers 6
Stopping off water 1
Carelessness -- 22 —
Total . - - 32
DATE OF EXPLOSIONS.
1816
3
1825
2
1831
2
1837
13
1843
9
1817
4
1826
3
1832
1
1838
11
1844
4
1819
1
1827
2
1833
5
1839
3
1845
11
1820
1
1828
1
1834
7
1840
8
1846
7
1821
1
1829
4
1835
10
1841
7
1847
12
1822
1
1830
12
1836
13
1842
7
1848
12
Date given in 177 cases, not slated in 56. — Total 233.
GENERAL ESTIMATE.
Of the total loss of life and property, calculated from the average of the
given cases.
Pecuniary loss, 233 cases, at $13,302 each - $3,099,366
Loss of life, 233 cases, 11 each ' 2.563
Wounded, 233 cases, 9 each 2,097
Total killed and wounded ------- 4.660
COINAGE AT THE MINT.
The report of the Director of the United States Mint, which has just been laid
before congress, shows the coinage of the mint during the year 1848 to have beea
as follows:
At Philadelphia, in gold,
'•' in silver,
u in copper,
$2,780,930
420,050
64,153
Total, $3,265,138
[Number of pieces coined, 8,691,444.]
The deposites for coinage amount to, in gold, $2,584,460; in silver, $466,732.
VOL. II.— MARCH, 1849. 8
102 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
At New Orleans, in gold, - - - - 8358,500
" in silver, .... 1.620.000
Total, $1,978,500
[Number of pieces coined, 3,815,850.]
The deposites for coinage amounted to, in gold. 8183,360; in silver, 81,659,774.
' At Charlotte, North Carolina, the amount received during the year for coin-
age in gold, was $370,'/99; the coinage amounted to $364,330 — composed of, half
eagles 64,472, quarter eagles 16,788.
At Dahlonega, Georgia, the amount received during the year for coinage in
gold, was 8274,473; amount coined, $271,752! — composed in number of,4iali'
eagles 47,465, quarter eagles 13,771.
The deposites at the four mints during the year amounted in all to $5,539,598.
In gold, $3,413,092
In silver, - - - ' - - - 2?126,506
The coinage amounted to —
In gold, - - - - - - $3,775,5m
In silver, 2,040,050
In copper, ------ 6 4,158
Total, 85,879,720^
The coinage of the British mint, for a period of ten years, from 1837 to 1847,
was—
Of gold, ------ £34,878,666
Of silver, 3,329,717
Of copper, ------ 67,103
£38,275,486
Equal in dollars to about 153f millions.
The greatest sum coined in gold in any one year in the mints of the United
States, was in 1847, when the amount was $20,211,385, coined in the principal
mint and branches.*
The largest amount of gold coinage in England for any one year is put at
£9,000,000, equal to $43,200,000.
It is estimated that the whole coinage of Great Britain for the thirty-three years
ending with Dec. 1847, amounted to ninefy-iwo million pounds , equal to four hun-
dred and forty-one and a half millions of dollars.
Our coinage during the same thirty-three years, was about one hundred mil-
lions, making an aggregate of money coined by the United States and Great Bri-
tain alone, in the last third of a century, 54H millions of dollars; yet both these
countries have, during the whole of that period, been in the constant use of a
paper currency.
THE IRISH POTATO CROP.
An estimate has just been published of the loss occasioned by the destruction
of the potato crop in Ireland in 1846. In parliament, the loss was admitted to be
£16,000,000.
In the statistics of Ireland, (Thorn's Almanac, 1848.) it is stated that the land
devoted to the production of potatoes, is 2,457,409 statute acres, equal in Irish
acres to 1,500.000.
The annual estimated consumption of potatoes, exclusive of seed, amounts to
(in tons) 13,650,000.
Which at Is. 7d. per cwt. £l lis. 8d. per ton, would be worth £21,600,000
The supply of potato seed required in 1841, is estimated at 2,700,000
Making the whole value of the crop for consumption and seed £24,300,000
* See p. 92, Vol. 1.
1849.]
Statistics. — British and Irish Produce.
103
The Dublin Evening Journal, alluding to the subject, says, — a In losses by the
potato alone, between 1845 — 8, the amount is fixed at thirty-seven millions ster-
ling, to which must be added, for the rise in the price of seed, an additional sum
of six millions, making a total of forty-three millions! Imagine such a sum
swept away from the labour and subsistence fund of such a country as Ireland!
It only surprises that with such overwhelming losses our people have been ena-
bled to make such head against the calamity."
BRITISH AND IRISH PRODUCE AND MANUFACTURES.
The following is a table of the total value of British and Irish produce and manu-
factures exported from the United Kingdom to various countries in the year 1847 :
United States of America Jl0,974,161 j Egypt: ports on the Mediter-
Mexico
Central America .
New Grenada
Venezuela .
Hanseatic towns .
Heligoland .
British territories in the East
Indies
Islands in the Indian seas:
" Java
" Philippine Islands
K Lomboc
British North American co-
lonies
Holland .
Brazil
Oriental republic of Uruguay
Buenos Ayres or Argentine
republic .
Chili ....
Bolivia . . .
Peru ....
Falkland islands
Russian settlements on the
N. W. coast of America
France "
Portugal proper .
11 Azores .
^ ' { j Madeira
Spain, continental, and the
Balearic islands
Spain, Canary Islands .
Gibraltar
Italy, Sardinian territories
" Duchy of Tuscany
Papal territories
•'•' Naples and Sicily
" Austrian territories
Malta and Gozo .
Ionian Islands
Kingdom of Greece
Turkish dominions, exclusive
ofWallachiaand Molda
Wallachia and Moldavia
Syria and Palestine .
100,088
ranean
538,303
86,983
Tunis ....
697
145,606
Algeria
13,881
182,279
Morocco
16,231
6 ; 007,366
Western coast of Africa
518,420
250
Colonial territory of the Cape
of Good Hope .
688,208
5,470,105
Eastern coast of Africa
13,751
African ports on the Red sea
505
357,870
Cape Verd Islands
4,145
104,486
Ascension and St. Helena
31.378
307
Mauritius .
223^563
Aden ....
11,488
3,233.014
Persia
929
3,017,423
British West Indies and Bri-
2.568,804
tish Guiana
2.102,577
'334,083
Honduras British settlements
Foreign West India Islands:
170,947
156.421
" " Cuba
896.554
866^325
" " Porto Rico
16,822
22,375
u u Gaudaloupe
164
600,814
" " Martinique
196
2,088
" " Curacoa
1,089
« " St. Croix
14,797
8,193
" « St. Thomas
386.599
2,554,283
Dutch Guiana
1,466
889.916
Hayti
192.089
42^980
Russia; Northern ports
1,700,733
33,853
" Ports within the Black
sea ....
143,810
770,729
Sweden
179,367
30,680
Norway
169M9
466,845
Denmark
253,701
355,366
Prussia
553^968
637,748
Mecklenburg Schwerin
105.164
181,894
Hanover
147.357
630^690
Oldenburg and Kniphausen
26,080
537,009
British settlements in Austra-
195,836
lia .
1.644,170
143.426
South Sea Islands
25.368
233.913
China and Hong Kong
1,503,969
Belgium
L059|456
2.363,442
Channel Islands,
542,191
213,547
415.292
Total "... £58,842,377
104 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
It will he seen by this table that out of fifty-eight millions of exports from the
United Kingdom last year ; twenty-three millions were to the new world.
THE HONDURAS MAHOGANY TRADE.
The New York Express has taken the trouble to condense the following
summary of the long account in the Honduras Observer, of the mahogany
trade of that country. It will be found interesting.
This staple is so closely connected with the prosperity of the colony,*
that the Observer says any reverse in prices is felt at once, at the place of
production — causing severe losses to all, from the woodman in the forest, to
the merchant who makes the export. The mahogany shipped from Honduras,
may be classed under three heads. The first in value is that from the northern
district. The texture of the wood is harder, and more durable as well as
better adapted to cabinet work. The middle district extends as far south as
•'Stan creek, ,; producing wood nearly as good as the northern, and nearly
equalling it in price. The extreme southern district produces a coarse-
grained wood, of little value for any work exposed to the action of the ele-
ments. The mahogany cutters have extended their labours into tbe Musquito
territory, but the character of the wood is the same as that in the colonial
boundary.
The cost of cutting mahogany in the southern district is $40 to $45 per
thousand feet. In the middle district mahogany averaging 12 to 16 inches is
cut at an expense of $40, 17 to 20 inches at an expense of $50 to $55, and 21
inches to 24 inches, of which there is but little, and that very distant, cannot
be produced at a less cost than $70 to $75.
In the northern district the mahogany is generally of easier access, but as
the ships to embark cannot load at the mouths of the respective rivers as they
do in the middle and southern districts, because of the insufficiency of water
for their draft and burden, the mahogany is brought in large and expensive
coasters to Balize, or its close vicinity, paying a freight of $10 to $12 per
thousand feet.
Amon<j the establishments out of the colony are those on the banks of the
rivers Montague, Chimlicon, Ulloa, Ajuan or Reman, Limas, Saccaliah and
Black river. All these rivers empty themselves into the bay of Honduras at
the distance of 12J to 200 miles from Balize, from whence they draw all their
supplies. The large size of the wood cut in these rivers, and the easy access
to them, gives to the cutters of it the advantage of a nearer approach between
cost and proceeds, than they obtain for the wood cut within the English
limits. The cost of production maybe estimated at $50 per-thousand feet,
and the nett proceeds of its sale in the home markets, excepting where the
wood has been particularly faulty, have been about $40 per thousand feet,
during the last three years.
Besides the rivers in the states of Guatemala and Honduras, and the king-
dom of Musquito already adverted to, a large field of enterprise in mahogany
lies yet unoccupied in the state of Tobasco, within the republic of Mexico.
Three attempts have been made unsuccessfully, to enter upon this field, and
a fourth attempt is now being made, which, if successful, will still require
large outlay, vast care and a lengthened period of time, to bring the enter-
prise to completion. It must, too, be conducted in direct connexion with Lon-
don and without contingent dependence upon Balize.
The mahogany trade has suffered at Honduras for some years, in conse-
quence of over production, which, however, will be soon removed. Shipments
* The British colony on Honduras bay extends about 150 miles. The town of Ba-
lize, the capital, is gituated on the river of the same name.
1S49.] Statistics. — Debts of European Nations.
105
of mahogany are made from Honduras to the United States and England
alone; Continental purchasers obtaining their supplies in England.
The Observer states the consumption of Great Britain to be, on an average,
inclusive of supplies to the continent, about 9,000.000 ft. annually; that of the
United States, something under 1,000,000. The shipping employed in the
carrying trade of this mahogany is not less than 30.000 tons.
The following is a comparative statement of the shipments made from
Balize in
1845. 1846. 1847. 1848.
In the limits, 7,945,210 9,567,570 6,502,717 7.351,777
Out of do. 1,974,297 3,186,878 2.250,000 2,191.840
9,919,507 12,754,448 8,752.717 9.543.617
The statement for 1848 is made up for the first of November only, and of
the shinments of this year 3,805,600 feet were of last year's cuttings. There
are remaining in hands, in course of shipment, or ready for shipment, of the
present years cuttings: —
Within the settlement
Without the limits - . -
Forming a total for shipment for 1848 -
On the 31st Aug.. 1847, the stock in the docks
in London was reported to be -
On 31st August, 1848
This shows a very essential decrease, but
reason, that the shipments of this year have been unusually late, and but little
of last year's wood was shipped this year, and no wood of the present year's
cutting had reached England on the 1st of September, to be included in the
statement of 31st August.
The cutting of 1849, is proposed to be limited to 4,470,000 feet. This di-
minution of the cutting, says the Observer, must materially aid the market
to enhance prices.
' 3,130.204 feet.
lj495,'00O « 4,625,204 feet
14,168.151 '<
12,833 logs. 4,488,050 feet
9,008 " 2,647,000 «
t may be accounted for by the
DEBTS OF EUROPEAN NATIONS-
DITURES.
■INCOME AND EXPEN-
Country.
Great Britain
France .
Holland
Frankfort on Ma
Bremen
Hamburg
Denmark.
Greece .
Portugal
Spain .
Austria
Belgium
Papal states .
Naples .
Prussia .
Russia and Pola
Bavaria
Sicily .
ad
Debt.
$4,000,000,000
1,200.000,000
800,000,000
5,000,000
3^000.000
7.000,000
93,000.000
41.000.000
142.000.000
467^000,000
380,000^000
120.000,000
67^000,000
126.000.000
150^000,000
545,000.000
15,000.000
70,000,000
$8,221,000,000
Revenue.
$293,801,700
271,469,265
10,870,036
144,908,185
64.240.000
22.602.S14
78.984.231
41,366,948
Expenditures.
$276,363,850
291.744,651
10.797.302
121.923,137
76,379.903
22,548^443
79,349.475
4L306.94S
106
Quarterly Register and Magazine.
[March,
Population. Av. of debt to each inh.
Great Britain
.
27,000,000
$222
France
• » •
35,000.000
30
Holland .
.
3,500,000
260
Frankfort on Maine
.
1,000,000
100
Denmark .
•
2,200,000
45
Greece
...
1,000,000
■ 44
Portugal
3^800,000
38
Spain
.
13.000,000
35
Austria
.
37^000,000
31
Belgium
.
4,500,000
30
Papal states
.
3,300,000
23
Prussia
15,000,000
10
Russia and Poland
.
60,000,000
9
Sicily
• • • .
8,000,000
9
Total population
214,000.000
Population not enum
erated .
30,000,000
Total
250,000,000
THE AMERICAN COLPORTEUR ENTERPRISE.
A spirited and successful effort is now in progress in Washington to awaken
interest and raise funds in behalf of this great enterprise. It has been met
by the President and his cabinet, the judges of the supreme court, the senate,
house of representatives, and the citizens generally, with a liberality worthy
of the cause, and honourable to its benefactors. Rev. Mr. Ridgely of the Epis-
copal church, general agent of the American Tract Society, addressed the
Episcopal church; and Rev. Mr. Vail, general agent for the southern Atlantic
states, presented the cause in other churches, and also had the privilege of
preaching in the hall of the house of representatives to a large audience :
"On the influence of the Christian press in perpetuating our republican in-
stitutions." It was seen from these public presentations, that this benevolent
institution has for one of its objects the supply of our whole nation with a
Christian literature free from sectarian and denominational peculiarities —
embracing the great principles of civil and religious liberty, and of our com-
mon Christianity. In the prosecution of its work, it has already issued more
than one hundred millions of publications in different languages; is now
printing by eight or ten steam presses (at the rate of 1500 pages for one dollar.)
about 25.000 publications a day; the issues of the last eight months being
equal to about seven hundred and fifty thousand volumes! Millions of these
works — many of them standard volumes, such as Baxter, Bunyan, Edwards,
and Bishop Hall, have been circulated amongst the destitute population of
thirty different states and territories, by the agency of several hundred col-
porteurs. These are intelligent and self-denying men — who at a salary of
•$150 a year, have visited from house to house, and supplied about a million of
our native and foreign population during the past year, promoting education,
elevating the standard of morals, and disseminating a scriptural Christianity;
thus contributing to qualify the people for self-government, and laying deeper
and broader the foundations of our republican institutions.
All must see the peculiar adaptation of this great scheme to reach speedily
and bless the increasing millions of our new states and territories, who are so
soon to hold the reins of government — make the laws — mould the character,
and decide the destiny of our nation.
1849.] Statistics. — Ecclesiastical. 107
By an effort of our public men and the citizens of the District of Columbia,
a subscription for this object has been raised, amounting already to near
$2000. It cannot but be regarded as a matter of congratulation that so many
of our representatives from all parts of this land are disposed to contribute
their personal influence and means to an institution belonging alike to our
whole nation — cementing the bonds of our glorious Union — and intimately
connected with the best interests of our country ; and the progress of the
cause of God upon the earth. — Recorder.
DENOMINATIONS IN ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.
An English correspondent of the Christian Reflectof and Watchman, commu-
nicates the following religious statistics:
In a former letter I gave you an account of the religious denominations in
Wales, and am now about to present you with a statement of the number of
churches and chapels in England and Scotland, derived from the best authorities
that can be obtained. Of the Dissenters it appears that, in England, the num-
ber of
Independent chapels is . 1,920
Baptist, .... 1,450
Wesleyan connexion about . 3,000
New connexion, . . . 273
Primitive Methodist, . . 1,421
Wesleyan association, . 320
Bible Christians, . 390
Independent Methodist, 24
Lady Huntingdon's, . . 30
Old English Presbyterian, . 150
Presbyterian church, England, 77
United Presbyterian synod, . 30
Unitarian, .... 227
Roman Catholic, . . . 534
Friends, .... 360
United Brethren, (Moravian,) 22
Various sects; Plymouth Brethren,
Swedenborgians, &c, about 500
Total,
[n Scotland, the number of chapels in the
Evangelical Union, . . 18
Roman Catholic ... 80
Various smaller sects, about . 50
Total, . . . 1,989
Free church is 847
Presbyterian, various, . . 579
Congregationalists, . . 141
Scottish Episcopal, . . 118
Baptist, .... 120
Wesleyan Methodist, . . 26
From the above account, it appears that 12,718 places of worship are built and
supported by voluntary efforts in England and Scotland.
The national church of Scotland comprehends 1152 congregations, including
parliamentary churches.
The Diocesan returns, printed by order of parliament, report the total number
of resident clergy in England and Wales to be 7445; non-resident and exempt,
1635; total number of benefices, 11,386. It appears, also, that the number of
Episcopal churches and chapels in England is 11,825; but more than one-half of
the congregations in the parish churches are small, not being equal to the num-
ber who attend the preaching of the dissenters.
ORGANIC LAW OF THE FRENCH CHURCH.
The constitution or organic law, adopted by the late general synod of the
French protestant church, after being approved by the "minister of public
mstruction and worship," becomes the constitution of the reformed church.
The reformed church of France embraces pastors, particular consistories,
general consistories, particular synods, theological faculties, and a general
synod.
A pastor must be a Frenchman, or of French origin, and twenty-five years
old. He must be provided with a diploma of bachelor in divinity from a
10S Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
French theological seminary, legally established, and be ordained by seven
actual pastors of the reformed church. An elder must be thirty years old.
the head of a family, and educate his children in the protestant cliurch. Half
of the elders must be dropped every three years, and others chosen. Each
particular consistory or church session has the power of electing the pastors
of the church, subject to the approval of the general synod, or assembly, and
the national government. The general synod is to hold its sessions once in
three years, but may be convened upon extraordinary occasions.
The 'whole territory of France, including 'Algeria,' is divided into districts
for the convenient formation of presbyteries and synods, the number of synods
being nineteen, and of presbyteries ninety-three. One synod is located in
Algeria, a circumstance indicating the large emigration from France to
Northern Africa, as well as the more important fact that the fires of Chris-
tianity have been kindled up anew on these savage coasts, once the abode of
the highest civilization and intelligence, and where the most fervid strains-
of Christian eloquence were heard in the early ages of the church, but where
for centuries the mosque has supplanted the temple, and barbarism the most
brutal, succeeded the refinement of taste and the light of knowledge.
Cong. Journal.
ROMAN CATHOLIC STATISTICS.
The Catholic Almanac, published in Baltimore, generally recognised as
safe authority in the statistics of its church, represents no increase in the Roman
Catholic diocesses of Baltimore, New Orleans, Louisville, Boston, Philadelphia,
New York, Charleston, Mobile, Detroit, Vincenne-s, Natchez, Pittsburgh, Little
Rock, Milwaukie, Albany, Galveston and Buffalo, while in the diocess of
Cleveland there has been an actual loss of five thousand souls from the last
year's computation of thirty thousand. The only green spots in this wide-
spread desert, says the Freeman's Journal, are the diocess of Cincinnati,
where there has been an addition of fifteen thousand to the fifty thousand of
last year; Dubuque, where there is a gain of five hundred on the former sum
of six thousand five hundred; Nashville, where the last year's number of
Catholics has doubled, being now three thousand, while it was only fifteen
hundred a year ago: Chicago, where thirty thousand have been added to the
fifty thousand of last year, and Oregon, with the parts adjacent, where seventy-
five hundred had grown up to eighty-one hundred, being a gain of six hundred
— Indians and others. The Almanac represents the total decrease of Roman
catholics in the United States during the year, as being one hundred and nine
thousand, four hundred; and the present number of that denomination in this
country as one million, two hundred and seventy-six thousand three hundred.
SANDWICH ISLANDS.
From the Detroit Daily Advertiser.
We have been favoured with the annual reports read before the King, to the
Hawaiian legislature, in April last. We are indebted to Asher A. Bates, Esq.,
our former townsman, for them.
The minister of the interior, Keoui Ana, reports that the government press
is under the direction of Charles E. Hitchcock, Esq. [We believe Mr. H.
was formerly of Connecticut.] The receipts of the press have been $27,554,
not including government printing ; the gross disbursements $32,230. A new
press has just been received from Boston.
The imports for the year ending April 1st,
1848, $822,729 02
Duty free — Whalers' goods, 9,558 91
Missionaries' do 43.120 66
Total free $52,649 57
1849.] Statistics. — Emigration. 109
Exports of foreign goods, under drawback, $41,843 62
Domestic exports, 454,255 61
The gross amounts by sale at auction during the year, was $228,882.
Whole number of licenses granted, 263, of which 19 are for sale of liquor,
and 24 for billiard rooms and ball alleys. The report says considerable has
been done in internal improvements: and a new powder magazine has been
erected — a new prison on an extensive plan — a new custom-house and a
bonded ware-house, three stories high. 1 135 marriages have been solemnized,
which is a decrease of 300 from the number the year previous. The number
of constables employed is 991. The oath of naturalization has been admi-
nistered to 501. A great proportion of them have married natives. The
amount of shipping increased last year 2537 tons; 74 vessels are now re-
gistered—an increase of 60 per cent, in one year.
G. P. Judd* is minister of finance. He reports the receipts into the trea-
sury of the year, $155,158; disbursements, $143,549.
A loan is recommended to be made in England, at four or five per cent., to
build bridges, roads, wharves, and for the establishment of a National Bank, to
assist farmers by loans to clear more land, &c.
The number of Protestant schools on the island is 395; scholars 16,520.
Catholic schools 129; scholars 3,116. Amount of all the teacher's salaries,
as paid by government, $10,168. Number of readers, 9,642; writers, 5,599,
number in arithmetic, 8052; geography, 8520; philosophy, 1,008; vocal mu-
sic, 810.
The number of clergymen in the different islands is as follows :
Protestant. — Missionaries twenty-six; assistant male do. twelve; assistant
female do. thirty-nine. — Total, seventy-seven.
Roman Catholic. — Priests fifteen ; missionaries, ten :— twenty-five.
Mr. Judd recommends that the lands held by missionaries should be secured
to them by fixed tenures, and held perpetually. The number of children
belonging to missionaries is 129.
Robert C. Wylie is minister of foreign relations. The report says the ne-
gotiations with Mr. Ten Eyck, the commissioner of the United States, were
suspended in May, 1847 — the commissioner contending for a principle in re-
gard to juries, which they could not admit. The proposed treaty and objec-
tions, correspondence, &c, have been sent to this country.
The imports for three years are thus given : —
1846 $444,208
1847 156.173
1848 822,729
Labourers' wages at Hawaii are from six to twelve and a-half cents per day ;
at Waiheka, labourers' wages are from two to three cents a day. Several
of the islanders' wages range from four to twelve cents a day.
At Hawaii, Joseph Gardner, an American, has erected a woollen factory, in
company with the Governor of Kania. Mr. G. has charge of the government
sheep, and has the wool and some other perquisites for his trouble. He also
makes cotton fabrics, blankets and girting. Cotton can be grown in the district.
The plantation of Rhodes & Co., on the same island, raised 20,000 lbs. of
coffee last year.
REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF EMIGRATION.
The following is an abstract of the Report of the Commissioners of Emigra-
tion, which was presented to the Legislature of New York. — {Courier and Enq )
* Charges have recently been preferred against this gentleman for an abuse of the public
funds.
110
Quarterly Register and Magazine.
[March,
The number of passengers arrived at the port of New York during the year
1848, for whom commutation and hospital money was paid, was 189,176, of
whom were:
Natives of Ireland, ..... 98,0G1
Natives of Germany, .... 51,973
Natives of other countries, .... 39,142—189,176
Statement of vessels with emigrants that have arrived at the port of New York
in the year 1848, together with the number of sick, deaths, and births, &c. :
Nation of vessel.
No.
Passengers.
Sick.
Deaths.
Births.
American,
.
.
531
116,009
1,094
477
179
liritish,
.
.
341
60,022
1,830
414
120
German, .
.
,
125
14,873
127
78
47
French,
.
.
14
1.548
1
7
2
Belgian, .
.
10
1,431
3
9
1
Sweden, Norway,
and D
snm.
20
1,626
24
17
6
Total, .... 1,041 195,509 3,079 1,002 346
The following table shows the number of passengers which have arrived here
from different ports in Europe :
rom Ireland, .
98,961
From Germany,
51,973
" England, .
23,061
tt
Scotland, .
6,415
" France,
2,734
t<
Wales,
1,054
" Spain,
254
"
Switzerland,
1,622
» Holland, .
1,560
"
Norway, .
i;207
" Sweden, .
'165
ft
West Indies,
'399
" Portugal, .
57
u
Italy,
321
" Poland, .
79
"
Denmark,
52
" South America,
31
u
Russia, .
28
" Mexico, .
12
cc
China,
1
" Greece,
1
Total, .' .
. 189,176
Place of birth unknown. The place of nativity of many of the persons admit-
ted at the Marine Hospital from ship-board, and of those who have become
chargeable in other counties than New York, cannot be ascertained. Of those
applying and relieved at the office of the commissioners, being, in all, 16,820;
12,261 were Irish, 4,157 Germans, and 399 others.
The temporary relief granted to 6.640 persons, consisted principally of a sup-
per and night's lodging, and in some instances it was allowed to parties in their
dwellings, when they were too sick to be removed to the Hospital.
Of the passengers having paid commutation and hospital money, there were
admitted —
AT THE MARINE HOSPITAL, STATEN ISLAND :
From ship-board, ..... 3,944
Sent from the city, ..... 4,617 — 8,561
AT THE EMIGRANTS' REFUGE, WARD ? S ISLAND.
Sent from the city, . . . . 3,491
Children born in the institution, . . . 197—3,688
There were received at the office of the fund :
At private hospitals, ..... 282
At city hospital, lunatic asylum, &c, . - . .' 144
At Bedlow's island, ..... 46
And there were temporarily relieved :
At the office of the commissioners, .... 6,640
Sent to various sections of the country, . . . 2,102
1849.] Statistics. — Religious. Ill
RELIGIOUS ITExMS.
The French national assembly have decreed, unanimously, that " no
employer shall be allowed to compel his men to work on Sunday."
The sultan of Turkey has taken a great stride in religious toleration, having
issued a decree according to Christians the privilege of attaining the highest
dignities, even that of pacha and vizier.
The London Christian Times, in contrasting the quiet of Great Britain with
the agitated state of the continent says : —
Our people are largely under the influence of the Bible, millions reverence
the Sabbath and assemble for worship. Forty thousand protestant pastors
are engaged every Sabbath. Hundreds of thousands of Sabbath-school
teachers go forth to their work; Scripture readers and benevolent visiters in
endless variety of ways, are pressing on the religious movements. The reli-
gious aspect of the country is such, the religious elements at work are so
effective, acceptable, and growing in the midst of us, that we do not look
forward to the future with alarm.
Missions in Oregon. — Rev. Wm. Roberts, formerly of Newark, N. J. ; is
the superintendent of the Methodist missions, which embrace six mission-
aries, and twelve or fifteen local preachers. There are two Presbyterian
churches and one Congregational, with seven clergymen: the Baptists have
two ministers and churches, the Cumberland Presbyterians three, the Seceders
two, the Campbellites one, and the Catholic priests are numerous.
Rev. G. H. Atkinson and lady, sent out to Oregon in 1848, by the A. H. M.
S., arrived out in June last. He was received with great kindness at Fort
Vancouver, by the British agent and officers, and was most cordially wel-
comed by the people in the Wahlah-math Valley. Rev. Mr. Clark, who went
out several years since, had formed small churches in different neighbour-
hoods, but they had never enjoyed presbyterian or congregational preaching.
The church at Oregon city, or falls of the Wahlah-math and some adjacent
settlements, immediately demanded Mr. A.'s stated labours.
The American Tract Society, during the month of January, issued upwards
of two millions, six hundred thousand pages of books and tracts, for gratuitous
distribution. The committee have granted upwards of a million of pages to
vessels bound for California.
Episcopal Church in U. S.— Clergy in 1835, 763; 1838. 951.; 1S41, 1,052;
1844, 1.216; 1847, 1,438; 1850, perhaps 1,700.
Communicants: 1835, 36,416; 1838,49,930; 1841,55,477; 1844.72,099; 1847,
84,208; 1850, near 100,000.
During the last twelve years, the number of communicants has increased
one hundred and thirty per cent., and doubled in nine years. The number of
the clergy doubled in little more than twelve years.
The Lutheran Church. — There are now in the United States thirty synods
of the Lutheran church, five of which are in Pennsylvania. The first synod
—the synod of Pennsylvania, was established in 1647; the next— the synod
of New York, in 1785; and the third— the synod of North Carolina, in 1802.
Of the thirty synods, fifteen only are connected with the general synod. The
whole embraces six hundred and sixty-three ministers, sixteen hundred and
four churches, two hundred thousand communicants, and a population of one
million.
American Colleges.— Mr. Riddel, as secretary of the American Education
society, stated that the present number of colleges in the United States was
one hundred and eighteen; the number of their students, under-graduates, in
112 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
regular classes, ajbout ten thousand; but including those in preparatory and
professional studies, from twelve thousand to fifteen thousand.
The number of graduates from New England colleges, the last year, was
four hundred and twelve; which, added to those graduated from forty leading
colleges beyond New England, whose numbers had been ascertained, would
make one thousand one hundred and eighty-nine.
There had been religious revivals in ten of these colleges, the past year;
all of which, it was stated, seemed to have their beginning in near connexion
with the day set apart for special devotional services in their behalf. In
Madison college, (Ind.) the numberof conversions had been upwardsof seventy.
There had entered the ministry but one hundred and eighty-six, the past
year, from eleven of the principal theological schools.
The City of Churches. — This cognomen has often been applied to Brook-
lyn. With a population of sixty thousand in 1846, there were of churches.
Protestant Episcopal, twelve; Methodist Episcopal, twelve; Presbyterian,
eight; Roman Catholic, four; Baptist, four; Dutch Reformed, four; Congrega-
tional, four; Unitarian, one; Universalist, one; Friends, one; German Evan-
gelical, two; Sailor's Bethel, one. Total fifty-three, nearly two to one to New
York in point of population.
Missions to California. — A missioflary has been despatched to California,
by the domestic committee of Church missions. He takes with him his wife
and four children. Several missionaries have gone to California, sent by
other missionary boards, and Rev. F. S. Mines, of the Episcopal Church, has
recently embarked.
Two missionaries and seventy emigrants, have lately sailed from Baltimore
for Liberia.
The London Church Missionary Society has several prosperous missions in
Western Africa. The station of Regent is one of much promise; the village
contains about one thousand five hundred inhabitants, who have been almost
wholly redeemed from paganism. The church numbers four hundred and
eight communicants, besides a large number of candidates.
Donation to the Cause of Peace, from the Sandwich Islands. — c The
native church at Hilo,' Sandwich Islands, has just transmitted through their
pastor, a donation of one hundred dollars to the American Peace society, accom-
panied with a letter expressive of their deep interest in the object to which
the society is devoted.
Peter-Pence. — A movement is making amongst Roman Catholics to renew
this offering to the pope. The Tablet thus urges it :
"No partial subscription amongst the affluent will effectively re-organize
this ancient practice of the faithful ; the people, poor, as well as rich, all must
contribute the 'penny;' not in England, only, but in Scotland; and, where
practicable, even in poor Ireland. This universality of the Peter-pence will
alone give it permanence, and afford a glorious example to the Catholic world.'
IS49.] Statistics. — Climate and Weather. 113
CLIMATE OF EUROPE IN OLDEN TIMES, AND THE COLD WINTERS
OF THE LAST CENTURY.
Those who have read the ancient accounts with attention, conclude that the
degrees of cold are at this time much less severe than they were formerly.
The rivers in Gaul, namely, the Loire and the Rhone, were regularly frozen
over every year, so that frequently whole armies, with their carriages and bag-
gage, couid march over them. Even the Tiber froze at Rome; and Juvenal says
positively that it was requisite to break the ice in winter, in order to come at
the water of the river. Many passages in Horace suppose the streets at Rome
to be full of ice and snow. Ovid assures us that the Black Sea was frozen
annually, and appeals for the truth of this to the governor of the province,
whose name he mentions. He also relates several circumstances concerning
that climate, which & present agree only with Norway and Sweden. The
forests of Thrace and Pannonia were full of bears and wild boars, in like man-
ner as now the forests of the north. The northern part of Spain was little in-
habited, from the same cause. In short, all the ancients who mention the cli-
mate of Gaul, Germany, Pannonia, and Thrace, speak of it as insupportable,
and agree that the ground was covered with snow the greatest part of the
year, being incapable of producing olives, grapes, and most other fruits. In
1664 the cold was so intense that the Thames was covered with ice sixty-one
inches thick. Almost all the birds perished.
In 1691 the cold was so excessive that the famished wolves entered Vienna
and attacked beasts, and even men. Many people in Germany were frozen
to death in 1695, and the winters of 1697 and 1699 were nearly as bad.
In 1709 occurred that famous winter called, by distinction, the cold winter.
All the rivers and lakes were frozen, and even the sea for several miles from
the shore. The ground was frozen nine feet deep. Birds and beasts were
struck dead in the fields, and men perished by thousands in their houses.
In the south of France the wine plantations were almost all destroyed; nor
have they yet recovered that fatal disaster. The Adriatic sea was frozen, and
even the Mediterranean about Genoa, and the citron and orange groves suf-
fered extremely in the finest parts of Italy.
In 1716 the winter was so intense that people travelled across the strait?
from Copenhagen to the opposite coast, in Sweden.
In 1729, in Scotland, multitudes of cattle and sheep were buried in the snow.
In 1740 the winter was scarcely inferior to that of 1709. The snow lay ten
feet deep in Spain and Portugal. The Zuyder Zee was fiozen over, and thou-
sands of people went over it. The lakes in England froze.
In 1744 the winter was very cold. Snow fell in Portugal to the depth of
23 feet on a level.
In 1754 and 1755 the winters were very severe and cold. In England the
strongest ale, exposed to the air in a glass, was covered in 15 minutes with
ice one-eighth of an inch thick.
In 1771 the Elbe was frozen to the bottom.
In 1776 the Danube bore ice five feet deep below Vienna. Vast numbers
of the feather and finny tribes perished.
The winters of 1784 and 5 were uncommonly severe. The Little Belt was
fiozen over.
The winter of 1780 was intensely severe in America. New York Bay was
frozen over so that people passed on the ice from the city to Staten Island.
114 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
METEOROLOGICAL TABLE FOR THE YEAR 1848.
The folio wine: is a table showing the range of the thermometer in Wall
street, for the first, middle, and last day of each month of the year 1848, in
comparison -with the year 1847 ; —
(
6
1 o
12
3
1
6
6
12
3
6
A.M.
M.
P.M.
P.M.
A.M.
ill
P.M.
P.M.
January,
. 1
. 48
54
46
53
42
57
61
56
15
. 42
46
46
46
36
46
48
42
31
. 36
47
49
45
22
28
32
29
February,
1
15
. 27
. 29
35
41
38
44
35
41
30 .
32
34
45
34
50
34
46
29
. 36
45
43
37
35
38
40
37
March,
. 1
. 27
35
55
31
29
37
38
34
15
. 15
26
28
24
29
42
42
37
31
. 49
69
69
61
34
40
40
36
April,
. 1
. 57
53
62
54
26
37
41
37
15
. 41
57
63
58
44
52
56
51
30
. 50
59
60
57
50
65
66£
63
May,
, 1
. 47
67
61
58
43
55
61
54
15
. 53
69
69
67
56
69
71
67
31
. 58
66
66
64
57
58
58
56
June,
. 1
. 53
65
67
66
56
71
74
69
15
. 69
83
86
82
52
68
66
63
' 30
. 73
84
84
82
65
75
74
74
July,
. 1
. 77
85
86
77
68
78
79
77
15
. 74
83
84
83
69
80
83
78
31
. 70
80
83
78
74
79
82
90
August,
. 1
. 62
82
83
81
74
81
78
73
15
. 76
86
87
84
69
77
80
76
31
. 71
83
87
81
69
79
83
78
September,
. 1
15
. 76
. 66
82
78
84
76
79
68
69
53
78
64
82
67
74
63
30
. 64
74
75
69
57
63
68
63
October,
. l
. 67
73
70
66
58
64
67
67
15
. 54
67
69
75
45
53
54
54
31
. 58
66
63
59
49
60
60
57
November,
1
. 46
57
58
54
53
63
64
59
15
. 42
50
53
50
46
55
55
53
30
. 45
56
56
50
16
26
28
27
December.
. 1
. 41
44
44
43
33
44
45
44
15
. 48
52
54
52
59
59
57
51
30
. 32
37
38
32
42
50
51
50
On the 11th of January. 1848, the thermometer stood at 8°, which was the
coldest day of the latter, being the 22d of January, when the thermometer stood
at 13°. The warmest day of the year 1848 was the 27th of July, when the
thermometer stood at 92°, which was one degree cooler than the warmest day
of 1847, the thermometer having stood on the 18th of July, at 93°.— N. Y.
Herald. .
1849.]
Statistics. — California.
115
EMIGRATION AND EXPORTS TO CALIFORNIA.
As a record of the movement to California within the past quarter, we present
statements of the vessels and passengers that have gone from ports of the United
States within the months of December and January, and also of the supplies,
merchandise, &c, shipped within the same period from New York. The per-
fect accuracy of these statements we do not vouch for. They are from the N. Y.
Herald and the" Tribune, and are probably near the truth; but still they only par-
tially exhibit the rush of adventurers to the Pacific coast in search of gold.
Thousands besides have gone by different routes, and from other countries.
On a subsequent page we have given some account of our new possessions in
the west, and of the routes to them.
List of vessels which have sailed from various ports of the United States
to Chagres and other ports,
for California
since Dec. 7,
1848.— {He-
raid.)
Vessels.
Passengers.
Where from.
Sailed.
Steamer Orus
50
New York,
Dec. 12
" Crescent City .
130
"
Dec. 13
Isthmus
60
"
Dec. 25
" Falcon
227
(<
Feb. 1
" Crescent City .
305
"
Feb. 5
Ship Florence
10
"
Dec. 14
" Sutton .
50
ic
Dec. 29
" Chris. Columbus .
30
"
Jan. 6
" B. T. Bartlett
65
M
Jan. 6
" Albany .
66
"
Jan. 9
" Brooklyn
167
t(
Jan. 12
" Tarolinta
130
II
Jan. 14
" Apollo ....
66
II
Jan. 16
" Pacific .
100
ti
Jan. 23
" South Carolina
163
"
Jan. 24
" Montreal
8
(<
Jan. 25
" Tahmaroo
160
"
Jan. 25
" Rose
38
"
Jan. 25
" Orpheus
174
"
Jan. 30
" Panama
160
"
Feb. 4
" Daniel Webster
58
"
Feb. 5
" Robert Bowne
175
«
Feb. 5
" Clarissa Perkins
127
"
Feb. 7
" George Washington
99
»
Feb. 8
Bark John Benson,
60
"
Dec. 11
" Neumpha
81
"
Dec. 24
" Express
25
"
Jan. 2
" Ocean Bird .
10
«
Jan. 2
" Harriet Newell
20
c<
Jan. 10
" Croton .
50
"
Jan. 14
" Peytona
18
«
Jan. 16
" Rolla .
23
II
Jan. 16
" Madonna
6
ii
Jan. 16
" Eugenia
134
11
Jan. 16
116
Quarterly Register and Magazine.
[March,,
Vessels.
Passengers.
Where from.
Sailed.
Bark Hersilia
59
New York,
Jan. 20
" Mazeppa
28
"
Jan. 23
" Templeton
50
"
Jan. 24
" Mary Suiart .
12
"
Jan. 27
" Victory* .
19
i<
Jan. 27
" Philip Hone .
60 '
tc
Jan. 27
« Azim
48
ic
Jan. 27
" Mara
155
"
Jan. 31
" Bonna Allele .
68
"
Feb. 2
" Ann Welch .
67
"
Feb. 2
" Strafford
101
a
Feb. 3
" Isabel .
47
U
Feb. 7
Brig Mary Rennel
10
(i
Jan. 2
" Newcastle
10
" ■
Jan. 4
" D. Henshaw .
15
"
Jan. 7
" George Henry
10
"
Jan. 10
Henrico
20
u
Jan. 10
" Orbit , . Coi
npany of 35
"
Jan. 13
" Isabel .
20
tc
Jan. 14
" John Enders .
40
it
Jan. 18
" Georgiana
13
u
Jan. 18
" A. Emory
47
•'
Jan. 25
" Sarah McFarland .
41
il
Jan. 28
*f Cordelia
57
"
Jan. 30
" Eudora .
48
"
Jan. 30
" Columbus
22
"
Feb. 3
Schooner Anthem, Wd Min
. co. 10
"
Jan. 13
Olivia
20
a
Jan. 16
" Samuel Roberts
. . 7
"
Jan. 16
" Rawson .
8
((
Jan. 20
" Decatur .
29
"
Jan. 27
" Laura Virginin .
26
«
Jan. 29
" John W. Castnor
88
K
Jan. 29
" Empire .
15
"
Feb. 1
» Sea Witch
9
a
Feb. 1
Ship Edward Everett
150
Boston
Jan. 12
« Capitol .
195
"
Jan. 24
" Pharsalia
150
"
Jan. 25
" Corsair .
112
(4
Jan. 31
" Drummond
47
"
Feb. 1
" Leonore
100
«'
Feb. 3
Bark J. W. Coffin .
4
"
Dec. 7
" Carib .
11
"
Dec. 31
" Elvira .
12
•'
Jan. 6
" Maria .
22
"
Jan. 10
" Josephine . Co
mpany 30
"
Jan. 10
" Oxford .
63
"
Jan. 12
" Rochelle
46
"
Feb. 3
1849.] Statist
ics. — Cal{
fornia.
117
Vessels.
Passengers.
Where from.
Sailed.
Brig Josephine
32
Boston,
Dec. 24
" Mary Wilder
49
u
Dec. 26
" Almena
29
it
Dec. 26
" Saltillo .
12
«
Dec. 26
" Forest .
45
«
Jan. 11
" Attila .
42
M
Jan. 12
" North Bend .
31
»
Jan. 15
" Acadia .
16
II
Feb. 3
Naumkeag Mut. Trad, co
20
"
Jan. 15
Schooner Anonyma
3
"
Jan. 17
" Boston
30
it
Jan. 25
Ship Louisiana
40
Philadelphia,
Dec. 20
" Gray Eagle .
36
"
Jan. 18
Brig Oniota .
17
a
Jan. 11
" Osceola
65
"
Jan. 16
" Marion .
8
l<
Jan. 21
Ship Gray Hound .
56
Baltimore,
Jan. 10
" Jane Parker .
80
"
Jan. 25
" Xylon .
140
II
Feb. 3
Bark Paoli .
5
"
Jan. 11
" Hebe .
7
«
Feb. 3
" John Potter .
13
II
Feb. 6
Brig Bathurst
12
«
Feb. 6
Schooner Eclipse .
8
II
Jan. 11
" Sovereign
40
tt
Jan. 17
Steamer Falcon
200
New Orleans,
Dec. —
" Telegraph
5
"
Jan. 12
" Fanny
214
"
Jan. 14
Ship Architect
63
it
Jan. 18
Bark Florida
7
n
Jan. 14
Schooner Macon
60
«
Dec. 10
" Othello .
67
Charleston,
Ship Mary and Adeline .
212
Norfolk,
Dec. 27
Brig John Petty
14
"
Jan. 10
Ship Aurora .
31
Nantucket,
Jan. 11
— Plymouth and Cal. Min.
co. 50
Plymouth,
Jan. 16
Ship Magnolia
87
New Bedford,
Feb. 1
Bark Dimon .
55
u
Schooner Favourite
8
«
Dec. 13
" Pomona .
17
"
Suliote
50
Belfast, Me.
Jan. 28
Brig Charlotte
43
Newburyport,
Jan. 23
" Pauline .
30
Charlestown,
Jan. 13
Schooner Montague
47
New Haven,
Jan. 24
Brig Sterling .
10
Salem,
Dec. 30
" Eliza .
37
M
Jan. 27
" Mentor .
57
New London,
Jan. 31
Schooner Mary Taylor .
10
«
Jan. 13
VOL. II. — MARCH, 1849.
9
US
Quarterly Register and Magazine.
[March,
Vessels.
Passengers.
Where from.
Sailed.
Schooner Velasco .
.
38
New London,
Jan. 25
Odd Fellow .
.
22
«
Feb. 2
Ship Trescott
50
Mystic,
Jan. 24
Brig J. Goodhue .
.
5
Eastport,
Jan. 17
Ship Hopewell
.
105
Warren, R. I.
Jan. 29
California Overland Assoc.
300
Buffalo,
Jan. 20
Ship Sabina .
67
Sag Harbor,
Feb. 8
From N. York — In steamers 772
" In ships 1,846
" In barks 1,141
" In brigs 388
" In schooners 212
Total
From Boston — In ships
" In barks
" In brigs
In schooners
Total
From Philadelphia-
Total
-In ships
In brig
06
From Baltimore — In ships 276
" In barks 25
" In brigs 12
" In schooners 48
Total
From N. Orleans-
Total
From other ports
Making a total of
361
■In steamers 419
In ships 63
In barks 7
In sch'rs 60
549
1,412
8,098
CALIFORNIA EXPORTS.
We have been greatly edified concerning the character of the supplies taken
out to the gold region by emigrants from this port, by the following table, which
we copy from the Dry Goods Reporter. We know not whether the goods were
selected according to the wants of the gold hunters, or the expected demand of
residents in California, but certainly the proportionate amount of different articles
taken is curious, if not characteristic. Thus, it will be seen that 819 barrels of
rum, and 601 of brandy, were taken, and seven packages of book3 ! — 873 gold
washers, and 47 ploughs — 1 case of musical instruments, and 254 packages of me-
dicine — 38 boxes of pipes, and 3 hogsheads, 17 bales/and 992 packages of to-
bacco — 1 cases of umbrellas, and 24 casks of crucibles — 21 frames of houses, and
64 packages of clocks. But here is the list, embracing the exports to California
from this port, from Dec. 1, 1848, to Feb. 1, 1849 :— (2V~. Y. Tribune.)
Fish, dried .
" pickled
Lamp oil
Naval stores
Shingles
Boards .
Joist
Lumber
Frames of houses
Wooden ware
" boats
Spars .
pkgs
567
Carts and wagons
No
76
bbls
449
Scows .
No
7
bbls
31
Wheelbarrows
, No
214
bbls
319
F. Matches .
pkgs
89
11
Ladders
No
2
' No
4,009
Corn shellers
No
23
No
260
Lumber
pieces
2,887
feet
248
Clocks .
packages
64
No
21
Beef .
bbls
711
pkgs
240
Pork .
bbls
2,913
No
16
Hams . hhds 4,
cts 8, bales
94
No
5
Lard .
kegs
197
L849.]
Statistics. — California.
119
Butter . . . hhd
3 and bbls
186
Boots and shoes .
cases
Cheese
boxes
408
Soap
boxes
Flour .
bbls
3,988
Candles
boxes
Corn meal .
bbls
1,376
Manufactured tobacco
pkgs
Bran .
bbls
513
Linseed oil .
bbls
Bread .
bbls
2,792
Spirits of Turpentine
bbls
Dried apples
bbls
219
Rope .
coils
Rice .
pkgs
394
Iron bars
tons
Furniture
■ pkgs
285
"
bdls
Hats .
pkgs
40
" sheet .
pkgs
Saddlery
pkgs
61
" castings
pes
Gridirons, spiders
bdls
409
" nails .
kegs
Road scraper
1
" safes
No
Cement
" lbs
20
" boats .
No
Sieves .
pkgs
230
Shovels and spades
bdls
Copper
cases
3
Picks, hoes, and axes
bdls
Jewelry
cases
1
Steel .
bxs
Umbrellas .
cases
4
Iron bars
No
Hammocks .
bndls
12
Hardware
pkgs
Watches
pkgs
1
Iron bedsteads
Perfumery .
pkgs
11
Stoves .
Ploughs
47
Axe handles
'bdls
Iron springs
cases
17
Gunpowder .
kegs
Demijohns .
140
Portable forges
No
India Rubber goods
cases
83
Gold washers
.
Grindstones
81
Crucibles
cks
Silks .
cases
21
Crowbars
Saleratus
cks
35
Screws .
cks
Pipes .
bxs
38
Tin ware
pkgs
Coal .
tons
29
Do. plates
bxs
Hops
bales
4
Soda water .
cases
Tobacco
bales
17
Dry Goods .
pkgs
Provisions .
tons
2
Clothing
pkgs
Preserved meats .
cases
33
Blankets
pkgs
Paints .
. kegs
647
Billiard Table
Books .
pkgs
7
Lace
cases
Plated ware .
pkgs
(5
Diaper
cases
Pictures
cases
2
Linens
cases
Spices .
pkgs
22
Carpetings .
cases
Cigars .
bxs
341
Drills .
cases
Pickles
pkc;s
168
Shirtings
cases
Vinegar
bbls
178
Prints .
cases
Bricks
25,000
Tobacco
hhds
Carbines
cases
12
Pots .
No
Dried fruits .
44
Lead .
pigs
Salt . . bbls
ind sacks
10]
Glass .
pkgs
Leather
bndls
21
Crockery
pkgs
Lamps .
cks
11
Looking glasses .
cases
Starch . .
bxs
73
Guns .
cases
Preserved fruits .
bxs
25
Bellows
No
Beer !
bbls
55
Anvils .
" bd
doz
135
Shot .
bags
Cider, bd
doz
66
Medicines
pkgs
"...
bbls
272
Paper .
pkgs
Gin
bbls
189
Stationery .
pkgs
Whiskey
bbls
460
Burlaps
bxs
Rum
bbls
819
Cloth .
bxs
" .
. kegs
1,167
Sewing Silk .
cases
Brandy
kegs
227
Duck .
bolts
Brandy
bbls
601
Fancy Goods
pkgs
120
Quarterly Register and Magazine.
[March,
Lamp wick .
bs
14
Sardines
cases
1
Copper stills
2
Napkins
cases
I
Cauldrons
3
Sugar .
bbls
220
Quicksilver .
jars
4
" refined
pkgs
215
Wine, claret
cases
225
Sarsaparilla .
cases
12
champaigne
bkts
550
Musical instruments
cases
1
il madeira
cks
119
Molasses
cks
138
i£ other
cks
272
Almonds
bales
20
Cf a
cases
318
Tea .
pkgs
202
Cordials
cases
92
Coffee . . * . bag?
and bbls
105
Olive oil
cases
371
As merchandise .
pkgs
18,754
PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES FROM THE ADOPTION
OF THE CONSTITUTION.
Term began.
April 30, 1789,
March 4, 1797,
March 4, 1801,
March 4, 1809,
March 4, 1817,
March 4, 1825,
March 4, 1829,
March 4, 1837,
March 4, 1841,
April 4, 1841,
March 4, 1845,
March 4, 1849,
THE LATE EXECUTIVE GOVERNMENT,
(which retired from office march 3, 1849.)
JAMES K. POLK, of Tennessee, President.
George M. Dallas, of Pennsylvania, Vice President.
1.
George Washington,
Virginia,
2.
John Adams,
Massachusetts
3.
Thomas Jefferson,
Virginia,
4.
James Madison,
Virginia,
5.
James Munroe,
Virginia,
G.
John Quincy Adams,
Massachusetts,
7.
Andrew Jackson,
Tennessee.
8.
Martin Van Buren,
New York,
9.
* William Henry Harrison
, Ohio,
10.
John Tyler,
Virginia,
11.
James Knox Polk.
Tennessee,
IS.
Zachary Taylor,
Louisiana,
Term ended.
March 3,
1797.
March 3,
1801
March 3,
1809
March 3,
1817
March 3,
1825
March 3,
1829
March 3,
1837
March 3,
1841
*April 4,
1841
March 3,
1845
March 3,
1849
James Buchanan,
Robert J. Walker,
William L. Marcy,
John Y. Mason,
Cave Johnson,
Isaac Toucey,
THE CABINET.
Pennsylvania,
Mississippi,
New York,
Virginia,
Tennessee,
Connecticut,
Secretary of State.
Secretary of the Treasury.
Secretary of War.
Secretary of the Navy.
Postmaster General.
Attorney General.
THE PRESENT EXECUTIVE GOVERNMENT.
ZACHARY TAYLOR, of Louisiana, President.
Millard Fillmore, of New York, Vice President.
John M. Clayton,
William M. Meredith,
George W. Crawford,
William B. Preston,
Thomas Ewing,
Jacob Collamer,
Reverdy Johnson,
THE CABINET.
of Delaware,
of Pennsylvania,
of Georgia,
of Virginia
of Ohio,
of Vermont,
of Maryland,
Secretary of State.
Secretary of the Treasury.*
Secretary of War.
Secretary of the Navy.
Secretary of the Home Department, f
Postmaster General.
Attorney General.
*Died in office.
t A department for the interior, embracing the Patent Office, Land Office, coast
swrvey, &c, recently organized.
1S49.]
Statistics. — Thirty -first Congress.
121
THIRTY-FIRST CONGRESS.
The present Senate of the United States is constituted as folio
President — Millard Fillmore.
Alabama. Term.
Benjamin Fitzpatrick, 1853
Uncertain, 1855
Arkansas.
Wm. K. Sebastian, 1853
Solon Borland, 1855
Connecticut.
Roger S. Baldwin, 1851
Truman Smith, 1855
Delaware.
John Wales, 1851
Presby Spruance, 1853
Florida.
David Y. Yulee, 1851
Jackson Morton, 1855
Georgia.
John M. Berrien, 1853
Wm. C. Dawson, 1855
Indiana.
Jesse D. Bright, 1851
James Whitcomb, F. S. 1855
Illinois.
Stephen A. Douglass, 1853
James Shields,* 1855
Iowa.
George W. Jones, 1851
Augustus C. Dodge, 1855
Kentucky.
Joseph R. Underwood, 1853
Henry Clay, 1855
Louisiana.
Solomon U. Downs, 1853
Pierre Soule, 1855
Maine.
Hannibal Hamlin, 1851
James W. Bradbury, 1853
Massachusetts.
Daniel Webster, 1851
John Davis, 1853
Maryland.
Benjamin C. Howard, 1851
James A. Pearce, 1855
Mississippi,
Jefterson Davis, 1851
Henry S. Foote, 1853
* Now vacant — Gen. Shields declared ineligible.
Michigan.
Term.
Lewis Cass,
1851
Alpheus Felch,
1855
Missouri.
Thomas H. Benton,
1851
David R. Atchison,
1855
New Hampshire.
John P. Hale, F. S.
1853
Moses Norris, Jr.
1855
New York.
Daniel S. Dickinson,
1851
William H. Seward,
1855
New Jersey.
William L. Dayton,
1851
Jacob W\ Miller,
1853
North Carolina.
Willie P. Mangnm,
1853
George E. Badger,
1855
Ohio.
Thomas Corwin,
1851
S. P. Chase, F. S.
1855
Pennsylvania.
Daniel Sturgeon,
1851
James Cooper,
1855
Rhode Island.
Albert C. Green,
1851
John H. Clark,
1853
South Carolina.
John C. Calhoun,
1853
A. P. Butler,
1855
Tennessee.
Hopkins L. Turney,
1851
John Bell,
1853
Texas.
Thomas J. Rusk,
1851
Samuel Houston,
1853
Vermont.
Samuel S. Phelps,
1851
William Upham,
1853
Virginia.
James M. Mason,
1851
Robert M. T. Hunter,
1853
Wisconsin.
Henry Dodge,
1851
Isaac P. Walker>
1855
122
Quarterly Register and Magazine.
[March,
The following is the list of all the members of the House of Representa-
tives tliat have'yet been elected.
(Whigs in italics.)
Dist. Arkansas.
New York.
1 — Robert W. Johnson.
1 — John A. King.
Georgia.
2— David A. Bokee.
1_ Thomas B. King.
3 — J. Philips Phoenix.
2— M. J. Welborn.
4 — Walter Under hill.
3— Allen T. Owen.
5 — George Briggs.
4 — H. A. Haralson.
6 — James Brooks,
5_Thomas C. Hackett.
7 — William Nelson.
6_Howell Cobb.
8 — R. Hcdloway.
7 — Alex. H. Stephens.
9 — Thomas M'Kissock.
8 — Robert Toombs.
10 — Herman D. Gould.
Illinois.
ll—C.R. Sylvester.
1— Wm. H. Bissell.
12 — Gideon 0. Reynolds.
2 — John A. M'Clernand.
13 — John L. Sehoolscraji.
3 — Thomas R. Young.
14 — George R. Andrews.
4 — John Wentworth.
15— J. R. Thurman.
5 — Wm. A. Richardson.
16— Hugh White.
6— Edward D. Baker.
17— H. P. Alexander.
7 — Thomas L. Harris.
18— Preston King, F. S.
Iowa.
19— Charles E. Clarke.
1 — Wm. Thompson,,
20— 0. B. Mattison.
2— Shepherd Leffler.
21 — Hiram Walden.
Maine.
22 — Henry Burnett.
1 — Elbridge Gerry.
23— William Duer.
2— Nathaniel S. Littlefield.
24— Daniel Gott.
3 — John Otis.
25— Harmon S. Conger.
4 — Rufus K. Goodenow.
26— W. T. Jackson.
5— Cullen Sawtelle.
27— W. A. Sackett.
6 — Charles Stetson.
28 — A. 71/. Schermerhorn .
7— Thos. J. D. Fuller.
29— Rob't. L. Rose.
Massachusetts.
30— David Rumsey.
1 — Robt. C. Winthrop.
3\—E. Risley.
2— Daniel P. King.
32 — E. G. Spaulding.
3 — James H. Duncan.
33 — Harvey Putnam.
4 — No choice.
34 — L. Burrows.
5_ Charles Men, F. S.
South Carolina.
6 — George Ashmun.
1 — Daniel Wallace.
7 — Julius Rockwell.
2— J. L. Orr.
8 — Horace Mann.
3 — J. A. Woodward.
9 — Orin Fowler.
4 — James M'Queen.
10 — Joseph Grinnell.
5 — Armistead Burt.
New Jfrsky.
6 — Isaac E. Holmes.
1 — Andrew R. Hay.
7— W. F. Colcook.
2—Wm. A. Ne we'll.
Wisconsin.
3 — Isaac Wildrick.
l_Charles Durkee, F. S.
4 — John Van Dyke.
2 — Orsamus Cole.
3 — James G. King.
3 — James D. Doty.
1849.] Statistics. — Present House of Representatives. 123
Ohio.
1 — David T. Disney.
2—L. D. Campbell, F. S.
3— R. C. Schenck. *
4 — Moses B. Corwin.
5 — Emery D. Potter.
6 — Rodolphus Dickinson.
7— Jonathan D. Morris.
8 — John L. Taylor.
9— Edson B. Olds.
10 — Charles Sweetzer.
1 1— John K. Miller.
12 — Samuel F. Vinton.
13— W. A. Whittlesey.
14 — Nathan Evans.
15— Wm. F. Hunter, F. S.
16 — Moses Hoagland.
17 — Joseph Cable.
18— David K. Carter.
19— John Crowell, F. S.
20— Jos. R. Giddings, F. S.
21— Joseph M. Root, F. S.
Vermont.
1 — Wm. Henry.
2 — Wm. Hebard.
3— Geo. P. Marsh.
4— L. B. Peck.
Delaware.
1 — John W. Houston.
Michigan.
1_A. W. Buel.
2 — William Sprague, F. S.
3— R. S. Bingham.
Missouri.
1 — James B. Bowlin.
2-Wm. V. N. Bay.
3 — James S. Green.
4— Willard P. HalL
5— John S. Phelps.
Pennsylvania.
1 — Lewis C. Levin.
2— Jos. R. Chandler.
3 — Henry D. Moore.
4 — John Robbins, Jr.
5 — John Freedly.
6— Thos. Ross.
7 — Jesse C. Dickey.
8 — Thaddeus Stevens.
9— Wm. Strong.
10— M. M. Dimmick.
11 — Chester Butler.
12— David Wilmot, F. S.
13 — Joseph Casey.
14 — Charles W. Pitman.
15 — Henry Nes.
16— Jas. X. M'Lanahan.
17 — Samuel Calvin.
18 — Ji. Jackson Ogle.
19— Job Mann.
20—/?. R. Reed.
21 — Moses Hampton.
22— John W. Howe, F. S.
23 — James Thompson.
24— Alfred Gilmore.
Florida.
1— E. C. Cabell.
congressional elect
[ONS YET TO
BE HELD IN THE SEVERA
L STATES.
Alabama,
Aug. 6
Mississippi, .
. Nov. 5
Connecticut, .
.
Apr. 2
New Hampshire, .
. June 6
Indiana,
Aug. 6
North Carolina,
. Aug. 2
Iowa, .
, .
Aug. 6
Rhode Island,
. Apr. 4
Kentucky,
.
Aug. 6
Tennessee, .
. Aug. 2
Louisiana,
.
Nov. 5
Texas,
. Nov. 5
Mass. (1
vacancy)
-
Virginia,
. Apr. 24
Maryland,
Oct. 3
124
Quarterly Register and Magazine.
[March.
ELECTORAL VOTES FOR PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT.
On the 14th of February, 1849 ; the senate and house of representatives of
the United States assembled in joint meeting to ascertain and declare the
electoral vote of the several states, Hon. George M. Dallas, Vice President of
the United States, presiding, the following result was obtained on opening the
certificates:—
List of votes for President and Vice President of the United States for four years,
commencing March 4, 1849.
Cm
For
For
2'd
Si -H
President.
Vice President.
"o ^o
States.
Zachary
liewis Cass,
Millard
William O.
Taylor, of
of
Fillmore, of
Butler of
6 »
is
Louisana.
Michigan.
New York.
Kentucky.
9Maine, .
9
9
6 N. Hampshire, .
6
6
12 Massachusetts, .
12
12
4 Rhode Island, .
4
4
6 Connecticut,
6
6
6 Vermont, .
6
6
36
New York,
36
36
7
New Jersey,
7
7
26
Pennsylvania, .
26
26
3Delaware,
3
3
8 'Maryland,
8
8
17
Virginia, .
17
17
11
9
N. Carolina,
S. Carolina,
11
9
11
9
lOGeorgia, .
10
10
12 Kentucky,
12
12
13 Tennessee,
13
13
230hin,
23
23
6
Louisiana,
6
6
Mississippi,
6
6
6
12
Indiana, .
12
12
9
Illinois, .
9
9
S
Alabama, .
9
9
7'Missouri, .
7
7
3 Arkansas,
3
3
5 ! Michigan,
5
5
3Florida, .
3
3
4 Texas,
4
4
4 Iowa,
4
4
4 Wisconsin,
4
4
29(
1
163
127
163
127
1849.]
Statistics. — Electoral Votes.
125
RECAPITULATION.
Whole number of votes given, 290
Necessary to a choice, 146
Of which for President,
Zachary Taylor, of Louisiana, received, - - - - 163
Lewis Cass, of Michigan, received, 127
290
For Vice President,
Millard Fillmore, of New York, received, ■
William 0. Butler, of Kentucky, received, ■
163
127
290
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS OF 1848 AND 1844.
POPULAR VOTE BY STATES.
-
1848.
1844.
TAYLOR.
CASS.
fiN BDREN.
POLK.
CLAY.
BIRNEY.
Maine
35,125
39,880
12,096
45,719
34,378
4,836
Massachusetts
61,070
35,281
38,058
52,846
67,418
10,860
Rhode Island
6,779
3,646
730
4,867
7,332
Vermont
23,122
10,968
13,837
18,041
26,770
3,954
New Hamp.
14,781
27,763
7,560
27,160
17,866
4,161
Connecticut
30,314
27,046
5,005
29,841
32,832
1,943
New York
218,603
114,312
120,510
237,588
232,482
18,512
New Jersey
40,015
36,901
849
37,495
38,318
Pennsylvania
185,513
171,176
11,263
167,535
161,203
3,138
Maryland
37,702
34,828
125
32,776
35,984
Delaware
6,421
5,898
80
5,996
6,278
Virginia
45,124
46,536
49,570
43,677
N. Carolina
43,519| 34,869)
39,287
43,232
S. Carolina
Electors chosen by the legislature; voted for G
en. Cass.
Alabama
30,482
31,363
37,740
26,084
Georgia
47,544
44,802
44,147
42,100
Louisiana
18,217
15,370
13,782
13,083
Mississippi
25,922
26,537
25,126
19,206
Tennessee
64,705
58,419
59,917
60,030
Kentucky
67,141
49,720
51,988
61,255
Ohio
138,360 154,775
35,354
149,117
155,057
8,050
Indiana
69,907
74,745
8,100
70,181
67,887
2,106
Illinois
53,047
56,300
15,774
57,920
45,528
3,570
Missouri
32,671
40,077
41,324
31,250
Michigan
23,94C
30,687
10,389
27,759
24,337
3,632
Wisconsin
13,747
15,001
10,418
Admitted since 1
344.
Iowa
11,084
12,09c
l,12e
Do. do.
do.
Arkansas
7,588
9,30C
9,546| 5,504
H
Florida
4,53£
3,236
Admitted since 1
844.
1 Texas
3,77C
8,69E
Do. do.
lo.
126 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
(original communications.)
MEMOIR OF GOVERNOR BELCHER.
One of the most distinguished of the provincial governors appointed
for America, during the reign of Charles the Second, was Governor
Belcher, a native of Boston, who was for ten years governor of
Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and afterwards, for nearly as
long a period, governor of New Jersey. Prince, in a strain of adula-
tion, perhaps too common in all times from men of letters to persons
in authority, dedicates to him his Annals; and the celebrated Dr.
Watts, on hearing that Mr. Belcher had been invested by the king
with the government of Massachusetts, addressed to him a poem, con-
cluding in the following strain of panegyric : —
" Go, Belcher, go, assume thy glorious sway;
Faction expires, and Boston longs to obey.
Beneath thy rule may truth and virtue spread,
Divine religion raise aloft her head,
And deal her blessings round. Let India hear
That Jesus reigns, and her wild tribes prepare
For heavenly joys. Thy power shall rule by love ;
So reigns our Jesus in the realms above.
Illustrious pattern ! Let him fix thine eye,
And guide thy hand. He from the worlds on high
Came once an envoy, and returned a king;
The sons of light in throngs their homage bring,
While glory, life, and joy beneath his sceptre spring."
Jonathan Belcher, the only son of the honourable Andrew
Belcher, and grandson of Andrew Belcher, who came from England
in 1640, and settled soon after at Cambridge, was born in Boston, on
the 8th of January, 1682. His father was born in Cambridge, 19th of
January, 1647, and removed to Boston in 1677. He became the most
opulent merchant of his time in Boston, and is mentioned as "an orna-
ment and blessing to his country." He was for some years an assist-
ant of the colony, and was one of the council of safety appointed by
the people on the occasion of the deposition of Andros in 1689. He
was afterwards a member of the council of the province, from May,
1702, until 31st of October, 1717, when he died, at the age of 70
years. His son received the best education which the country afforded,
and graduated at Harvard College, in 1699, in a class distinguished
for talents and character.
Mr. Belcher did not incline to enter upon professional studies, and soon
after leaving college, commenced business as a merchant in Boston.
1849.] Memoir of Governor Belcher. 127
To extend his business and correspondence, as well as to reap the ad-
vantages of foreign travel, he went to Europe in 1704, spent several
years in England and on the continent, where he became known to
many eminent characters, and received the highest marks of their
esteem. Returning to Boston in 1710, he enlarged his business, and
was generally successful in his commercial enterprises. He also be-
came an active politician, and a candidate for public honours. He re-
presented his native town in the provincial assembly, and was after-,
wards a member of the council. In this body he became distinguished
for his activity and devotion to the interests of the province. He had
been, from his entrance into public life, the intimate associate of Go-
vernor Shute, and an advocate of the measures pursued by him, and
followed up by his successor, Governor Burnet. These measures were
unsatisfactory to the people, who generally returned a majority of the
assembly opposed to the governor. Perceiving no smooth road to
preferment in this direction, Mr. Belcher, with that facility which has
distinguished a certain class of politicians in later times, suddenly
changed his ground, and joined the party in opposition to Governor
Burnet.
Mr. Belcher's commanding abilities and popular manners were cir-
cumstances that operated in his favour, and in 1731, he was chosen as
the agent of the province to repair to the court of George II. On the
28th of May, 1729, while Mr. Belcher was making his arrange-
ments to proceed to London, the assembly sent up to Governor Burnet
for approval, the list of counsellors and assistants at that time
chosen. The governor approved of all but two; one of the two being
Mr. Belcher, who was designated by the governor as "a leader of the
opposition." Belcher soon after left for England. There he repre-
sented to the king the true situation of the province, and in particular,
the general opposition which existed among the people to the establish-
ment of a fixed salary for the governor, in whose appointment they
were permitted to have no choice. While in England, Mr. Belcher
was also appointed an agent for the colony of Connecticut, and ren-
dered important services at a time when they were apprehensive of the
loss of their charter. After his return to Massachusetts, the legisla-
ture of Connecticut voted him the thanks of the colony, and sent a
committee to Boston to congratulate him on his appointment as go-
vernor.
The spirit of resistance which the people of Massachusetts manifested
against the instructions to Governor Burnet, gave great offence in
England, and for a time the government seriously contemplated mea-
sures which would subject them to a still more absolute dependence on
the crown than that of which they complained. But Air. Belcher
being on the ground, and being supported by a strong interest at court,
aided also by that of the former Governor, Shute, who generously
waived his own claims, the English government determined on appoint-
128 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
ing him to the office of governor, rendered vacant by the sudden death
of Burnet.* They supposed that being a native of Massachusetts, and
acquainted with the temper and wishes of the people, Governor Belcher
would have influence enough to conquer the opposition by carrying
the favourite point of a fixed salary, which the assembly had so long
resisted. On the other hand, the people, whose agent he had been,
were also gratified at his appointment, believing that he would not
perplex the legislature by pressing those instructions which had occa-
sioned so much difficulty with his predecessors. In this, however,
they were soon undeceived.
Governor Belcher arrived at Boston on the 10th of August, 1730,
and at his first meeting with the general court, proposed to have his
salary established and provided for by the province, according to the
instructions accompanying his commission, which were precisely like
those given to his predecessors. He could scarcely have adopted a
more unpopular course, and yet it was one which, bound as he was by
the royal instructions, he could hardly avoid. The prominent leaders
among the people, who until this time had been the warmest friends
of Governor Belcher, now became his opponents. They at first dis-
sembled their opposition, and attempted to avoid altercation; but when
he refused his assent to a bill which they had passed for his support,
they assumed a bolder attitude, and he found them not to be moved
by his arguments or persuasions, but resolutely bent on supporting the
views of former legislatures. The governor, anxious to avoid further
collision, finally induced the assembly to apply for such a modification
of the royal instructions as to permit him to receive their grants from
time to time, and thus the controversy was ended.
In Governor Belcher's commission was included the government of
New Hampshire ; and on the 2oth of August, he met the assembly of
that province at Portsmouth. Here he at first accepted an invitation,
and resided at the house of the Lieutenant-governor, Wentworth; but
soon became his enemy, from the following circumstance. While Belcher
was in England, and when it was uncertain whether he or Shute would
be appointed to succeed Burnet, lieutenant-governor Wentworth, like
some politicians of more modern schools, anxious to secure the friend-
ship of the successful competitor, wrote complimentary letters both to
Shute and Belcher. This coming to the knowledge of the latter while
in Portsmouth, he resented it as an act of duplicity, and reproached
Mr. Wentworth in severe terms, and refused to visit him. Nor did
his resentment stop here. He limited Wentworth's compensation to
certain fees and perquisites amounting to about fifty pounds sterling a
year; and removed some of Wentworth's connexions from office, to
make way for his own friends. Atkinson, who married a daughter of
* The new3 of Gov. Burnet's death reached London on the 24th of Oct., 1729, and
the appointment of Gov. Belcher was announced on the 20th of November following.
The royal commission, however, bears date of the 2Sth of January, 1730.
1849.] Memoir of Governor Belcher. 129
Wentworth, and at that time held the offices of collector, naval of-
ficer, and sheriff of the province, was deprived of the first two, and in
the last, another person was appointed to share the emoluments. At-
kinson, being somewhat of a wag, turned the latter into ridicule. On
one occasion the military being called out to escort the governor, all
the officers of government were required to join the cavalcade. At-
kinson appeared, on a jaded horse, with only half his wand as a badge
of office. The governor reprimanded him for being late; when Atkin-
son apologized by saying that he had only half a horse to ride.
From the most trifling causes not unfrequently spring important
events; and this dispute between the governor and lieutenant-gover-
nor, embittered as it was by the executive proscription of individuals
at that time popular in the province, led to a combination in New
Hampshire, which not long afterward caused the severance of that pro-
vince from Massachusetts.
Lieutenant-governor Wentworth did not long survive his quarrel
with Belcher, and died on the 12th of December following. He was
succeeded in office, on the 24th of June, 1731, by Col. David Dunbar,
an Irish officer, who had been in command of the fort at Pemaquid,
and had there assumed to act as governor over the few scattered in-
habitants of Maine. This coming to the knowledge of Belcher, on his
arrival in Boston, he had issued his proclamation requiring them to
submit only to the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. He also sent home
a representation of the affair to the king in council, and Dunbar's au-
thority was revoked. From the hostility which had thus been engen-
dered in the bosom of Dunbar, his appointment as lieutenant-governor
of New Hampshire, was by no means welcome to Governor Belcher.
Dunbar immediately on his arrival joined the party in opposition to the
governor, and was afterwards active in all the intrigues to procure his
removal.
Among the popular delusions of that period, was the issuing of bills
of credit by the legislatures of the colonies, and making such a currency,
however depreciated, a legal tender in the payment of debts. To such
an extent had this system of paper issues been carried, that it attracted
the notice of parliament ; and in the royal instructions to Shute, Bur-
net, and Belcher, they were severally enjoined to restrain the further
extension of this species of currency. Governor Belcher, in his speech
to the Massachusetts legislature, December 16th, 1730, emphatically
calls their attention to the state of their bills of credit, and character-
izes them as being "a common delusion to mankind." The law com-
pelling creditors to receive paper at par value, however depreciated,
came before the governor for re-approval. He at first promptly vetoed
the measure; but in the course of the year following, being wearied
with the importunities of the people, he consented to have it further
prolonged. This was disapproved by the king ; and the assembly
afterwards petitioning that the royal instructions imposing restrictions
130 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
on paper money might be rescinded, they were answered with a sharp
rebuke, from the royal council.*
Governor Belcher, who was determined as far as possible to carry
out the royal instructions, now exerted himself to the utmost to re-
strain the flood of paper money. The issues of treasury notes were
curtailed, and attempts were made to call in as large an amount of the
former issues as possible. There was a universal complaint and out-
cry. The governor was assailed by a strong and unyielding opposi-
tion. The assembly becoming obnoxious, the governor dissolved them;
but the people, in such case, generally re-elected the same members,
or others equally bold in opposition.
There being no bar in the royal instructions against private issues,
a number of merchants and others in Boston associated together, and
issued what was called the merchants' notes, a species of currency
which, being redeemable in silver at a specified rate per ounce, in con-
sequence of the depreciation of the public bills, were preferred in the
market, and hoarded up. This operation led to multitudes of similar
speculations in the different provinces. The scheme of a great land
bank was proposed to the general court, which was speedily followed
by another proposition for a mammoth specie-paying bank. The
people were in a feverish state, and a large majority were in favour of
one or the other of these schemes, in which the prominent men of the
province were, or proposed to become interested. Governor Belcher
exerted himself to blast the land bank scheme, and issued a procla-
mation warning the people against receiving its bills. Military and
civil officers were forbidden to receive or pass any of those bills, and
were promptly displaced from office for disobeying the order. The
governor also negatived the speaker of the assembly for being a director
in this bank, and afterwards negatived thirteen of the newly elected
counsellors for the same cause, or for being favourers of the scheme.
But all to little purpose. The bank went on. Large sums of its
worthless paper were pushed off in exchange for any description of
property, and the fraud was only arrested by an act of parliament sup-
pressing the company .f
The bold and vigorous measures adopted by Governor Belcher, ren-
dered him obnoxious to a majority of the people of Massachusetts,
* The temper of parliament on this occasion may be seen in the following no-
tice in the London Magazine of that year: "May 10.— A memorial of the council
and representatives of the Massachusetts-Bay was presented to the house and read,
laying before them the difficulties and distresses they laboured under, arising from a
royal instruction given to the then present governor of the said province in relation
to the issuing and disposing of the public money of the said province," &c. ' J After
some little debate, it was resolved that the complaint contained in the memorial and
petition is frivolous and groundless, an high insult upon His Majesty's government,
and tending to shake off the dependency of the said colony upon this kingdom" &c.
Whereupon the petition was rejected.
t In the very valuable work of the Rev. Joseph B. Felt, on the "History of the
Massachusetts Currency," a minute account of this interesting controversy is given.
1849.] Memoir of Governor Belcher. 131
and a formidable combination to effect his removal, was soon after-
formed.
Another question proved a source of embarrassment, and connected
as it became, with the resentments which the governor had kindled in
New Hampshire, finally contributed to his recall. This was the dis-
pute between Massachusetts and New Hampshire about the boundary.
The governor, although he had repeatedly, as he was required to do
by his instructions, called the attention of both provinces to a settle-
ment of the dispute — was, in reality, averse to any adjustment. He
was in favour of uniting both provinces permanently under one govern-
ment. He was placed in a delicate position, as governor over both,
and it behooved him to carry a steady hand during the controversy.
His opponents in New Hampshire, among whom were Dunbar and
Benning Wentworth, son of the late lieutenant-governor, and Atkin-
son, were indefatigable in their intrigues. Within a few weeks after
Dunbar's appointment, he had procured a complaint to be drawn up
against Belcher, complaining of his government as arbitrary and op-
pressive, and praying the king for his removal. This was forwarded
to London, and paved the way for the appointment of Theodore At-
kinson, Benning Wentworth, and Joshua Pierce, as counsellors. Go-
vernor Belcher remonstrated against these appointments, and the two
former were not admitted to the council board for nearly two years.
They were, however, chosen to the assembly, and there exerted them-
selves in opposition to the governor.
A committee of both provinces met at Newbury, 21st September,
1731, on the subject of the boundary, but separated without coming to
any understanding. This determined the New Hampshire legislature
to despatch an agent to London, and John Rindge, a wealthy mer-
chant of Portsmouth, soon after sailed. While the matter was pend-
ing in England, a most bitter controversy was kept up between the
two parties in New Hampshire. Governor Belcher, in his frequent
letters to England, constantly represented Dunbar, as in truth he was,
a fomenter of sedition, a reckless and perfidious citizen ; while Dunbar
and his associates in opposition were no less severe in their animadver-
sions upon the character and conduct of the governor. The assem-
blies in both provinces were almost invariably opposed to him; and
hence he frequently dissolved them, but with no favourable results,
for the same persons were generally re-elected, and came back encou-
raged in their opposition by the strong support of the people.
At this period, the public debts in New Hampshire were suffered to
remain unpaid. The fort, prison, and other public buildings, were out
of repair; for which the assembly was frequently complained of by the
governor. The reason of their delay to provide the means, was t heir-
desire to make new emissions of paper money, which the governor
there, as in Massachusetts, resisted. The scarcity of money being
great, a number of merchants in Portsmouth, following the Boston ex-
132 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
ample, combined for the purpose of issuing "private notes as a currency.
As soon as their notes appeared, Gov. Belcher issued a proclamation
against them, and in a speech to the assembly, condemned the proceed-
ing in very strong terms. The assembly, which favoured the scheme,
attempting to vindicate the character of the bills, he dissolved them
with a reprimand, charging them with being guilty of injustice and
hypocrisy.
It is not to be supposed that decisive measures of this description,
in opposition to the will of the people, were adapted to lessen the pre-
judices, already strong, against the governor. On the contrary, every
new grievance, real or imaginary, only hurried forward the spirit which
was working his overthrow. Although no provincial governor was
ever more loyal to the crown he served than Belcher, he was subjected
to severe mortifications, through the sinister influence of his enemies,
who had succeeded in prejudicing the royal ear. Among the appoint-
ments to office which he had made, was that of his son-in-law, to the
naval office in Massachusetts. There could be no objection to the
appointment, as he was a faithful and efficient officer. But the king
ordered Governor Belcher to appoint another to his place, although
the act of parliament expressly vested the appointment in the governor.
When advised to evade the command, he replied, " that although the
king could not make a naval officer, he could make a governor;" and
so gave up his son-in-law. One or two other incidental triumphs of
his enemies, in New Hampshire, were no less mortifying.*
In August, 1735, Governor Belcher with his council from Massa-
chusetts, held a conference with the chiefs of the six nations at Albany,
an interesting account of which is preserved in Colden's Memoirs of
the Indian nations.
After a long and weary controversy before the lords of trade, a
commission for the settlement of the boundary question was decided
upon. The commissioners were to be selected from the counsellors of
New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Nova Scotia, and they were
to hold their preliminary meeting at Hampton, New Hampshire, on
the 1st of August, 1737. On the day appointed, they assembled. The
assembly of Massachusetts met at Boston, on the 4th, and were pro-
rogued to meet at Salisbury on the 10th. The New Hampshire as-
sembly, which had met at Portsmouth, on the same day, was also ad-
journed to the 10th, to meet at Hampton Falls. Thus the two as-
* On the first of January, 1734, Gov. Belcher sent for Benning Wentworth to ap-
pear at the council board, and on his appearance there, he addressed him thus: "Mr.
Wentworth, I have His Majesty's royal mandamus for admitting you into his Ma-
jesty's council, and am now ready to do it, and have ordered the secretary to ad-
minister the proper eaths to you accordingly." Mr. Wentworth replied, "I should
have been glad to have known it sooner, sir, for 1 am engaged to serve in the
Assembly for this term, and therefore cannot accept now, but when the session is
over, I may be ready." He then withdrew. He was not qualified until the lSJth of
Oct. 1734. — Council and Assembly Records of New Hampshire.
1849.] Memoir of Governor Belcher. 133
semblies were drawn within five miles of each other, and the governor,
in his speech, declared that he would "act as the common father of
both." The assemblies met at the places appointed. From Boston,
a cavalcade was formed, and the governor rode in state, escorted by a
troop of horse. At the Newbury ferry he was met by another, which
joined by three others, at the supposed division line, escorted him to
his head quarters, in Hampton Falls, where he held a council and ad-
dressed the assembly.* Even here, the antagonist spirit of the assem-
bly provoked the governor; and on the very day that the commissioners
adjourned for the purpose of giving the two assemblies time to consider
their decrees, and frame their appeals, if necessary, Governor Belcher
adjourned the New Hampshire assembly to the 12th of October. This
was a hasty and imprudent step, and his enemies did not fail to use it
to his disadvantage. The Massachusetts assembly remained in session
five days longer, during which they obtained copies of all the papers
they wanted, framed their appeal, and then adjourned.
From this period, the adversaries of the governor became more active
than ever. They contrived so to connect the boundary question with
their own personal objections against him, that they produced an im-
pression upon the king. The agent of New Hampshire, Tomlinson,
who was continually pressing the affair before the ministry, was a sa-
gacious politician, and so adroitly used the weapons furnished by the
opponents of Belcher in Massachusetts, as to defeat the claims of that
province, and at the same time procure the recall of the governor. Other,
and even criminal means were resorted to, until his enemies, by the use
of falsehood and misrepresentation, and finally, by acts of forgery and
perjury, accomplished their objects.f He was superseded in office by
* The regal pomp of this procession was made the subject of severe comment by
the adversaries of Governor Belcher, and occasioned several pasquinades, among
which the following, in an assumed Hibernian style, is the best natured:
"Dear Paddy, you ne'er did behold such a sight,
As yesterday morning took place before night.
You in all your born days saw, nor I didn't neither,
So many fine horses and men ride together.
At the head of the lower house trotted two in a row,
Then all the higher house pranced after the low;
Then the governor's coach gallop'd on like the wind,
And the last that came foremost were troopers behind'.
But I fear it means no good to your neck or mine,
For they say 'tis to fix a right place for the line."
f The effect of the calumnies circulated in England against Governor Belcher is
seen in the following extract of a letter from Dr. Watts to Rev. Mr. Colman, written
in May, 1734: — "The unhappy differences between him (Governor Belcher) and the
people, have given occasion for hard things to be said of him here, almost in all
companies where his name is mentioned."" Douglass thus sums up the chief points
of the intrigue against Belcher. His enemies charged him, 1. With being friendly
to the land bank scheme; 2. With having countenanced the waste of the king's
timber; and 3. With contriving the ruin of the dissenting church in New England.
The first charge was so far from being true, that most of the opposition to his admi"
VOL. II. — MARCH, 1849. 10
1 34 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
Benning Wentworth, as governor of New Hampshire, and William
Shirley, as governor of Massachusetts, whose commissions arrived 14th
of August, 1741.
The historians, both of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, speak
in strong terms of reprobation of the unwarrantable means resorted to
by the enemies of Governor Belcher. Hutchinson says, that a few
weeks' longer delay would have enabled him to defeat the machinations
of his enemies ; and it is well known that the king, in a short time
after, discovering the injustice which had been done him, voluntarily
promised him the first vacant government in the colonies. Belknap
expresses the surprise which would naturally affect the mind of any
one at this distance of time, that Governor Belcher should have met
such treatment from a British court, in the reign of so mild and just a
prince as George II. But Belknap was not probably aware of the full
force of the intrigue against him. It happened that Lord Euston, son
of the Duke of Grafton, was a candidate for the honour of representing
the city of Coventry in parliament. A fival candidate seeming likely
to prevail, a zealous dissenting clergyman of the name of Maltby, who
possessed great influence among the electors of Coventry, and who
rashly credited the assertions of Belcher's enemies that he was con-
spiring against the dissenters in New England, offered to the Duke of
Grafton, to secure the election of his son, Lord Euston, on condition
that Belcher should be dismissed from office. The offer was accepted :
Lord Euston was returned to parliament, and Belcher was sacrificed
to an intrigue, as Spottiswoode in Virginia, and Burnet in New York,
had been before him.
Governor Belcher was a warm admirer of the preaching of the cele-
brated Whitefield, and accompanied him not unfrequently in his jour-
neyings through the province, always treating him with the greatest
consideration. When this powerful preacher was on his way to New
York, in October, 1740, the governor accompanied him as far as Wor-
cester, and parted from him with great affection.
Soon after the appointment of his successor, Governor Belcher went
to London, where the nature of the intrigues against him being ex-
posed, he was treated with great consideration by the king and court.
They felt, that he had been injured, and unjustly recompensed by the
government he had most zealously laboured to serve.
A vacancy happening in the province of New Jersey, occasioned by
the death of Governor Hamilton, in 1747, Governor Belcher was ap-
pointed to succeed him, and met the assembly, for the first time, at
nistration in Massachusetts, arose from his decided opposition to the land bank. The
second was equaljy false, and originated with the adherents of Dunbar, in New Hamp-
shire, who sent a forged representation to London, using the names of J. Gilman, Jos.
Lord, George Gerrish, Peter Thing, and John Hall, of Exeter. The third had no better
foundation, and was supported only by forged anonymous letters addressed from Mas-
sachusetts to dissenting clergymen in England.
1S49.] Memoir of Governor Belcher. 135
Burlington, on the 20th of August, 1747. In this province, his ad-
ministration was generally acceptable. He was popular among the
people, took pains to cultivate a good understanding with the assembly,
and rarely interfered with their wishes, when their measures did not
conflict with what he deemed his prerogative under the royal instruc-
tions. His course was dignified and conciliatory. In the difficult
questions which arose during his administration, and the exigencies of
the French and Indian war, his conduct was marked by prudence and
good judgment.
The College of New Jersey, which was first opened at Newark,
was, in 1752, removed to Princeton, where, on the recommendation of
Governor Belcher, it was decided to erect a large building for its use.
The trustees proposed to name the building Belcher Hall ; but this
the governor declined, requesting that it might be called Nassau
Hall, in memory of King William III., a branch of the illustrious
house of Nassau.
Governor Belcher seems heartily to have enjoyed his government
in New Jersey. In a letter to Richard Waldron, of Portsmouth,
dated at Burlington, N. J., 28th July, 1748, he says—" I bless God,
I am placid and easy in my present situation, and think I have abun-
dant reason to be so, for this climate and government seem calculated
for my advanced years." Mr. Waldron, who was secretary of the
province of New Hampshire from 1730 to 1742, was the confidential
friend and correspondent of Gov. Belcher until the close of his life. It
seems that Waldron, and some other of his friends, had looked forward
to an effort to reinstate Gov. Belcher in New Hampshire; in allusion
to which he thus writes to Waldron, under date of 7th August, 1749:
" I can form no rational view as to what my friends seem to be warmly
desirous of. Wish-ers and would-ers are but poor house-builders. A-
good solicitor at home, with a pocket full of yellow dust, mio-ht do
something ; but, alas, where is such a one to be found ? As to myself,
I would not pass through another purgatory of three years' voyage,
dancing attendance, and expense, for the king's favour in makino- me
vice-roy of his English America. Indeed, sir, if I know my own
heart, I would not." -In another letter, dated 22d November, 1750, he
thus speaks of his own course of conduct: — "In my public life, I was
always desirous to be able to chant with the poet—
'Nil conscire sibi nulla pallescere culpa
Hie murus Atheneus esto.' "
Solomon tells us, a good name is rather to be chosen than great
riches, and is one of the rewards of virtue. The world is captious and
censorious, and too apt to reproach a man's memory ; therefore Pope,
in caution, says —
« The flame extinct, the snuff will tell
If wax, or tallow, by the smell."
136 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
For several years, Governor Belcher resided at Burlington, but after-
wards removed to Elizabethtown. During the closing years of his
life, he suffered under great debility of body from paralysis, yet he
bore up with great fortitude and resignation, and devoted himself with
unremitting zeal to the duties of his office. During the two years
preceding his death, the assembly held their sessions at Elizabethtown,
on account of his inability to meet them at Burlington or Amboy. He
died on the 31st August, 1757, in the 76th year of his age.
Inheriting a large fortune, Governor Belcher affected an elegant
and even splendid style of living, far beyond the income of his office,
and was, through life, distinguished for his generosity and hospitality.
He was graceful in person, and polished in his manners and conversa-
tion. In the judgment of President Burr, who preached the funeral ser-
mon at his interment, "the scholar, the accomplished gentleman, and the
true Christian, were seldom more happily and thoroughly united, than
in him. His ears were always open to real grievances. The cause
of the poor, the widow, the fatherless, as well as of the rich and great,
was by him favourably heard, and the wrongs of all readily and im-
partially redressed. He was indeed a minister of God for good unto
his people. Nor should I (continues his eulogist) pass over in silence
what will distinguish Governor Belcher's administration, not only in
the present, but, I trust in all succeeding ages. I mean, his being the
founder and promoter, the chief patron and benefactor, of the college
of New Jersey. He lived to see his generous designs of doing good, in
this respect, have something of their desired effect." His remains
were taken to Massachusetts, and deposited in the family tomb, near
the entrance of the burial-place, in Cambridge.
Two sons of Governor Belcher were educated at Harvard College,
viz. Andrew, who graduated in 1724, was afterwards a member of
the council, and died at the family seat, in Milton, Mass., 24th Jan.
1771, aged 65;* and Jonathan, who graduated in 1728, studied law
at the Temple in London, rose to some eminence at the English bar,
settled in Nova Scotia, was counsellor, lieutenant governor, and chief
justice of the province, and died 29th March, 1776, aged 65.
Governor Belcher's first wife was Mary, daughter of Lieutenant
Governor Partridge, and she died at Boston, 6th October, 1736, aged
51. He married a second time in 1748, and his widow, after his de-
cease, went to Milton, Massachusetts, and there resided with Andrew
Belcher, Esq., eldest son of the governor. J. B. M.
* The Belcher mansion, at Milton, was burned in 177C, in the night, by acciden:.
The widow of Andrew R., with the old lady, Governor Belcher's widow, hardly
escaped the flames. They were carried into the barn, placed in the family coach, and
forgotten till all was over. Elliot, the biographer, says he took tea with'those ladie?
in that barn.
1849.] The Press of the United States. 137
THE PRESS AND THE PERIODICAL LITERATURE OF
THE UNITED STATES.
The statistics of the press exhibit a very striking difference between
the circulation of newspapers and periodicals in this country and in
Europe. That there is a cause for this cannot be questioned, but
what that cause may be, and what the relative effects of that cause
may be, are matters worthy of serious consideration, especially to
Americans.
Political economists who have written upon their theory for Europe,
divide society into three classes, namely, land owners, capitalists and
operatives, representing the three great points of their so termed
science; rents, profits and wages. We accept this division as the
best key to explain the relative positions of men in European countries.
The land owners, generally confined to the barons of the realm,
forming the nobility, surround the throne, and aid by their luxurious
splendour to keep up the show of its external glory, and by their in-
tellect, to sustain its dignity. They are men who have been educated
with care, both mentally and physically; inheriting the refined tastes
of the cultivated generations that have preceded them, and exercising
an acknowledged influence upon all society.
Their position, their wealth, and their education, induce too luxurious
habits, pardonable in them, because they are the result of long con-
tinued custom and usages. They are identified with the representative
of sovereignty who wears the crown. Their existence is identified
with that of the monarchy, which, as has been but lately demonstrated,
if it falls, carries this class with it. They are taxed to support the
reigning sovereign and his estate. Their lands must supply these
taxes, and must also supply the means of gratifying expensive tastes.
There is also a church to be supported, which in some countries is part
of the state. These lands are leased, and leased in a manner to pro-
duce the highest rents. The lessees must live; they find a strict
economy necessary to meet their engagements, and are forced to ob-
tain the labour necessary for tilling the soil at the least possible price.
The labourer has to take what is offered him, for he has no alternative
but to starve. He receives enough to keep him in working condition,
and his family alive — and he receives no more. He has nothing to
do with his government. He has had no time in youth, and his father
no means to educate him. He is not eligible to office, — and having
no voice in public affairs, he knows and feels that his condition is not
to be altered or amended by any efforts of his. He has no future.
His cares are for the day.
The next class are the capitalists, generally not among the nobility.
They have the vanity, however, to vie with their superiors in the ex-
hibition of wealth before the world. They ape their habits ; they imi-
tate their tastes. What is natural to the first, becomes mere imitation
13S Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
in the latter. They have their taxes to pay, and their extravagant
follies to provide for. The means are derived from the profits of their
investments. If their capital be invested in manufactures, as is most
generally the case, they seek to realize the largest possible returns.
This can only be done by getting their labour at a cheap rate. The
operative has no alternative, but to take what is offered. He finds all
the channels by which he might earn his daily bread literally choked
with competitors. He is forced to receive the mite awarded him by
the capitalist, or starve. This mite is only enough to support himself
and family, too often insufficient even for this end. What is he to
do? He has no education himself, nor has he time, if he had, to edu-
cate his family. He has no means to provide schooling, and he re-
quires the assistance of his children, so soon as they are able, to help
him in the effort to gain their daily bread. They are shut out from
any participation in government affairs ; they have no voice in making
laws ; no means of altering their condition. The care for the day oc-
cupies their time and thought. They know no future.
All these operatives feel that their condition is hopeless. Ambition,
aspiration, honour, are to them hollow sounds. Their souls are crushed
by their slavish position. If they have a heart left, it knows but tears,
sorrow, woes and despair, or else the mere brutish enjoyment of phy-
sical existence. The world beyond their plough or their workshop,
is an unknown country, and so it must remain, unless want and despe-
ration force them to burst their prison bounds, like the pent up lava
of a volcano, and by annihilating the established governments, breaking
down the long acknowledged barriers of society, spread desolation far
and wide, until the genial glow of freedom's sun, and man's awakening
consciousness shall warm the ashes into life, into a healthy and a fruitful
soil.
Among the two former of these classes are alone to be found the
patrons of the press in Europe. They are identified with the govern-
ment. Their happiness and welfare depend upon the maintenance of
a peaceful administration of affairs. They would do any thing to
avoid political convulsions. Tranquillity is essential to their enjoy-
ment, their wealth, their being. To preserve this tranquillity the press
and its patrons know, that the operatives, the millions, must be kept
in ignorance of their degradation. They must be deprived of educa-
tion, nor be permitted to contrast their own forlorn condition with the
luxury, wealth and splendour of the nobility, and the capitalists.
They must not be suffered to ask, why that nobleman, or their king
even, is permitted to wallow in riches, while they suffer for food,
shelter and raiment. If the question should be asked by the millions,
they know and dread the answer. In some countries the question has
been asked, and the answer shattered thrones, exiled sovereigns and
nobles, and made the wealthy tremble.
This state of affairs has, heretofore in all countries, and now still in
1849.] The Press of the United States. 139
some,- of necessity limited the press to the few, and those few identified
with monarchical principles. But there is a great difference discernible
between the English and the continental press. This difference must
be ascribed to the construction of their governments. The constitu-
tional monarchy of England places the representative of sovereignty
beyond the sole control of public affairs. The right to vote, to be re-
presented in the national legislature, and having thus indirectly a voice
in the .government, gives the right to those thus privileged to know
how their representatives perform their duties. Of course this right
to know, permits the press to discuss public affairs ; to criticise public
men and public acts. They have in these discussions, however, only
the first two classes, representing rents and profits, to cater for, and
they must consequently write to suit such tastes. These tastes demand
ability, talent, experience and learning. Such requisites are very
expensive, and necessarily place the subscriptions to such journals
on a relative scale, putting newspapers and periodicals at once beyond
the means of all save the wealthy. To these expenses add also the
tax imposed upon every sheet issued, and the secret of the high cost
of all that issues from the press may be understood.
On the continent a tax is also imposed, but the press is there, or
has heretofore been under a very different control. The law-making-
power is more centred in the sovereign, who looks with a jealous eye
upon all encroachments on his power, all attacks made upon the
government. Censors are established under pay of the crown to ex-
amine and exclude all articles, or even allusions, that might tend in
the least degree to breed discontent, or open the eyes of subjects.
Such restrictions limit the topics of discussion, but in those left to the
press, they have the same tastes to cater for as in England, requiring
talent and ability, which can only be had at great expense. These
requisites place the press, on the continent, beyond the means of all but
the wealthy.
The censorship of the press is often carried to an excessive degree.
There was in Berlin, (Prussia) a certain editor, whose wit had made
his paper popular. He sometimes allowed himself to point his satire
at the king, his ministers, and their measures. This propensity re-
doubled the watchfulness of the censors. On one occasion they lite-
rally crossed out every article of his paper. The next morning Saphir,
for such was the editor's name, published a blank sheet, having only
the heading of his paper upon it. The king was much incensed, fear-
ing this want of matter would be ascribed to the true source, and give
rise to complaints. Saphir was arrested and brought before the king,
who inquired in no mild manner the cause of such an issue. Saphir,
nothing daunted, replied : " How can the eagle soar when his wings
are clipped." " Let him learn to curb his aspirations," said the king,
and dismissed him. The scheme had its desired effect, in making the
royal censorship more unpopular, but it in no wise softened the rigour
of its inspection.
140 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
From the above facts, it will at once be seen, how limited the cir-
culation of the European press must be under the old forms of govern-
ment. What it may become under the present change — nous verrons.
How is it in America? Sovereignty here begins with the individual.
Each adult citizen, rich or poor, with or without education, is a sove-
reign. He has unalienable rights: he says how he will be governed.
To secure his person, his property, and these rights, to defend them
against his stronger neighbours, he resigns a portion of that sove-
jeignty to his township, county and state. They, in return, shield
him, protect his home, and enable him to enjoy the fruits of his labour.
As a matter of policy, he yields to the majority, knowing that that
majority individually have the same stake in government as himself;
he abides by their decision, and has the satisfaction to know, that in-
jurious administrations of government must light alike on all, be felt
at larcre through the community, and that the ballot-box will redress
his evils. If men professing one set of principles, are proved to be in-
competent, and their policy injudicious or pernicious, another set may
be found to supplant them, and he has a voice in placing these in office.
He cannot be called upon to pay taxes or perform public duties, with-
out the assent of those he has sent to represent him in the legislative
body of his country. He is a part of the government. He feels it.
He is a freeman.
If he be a labourer, he demands a fair compensation for his labour.
If it be refused, he can go to the west, where land is cheap, and in-
dustry is sure to be rewarded with abundance; or he may seek among
the many channels open to enterprise, his livelihood elsewhere. No
man says to him, " Here is a fair compensation for your labour, take it ;
it is enough to support life ! You must be content with a bare sub-
sistence!" He demands more, and he receives more. Public schools
are provided for his children, and the fruits of his industry enable him
to lay by more than his family requires for their support. Feeling
himself a part of the social and political compact, of the local state and
national government, he feels a natural curiosity to know what is
taking place, and what laws are made to protect him and his property.
He has a desire to know how his money, paid in taxes, is expended,
and how his representatives dispose of his contributions. He, of ne-
cessity, belongs to some of the political parties of the day. He desires
to learn the principles of the party; their projects; to know the names
and characters of men, proposed as candidates to represent his party.
There is a division in his church, or some question of a social character
raised, wherein he has attached himself to one side or the other; — he
wants to know how the question is to be discussed, and to ascertain
the views of the contending sides. He is of European birth, or of
European descent; he is anxious to be informed of what is going on in
the " old country," how his relations are affected, and the condition
of the government, politically and socially. Where does he seek for
1849.] The Press in the United States, 141
his information? He seeks for it and finds it in newspapers. But
how can a poor man, a labourer, afford a newspaper? Very well:
because our press is not weighed down by stamp-taxes, and our editors
are the owners of the papers, and having only the printing, paper,
type-setting and their own support to provide for, are enabled to sell
their journals at the lowest possible price ; a price within the reach of
any and every one. Hence it is, that our newspapers penetrate every
corner of the land ; find their way into every house, domicil and log-
cabin ; and are read by, or read to nearly every man, woman and child
throughout the country. It is true, the matter they contain may not
compare with the character of that found in foreign papers, nor would
it suit the generality of readers if it did ; but it is matter intended to
meet the demand of those who read it. There are some of our papers,
called leading papers, long established and having a certain subscrip-
tion and advertising list, which places them in a situation to take a
loftier position. These are at once more expensive papers than the
generality issued, and often contain articles worthy the attention of
the wisest and best of all countries. We are not now speaking so
much of the press, but rather of the peculiar construction of our in-
stitutions, which invites the circulation of newspapers, and creates a
demand for them.
The reason why our papers, as a general rule, are inferior to the
European, is easily found. Individual enterprise is the seed from
which all things spring in this country. Our governments have little
power beyond protecting the fruits of such enterprise, and by this pro-
tection to encourage it. They do not themselves contribute the means,
nor lend their aid to develop the enterprise. To " start a paper,"
capital is necessary to some extent, or credit, to defray the expenses
of printing, paper, etc., until the income from subscriptions and adver-
tising supplies the means. The uncertainty of obtaining these sources
of income amid the competition of established journals, with so many
channels open for the investment of capital, promising speedy and ample
profit, makes capitalists reluctant to invest in newspapers just com-
mencing, whose fate is always precarious. Hence nearly all our jour-
nals are started by owners, who act as publishers and editors. They
obtain credit, or possess sufficient capital to commence, and if they
succeed, owe it entirely to their own energy and perseverance.
The surprise is, that so many papers succeed under such untoward
circumstances. But we come now to the influence they exercise, and
this is by far the most important branch of the subject.
The occupations of our men throughout the land, with the exception
of the few professional ones, forbid much study, or much deep learning.
There is probably no country in the world where education, up to a
certain point, is so generally diffused as in the United States; but be-
yond that, the diffusion ceases. There is probably no country where,
for the number possessing the general elements of education, so few
142 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
books and so many newspapers are read as in our own. Many, very
many, especially among the labouring classes, read newspapers only.
Their newspaper is their text book ; the opinions therein promulgated
are devoured without question, and made their own ; prejudices there
recorded are accepted and assumed ; and the doctrines, news, deductions
and assertions regarded as sober truth. This is a fact, beyond all
doubt. What a responsibility rests then upon those who conduct the
press? And do those who conduct the press feel this responsibility?
Do they acknowledge and conform to it? What might not be
effected by such a weapon, such an instrument, such a power in
proper hands, and under proper control? Instead of yielding to
political partisanship and contention, instead of succumbing to preju-
dices and popular dissensions, the press should stand forth a public
monitor. The great questions of national interests should be discussed
with reason, impartially, and, if possible, without bias. If the side
advocated by an editor will not stand the test of investigation and
scrutiny, it cannot be the truth, and should be abandoned for the sake
of the country, the welfare of the nation ! If any policy be found in-
jurious, it should attack it, regardless of party, regardless of all save
the well-being of the state, or union. It should stand forth the advo-
cate of public as well as private virtue ; condemn that which is base,
be it among the high in station, or the lowly of lot; it should hold the
rod of exposure and of condemnation over all abuse in office, all mis-
feasance and neglect of duty, public and private; it should promulgate
a high standard of public and private morals, and by upholding the
honest, the virtuous, the good, elevate the general mind, and educate
the many to comprehend, and thoroughly understand the invaluable
boon of civil, political and religious liberty ! This is the only country
where the influence of the press is felt throughout the ramifications of
society. Here alone can the press effect so great an end; and wield
so unlimited, beneficial and healthy a sway. The obligation imposed
is too often disregarded ; but there is a way to accomplish this de-
sirable object, and only one way ; by giving a ready support, a willing
aid to such journals and newspapers, as have this laudable end in view,
and by discountenancing those which tend only to produce a demoral-
izing effect upon the community.
The press deserves, and should receive more attention than it meets.
Does any one reflect upon the protection it gives to society ? the morale
it exercises in our army? the shield it forms against crime and immo-
rality? Every instance of crime is published in our papers, with the
names and descriptions of the criminals ; every instance of cowardice,
neglect of duty, or disobedience of orders of any gross character in our
army, is made known through the press, and the delinquent's, the dis-
graced one's name attached to the notice ; any striking instance of im-
morality is likewise circulated through this medium far and near. How
many a crime may not have been stayed in its conception by the re-
1849.] The Press of the United States. 143
membrance of this publicity ? How many a weak mind may not have
been saved from temptation, by the fear of exposure? And how many
a man in our late war may not have been incited to daring deeds, and
to contend fearlessly against overwhelming odds, by the knowledge
that his bravery and his courage would be proclaimed throughout his
native country? And many a good deed, many a generous action has
been accomplished and performed, from a sense, that the press would
do justice to the motive that incited it. Let every one look to it, re-
flect upon it, ponder over it, until the importance of this vast engine
to American liberty shall be recognised; its power known, and be
made to apply itself in exalting, educating and cultivating the millions
who look to it for truth, information and amusement. Let no one say,
"these things regulate themselves!" You have made your engine of
prodigious power, and unless superintended and controlled by skilful
hands, it will rattle down the temple in which you have intended it to
work.
Nor is our periodical literature of less importance? The remarks
above are intended to apply to the press generally, and are as appli-
cable to this branch as to the newspapers. Young minds, both male
and female, often receive their early impressions from these works.
Early impressions often leave lasting effects, and the mind tainted in
youth, seldom recovers its purity. Our women, and the position they
hold, the influence they exercise among us, are the first and best proofs
of our civilization. Let no one forget the necessity of early impress-
ing high moral sentiments upon the maiden's mind, for she is to be
a wife and a mother, than which no position is more responsible.
Let the wise men of the nation exert themselves in developing the
necessity of a high standard in our press, and they can find no work
more essential to the public welfare, no labour more patriotic, nor one
that would be likely to reap a richer reward. The press is the bul-
wark of our liberties !
S.
144 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
CHINA AND THE CHINESE.
(By the author of " Opium and the Opium trade."*)
As the physiognomy of a people is oftentimes borrowed from the
natural features of their country, so may their national character be said
to take its impress from the institutions under which they live. We
look in vain among the inhabitants of the lower Rhine, for those bold
and daring features which distinguish the hardy race that dwells near
its mountain source, and we shall be equally disappointed if we seek
among idolaters for the high-toned moral sentiment which moulds the
character of a Christian people. In forming a correct estimate of the
character of the Chinese, many difficulties oppose us. They live under
peculiar institutions, and secluded from the rest of the world, and are
of course unaffected by those reciprocal relations which influence other
civilized nations. And so marked, so sui generis, is every thing con-
nected with them and their country, that the adjective China is a
convenient mode of designating them. Porcelain and China are syno-
nymous with many persons. A set of China or China-ware, China
silks, China sweetmeats, China orange and China rose, are all suffi-
ciently marked, merely by the adjective. But of all the odd things
China produces, a China man himself is the oddest. He is in truth a
curious specimen of the genus homo. Judge him by our standard, and
he is to it a very antipode ; but weigh him in his own scales, and he is
of great gravity: try him by his own measure, and he is faultless. It
is difficult to determine which of the two standards is the best for
arriving at a correct decision.
A true Chinaman thinks himself to be the greatest man in the world,
and China, beyond compare, to be the most civilized, the most learned,
the most fruitful, the most ancient, in fact, the best country beneath
the starry firmament. It is useless (o tell him to the contrary, for he
will no more believe you, than you do him. " If your country is so
good, why do you come here after tea and rhubarb?" is a puzzler.
" If your people are so good, why do you bring opium here to destroy
us?" is unanswerable in his mind to prove his own goodness and our
wickedness, and he clinches both by saying, " We can do without you,
but you cannot live without us." When he is thus intrenched in his
own wisdom, a Chinaman is beyond persuasion.
Ask some people what they think of the Chinese, and they will tell
you that they are a most infamous and degraded people, a set of rascals
without one redeeming quality. Ask others, and they will give it as
their opinion, that the Chinese are a most excellent people ; that they
are honest and prompt in their dealings, industrious and nice in their
habits — in short, a paragon among the nations. The first, in my
* See page 158, vol. I.
1849.] China and the Chinese. 145
humble opinion, are as nearly correct in their estimate, as the last. If
we expect too much from a pagan nation, we shall be disappointed ; if
we deny the existence of every good quality among them, we wrong
the Chinese as a people.
The national virtues and vices of a Chinaman, naturally take their
impress from his circumstances. He is less the master of his move-
ments than others are, and to a great extent he spends his life in mental,
as well as bodily thraldom. From the structure of the government,
the sphere of an individual is much circumscribed. His thoughts,
energies and exertions, are limited first by precept, and soon after by
habit. Does he wish to become a scholar, he learns whatever the
sages have bequeathed to him. When a boy, he goes to school,
listens to the exhortations of Confucius, and moves in the circle
of ideas therein marked out for him. Though the sages never in-
tended to make man an automaton, he becomes so by habit. No-
thing is taught in the schools besides the classics, and the literature
of the country is based upon them. Would a Chinese soar beyond
the dull circle of these acquirements, he must mark out a track for
life, and enrolling himself among the candidates for literary distinc-
tion, devote all his time and all the energies of his mind to literature.
The general belief is, that whatever the ancients did not teach, is un-
worthy the attention of a son of Han. The mind is, therefore, kept
in subjection; it may not proceed farther than the prescribed limits, and
must model all its thoughts according to the orthodox canon. This has
a tendency to blunt the faculties, and to produce slavish submission to
authority without permitting the right of inquiry. Thus there is,
strictly speaking, no mental cultivation, and the yoke of submission to
dogmatic precept is easily borne, as its pressure is not felt by such
callous minds. Such is exactly the state in which a despotic govern-
ment wishes its subjects to be. Control then becomes easy; the people
are kept in subjection by working upon their prejudices, and when all
minds are tutored in the same manner, the same measures will be
equally applicable to the whole commonwealth. The emperor has
always been anxious to uphold this acquiescence in what is written.
The advantages accruing to the rulers are immense, and with such
subjects they can safely venture a little upon their endurance. A
whole code of laws is therefore drawn up to suit this mental slavery.
There is law upon law, and precept upon precept; regulations, edicts,
proclamations, commands and behests without end. They are calcu-
lated to restrain every action, and to make an immense people the
puppets of their superiors. This is indeed a thraldom, for the fear
of this arbitrary power paralyzes their energies. Since it cannot be
resisted by open force, the sufferers use corresponding craftiness to
escape from its clutches, or to protect themselves against its assaults.
To this we trace one cause of the deceitfulness of the Chinese character.
When we remember that the Chinese have no religious instruction.
146 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
and are also without the fear of the only true God, and acknowledge no
accountability to Him for their actions, we are by no means astonished at
the existence of so much vice among them. Whatever does not attract
the attention of government, is committed without compromise of cha-
racter. In judging, therefore, of this character, we should take into
consideration the circumstances under which it is found — this will help
us to have more patience with the people, and it ought to make us
grateful that the " lines are fallen to us in such pleasant places."
" It is," says Bishop Berkeley, " as we are Christians, that we pro-
fess more excellent and divine truths than the rest of mankind." And
in this the Chinese are sadly deficient. To us, upon whom from our
earliest infancy, the mild, the peaceable and the redeeming influences
of the Christian religion have been shed, the dark mazes of heathenism
and the superstitious rites of its votaries are indeed abhorrent. If we
examine the so-called religion of China, we will find the seeds of many
of the vices which exist among its people. That of Confucius, is
rather a system of ethics, than a systematic faith — that of Taou-Tza
embraces doctrines dangerous in practice and disreputable in precept —
repudiating all recollections of the past and thoughts of the future.
The founders of these two systems were contemporaries. The one
sought to captivate the heart by virtuous and rational theories; the
other to surprise and win by means which ministered to the gra-
tification of the passions. The first is the doctrine of the Stoics — the
second of the Epicureans. The religion of the masses — Buddhism —
is a mere concoction of traditions imported by crafty priests, and pre-
cepts extracted from the sacred w T ritings. The objects of worship of
these several religions are almost innumerable, but among them all we
look in vain for the object of our adoration. The Chinaman worships
nature, but he neither recognises the existence of, nor pays the homage
of a grateful heart, to nature's God. He worships not Him who made
the earth and clothed it with pleasing verdure, and bid it teem with
fruits and flowers — who spread out the lofty firmament and studded it
with light-giving gems — who bade the sun its circuit run and lend to
the pale moon its milder light — who gave to the sea bounds that it
should not pass — who stills the tempest in its might, and rules the
stormy billows — who made man in His own image, and gave to him
high and holy attributes of mind and heart, to appreciate and to enjoy
the blessings of His hand.
Having thus glanced, hastily it is true, at the system of government,
education and religion of China, we are prepared in a measure to con-
template the dark lineaments in the character of its people.
The horrible crime of infanticide is practised to a great extent
among the Chinese. Foul, indeed, is the stain it casts upon their
character. The little infant is cast by its inhuman parents upon the
waters, or more savagely strangled with cords. The tiger, the
fiercest of all beasts, nurses with kindly care its young; the lion
1S49.] China and the Chinese. 147
will die of hunger in ministering to the wants of its little ones, but
the Chinaman, with no compunction of conscience, will coldly and de-
liberately murder the infant of whose being he himself is the author.
No excuse can be offered for the commission of this horrid crime.
Neither his poverty, nor the character of their institutions, which
wink at it ; nor the antiquity of the practice, can be offered in palliation,
or relieve the crime, in the least, of its enormity. Is it through poverty
that they commit this inhuman crime ? If this were the only alternative
to a lingering death from starvation, it might be regarded as the dic-
tate of humanity. But even the Chinese themselves do not believe that
such a resort is necessary. They can sell their infants to those who
have no offspring, or to parents who thus provide wives for their sons,
for the female children are the only victims of this crime. This is a
common custom among the poor. Instead of paying a comparatively
large price for an adult daughter-in-law, they prefer obtaining infants
for little or nothing, and bringing them up in ways which render their
services valuable, or at least preclude much additional expense. If
they cannot sell their children, there is but little difficulty in giving them
away. And if both these expedients should fail, they need keep them
but a little longer and go a little farther in order to accomplish their
object. After they have arrived at a certain age, they can take their
young children to foundling asylums which are to be found all over
the empire, where the children of the poor are provided for without
expense to their parents. But alas ! want of affection is one great,
repulsive feature of heathenism. Rather than subject themselves to
the least trouble, multitudes prefer destroying their offspring as soon
as they appear. Many of these worse than brutal parents, think it
necessary to furnish themselves with some excuses for their inhu-
man conduct. And what are they? The poor say, that as they have
not the means of support, it is not right that they should nourish
those who will become only an increasing source of expenditure.
They are unwilling to give them to others, through fear that they will
be ill-treated, or brought up to some improper purpose, and they re-
fuse to take them to asylums, because when they grow up, they may
involve them in expense and trouble. But the practice is not con-
fined to the poor alone ; all classes are involved in its guilt. With the
rich it is an act of heartless calculation, a balancing of mere pecuniary
loss and gain. They boldly and fearlessly assert as an excuse, that
such slender tenants of the nursery can never be raised to any impor-
tant post in the household. True, some of them profess to be governed
by the selfish fear, that their daughters may bring disgrace upon them
— but the common course of reasoning carried on in their cold, selfish
hearts, is, that they will cost much both before and after marriage —
that they will then be transferred to another connexion, (their laws
not permitting them to marry one of their own surname,) which will
be of no advantage, and may be of detriment to their parents, and that
1-18 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
if their husbands die, they will probably be thrown back upon them as
a dead weight for future support ! Do any doubt the prevalence of
this inhuman crime? I do not make vague, unfounded assertions — I
am supported by facts.
During the year 184*3, the Christian missionaries stationed at Amoy,
in the Fokeen province, for the purpose of ascertaining the proportion
of female children murdered in their infancy in that city and neigh-
bourhood, commenced a course of investigation and inquiry which they
continued for a twelvemonth. They found that seven out of ten of the
female children were destroyed at, or shortly after birth. There was
no difficulty in obtaining facts on the subject. The Chinese did not
hesitate to acknowledge, not their guilt, but their frequent commission
of the practice. A Chinese woman, employed in one of the missionary
families there, confessed that she had destroyed two of her infant chil-
dren. A Chinaman also stated to one of the missionaries, that he and
his two brothers had killed fifteen of their children, and saved but three.
Dr. Cumming, who, while I was there, was stationed at Koolongsue,
told me that one day, when a large crowd had collected in his hospital,
to witness the operation of removing a large tumour from the neck of
a Chinaman, he put the question publicly, "What number of female
children are destroyed in this village, at birth?" The answer returned
was, "more than one-half." One Chinaman held up in the crowd a
little female child, and shamelessly stated, that he had " killed five,
and saved but that one." When the newly appointed commandant at
Amoy visited, in 1844, the English authorities there, he expressed sur-
prise at the equal fondness of the English ladies for the children of both
sexes. When asked by the consul, Mr. Alcock, what proportion of female
children were destroyed by violence at Amoy, he replied, about one-half.
A gentleman who was attached to the medical mission at Amoy, pointed
out to me, one day while I was walking with him, a stream in the
southern part of the city, a stream which was called by the Chinese,
"dead infants' river," and he told me that he had frequently seen the
corpses of infants floating upon its surface. Horrible, and almost incre-
dible as these statements may appear, they are derived from authentic
sources, and in their truth I place the most implicit belief. I should
state, however, that the province of Fokeen is notorious, throughout
the whole empire, for the number of its infanticides. Its practice, how-
ever, is not confined to Fokeen, and I should be doing the Chinese
authorities injustice, did I omit to state, that by edicts they endeavour
to suppress this cruel crime. I have seen a proclamation, which was
issued in 1838, by Ke, at that time governor of the Quangtung province,
in which he exhorts the people by arguments addressed to their reason,
and by appeals to their kindlier feelings, to save all their little ones,
whether male or female. "Surely," he says, "you forget that your
mothers and wives were once female children. If you have no wives,
where will be your posterity? If there had been no female children,
1849.] China and the Chinese. 149
where would you have obtained your own bodies? Being yourselves
the children of those who were once female children, why cast your
own into the field of death? Reflect! consider what you are doing!
The destruction of female children is nothing less than the slaughter
of human beings. That those who kill, shall themselves be killed, is
the sure retribution of Omniscient Heaven." But it must be observed,
that infanticide is not recognised or punished as a crime. By the laws
of the empire, a child is as much the property of his father, as the ox
which draws his plough. To a heart ignorant of its relations to the
true God, destitute of natural affection, and perfectly alive — and alive
only — to its worldly interests, the temptations to infanticide must be
great in China. It does not come under the cognizance of their civil
laws. Society imposes no restraint: it never frowns upon such an act,
and their friends lose none of their respect for those who commit it.
It has been justly remarked, that a nation's civilization may be esti-
mated from the rank its females hold in society.
If the civilization of China be estimated by this test, then is she far
from deserving that place among the nations she so presumptuously
claims. Females have always been regarded with contempt by the
Chinese; their ancient sages having deemed them hardly worthy of
their attention. Confucius thus speaks of them : — " The lady who
is to be betrothed to a husband, should follow blindly the wishes -of
her parents, yielding implicit obedience to their will. From the
moment she is joined in wedlock, she ceases to exist ; her whole being
is absorbed in that of her lord. She ought to know nothing but his
w T ill, and to deny herself in order to please him. She should speak
only to her husband, and never be seen out of doors." Pau Hwuypau,
a much admired female historian of China, has laid clown rules for the
government of her sex, in which she treats of their proper station in
society. She tells them that " they hold the lowest rank among
mankind, and that employments the least honourable ought to be, and
are their lot." We could not expect that this doctrine, coming from a
female who ought to have been an advocate for her sex, and one too held
in so much esteem as Pau Hwuypau, esteemed perhaps on account of
this very doctrine, would be overlooked by the " lords of creation,"
especially as it accords so well with their domineering disposition in
China.
A species of middle state between rudeness and civilization, is the
portion of a Chinese lady of quality. Inhumanly deprived of the use
of her limbs, whenever she desires to go out, she is concealed in a close
sedan — and so strictly is this incognito observed, that less wealthy
persons keep covered wheel-barrows for their captive wives — not to
prevent the winds of heaven from visiting them too roughly, but to
deprive them of the homage of earthly eyes. Notwithstanding all this
jealous care, the females of the lower classes are treated with little, in
fact with no respect. Often is the poor man's wife seen labouring in
VOL. II. — march, 1849. 11
150 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
the fields of rice, the farm of cotton, the nurseries of silk, her infant
being safely tied to her back, while her husband is engaged in the ex-
citement of smoking or gambling. In the character of the Chinese
females we see somewhat to admire. A woman spends most of her
time at home, in the discharge of her domestic duties and in the edu-
cation, so far as she is able, of her young children. Her authority
over the male children ends, however, when they have arrived at their
tenth year. At this age the boys are removed from their mother's
care, nor are they ever after permitted to visit the place in which they
were born. In their love of apparel the Chinese ladies are not a whit
behind their sisters of the west, and the dresses of the wealthy are
magnificent in the extreme. There is no indecency in their costume,
for the garments encase their whole person like a tortoise shell; even
the small feet are completely hid, for it would be a violation of female
propriety to make a parade of this criterion of beauty. To prove that
I have not exaggerated the ill-treatment which females sutler at the
hands of their husbands, I would state that Dr. Medhurst bears testi-
mony to the fact that in the interior of the country females are some-
times compelled to draw light ploughs and harrows. I have myself
seen them at work in the rice fields near Shanghai, half immersed
in mud and water. Dr. Parker, who from his station as head of the
hospital at Canton, has probably had better means of judging in this
matter than any other foreigner, told me that females in the common
ranks of life w 7 ere held in the greatest degradation and were treated as
slaves. No one who has seen Chinese females in their own country
has failed to observe, that their countenances bear a care-W'Orn ex-
pression, as though they were conscious of the inferiority in which
they are held. The institutions of the country tend to degrade females.
They are purchased by the father as wives for his sons, and the female
seldom knows to w T hom she is to be married until she is carried in the
bridal sedan to the door of her intended husband's house. Polygamy
is allowed in China, and this includes within itself so much to depress
the mind of woman and to benumb her affections, that until public
opinion and the laws of the country are changed in this respect, she
can never rise to her proper place. The idea that a man can have
more than one wife, seems to have more injurious effects, both upon
his own affections and the condition of females, than the actual evils
resulting from a plurality of wives. Facility of divorce has also a
tendency to make a wife more of a slave than a companion and friend.
Even Confucius himself, divorced his wife without cause, and such an
example the Chinese do not hesitate to follow, when their choice impels
them. The ignorance of Chinese females generally, is properly consi-
dered as degrading, but we may observe that if they are taught to be
virtuous, industrious and decorous, Chinese literature can add but little
which is calculated to expand the mind, or purify the heart. In fine,
we may sum up all the evils by saying, that as all social intercourse
1849.] California. 15 i
between unmarried youths of opposite sexes is strictly forbidden, so
there being no cordial friendship or reciprocity of esteem before mar-
riage, there is but little afterwards. The husband thinks he has con-
ferred a favour upon his wife by taking away the reproach of being
single ; and the wife feels her dependence too acutely to think of ever,
becoming the companion of her lord. Christianity is the only remedy
for these evils : its code the only emancipation act that can be found
to relieve the daughters of Eve from the slavery of public opinion thus
arrayed against them. G. H. V.
(To be continued.)
CALIFORNIA.
Upper or Alta California, ceded to the United States by the late
treaty with Mexico, extends from the 32d to the 42d parallels of north
latitude. It has Oregon on the north, the Pacific ocean on the west,
Lower California and Sonora on the south. On the east the boun-
dary is not clearly defined; according to some, the Rio Colorado is the
eastern limit ; according to others, the Rocky mountains. The Anahuac
range lies east of the Colorado, and the Wahsatch to the west of it.
The Sierra Nevada or Snowy range of mountains, runs parallel
with the Pacific and divides the inhabited portion of California from
that which is unexplored and desert. That part which lies be-
tween the Sierra Nevada and the Pacific, is the region known to
travellers and emigrants, and contains the valleys of Sacramento and
San Joaquin. The other division which lies east of the Sierra Nevada,
embraces within it the Great Basin, the Wahsatch mountains, the Great
salt lake and the Rio Colorado of the west. Of this portion of Cali-
fornia, but little is known. The Mormons have made the only white
settlement within its limits, near the salt lake. The Great Basin
extends from the Sierra Nevada to the Wahsatch mountains. It has
an elevation of four or five thousand feet above the level of the sea,
and, so far as the observations of travellers have reached, is covered
with evidences of volcanic action. The existence of this great basin
is vouched for, by American traders and hunters; and Col. Fremont,
who traversed its outer rim, and visited the great salt lake and the
Wahsatch mountains, ascertained that there was a succession of lakes
and rivers which had no visible outlet to the sea, or connexion with the
Columbia or Colorado rivers. He believed that the basin extends
four or five hundred miles each way, and that sterility is its prominent
characteristic. It is peopled ; but from all he heard and saw, humanity
is there in its lowest form and in its most elementary state. The
greater part of the inhabitants are dispersed in single families — without
fire-arms — eating seeds and insects, and digging roots ; whilst others,
a degree higher, live in communities upon somelake or river that sup-
152 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
plies fish, and from which they repulse the miserable digger. The
rabbit is the largest animal known in this desert — its skin affords a
covering to the savages. The wild sage which grows six or eight
feet high, serves them for fuel, and for building materials.
The western division of Alta California, to which our attention must
be principally directed, lies, as we have stated, between the Sierra
Nevada range and. the Pacific ocean. It is thus described by Col.
Fremont :
" West of Sierra Nevada, and between that mountain and the sea,
is the second grand division of California, and the only part to which
the name applies in the current language of the country. It is the
occupied and inhabited part, and so different in character — so divided
by the mountain wall of the Sierra from the great basin above — as to
constitute a region to itself, with a structure and configuration — a soil,
climate and productions — of its own; and as northern Persia may be
referred to as some type of the former, so may Italy be referred to as
some point of comparison for the latter. North and south, this region
embraces about ten degrees of latitude — from 32° where it touches the
peninsula of California, to 42°, where it bounds on Oregon. East and
west, from the Sierra Nevada to the sea, it will average, in the middle
parts, one hundred and fifty miles; in the northern parts, two hundred
— giving an area of above one hundred thousand square miles. Look-
ing westward from the summit of the Sierra, the main feature presented
is, the long, low, broad valley of the Joaquin and Sacramento rivers —
the two valleys forming one — five hundred miles long and fifty broad,
lying along the base of the Sierra, and bounded to the west by the low
coast range of mountains, which separates it from the sea. Long dark
lines of timber indicate the streams, and bright spots mark the inter-
vening plains. Lateral ranges, parallel to the Sierra Nevada and the
coast, make the structure of the country and break it into a surface of
valleys and mountains — the valleys a few hundred, and the mountains
two or four thousand feet above the sea. These form greater masses,
and become more elevated in the north, where some peaks, as the
Shasti, enter the regions of perpetual snow. Stretched along the mild
coast of the Pacific, with a general elevation in its plains and valleys
of only a few hundred feet above the level of the sea — and backed
by the long and lofty wall of the Sierra — mildness and geniality may
be assumed as the characteristic of its climate. The inhabitant of cor-
responding latitudes on the Atlantic side of this continent can with
difficulty conceive of the soft air and southern productions under the
same latitudes in the maritime regions of Upper California. The sin-
gular beauty and purity of the sky in the south of this region is cha-
racterized by Humboldt as a rare phenomenon, and all travellers realize
the truth of his description.
" The present condition of the country affords but slight data for
forming correct opinions of the agricultural capacity and fertility of
1849.] California. 153
the soil. Vancouver found,at the mission of San Buenaventura, in 1792,
latitude 34 deg. 16 min., apples, pears, plums, figs, oranges, grapes,
peaches, and pomegranates growing together with the plantain, banana,
cocoa nut, sugar cane, and indigo, all yielding fruit in abundance, and of
excellent quality. Humboldt mentions the olive oil of California as
equal to that of Andalusia, and the wine like that of the Canary Islands.
At present, but little remains of the high and various cultivation which
had been attained at the missions. Under the mild and paternal admi-
nistration of the ' Fathers,' the docile character of the Indians was
made available for labour, and thousands were employed in the fields,
the orchards, and the vineyards. At present, but little of this former
cultivation is seen. The fertile valleys are overgrown with wild
mustard; vineyards and olive orchards, decayed and neglected, are
among the remaining vestiges; only in some places do we see the evi-
dences of what the country is capable. At San Buenaventura, we
found the olive trees, in January, bending under the weight of neglected
fruit; and the mission of San Luis Obispo (latitude 35 deg.) is still
distinguished for the excellence of its olives, considered finer and larger
than those of the Mediterranean.
" The productions of the south differ from those of the north and of
the middle. Grapes, olives, Indian corn, have been its staples, with
many assimilated fruits and grains. Tobacco has been recently intro-
duced; and the uniform summer heat which follows the wet season,
and is uninterrupted by rain, w T ould make the southern country well
adapted to cotton. — Wheat is the first product of the north, where it
always constituted the principal cultivation of the missions. This
promises to be the grain-growing region of California. The moisture
of the coast seems particularly suited to the potato and to the vegeta-
bles common to the United States, which grow to an extraordinary
size."
The principal towns in California are Monterey, San Francisco,
Puebla de los Angelos, San Diego, San Jose, &c. Monterey is the
seat of government, and is situated on a bay of the same name ; but
San Francisco or Yerba Buena is the principal point of attraction, for
thither is bound the great body of emigrants and adventurers from all
parts of the world now crowding to the western Eldorado on the shores
of the Pacific. The California Star, a paper published in San Fran-
cisco, gives the following description of the place.
"Yerba Buena, (San Francisco) the name of our town, which means
"good herb," is situated on the south-west side of the principal arm of
San Francisco bay, about five miles from the ocean, on a narrow neck
of land, varying from four to ten miles in width — the narrowest place
being sixteen miles south-west of the town. It is in latitude 37 45 N.
This narrow strip of land is^ about sixty miles in length, extending
from the point formed by the bay and the ocean, to the valley of San
Jose. The site of the town is handsome and commanding — being an
154 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
inclined plane of about a mile in extent, from the water's edge to the
hills in the rear. Two points of land — one on each side, extending
into the bay, form a crescent, or small bay, in the shape of a crescent,
in front, which bears the name of the town. These points afford a
fine view of the surrounding country — the snow-capped mountains in
the distance — the green valleys beneath them — the beautiful, smooth,
and unruffled bay in front and on either side, at once burst upon the eye.
There is in front of the town a small island, rising high above the sur-
face of the bay, about two miles long, and one wide, which is covered
the greater part of the year with the most exuberant herbage of un-
trodden freshness. This little island is about three miles from the shore.
Between it and the town is the principal anchorage. Here vessels of
all nations rest in safety and peace, and their flags are displayed by the
aromatic breeze. Two hundred yards from the shore there is twenty-
four feet water, and a short distance beyond that, as many fathoms.
The beach immediately in front of the now business part of the town
is shelving; but it will, no doubt, in a short time be filled up and be-
come the most valuable part of the place.
The climate here is, in the winter, which is the rainy season, damp
and chilly. During the balance of the year it is dry, but chilly, in con-
sequence of the continual strong winds from the north and north-west.
There is but little variation in the atmosphere throughout the year ;
the thermometer ranging from fifty-five to seventy degrees of Fahrenheit.
Yerba Buena is one of the most healthy places on the whole coast of
the Pacific. Sickness of any kind is rarely known among us. The
salubrity of the climate — beauty of the site of the town — its contiguity
to the mouth of the bay — the finest harbour on the whole coast in
front — the rich and beautiful country around it, all conspire to render
it one of the best commercial points in the world. The town is new,
having been laid off in 1839, by Cap. John Vioget; and, notwithstand-
ing all the troubles in the country, has gradually increased in size and
importance. It now contains a population of about five hundred per-
manent citizens."
The following account of the bay of San Francisco is from Col.
Fremont's report to congress.
" The bay of San Francisco has been celebrated, from the time of its
first discovery, as one of the finest in the world, and is justly entitled
to that character, even under the seaman's view of a mere harbour. But
when all the accessory advantages which belong to it — fertile and pic-
turesque, dependent country; mildness and salubrity of climate; con-
nexion with the great interior valley of the Sacramento and San Joa-
quin; its vast resources for ship timber, grain, and cattle — when these
advantages are taken into the account, with its geographical position
on the line of communication with Asia, it arises into an importance far
above that of a mere harbour, and deserves a particular notice in any
account of maritime California. Its latitudinal position is that of Lis-
1S49.] California. 155
bon ; its climate is that of southern Italy ; settlements upon it for more
than half a century attest its healthfulness ; bold shores and mountains
give it grandeur; the extent and fertility of its dependent country give
it great resources for agriculture, commerce, and population.
The bay of San Francisco is separated from the sea by low moun-
tain ranges. Looking from the peaks of the Sierra Nevada, the coast
mountains present an apparently continuous line, with only a single
gap, resembling a mountain pass. This is the entrance to the great
bay, and is the only water communication from the coast to the interior
country. Approaching from the sea, the coast presents a bold outline.
On the south, the bordering mountains come down in a narrow ridge
of broken hills, terminating in a precipitous point, against which the
sea breaks heavily. On the northern side, the mountain presents a bold
promontory, rising in a few miles to two or three thousand feet. Be-
tween these points is the strait, about one mile broad, in the narrowest
part, and five miles long from the sea to the bay. Passing through
this gate, the bay opens to the right and left, extending in each direc-
tion about 35 miles, having a total length of more than 70, and a coast
of about 275 miles. It is divided by straits and projecting points into
three separate bays, of which the northern two are called San Pablo
and Suisoon bays. Within, the view presented is of a mountainous
country, the bay resembling an interior lake of deep water, lying be-
tween parallel ranges of mountains. Islands, which have the bold cha-
racter of the shores — some mere masses of rock, and others grass-co-
vered, rising to the height of three and eight hundred feet — break its
surface and add to its picturesque appearance. Directly fronting the
entrance, mountains a few miles from the shore rise about 2,000 feet
above the water, crowned by a forest of the lofty cypress, which is visi-
ble from the sea, and makes a conspicuous land-mark for vessels entering
the bay. Behind, the rugged peak of Mount Diavolo, nearly 4,000
feet high, (3,770,) overlooks the surrounding country of the bay and
San Joaquin. The immediate shore of the bay derives, from its proxi-
mate and opposite relation to the sea, the name of contra costa (counter
coast, or opposite coast.) It presents a varied character of rugged and
broken hills, rolling and undulating land, and rich alluvial shores,
backed by w T ooded ranges, suitable for towns, villages, and farms, with
which it is beginning to be dotted."
The credit of having discovered California, is, by some waiters, ac-
corded to Cortes, who as early as 1521 fitted out several expeditions
for the purpose of exploring the northern coast of the Pacific. One
of his officers, in 1537, reached the Gulf of California, but after some
unsuccessful cruising, returned to Acapulco. About the same time,
three hundred Spaniards under Pamfilo de Narvaez entered Florida
w^ith the design of subjugating it, but w T ere defeated and driven out:
the survivors wandered over Louisiana, Texas, and parts unknown,
and one of them, De Vaca, reached Sonora, and afterwards returned
156 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
to Mexico. He told marvellous stories of the wealth of that unknown
land — of plains covered with cattle, and mountains shining with pre-
cious metals. In consequence of these representations, several expedi-
tions were fitted out, but they all proved unsuccessful, until at length,
in 1602, Sebastian Viscayno set sail from Acapulco with a large fleet,
and exploring the entire coast of upper and lower California, entered
the harbours of Monterey, San Diego, and San Francisco. He re-
turned, however, in a deplorable condition, having suffered greatly,
and failed altogether in the great object of his expedition, which was
to bring within his reach the treasures of gold and jewels that were
reported to abound in that country.
Some years after, the Jesuits traversed California, and established
missionary stations. For a long time they were unprotected, and en-
dured many hardships, but at last they obtained relief, and fortresses
were erected at Santo Barbara, Monterey, and San Francisco, to de-
fend them from encroachments. They devoted themselves with great
zeal to the civilization and conversion of the Indians, who formed an
ardent attachment to their spiritual fathers and benefactors. The es-
tablishment of these priests continued in full vigour until 1760, when
they had sixteen chief missions, and forty villages dependent on them.
After the expulsion of the Jesuits from Spain in 1767, the guidance of
California was committed to other hands, and its prosperity was soon
on the decline.
In 1842, the number of whites, exclusive of Indians, in California,
was estimated, by a French traveller, M. de Mofras, at five thousand,
of whom emigrants from the United States were put down at 360.
Subsequently, many foreigners came into the country; the majority of
them were natives of the United States, and trappers from the Rocky
mountains and head waters of the Columbia river, and the inhabitants
increased so rapidly, that in 1846 they were believed to amount to ten
thousand.
In the year 1842, Commodore Jones, of the American navy, then
in command of the Pacific squadron, having been informed that Cali-
fornia had been transferred by Santa Anna to England, for the pur-
pose of preventing the occupation of the country by a European power,
took possession of Monterey. It was immediately returned to the
Mexican authorities on learning that the report was unfounded.
In 1845, a revolutionary movement, headed by Don Jose Castro,
Alvarado, Pico, and others, in which the foreigners participated, re-
sulted in deposing the Mexican governor — Pico became the civil go-
vernor, and Castro the military commandant. In June, 1846, Castro
issued an order to remove his horses and government property from
San Rafael to Santa Clara ; and to do this, the officer in charge was
obliged to cross the river Sacramento near Sutter's Fort. The settlers
supposing that he was proceeding in that direction to attack the camp
of Capt. Fremont, U. S. Engineer, who was then with a party sur-
1S49.] California. 157
veying 70 miles above New Helvetia, immediately hurried to Fre-
mont's camp to assist him. On learning that Castro's real intention
was to organize a sufficient force to prevent the ingress of emigrants,
a party set out under Mr. Merritt, who seized the arms and horses of
the Mexican detachment, and proceeded to Sonoma, which they took
possession of. On the 25th June, Col. Fremont arrived at Sonoma,
with ninety riflemen, to meet Castro, who was expected to attack the
place, but had not arrived. A scouting party of twenty fell in with
seventy Mexican dragoons, and routed them. A declaration of inde-
pendence was then made by the people, and Fremont was requested to
take the direction of affairs. Castro, who had intrenched himself at
Santa Clara, abandoned that position, and retreated to Ciudad de los
Angelos, with 400 men. As Col. Fremont was on the point of set-
ting out for that place in pursuit of him, he received intelligence that
the war with Mexico had commenced, and that Monterey had been
taken on the 7th July by our naval forces under Commodore Sloat.
On the 12th August Commodore Stockton, then in command of the
squadron, with Colonel Fremont, entered the city of Angels without,
resistance, and taking possession of the whole country as a conquest
of the United States, the latter was appointed civil governor.
In the mean time, General S. W. Kearney had performed one of the
most masterly marches on record, in pursuance of orders from the
government to effect the conquest of New Mexico and Upper California,
On the 18th August, 1846, he entered Santa Fe with the force under
his command, and having reduced New Mexico to subjection, pro-
ceeded, on the 25th September, with three hundred dragoons to com-
plete the work assignee! him. On the 6th October he met Kit Carson,
with an express from Commodore Stockton, on his way to Washing-
ton, who reported the occupation of California by the Americans.
General Kearney thereupon sent back two hundred of the dragoons,
and with the other one hundred as a guard continued his march.
When within forty miles of San Diego, fatigued and worn out with
travel, he encountered at San Pasqual an armed party of Mexicans,
and after a severe and bloody fight totally routed them ; but with the
loss of three of his officers, and the general himself being wounded in two
places. Having, shortly after, joined Commodore Stockton, with five
hundred men under their command, they fought the enemy six hundred
strong at San Gabriel, and gained a signal victory. Then followed
the unfortunate difficulty between General Kearney, Colonel Fremont
and Commodore Stockton. The latter officer, having been relieved in
the command of the squadron by Commodore Dallas, returned home,
and General Kearney assumed the government of California.
By the treaty of peace which was concluded and ratified between the
United States and Mexico on the 30th day of May, 1848, Alta California
and New Mexico, were ceded to the United States. These possessions
are still, however, without a territorial government. General Persifer F .
158 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
Smith has been sent out as military commander, and the inhabitants
contemplate organizing a provisional government, until better provided
for by congress, or until they can be admitted. into the union.
The recent discoveries of gold in Upper California, have given to
this country an interest and importance in the public estimation, which
was not anticipated at the time of its cession to the United States.
The gold region lies principally on and about the Sacramento river,
and its branches, the American Fork or Rio de los Americanos, Fea-
ther river or Rio de los Plumas, etc.
The first discovery of gold was made in February, 1848, by work-
men who were engaged in building a saw-mill, on the south branch of
the American Fork, about fifty miles from New Helvetia or Sutter's
Fort. In digging a mill-race or canal, pieces of gold were discovered,
and the workmen, who were principally Mormons, soon spread the
news. Other discoveries were quickly made, and considerable sums
obtained. In the month of April the great quantities of precious
metal brought into the principal towns, attracted the attention of the
people generally, and, in the course of a few week's, the greatest por-
tion of the male population abandoned their ordinary occupations, and
started for the gold placers. The gold is found in the beds and banks
of the streams, in small scales mixed with sand, from which it is washed ;
but in the intervening mountains it is found in coarser lumps, varying
in size from three to six ounces. These placers, where the gold is dis-
covered and washed, take this Spanish name from the Latin word
placer e, to please.
For a minute description of the gold region ; the effect of the dis-
covery upon the inhabitants of California; the success of those who
are engaged in collecting the coveted metal ; the amount found, and
various other particulars of interest, we refer our readers to several
interesting official communications, which we have placed on a subse-
quent page under the head of Documents. In our Statistical depart-
ment, page 115, will also be found a list of vessels, passengers, goods,
&c, that have left the ports of the United States bound to Cali-
fornia. S.
JUNCTION OF THE ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC.
MARITIME AND OVERLAND ROUTES.
Since the acquisition of Oregon and California, by w T hich the Pacific
ocean has become our western boundary, the public mind has been di-
rected to the most feasible routes of trade and travel from the eastern
to the western limit of the republic. The subject of a junction of the
two oceans has been long agitated, and for many years various pro-
jects have been suggested to effect that object ; but now a fresh sti-
mulus is imparted to human ingenuity and enterprise by the discovery
1S49.] Routes to the Pacific. 159
of the golden treasures on the Sacramento, and besides the revival of
projects that have long slept, new ones are proposed for which superior
advantages are claimed.
The question of communication embraces two great divisions. The
first, an ocean-way for commerce and travel by intermarine canals or
rail-roads across the narrow tracts or necks of land which separate the
Caribbean Sea from the Pacific ; the second, a national thoroughfare,
or great central rail-road on our own soil from the Mississippi river to
San Francisco or Monterey.
Whether only one, or both of these modes is to be adopted, is left
to the future action of congress ; but whatever be done, it is obvious
that immense advantages must accrue to the union by an outlay of
means upon a scale commensurate with the object. In the able report
recently made to congress by Hon. T. Butler King, he remarks:
That "the completion of this system of communication would un-
doubtedly in a few years cause the balance of trade with all nations
to turn in our favour, and make New York what London now is, the
great settling house of the world. Situated as this continent is on the
globe, almost midway between Europe and Asia, with this concentra-
tion of intelligence by steam-ships, rail- ways, and telegraphs, we
should extend our communications with equal facility to both, and each
would be dependent on us for information from the other."
We propose to give an account of the most prominent projects that
are now before the public, arranged according to the divisions just
mentioned.
THE OCEAN ROUTES.
From almost the period of 1513, when the chivalrous but unfortu-
nate Nunez de Balboa discovered the South sea, the project of an in-
termarine communication — suggested by its obvious importance and
apparent feasibility — between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, has oc-
cupied the attention of the commercial world ; but now, for the first
time, under the magic touch of American enterprise and genius, it has
assumed a definite and tangible form.
As early as the year 1525, the Spanish government commenced a
series of explorations in reference to a ship canal between the two
oceans over several routes ; the principal of which were by the isthmus
of Tehuantepec, of Panama, and of Nicaragua ; and these examina-
tions have been continued at different times, down to the present, by
several governments and individuals ; amongst the latter, Baron Hum-
boldt, who designates nine routes as being susceptible of canal naviga-
tion ; and charters have been granted for canals and rail-roads across
those three lines by the various governments exercising jurisdiction
over them.
We are necessarily restricted at this time to the consideration only
of the two principal routes, Panama and Tehuantepec.
160 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
PANAMA ROUTE.
The attention of Mr. Buchanan, the late Secretary of State, soon
after his accession to office, was directed to the communication between
the Atlantic and Pacific oceans over the isthmus of Panama ; and, with
the concurrence of the President, instructed our charge d'affaires at
New Granada to secure to the citizens of the United States the rights
of way by any road or roads then existing, or thereafter to be made at
that point. The effort of the secretary was successful ; and in a treaty
with that government, ratified on the 10th June, 1848, the right of
way was obtained, and the neutrality of the isthmus guarantied by the
United States.
Previously, an act of congress had been passed on the 3d March,
1847, establishing a line of monthly mail steamers from Panama to the
Columbia river, touching at intermediate ports on the coasts of Mexico
and California, in connexion with a line from New York and New Or-
leans to Havana, and thence to Chagres. The contract for the Pacific
mail was obtained by William H. Aspinwall, a merchant of New York,
and his associates, who immediately turned their attention to the con-
struction of a railway from the mouth of the Chagres river on the At-
lantic, to the port of Panama on the Pacific. For this purpose nego-
tiations were opened by them with Gen. Herran, the New-Granadian
minister at Washington, who being fully authorized for that purpose
by his government, transferred to them a grant originally made to a
French company, but the stipulations of which had not been performed.
Some alterations were made in the terms of the original conveyance ;
but the privileges granted to the American company are very great,
and substantially as follows :
In addition to the exclusive right of constructing and occupying a
rail-road across the isthmus for forty-nine years, the Granadian go-
vernment grants gratuitously to the company all the public lands re-
quired for the track of the road, together with those which may be
wanted for depots, ports, wharves, warehouses, &c. The ports at the
termini of the road to be free ports.
Moreover the Granadian government conveys gratuitously to the
company 100,000 fanegadas [a fanegada is something more than an
acre, we believe,] of vacant land, to be selected by the latter in the
provinces of Panama and Veraguas, w T hich grant may be increased to
150,000 fanegadas, if such an extent of public land shall be found
within those provinces. This land is to be conveyed absolutely, as
soon as the obligations of the company have been carried into effect,
and in no case is to revert to the government. There is also an agree-
ment, subject to the approval of the Granadian government, that in
making the selection, the company may extend their choice for one-
half of the amount, to the territories of Boca del Toro and Darien.
1849.] Routes to the Pacific. 161
Any mines on the lands so chosen, are to be the unconditional property
of the company, by whomsoever discovered.
The road must be completed in six years ; and if undertaken by the
present company, will doubtless occupy a much less time. As a secu-
rity for the performance of the contract, the company deposited 600,000
francs with the New York Life and Trust Company, which is to be
returned when the road is completed, (in the mean time drawing six
per cent, interest,) but to be forfeited in case of non-fulfilment. At
the end of twenty years from its completion, the Granadian govern-
ment may take possession of the road and its appurtenances, on the
payment of $5,000,000 to the company ; at the end of thirty years, for
$4,000,000, or at the end of forty years for $2,000,000. At the end
of forty-nine years, it may take possession without payment or condi-
tion of any kind, except that it must repay to the company any excess
of value above 25,000,000 francs.
This grant having been thus procured, the company memorialized
congress at its last session for the purpose of obtaining from the go-
vernment a contract for the transportation over the isthmus rail-road,
for the period' of twenty years, the naval and army supplies, troops,
munitions of war, and mails of the United States, at a specific sum ;
the memorialists to commence the road in one year, and complete it in
three.
Mr. King of Georgia, from the committee on naval affairs, to whom
the memorial was referred, made an elaborate and able report on the
subject, with the programme of a bill granting assistance to the appli-
cants, and authorizing the secretary of the navy to contract with them
upon certain terms, and that the government pay them $250,000 per
annum for twenty years for their services. Owing to the variety of
propositions on the same subject before congress, the magnitude of the
undertaking and the shortness of the session, no definite action was had
on this bill, and the whole question is still open for the consideration
of the next congress.
The report of Mr. King sets forth in a very strong and imposing
manner the immense advantages that would result commercially from
the proposed communications between the two oceans. As some of his
statements apply with equal force to either of the routes suggested,
we insert the most prominent points suggested by him.
The report furnishes a table showing that European ports are 1,500
miles, or two weeks nearer than we are to all the other ports of the
world, except the Atlantic ports of the American continent north of
the equator and the West Indies. The cause of this is, that all ves-
sels bound from our ports to places south of the line, or beyond either
of the capes, cross the Atlantic to the Azores or Western Islands, for
the purpose of finding favourable winds, while vessels from British
ports run down to the same latitude and longitude without the neces-
sity of crossing the ocean, to avail themselves of the same advantages.
162 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March.
The construction of the proposed rail-road across the isthmus will
not only do away this advantage over us now possessed by European
commerce and navigation, but will turn the tide in our favour.
The average distance from Liverpool, London and Havre to Panama
is 4,700 miles, from New-York the distance is 2,000 miles, from
Charleston 1,400, from Savannah 1,300, from New-Orleans and Mobile
1,600 — making an average distance from our principal exporting Atlan-
tic and Gulf ports of about 1,600 miles to Panama. If, therefore, we
admit, for the sake of the argument, that European commerce with
the Pacific Ocean, the East India and China seas, will take the new
route across the isthmus, there will be a difference of 3,100 miles in our
favour. Add to this the 1,500 miles now against us, and we find that
we shall gain by this channel of communication, in our relative position
to those parts of the world, a distance of 4,600 miles, or 42 days. In
the voyage out and home we shall have the advantage of our European
competitors 9,200 miles and 84 days, as compared with the present
route.
The report argues that the commerce of Europe with the East Indies,
China and the west coast of America must fall into our hands. A table
of distances to various ports beyond the capes is given, showing, accord-
ing to the report, that the new route across the isthmus will bring us
more than an average of 10,000 miles nearer to the East Indies, China,
and the ports of South America on the Pacific, and will actually, for
all the purposes of navigation and commercial intercourse, bring the
ports of the west coast of Mexico, California and Oregon, 14,000
miles nearer to us than they now are! With steamers on each side
of the isthmus that will go 15 miles an hour — a speed ascertained to
be quite practicable — passengers, the mails, and small packages of light
and valuable goods may be conveyed from New-York to San-Francis-
co in 14 days, ahd from our southern ports in less time.
The average saving of time in our commercial intercourse with the
west coast of America, China and the East Indies, which will be
effected by the construction of the proposed- rail-road, is exhibited
in the following table :
1849.]
Routes to the Pacific.
163
Table showing the saving of time from New York by the new route via
the Isthmus of Panama, as compared with the old routes via Cape
Horn and the Cape of Good Hope, to the places therein named, esti-
mating the distance which a common trading ship will sail per day
to be 110 miles, and calculating for the voyage out and home.
o
!*«
O a.
c
el
o
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e
ed
5
B
5 o
o B
2
p
3
o.
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3
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To
Calcutta
Miles.
17,500
Days.
318
Miles.
23,000
Days.
418
Miles.
13,400
Days.
244
Days.; Days.
74 174
Canton
19,500
354
21,500
390
10,600
192
163
198
Shanghai .
20,000
362
22,000 400
10,400
188
174
212
Valparaiso. . '
12,900 234
4,800
86
148
Callao
13,500 244
3,500
62
182
Guayaquil .
14,300i 260
2,800
50
210
Panama
16,000 290
2,000
36
254
San Bias
17,800 322
3,800
68
254
Mazatlan .
18,000i 326
4,000
72
254
San Diego .
18,500 336
4,500
82
254
San Francisco
19,000 344
5,000
90
254
The employment of steam vessels would render the contrast in our
favour still more striking.
Steamers, with a speed of twelve miles an hour, would go from
New York, via the isthmus, (throwing out the fractions,) to Calcutta
in 47 days; to Canton in 36; to Shanghai in 35; to Valparaiso in 17:
to Callao in 12; to Guayaquil in 9J; to Panama in 7; to San Bias in
12; to Mazatlan in 14; to San Diego in 1G; to San Francisco in I s
days.
The statement that the voyage could be made by the isthmus, from
New York to San Francisco in fourteen days, cannot be sustained by
any precedent in ocean steam navigation.
The Isthmus of Tehuantepec project is despatched so summarily by
the Committee that we are constrained to believe that they knew or
cared very little about the merits of that line. ■ The report then
concludes with the following estimates of the benefits which our com-
merce, agriculture and manufactures will derive from the completion
of the proposed road :
In the year 1844, 57 American ships cleared at the custom house
of Canton ; and it is believed, from reliable information, that there
are now 65 American ships engaged in the China trade, or 65 voy-
ages made in it. It is stated by the merchants engaged in that trade
164 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
that the new* route across the isthmus will save an average of $10,000
a voyage, or $605,000 per annum, in our commerce with China, beside
the saving of interest on the capital employed in it, by making tw-o
voyages a year instead of one. This may be set down at about
$150,000 per annum.
Those who have been long engaged in the whale fishery say that
about one-fourth of the time employed in a whaling voyage is con-
sumed in going to and returning from the fishing ground. The annual
product of that 'branch of commerce is about ten millions of dollars.
This shows an actual loss of time equal to about $2,500,000. It is es-
timated that the new route will save one half of this, or $1,250,000 per
annum. The length of the voyage now causes an average loss of 10
per cent, of the oil, or an annual loss of $1,000,000. It is admitted
that the new route will prevent this. There will be, therefore, a
saving on this item of $1,000,000 annually. As we have no returns
of the number of voyages made to the west coast of America, and as
the distances by the new route to Chili, Peru, Ecuador, San Bias, and
Mazatlan, are reduced more than between the United States and China,
it will not be considered an over-estimate if w 7 e assume that there will
be a saving of about the same per cent, on our commerce with those
ports, as has been stated with respect to the trade with China. This
gives a little over $200,000 per annum.
It is estimated in this report that, at the end of three years there
will probably be 500,000 people in California, and that they will re-
quire an equal number of barrels of flour and the same quantity of beef,
and pork, and other articles of provision annually. The saving on
the freight by the new route will be at least one dollar per barrel, or
one million of dollars a year on these agricultural products, to say
nothing of the market thus afforded, which would otherwise be unavail-
able, beside the saving of time in the voyage, and the interest on the
capital employed in the trade. It is, of course, impossible to estimate
the saving on the freight of manufactured goods. That, however, will
necessarily be very large.
The amounts expected to be saved by the proposed rail-road are
thus recapitulated.
In the China trade $800,000 per annum for 20 years, .$16,000,000
In whale fishery, $2,250,000 per annum for 20 years, . 45,000,000
In the trade with the west coast of America, exclusive of
our territories, $200,000 per annum for 20 years, . . 4,000,000
On the freight of flour, beef, pork, &c. &c. $1,000,000 per
annum for 20 years, 20,000,000
Total, $85,000,000
It is, perhaps, well for the country that congress has determined to
have no premature or hasty legislation in regard to these intermarine
1849.] Roales to the Pacific. 165
communications, inasmuch as the least costly, most feasible, and most
expeditious route should be selected.
TEHUANTEPEC ROUTE,
The route across the isthmus of Tehuantepec is not as circuitous as
that by Panama, and its claims to the consideration of the government
have also been presented in the shape of a memorial to congress. On
the Atlantic side is the port of Coatzacoalcos, at the mouth of the river
of the same name. This river is represented to be navigable thirty
miles for ships of the largest class, and for lighter craft fifteen miles.
Thus the distance from the head of navigation of that river to Tehu-
antepec, on the Pacific coast, would be only one hundred and fifteen
miles for the contemplated line of rail-road. In 1521, Cortes caused
a survey to be made of this isthmus for the purpose of uniting the two
oceans. Afterwards it became the favourite route by which the Ma-
nilla merchants passed from Acapulco to the gulf of Mexico. During
the last century, some heavy brass pieces in the castle of San Juan
D'Ulloa were observed to have on them the stamp of the Manilla foun-
dry, and an inquiry was instituted to ascertain how they were brought
to the gulf. It was discovered from the archives of the city of Tehu-
antepec that they had been transported across the isthmus; the route
from Tehuantepec being up the river Chicapa, across the Mal-paso,
thence by land over the Cordilleras to the head waters of the Coatza-
coalcos, which empties into the gulf.
In 1842, a survey of the route was made by Cayetano Moro, in
connexion with a grant from the Mexican government to Don Jose
Garay. This survey is described by the "Sun of Anahuaco," a paper
published in the city of Vera Cruz, in an article setting forth the ad-
vantages of the route. The paper is of the date of July 4th, 1847.
We have only room for some extracts. The editor thus opens the
subject:
"We have heard that it was the intention of Commodore Perry,
before the U. S. Marine corps were detached from the navy to be
joined to the army of the interior, not only with the approbation of his
government to hold Tabasco, and if necessary to take possession of the
state of Chiapas, by ascending the river to Teapa, and marching thence
over land to San Christoval, but to prosecute the most minute inquiry
with reference to the isthmus of Tehuantepec, the navigation of the
rivers which at that point empty into the Pacific and the gulf, and the
exact character of the country which intervenes between their sources.
" Those were projects worthy of the navy and its enterprising commo-
dore, but since the government has chosen to deprive that arm of our
service of its power to garrison the places which it may capture, their
noble enterprise must, as a matter of course, be deferred.
"This scheme to open a direct and speedy communication between
the two oceans, has attracted the attention of the world. It is un-
VOL. II. — march, 1849. 12
166 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
doubtedly feasible — and what nation should achieve it but the United
States of America? There never has been, there never will be, a pe-
riod so suitable for a commencement as the present moment — and who
so well qualified for the task as the enterprising commander of the
home squadron?"
The survey made by Moro is thus described : — "On the 28th of May,
1842, Don Cayetano Moro arrived at Tehuantepec to commence his ob-
servations as chief engineer, assisted by Don Manuel Robles, captain of
engineers, and professor of astronomy in the military college of Mexico.
Other engineers of inferior note assisted in the survey. They found
eighteen feet of water on the Boca Barra of Tehuantepec, but a shoal
of sand obstructed it within, the whole way across. The engineers
subsequently crossed from Tehuantepec to Coatzacoalcos, by the Chi-
capa, la Chirela, Guchiovi, Boca de Morete, and Mai Paso. At Mai
Paso, the Coatzacoalcos surprised them by the slowness of its current,
and the limpidity of its waters. It seemed already a canal. Its banks
of a tenacious clay, seemed to undergo little change. The Sierra
Mad re appeared to intercept its course entirely, between the Santa
Maria Petapa and San Miguel Chimalapa. The highlands on the
route of the proposed canal, like the low, is of the greatest possible
fertility, abounding in noble trees of the most valuable kinds, among
others the vanilla and wild cocoa.
" From Tarifa, the waters descend naturally towards the Coatzacoal-
cos. On the shores of the river, noble pines abound, which formerly were
taken to Wasana, to mast the ships built there for the Spanish navy;
also jaricanes, huyacanes, macayes, and paques. These last were used
for the timbers of large ships. The abundance of excellent ship timber
on the banks of the Coatzacoalcos, the convenience and security of its
port, and the natural facilities for defending it, combine to make it the
most suitable place for a naval arsenal in the Gulf of Mexico. The
Spanish government seriously entertain the project of establishing an
arsenal there.
" From the confluenceof the Malatengo to the sea, the Coatzacoalcos
has only a fall of forty metres, or one hundred and thirty-two feet. The
accounts of the depth of water on the bar varies from fourteen to
twenty-two feet. Commodore Perry found it only twelve feet at the
commencement of the rainy season. It will be an easy task to open
the Boca Barra of San Francisco on the Pacific side, and to deepen a
channel through the lakes, whose bottom is sand and shells."
The advantages in point of distance by this route are very conside-
rable. The distance from the mouth of the Mississippi to San Fran-
cisco by the isthmus of Tehuantepec, is three thousand, two hundred
and ninety-four miles; by the isthmus of Panama, five thousand miles,
thus showing a difference of one thousand, seven hundred and six miles.
From New York, by the Tehuantepec route, the distance to San Fran-
cisco is, four thousand, seven hundred and forty-four miles, by the
1849.] Routes to the Pacific. 167
Panama, five thousand, eight hundred and fifty-eight miles, making
one thousand, one hundred and fourteen miles in favour of the former.
During the war, Commodore Perry paid much attention to the collec-
tion of information in regard to this route and the country about it,
and obtained a manuscript copy of the original survey made by Moro.
So impressed was he with the importance of this line of communication
to our government, that he projected an expedition to take possession
of the commanding points, and recommended that they should be held
until the war was ended, and that then an exclusive right of way should
be stipulated for in the treaty. As we have stated, a memorial has been
presented to congress on the subject of this route. The memorialist,
P. A. Hargous, of New York, in behalf of himself and associates repre-
sented, that he was invested with full powers from the Mexican govern-
ment, to open the communication across the isthmus of Tehuantepec;
that the grant secured to them the privilege for fifty years without
contributions or taxes.
For the purpose of presenting the projects of the contending claim-
ants to the public with equal advantage to both, we insert among our
documents, their respective memorials at length. We hope to add,
also, the able and valuable letter of Hon. Geo. M. Dallas, on the junc-
tion of the two oceans, either in this, or in a future number.
2. GREAT INLAND COMMUNICATION ACROSS THE CONTINENT.
We come now to the second grand division of the subject, namely:
a national rail-road within our oion territory. Several different
routes have been proposed. Whitney's memorial, presented to congress
on the 24th February, 1846, to obtain a grant of land for a rail-road
from lake Michigan to the Pacific ocean, was the first proposition that
attracted the public attention; it was planned upon a magnificent scale,
making the road two thousand, four hundred miles long — and to cost
sixty-five million dollars — asking a grant of land sixty-four miles wide
along the whole line, which would amount to ninety-two millions, one
hundred and sixty thousand acres — and engaging, on the completion
of the road, to convey passengers from the Atlantic and Pacific cities
in eight days; to China in twenty, and to the extremes of the globe in
thirty days!
Since the acquisition of California this proposition, which was ob-
jected to as being a private enterprise, seems to have found less
favour, while other routes, taking a more southerly direction, and ter-
minating at San Francisco or Monterey, have accorded better with the
increased information and spirit of the times. Col. Benton's plan is to
make a central national road from St. Louis to San Francisco, with a
branch from some suitable point west of the Rocky Mountains to the
Columbia River, by w T hich arrangement the whole western territory
will be accommodated. He insists that nothing but the authority of
the nation is equal to the opening of a road through some 1600 miles
16S Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
of country occupied by savages with a right of domain over it which
it requires national authority to extinguish — that no private means
would be equal to the construction of such a road, or fit to be intrusted
with it.
On asking leave to introduce a bill embracing his plan, the speech
of Col, Benton to the senate was forcible and eloquent. The ample
results which must follow the completion of this mighty work, are
glowingly portrayed :
" Since the discovery of the new world by Columbus there has not
been such an unsettling of the foundations of society. Not merely in-
dividuals and companies, but communities and nations are in commotion,
all bound to the setting sun — to the gilded horizon of western America.
For want of an American road, they seek foreign routes, far round by
sea and land. Until we can get a road of our own, we must use and
support a foreign route; but that is a temporary resource, demanded
by the exigency of the times, and until we can get our own ready.
if Never did so great an object present itself to the acceptance of a
nation. We own the country from sea to sea — from the Atlantic to
the Pacific — and upon a breadth equal to the length of the Mississip-
pi — and embracing the whole temperate zone. Three thousand miles
across, and half that breadth, is the magnificent parallelogram of our
domain. We can run a national central road, through and through,
the whole distance, under our flag and our laws. Military reasons
require us to make it: for troops and munitions must go there. Poli-
tical reasons require us to make it : it will be a chain of union between
the Atlantic and Pacific states. Commercial reasons demand it from
us: and here I touch a boundless field, dazzling and bewildering the
imagination from its vastness and importance. The trade of the Paci-
fic ocean, of the western coast of North America, and of Eastern Asia
will all take its track; and not only for ourselves, but for posterity.
That trade of India which has been shifting its channels from the time
of the Phrenicians to the present, is destined to shift once more, and
to realize the grand idea of Columbus. The American road to India
will also become the European track to that region. The European
merchant, as well as the American, will fly across our continent on a
straight line to China.
" The rich commerce of Asia will flow through our centre. And
where has that commerce ever flowed without carrying wealth and
dominion with it? Look at its ancient channels, and the cities which
it raised into kingdoms, and the populations which upon its treasures
became resplendent in science, learning, and the arts.
" In no instance has it failed to carry the nation, or the people which
possessed it, to the highest pinnacle of wealth and power, and with it the
highest attainments of letters, arts, and sciences. And so will.it con-
tinue to be. An American road to India, through the heart of our
country, will revive upon its line all the wonders of which we have
1849.] Slavery. 169
read — and eclipse them. The western wilderness, from the Pacific to
the Mississippi, will start into life under its magic touch. A long line of
cities will grow up. Existing cities will take a new start. The.state
of the world calls for a new road to India, and it is our destiny to give
it — the last and greatest. Let us act up to the greatness of the occasion,
and show ourselves worthy of the extraordinary circumstances in which
we are placed, by securing while we can an American road to India —
central and national — for ourselves and our posterity — now, and here-
after, for thousands of years to come."
Lieut. Maury of the National Observatory selects the route from
Memphis on the Mississippi, to Monterey on the Pacific, as the best,
geographically.
He says, " Crossing the Mississippi midway between the gulf and
the lakes, the proposed route from Memphis would be through a
healthy and, for the most part, fertile country. It never would be
blocked up with snow. Of all the routes ever proposed from the
United States to China, it is the most direct for the people of the
United States, the West Indies, and all the intermediate country. The
length of the rail-road may be shortened several hundred mile's for the
present at least, by starting it from the sources or head of the naviga-
tion of the Arkansas. The effects of a substantial rail-road from the
Mississippi to one of the ports of California, in connexion with a line
of steamers thence to China, would do much to break up old thorough-
fares and channels of commerce, and to turn them through the United
States. Let such a rail-road be given to the country, and after it
shall have been for a little while in successful operation, you will hear
no more said by the people on the Atlantic side in favour of a canal
or rail-road across the isthmus of the continent, for their convenience
in communicating with China and the 'Old East.' " S.
[To be conlinued.J
SLAVERY.
We have been induced by the importance which this subject has
latterly assumed, to throw together some historic facts for the benefit
of our readers, without intending to discuss the question growing out
of the compulsory servitude of one portion of the human family to
another.
Slavery existed at a very remote period of society. In the patri-
archal age of the world, every family or community had its bondsmen
doomed to hereditary servitude. This practice was continued among
the descendants of Abraham and Jacob in Judea, and the countries
adjacent. The Greeks, in the infancy of their states, and subsequently,
in their pride of liberty, of refinement and science, imposed on slaves
170 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
the menial and severe labours of life. The name Helot, originally
applied to Spartan slaves, was afterwards often applied to bondsmen
in general. In ancient Rome, the slaves formed a large portion of the
population, and were obtained from all the then known parts of the
world — from Britain and Greece, from Asia and Africa. Carthaginian
and Egyptian slaves were often brought from the interior of Africa,
and thence exported into the southern parts of Europe.
At that early day, Africans bought and sold each other; thus the
Ethiopians acquired slaves by purchase and by war, and held them in
perpetual servitude. The Negro, as far back as his history is traced,
subjected his own race and colour to slavery, and has continued to do
so up to the present time. It is a mistake that he was first induced
to do this by the demand of the white race for slaves; indeed, a writer
well acquainted with the subject, without intending to excuse the slave
dealer, has remarked, " that if the negroes had not been in the practice
of making slaves of each other at the time when they became known
to Europeans, negro slavery as it now exists, would not probably have
been known." We may add, that there are black slave merchants
who sell white girls in the eastern markets, under the most degrading
circumstances.
In the same markets, slaves are brought from the eastern part of
Africa, for the supply of Egypt and the Turkish territories. The late
Viceroy, Mehemet Ali, was accustomed to fit out slave expeditions for
the capture of slaves in Nubia and the other districts. In 1S40, the
preparations for this purpose were witnessed by Dr. Madden, who
states that the force employed, consisted of two or three thousand foot
soldiers, and five hundred or a thousand Bedouins; that they entered
Nubia and levied a tribute of slaves on the inhabitants, and if they
failed to comply with it, were immediately attacked, overpowered and
carried into bondage.
Without prosecuting the subject in this direction any farther, we
proceed to our main design, which is to state the leading facts in the
history of slavery, as it is seen and understood by us.
The Portuguese were the first of the moderns who explored the
western side of Africa. In 1412, they commenced their voyages, and
by the year 1470, the whole Guinea coast had been explored. The
Spaniards followed in their track; and in 1434, some negro boys
brought thence by Gonzales, a Spanish captain, were sold in the south
of Spain. Afterwards, it was customary for both Spanish and Portu-
guese traders to the gold or Guinea coast, to carry away a few negroes
of both sexes; and the practice soon grew into a traffic.
In the year 1503, ten years after the discovery of America by
Columbus, a few negroes had been carried from Spain to her trans-
atlantic possessions, and it was soon ascertained that they far surpassed
the Indians in the power of endurance, and ability to work. The
climate, too, agreed with them; their health improved, and they in-
1849.] Slavery. 171
creased in numbers. The Indian race, on the contrary, was fast dimi-
nishing under the ill-treatment and severe burdens imposed by the con-
querors. In St. Domingo alone, they were reduced in seven years, from
sixty thousand to fourteen thousand. They were averse to labour,
and constitutionally unfit for it, and when obliged to work or carry
burdens, they drooped and died. Bartholomew Las Casas, a Spanish
priest, therefore interfered in their behalf, and denounced their employ-
ment as slaves. Whether he recommended the substitution of negroes
in their stead, is not decided ; but at any rate, it resulted from his
interposition in favour of the Indians. Therefore it is said, that the
benevolent design of Las Casas originated negro slavery in America.
After the experiment had been fairly tried, ships were loaded with
negroes by the authority of the king of Spain himself. In Hispaniola,
they increased astonishingly, until they outnumbered their masters.
The Spaniards for a time had the whole country to themselves, mono-
polized the trade, and introduced slaves from Africa into all their pos-
sessions. But when adventurers from other European nations followed
them to the new world and planted colonies, they too adopted the use
of negro labour.
In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, in the year 1562, an act was passed
legalizing the purchase of slaves, but it was not until about the year
1620, that negroes were imported into the colonies. It is said the
first slaves introduced into this country were twenty in number, brought
by a Dutch ship, from the coast of Guinea. They were landed on
James' river, in Virginia. After that period the English merchants
engaged earnestly in the traffic, and along with wax and elephants'
teeth, brought over negroes from Africa. At a recent meeting of the
colonization society, it was stated, that Great Britain at one time,
enjoyed a monopoly of the slave trade for thirty years.
The French, Dutch and Portuguese, had also embarked in the
traffic, and by the middle of the seventeenth century a very active
trade was carried on, and slaves introduced into America in great num-
bers. The consequence was an increase in the demand, and a corre-
sponding supply from the interior of Africa was required. Instead,
therefore, of pursuing the original plan of sailing along the coast, and
picking up the slaves at the different villages, the traders established
a line of settlements or factories as depots for the slaves that were
brought to market. Towards the close of the eighteenth century, the
number of factories around the shores of the gulf of Guinea, were said
to be forty in all; of these, fifteen belonged to the Dutch, fourteen to
the English, four to the Portuguese, four to the Danes and three to the
French. Slave markets were, as a consequence, created in the interior,
and from them the slaves were for the most part brought down in
droves by the slatees or slave merchants to the factories on the coast.
Mungo Park, the celebrated traveller in Africa, observed that the
abduction of the negroes had grow r n into a profession, and that the
172 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
native merchants treated their slaves whom they were bringing to
market, with considerable kindness. They would halt in the march
occasionally, and encourage them to sing, play and dance.
Slaves were obtained in various ways. There were instances in
times of famine and great distress when the negroes would surrender
themselves to servitude, and beg to be put upon the slave chain.
Sometimes parents sold their children — sometimes a creditor sold his
debtor; but generally they were obtained from captures made in battle
or on a slave hunt. The tribes of the interior were constantly engaged
in conflicts, and powerful chiefs made inroads into the territories of
their weaker neighbours. The king of the Foulahs* kept at one time
a force of sixteen thousand men, who were constantly occupied in
depredations upon the surrounding tribes, and in forcibly carrying off
the inhabitants into slavery.
We have no data from which to estimate the number of those who
have been carried into slavery, or of those now in slavery.
Up to the end of the last century it was estimated that as many as
thirty millions had been taken from the coast of Africa. Since that
time the drain has been incessant. But it seems impossible from the
very nature of the trade and the secrecy with which it is conducted,
to arrive at an approximation even of the number who have embarked
— of those who have been lost in the passage, or of those who have
arrived at the places of destination. Slaves are still in great numbers
in Brazil — in the Spanish, Dutch, Danish and Portuguese islands and
colonies, and in the Mahommedan empire. In the French and English
colonies they are emancipated.
At the time of the declaration of independence in 1776, the whole
number of slaves in the United States w T as estimated as follows:
Massachusetts, - - 3,500
Rhode Island, - - 4,375
Connecticut, - - 6,000
New Hampshire, - - 629
New York, - - 15,000
New Jersey, - - 7,600
Pennsylvania, - - 10,000
Total, 502,10-1
By the census of 1840, the slaves and free people of colour in the
United States, were numbered as follows:
* The Foulahs, a remarkable race, are of doubtful origin, but probably Asiatic.
Throughout the whole of Nigritia or negro-land, they have the pre-eminence. They
are spread over a large surface of country, extending from the desert of Sahara, to
the mountains of Guinea, and from the Atlantic ocean to the kingdom of Bornou. In
some places tfcey are politically supreme — and every where have great influence.
They differ essentially from the negro race, and occupy the intermediate space
between the Arab and the Negro. They are rigid Mohammedans, and where they
have conquered, they force the adoption of the Koran by the sword; and suppress
the barbarous rites of^agan idolatry.
Delaware,
9,000
Maryland,
80,000
Virginia,
- 165,000
N. Carolina,
75,000
S. Carolina,
- 110,000
Georgia,
16,000
1S49.] Slavery. 173
Slave States.
No. slaves. Free States.
No. Free coloured.
Delaware,
-
-
2, GOO Maine, -
-
-
2,355
Maryland,
-
-
89,737 New Hampshire,
-
-
537
Virginia,
-
-
- 448,1)87 Vermont,
-
-
730
N. Carolina,
.
.
- 240.817 Connecticut, -
-
-
8,105
S. Carolina,
_
.
- 327,038 Rhode Island,
-
-
3,238
Georgia,
.
-
- 280,944 Massachusetts,
-
-
8,669
Alabama,
.
-
- 253,532 New York, -
-
-
50,025
Mississippi,
.
.
- 195,514 New Jersey, -
-
-
21,044
Louisiana,
-
-
- 168,452 Pennsylvania,
-
-
47,854
Kentucky,
.
.
- 182,278 Ohio, -
-
-
17,342
Tennessee,
-
-
- 183,059 Indiana,
-
-
7,165
Missouri,
.
-
58,240 Illinois,
-
-
3,598
Arkansas,
.
-
19,935 Michigan,
-
-
707
Florida,
-
-
25,747 Iowa, -
-
-
172
District of Columb
ia,
4,694 Wisconsin,
-
-
185
Total, - - 2,486,726! Total, - - - 386,293
In eleven of the free states, one thousand, one hundred and twenty-
nine persons are returned as slaves — by what title or degree of servi-
tude, we are not informed.
There is said to have been an alarming increase in the African slave
trade, during the year 1848. The English and American squadrons
stationed on the coast of Africa, in pursuance of a convention between
the two nations for the suppression of the traffic, have been successful
to some extent; but in several instances, the shots fired by the cruisers
into the slave ships have killed the slaves, and the traders have forced
the poor creatures into a narrower space — and increased their suffer-
ings. The Edinburgh Review condemns the maintenance of a squadron
by the British government as having produced no ascertainable results,
" except the loss of officers and men, and the aggravation of the horrors
of slavery."
Emancipation has been gradually progressive in the United States.
In one half the states the work has been completed, and. there seems
now to be a majority in congress opposed to any further extension of
slavery. The question on this subject has violently agitated the whole
country, arrayed to some extent the north against the south, and at
times has appeared to threaten the perpetuity of the union. It is hoped,
however, that the greatest violence of the excitement has subsided, and
that the causes of danger are passing away. The Hon. Henry Clay, of
Kentucky, in a letter dated 17th of February, 1849, written in view
of the approaching convention of that state, to amend the constitution,
has declared himself in favour of the gradual emancipation of the slaves.
We make the following extract from this remarkable letter: —
"A vast majority of the people of the United States, I believe, regret
the introduction of slavery into the colonies, lament that a single slave
treads our soil, deplore the necessity of the continuance of slavery in
174 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
any of the states, regard the institution as a great evil to both races,
and would rejoice in the adoption of any safe, just and practicable plan
for the removal of all slaves among us. Hitherto no such satisfactory
plan has been presented. When, on the occasion of the formation of
our present constitution of Kentucky, in 1799, the question of the gra-
dual emancipation of slavery in the state was agitated, its friends had
to encounter a great obstacle, in the fact that there then existed no
established colony to which they could be transported.
" Now by the successful establishment of flourishing colonies on the
western coast of Africa, that difficulty has been obviated. And I con-
fess that, without indulging in any undue feelings of superstition, it
does seem to me that, it may have been among the dispensations of
Providence to prevent the wrongs under which Africa has been suffered
to be inflicted, that her children might be returned to their original
home, civilized, and imbued with the benign spirit of Christianity, and
prepared ultimately to redeem that great continent from barbarism and
idolatry*
" Without undertaking to judge for any other state, it was my opinion
in 1799, that Kentucky was in a state to admit of the gradual eman-
cipation of her slaves ; and how deeply do I lament that a system with
that object, had not been then established ! If it had been, the state
would now be rid of all slaves. My opinion has never changed, and I
have frequently publicly expressed it. I should be most happy if what
was impracticable at that epoch could now be accomplished.
" After a full and deliberate consideration of the subject, it appears to
me three principles should regulate the establishment of a system of
emancipation. The first is, that it should be slow in its operation,
cautious, and gradual, so as to occasion no convulsion, nor any rash
or sudden disturbance in the existing habits of society. Second, that
as an indispensable condition, the emancipated slaves should be removed
from the state to some colony. And, thirdly, that the expenses of
their transportation to such a colony, including an outfit for six months
after their arrival, should be defrayed by a fund to be raised from
the labour of each freed slave.
" Nothing could be more unwise than the immediate liberation of all
the slaves in the state, comprehending both sexes and all ages, from
that of tender infancy to extreme old age. It would lead to the most
frightful and fatal consequences. Any great change in the condition
of society should be marked by extreme care and circumspection. The
introduction of slavery into the colonies was an operation of many
years' duration; and the work of their removal from the United States
can only be effected after the lapse of a great length of time.
" I think that a period should be fixed when all born after it should
be free at a specified age, all born before it remaining slaves for life.
That period I would suggest should be 1855, or even 1860; for on
this and other arrangements of the system, if adopted, I incline to a
1849.] Slavery. 175
liberal margin, so as to obviate as many objections, and to unite as
many opinions as possible. Whether the commencement of the opera-
tion of the system be a little earlier or later, is not so important as that
a clay should be permanently fixed, from which we could look forward,
with confidence, to the final termination of slavery within the limits of
the commonwealth."
Mr. Clay is not alone is these sentiments. Many of the leading
men in the south accord with him in opinion, and those opposed to him
will hardly now venture upon any extreme measures to sustain slavery.
We look therefore to the most beneficial results from these wise and
patriotic declarations, emanating from so distinguished a statesman.
The American colonization society instituted for the purpose of
ameliorating the condition of the African race, has been very successful.
It is composed of many eminent and philanthropic gentlemen from every
section of the union.
To carry out its object, a tract of land was purchased, and a colony
formed in the year 1822 at Cape Mesurado, on the western coast of
Africa. As fresh emigrants arrived, additional tracts were purchased,
and the town of Monrovia was built. The greater part of the emi-
grants were men of eminent piety, and by their just, humane, and
benevolent policy have acquired much influence over the surround-
ing tribes. They have been diligent and successful kr agricultural
and mechanical pursuits, and are now in a highly flourishing condition.
The colony was called Liberia, and has lately been organized as an
independent republic. It has a population of 80,000, of which 10,000
are native Americans: and it exercises an influence over 2,000,000 of
people inhabiting the neighbouring districts and states. President
Roberts, a coloured man, is at the head of this new republic, and is
peculiarly well qualified for the office. He has lately effected a re-
cognition of their independence by England and France.
At a recent meeting of the colonization society held in Washington,
it was stated that 443 emigrants had been sent to Liberia, during the
past year, of whom 324 were liberated slaves, and that the greater part
of them came from Virginia. The applications for emigration then
numbered 657, and would probably exceed a thousand. Some very
distinguished gentlemen addressed the society on the occasion, among
whom were Mr. Walker, late secretary of the treasury, Hon. J. R.
Ingersoll of Philadelphia, and Hugh Maxwell, Esq., of New York.
S.
176 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
AGRICULTURE.
(BY HON. J. C. SPENCER.*)
" In no department of knowledge has such extraordinary progress
been made within the present generation, as in the development of the
laws of nature which govern the germination, nutriment, growth and
perfection of seeds and plants. The simple truth that plants, like ani-
mals, have their peculiar food in the soil — that what is nutritious to
one, is useless or injurious to another, unlocks the whole mystery of
agriculture, and reduces it to a question of fact, or rather many facts,
modern chemistry, although it may not have discovered this truth,
has illustrated and sustained it, and given it a force and application of
which our fathers had no conception. Every intelligent farmer now
knows that he must feed his wheat, his corn, his barley, his oats, his
potatoes and his turnips, with the same care and discrimination that he
would feed his cattle, his horses, and his sheep. Yes, and he is told
with what he is to feed them. By the analysis of the component parts of
plants, it is ascertained of what chemical and other elements they are
constituted, and then the application of these elements to their subsis-
tence becomes as easy and familiar as the preparation of food for cattle.
" For these great results we are indebted to the labours of scientific
men who have devoted their lives to study, and to innumerable ex-
periments, before general rules and principles could be established. And
these men have been mostly retired students and professors, who have
derived their facts from the observations of practical agriculturists.
And I am sure that in this connexion your grateful sympathies will
concur in awarding the highest merit to Professor Liebig, of Ger-
many, whose work on agricultural chemistry has opened such new
and comprehensive views, as to form an epoch in the natural histo-
ry of the world. I advert to this great triumph of science, for the pur-
pose of dispelling, if possible, the prejudice against abstract investiga-
tion and scientific pursuit. The man who acts upon a single, or at
most a few experiments, without understanding the principles which
govern them, and who proclaims the result as a general law, is essentially
a quack, in every profession and in every department of knowledge.
But he who has many facts collected from distant sources, arising un-
der the most varied circumstances, who examines them carefully and
compares them with each other so as to separate the accidental from
the permanent and invariable, and fixes these beyond dispute — re-
duces his elements into a science, and becomes a safe guide. Few prac-
tical men can devote the necessary time to such investigations, or the
necessary reflection and study to draw from them these useful results.
And hence it was that until recently, agriculture was not a science,
but a collection of confused, miscellaneous and inconsistent facts and
* Address before the State Agricultural Society, N. Y.
1S49.] Jlgriculture. 177
observations, fruitful of error and consequent loss and injury. And
such will always be the consequence of limited, narrow, local observa-
tions and facts, received as general truths.
" Let me not be understood as discouraging observations and experi-
ments. Far from it. They furnish the elements and materials for
science to work with. But what is deprecated, is a reliance upon these
experiments before they have undergone the analysis and purification
of science. I do not suppose it possible for the great body of farmers
to become thoroughly versed in geology, botany and chemistry, nor is it
necessary they should be. But they can be acquainted with the prac-
tical results attained in each of these branches by those who are tho-
roughly versed in them, and with the general reasons and principles
upon which those results depend, so that they can apply them as occa-
sion may require. The mariner who from his meridian observations-
fixes the precise spot on the earth's surface where his vessel floats,
does not, and ordinarily cannot, know or understand the processes by
which Newton developed the principles and rules which enables him to
determine in a few minutes his latitude and longitude. So with the
farmer. He may well comprehend and apply the results of scientific
investigation, without being able to follow the various steps through
which it has been conducted, and those results become as completely his
own as if he himself had developed them.
" These remarks are made in the hope of convincing those who cul-
tivate the earth, that the quantity of reading and study necessary to ena-
ble them to pursue their profession with the greatest possible advantage
to themselves and their farms, is not so great as to preclude them
from acquiring the fruits of the most thorough and exact investigations,
and particularly the leading principles of the science of improving soils.
Their experiments, instead of beingisolated facts, will become speaking
illustrations of the laws of nature, and each one will afford new cause
to admire the wonderful economies of Providence, and to praise and
adore the goodness of their great Author."
Mr. Spencer then proceeds to the examination of the question,
" where the farmer is to look for the best market for his products." In
doing this, he comes in conflict with the views presented by the Hon.
Silas Wright in his able address on a similar occasion, read, as it will be
recollected, by Gen. Dix, in consequence of the sudden and lamented
death of its gifted author. We omit the argument of Mr. Spencer on
the points raised, until, according to our rule of impartiality, we have
room to present the opposing arguments, side by side.
The subject is one of great interest to the country, and deserving of
close examination and study by every intelligent and practical farmer.
Mr. Spencer has treated the question with great ability, and that he
17S Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March)
does not regard it in a narrow and party light may be gathered from
the following extract :
"Having never been a partisan on either side, and having no interests
present or prospective to gratify in the decision of this question, I feel
that I can approach it without prejudice, or any other bias than that
which may be caused by the love of my own country, its interests, and
its people, in preference to all others. It is not apprehended that po-
litical party feelings can be wounded by a frank, open, and candid dis-
cussion of the subject. It is not a party question, but is, in fact, a local
one. States known for their support of one party, are equally well
known for their adherence to what some choose to call the American
system, and prominent individuals of the other party are known to be
hostile to that system. But I go farther, and deny the right of politi-
cians to, seize upon a topic of universal interest and appropriate it to
electioneering purposes. The great mass have interests which are su-
perior to the ephemeral success or defeat of party leaders, and they
should not suffer themselves to be compelled to take one side or an-
other, when the truth may perchance be found between both. And I
have the less reluctance to engage in this discussion after the example
of the distinguished man whose address was read to you at your last
anniversary. The tendency of that address was to favour the extreme
southern view, which has been exhibited to you, and to convince you
that your reliance for the purchase and consumption of the products of
your farms should be upon a foreign market. I am quite sure that you
are not only willing, but desirous to hear an examination of the grounds
of that opinion, conducted with all the respect for great merit and high
talent, which the occasion demands, and which long association and the
most agreeable personal relations have deeply impressed upon me.
And I am equally confident that no name, however distinguished, can
cast any shadow over your field of vision, w 7 hich your penetration will
not dissipate."
Mr. Spencer then enters into an elaborate discussion of the main
question, and to show the results to which he comes, we give his closing
remarks, in which he insists that our independence, as a nation, de-
pends upon the maintenance of a home as well as a foreign market, by
fostering alike the great interests of manufactures and agriculture.
" The security of a country is deeply connected with the maintenance
of manufactures. How hopeless must that nation be, which a war will
cut off from the necessaries and from the comforts to which its inhabi-
tants have been accustomed, and from its means of defence? The
ability to make our own gunpowder, our own cannon and arms, is not
more essential than our capacity to clothe our troops, or to furnish the
various fabrics of metal required in military operations. Indeed, iron
in its various formations, may be said to constitute the muscle of a na-
1849.] Agriculture. 179
tion. With the raw material in profusion, how strange and unnatural
must be the policy which would interdict its fabrication by ourselves
into all the forms which our condition requires. This principle of se-
curity is applicable to most of the manufactures now existing in this
country, which even in their present state, render us safe from the hos-
tility of other nations. How dangerous would it be to abandon them.
"A people engaged exclusively in any one pursuit, must necessarily
be a dependent people. Their chances of prosperity are obviously in-
creased with the number and variety of their resources. So that if one
fails, they have others upon which they may rely. And no pursuit is
subject to more casualties than agriculture, from causes too well known
to you. How important then that an agricultural people should have
other employments. A self-sustaining people must be the mcst inde-
pendent, the most active and enterprising, the most wealthy, and the
most happy. Independent, because neither their necessaries nor comforts
will depend upon foreign policy, or upon foreign wars and revolutions;
active and enterprising, because the variety of employment gives scope
to faculties of every grade and character, invigorates genius, and sti-
mulates to exertion. These produce the really valuable wealth of a
country, — the active, circulating, animating wealth, which forms the
life blood of the system, moving rapidly through its veins and arteries,
and carrying health, vigour, and cheerfulness into every part. And
such a people must therefore be the most happy; unfettered by re-
straints, the choice of employment is before them; if one fails, another
is at hand ; hope continually illumines their path, competition rouses
their energies, and man is developed in all his best faculties and pro-
portions.
" That such has been mainly the condition of our own country, is
owing, in my humble judgment, not only to our free institutions, but
chiefly to the diversified employments of our people, which have been
created, fostered, and extended by the policy of the government, which,
with a few exceptions, has generally been pursued. Friendly and just
relations have been maintained with foreign nations; treaties have se-
cured us access to their ports and markets upon the most favourable
terms, discriminating duties have compelled the abandonment of one-
rous charges upon our products, or upon the ships that transported
them ; exchanges of our surpluses for theirs, have been freely made,
and thus a healthful, mutually beneficial foreign market has been opened
and preserved for what we did not consume at home, and for the pro-
ducts of our manufacturing and mechanical industry. At the same
time, the home market has been nursed, established, and expanded by
judicious duties upon foreign fabrics, until it has come to consume an
amount of our bread-stuffs and provisions, greater than that exported
to the other countries of the world. This general policy, originating
with the great and wise men who laid the foundations of our political
fabric, has been, with occasional exceptions, pursued by their succes-
ISO Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
sors. I have endeavoured to show, that by maintaining* this policy,
your interests as agriculturists will be cherished and promoted, that the
best markets, and a choice of them, will be provided for your products,
and that the whole country will be really independent, prosperous, and
happy."
EDUCATION OF ORPHANS.
GIRARD COLLEGE.
The able discourse of J. R. Tyson, Esq., delivered on the first anni-
versary of the Girard College for orphans, exhibits in a very strong
light the munificent charity of Stephen Girard. This institution is one
of the most remarkable in the world. Its object is to educate poor
orphan boys, according to a system entirely original. The founder,
who died in Philadelphia, the possessor of an immense fortune which
he had acquired by persevering and patient toil, seems to have expe-
rienced in his own case, the disadvantages of orphanage and poverty
combined, and left a large sum to establish and perpetuate a school for
the instruction of those labouring under similar difficulties. The build-
ing erected for the purpose is after the plan prescribed by himself.
The style of architecture is imposing, and the finish costly. The
corner-stone has been laid fifteen years, but only a year ago was the
edifice completed, and ready for the admission of pupils. The manage-
ment of the college is confided to able hands; its prospects of usefulness
are highly gratifying, and it must exert a great influence upon the
community in which it is located. Mr. Tyson thus draws the charac-
ter of the founder.
" Stephen Girard was a Frenchman by birth. He came to this country
at an early age, and acquired his immense estate in Philadelphia.
While his heart glowed with fondness for the civil and religious free-
dom of his adopted country, he imbibed a peculiar attachment to the
city of his residence, as the scene of his labours, and the field of his
financial glory. Removed by local distance, but still further by per-
sonal peculiarities from the endearments of childhood, he nursed, in the
stern austerity of solitude, a spirit of social aversion, which grew more
intense, from year to year, until it seemed to divorce itself from any
communion with his fellows. When his fortune became so expanded
and colossal, as to be a subject of general notice, he was a stranger to
familiar life. He interchanged few or no offices of courtesy and kind-
ness with his neighbours. He seemed to glide through the world
unobserved ; not knowing others, and unknown himself. When ap-
1849.] Education of Orphans. 181
proached, his speech was short and to the immediate subject; not a:
word escaped beyond the business of the occasion. It was only in the
commercial relations of society, that he permitted himself to appear.
He was satisfied that his deeds should speak for him. — At early
dawn he issued from the damps of his abode in Water street, in the
plain garb of a decent citizen. He might be traced to his banking-
house, in Third street, where, until the closing hour of three, he trans-
acted, in person, his extensive concerns as a banker; instructed and
received reports from the captains of his vessels, sailing to and from
the remotest seas; and entered into all the details of his multiplied
affairs. After the engagements of the morning, he retired to his farm,
and there directed, and sometimes led the workmen in their rural em-
ployments. Returning to his bank in the evening, the midnight hour
found him alone, silently revising the business of his officers of the
previous day, and subjecting the account of each to a keenness of
inspection, which no error, inadvertence, or oversight, could hope to
escape. In this incessant toil, this unintermitted diligence, the history
of a day is the history of his life. — Though publicity attended his foot-
steps, he shunned the gaze of the multitude. He seemed to shrink
from observation. Without a note of warning, the public ear was
occasionally startled by some grand project or daring and gigantic
enterprise. While the air. was ringing with the rumour, he quietly
withdrew to the retirement of his farm, and seemed dead to the sensa-
tion it produced.
" We may cease to wonder at the magical transformations of his Midas
touch. His secret lay in the patient application of a remarkably clear
and sagacious intellect to the single work of accumulation, aided by
inexpensive personal habits and the observance of general frugality.
He sought, through a long life, the philosopher's stone, with a sedu-
lous and untiring assiduity. Assuming that he intended to apply it,
when discovered, to the erection of one of the greatest monuments of
benevolence of which history or tradition speaks, it cannot be doubted,
that the means and the end may be justified, upon the principles of an
elevated philosophy.
" Girard either threw himself or was thrown, at an early period of his
life, beyond the protection of the paternal roof. Poor, and practically
an orphan, he comes within the description of the persons for whom
his college is erected. Houseless and exposed, surrounded by tempta-
tion, degraded by ignorance, and chilled by penury, — can we doubt
that the recollections of his own bitter experience suggested the first
idea of a safe-guard and an asylum to the fatherless wanderer?"
Mr. Tyson then proceeds to set forth the object, plan, and benefits
of the institution.
"But in whatever motive and from whatever feeling, the idea of this
college had its origin, its plan is a high philosophical conception, and
VOL. II. — march, 1S49. 13
1S2 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
does honour to the mind which conceived it. Its direct effect will be
not merely to diffuse individual blessings, but to stem, at their source,
the torrents of pauperism and crime ; to elevate the working classes of
society ; and to come in aid of our free institutions by giving them the
sustaining props of moral virtue and cultivated intelligence, from the
least promising members of the state.
"The ample endowment of the Girard College, is now and hereafter
to be applied to the moral and intellectual training of poor white mate
orphans. In the exposition of his system, the testator did not omit
the delineation of any feature necessary to its completeness. His
mind surveyed the whole, and took in each particular part. No child
is eligible until the age of six, nor after the age of ten years. Between
the ages of six and eighteen years, the inmates may be taught all those
branches of useful learning which the interval permits. But not stop-
ping here, the founder, with equal sagacity and benevolence, follows
these youths from the college walls. At the moment of quitting col-
lege, they are to be severally apprenticed to some useful calling or
pursuit. He does not launch them into the dangerous ocean of life,
and expose them, like inexperienced mariners, to the rocks and tempests
of the voyage, but he gives them a conductor through the insidious
narrows, and a chart for the open sea.
" The institution has little in common with the ordinary colleges of
Europe, or of this country. It is accessible only at a tender age, and
is confined to a particular class. The founder knew the ills to w T hich
youthful poverty was exposed, in a large city, when emancipated from
parental restraint. Aware of the lasting influence of young impres-
sions, he assumes the whole work of their moral as well as mental cul-
tivation. He begins at the dawn of childhood ; he quits them only at
the age of legal maturity.
" But it is no less distinguished from an ordinary college by the age
and character of the inmate, than by his. studious and future career.
He is to be taught, says the testator, things and not words. The
modern, and even the ancient languages, may and perhaps will be
taught, but as each scholar is to serve an apprenticeship to some useful
art, pure and practical science will form the ground-work of the edu-
cational scheme.
"The pupils are drawn from the ranks of the poor, and are to belong
to the productive classes of society; to those who aid the necessities,
and multiply the comforts and conveniences of life. They are the
children of adversity, not the spoiled expectants of fortune; not the
nati consumer e fruges, who may subsist without the necessity of labour.
This college does not propose to change the destiny of their lot, but
to assist them in the fulfilment of its duties. It does not intend to
change the nature of a calling, but to exalt it by increasing the ability
of its professors. The terms of the will look to practical utility and
1849.] Education of Orphans. 183
chiefly to manual art, but do not exclude high and various scholarship,
nor any variety of useful pursuit. It enjoins apprenticeships ' to suit-
able occupations, as those of agriculture, navigation, arts, mechanical
trades, and manufactures, according to the capabilities and acquirements
of the scholars respectively, consulting, as far as prudence shall justify
it, the inclination of the several scholars as to the occupation, art, or
trade to be learned.'
"The training will, of course, be adapted to the various parts which
the learners are to play in the drama of practical life. The physical
powers, and those of the understanding, will be developed together,
in order that the habits of mental and manual activity, formed at col-
lege, may be successfully applied to such pursuits as fitness or choice
may determine to be best. Though the cultivation of the understand-
ing and judgment, is an object of paramount importance, the extent
and period of studies permit, that the taste should be cultivated and
improved. The studies will be as various as the capacities and desti-
nations of the learners, and commensurate, in dignity, completeness,
and extent, with the highest aims of learning. They include all the
branches of a thorough education, whether in the sterner fields of science
or in the flowery gardens of literature, whether in the experimental
arts or in those which embellish and adorn existence.
"In the attempt .to make good citizens, reason and experience show,
that we must begin with the child.* It is the young idea that must be
taught how to shoot. We must watch it in the tender germ of infancy,
remove the weeds which would choke or poison it, and so water and
invigorate it, as it rises to catch the air and the sun, that like a healthy
and useful plant, it may bring forth fruit, as well as leaves and flowers.
Smithson, the munificent benefactor of the nation, believed that he
could add to the sum of human happiness, by the diffusion of knowledge
among men. Girard, with the same object in view, thought that it
could be better attained, by means of a school and nursery for boys.
"It offers not merely an asylum, but a nursery and a school. Not
only these, but a home, with all the comforts, and more than the se-
curity and advantages of the parental roof. It takes the poor orphan
at the age of six years, trains, nurtures, and educates him, teaches him
a trade, and sends him into the world at the age of majority.
" The social atmosphere which surrounds him in the college, is invigo-
rating and healthy. Snatched from the polluted air which environed
him in the world, he is transplanted into a soil which will rear him into
a genial and fructifying manhood. The taints he has contracted, which
the superficial eye cannot detect, and superficial remedies cannot re-
move, will be purged away by the refining process to which he is sub-
jected. No spectacle can be more pleasing and beautiful than to see
184 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
the order and propriety of the infant scholars at their evening meal,
under the eye of their matron ; arid at their evening devotions, under
the solemn ministrations of their President.* Let those who underrate
this philanthropy, or who fear its tendency as inimical to the growth
of a sustaining faith and vital piety, witness these, and have all their
apprehensions resolved and dispelled!
The chief officers and teachers of the institution are ladies. It is
to women of superior parts and education; to women of cultivated
manners, minds, and hearts; that the care of these children is chiefly
committed. The circle of feminine employments, whose bounds are
constantly enlarged by fresh discoveries, was believed to embrace those
delicate functions of instruction and nurture, which are incident to a
young and numerous household. Experience has justified the trial
of the experiment. The government is essentially maternal. Under
the plastic discipline of their teachers, the young scholars are led to
the observance of rule, and the performance of their tasks, by kind
language and affectionate remonstrance. Where the law of kindness
is effectual, is it not preferable to the authority of force? And where
the tender child is accustomed to the former, will he need a resort to
the latter in subsequent years?
"It is upon the foundations of such a beginning that this great college
is to be reared, — a college whose inmates, at no distant day, may as-
semble within its walls a thousand scholars.'
"Is it expecting too much to anticipate important improvements and
inventions, in the various pursuits to which these pupils will be devoted?
Experience has not proved that useful knowledge and proper training,
disqualify men for the handicraft occupations of life. On the contrary,
the knowledge of Franklin and Rittenhouse did not prevent one from
being a most assiduous and accurate printer, nor the other from being
a pains-taking and finished instrument-maker. Roger Sherman w T as
not the less a good shoemaker, because he comprehended the grounds
of civil freedom, and the principles of the constitution of his country.
Simpson, the mathematician, worked at the weaver's loom. Herschel,
one of the greatest astronomers that ever lived, commenced life as a
poor fifer-boy in the army. Elihu Burritt, whose learning is a sub-
ject of wonder, was a blacksmith. The late George Stevenson, a most
distinguished, ingenious and useful man, was an engine tender at a
colliery, near New Castle-upon-Tyne. The female operatives of
Lowell show as much assiduity in the cultivation of their minds and
tastes, as in the application of their hands to the labours of the loom.
— On the other hand, who can tell what such original minds as those
of John Fitch and Oliver Evans might have accomplished, if they had
enjoyed, in early life, some of the advantages offered to the pupils of
this institution? Evans has been called the American Watt. His
* The Hon. Joel Jones, the learned President of the College.
1849.] Education of Orphans. 1S5
curious inventions in steam carriages, locomotive engines, the hopper-
boy and other machines, entitle him to the honour of an original pro-
jector. Nothing was wanting but a knowledge of scientific principles,
to enable him to bring his ingenious but crude suggestions to a pro-
ductive and successful maturity. Fitch, illiterate as he was, by the
unaided power of his native genius, devised a steam-boat which plied
in the Delaware in 1786, and by the force of his sagacity, foresaw and
predicted in 1792, the regular navigation of the Atlantic by steam"
One of the most serious objections that we have heard made against
this institution, is, that by the will of the founder, instruction in the
principles of the Christian religion is prohibited. He enjoins and re-
quires "that no ecclesiastic, missionary, or minister, of any sect what-
ever, shall ever hold or exercise any station or duty whatever in the
said college ; nor shall any such person ever be admitted for any pur-
pose, or as a visiter within the premises appropriated to the purposes
of the said college." He disclaims, however, any intention "to cast a
reflection upon any sect or person," by this total exclusion of the mi-
nisters of religion from the bounds of the institution, and desires that
pains be taken to instil the purest principles of morality, leaving the
pupils free to adopt "such religious tenets as their matured reason may
enable them to prefer." On this subject the prevailing opinion of
Christian communities is certainly opposed to the design and scope of
the bequest. It seems to be admitted generally, that the religious
training of a child ought to be " in the way he should go." The essen-
tial and leading principles of revealed truth are taught by almost all
sects, and, therefore, it is insisted that the danger is less in impressing
these principles upon the mind in early life, even according to the forms
of sectarian teaching, than to omit them altogether through fear of im-
proper bias and party influence.
But let us give to the founder of the Girard College the benefit of
the justification contained in the eloquent discourse of Mr. Tyson.
" In the bright array of influences with which the college is to be
guarded and encircled, we find coupled, in beautiful sisterhood, virtue
and morality, sustained and nurtured by their foster-mother, Religion.
The virtue is to be elevated, the religion to be holy — a religion of the
affections and the reason; purified from intolerance, and redeemed from
bigotry. Are not these comprised in the following remarkable pas-
sages of the will ? ' I desire that, by every proper means, a pure at-
tachment to our republican institutions, and to the sacred rights of con-
science, as guarantied by our happy constitutions, shall be formed and
186 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March^
fostered in the minds of the scholars.
As there is such a multitude of sects, and such a diversity of opinion
among them, I desire to keep the tender minds of the orphans, who are
to derive advantages from this bequest, free from the excitement which
clashing doctrines and sectarian controversy are so apt to produce:
My desire is that all the instructors and teachers in the college, shall
take pains to instil into the minds of the scholars, the purest principles
of morality, so that on their entrance into active life they may, from'
inclination and habit, evince benevolence towards their fellow-creatures,
and a love of truth, sobriety, and industry, adopting, at the same time,
such religious tenets as their matured reason may enable them to prefer.'
" Saving one restrictive and somewhat invidious prohibition,* at war
with those sublime ideas, from which it is deduced as a corollary, or
upon which it professes to lean for support, no one can fail to perceive
whence these principles are derived. In Pennsylvania, the great law
of 1682, and the successive constitutions of the province, all recognise
' the sacred rights of conscience,'' and proclaim the unfettered liberty
of faith and worship. The constitutions of the state, which succeeded
to a colonial dependency, — first that of 1776, then that of 1790, and
the recent one of 1838, all repeat that fundamental doctrine of political
freedom which w r as announced at the first settlement. It was intro-
duced into the great charter of the national government, as one of the
richest trophies of the revolution. It is now assumed as a fixed law
of the social state, that man is answerable only to his Maker for the
modes of faith and worship he may adopt; and that however opposed
to reason, or condemned by authority, these cannot abridge the con-
sciences of others, or interfere between men in the relations of society.
This genius of a free land, thus caught by the fathers of our common-
wealths, and diffused through a wide-spread and mixed population, w T as
imbibed by Girard, and breathed into his college. He saw that an in-
stitution which could be made an arena for heated sectaries, or be torn
in pieces by contending factions, would be rather a curse than a bless-
ing. He saw that its pupils might become entangled in the mazes of
polemics, or fall a prey to the embittered spirit of party. He saw that
though he might err, in unduly fortifying his walls against the insidious
approaches, he was vindicating the majesty of a noble principle of our
history, and was arming champions to battle for the extension of its
sceptre over the world." S.
* Exclusion of ministers of religion.
1849.] Louis Napoleon. 187
THE PRESIDENT OF FRANCE.
Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, the President of the French
Republic, is the son of Louis Bonaparte, ex-king of Holland, and Hor-
tense de Beauharnais, daughter of the Empress Josephine. His birth,
which took place at Paris on the 26th of April, 1S08, was announced
by the roar of cannon. As the Emperor Napoleon, his uncle, had at
that time no son of his own, the young prince was born heir apparent
to the imperial throne. The Emperor was then supposed to hold in
his hands the destinies of Europe; but when, seven years afterwards,
he was defeated and dethroned by the allied powers, Prince Louis fled
with his mother to Augsburgh; and his grief at parting with the Em-
peror is said to have made a lasting impression on the mind of the
great captain.
His mother had purchased the chateau of Arenenberg, in Switzer-
land, where he received a thorough education, and published, at an
early age, a work on the science of artillery, which he had studied
under Col. Dufaure.
The revolution of July, 1830, inspired in him the hope of again
seeing his native city. In this he was disappointed, Louis Philippe's
government refusing to withdraw the edict of proscription against the
Bonaparte family. He and his brother, proceeding to Italy, took part
in the important revolutionary movements of that year, and in several
engagements, sustained the honour of their name. The brother died at
Forli, from disease contracted in the service, and Louis Napoleon
himself fell dangerously ill. His mother repaired to his bed-side, at
Ancona; and as soon as he was able to travel, they left Italy, and in
March 1831, arrived incognito in Paris. Hortense requested permis-
sion to remain till her son's health should be restored. It was refused,
and they returned to Arenenberg, where he devoted himself to the pre-
paration for the press of his " Literary and political considerations
upon Switzerland."
This work procured for him the honour of citizenship from the Hel-
vetic Republic. In 1834 he received the commission of captain in the
Swiss service. In 1835 he published " A Manual of Artillery for
Switzerland." During his military residence in Berne he had inti-
mate relations with several French officers. Concerting with these
gentlemen and other friends of his family a revolutionary movement
in 1836, for the purpose of gaining possession of the French throne,
young Napoleon landed, on the 30th of October, at Strasburgh ; but
his partisans were overpowered by the military, and he himself was
taken prisoner, after a brief but spirited resistance. Some time after
his arrest he was pardoned by the French government, on condition
of his emigrating to some other country. He accepted this condition,
188 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
and set sail for America, arriving at New York in 1S37. He took
an early opportunity to speak favourably of America and Americans.
In a letter to the President of the United States he wrote: " I wished
to study the customs and institutions of a people who have achieved
more lasting triumphs by commerce and enterprise, than Ave in Eu-
rope have gained by arms. I hoped to have travelled through a
country which excites my sympathy, from the fact that its history and
prosperity are closely connected with the remembrance of that which
is a glory to Frenchmen." This letter was an apology for his sudden
return to Europe, whither he was summoned to attend the death-bed
of his mother, who died October 5, 1837.
In that year the prince took up his residence in Switzerland, and
resumed his efforts for permission to return to France as a French
citizen. It is stated that this request was not only denied, but that
Louis Philippe required of the Swiss authorities that he should not be
permitted to reside so near to France. He then repaired to England,
and, exercising a large hospitality, gathered around him, as associates,
some of the old officers of the empire. Acknowledged by them as the
legal heir to whatever imperial rights Napoleon had transmitted, ano-
ther attempt was made to place him on the throne. Aided by Gen.
Montholon, he made his famous descent, with a handful of followers,
upon the French coast, near Boulogne, August 5th, 1840. This expe-
dition terminated more disastrously than that of Strasburgh. In the
melee which ensued, the prince, after severely wounding a grenadier
with his own hand, was taken prisoner. His associates, attempting
to escape, were fired on, some of them killed, and the survivors were
all captured, with the "Edinburgh castle" steamer, which had
brought the expedition over the channel.
Louis Napoleon was brought to trial, and sentenced to imprison-
ment for life. He was confined in the castle of Ham until the 25th
of May, 1846, when, taking advantage of the occasion offered by
some repairs in the prison, he escaped in the disguise of a workman,
and immediately repaired to England, where he lived in an unob-
trusive manner until the breaking out of the revolution, in February,
1848. By the revolution he was restored to the privileges of a French
citizen, and was elected to the National Assembly by no less than
four separate districts. One of these districts being his native city,
and able to accept only one, he of course chose the return from Paris.
He was among the first to declare in favour of the revolution of
February, and although somewhat reserved in the expression of his
views, he has preserved great consistency in his course as a friend of
the republic. When first elected to the Assembly, objections were
made in that body to repeal the law of banishment against the Bona-
parte family, when the cries of "Vive Louis Napoleon !" "Vive l'Em-
pereur!" were soon heard in the streets of Paris. On the next day
the question of admission was decided in his favour; but he declined, at
1849.] Louis Napoleon. 1S9
the time, to take his seat, alleging that his presence in France might
serve as a dangerous pretext for the enemies of the republic. Subse-
quently he came to Paris, and assumed the duties of representative of
the people ; and at the period fixed upon by the new constitution for
the election of a President of the republic, he became the prominent
candidate for that office. He was elected on the 10th of December,
1849, in opposition to Cavaignac, Lamartine, Rollin, and other can-
didates, by an overwhelming majority, having received nearly four-
fifths of all the votes polled. On the 20th of December he took the
oath of office, and delivered an address on the occasion full of gene-
rous and noble sentiments. Preceding and immediately after his elec-
tion most of the English journals expressed a want of confidence both
in his capacity and sincerity, and predicted that he would soon give
evidence both of imbecility and of anti-republican tendencies. Thus
far his conduct as a ruler has disappointed these conceptions of his
character. He has, on the contrary, manifested much tact and judg-
ment in the administration of the government; and the same papers,
both in Europe and in this country, which at first decried him, now
give him credit for purity of motive, and for more than ordinary talent.
His popularity with the French people is unbounded ; and it is be-
lieved by some that if the Bonapartists have a majority in the new
Assembly, he will be declared President for life; and that in this
movement there will be a general acquiescence, for the purpose of
entirely allaying popular ferment, and securing a permanent govern-
ment.
President Bonaparte appears to have inherited that singular art by
which the Emperor Napoleon managed, through solitary and appa-
rently unconsidered incidents, to attract to himself an admiration
amounting to idolatry. Among the many examples of this trait we
find the following anecdote in a late London paper, which is not
friendly to him : —
" On the occasion of the distribution of crosses of the legion of honour
a few days since to the troops assembled in the Champ de Mars, it was
observed that a sergeant whose name was on the list of candidates for
the honour, failed to answer when his name was called. The president
having demanded the cause, was informed that the sergeant had ob-
tained leave of absence to visit his mother, who, it was feared, was
dying. On hearing the words ' dying mother,' Louis, who idolizes
the memory of his maternal parent, turned to an aide-de-camp and
ordered him forthwith to send an express after the sergeant, at the
private expense of the president, in order that his mother should see
the croix d'honneur on her son's breast before she expired. ' Perhaps,'
added he, ' the sight of the cross may restore her to health.' A cou-
rier was forthwith despatched at the command of the president. It is
said that the joy occasioned by the good news actually effected a re-
volution in the poor woman's health, and that she is now in a fair way
190 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
of recovery. The sergeant on his return related to his companions
the noble conduct of the emperor's nephew, and of which he cannot
speak without shedding tears."
It may not be inappropriate to append to this sketch of the president
of France, a copy of the letter addressed to him, soon after his acces-
sion to office, by the celebrated Arab chief Abd-el Kader : —
" To Prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, president of the republic —
the Emir Abd-el-Kader, detained with his family in the chateau
of Amnois.
' I will die in prison if unexampled rigors condemn me so to do, but
never will I be brought to lower my character.' — Prince Louis Na-
poleon, at Ham.
" God is great, and Mahomet is his prophet. May this God of
clemency, under whose protection the national assembly has placed the
French constitution, inspire the chief of the republic with an act of
justice and humanity, which will give to all the nations of the globe a
high opinion of the hospitality of France, which country is already re-
nowned by her bravery and chivalrous spirit at all times. When,
guided by my confidence in the bravery and the promise of the French,
I came to place myself and mine under the protection of France, by
giving myself up to General Lamoriciere, at that time commandant of
Oran, I received the formal promise that I should be sent to the noble
land of France, and be afterwards conveyed to Egypt, and from thence
to Syria, near the sacred tomb of the prophet, that I might enlighten
myself with new light, and my days be wholly devoted to the happiness
of my family and far from the hazards of war, the theatre of which I
abandoned for ever to the domination of France, in execution of the
will of the Almighty, who lowers or raises empires as he pleases.
" Far from these sacred promises having been fulfilled, I and mine
have been subjected to captivity, without being able to cause justice to
be rendered to me. If the sufferings of my poor mother, old and in-
firm, can excite some interest in the hearts of the French people, and
especially in those of wives and mothers, I demand of the chief of the
French government to fulfil the promises that were made to me by the
generals of Africa, and to accord me the liberty of going on parole,
with my family into Syria, to follow the precepts of our religion.
Grateful for such an act of clemency and justice, I would pray our
God to bestow on France and her chiefs all his great consolations and
blessings. I rely on the wisdom of the president of the Republic and
of the national assembly. " The Emir ABD-EL-KADER.
" Amboisc, 27 Moharrcm, 1265 (Dec. 23, 1848.")
S.
1849.] Anecdotes of Talleyrand. 191
ANECDOTES OF TALLEYRAND.
Charles Maurice Talleyrand was born in Paris, in the year 1754. In
the middle ages his ancestors were sovereigns of Quercy. The name
Talleyrand, which appears originally to have been that of an estate or
manor, was formerly written Taleran, Tailleran, Talairant, or Talliran.
In the commencement of the twelfth century it was adopted as a sur-
name by the family of the sovereign counts of Perigord. After the
extinction of the elder branch, the younger, known by the designation
of the Counts de Grignols, and afterwards by that of the Princes de
Chalias and de Talleyrand, succeeded to the family title and honours.
Having stated so much, or rather, so little, for the benefit of the
curious in genealogy, we crave permission not only to proceed at once
to lighter, and to us more attractive matter, but to present it without
any ceremonious attention to time, place, or circumstance, and after
that unconnected fashion which to narrators is a sort of second nature.
Early in life, Talleyrand de Perigord figured among the most influ-
ential personages of France, and formed a close connexion with the
principal republican leaders of the day ; to some of them, however, the
outset of his political career rendered him an object of distrust. Carnot,
in particular, manifested a deep-rooted aversion for the preire defroque,
as he contemptuously termed the ex-bishop of Autun. Chenier com-
pared him to a sponge that absorbs a portion of every liquor in which
it is steeped, with this difference, that the sponge, when squeezed, dis-
gorges its contents, whilst Talleyrand still imbibes and still retains.
It must be admitted, that one whose career belongs to so many epochs,
one who passed unscathed through so many political convulsions, and
still as the horizon blackened, seemed to " ride on the whirlwind and
direct the storm" — one who survived the old regime, the directory,
the consular pow 7 er, the empire, and the final fall of the Bourbons,
still rising on the wreck of each crumbling dynasty that overwhelmed
in its ruin his less fortunate or less skilful compeers, such a one might
well engender in others that sour and sullen spirit in which envy is
ever ready to rail at vice when its rewards fall not to her share.
His first friend was the Comte d'Artois. While he was a plain
abbe, the comte wearied Louis XVI. with prayers to make his friend
a bishop. Louis for a long time positively refused, alleging as his
objection the rather negligent course of M. de Perigord's mode of life ;
but being farther solicited, promised to grant the request on condition
that the abbe would go to the country, and do something ecclesiastical
that would make people forget his escapades in Paris. Accordingly,
Talleyrand left the city, and preached two or three fine sermons, and
otherwise behaved himself so as to lay in a sufficient stock of merit.
The Comte d'Artois obtained his prayer; and the abbe was turned into
the Bishop d'Autun. This was his first rise in the world — mark the
end!
192 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
During the consular regime, Talleyrand was the wit par excellence
of the court, and it must be confessed, that in common with most wits,
he could rarely be accused of good-natured consideration for the
feelings of those at w 7 hom his shafts were levelled. A certain distin-
guished personage, in his presence, once passed a high encomium on
the beauty of the Marchioness de Luchesini, the wife of the Prussian
ambassador, a lady whose stature was colossal, and whose attractions
were altogether of the masculine order. " Bah !" exclaimed Talleyrand,
in answer to the panegyrist, " I could show you better than that in the
consular guard." As nothing is more unstable than the vogue of a
court beauty, the ambassadress, after this cruel sarcasm, was at a dis-
count of fifty per cent.
" Never write a book," said he to Prince Kofflosky ; " if you do, we
shall know all that your brains are w^orth for as many francs as your
book will cost. No man of sense writes books — the emperor writes
no books — [this was before the emperor went to St. Helena] — Socrates
never wrote a book." To which Talleyrand added a name we decline
introducing into any light discourse, even after the example of a bishop.
"When Kofflosky pressed him with the names of men acknowledged to
be great in other niches of the temple of fame, who had yet written
books, such as Julius Caesar, Frederick the great, &c, the prince
replied, that the examples are rare, and that these books must have
been written in order to lead people astray.
It has been stated that Talleyrand's main incentive to the attainment
of power was his love of wealth. If so, avarice and ambition may be
said to have gone hand in hand, for both were amply gratified. The
elevated position of the minister for foreign affairs, by giving him
the key to all political secrets, enabled him to speculate with advantage
in the public funds, and it appears that he liberally availed himself of
his facilities. Some of his minor satellites, too, reaped the benefit of
them second-hand, catching, as it were, a refraction of the light which
shone so resplendently on his fortunes. Every morning, whilst under
the hand of his perruquier, it was Talleyrand's custom to enter into
familiar conversation with that functionary, sometimes touching on
political matters, and on such occasions the barber would " with a greedy
ear devour his excellency's discourse," from which he derived many
a valuable hint for his own guidance. If Talleyrand muttered between
his teeth, " Now is the time to sell," Strap hied him in haste to the
Bourse, and sold out his five per cents. He then remained perfectly
quiet, continued his daily routine, and powdered the minister's caput
as usual, taking care to avail himself of the first hint of ' Now is the
time to buy stock.' By diligently attending to these little soliloquies
of Talleyrand, the pemiquicr gradually amassed an enormous fortune.
Napoleon had by some means or other been apprized of Talleyrand's
hits on 'change. The great captain hated stock-jobbing of every de-
scription, and took his prime minister severely to task. " So," said he,
1849.] Anecdotes of Talleyrand. 193
with a sarcastic sneer, " I am informed that your excellency is making
a fortune on the Bourse." — " I never speculated but on one occasion,"
was Talleyrand's reply, — "And when may that have been?" resumed
the first consul. " I bought in on the lbth Brumaire, and I sold out
the next day." The force of the repartee will be evident to the reader
who recollects that the stormy period alluded to was that of the coup
d'etat which placed the consular power in the hands of Bonaparte, and
consequently laid the foundation of his subsequent greatness.
Napoleon, when his power was on the decline, began, and not with-
out reason, to entertain some distrust of Talleyrand's fidelity. On one
occasion the emperor observed in a menacing tone to the wary states-
man — "You imagine that in the event of my fall you would be placed
at the head of a council of regency. Be warned in time ; you will gain
nothing by joining the ranks of my enemies. Were I to be suddenly
attacked with a dangerous illness, your death would take place before
mine." "Sire," replied Talleyrand, not in the least disconcerted by this
abrupt apostrophe, " I need not such a warning to urge me to offer up
my prayers for the prolongation of your Majesty's days."
The colossus was at length overthrown, and a new order of things
was established in Europe. In 1815, Talleyrand, still unshaken by
the political storm, was the representative of France at the ever memo-
rable congress of Vienna.
Louis XVIII. formed a just appreciation of Talleyrand's superior
abilities; he knew the man well, though he carefully abstained from
openly pronouncing a judgment upon his character. When pressed to
declare his opinion on this subject, the King usually replied by quoting
the following lines from Corneille, in allusion to the famous Cardinal
Richelieu :
"Qu'on dise mal ou bien du firneux Cardinal,
Ma prose ni mes vers n'en diront jamais rien;
II m'a fait trop de bien pour en dire du mal,
II m'a fait trop de mal pour en dire du bien."
But notwithstanding this cautious moderation, Louis XVIII. evidently
nurtured a secret grudge against Talleyrand, and occasionally displayed
the feeling in various practical illustrations of the art of ingeniously
tormenting. To be more explicit, his majesty was rather taquin with
his grand chamberlain — for such was the dignity with which the ci-
devant minister for foreign affairs was invested at the epoch of the
restoration. In 1823, when France interposed in the affairs of Spain,
Talleyrand took occasion to comment rather freely on the course pur-
sued by government. This was by no means agreeable to Louis XVIII.
and a report was soon spread that the grand chamberlain was not only
in disgrace, but on the point of being exiled. Not long after the circu-
lation of this rumour, Talleyrand made his appearance at the Tuilleries,
and was received by the King in a manner which proved that some-
thing like a storm was impending. "Apropos," said the monarch, "I
194 ■ Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
hear you are about to retire into the country." " Sire," rejoined Talley-
rand, "I have no such intention, unless your majesty should think of
going to Fontainbleau, for in that case I shall of course solicit permis-
sion to accompany you, in discharge of the duties of my office." " No,
no," said the king, "I do not exactly mean that — but — in short, let us
change the subject." There the matter rested for a few days, but when
Louis XVIII. again saw Talleyrand, he repeated his question, to which
he received the same answer as before. A third time his Majesty re-
turned to the charge, by asking his grand chamberlain if he was ac-
quainted with the distance from Paris to Valengay — a place to which
Talleyrand had once before retired when under a cloud. " Not exactly,
sire," replied the practised tactician, "but I believe it to be about
twice as far as from Paris to Ghent."
In 1814, at the period of the conferences with the Emperor of Rus-
sia, M. Alexis de G**** addressed a number of questions to Talley-
rand, on the course which government was likely to adopt. "Well,
Prince," at last said the querist, who squinted so horribly that his eyes
seemed turned almost inside out, " how go state affairs ?" — " Comme
vous voyez," replied Talleyrand. The reader will perceive that the
point is untranslatable.
On another occasion, the prince was greatly blamed for having been
amongst the first to desert the cause of Napoleon. "Bah!" exclaimed
Talleyrand, "the fact is simply that my watch went rather too fast;
for every body else did the same thing just in the nick of time."
"Some very important discussion must have taken place to-day in
the cabinet council," observed a friend to Talleyrand, "for the sitting
lasted full five hours. What can have passed?" — "Five hours," said
Talleyrand. An emigrant once spoke to the prince in the most con-
temptuous terms of the empire, and concluded by asserting, that the
regime of the restoration could alone administer effectually to the wants
of the country. " Very true," said Talleyrand; "under the empire
we proceeded but slowly: we merely achieved wonders, whereas now
we work miracles."
A courtier, with sundry bows and scrapes, and "many-wreathed
smiles," once accosted Talleyrand with, "Your excellency has deigned
to promise me your protection ; accordingly I take the liberty of re-
minding your excellency that such a place is vacant" (designating a
particular office.) "Vacant!" exclaimed Talleyrand, with an emphasis
on the word, which he repeated: "my good friend, you have yet to
learn that when a place is vacant, it is already given away."
When the second restoration took place, a certain pompous per-
sonage applied to Talleyrand for a diplomatic post. "What may be
your claim?" demanded Talleyrand. "Your excellency," said the
applicant with much importance, "must know that I have been at
Ghent." "At Ghent? are you certain of the fact?" "Quite posi-
tive," replied the courtier, with a feeling of indignation that the truth
1S49.] Jlnecdoles of Talleyrand. 195
of his assertion should for a moment have been called in question.
" Now," said Talleyrand, " tell me candidly if you have really been at
Ghent, or if you have merely returned from it?" " I do not under-
stand your excellency," replied the suitor in unspeakable amazement.
Talleyrand proceeded to explain. "The truth is," said he, "that at
Ghent there were seven or eight hundred royalists; not one more; and
yet not less than fifty thousand have already returned from that city!"
He seems to have been a wholesale dealer in facetiae.
During the last illness of Louis XVIII., Talleyrand, speaking of
certain projected government measures, observed, "His majesty must
now open his eyes, or close them for ever."
When he took the oath of allegiance to Louis Philippe, he said,
"Thank God, this is the thirteenth I have taken."
Under the Vilele administration, M. Ferraud was in the habit of ap-
pearing in the chamber of peers, supported by a couple of lackeys.
" There goes an exact personification of the government," cried Tal-
leyrand, — "carried like a child, and fancying itself walking."
When Prince Polignac was placed at the head of the administra-
tion, he was reported to have said that under his auspices and those
of his colleagues, France would be saved. "Why not?" said Talley-
rand, "a flock of geese saved the capitol."
One day at the Tuilleries, where Talleyrand was in attendance as
grand chamberlain, he remained for a considerable time in silent con-
templation of the minister of Baden, who was remarkable for a spare
habit of body. At length he broke silence. "His excellency," ob-
served Talleyrand, "always puzzles me prodigiously. I never can
tell to a certainty whether he walks on three legs or wears three swords."
We have thus ventured to give a few of the miscellaneous bon mots
of this extraordinary character. They want the support of that inap-
preciable phlegm which would render even an indifferent pleasantry
irresistible; but in spite of this disadvantage we trust they will not de-
rogate from Talleyrand's European reputation as a wit of the first
water. Such of our readers as have seen the veteran diplomatist must
call fancy to their aid ; they must conjure up before their "mind's eye"
a countenance to which no description of ours could render adequate jus-
tice, and they will thus more fully appreciate the good things here set
before them, without much scrupulous attention to the mode of their
arrangement or the order of their presentation.
To abler pens we leave the task of dwelling on a political career
which exhibits the constant struggle of a man of genius with the
grandest epochs of the French history. To Talleyrand belongs the
triumph — and to him at least it has proved no empty vain-glorious
boast — that whether he stemmed the torrent or swam with the stream,
he still rose proudly above the waves which engulfed so many of his
contemporaries. Monarchs have been made and unmade; dynasties
have flourished and faded ; nations and empires have risen and fallen ;
but the architect who had so prominent a share in rearing the political
Babel, survived its wreck.
196 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
PHENOMENA OF DEATH.
FROM THE ESSAYS OF SIR HENRY HALFORD, M. D., G. C. B.
Whatever be the causes of dissolution, whether sudden violence, or
lingering malady, the immediate modes by which death is brought
about appear to be but two. In the one, the nervous system is pri-
marily attacked, and there is a sinking, sometimes an instantaneous ex-
tinction, of the powers of life ; in the other, dissolution is effected by
the circulation of the black venous blood in the arteries of the body in-
stead of the red arterial blood. The former is termed death by syn-
cope, or fainting, — the latter, death by asphyxia. In the last men-
tioned manner of death, when it is the result of disease, the struggle
is long protracted, and accompanied by all the visible marks of agony
which the imagination associates with the closing scene of life, — the
pinched and pallid features, the cold, clammy skin, the up-turned eye,
and the heaving, laborious, rattling respiration. Death does not strike
all the organs of the body at the same time ; some may be said to sur-
vive others ; and the lungs are among the last to give up the performance
of their function and die. As death approaches, they become gradually
more and more oppressed ; the air-cells are loaded with an increased
quantity of the fluid, which naturally lubricates their surfaces ; the atmo-
sphere can now no longer come into contact with the minute blood-ves-
sels spread over the air-cells, without first permeating this viscid fluid,
— hence the rattle; nor is the contact sufficiently perfect to change the
black venous into the red arterial blood; an unprepared fluid conse-
quently issues from the lungs into the heart, and is thence transmitted
to every other organ of the body. The brain receives it, its energies
appear to be lulled thereby into sleep — generally tranquil sleep — filled
with dreams which impel the dying lip to murmur out the names of
friends and the occupations and recollections of past life; the peasant
"babbles o' green fields," and Napoleon expires amid visions of battle,
uttering with his last breath " the tfarmee."
The contrast between the state of the body and that of the mind is
often very striking : the struggles of the former are no measure of the
.emotion of the latter. Indeed, the laborious and convulsive heavings
of the chest are wholly automatic, independent of the will, — a part of
the mechanism of the body, contrived for its safety, which continues to
act when the mind is unconscious of the sufferings of the frame, or is
occupied by soothing illusions. •No one has described this better than
Abernethy.
" Delirium often takes place in consequence of an accident of no very
momentous kind, — it may occur without fever, or it may be accom-
panied with that irritative sympathetic action which is often the 'last
stage of all, that closes the sad eventful history' of a compound fracture.
Delirium seems to be a very curious affection; in this state a man is
1849.] Phenomena of Death. 197
quite unconscious of his disease ; he will give rational answers to any
questions you put to him, when you rouse him, but he relapses into a
state of wandering, and his actions correspond with his dreaming. I
remember a man with compound fracture in this hospital, whose leg
was in a horrible state of sloughing. I have roused him, and said,
"Thomas, what is the matter with you? how do you do ?" He would
reply, " Pretty hearty, thank ye ; nothing is the matter with me : how
do you do?" He would then go on dreaming of one thing or another;
I have listened at his bed-side, and I am sure his dreams were often
of a pleasant kind. He met old acquaintances in his dreams, — people
whom he remembered lang syne, his former companions, his kindred
and relations, and he expressed his delight at seeing them. He
would exclaim every now and then, — " That's a good one ; well, I never
heard a better joke," and so on. It is a curious circumstance that all
consciousness of suffering is thus cut off, as it were, from the body, and
it cannot but be regarded as a very benevolent effect of nature's ope-
rations that extremity of suffering should thus bring with it its an-
tidote."
Occasionally the last dreams of existence are of a more painful na-
ture ; — guilt is delirious with dread, — remorse peoples the fancy with
terrific visions — but even these are chequered with scenes of a tranquil,
not to say trivial character. The death-bed of Cardinal Beaufort, ter-
ribly true, is rare ; the mixed feelings and shadowings of past life, ex-
hibited in that of Falstaff, are much more frequent.
The second mode of dissolution is marked by the absence of all cor-
poreal struggle. The mind is left free and unclouded, to the very
verge of the grave, save by the influence which the particular malady
itself exercises on the current of ideas and feelings. The sufferings of
the patient are incidental to the progress of the disease; but the "end
of all" is placid, painless, and generally sudden. Death, in these
cases, attacks the sentient principle, through the nervous system, as it
were, directly. It surprises the sufferer sometimes when sighing for
the consummation of life, but believing the term yet distant ; sometimes
in the midst of plans and schemes which are destined never to be rea-
lized. In consumption, and, in genera], in diseases which are slow in
their progress, this sudden termination of life is as common as that more
protracted form, already noticed. It is best exemplified by a death pro-
duced by lightning, in which the visible alterations in the frame afford
a striking contrast to the ordinary ravages of what is termed disease.
The machinery of the body appears nearly perfect, and unscathed, and
yet in none of the multitudinous forms of death is the living principle
so summarily annihilated. Certain poisons appear to act in a similar
manner; and, occasionally, the more important operations of surgery
are followed by the like result; for which the genius of John Hunter
could find no better explanation than the figurative hypothesis, that
VOL. n. —march, 1S49. 14
198 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
the vis medicatrix, conscious that the injury is irreparable, gives up
the contest in despair.
Severe injuries inflicted on the great centres of the nervous system,
the brain, spine, and stomach, are followed by instantaneous death ; of
which, pithing or wounding the uppermost part of the spinal-marrow
of the bull, in the arena, and the coup de grace, or blow on the sto-
mach of the criminal, whose limbs have been previously broken on the
wheel, are well-known examples. Emotions of the mind, especially
such as, by their depressing character, exhaust the energies of life,
often terminate in this mode of death. The slightest causes, a mere
fainting fit, trivial in every other state of the frame, in this may be fa-
tal. It is the euthanasia of a healthy old age, and the termination as-
signed by nature to a life in which the passions have been controlled,
and the energies regulated by the authority of reason and a sense of
duty.
Whether we look at the one mode of dissolution or the other, the
sting of death is certainly not contained in the physical act of dying.
Sir Henry Halford, after forty years' experience, says —
u Of the great number to whom it has been my painful professional
duty to have administered in the last hours of their lives, I have some-
times felt surprised that so few have appeared reluctant to go to < the
undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveller returns.' Many,
we may easily suppose, have manifested this willingness to die, from
an impatience of suffering, or from that passive indifference which is
sometimes the result of debility and extreme bodily exhaustion. But
I have seen those who have arrived at a fearless contemplation of the
future from faith in the doctrine which our religion teaches. Such
men were not only calm and supported, but even cheerful in the hour
of death; and I never quitted such a sick chamber without a wish that
* my last end might be like theirs.'
"Some, indeed, have clung to life anxiously — painfully; but they
were not influenced so much by a love of life for its own sake, as by
the distressing prospect of leaving children, dependent upon them, to
the mercy of the world, deprived of their parental care, in the pathetic
language of Andromache —
These, indeed, have sometimes wrung my heart.
"And here you will forgive me, perhaps, if I presume to state what
appears to me to be the conduct proper to be observed by a physician
in withholding, or making his patient acquainted with, his opinion of
the probable issue of a malady manifesting mortal symptoms. I own
I think it my first duty to protract his life by all practicable means,
and to interpose myself between him and every thing which may pos-
sibly aggravate his danger. And unless I shall have found him averse
from doing what was necessary in aid of my remedies, from a want of
1849.] Phenomena of Death. 199
a proper sense of his perilous situation, I forbear to step out of the
bounds of my province in order to offer any advice which is not neces-
sary to promote his cure. At the same time, I think it indispensable
to let his friends know the danger of his case the instant I discover it.
An arrangement of his worldly affairs, in which the comfort or unhap-
piness of those who are to come after him is involved, may be neces-
sary ; and a suggestion of his danger, by which the accomplishment of
this object is to be attained, naturally induces a contemplation of his
more important spiritual concerns, a careful review of his past life, and
such sincere sorrow and contrition for what he has done amiss, as jus-
tifies our humble hope of his pardon and acceptance hereafter. If
friends can do their good offices at a proper time, and under the sug-
gestions of the physician, it is far better that they should undertake
them than the medical adviser. They do so without destroying his
hopes, for the patient will still believe that he has an appeal to his
physician beyond their fears ; whereas, if the physician lay open his
danger to him, however delicately he may do this, he runs a risk of
appearing to pronounce a sentence of condemnation to death, against
which there is no appeal — no hope; and, on that account, what is most
awful to think of, perhaps the sick man's repentance may be less avail-
able.
" But friends may be absent, and nobody near the patient in his
extremity, of sufficient influence or pretension to inform him of his
dangerous condition. And surely it is lamentable to think that any
human being should leave the world unprepared to meet his Creator
and Judge, ' with all his crimes broad blown !' Rather than so, I have
departed from my strict professional duty, done that which I would
have done by myself, and apprized my patient of the great change he
was about to undergo.'
" Lord Bacon encourages physicians to make it a part of their art to
smooth the bed of death, and to render the departure from life easy,
placid and gentle. This doctrine, so accordant with the best principles
of our nature, commended not only by the wisdom of this consummate
philosopher, but also by the experience of one of the most judicious and
conscientious physicians of modern times (the late Dr. Heberden) was
practised with such happy success in the case of our late lamented
sovereign, that at the close of his painful disease * non tam mori vide-
retur (as was said of a Roman emperor) quam dulci et alto sopore
excipi.' "—p. 89.
" Occasionally, the last scene of life is marked by such strength, such
unwonted vivacity of thought and solemnity of feeling, as led Aretaeus
to attribute prophetic power to individuals dying of peculiar maladies
— especially of brain fever; the effect of which, when the violence
subsides, is, he says, to clear the patient's mind, and render his sensa-
tions exquisitely keen. ' He is the first to discover that he is about to
die, and annoimces this to the attendants; he seems to hold converse
200 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
with the spirits of those departed before him, as if they stood in his
presence.' "
To these interesting notices of Sir H. Halford, we add the follow-
ing remarkable account of the sensations produced by drowning con-
tained in a letter from Admiral Beaufort to Dr. Wollaston, in the Me-
moirs of Sir John Barrow, just published in London :
" Many years ago, when I was a youngster on board one of his
majesty's ships in Portsmouth harbour, after sculling about in a very
small boat, I was endeavouring to fasten her alongside the ship to one
of the scuttle rings; in foolish eagerness I stepped upon the gunwale,
the boat of course upset, and I fell into the water, and not knowing
how to swim, all my efforts to lay hold either of the boat or the floating
sculls were fruitless. The transaction had not been observed by the
sentinel on the gangway, and, therefore, it was not till the tide had
drifted me some distance astern of the ship that a man in the foretop
saw me splashing in the water, and gave the alarm. The first lieu-
tenant instantly and gallantly jumped overboard, the carpenter followed
his example, and the gunner hastened into a boat and pulled after
them.
"With the violent but vain attempts to make myself heard, I had
swallowed much water; I was soon exhausted by my struggles, and
before any relief reached me I had sunk below the surface — all hope
had fled — all exertion ceased — and I felt that I was drowning.
" So far, these facts were either partially remembered after my
recovery, or supplied by those who had latterly witnessed the scene;
for during an interval of such agitation, a drowning person is too much
occupied in catching at every passing straw, or too much absorbed by
alternate hope and despair, to mark the succession of events very accu-
rately. Not so, however, with the facts which immediately ensued;
my mind had then undergone the sudden revolution which appeared to
you so remarkable — and all the circumstances of which are now as
vividly fresh in my memory as if they had occurred but yesterday.
"From the moment that every exertion had ceased — which I im-
agine was the immediate consequence of complete suffocation — a calm
feeling of the most perfect tranquillity superseded the previous tumul-
tuous sensations — it might be called apathy, certainly not resignation,
for drowning no longer appeared to be an evil — I no longer thought
of being rescued, nor was I in any bodily pain. On the contrary, my
sensations were now of rather a pleasurable cast, partaking of that
dull but contented sort of feeling which precedes the sleep produced
by fatigue. Though the senses were thus deadened, not so the mind;
its activity seemed to be invigorated in a ratio which defies all descrip-
tion — for thought rose after thought with a rapidity of succession that
is not only indescribable, but probably inconceivable, by any one who
has not himself been in a similar situation. The course of these
thoughts I can even now in a great measure retrace — the event which
1849.] Phenomena of Death. 201
had just taken place, the awkwardness that had produced it — the bus-
tle- it must have occasioned (for I had observed two persons jump from
the chains) — the effect it would have on a most affectionate father —
the manner in which he would disclose it to the rest of the family —
and a thousand other circumstances minutely associated with home,
were the first series of reflections that occurred. They took then a
wider range — our last cruise — a former voyage, and shipwreck — my
school — the progress I had made there, and the time I misspent — and
even all my boyish pursuits and adventures. Thus travelling back-
wards, every past incident of my life seemed to glance across my re-
collection in retrograde. succession; not, however, in mere outline, as
here stated, but the picture filled up with every minute and collateral
feature ; in short, the whole period of my existence seemed to be placed
before me in a kind of panoramic review, and each act of it seemed to
be accompanied by some reflection on its cause, or its consequences ;
indeed, many trifling events which had been long forgotten then
crowded into my imagination, and with the character of recent fami-
liarity.
" May not all this be some indication of the almost infinite power of
memory with which we may awaken in another world, and thus be
compelled to contemplate our past lives? Or might it not in some
degree warrant the inference that death is only a change or modifica-
tion of our existence, in which there is no real pause or interruption ?
But, however that may be, one circumstance was highly remarkable ;
that the innumerable ideas which flashed into my mind, were all retro-
spective — yet I had been religiously brought up — my hopes and fears
of the next world had lost nothing of their early strength, and at any
other period intense interest and awful anxiety would have been ex-
cited by the mere probability that I was floating on the threshold of
eternity : yet at that inexplicable moment, when I had a full conviction
that I had already crossed the threshold, not a single thought wan-
dered into the future — I was wrapped entirely in the past.
" The length of time that was occupied by this deluge of ideas, or
rather the shortness of time into which they were condensed, I cannot
now state with precision, yet certainly two minutes could not have
elapsed from the moment of suffocation to that of my being hauled up.
" The strength of the flood tide made it expedient to pull the boat
at once to another ship, where I underwent the usual vulgar process
of emptying the water by letting my head hang downwards, then
bleeding, chafing, and even administering gin ; but my submersion had
been really so brief, that, according to the account of the lookers on,
I was very quickly restored to animation.
" My feelings while life was returning were the reverse in every
point of those which have been described above. One single but con-
fused idea — a miserable belief that I was drowning — dwelt upon my
mind, instead of the many clear and definite ideas which had recently
202 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March?
rushed through it — a helpless anxiety — a kind of continuous nightmare,
seemed to press heavily on every sense, and to prevent the formation
of any one distinct thought — and it was with difficulty that I became
convinced that I was really alive. Again ; instead of being absolutely
free from all bodily pain, as in my drowning state, I was now tortured
with pain all over me ; and though I have been since wounded in se-
veral places, and have often submitted to severe surgical discipline,
yet my sufferings were at that time far greater, at least in general
distress. On one occasion I was shot in the lungs, and after lying on
the deck at night for some hours bleeding from other wounds, I at
length fainted. Now, as I felt sure that the wound in the lungs was
mortal, it will appear obvious that the overwhelming sensation which
accompanies fainting must have produced a perfect conviction that I
was then in the act of dying. Yet nothing in the least resembling the
operations of my mind when drowning then took place; and when I
began to recover, I returned to a clear conception of my real state."
INSECT SLAVERY.
The most remarkable fact connected with the history of ants is the
propensity possessed by certain species to kidnap the workers of other
species and compel them to labour for the benefit of the community,
thus using them completely as slaves ; and, as far as we yet know, the
kidnappers are red, or pale-coloured ants, and the slaves, like the
captured natives of Africa, are of a jet black. The time for taking
slaves extends over a period of about ten weeks, and never commences
until the male and female are about emerging from the pupa state ; and
thus the ruthless marauders never interfere with the continuation of
the species. This instinct seems specially provided ; for were the slave
ants created for no other end than to fill the station of slavery to which
they appear to be doomed, still even that office, must fail, were the at-
tacks to be made on their nest before the winged myriads have de-
parted or are departing, charged with the duty of continuing their
kind. When the red ants are about to sally forth on a marauding
expedition, they send scouts to ascertain the exact position in which a*
colony of negroes may be found. These scouts having discovered the
object of their search, return to the nest and report their success.
Shortly afterwards the army of red ants marches forth, headed by a
vanguard, which is perpetually changing; the individuals which con-
stitute it, when they have advanced a little before the main body halt,
falling into the rear, and being replaced by others. This vanguard
consists of eight or ten ants only. When they have arrived near the
negro colony they disperse, wandering through the herbage and hunt-
ing about, as aware of the propinquity of the object of their search,
1849.] A Wild Beast Fight at Oude. 203
yet. ignorant of its exact position. At last they discover the settle-
ments ; and the foremost of the invaders, rushing impetuously to the
attack, are met, grappled with, and frequently killed by the negroes
on guard. The alarm is quickly communicated to the interior of the
nest ; the negroes sally forth by thousands ; and the red ants rushing
to the rescue, a desperate conflict ensues, which, however, always ter-
minates in the defeat of the negroes, who retire to the innermost re-
cesses of their habitation. Now follows the scene of pillage. The
red ants, with their powerful mandibles, tear open the sides of the
negro ant-hills, and rush into the heart of the citadel. In a|few minutes
each invader emerges, carrying in its mouth the pupa of a worker
negro, which it has obtained in spite of the vigilance and valour of its
natural guardians. The red ants return in perfect order to their nest,
bearing with them their living burdens. On reaching their nest, the
pupa appears to be treated precisely as their own ; and the workers,
when they emerge, perform -the various duties of the community with
the greatest energy and apparent good will. They repair the nest,
excavate passages, collect food, feed the larvse, take the pupse into the
sunshine, and perform every office which the welfare of the colony
seems to require. They conduct themselves entirely as if fulfilling
their original destination. — Newman's History of Insects.
A WILD BEAST FIGHT AT OUDE.
We were conducted to a gallery which commanded a view of a nar-
row court or arena beneath, enclosed by walls and palisades. This
was the area in which the spectacle was to take place. Unfortunately,
the place allotted to spectators was so narrowed by the great number
of European ladies who were present, that we could only find indiffe-
rent standing room, where, in addition to this inconvenience, the glare
of the sun was very oppressively felt; but the drama which began to
be acted in our sight, in the deep space below, was such that every
discomfort was forgotten in beholding it. We there beheld six mighty
buffaloes, not of the tame species, but the sturdy, offspring of the Armi-
buffalo of the hilly country, at least four feet and a half high from the
ground to the withers, with enormous widely spread horns, several
feet long. There they stood on their short clumsy hoofs ; and, snort-
ing violently, blew out their angry breath from their protruded muz-
zles as if they were already aware of the nearly approaching danger.
What terribly powerful brutes! What vast strength in their broad
and brawny necks ! It would have been a noble sight, had not their
eyes all the while expressed such entire stupidity. A rattling of sticks
and the cries of several kinds of bestial voices were heard, to which
the buffaloes replied with a deep bellowing. On a sudden, from an
204 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
open side door, there darted forth a huge tiger, certainly from ten to
eleven feet in length and four feet in height. Without much hesita-
tion he sprang with a single long bound right amidst the buffaloes,
and winding his body out of the reach of their formidable horns, he
seized one of them by the neck with both of his claws and teeth at
once. The weight of the tiger almost overthrew the buffalo. A hi-
deous combat now took place. Groaning and bellowing the buffalo
dragged his powerful assailant up and down the arena; while the
others, with their heavy, pointed horns, dealt the tiger fearful gashes
to liberate their fellow-beast. A deep stillness reigned amongst the
public; all the spectators awaited with eager suspense the issue of the
contest between the tiger and the buffaloes, as well as the fate of some
unfortunate asses ; which latter, to increase the sport, being made per
force witnesses of the sanguinary action, at first looking down upon it
from their poles with inexpressible horror, and afterwards, w T hen their
supports were shaken by the butting of the buffaloes, fell to the ground
as if dead, and, with outstretched limbs, lay expecting their fate with
the greatest resignation, without making a single effort to save them-
selves. Two other tigers of somewhat less stature, were now, with
great difficulty driven in, while the main struggle was still going for-
ward. But no efforts could induce them to attempt an attack of any
kind; they shrank down like cats, crouching as closely as possible to
the walls of the enclosure, whenever the buffaloes, which still continued,
however, to butt at their enemy with the utmost desperation, ap-
proached them. The great tiger had at last received a push in the
ribs which lifted him from his seat. He came tumbling down and
crawled like a craven into a comer, whither he was pursued by the
buffalo, maddened by the pain of his lacerated neck, and there had to
endure many thrusts with the horns, at each of which he only drew
up his mouth with a grimace of pain, without making the smallest
motion to ward off the attack. — Hoffmeister's Letters from the East
Indies.
INTRODUCTION OF FORKS.
As any well authenticated account of the invention or introduction
of any of our present customs, or modes of living, cannot but be both
instructive and amusing, we insert the following account of the first
introduction of the table-fork into England, as related by Thomas
Corgate, in his book of travels through a part of Europe, A. D. 1608.
" Here I will mention what might have been spoken of before in
discourse of the first Italian towne. I observed a custom in all those
Italian cities and towns through which I passed, that is not used in any
other country that I saw in my travels, neither doe I thinke that any
other nation of Christendom doth use it, but only Italy. The Italian,
1849.] First Newspaper. 205
and also most strangers that are commorant in Italy, doe alwaies at
their meales use a little forke when they cut their meate. For while
with their knife, which they hold in one hand, they cut the meate out
of the dish, they fasten the fork, which they hold in the other hand,
upon the same dish; so that whatsever he be that, setting in companie
with any others at meale, should unadvisedly touch the dish of meate
with his fingers, from which all the table doe cut, he will give occasion
of offence to the companie, as having transgressed the laws of good
manners, insomuch that for his error he shall be at least brow-beaten,
if not reprehended in wordes. This forme of feeding I understand is
generally used in all places of Italy ; their forkes being for the most
part made of yron or Steele and some of silver, but these are only used
by gentlemen. The reason of this their curiosity is, because the Italian
cannot by any meanes indure to have his dish touched with fingers,
seeing all men's fingers are not alike cleane. Hereupon I myself
thought good to imitate the Italian fashion, by this forked manner of
cutting meate, not only while I was in Italy, but also in Germany, and
oftentimes in England, since I came home, being once equipped for
that frequent using of my forke, and by a certaine learned gentleman, a
familiar friend of mine, one Mr. Lawrence Whitaker, who in his merry
humour doubted not to call me at table furcifer, only for using a forke
at feeding, and for no other cause."
FIRST NEWSPAPER.
The first printed newspaper was published in England, in 1588,
called " The English Mercury, imprinted by her Majesty's printer."
This paper was not regularly published.
In 1624, the " Public Intelligencer and London Gazette " was esta-
blished. Soon afterwards various papers had " their entrances and
their exits," in London, among which were " The Scots' Dove," " The
Parliament Kite," " The Secret Owl," &c.
" The Spectator " was the first purely literary periodical. It ap-
peared in 1711. This publication, as is known, owes its immortality
to Addison. " The Tattler," conducted by Sir Richard Steele, though
published a short time previous, was not exclusively literary.
The first French newspaper was established at Paris, in 1631, by
Ronandot, a physician.
The first " Literary Journal and Review " ever published, was " The
Journal des Savans," commenced in 1565, in France.
There are now published in France seven hundred and fifty journals,
of which three hundred and ten are political.
The first American paper was the " Boston News Letter," which
appeared on the 24th of April, 1704, by James Campbell. In 1719,
" The Boston Gazette " was started.
206 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
The third American newspaper was the " American Weekly Mer-
cury," which appeared in Philadelphia, on the 22d of December, 1719.
The fourth American newspaper was the " New England Courant,"
established at Boston, August 17, 1721, by James Franklin, elder
brother to him who rendered the name illustrious.
The oldest living paper in America is the New Hampshire Gazette.
It was the first paper printed in New Hampshire, and was established
by Daniel Fowle, at Portsmouth, in August, 1756. It was originally
printed on half a sheet of foolscap, quarto, as were all the papers of
that day; but was soon enlarged to half a sheet crown, folio, and
sometimes appeared on a whole sheet of crown. It is now in its 93d
year, and is a well conducted paper of goodly dimensions.
The oldest living newspaper in England is the Lincoln Mercury,
first published in 1695. The oldest in London is the St. James'
Chronicle, of 1761. The oldest paper in Scotland is the Edinburgh
Evening Courant, of 1705. The oldest in Ireland, the Belfast News
Letter, of 1787.
MAN— HIS MENTAL POWER.
EXTRACTS FROM A SPEECH BY HORACE MANN.
"Now, a man is weak in his muscles; he is strong only in his facul-
ties. In physical strength how much superior is an ox or a horse to a
man — in fleetness, the dromedary or the eagle ! It is through mental
strength only that man becomes the superior and governor of all ani-
mals. But it was not the design of Providence that the work of the
world should be performed by muscular strength. God has filled the
earth and imbued the elements with energies of greater power than all
the inhabitants of a thousand planets like ours. Whence come our ne-
cessaries and our luxuries? those comforts and appliances that make
the difference between a houseless, wandering tribe of Indians in the far
west, and a New England village? They do not come wholly or
principally from the original, unassisted strength of the human arm, but
from the employment, through intelligence' and skill, of those great na-
tural forces with which the bountiful Creator has filled every part of
the material universe. Caloric, gravitation, expansibility, compre-
hensibility, electricity, chemical affinities and repulsions, spontaneous
velocities — these are the mighty agents which the intellect of man har-
nesses to the car of improvement. The water, wind and steam to the
propulsion of machinery, and to the transportation of men and mer-
chandise from place to place, has added ten thousandfold to the actual
products of human industry. How small the wheel which the stoutest
labourer can turn, and how soon will he be weary ! Compare this
with a wheel driving a thousand spindles or looms, which a stream of
1849.] Man — his Mental Power. 207
water can turn, and never tire. A locomotive will take five hundred
men, and bear them on their journey hundreds of miles a day. Look at
these same five hundred men starting from the same post, and attempt-
ing the same distance, with all the equestrian toil and tardiness.
*' The cotton mills of Massachusetts will turn out more cloth in one
day than could have been manufactured by all the inhabitants of the
Eastern continent during the tenth century. On an element, which in
ancient times was supposed to be exclusively within the control of the
gods, and where it was deemed impious for human power to intrude,
even there the gigantic forces of nature, which human science and skill
have enlisted in their service, confront and overcome the raging of the
elements — breasting tempests and tides, escaping reefs and lea shores,
and careering, triumphantly, around the globe. The velocity of winds,
the weight of waters, and the rage of steam, are powers ; each one
of which is infinitely stronger than all the strength of all the nations
and races of mankind, were it all gathered into a single arm. And all
these energies are given us on one condition — the condition of intelli-
gence — that is, of education. Had God intended that the work of the
world should be done by human bones and sinews, He would have
given us an arm as solid and as strong as the shaft of a steam engine,
and enabled us to stand, day and night, and turn the crank of a steamship,
while sailing to Liverpool and Calcutta. Had God designed the human
muscles to do the work of the world, then, instead of the ingredients of
gun-powder, or gun-cotton, and the expansive force of heat, He would
have given us hands which could take a granite quarry and break its
solid acres into suitable symmetrical blocks, as easily as we now open
an orange. Had he intended us for bearing burdens, he would have
given us Atlantean shoulders, by which we could carry the vast freights
of rail-car and steamship as a porter carries his pack. He would have
given us lungs by which we could blow fleets before us, and wings to
sweep over ocean wastes.
" But, instead of iron arms, and Atlantean shoulders, and the lungs
of Boreas, He has given us a mind, a soul, a capacity of knowledge,
and thus a power of appropriating all these energies of nature to our
own use. Instead of a telegraphic and microscopic eye, he has given
us power to invent the telescope and microscope. Instead of ten thou-
sand fingers, he has given us genius inventive of the power-loom and
the printing-press. Without a cultivated intellect, man is the weakest
of all the dynamical forces of nature; with a cultivated intellect he com-
mands them all. A thousand slaves may stand by a river, and to
them it is only an object of fear and superstition. An intelligent
man surpasses the ancient idea of a river god; he stands by the
Penobscot, the Kennebec, the Merrimac, or the Connecticut; he com-
mands each to do more work than could be performed by a hundred
thousand men — to saw timber, to make cloth, to grind corn — and they
obey. Ignorant slaves stand upon a coal mine, and to them it is only a
20S Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
worthless part of the inanimate earth. An intelligent man uses the
same mine to print a million of books.
" Slaves will seek to obtain the same crop from the same field year
after year, though the pabulum of that crop is exhausted; the intelli-
gent man, with his chemist's eye, sees not only the minutest atoms of
the earth, but the imponderable gases that permeate it, and he is re-
warded with a luxuriant harvest. Nor are these advantages confined to
those departments of nature where her mightiest forces are brought into
requisition. In accomplishing whatever requires delicacy and pre-
cision, nature is as much more perfect than man, as she is more power-
ful in whatever requires strength. Whether in great or in small ope-
rations, all the improvement in the mechanical and the useful arts
comes as directly from intelligence as a bird comes out of a shell, or
the beautiful colours of a flower out of the sunshine. The slave -worker
is for ever prying at the short end of nature's lever, and using the
back, instead of the edge, of her finest instruments."
THE FRIENDLESS.
At the recent dedication of the Home for the Friendless, in the
city of New York, the Rev. Dr. Tyng, with his usual felicity of ex-
pression, concluded an eloquent discourse in these words : —
" Little do many of you know the toil and distress of mind and spirit
through which this great work has been carried on. We have seen
Christian ladies willing to encounter every.difflculty, and even con-
tumely, in pursuit of the means wherewith to erect an institution for
the reception of the poor and friendless, and with a spirit that nothing
could discourage or repress. They have endured their burdens and
toils with an inextinguishable ardour ; and if a cruel and careless world
will undervalue them, hundreds of souls which they will have re-
deemed from misery and destitution will invoke upon them a blessing.
God will estimate them by the good they have c^one ; while the world,
regardless of their moral worth, looks only to their station in life as
the means of estimating their value. Too much praise cannot be ac-
corded to those who, in the midst of every discouragement, were deter-
mined to prosecute, with every energy, the work which they had so
generously engaged in. Some have been the sympathizing witnesses
of the perils through which they have passed, and the amount of suf-
fering which they have relieved. They have not been actuated, as
represented, by a proselytizing spirit, but rather by a true and sincere
desire of doing good to their fellow mortals, whose fortune has not
been so favourable, and who have been subjected to privations and
hardship. Their deeds are recorded in heaven, and the sighs of the
1849.] The Ten Tribes, 209
miserable to whom they have extended the hand of charity are written
in the book of the Eternal, and those sighs will be changed to a chorus
of thanksgiving before the throne of the Creator. These ladies have
been permitted, under the favouring influence of divine sanction, to
erect a building which will stand as a monument of the Christian love
that laboured so perse veringly and successfully in its erection.
" We meet here to congratulate those ladies ; and while we speak
in the language of congratulation, let us not forget that there is still
more to be done for those who are to be the recipients of their, charity.
The road they have travelled has indeed been a via dolorosa, but it is
a path that has been cheered by bright and precious beams ; and for
the good work they have done, and for this example to posterity, the
Almighty will open a house of refuge for their souls.
" Multitudes of friendless creatures will here find a home. The
mother who, on her death-bed, leaves her helpless children to the care
of a heartless world, will rejoice as she reflects on the home where
they will be sheltered from the storms of life. Here is a building
which has cost some eighteen thousand dollars, built in the most sub-
stantial manner, examined by the committee and commended in the
highest terms, and capable of containing a family of two hundred
persons, giving them protection, and instilling into their minds Chris-
tian principles for their future life. Adult females are to be received
here, and afforded temporary protection. Children will also find a
refuge here until the Christian's God has provided them with parents
— until families will come forward and say, 'We will adopt them as
our own.'"
THE TEN TRIBES.
ABORIGINES OF AMERICA.
Many years ago, Dr. Boudinot, of New Jersey, published a work of
great interest, called the " Star in the West," in which he attempted
to prove, that the North American Indians were the descendants of
the missing tribes. The work was read and laid aside with incredulity
— forty years, however, have developed many circumstances and dis-
coveries, tending to confirm the opinion of Dr. Boudinot, and the. work,
though out of print, is one which, to the curious, would amply repay
a perusal. We have never doubted the fact. Nine and a half tribes,
were carried captives from Samaria, two and a half, Judah, Benjamin,
and half Manasseh, remained in Judea, or in the trans-Jordanic cities,
and the latter constitute the eight millions of the existing nation. All
that we know of the route taken, is from the Second Esdras, an
210 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
Apocryphal book, but one of great antiquity, and entitled ^to respect.
The notice runs thus:
" Whereas thou sawest that he gathered another peaceable multi-
tude unto him: those are the ten tribes, which were carried away pri-
soners out of their own land, in the time of-Osea the king, whom Sal-
manazer, king of Assyria, led away captive, and he carried them over
the waters, and so they came into another land.
" But they took this counsel among themselves, that they would
leave the multitude of the heathen, and go forth into a farther coun-
try, wherein never mankind dwelt, that they might there keep their
statutes, which they never kept in their own land, (Assyria,) and
there was a great way to go, namely, a year and a half."
They marched towards the north-east coast of Asia — some remained
in Tartary, and many went into China, where they have been sixteen
hundred years, and are numerous at this day. The main body crossed
at Behring's Straits to our continent, the more hardy keeping to the
north, Hudson's Bay and Greenland; the more cultivated passed down
on the shores of the Pacific, through California to Mexico, Central
America and Peru, and there they met with their old enemy, the Phoe-
nicians, (the Canaanites,) who, having discovered the country five
hundred years previously, had formed colonies, built the city of Pa-
lenque, with pyramids like those they had erected in Egypt, at Cholula,
Otamba, Paxaca, Mitlan, Tlascala, together with hieroglyphics, pla-
nispheres, zodiacs, temples, military roads, aqueducts, viaducts, bridges
of great grandeur, existing at this day, and all proving that they were
built and settled by those who had erected Tyre, Babylon, and Car-
thage. When the tribes of Israel encountered their old enemy in the
new world, they fell upon and destroyed them a second time, and when
Columbus discovered the country, he found various tribes of Indians
whose origin was unknown. These are the missing tribes, and this
is the opinion of Adair, Heckwelder, Cherleveaux, M'Kenzie, Bartram,
Beltrame, Smith, Penn, Menassah Ben Israel, the Earl of Crawford,
Lopez de Gamara, Acosta, Malvenda, Major Long, Boudinot, and Cat-
lin ; all eminent writers and travellers.
We trace the march of the tribes through Asia to this continent.
After 2000 years, we find the red men of America bearing the strong-
est marks of Asiatic origin, and divided into 300 different nations, re-
markable for their intellectual superiority, their bravery in war, their
good faith in peace, to be the descendants of the lost tribes, and iden-
tify them by the following religious rites, peculiar to all our Indians,
and to the Israelites:
1. Their belief in one God.
2. In their computation of time by their ceremonies of the new moon.
3. In their division of the year into four seasons.
4. In their erection of a temple — having an ark of the covenant —
and also in their erection of altars.
1849.] The Ten Tribes. 211
5. By the division of the nation into tribes, with a chief or general
sachem at their head.
6. By their laws of sacrifices, ablutions, marriages, ceremonies in
war and in peace, prohibition of eating certain things, by traditions,
history, character, appearance, affinity of their language to the He-
brew, and finally by that everlasting covenant of heirship exhibited in
a perpetual transmission of its seal in their flesh, a custom only of late
relinquished. All the Indians on the American continent from Labra-
dor to Cape Horn, are the descendants of the tribes, which, as Esdras
says, went into a farther country.
Mr. Catlin, who lived some years among the Indians of the north-
west, assured us that all the Mosaic laws, traditionary with them, were
strictly enforced; and William Penn, who had no suspicion of their ori-
gin, says, "I found them with like countenances to the Hebrew race.
I consider these people under a dark night, yet they believe in God and
immortality, without the aid of metaphysics. They reckon by moons
— they offer their first ripe fruits — they have a kind offcast of taber-
nacles — they are said to lay their altars with twelve stones — they
mourn a year — and observe the Mosaic law with regard to separa-
tion."— (M. M. Noah.)
(As corroborative of, and in connexion with these remarks of M. M. Noah,
Esq., we add a short extract which we have taken the liberty to make from an
unpublished work of our distinguished countryman and friend, John M. Payne,
Esq. His long residence and laborious researches among the Indian tribes of
the South, especially the Cherokees, have enabled him to collect very valuable
information concerning their historical and moral traditions. We hope Mr.
Payne will ere long give to the public the results of his labours — which cannot
fail to prove an important addition to American history.
The extract we have made seems to identify the ancient Cherokees with the
lost tribes, and is as follows:)
" THE CHEROKEES.
" There appears to have been a belief, as far back as the history of
their nation can be traced, that certain Beings came down from on high
and formed the world, the moon, and the stars. These beino-s were
supposed to have always existed together, and always to have been
identified with each other; one in sentiment and action, and so re-
maining eternally,
" We call them Beings, because the Cherokee word designating them,
implies according to the peculiar genius of the original language, not
only more than one, but more than two. One part of the nation only
designate them in general terms: in another part, the aged employ three
different words to express their name, which are at present obsolete,
but which analogy, as well as the definitions given by such natives as
remember them, explain to mean, first: U, ha, lo, te, ga, that is, Head
212 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
of all power, or, literally, Great beyond expression — second, A, ta, no, ti,
that is, United, or, literally, The place of uniting ; allusive to the spot
where vows of perpetual friendship are made, and third ; Usgo, hu, la,
signifying, as nearly as can be ascertained, the bowels just below the
breast ; and supposed to be here employed synonymously with the same
word in our own language, when applied to affection or the mind.
"These Beings, say the Cherokee, will ever continue unchanged.
They created all things — know all things, and are present every where,
and govern all things. The Beings thus described, are understood to
be the same with One mysterious Being, of whom the ancients among
the Cherokees say that he was a God, and yet a king, appearing some-
times as a man ; in short, that he was both spiritual and material. He
had a name which must never be uttered, except by some one spe-
cially consecrated for the purpose, nor even by him except upon a hal-
lowed day.
" This name was Ye, ho, waah. He gave a hymn to their ances-
tors which might only be sung by persons selected for that purpose.
The language in which it is expressed is not understood by the present
race, and is what they call the old language. Many yet living re-
member the last of the speakers of that language, and represent them
as having been devoutly wedded to their ancient usages.
" These three Beings employed seven days in the creation. The
world was created at the commencement of the autumnal new moon,
with the fruits all ripe. Hence that moon begins the year, and is called
the great moon.
" Man was made of red earth. The first man and the first woman
were red. The red people are, therefore, the real people, as their
name, Yo, wi, ya, indicates.
"At first serpents were not poisonous — no roots were poison ; — and
man would have lived for ever, but the sun passing over, perceived that
the earth was not large enough to support all in immortality that would
be born. Poison was inserted in the tooth of the snake, in the root of
the wild parsnip, and elsewhere ; and one of the first family was soon
bitten by a snake and died. All possible means were used to bring
him to life, but in vain. Being overcome in this first instance, the
whole race was doomed to death."
1349.] Translators and Translations, 213
[original.]
TRANSLATORS AND TRANSLATIONS.
[This article was received from its accomplished author, J. T. S. Sullivan,
Esq., a few weeks before his death, and is therefore one of the latest, if not
the very last of his productions.
Mr. Sullivan received a finished education at a German university. His
perfect acquaintance with the German language, and high literary attain-
ments, qualified him to correct the errors here noticed, and insure the ac-
curacy of his own translations. The beauty and force of the latter will be
apparent to every reader.
Under the obituary head the editor has given all the notice that his scanty
materials afforded of his generous and gifted friend, and hopes he will be
pardoned for remarking here, that he was indebted to him for many kind
offices, and for timely sympathies and encouragements, which the heart feels,
but the pen cannot describe.]
English literature has received numerous additions to its valuable
treasures, or rather to its folios, by the so-termed translations from
foreign authors. A foreign work may be rendered in English, it may-
have an English version given of it ; it may be done into English, and
it may be translated into English. When a work purports, upon its
title-page, to be a translation, we look not to be disappointed; but,
unfortunately, our hopes are too often bitterly checked, and we some-
times begin to think the word translate cannot be understood.
To translate, says the dictionary, is " to interpret in another lan-
guage;" which means, we presume, to give in one language what is
spoken, written, or promulgated, by whatever means, in another lan-
guage. This is not, to give something like what is spoken or written
in another language, but to give the ideas, convey the impression, and
produce the same effect to and upon the mind of one nation which the
original does, or is intended to produce, when understood, upon that
of another. If we are correct in this, to translate is no easy matter.
It is not merely the taking up of a foreign author, and, aided by a dic-
tionary, to give the literal meaning of the words he uses. Far from
it! To be a translator, one must be familiar with both languages;
and not only with the languages, but with the associations connected
with certain words and expressions used in different ways, and with
the shades given to expressions. To acquire this, one must do more
than sit in his study, and, by reading and application, learn what
words mean. It may do for a scientific work, where the subject is
confined-to the technicalities of science, and intended only for scientific
minds; but if you travel beyond, something more is necessary. If you
VOL. II.— MARCH, 1S49. 15
214
Quarterly Register and Magazine. [Marci
would commune with the spirit of the inspired poet — if you would
laugh with the humorist, or follow the steps of one who can guide you
into the hearts of men, and unfold to you the mysteries, the beauties,
and the blemishes of our nature, at the same time that he tells you
what you yourself are — if you would, I say, hold intercourse with
such, and let your countrymen enjoy the like privilege, you must leave
your study and go forth among the people who do know and under-
stand them — who are familiar with the great points to be admired,
with the truthfulness of the master's pen and pencil; and while you
thus learn to know the one, you inevitably learn to comprehend the
other. And this intercourse is the only road to such knowledge — the
only means whereby to fit one's self to be a translator. As a proof of
this, open your dictionary, and hunt for the German word gemidhlich,
and what does the definition say? — "disposed, in a humour;" which
definition no more conveys to the mind of one speaking English as the
mother tongue the same idea which the German word conveys to a
German, than convenience would convey the idea of comfort to an
Englishman. If a person undertaking to translate the word gemuth-
lich does not know all that a German understands and feels by it, how
can he interpret what he does not comprehend — or even describe it ?
And if this difficulty is met in words, what becomes of the ideas, sen-
timents, associations and views, as untranslatable by the mere dic-
tionary definitions as many of their words? What becomes of poetry,
the language of a nation's heart? Must not the translator of poetry
be intimately familiar with a nation's characteristics, the effect given
by certain rhythm, and be, in some measure, a poet himself?
These remarks have been called forth by a perusal of some of " The
Poems and Ballads of Schiller, translated by Sir Edward Lytton Bul-
wer, Bart.," many of which are not translations, but mere versions
of the original, unworthy the pen of one who bears so great a name.
And the same remark applies to some of the so-termed translations of
Thomas Carlyle.
We are no poet, but it seems to us rather surprising that the two
poems quoted below, from these two authors, should have been so
poorly translated. We give almost a literal translation, which im-
parts, we do not hesitate to say, a better idea of the original than that
of Bulwer or Carlyle. And we do not hesitate to add, further, that
such translations are an imposition, let them come from ever so high ;i
source, and ought to be condemned, if only to save the public from
such productions in future, purporting to be translations.
KNOW'ST THOU THE LAND?
Know'st thou the land where citron apples
bloom,
AitI oranges like gold, like gold in leafy gloom ;
KNOWST THOU THE LAND ?
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OF GOETHE I! V
THE CONTRIBUTOR.
Know'st thou the land ? where citron-flowe:
blows,
Midst dark'ning shade the golden orange glov, s,
1849.]
Translators and Translations.
:lo
A gentle wind from deep blue heaven blows,
The myrtle thick, and high the laurel grows ?
Know'st thou it, then ?
Tis there, 'tis there,
O, my true loved one, thou with me must go !
Know'st thou the house, its porch with pillars
tall?
The rooms do glitter, glitters bright the hall,
And marble statues stand, and look each one:
What 's this, poor child, what 's this to thee
they 've done 1
Know'st thou it then ?
'Tis there, 'tis there,
O, my protector, thou with me must go !
Know'st thou the hill, the bridge that hangs
on cloud,*
The mules in mist grope o'er the torrent loud,t
In caves lie coiled the dragon's ancient brood ;
The crag leaps down, and over it the flood !
Know'st thou it, then?
'Tis there, 'tis there,
Our way runs: O, my father, wilt thou go?
There waves from azure skies the gentle breeze,
There stand the myrtle, there the laurel trees!
Know'st thou it well ?
'Tis there ! 'tis there !
Would I with thee, O my belov'd, repair!
Know'st thou the house ? with dome on co-
lumns light,
The chambers glitter, and the hall is bright.
And maTble statues stand, and gaze on me :
What has the world, poor wand'rer, done to
thee?
Know'st thou it well ?
'Tis there ! 'tis there !
Would I with thee, my guardian friend, repair!
Know'st thou the hill, its high and misty steep.
Where mules 'mid clouds their pathway strive
to keep 1
There dwell in caves the dragon's ancient brood,
There leap the crags, and o'er them leaps the
flood!
Know'st thou it weh"?
'Tis there ! 'tis there !
Our pathway lies ; O father, come, repair !
THE SHARING OF THE EARTH.*
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OF SCHILLER BY
SIR EDWARD BULWER LYTTON, BART.
"Take the world," cried the God from his
heaven
To men : " I proclaim you its heirs ;
To divide it among you 'tis given,
You have only to settle the shares."
Each takes for himself as it pleases,
Old and young have alike their desire ;
The harvest the husbandman seizes,
Through the wood and the chase sweeps
* the squire.
The merchant his warehouse is locking,
The abbot is choosing his wine,
Cries the monarch; the thoroughfares block
ing.
" Every toll for the passage is mine '."
All too late, when the sharing was over,
__ Comes the poet— he came from afar —
Nothing left can the laggard discover,
Not an inch but its owners there are.
" Wo is me, is there nothing remaining
For the son who best loves thee alone?"
Thus to Jove went his voice in complaining,
As he fell at the Thunderer's throne.
THE DIVISION OF THE EARTH.
" Take ye the earth," spoke Jove from his
high throne
To all mankind, "your own henceforth to be,
An heritage, and an eternal loan !
Divide the gift in friendly harmony!"
With haste all strove, that could, their share
to find,
And all were active, both the young and old:
The soil'srich fruits appeased the farmer's mind.
To sweep the forest pleased the huntsman
bold;
The merchant took what his rich stores dis-
closed,
The abbot chose the noble Firne wine;
The king the bridges and the highways closed.
And proudly said, " the tithe of ajl is mine !"
At last, when all things had divided been,
From the far distance, lo! the poet came;
For him, alas ! was nothing to lie seen,
For ev'ry thing an owner now could claim.
" Wo unto me! must I alone of all
Forgotten be, who am thy truest son?"
Repining thus, ascends his plaintive call,
And prostrate falls the poet at Jove's throne.
* Wolkensteg is the original, and is not here translated.
t No mention is made of torrent by the author.
t From Harper and Brother's edition, p. 151.
216
Quarterly Register and Magazine.
[March,
" In the land of the dreams if abiding,"
Quoth the God, " canst thou murmur at me?
Where wert thou when the earth was di-
viding?"
" I was," said the poet, " with Thee !
•■ Mine eye by thy glory was captured —
Mine ear by thy music of bliss ;
Pardon him whom tlnj world so enraptured,
As to lose him his portion in this !"
" If in the land of dreams thou 'st loitered there,"
Replied the God, " the blame is not to me !
Where wast thou when to each I gave his
share?"
" I was," replied the poet, " then with thee !
" Mine eyes were feasting on thy glories bright ;
Mine ears were charmed by heav'n's pure
harmony :
Forgive the soul, absorbed in thine own light,
That thus has lost all earthly things to me !"
"What's to be done?" spoke Jove; "I've
naught to give ;
Nor harvests, woods, nor commerce of the
sea!
If thou with me in mine own heav'n will live,
Whene'er thou com'st it shall be ope to thee!"
Sir Edward Lytton Bulwer, in the above version of this poem, did
not even deign to give the metre of the original, and thereby lost the
dignity in which the author clothed his thought.
J. T. S. S.
•'Alas!" said the God, "earth is given !
Field, forest, and market, and all!
What say you to quarters in heaven 1
We '11 admit you whenever you call !"
ORIGINAL POETRY.
(For the Register.)
THE OLD TREE.
(by a lady.)
During a ride in Connecticut, I found an old leafless tree, covered with moss pen-
dant from its branches. It was a rare sight to northern eyes, and suggested the fol-
lowing lines.
Old Time had come, and with his scythe,
Had touched that tree, once young and blithe,
Nor Spring's warm breath — nor summer rain,
Could e'er bring back its leaves again.
It would have stood unsightly, old,
A mockery of the wind and cold.
It would have been a blighted thing,
But for its mossy covering,
Which hung each bough in rich festoon,
Decking the tree in heavenly bloom ;
A mantle green, which God had given —
As if Elijah's, dropped from heaven,
Had rested on that old gray tree,
And clothed it with sublimity!
While many a bird had made its nest,
Within this lovely place of rest, —
Filling the boughs with music rare,
As if King David's harp were there.
1849.] Poetry. 217
Protected thus from wintry frost,
It stands among the tempest-tost.
And while the beautiful young trees
Tremble to meet the autumn breeze,
And give in grief their treasured leaves
Which summer in her kindness weaves, —
, And with shorn locks bow down their head
Impatient, waiting Spring's light tread;
This aged tree, just ripe for death,
With outstretched arms stands up and saith:
"Would'st thou — Oh! youth — be good and sage?
Would'st thou enjoy a green old age?
And when thy laurels low are laid,
And thy green bays in darkness fade,
Would'st thou, — thy youth and beauty fled —
With glory crowned, lift up thy head;
With music filled, lift up thy voice,
With songs of praise the heart rejoice?
"Give to thy God the 'dew of youth,'
And clothe thee with His love and truth;
Then thy last days shall be thy best,
And on thy form in honour rest,
The mantle of the prophet blest." E. G. T.
Hartford.
CALIFORNIA ADVENTURERS.
WRITTEN BY CALEB LYON, OF LYONSDALE,
Who sailed in the Tarolinta from New York.
Where the Sacramento's waters roll their golden tide along,
Which echoes through the mountains like a merry drinking song
Where the Sierra Nevada lifts its crests unto the sky,
A home for freedom's eagles when the tempest's sweeping by.
Where the bay of San Francisco — the Naples of the West —
Lies sleeping like an infant beside the ocean's breast;
There we go with dauntless spirits, and we go with hearts elate,
To build another empire — to found another state.
Ho! ye who love adventure, and ye who thirst for gold,
Remember ye the story of the Argonauts of old?
From the Pascagoula's valley to Kaataden's snowy land,
From beyond the Mississippi to our own Atlantic strand,
The Jasons are arousing, they who never drean.-^d of fears,
The sons of hardy puritans and gallant cavaliers,
Who go with dauntless spirits, and who go with hearts elate,
To build another empire — to found another state.
218 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
Then good-bye to old Manhattan — our bark is on the tide;
Farewell to father, mother, to sister, wife, and bride,
And when her shores are fading, we'll bless her through our tears,
She filled the cup of happiness through many pleasant years.
And the friends who dearly love us, within our hearts are set,
Whose tenderness and kindness we never can forget;
Yet we go with dauntless spirits, and go with hearts elate, •
To build another empire — to found another state.
The good ship Tarolinta, with her gallant Captain Cave,
. From our native shore will bear us in triumph o'er the wave;
By the isles of fair Bermuda — the emeralds of the west —
Where gales of ladened incense for ever love to rest.
And when the storm-wind rages, and thunders echo free,
We'll pass Terra del Fuego, the Chary bdis of the sea;
By the land of Chimborazo we will sail with hearts elate,
To build another empire — to found another state.
TO MY MOTHER.
Mother, I kneel upon thy grave,
And tears are falling fast,
As o'er me now, come rushing on
The memories of the past,
Of summer days, when youth and hope
Were glowing in my soul,
Life's silver chord was tuned to joy,
And full its golden bowl;
When earth seemed fair around me,
When skies looked bright above,
When my spirit leaped in gladness,
For thou wert near to love ;
When thy sweet voice, my mother,
When the close of day had come,
Rose in low prayer to Him on high,
That He would bless our home.
Again I see thee, mother,
Again that loved voice hear,
Like an angel tone of a better world,
It is falling on my ear.
I see thee stand with out-stretched arms,
With joy upon thy face,
I feel thy warm kiss on my cheek,
I fall in thy embrace.
1849.] Poetry, 219
Thou chidest me, my mother,
Yet thy words are soft and mild,
And amid thick tears of sorrow,
You bless your erring child.
Thou cheerest me, my mother,
An honoured name to win,
And not from virtue's peaceful ways,
To stray in paths of sin.
Since the grave has held thee, mother,
Winter hath spent its blast,
Spring's flowers have bloomed and withered,
The tree its leaf hath east,
And I have walked with spirit sad,
Amid earth's busy throng,
And felt their joy was not for me,
Or their merry dance, or song.
I have feit alone, deserted,
In a world both dark and drear,
Where most will blame, discourage,
And few forgive and cheer.
Yet, mother, now I'll nerve myself
To break this gloomy spell,
And tread the path where duty points,
Both wisely, true and well.
And be thy spirit o'er me,
With a meek and holy power,
When darkness lies upon my path,
And tempests round me lower;
Ue o'er me in my hour of joy,
Lest pride my heart should fill, —
, Be o'er me in my hour of grief,
• My troubled bosom still, —
Be o'er me in my hour of strife,
And calm the raging soul, —
Se o'er me when temptation holds
Her wreathed and sparkling bowl.
1 leave thy grave, my mother,
To journey on through life,
To mingle with its restless tide,
Its battle and its strife:
And when a few more flowers shall bloom,
And summer suns shall shine,
They'll bear me to this narrow house,
And lay my head by thine.
220 ' Quarterly Register and Magazine. [Mi
Then my freed spirit, mother,
Shall stand with thine in light,
Before yon throne of glory,
With God's own radiance bright,
In never-fading realms of bliss,
With angel harps to raise,
As endless ages roll their course,
The songs of joy and praise.
3 J. S.
DOUBT NOT.
BY J. M. KNOWLTON.
When the day of life is dreary,
And when gloom thy course enshrouds-
When thy steps are faint and weary,
And thy spirit dark with clouds,
Steadfast still in thy well doing,
Let thy soul forget the past —
Steadfast still, the right pursuing,
Doubt not! joy shall come at last.
Striving still, and onward pressing,
Seek not future years to know,
But deserve the wished for blessing,
It shall come, though it be slow.
Never tiring — upward gazing —
Let thy fears aside be cast,
Are thy trials tempting, braving —
Doubt not! joy shall come at last!
Keep not thou thy soul regretting,
Seek the good — spurn evil's thrall,
Though thy foes thy path besetting,
Thou shalt triumph o'er them all.
Though each year but bring thee sadness,
And thy youth be fleeting fast,
There'll be time enough for gladness —
Doubt not! joy shall come at last!
His fond eye is watching o'er thee —
His strong arm shall be thy guard —
Duty's path is straight before thee,
It shall lead to thy reward.
By thy ills thy faith made stronger,
Mould the future by the past —
Hope thou on a little longer !
Doubt not ! joy shall come at last !
1849.] Chronicle — December, 1848. 221
QUARTERLY CHRONICLE.
(In the following record of events will be found many interesting particu-
lars which it was impossible to insert elsewhere; among them are judicial
decisions — accounts of telegraphs — improvements in art and science — cholera,
weather, &c, with many incidents interesting to the general reader.)
December, 1848.
Dec. 1st. Bond's comet visible between Epsilon and Zeta Cygni.
A severe snow storm in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Cholera in New York. The ship New York, Captain Lines, ar-
rived in twenty-two days from Havre, with 328 steerage, and 17 ca-
bin passengers. She had a fine run to the neighbourhood of Cape
Sable, but was there delayed by light winds.
On the fourteenth clay out, a case of sickness called cholera, appeared
among the steerage passengers, and at the time of her arrival here,
there had been nineteen cases, of which some had proved fatal. Two
or three also deceased after they were landed at quarantine. In all six
died. It w r as pronounced cholera by the health officer and Board of
Health.
2d. The Mexican minister was formally received and recognised by
the President. The minister made a speech highly complimentary to
the Americans; he rejoiced that hostilities were ended between the two
countries, and hoped that the friendly relations now existing would
continue, concluding with an assurance that his government would ob-
serve the treaty in good faith. The President replied, in a short
speech, proffering continued friendship and respect for Mexico, and re-
joicing in the restoration of peace.
The California mania raging in New York, Baltimore, and Boston :
hundreds are preparing to start for the gold region on the Pacific —
very little excitement as yet in Philadelphia.
In Philadelphia the robbers of the Chester county bank, John
Thompson, alias "Tobacco Jack," and John Whitehouse, or "Old
Duke," were sentenced to pay a fine of $10,000 each, and to three
years' imprisonment. The robbery was considered one of the most
daring and flagrant kind.
An awful and fatal disaster occurred on board an Irish steamer which
left Sligo on the 1st December, with 150 emigrant passengers on board.
A heavy gale came on towards night, and these passengers were driven
222 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
below and crowded together into the narrow compass of the fore cabin,
only eighteen feet long, eleven broad, and seven high. The compa-
nion, the only aperture, was closed, and a piece of tarpaulin nailed
over it. The scene that ensued in the cabin is described by the sur-
vivors of that dreadful night as being horrible and heart-rending in the
extreme. Their cries were unheard by the seamen, who were direct-
ing the steamer through the tempest, out who seemed to have taken
no thought of the consequences that were the inevitable result of such
inhuman and reckless conduct. One passenger at length broke his
way out, and described the condition of those below. The mate at-
tempted to descend, but his light was extinguished by the foul air — at
length the partition was broken away, and the real nature of the ca-
tastrophe exhibited.
There lay, in heaps, the living, the dying, and the dead, one fright-
ful mass of mingled agony and death, a spectacle enough to appal the
stoutest heart. Men, women, and children, were huddled together,
blackened with suffocation, distorted by convulsions, bruised and bleed-
ing from the desperate struggles for existence, which preceded the mo-
ment when exhausted nature resigned the strife. After some time the
living were separated from the dead, and it was then found that the
latter amounted to nearly one-half of the entire number.
The scene, on entering the steerage of the steamer, was perhaps as
awful a spectacle as could be witnessed. Seventy-two dead bodies of
men, women, and children, lay piled indiscriminately over each other,
four deep, all presenting the ghastly appearance of persons who had
died in the agonies of suffocation ; very many of them covered with
the blood which had gushed from the mouth and nose, or had flow T ed
from the wounds inflicted by the trampling of nail-studded brogues,
and by the frantic violence of those who struggled for escape — for it
was but too evident that, in that struggle, the poor creatures had torn
the clothes from off each other's backs, and even the flesh from each
other's limbs.
We are not informed what punishment has been inflicted on the au-
thors of this frightful calamity, equalled only by the brutal outrage
committed many years ago in the "Black Hole" of Calcutta. The
first and second mates are said to have been arrested for manslaughter.
The Emperor Ferdinand, of Austria, abdicated the throne in favour
of his nephew, Francis Joseph, whose father, the arch-duke Francis
Charles, had resigned his claims. Ferdinand was born 19th April,
1793, and has reigned thirteen years. The present emperor was born
18th August, 1830, and is therefore in his nineteenth year.
The Guerilla war in Spain was still carried on by the Carlist chief
Cabrera, who was near Barcelona at the head of 800 men.
3d. Off Cape Look-out, at half-past 2 o'clock on Sunday morning,
the steamship Columbus came in collision with the schooner Mission,
1849.] Chronicle— December, 1S4S. 223
of Edenton, N. C. The schooner was perceived by the watch on
board the Columbus, and fearing a collision, her engine was stopped
and reversed, but the schooner being on a wind, and not seeing the
steamer, sailed direct under her bow; the wind having just hauled
from south-east to north-west, and a heavy sea running at the time,
the bow of the Columbus riding over the bulwarks of the schooner,
sunk her almost instantly. The Mission was from Rum Key, eight
clays, loaded with salt, for Edenton, N. C. Captain John Cobb, and
son, twelve years old; T. G. Doubty, mate; James Chatham and Jo-
seph Brown, seamen; and P. M. Gordon, cook, all of and near Eden-
ton, were lost.
4th. The Supreme Court of the United States commenced its sitting
in the basement story of the capitol, at 12 o'clock, M. Chief Jus-
tice Taney would not probably be in attendance until Wednesday, but
was expected at that time. Justice Wayne was likewise absent. The
following constituted the quorum present:
Justice M'Lane, of Ohio,
u Catron, of Tennessee,
" M'Kinley, of Kentucky,
" Daniel, of Virginia,
" Woodbury, of New Hampshire,
" Nelson, of New York, and
" Grier, of Pennsylvania.
Both houses of congress convened at the capitol, and organized for
the transaction of business. In the absence of Vice President Dallas,
Senator Atchison presided. Mr. Winthrop, Speaker of the House,
called it to order. The credentials of the delegate from the new ter-
ritory of Minesota were presented.
A patent was obtained by Mr. Bain for telegraphing — a line has
been projected from New York to Boston and Halifax, on which it is
to be used, under the direction of Mr. O'Reilly.
A serious riot occurred at Baltimore at a ball given by the Patapsco
Riflemen. During the evening an attack was made upon the party by
a fire company. Several persons were seriously wounded. During
the attack some of the assailants penetrated the passage, and succeeded
in turning off the meter which supplied the ball room with gas, leaving
them instantly in total darkness. The screams of the females, of whom
there were about a hundred present, the firing of pistols, and throwing
of bricks by the assailants, together with their shouts and imprecations,
made up a scene scarcely to be described.
5th. The President sent to congress his annual message.
Extraordinary Telegraphic feat. For the purpose of testing the
availability of the lightning line, Messrs. O'Reilly of the Atlantic
and Lake Telegraph company, and H. J. Rogers, of the American
Telegraph company, stationed their most experienced operators on the
224 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
various lines under their charge, extending from Baltimore, Maryland,
to St. Louis, Missouri, and undertook the arduous task of transmitting
the entire President's message verbatim from Baltimore to St. Louis.
This document contained about 50,000 words! The work was com-
menced and finished in 24 hours.
In its progress to St. Louis, the message was dropped at the follow-
ing stations on the line, viz. York, Harrisburg, Carlisle, Chambersburg,
Bedford, and Pittsburgh, in Pennsylvania; Massillon, Cleveland,
Zanesville, Columbus, Dayton, and Cincinnati, in Ohio ; Madison and
Evansville, in Indiana; Louisville, in Kentucky, and Saline, in Illinois.
A large portion of the message reached Buffalo, New York, but the
connexion was broken off by a storm prevailing at that end of the line
before its completion; it was also received at the minor intermediate
stations between Baltimore and Evansville, Indiana — the above places
having all acknowledged its receipt entire. This is truly a wonderful
performance.
Rebuilding of the Temple. — The Jews, both here and in Europe,
are just now making great efforts to raise subscriptions for the rebuild-
ing of the temple of Jerusalem, — permission to that effect having been
given them by the Turkish government. The subject has been in agi-
tation in this city of late, and at the Hebrew festival the other evening,
at the Coliseum, it was prominently discussed. Among the guests
there, not mentioned in our report of proceedings, was a Greek Rabbi,
who comes here specially commissioned to raise money for the enter-
prise in question ; and we are told his errand, thus far, has been pretty
liberally rewarded. The Rabbi goes south, we are told, and, be-
fore going back to Europe, will visit the eastern states. However
chimerical this new movement may appear, we confess to us there
seems a sublimity of purpose about it which must claim the respect at
least, if not the sympathy, of all Christendom. — N. Y. Express.
The king of Prussia has, by a decree, dissolved the assembly called
together for "concording a constitution;" and at the same time granted
a charter to the nation. The main points of this new constitution we
give, as exhibiting the spirit of the times:
" Personal freedom is guarantied by virtue of the habeas corpus act
of September 24, 1848. The domicile is inviolate, and the punishment
of death and confiscation of property are abolished. Freedom of reli-
gious worship is secured; the right of the general education of the peo-
ple is guarantied ; every Prussian may freely express his opinions ;
freedom of the press is conceded without censorship or pecuniary secu-
rity ; public meetings may be held in houses without restraint, in the
open air by permission of the police ; the secrecy of the post is invio-
late ; several feudal privileges are abolished ; the king is not responsi-
ble, but jiis ministers are; there are to be two chambers, the first composed
of 180 members, to be elected by the provincial circle and district re-
1849.]
preservatives, and to sit for six years; the second to consist of 350
members, to be elected indirectly by universal suffrage, and directly by
electors in the second degree, that is, by electors chosen by general
suffrage; no property qualification required for either chamber."
1th. President Roberts, of the republic of Liberia, embarked from
England for Africa in a government ship. His reception in Europe has
been most flattering. He is the son of a pious methodist mulatto, and
not many years since was a hand on board of a lighter, upon the Ap-
pomatock river, at Petersburgh, Va. He has contributed as a civilian
and soldier to the establishment of the colony at Liberia ; was a brave
general, an enterprising merchant, the first coloured governor, and as
its honoured chief magistrate, has had personal interviews with Lord
Palmerston, Gen. Cavaignac, and Queen Victoria; and made treaties
with the governments of England and France. He has left a young
daughter to be educated in one of the first seminaries in England.
8^. An attempt was made to rob the sub-treasury, New York, by a
boy sixteen or seventeen years of age. One of the porters found him
concealed in a large box in the basement. His name was Judson, —
he had run away from home. On being searched, the following articles
were found upon him: — Several books, "The Life of Monroe Ed-
wards," " The Life of Dr. Jennings, the celebrated victimizer," " The
Newgate Calendar," and "Traveller's Guide;" a pair of handsome
revolving pisto's, one of which was loaded and capped ; a flask of
powder, bullets and moulds; a box of matches and two short sperm
candles; a pair of false whiskers and moustaches; a piece of yellow
ochre, used to discolour the skin, and make one look older; $45 in
gold ; and last, but not least, a small bottle of chloroform and a sponge.
The latter, his intention doubtless was, to administer to the watchman.
The first deposite of gold from California was made in the mint at
Philadelphia. The average fineness, on being assayed, was found to
be 894 thousandths, which is a little below the standard fineness, 900.
It is about equal to the Virginia gold.
Hostilities commenced between the Imperialists and Hungarians
— Jellachich arrived on the banks of the Leitna. The Magyar army of
Kossuth is said to exceed 100,000 men. The excesses committed were
very great; above two hundred villages and small towns have been
burnt within a few weeks.
9th. The cholera at the quarantine, New York, still continued at
this date. During the preceding week there were thirty-six cases,
fifteen of which proved fatal.
Gen. Worth arrived at Pittsburgh, on his way to take charge of the
military department of Texas, New Mexico, &c. lie was received at
his landing by a large assemblage of the citizens, who gave him an
enthusiastic welcome.
226 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
10th. (Sunday.) Louis Napoleon Bonaparte elected President of the
French Republic. The number of votes in his favour was 5,534,520,
nearly four-fifths of all the votes polled.
11th. A serious difficulty occurred in the Ohio Legislature, which, at
this date, was convened at Columbus, growing out of a law passed the
preceding winter, organizing the assembly and senatorial districts.
The democrats got possession of one side of the house, and the whigs
of the other ; both had separate organizations, but neither the neces-
sary number to proceed to business. The latter adjourned from time
to time ; the former maintained their position for several days, eating
and sleeping in their seats. After a war of words, in which the most
offensive terms were used, a compromise was at length effected.
Mr. Douglas introduced this day a bill into the United States Senate
for the admission of California into the Union as a state.
A meeting of the citizens of Upper California has been held at Puebla
de San Jose, for the purpose of considering the establishment of a ter-
ritorial government. They recommended a general convention, and
appointed delegates to attend it. Other meetings were called with the
like intention.
A provisional government proclaimed in Rome. The Pope having
fled from Rome on the 24th November, his temporal deposition has
now been proclaimed by the Romans.
12th. Mr. Benton presented to the Senate the petition of the people
of New Mexico, assembled in convention, soliciting the speedy organ-
ization by law of a territorial government. They stated that New
Mexico contained from 75,000 to 100,000 souls ; protested against the
dismemberment of their territory, and against domestic slavery. The
petition was characterized by Mr. Calhoun as " insolent," coming as it
did from the people of a conquered territory. This led to an angry
debate between him and Mr. Benton.
loth. The fleet of Paez defeated by the government squadron of
Venezuela.
15th. The opening of the Spanish cortes at Madrid.
The postal treaty between the United States and Great Britain ex-
changed in London.
16th. The Park theatre in New York burnt : the property destroyed
estimated at $60,000. The Park theatre was first built in the year
1796; altered and improved in 1806; leased by Messrs. Edmund
Simpson and Stephen Price in 1816; burnt down in 1820; rebuilt in
1821; altered, improved, and leased by Mr. Hamblin a few months
since, and now once more destroyed by fire.
18th. The cholera at this date was on the increase both in the London
district and in the provinces, as well as in Scotland. The total number of
1S49.] Chronicle— December, 1S4S. 227
cases from the first was 6,506, of which 2,948 died, and 1,249 had
recovered, leaving 2,819 under treatment. It broke out with fresh
violence among the pauper children of London.
The official journal of the kingdom of Poland contains the following
statistics of the cholera since its first appearance to the 18th Decem-
ber: — Warsaw, 4,086 cases — 2,445 recovered, 1,623 died; Govern-
ment of Warsaw, exclusive of the capital, 11,804 cases — 5,547 re-
covered, 6,145 died; Government of Lublin, 15,355 cases — 8,623 J
recovered, 6,626 died; Government of Radon, 4,607 cases — 1,920
recovered, 2,380 died; Government of Plock, 7,317 cases— 3,233
recovered, 4,610 died; Government of Augustowow, 8,046 cases —
5,217 recovered, 2,775 died. Total, 51,214 cases— 26,985 recovered,
23,560 died.
The California fever has raged in England quite as violently as it
has done here. Great numbers of vessels were up for the gold region,
some carrying passengers to Chagres, others to Galveston, &c. ; rates
ranging from ^25 upwards. All sorts of schemes for raising compa-
nies and capital were advertised. One of the companies alone proposed
to raise a capital of ^£600,000, reserving half to be taken in the United
States.
20^. The official proclamation of Prince Louis Napoleon, as Presi-
dent of the French people, took place after the following manner : —
On Wednesday evening, 20th, Gen. Changarnier ordered the Tuilleries
to be closed, and had all the issues leading to the Hall of Assembly
guarded by detachments of National Guards. The debate in the
Chamber was going on. A member was speaking, when a noise
was heard outside, and the moment after a number of representatives
entered, Gen. Lebreton (in full uniform) at their head, and followed
by M. Veillard and others. M. Louis Napoleon Bonaparte took his
place near M. O. Barrot.
An immense agitation then ensued, and it was utterly impossible for
the discussion to go on.
The President of the assembly, in a loud voice, though somewhat
broken with emotion, then said : — In the name of the French people,
before God, and in presence of the National Assembly — seeing that
Louis Napoleon Bonaparte has obtained the absolute majority required
by Arts. 47 and 48 of the constitution— I proclaim him to be President
of the French Republic democratic, one and indivisible, from the pre-
sent day to the second Sunday of May, 1S52. I invite the new Presi-
dent to come forward and take the oath required by the Constitution.
[M. Louis Napoleon then came forward and ascended the tribune.]
The following is the oath : —
" Before God, and in the presence of the French people, represented
by the National Assembly, I swear to remain faithful to the Republic,
and that I shall always forward its interests in all respects."
228 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
M. Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, in a loud voice : — " I swear." [The
loudest cries of Vive la Republique ! here arose; one voice responding
with the cry of Vive la Constitution /]
21st. Mr. Gott's resolution instructing the committee to report a
bill favourable to the abolition of the slave traffic in the District of
Columbia passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 98 to 87 ;
46 members absent.
22d. The caucus of the southern members of Congress was held in
the Senate chamber, in reference to southern rights and interests.
Ex-Governor Metcalfe, of Kentucky, presided: between sixty and
seventy members were present. A series of resolutions were offered,
and referred to a committee consisting of one member from each of the
slave-holding states.
23d. A horrible murder and suicide was committed in New York,
by Francis Geiger, a German, in a fit of jealousy. A woman of the
name of Maria Kloster, to whom he was attached, had gone to live
with Frederick W. Marks. Geiger entered the dwelling where they
resided, and first attacked Marks w T ith a knife, inflicting several
wounds, which proved fatal. He then directed his weapon against
Maria, wounding her severely; and believing her to be dead, he
placed the knife to his breast, and took his own life. Upon the
coming in of the police, Marks and Geiger were dead, but Maria re-
vived, and afterwards recovered from the effects of her wounds.
24th. Severe battle in Yucatan, between the American auxiliaries
under Cols. White and Besancon, and the Indians under the chief
Pat.
2>5th. A grand banquet of democratic socialist women was held at
Paris, at which eight hundred women, men, and children were present.
Says Galignani's Messenger: — " The first speech delivered was by a
woman, and was, w T e understand, called the ' Sermon on the Mount,'
in which socialism was enjoined in the name of Christ. This was fol-
lowed by toasts of ' A la Fraternite universMeV by Mme. Simon;
1 A VAvlnement du Regne de Dieu sur la Terre." by Mme. Des-
roches, and l A la Liberie P by Mme. Candelot. M. Pierre Leroux
addressed the company in a short speech, which he concluded with
saying: — 'Jesus Christ, our redeemer, has not created castes. We
socialists, therefore, take off the veil in which the priests have wished
to envelop for ever the altars of truth.' Mme. Granet delivered a
rhapsody on the subject of Christmas, into which she contrived to
introduce the names of Saint Simon and Fourier. M. Herve delivered
an apology for Saint Just, and finished with proposing his name as a
toast, in conjunction with those of Couthon and Robespierre.
26th. The cultivation of the tea-plant commenced in Greenville, South
1S49.] Chronicle — December, 1S4S, 229
Carolina, by Mr. Junius Smith. Over five hundred plants were set
out, mostly in a thriving condition. Some seed had been previously
sown on the 16th.
The New Haven Railroad opened to New York.
The New York and Erie Railroad opened to Binghampton, N. Y.
27th. Arabian Calves. — The two calves procured by Lieutenant
Lynch in his Dead Sea expedition, and presented by him, through
the Secretary of the Navy, to the agriculturists of Virginia, were
brought to Richmond. The "Compiler" says they are very inte-
resting animals, differing in many respects from the American or Eng-
lish stocks. They are red, like most of the Devonshire breed, but are
taller and more slender. Their heads and limbs remind one very much
of the deer. They are perfectly gentle, and, considering their six
months' confinement on board ship, are in remarkably good condition.
Their age is ten months, and their height is uncommon.
28th. A dinner was given, at the Astor House, to Col. Duncan, and
a gold medal presented.
29th. A violent snow storm in New York and vicinity.
oOth. A sword was presented, at Albany, to General Wool, by the
Legislature of the state. The ceremony was very imposing.
31st. The insurgents of Venezuela were surprised by the troops of
President Monagas, and totally routed. The three sons of Gen. Paez
were taken prisoners.
Railroads at the close of the year 1848. — The Railroad
Journal, summing up the extraordinary influences of railroads upon
the country and upon the world, says it may be safely estimated that
the entire expenditure, within the last twenty-five years, in the pro-
jection and construction of railroads, will not fall short of one thousand
millions of dollars; and that their influences in facilitating business, in
reducing the expenses and time of travel, and in opening up new re-
gions of country, has given an increased value to property of twice
that amount; and yet their influences are only just beginning to be
felt.
Russ Pavement. — Besides the improvements just mentioned in
rail roads, we might record many others of the past year, did our limits
permit.
We deem it proper, however, to mention one which has not received,
we think, all the notice it deserves; we mean the russ pavement. It
has been satisfactorily proven to be far superior to common cobble store
pavement, and indeed, to any other. The experiment, made in the city of
New York, having been entirely successful, has given to the ingenious
and enterprising inventor a place among the benefactors of the public.
The improvement consists in grading the street so that the centre or
VOL. II. MARCH, 1849. 16
230 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
crown rises seven inches above the gutter stones ; granite chips, with
the flat side up, are rammed down flush with the grading; to this is
added a concrete foundation of hydraulic cement, broken stone and
coarse sand six inches in thickness — when this is fully consolidated,
the superstructure is laid, consisting of green stone blocks, from ten to
eighteen inches long, and from five to twelve inches wide and ten
inches deep, so as to form the ranges of stone into lozenge form, by
which the edges are presented diagonally to the wheel-tire of carriages
or to any other passing weight. Wooden frames or panels, of the best
pine, are placed over each sewer, pipe and branch beneath. The con-
struction of the whole is admirable for its solidity and durability. It
saves an important item in city expenses for repairing old pavements,
and to all who pass over it, is invaluable for the ease and comfort which
it gives.
Western Steamers Lost. — The Pittsburgh Journal gives an ac-
count of 55 steamboats lost during the past year, on the western rivers
alone.
Of this aggregate there were snagged 24
Lost by collision - 6
Boilers exploded - 6
Burnt 19
55
Of the whole number there were raised and restored to service but 3
This leaves a clear loss of 52 steamers, precisely one boat per week
for the year.
It is a remarkable circumstance that the number of boats lost on the
whole western waters, in the year, corresponds exactly with the
number of steamboats built, or finished and registered at the single port
of Pittsburgh, during the same time. One boat per week lost, and
one boat per week fitted out at Pittsburgh, in the year 1848.
January, 1849.
Jan. 1st. The New York legislature convened, and Governor Ha-
milton Fish was installed into office. — His message is an able document.
With Governor Johnson of Pennsylvania, he takes strong ground
against slavery in the new territories. He represents the state credit
to be very high.
2d. The Augusta Bank robbed of $21,000. A reward of $1,000
was offered. Two brothers of the name of Wingate, charged with the
crime, were arrested with an accomplice, after a desperate fight, at
Braintree, Massachusetts. The money was all recovered.
The cholera, since the 20th December, had prevailed to an alarm-
ing extent in New Orleans. In forty-eight hours 166 died and
1849.] Chronicle— January, 1849. 231
20,000 people left the city. At the New York quarantine the cases
were diminishing, and no new cases had occurred in the city.
Professor A. C. Bache, the learned and able superintendent of coast
survey, reported on the use of a galvanic eircuit connected with an
astronomical clock, of which Dr. Locke of Cincinnati claims to be the
inventor. Mr. Bache says, that " the number of observations which
can be made in a given period is many times increased — the specimens
received of recording by the electro-magnetic clock entirely fulfil all
the conditions required by the astronomer." It may be used on a line
of any length at pleasure. The clock and astronomer may be a thou-
sand miles apart. He prints the date of an astronomical event by
tapping on a break circuit key, and imprints a small break circuit space
on the registering line of seconds.
Congress has appropriated $10,000 to apply the discovery.
The annual report of the national division of the Sons of Tempe-
rance for the year 1843 presents a very flattering condition.
Number of divisions in the United States, - - _ 2,G51
" Members initiated during the past year, - 88,237
Whole number of members, 149,372
Whole amount of receipts of subordinate divisions in the
United States, ------- .$475,987 57
Whole amount of benefits paid out, - 140,058 39
" " cash on hand, 208,666 6S
Number of deaths, 772
5th. The postal treaty was ratified by the senate and officially
noticed by Cave Johnson, who informed his subordinates throughout the
States of its conclusion, rescinded his former orders, and directed them
to observe the new stipulations, the principal of which are as follows:
Postage across the sea, sixteen cents. English inland postage, three
cents. United States inland postage, five cents. The sea postage
paid to the vessel performing the service. Transit rate through
this country to Canada, five cents: twenty-five per cent, for pay-
ing by the ounce, instead of paying by letter. Transit through Eng-
land, the inland postage and twenty-five per cent. Transit through
Canada, the Canadian rates. Newspapers between England and the
United States, and vice versa, two cents. Periodicals weighing two
ounces, one penny, or two cents. Over two ounces', and under three,
six pence, or twelve cents. Over three ounces, and under six, eight
pence, or sixteen cents. And two pence, or four cents for each ounce
or fraction.
Maj. Lewis Cass, jr., was confirmed by the senate as charge to Rome.
6th. The message of Governor Johnson of Pennsylvania, was sent to
the legislature; he declares himself favourable to the protection of Ame-
rican industry; opposed to the institution of slavery. He pays a high
tribute to the memory of his predecessor, Governor Shunk.
232 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
During the past year, three thousand three hundred and forty-two
volumes have been added to the library of the Boston Athenaeum by
purchase, and eight hundred and thirty by gifts. There have also
been purchased eleven thousand pamphlets and seven thousand, three
hundred and ninety-three have been received as donations. Among
the latter is a very valuable collection, six thousand in number, belong-
ing to the late John Quincy Adams. These were presented by his
son, the Hon. Charles Francis Adams. The Athenaeum library now
contains about fifty thousand bound volumes, and one hundred thousand
pamphlets.
6th. The secretary of the Smithsonian Institution reported to the
agents on the subject of libraries in the United States.
The aggregate number of volumes in these libraries is, one million
two hundred and ninety-four thousand. The number of libraries is
one hundred and eighty-two. Of these, forty-three contain over ten
thousand volumes each, nine over twenty thousand, and only two over
fifty thousand.
These statistics suggest an instructive comparison between our libra-
ries and those of the principal nations of Europe.
In the number of public libraries, France is the only country in the
world w T hich excels us. She has two hundred and forty-one.
In the aggregate number of volumes, Germany with five and a half
millions, France, with about five millions, Great Britain with perhaps
two and a half millions, and Russia, with one and a half millions, take
rank of us.
In the average size of libraries containing over ten thousand volumes,
we are the last of all.
In the size of the largest library, we are also last of all.
In the number of volumes, compared with the population, we are
below all but Russia and Spain.
1th. Buda and Pesth, in Hungary, had been hemmed in by the
imperialists — and Jellachich was reported to have obtained some ad-
vantages over Kossuth, the Hungarian leader.
Further contests are reported in Spain between the Carlist and
government troops.
The news from India is disheartening to the British authorities. The
city of Moultan had been taken by storm, but Lord Gough, who seems
to be deficient in scientific generalship, was hemmed in by the Sikh
leaders.
The St. Petersburgh Journal speaks with much satisfaction of the
amicable relations between the pope and the emperor, since the conven-
tion signed between them in August, 1S47.
%th. Riot among the labourers on the canal at Buffalo — the military
called out to quell them.
The cholera was subsiding at New Orleans. There have been many
1849.] Chronicle— January, 1849. 233
cases on the western rivers at the principal places, Louisville, Memphis,
Cincinnati, &c.
This disease attacked the 8th regiment of infantry at Port Lavacca,
Texas, and carried off from twenty to thirty a day, for several days,
w 7 hen the survivors left the place.
The season now became remarkably cold. The Mississippi, at St.
Louis, was entirely frozen over. The Potomac, the Allegany and
Monongahela, w T ere closed with ice — and the cholera disappeared as the
cold increased.
In New Orleans, the reported deaths were as follows :
Asiatic Cholera.
Choi.
Total.
Asiatic Cholera-
Week ending Dec.
16 3
14
17
December 29
84
December 16 to 21
53
34
87
December 30
77
December 22
39
7
46
December 31
71
December 23
56
15
71
January 1
67
December 24
76
8
84
January 2
84
December 25
69
8
77
January 3
67
December 26
8
46
54
January 4
39
December 27
22
39
61
January 5
44
December 28
4
88
92
Whole number of deaths from cholera, one thousand, one hundred
and fifteen, — reported Asiatic eight hundred and seventy; cholera
otherwise designated, two hundred and forty-five. This total, added
to the deaths on the sixth, seventh and eighth, makes one thousand
one hundred and eighty-nine deaths up to the latter date.
loth. The convention of the coloured freemen of the state of Ohio,
met at Columbus, in the Methodist Episcopal church; Charles Lang-
ston, President. The address was by William H. Day, a young-
coloured man from the Oberlin institute.
14th. The splendid steamer Empire State, was totally destroyed by
fire during the last night, while at Fall river. She was insured for
one hundred thousand dollars, but her cost was One hundred and fifty
thousand dollars. Fortunately no lives were lost.
Kith. Hon. John B. Weller, of Ohio, appointed commissioner to
run the boundary line between the United States and Mexico.
Panama. — The passengers by the Falcon, two hundred and one
in number, and those by the John Benson, about fifty, all reached
Panama in safety. The natives about Chagres were much astonished
at the irruption of these northern Argonauts, and more especially at
the quantity of luggage they carried; there being among the party
one thousand seven hundred trunks, and one hundred tons of other
baggage. No passenger was sick at Chagres. The letters from
Panama do not speak of any crowd of persons there awaiting convey-
ance to the north.
234 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
17th. The annual meeting of the American colonization society was
held at Washington; the Hon. Henry Clay was unanimously chosen
President, and sixty-five other gentlemen, of all sections of the United
States, as well as of England, Vice Presidents. The list contains many
of the most distinguished names of the nation, including Gen. Scott,
Theodore Frelinghuysen, R. J. Walker, Thomas Corwin, Bishop
Waugh, Daniel Webster, Bishop Soule, etc.
23c?. The southern manifesto was adopted as prepared by Mr. Cal-
houn — Senators Rusk, Berrien, Houston, and others dissenting. It
sets forth the complaints of the south against the north on the subject
of slavery in very strong terms.
24th. The Massachusetts anti-slavery society met — among other
resolutions passed was one declaring "that the church which does not
make the immediate abolition of slavery its special concern is not
worthy to be recognised as a church of Christ." An amendment pro-
posed by Mr. S. Mitchell, to the following effect, was lost: "that as
the American church has been fully proved to be the bulwark of sla-
very, we believe the time has come when it should be destroyed root
and branch."
The Supreme court of the United States decided against the consti-
tutionality of the acts of Massachusetts and New York, imposing, a
tax on passengers coming into those ports from abroad, on the ground
that they are regulations of commerce contrary to the constitutional
provision, and to the spirit of the laws of congress admitting foreigners
i'ree of duty; that they interfere with the powers of Congress, &c.
The chief justice and other judges dissented.
26th. In a libel suit lately tried in New York, in which M. Y. Beach
& Sons were defendants, the jury rendered a verdict of $10,000 for
having stated that the defendant (a broker,) had stolen, when changing
money.
The verdict was rendered in an unusual and extra-judicial form, in
these words: — "We return a verdict for the full amount claimed,
-S10,000, as security for the public against the publication by news-
papers of libels against individuals."
The supreme court of the United States have decided the Governor
Dorr case, affirming the judgment of the circuit court, which sustains
the chartered government. Among other points decided was one that
the legislature of Rhode Island had power to declare martial law : from
which Judge Woodbury dissented.
The Rice culture abated as a nuisance. — Believing that the
rice fields in the vicinity of Savannah were detrimental to the health
of the city, the mayor and aldermen passed ordinances prohibiting the
culture of rice within certain limits. From the decree in the court be-
low, sustaining the ordinances, an appeal was taken by Thomas Green,
1S49.] Chronicle— February, 1849. 235
the owner of a rice plantation, but the supreme court affirmed the ori-
ginal decision.
27th. The judges of the court of Queen's bench in England, have
overruled the errors assigned in the cases of Smith O'Brien and his
associates; any hope, therefore, of overturning the verdict is presumed
to be hopeless.
In Rome, preparations were making for the election of members to
the constituent assembly. The protest of the Pope has been without
effect. In France, the question on the dissolution of the national as-
sembly had been carried.
Austria has withdrawn from the circle of the central authority at
Frankfort, and the action of the diet is surrounded with difficulties.
20th. The ice in the Susquehanna renders it impassible at Havre de
Grace, thus preventing the use of the direct rail-road line between
Philadelphia and Baltimore.
The Medical College at Geneva, N. Y., has conferred the degree of
M. D. on a woman, who is reported to have passed through the whole
course of study, and strictly attended at the dissecting rooms, not only
without evincing the least annoyance, but on the contrary, proving
herself a very close inquirer. The professors have declined receiving
any more students of the gentler sex, though it is said that many have
since applied for admittance.
February.
Feb. 1st. The parliament of Great Britain was opened by the Queen
in person.
Sir H. L. Bulwer is appointed to succeed Mr. Packenham as minister
to the United States.
The steamships Atlantic and Pacific, the first of the United States
mail steamers to Liverpool, were launched into the East river, N. Y.,
in the presence of thousands of spectators. They are said to be the
most magnificent specimens of naval architecture in the world.
M. Boulay has been elected vice president of France. His salary is
$9,600.
2d. A murder which caused a great sensation was committed in
Cincinnati, at this date. A Mrs. Howard, the discarded wife of Cap-
tain John C. Howard, of Cincinnati, called at her husband's boarding-
house, and desired to see a lady to whom he had been married subse-
quently to the divorce. The second wife made her appearance, and
was instantly attacked by Mrs. Howard, who plunged a knife into her
throat, inflicting a wound from the effects of which the unfortunate
woman died in a few minutes. The murderess boasted of the deed,
and was soon afterwards arrested. It appears that Captain Howard
236 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
had deprived her of her children by violence and without legal authority,
and that she was almost frantic with jealousy and the agony occasioned
by this unwarrantable act.
• The Mormons recently held a meeting in Wales. The hall, capable
of containing 1500, was incapable of holding all those who sought for
admittance. The platform contained from 60 to 100 " officers." The
chair was taken by " Captain Dan Jones," when the following particu-
lars relative to the society in Wales were stated — 10 conferences ;
1,001 baptized during the last six months; total baptized in the year,
1,939; (very few excluded;) 70 branches, 156 elders, 180 priests,
147 teachers, 67 deacons.
England and Wales with a population of 16,000,000 contain nearly
8,000,000 unable to write their names.
The cholera was making sad havoc in Paisley, Scotland. Out of
three hundred cases, which occurred during one month, one hundred
and forty-four died. The reports state that fully one-half of those
attacked were carried off in from five to ten hours' illness. In Edin-
burgh and the western towns it has also been very severe, though it
has as yet been generally confined to the poorer classes. In Glasgow
it has almost disappeared. The treatment generally resorted to in
Scotland is of a mild and soothing character; such as simple gruels,
with a little hot brandy punch, with from twenty to thirty drops of
the tincture of opium every hour until the vomiting subsides; — these,
with well heated blankets, and, as far as possible, the keeping of the pa-
tient's mind at ease, have, as yet, proved the best means of restoration.
5th. Dr. Anderson secretary of the American Board of Foreign
Missions, in an address which he delivered at Washington city, stated
that the society during thirty seven years of its operations, had dis-
bursed $5,000,000, and, that $275,000 were needed for the operations
of the ensuing year, and $60,000 more to pay off its debts.
Submarine Telegraph. — A memorial was recently presented to con-
gress, by Horatio Hubbell and John H. Sherburne, for aid to establish
a telegraphic communication between this continent and Europe. They
state that there is incontestable evidence of a submarine table land, ex-
tending from Cape Race in Newfoundland, across the Atlantic Ocean
to the Headlands of Dingle Bay in Ireland, being about 1900 miles.
They propose to station buoys at five miles distant from each other,
and a coated telegraphic wire to be attached to them.
1th. British Honduras. — At the last accounts the whole country
was in an unsettled state, and it was unsafe travelling; robberies and
murders were of frequent occurrence; all, without discrimination, were
the victims of the Indians. The road from Ysabal to Guatemala was
filled with bandits. Yucat;m is in a most deplorable condition. Ac-
counts from Bacalar state that a lartre number of dead bodies of mur-
1S49.] Chronicle— February , 1S49. 237
dered Spaniards were strewn in every direction in the neighbourhood
of Bacalar, no one daring to bury them.
We may mention, in this place, the return of the American regiment
to New Orleans about the 1st March. It was disbanded in Yucatan.
Governor Barbachano having violated all his promises to the volunteers
after tKeir hard-fought battles. 250 arrived in New Orleans. Captain
Kelly remained with one company.
The great prize fight between Sullivan and Hyer ? two pugilists from
New York, took place in Kent county, Maryland. Great numbers
attended to see the fight. The authorities endeavoured to prevent it,
but were unsuccessful. It caused an intense excitement throughout
the country. Hyer was arrested, subsequently, and is now on trial for
the offence. He was the winner after fighting sixteen rounds. His
antagonist was terribly beaten. The whole affair was disgraceful and
brutal; but still the victor was greeted by the crowd on his return with
cheers. It is hoped that no similar scene will again be permitted.
9th. The republic proclaimed at Rome — and the formal deposition
of the temporal power of the pope.
10th. Heavy damages, for injuries sustained in a rail-road car, were
recently awarded at Herkimer, New York. In the case of Bennett vs.
the Utica and Schenectady Rail-road Company, a verdict of $10,000
was awarded the plaintiff. It appears that " on a Sunday" in last
May, the plaintiff took passage on board of one of the defendant's cars,
as a " dead head," or free passenger, and there was a collision, in
which two persons were killed, and three or four more or less injured,
and among them the plaintiff, who was maimed for life. — The court
decided that his being a. free passenger did not lessen the responsibility
of the defendants, and that they should be punished more severely,
because they were running on the Sabbath, which was contrary to
custom.
The president sent in to congress his message in relation to the
Mexican Protocol. See documents.
12th. The civil and diplomatic bill being under discussion in the
senate, an amendment, to abolish flogging in the Navy, was negatived
by a decided vote.
13th. The governor of Maine commuted the sentence of Dr. Coo-
lidge, the murderer, to imprisonment for life.
14th. The electoral votes for president and vice president were
counted in the presence of the senate and house of representatives,
Honourable George M. Dallas, vice president, presiding, who declared
the result to be 1G3 votes for Taylor and Fillmore, and 127 for Cass
and Butler.
238 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
15th. A dreadful catastrophe occurred at Hempstead, Long Island.
The house of Mr. Miller was burned, and his wife and five children
perished in the flames. To complete the horror of the affair, Miller
was arrested, charged with the commission of the act, and the murder
of his own family. He is said to have presented the appearance of a
broken-hearted man, crushed to the earth by this second blow. ' After
an examination he was released. He is a respectable farmer.
16th. A man of the name of Joseph Kelsey, died at Buffalo at an
advanced age, who had been an inhabitant of that city for twenty
years. Many years ago he was arrested on a charge of murder, but
acquitted. He kept a small hotel at the foot of Main street. Being
informed that his death was near, he made a confession of several rob-
beries committed by him of guests at his house, and also of the murder
of which he had been acquitted.
20th. Indian Republic. Governor Fish, of New York, transmitted
to the legislature a message, informing that body of the application on
the part of a portion of the Seneca Indians for the recognition of a
new form of government which they propose for their nation, with a
written constitution, legislature, council, &c, and abolishing the old go-
vernment of chiefs. It seems the Indian commissioner at Washington
approved of the movement. There is also an adverse delegation at
Albany, who insist upon retaining the ancient form of chief-govern-
ment. They have been heard before the committee of the Legislature.
These Indians reside in the state of New York, on reservations at Cat-
taraugus, Allegheny, &c, and are subject to the laws of the state.
How they can remain subject to those laws and form a republic and
enjoy a government of their own would seem to be a difficult question.
The authority of the chiefs now is almost nominal, and necessarily so,
for they have no pow T er to enforce laws or to punish offences without
violating the paramount jurisdiction of that state. What better autho-
rity could the new executive or legislature have? Their plan of a re-
public might have been realized had they removed west as the Chero-
kees have done, where they could have enjoyed the powers of an inde-
pendent government in a territory of their own.
In connexion with Indian matters, w T e may here notice the fact that
Hon. Wm. Medill, the able commissioner of Indian affairs, some time
since bought out all the right of the Menominee Indians in the territory of
Wisconsin, whereby the United States have acquired the title to
4,000,000 acres of new territory in Wisconsin, embracing land on the
Fox and Wisconsin rivers, and laid down in the recent maps as parts
of Brown, Portage, and Wisconsin counties. It embraces little and
big Bull Falls, Whitney's Mills, &c, &c.
The treaty is a very fair one for both parties. The Indians get
about $300,000; and, out of this, a specific sum is set apart for a
manual-labour school, a grist mill, blacksmith's shop, and the support
1849.] Chronicle— February, 1849. 239
of a miller for fifteen years. The Indians remove themselves, and
thus save those operations which are gone into by contractors in
their removal. There are no reservations for speculators. Thus the
whole matter is a plain business transaction between the Indians and
the government. There are no reserves in the matter to make trouble.
United States Senators. — The Hon. Henry Clay has been elected
by the legislature of Kentucky, General Lewis Cass by the legislature
of Michigan, and the Hon. William H. Seward by the legislature of
New York, as United States Senators, for six years from the 4th of
March next. See list of Senators, p. 121.
2od. The President elect, General Taylor and suite, arrived in
Washington. The next day the Vice President, Mr. Fillmore, arrived.
On the 26th, they were waited on by a committee of congress and
informed of their election.
The President's family, consisting of Mrs. Taylor and Colonel Bliss
and lady, arrived in Washington before him. On his journey from his
residence in Louisiana to Washington, whilst stopping at Frankfort,
Kentucky, General Taylor was presented by the ladies of that place
with a beautiful copy of the Bible. His answer is well worth record-
ing, and was in these words : " I accept with gratitude and pleasure
your gift of this inestimable volume. It was for their love of the truths
of this great and good book that our fathers abandoned their native
shores for the wilderness. Animated by its lofty principles, they toiled
and suffered till the desert blossomed as the rose. These same truths
sustained them in their resolution to become a free nation. And guided
by the wisdom of this book, they founded a government under which
we have grown from three millions to more than twenty millions of
people, and from being but a speck on the borders of this continent, we
have spread from the Atlantic to the Pacific. I trust that their prin-
ciples of liberty may extend, if without bloodshed, from the northern
to the southern extremities of this continent. If there were in that,
book nothing but its great precept, 'All things whatsoever ye would
that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them,' and that pre-
cept were obeyed by us, our government might be extended with
safety over the whole continent."
25th. Panama. — The accounts at this date state that there were
about 1800 persons on the isthmus, waiting the means of transporta-
tion to San Francisco. At Panama alone the number was estimated
at 1100, all well and in good health. At Valparaiso and Callao per-
sons w T ould have paid them as high as $600 for a passage in the
steamer Oregon. A great many persons here have no tickets on the
Pacific side, and have offered as high as $-500 for a ticket.
A correspondent of the "Boston Traveller, 'writing from Panama,
says : —
li All the accounts from the gold region are of the most flattering
240 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
character. Two men arrived here, the other day, from thence, as is
here stated, with $750,000 in gold, and chartered a brig at Chagres
for Charleston, S. C."
20th. The reports from California continue to excite the most in-
tense interest in Europe. The excitement has now extended to all
classes. The French Government has despatched an engineer to Cali-
fornia, with the object of surveying the discoveries.
The British Parliament has voted £50,000 for the relief of Ireland ;
and at the same time passed a bill to continue for a time longer the
suspension of the habeas corpus act. Ireland is becoming poorer every
day : the heart of the nation seems broken. The trial of Gavan Duffy
has fallen through : the jury did not agree.
The new Assembly of France will meet in May. The President,
Louis Napoleon, is increasingly popular.
Persia is at present disturbed by a serious rebellion. An army sent
by the Shah to suppress it joined the insurgents, and it was announced
that they would march against the Shah, with the intention of de-
throning him.
In the British Parliament, Mr. Cobden's proposition for a financial
reform was negatived by a majority of 197.
The news from Europe confirm the prior accounts that a central
Italian Republic is being formed in connexion with the Romans. The
Prince of Canino (M. Bonaparte) is declared President of the Roman
Republic. The revolution in Tuscany is complete. The Pope has
sought aid from Austria to restore him, and Radetsky entered Ferrara,*
levied a contribution of 200,000 scudi, and sent it to the Pope. The
executive Committee of Rome thereupon issued the following procla-
mation: —
" Romans: — The territory of the Republic has been violated by the
implacable enemies of Italy. The Austrians have crossed the Po, and
threatened Ferrara. Among the pretexts they adduce for their occu-
pation there is the fact of the republican government having been pro-
claimed by us. Austria, hard pressed by internal revolution — trem-
bling on account of the victories of the Hungarians — attempts a despe-
rate blow, in the hope that the Italians are still in discord when the
common enemy is to be fought. Facts will prove the contrary. Our
cause is the cause of Italy, and this invasion will prove how great is
the affection of all the people of our peninsula for our independence.
The generous people of the Romagna and of Bologna, w T ho drove away
the Austrians at the time when the sacerdotal caste still weighed upon
us, will do it now with still greater vigour and energy. The republi-
can spirit redoubles the strength of the body; and, supported by the
universal consent of the people, the government of the republic has
taken all those measures which have ever, in difficult times, saved na-
* Since evacuated by the Austrians.
1S49.] Chronicle— February ', 1S49. 241
tions from slavery and dishonour. The Minister of War is hastening
to Bologna, and troops of the line, bodies of civic mobilized guard, and
volunteers, are on their way to repel the enemy."
In India, the British forces under Lord Gough have suffered se-
verely at the hands of the valiant Sikhs. The " Bombay Telegraph "
says another murderous conflict with the Sikhs has occurred on the
left bank of the river Ihelm, between the army of the Punjaub, under
Lord Gough, and the Sikh force — the Sikhs under Rajah Shwere
Singh. A struggle in which the British have to deplore the loss of
93 officers and 2,500 men, killed and wounded — four guns captured,
and four or five regimental colours taken by the enemy. The struggle
terminated in victory, but was disgraced by the flight of the Bengal
cavalry regiments, and the retreat, as yet scarcely satisfactorily ex-
plained, of two British corps of dragoons.
Sir C. Napier has been sent out from England to supersede Lord
Gough in the command.
The victories, too, claimed by the Austrians over the Magyars are
said to be such victories as will soon bring the latter to the gates of
Vienna, unless they are checked.
27th. A mysterious and tragical affair occurred in New York at
this date — the death of Mrs. Walker, the lady whose abduction as
Mrs. Miller, some years since, caused a great sensation. She was
found shot by a pistol in the house where she resided. Her husband,
Mr. Walker, was arrested, and is supposed to have killed her in a fit of
jealousy. He alleges that she shot herself.
28th. A terrible shipwreck occurred on the Long Lands Coast of
England. The American brig Floridian, Capt. Whitmore, having on
board nearly 200 German emigrant passengers from Amherst, foundered,
and only four were saved. The vessel struck with such fatal violence,
that she immediately went to pieces, and the unfortunate beings aboard
were precipitated into the deep.
The important Telegraph Cases lately argued in Washington
have excited considerable public attention. In the one case, before
Judge Catron, the contest was between Messrs. O'Reilly and Morse;
in the other, before Judge Cranch, between Messrs. Bain and Morse.
The first was an application, on the part of Mr. Morse, for an injunc-
tion against Mr. O'Reilly on account of the telegraph lines constructed
by him in Tennessee. Very able counsel were engaged — Gov. Seward
on the part of Mr. Morse, Gen. R. H. Gillett for Mr. O'Reilly. Judge
Catron stated substantially that he could not consistently grant on in-
junction in such a case as this telegraph matter; and the most he
would probably have done (if the case seemed to justify the prudential
proceeding) would have been, not to have stopped the" working of the
lines, (which might seriously and wrongfully injure the defendant,)
242 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
but to have required security to indemnify the complainants, in case
the suit should ultimately result in their favour. The tenor of his re-
marks was understood to be quite different from the language and acts
of Judge Monroe, who granted an injunction in the Kentucky case,
where the same parties were concerned.
The second case was an appeal from a decision of the Patent Com-
missioner on the second patent asked for by Mr. Bain. Mr. Gillett's
remarks on this argument are said to have been very forcible. He
analyzed the respective claims of the contending parties, with a view
of snowing there is nothing original in the claim of Professor Morse
for an electro-chemical telegraph, and nothing which is not already
substantially included in the patent granted to' Mr. Bain by the United
States, as well as by Great Britain.
The Judge reversed the decision of the Commissioner, and the tele-
graph monopoly no longer exists. The " Buffalo Courier " takes the
following view of the decision : —
" The material point settled by the Judge is, that there cannot be a
patent for a principle, nor for the application of a principle, nor for an
effect. Two persons may use the same 'principle and produce the
same effect by different means, and without interference or infringe-
ment, and each would be entitled to a patent for his own invention.
In this case the effect is produced by means so different as to prevent
an interference, and the question of priority of invention does not
arise.
" Therefore, the Judge decides that Mr. Morse and Mr. Bain are
each entitled to a patent for the combination which each has invented,
and claimed, and described. Under this decision, it is understood, the
proprietors of Bain's invention will proceed immediately to erect tele-
graph lines over most of the routes in this country now worked under
the Morse patent. The consequence of such a competition as will
ensue must necessarily be to cheapen communication by telegraph, and
bring the whole system nearer perfection — a result which few will
regret."
[We embrace the opportunity to state here that we have in preparation an
article on telegraphs, in which we propose to give a condensed account of
this wonderful and incalculably valuable discovery, its progress, &c. It will
appear in our next number.]
1849:] Obituary. 243
OBITUARY.*
1S4S.
Died, at Monterey, California, last autumn, Admiral Wooster,
late commander in chief of , the Chilian Navy. He was formerly a
citizen of New York, and in the last war with Great Britain was en-
gaged extensively in privateering.
"Admiral Wooster was the grandson of General Wooster of revolu-
tionary memory, who was one of the eight brigadier generals originally
appointed by congress, and lost his life while leading a charge at the
battle of Danbury, Connecticut. He leaves one son, who was educated
at West Point, and is now, we believe, a lieutenant in the fourth regi-
ment of artillery, U. S. A.
" The whole history of the Wooster family has been one abounding
in incident. The founder of the family, General Wooster, though born
in Stratford, Connecticut, went abroad early, held a commission in the
British army, and returned to his native country one of the twenty-two
original patentees of a large tract of land at Weathersfield, Connecticut.
He was engaged in the French war in Canada, and* finally lost his life
in that service.
About the same time died the king of Persia, Mohammed Shah. He
was the son of Abbas, and grandson of Fetti Ali Shah, who died in
1834, and whom he succeeded to the throne of Persia, was the third
sovereign of the dynasty of the Kadjars, founded in 1794 by Aga Mo-
hammed Khan. He was born in 1806, and his heir, Naibus Solthanet,
governor of Azerbaidjan, is 18 years of age.
October, 1848.
Oct. Sth. At Philadelphia, Commodore Biddle, of the United
States Navy. He entered the navy at the commencement of this
century, through the recommendation of vice-president Burr. He
was a nephew of the Commodore Biddle who was blown up in the
Randolph frigate in an engagement with a British 64 gun ship, off the
capes of the Delaware, in 1778, and was a brother of the late Nicholas
Biddle, president of the bank of the United States. Commodore
Biddle was 1st lieutenant of the Wasp when she took the British sloop-
of-war Frolic, and Commodore Jones speaks of his conduct on that
occasion in the highest terms. He participated in other battles. As
* We insert some obituary notices, which in the order of date precede the current
quarter. They were prepared for December.
244 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
a sailor, and a gentleman in all the private socialities of life, Commo-
dore Biddle had no superiors.
5th. At Onondaga Castle, New York, Abram Le Fort, head
chief of the Onondaga tribe, aged 54. He had served as chief for
twenty years, and was respected for his talent, and friendship to the
whites. The tribe numbers about 400, but it is said to be gradually
decreasing.
7th. In England, the Earl of Carlisle, father of Lord Morpeth.
He was born 17th September, 1773, the eldest son of Frederick, fifth
earl of Carlisle, K. C, by Margaret Caroline, his wife, daughter of
Granville-Leveson, first marquis of Stafford, and derived in direct de-
scent from Lord William Howard, so well known in border minstrelsy
as "Belted Will," second son of Thomas, fourth duke of Norfolk.
His father, the fifth earl, in honourable rivalry of his illustrious ances-
tor, " the Surrey/' added another poetic laurel to the bright wreath
won by his predecessors, in the council, the cabinet, and the field. He
was guardian of his kinsman, Lord Byron, and appears to have en-
joyed for a period the affection and esteem of his wayward ward, who
inscribed to him the second edition of the " Hours of Idleness."
He had several times a seat in the British cabinet; and retired from
public life in 1843. He has left a large family.
14th. At Bostfrn, Mass., Jeremiah Mason. He was formerly
a distinguished member of congress from New Hampshire, and for sixty
years an eminent member of the New England bar. Mr. Mason was
in his 84th year, and until his final illness, had never been in the hands
of a physician.
If aught was wanting to perpetuate his memory, it is supplied in the
striking and masterly-drawn eulogy pronounced by the Hon. Daniel
Webster, before the Supreme Court of Massachusetts. After describing
the characteristics of Mr. Mason's mind as "real greatness, strength
and sagacity," and his conversation and professional attainments of the
first order, "Mr. Webster proceeded, with a power of expression pecu-
liarly his own, to say:
" But — sir — political eminence and professional fame fade away and
die with all things earthly. Nothing of character is really permanent,
but virtue and personal worth. They remain. Whatever of excel-
lence is wrought into the soul itself, belongs to both worlds. Real'
goodness does not attach itself merely to this life, it points to another
world. Political or professional fame cannot last for ever, but a con-
science void of offence before God and man, is an inheritance for eter-
nity. Religion, therefore, is a necessary, an indispensable element in
any great human character. There is no living without it. Religion
is the 4ie that connects man with his Creator, and holds him to his
throne. If that tie be all sundered, all broken, he floats away, a
1849.] Obituary. 245
worthless atom in the universe, its proper attractions all gone, its des-
tiny thwarted, and its whole future nothing but darkness, desolation
and death. A man with no sense of religious duty is he whom the
scriptures describe, — in such terse but terrific manner, — as ' living
without God in the world.' Such a man is out of his proper being,
out of the circle of all his duties, out of the circle of all his happiness,
and away, far, far away from the purposes of his creation.
"A mind like Mr. Mason's, active, thoughtful, penetrating, sedate,
could not but meditate deeply on the condition of man below, and feel
its responsibilities. He could not look'on this wondrous frame —
' This universal frame thus wondrous fair,' —
without feeling that it was created and upheld by an intelligence to
which all other intelligences must be responsible. I am bound to say
that in the course of my life I never met with an individual, in any
profession or condition of life, who always spoke and always thought
with such awful reverence of the power and presence of God. No
irreverence, no lightness, even no too familiar allusion to God and his
attributes ever escaped his lips. The very notion of a Supreme Being
was with him made up of awe and solemnity. It filled the whole of
his great mind with the strongest emotions. A man, like him, with
all his proper sentiments and sensibilities alive in him, must, in this
state of existence, have something to believe and something to hope
for; or else as life is advancing to its close and parting, all is heart-
sinking and oppression Depend upon it, — whatever else may be the
mind of an old man — old age is only really happy when on feeling the
enjoyments of this world pass away it begins to lay a stronger hold on
those of another."
William Lawrence, an aged and eminent merchant of Boston, died
almost simultaneously with Mr. Mason.
25th, in the city of New York, Dixon H. Lewis, United States
senator from Alabama, in his 47th year. Colonel Lewis was a na-
tive of Dinwiddie county, Virginia, and, it is believed, was descended,
on his father's side, from Wales, in England. His ancestors came
over at an early period to the then colony of Virginia. When quite
young, the family of Colonel Lewis emigrated to Georgia, where
the deceased grew up to manhood. He subsequently entered South
Carolina College, where he distinguished himself for the successful
prosecution of his studies; winning the esteem and friendship of all with
whom he associated. He chose the profession of law as his future pur-
suit, and settled in Alabama, where he soon rose into notice at the bar
as a successful practitioner. While quite young, he was elected to the
state legislature, and afterwards became a representative in congress.
His subsequent elevation to the senate of the United States, and his
VOL. II. —march, 1849. 17
246 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
varied public services in congress for many years past, are well known
to the public throughout the country.
He was remarkable for his extraordinary size of body : when enclosed
in the coffin, the whole together was said to have weighed nine hundred
pounds.
21st. In England, Rev. Gerard Valerian Wellesley, D. D.
He was born on the 7th December, 1776, and was, consequently, in
the seventy-second year of his age. On the second of June, 1802,
he married the lady Emily Mary Cadogan, eldest daughter of Charles
Sloane, first earl of Cadogan, by whom he had issue four daughters and
three sons. The deceased was the fourth son of the earl of Morning-
ton, and a younger brother of the duke of Wellington. He was a
gentleman of kind and conciliatory manners, and of great benevolence
of heart.
26th j at New York, William Paxson Hallett, for a number of
years, clerk of the supreme court of the state.
28th. At Boston, Mass., Harrison Gray Otis. He was a de-
scendant of John Otis, who came from England to this country, and
settled in Hingham, Massachusetts, in the year 1630; and a nephew
of the celebrated James Otis, of revolutionary memory, to whose
eloquence and patriotism the cause of American independence was so
largely indebted.
Mr. Otis was born in Boston, October Sth, 1765, and was, conse-
quently, in his eighty-fourth year, on this the closing day of his life,
He graduated at Harvard University, in 1783. Mr. Otis has filled
many important public offices, and represented Massachusetts in both
houses of congress.
He was appointed district attorney under John Adams; was subse-
quently a member of the celebrated Hartford convention; was a presi-
dent of our state senate, judge of the Boston court of common pleas,
and the third mayor of Boston.
Few men have ever impressed themselves so largely upon the poli-
tical character and destinies of the commonwealth. In all great public
questions he took an earnest and active interest up to the last few weeks
of his earthly career. His eloquence was of the Ulysses stamp; grace-
ful, conciliatory, elegant and argumentative, rather than impassioned,
and turbulent. It appealed more to the reason than the passions; and
the graces of literature gave it an intellectual charm.
At Chicago, Robert Stewart. This distinguished western
pioneer, was for several years past a resident of Detroit, but more
recently connected with the management of the Illinois and Michigan
canals. In his early life he was extensively engaged in the fur busi-
ness, with John Jacob Astor, and occupies quite a prominent position
in Washington Irving's " Astoria." He was a native of Scotland.
His venerable uncle, David Stewart, also mentioned in Irving's book,
resides at Sandwich, Canada West.
1849.] Obituary. 247
31^. At St. Louis, Missouri, General Stephen Watts Kearney,
aged about fifty-five years. He was born at Newark, New Jersey,
and entered the army in 1812, at the age of eighteen; he was attached
to the company of Captain J. E. Wool (now General Wool) and at
the battle of Queenstown, Upper Canada, behaved with great gallantry.
At the close of the war he was transferred to the western department,
and in 1842 was promoted to a majority, and accompanied General
Atkinson in the expedition to the upper Missouri.
He married a step-daughter of General Clarke, the companion of
Lewis in his expedition to the Pacific. In 1833, he was commissioned as
lieutenant colonel, and in 1836, as colonel of the 1st Dragoons; in
1846, as brigadier general. He was acknowledged to be a superior
tactician and brave officer. After the commencement of the war with
Mexico, he was sent on an expedition against New Mexico and Cali-
fornia ; entered Santa Fe on the 10th August, 1846 : then pro-
ceeded to California, and fought the battles of San Pasqual and San
Diego — the latter in union with Commodore Stockton. He returned
to the United States; was afterwards sent to Mexico, and at one
time was in command at the city of Mexico.
November, 1848.
Nov. 9th. At Vienna, Germany, Robert Blum, the celebrated cham-
pion of German liberty, shot by order of court martial. He was dele-
gate from Leipsic to the diet at Frankfort, and was captured among
the insurgents of Vienna.
After sentence, he was allowed only two hours to prepare for death.
He wrote to his wife " to bring up their children so that they would
not disgrace his name." At his execution he said, " I die for German
freedom — for that I have fought. My country, forget me not."
Such was the end of a man of great talent, though of humble birth
and self-education. He commenced, when a boy, as a boot black and
" candle snuffer," at the theatre at Leipsic. He afterwards became
ticket taker, finally cashier, and was one of the most enterprising of
the establishment. During the latter years of his life he was a book
merchant.
15th. Francis De Vico, the learned Jesuit astronomer, died sud-
denly in England, where he went on business for the Georgetown
college. He was for several years professor of astronomy in the uni-
versity of Rome, and superintendent of the Roman observatory. It
was while holding the latter important office, that he announced to the
world his distinguished and brilliant discoveries in astronomical science,
for which several gold medals and other marks of honour and distinc-
tion were awarded him by the academy of sciences. He is also well
known as an author.
24S Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
16/A. At Rome, Italy, Count Rossi, prime minister to Pius IX.,
murdered by the populace whilst on his way to the chamber of deputies.
Born at Carrara, in 1787, Count Rossi became an advocate and pro-
fessor of laws in the university of Bologna as early as 1809. In 1815,
he acted as civil commissioner during the occupation of the legations
by Murat, and was, in consequence, proscribed. He escaped to Geneva,
where the rights of a citizen were conferred upon him in time to rescue
him from the persecution of the Austrian government. He occupied,
for nearly twenty years, the chair of Roman law in the academy of
Geneva. Afterwards he removed to Paris — was ambassador from
Louis Philippe to Rome, contributed to the elevation of the present
pope to the papal throne, and subsequently took up his residence at
Rome.
The London Times says of him, that " his vast and unclouded judg-
ment illuminated whatever he contemplated, and his singularly descrip-
tive eloquence ornamented whatever he touched. His voice and the
gravity of his presence had in them something of the grandeur of the
statesmen and scholars of the best ages of Italy."
At Alexandria, Egypt, Ibrahim Pacha, viceroy of Egypt. Abbas
Pacha, his nephew, succeeds him in the pachalicof that country, accord-
ing to the firman granted by the sultan, in June, 1841, at the close ot
the Syrian war, by which the succession to the government of Egypt
is to descend in a direct line in Mehemet Ali's male posterity, from the
elder to the elder among his sons and grandsons. For many years
Ibrahim suffered acutely from a complication of complaints, brought on
principally by excesses committed during his youth.
21st. At Columbus, Ohio, Lyne Starling, one of the original pro-
prietors of* that city. He was distinguished for his private charities
and public munificence.
The Medical College in Columbus, which bears his name, and which
will (in default of his leaving any posterity to do so) transmit that
name to future generations, was endowed by his liberality. He was
about 70 years of age.
22d. At Utica, N. Y., Rev. John C. Rudd, D. D., one of the oldest
clergymen in the Episcopal church. He was a long time editor of the
" Gospel Messenger," and highly respected for his talents and piety.
At Brooklyn, L. I., Alden Spooner, formerly editor and proprietor
of the Brooklyn Star.
Colonel Spooner was sixty-five years old. With the exception, per-
haps, of Thomas Ritchie, Esq., of the Washington Union, he was the
oldest editor in the United States. Of New England origin, tracing
his descent on the maternal side from the famous old puritan, John
Alden, he settled on the east end of Long Island, at a very early age,
and commenced the publication of the Suffolk County Gazette. The
1S49.] Obituary. 249
first types ever seen in that county were set up by Colonel Spooner's
own hands, in his little office at Sag Harbour. Thence he removed to
Brooklyn, in 1810 or '11, we believe, and purchased the Star, which
he conducted for years with great success.
2Uh. At New York, Jonathan Goodhue, a highly respectable
merchant, in his 66th year.
In England, William Lamb, second Lord Melbourne, late prime
minister of Great Britain, born loth of March, 1779. By Mr. Can-
ning he was made chief secretary for Ireland. He took office with
the whigs under Lord Grey, and on the resignation of that nobleman
became first lord of the treasury, and remained so until displaced by
Sir Robert Peel, in 1841.
December, 1848.
Bee. 1st. At Newton, Va., Rev. Andrew Broadus, a distinguished
divine. He was remarkable for his eloquence, and for being totally
destitute of ambition. He refused the degrees of A. M. and D. D.,
which were conferred upon him by several colleges. Among his ad-
mirers were Chief Justice Marshall and many of his famous cotempo-
raries.
11th. At Utica, N.Y., John C. Devereux, aged 74 years. He was
a native of the county of Wexford,'Ireland, and emigrated to America
when nineteen years of age. In 1800, he settled in what is now the
city of Utica, then a hamlet in the wilderness. He became wealthy
with the growth of the place, to which his enterprise greatly contri-
buted.
20th. At Philadelphia, Robert Toland, an eminent merchant,
high-minded, honourable, conscientious, and upright in all his dealings :
courteous and affable in his deportment, he secured the respect and
won the esteem of all who knew him.
At New York, Charles M'Vean, United States District Attorney,
appointed in the place of B. F. Butler, Esq.
25th. At Huntley, Louisiana, Daddy Tom, aged 102 years. He
was forty years old when brought to America, and has left a widow,
Mammy Juba, acknowledged to be 15 years older than himself. For
the last ten years he amused himself with fishing. He knew some-
thing of Mahommedanism, but was baptized and had become a Chris-
tian within a few years. He never took medicine, and died as a fire
goes out when the fuel is consumed.
28th. At Turin, Italy, Mrs. Rosella Niles, wife of the Hon. Na-
thaniel Niles, charge d'arfairs of the United States to Sardinia.
Mrs. Niles was descended from one of the most ancient, respectable,
and noble families in the south of France. Her more immediate an-
250 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
eestors had taken up their residence in the West Indies, from whence
they fled to the United States on the occurrence of the revolution in
San Domingo. She was born in Wilmington, Delaware, from whence
her father, Mr. De Milhau, soon after removed to Baltimore. A part
of her family went to France many years ago, where she married the
late Professor Sue, father of Eugene Sue. She was married to Mr.
Niles in July, 1831.
20th. At Boston, Massachusetts, John Turner Sergeant Sulli-
van, of Philadelphia, at the age of 35.
Mr. Sullivan was a member of the bar, and son of the late Hon.
William Sullivan, one of the most eminent practitioners in Boston. He
was educated in the best schools of his native country and of Europe.
He spoke and wrote in several languages with elegance; as a maga-
zinist, he had distinguished himself by many graceful compositions in
prose and verse, and as a historical writer by many reviews, and by
an edition of his father's "Letters on Public Characters," published
last year by Carey & Hart, Philadelphia. He had for some time been
engaged upon a history of parties in the United States, for which his
father's MS. collections, notes, and extensive correspondence furnished
a great amount of valuable material. Mr. Sullivan, however, was best
known as a man of society, in which his various accomplishments gave
him an extraordinary reputation.
On the occasion of his death, a meeting of the Philadelphia bar was
called. The North American thus introduces the proceedings of the
meeting: "We have seldom known the death of any individual who
had not attained maturer manhood, or held any public station, to ex-
cite a more general regret than that of Mr. Sullivan, to which most of
our papers have recently alluded. In the social circle he was widely
known, and ever a welcome guest. Indeed he was so pre-eminently
the admiration and charm of every festive scene, that few persons were
aware how accomplished he was in letters, how laborious in the dis-
charge of his professional concerns, or how intimate in his relations
with his professional brethren. Yet no death has lately occurred at
our bar which has called forth so strong an expression of feeling from
its members. An unusually large and respectable assemblage took
place on Wednesday morning, in the supreme court room, where bu-
siness was suspended ; and the meeting was called to order by Henry
T. Williams, Esq. The chief justice of Pennsylvania was unanimously
requested to preside. J. G. Clarkson, Esq., having stated the object
of the meeting, alluded, in a few sentences of deeply pathetic beauty,
to those qualities of Mr. Sullivan's character which won for him the
kindliest regard wherever he was known. He spoke in just and elo-
quent terms of his aspirations for professional distinction, and, with a
touching sensibility, which drew from nearly every eye the tribute of
its tear, alluded to the void which his sudden death would cause in his
1849.] Obituary. 251
family, where, as a son and a brother, — the survivor of many others —
he had ever been eminently affectionate and beloved."
The resolutions passed were expressive of the feelings of the bar —
their sorrow at his sudden death — "an event by which they have been
bereaved of an associate whose high accomplishments, varied talents,
elegant manners, and kindly nature had endeared him to them during
the few years that he had been a member of their body."
Mr. H. J Williams, Mr. W. M. Meredith, Mr. Bouvier, Mr. Henry
D. Gilpin, Mr. Wm. B. Reed, Mr. Clarkson, and Mr. J. T. Montgo-
mery were appointed a committee to convey to his mother, Mrs. Wil-
liam Sullivan, the expression of their deep sympathy.
20th. At Philadelphia, Major Isaac Roach, late Treasurer of the
Mint of the United States. Major Roach bore the commission of cap-
tain in the war of 1812, and was distinguished for his brave and noble
bearing in every trying emergency. In one of the battles on the north-
ern frontier, he was severely wounded. His fellow-citizens of this
city, some years ago, elected him to the office of Mayor, in which ca-
pacity he acquitted himself to their entire satisfaction.
21st. Ex-Senator Sevier, of Arkansas. He died, we are told, "sur-
rounded by his family and relations, in the last hour of the last day of
the last month of the year 1848."
Colonel Sevier was born among the mountains of East Tennessee,
in the year 1802. He was the nephew of General John Sevier, who
was distinguished as one of the prominent officers at the battle of King's
mountain, but still more as the governor of the short-lived revolution-
ary State of Frankland, and for the numerous battles he fought, and
the victories he won over the Southern Indians, while personally lead-
ing, as their commander-in-chief, the military forces of the little sove-
reignty — which was indeed revolutionized out of existence while he was
absent on one of his Indian expeditions. Ex-Senator Sevier was left
an orphan at an early age, and emigrated to Arkansas while only nine-
teen, being admitted to the bar before he w r as twenty-one. He was
elected to the legislature in 1825, and in 1827 to congress, where he
continued a member of the house for five successive terms, until finally
advanced to the senate. He left this to accept an appointment as one
of the peace commissioners to Mexico ; and returned to receive, a few
days before his death, the new post of commissioner to run the new
boundary line.
January, 1849.
Jan. 1st. At Boston, Massachusetts, P. C. Brooks, at a very ad-
vanced age. He is described as a truly estimable gentleman, metho-
dical in the arrangement of his affairs, and a liberal contributor to all
benevolent objects. He died immensely rich.
At St. Charles, Mo., Gen. John Ruland. He was born in the
252 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
year 1789, on the banks of the river Raisin, in what is now the state
of Michigan. He lived the principal part of the early period of his
life at Detroit. At the age of nineteen he entered the north-western
army under the command of Gen. Harrison, and served with reputa-
tion for several years.
4th. At Lancaster, Ohio, Samuel Jenkins, a coloured man, 115
years old. He was born a slave in Fairfax, Virginia, in the year 1734,
and drove his master's provision wagon over the Alleghenies in Brad-
dock's campaign of 1755, remaining in service until the close. He is
believed to be the last survivor of that expedition.
6th. At Brighton, Nova Scotia, George Sinnett, 120 years old, the
sole survivor of the army of Gen. Wolfe, 1759, and stood by the Ge-
neral when he expired. He was a native of Germany.
At Cincinnati, Rev. Dr. Levings, one of the Secretaries of the
American Bible Society. Dr. Levings entered upon the ministry of
the Methodist Episcopal church early in the year 1818, consequently
he was in the thirty-first year of his ministry, and we believe in the
fifty-third year of his age.
At Bogota, Benjamin A. Bidlack, American Charge d'Af-
faires to the republic of New Grenada. Mr. Bidlack was a Pennsyl-
vanian — a citizen of Wilkesbarre, Luzerne county. He had served
with distinction in the legislature and in congress, and was appointed
in 1845 by President Polk to the mission which he filled at the time
pf his death.
1th. At Hillsboro, Penn'a., on his way from New 7 Orleans to Wash-
ington city, Lieutenant Colonel Roger S. Dix. He died of cholera.
Colonel Dix w T as a native of New Hampshire, a brother of the Senator
in Congress from New York, and the son of Colonel Timothy Dix, of
the army, who lost his life in the ill-fated expedition of General Wil-
kinson against Montreal, in 1813. He was educated at West Point :
and at the moment of completing his course of study, in 1832, instead
of accepting the leave of absence for a few months usually granted to
graduates, he volunteered his services, and accompanied General Scotl
on the Black Haw^k expedition. After serving for several years in
the quartermaster's department, as one of its most efficient officers, he
was appointed by Mr. Polk, near the commencement of his administra-
tion, a paymaster in the army. He accompanied General Taylor, with
whom he had previously served several years at Fort Jessup, to Corpus
Christi, before the war with Mexico. He was with the General during
the two days of Buena Vista, officiating part of the time as his aid-de-
camp, and part of the time in the same capacity with General Wool,
the gallant second in command. For his distinguished gallantry on
that bloody battle-field Major Dix was breveted a lieutenant colonel
at the last session of Congress.
1849.] Obituary. 253
8th. At New Orleans, of cholera, Colonel George Croghan, son of
Major William Croghan, of the revolutionary war. His mother was
the sister of the celebrated General George Rogers Clark, who over-
ran the north-western territory during the struggle for American in-
dependence. Both upon the father and mother's side he inherited the
blood of the revolution. Upon the breaking out of the last war Co-
lonel Croghan entered the army. At the early age of nineteen he
made the gallant defence of Fort Sandusky. By this brilliant feat he
inscribed his name 'upon the scroll of fame. He married and resigned
his commission shortly after the peace. But, during the administra-
tion of General Jackson, he returned to the service with the commis-
sion of inspector general, which was tendered to him by that illustri-
ous commander. He held this office up to the time of his death. He
was in his fifty-ninth year, and leaves behind him a wife and family.
11th. At Baltimore, Rev. J. L. Dinwiddie, D. D., Professor in
the Theological Seminary at Allegheny. Dr. Dinwiddie was a ripe
scholar, a sound and extensive theologian, an exemplary Christian and
minister, a Christian gentleman of most honourable feelings, and a
warm and unwavering friend.
20. At Belfast, Maine, Nathan Read, in his 90th year. He
was educated at Harvard University, and was a tutor there when Har-
rison G. Otis, Ambrose Spencer, and John Q. Adams were pupils.
He is said to have been the first petitioner for a patent in the United
States, and to have applied steam-power to a boat on Wendham pond
long before Fulton succeeded.
At Fredericksburgh, Va., whither he had gone for the benefit of
his health, David Hale, one of the editors of the Journal of Com-
merce, New York.
David Hale was born at Lisbon, Conn., on the 25th of April, 1791.
His father was, for several years, pastor of the church in that town.
His mother was a sister of Samuel Austin, D. D., long a distinguished
pastor at Worcester, Mass.
The father of Mr. Hale is said to have been a man of uncommon
amiability. His son always spoke of him with profound respect, and
acknowledged his great indebtedness to the instruction and example
of his deceased parent.
He w T as thrown upon his own resources in early life, and during his
clerkship in Boston retained his morals pure. This was owing chiefly
to his early education. He became a member of the Park Street
Church in 1813. His plans of business were at first not successful,
and he learned to endure hardship in his youth. The Journal of Com-
merce was established through the liberality of Arthur Tappan, as a
commercial paper, to be conducted with a strict reference to Christian
morality. Mr. Hale was selected as the editor. After struggling two
254 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
years with embarrassments and difficulties, he became a joint proprie-
tor with Mr. Hallock, and the paper was raised to the first rank of
the daily press. He was the owner of the New York Tabernacle.
He gave liberally according to his means: he lived in the strict ob-
servance of religious duties, and died with the calmness and reliance
of a Christian. At the funeral services, in the Tabernacle, there is
said to have been fifteen hundred persons present.
26th. In Warren county, N. J., Colonel Jonah Howell, at the
age of 93. Colonel Howell was born in Hunterdon county; but,
when six weeks old, his parents removed to Warren, and the son has
continued to live ever since, now near a century, on his paternal farm,
which is now in the hands of the third generation. Rather an unusual
instance of permanence in this age of change.
At Fort Gibson, Micconopy, (Pond-king,) the head chief of the
Seminole nation. He was one of the few warriors who, at the head
of a mere handful of men, resisted our government for six years, and
maintained possession of their country during that time against twenty
times their number of well equipped troops, led by our most experi-
enced generals. We believe that it was to General Taylor, then Co-
lonel Taylor, that Micconopy finally surrendered. He commanded
the Indians in person at the time of Dade's massacre, and, with Osce-
ola, successfully resisted the crossing of the Withlacooche by General
Gaines, in 1836.
At Milwaukie, Wisconsin, Thomas'Williams, aged 90 years, a
distinguished chief of the Iroquois nation, and descended from the Rev.
John Williams, of Deerfield, Mass., w T ho, with his family and parish-
ioners, was taken captive at the sacking of his native town by the In-
dians and French, in the year 1704. The deceased was an active par-
ticipant in the scenes of the revolution, espousing the cause of the
British at Bennington and Saratoga. During the war of 1812, by
special invitation of the United States Government, he placed himself
under the protection of its flag, and was present at the battle of
Plattsburgh. He had for many years maintained the tenets of the
Christian faith, and died as he had lived, respected and beloved by
his people.
February, 1849.
2d. At New York, Alexander Ming, one of the oldest printers in
the city, aged 76, died on Friday. He was a very worthy man.
When General Washington arrived at Paulus's Hook, on his way to
this city to be inaugurated, he was rowed across the North River in a
barge by sea captains — Captain Randall, of the Sailors' snug harbour
memory, acting as coxswain. Alexander Ming, then a lad, was one
of the pages in attendance on the general.
1849.] Obituary. 255
10th. At Mobile, William R. Johnson, of Virginia, the " Napo-
leon of the Turf," aged 77. Col. Johnson was a native of North
Carolina, but lived in Virginia from his early days. He was repeat-
edly elected to the legislature. His connexion with the turf, dates
from childhood; he was trained toit by his father.
11th. At New Haven, Nathan Beers, aged 96, an old revolu-
tionary soldier. He left Yale College to enlist in the army, served for
a time under Benedict Arnold, and was present at the execution of
Andre.
In Virginia, Benjamin Watkins Leigh, formerly a member of the
U. S. Senate. Commencing the practice of the law at an early age,
he was employed to revise the laws of the state, the result of which
was the well-known revisal of 1819. He was also for a long time re-
porter of the Court of Appeals, and there are twelve volumes of reports
that bear his name. In the Virginia State Convention of 1829-30
he occupied a prominent position. In national politics he has been
not less conspicuous. In both branches of congress he has served re-
peatedly and with ability.
At Genoa, Italy, Commodore Bolton of the United States navy.
He was an experienced and excellent officer — the account of his death
has just been received at the navy department, as having happened the
22d February. The letter states :
" His whole soul seemed absorbed by his duties, and he had intended
to embark on the very day of his death for Leghorn, to meet with his
presence, the requirements of the consul, for the appearance of some
of the squadron, and from which he was restrained only by the urgent
entreaty of his wife, and the remonstrance of the physician, upon the
duty he owed himself. He was heard to say, ' I have no care for my-
self, it is my duty.' "
The following obituary notice, also just come to hand, is worthy of
record.
Donna Augustina Ferrando, of Tlaliscoyan, in Mexico, died
early in January. The residence of this lady was on the route from
Vera Cruz to Orizaba — about forty miles from the former. She had
frequent occasions, and never neglected one, of showing kindness to
American prisoners, during the late war.
21st. At Hollis, New Hampshire, the venerable Timothy Farrar,
at the age of one hundred and one years, seven months and ten days —
having been born on the 11th of July, 1747.
Of the 6200 graduates of Harvard, we believe four have completed
a century of years — namely : —
Doctor Ed. Holyoke, who died aged 100 years 7 months.
Hon. Samson S. Blowers, " , 100 " 6 "
Dr. Ezra Green, " 101 " 1 " and
Timothy Farrar, " 101 " 7 "
256 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
DOCUMENTS
STATE PAPERS.
(The great length of the President's annual message, renders it impossi-
ble to insert it entire in the present number; we, therefore, only give a part, re-
serving the remainder for our next. The annual message is always an im-
portant paper, belonging to the political history of the times, and has, there-
fore, appropriately a place in the Register. It is due to the head of the go-
vernment, to insert it as written, and not in the mutilated shape of a sy-
nopsis.)
THE PRESIDENT'S ANNUAL MESSAGE TO THE CONGRESS OF
THE UNITED STATES, DEC. 5th, 1848.
Fellow Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives: —
Under the benignant providence of Almighty God, the representatives of
the states and of the people are again brought together to deliberate for the
public good. The gratitude of the nation to the sovereign Arbiter of all
human events, should be commensurate with the boundless blessings which
we enjoy.
Peace, plenty and contentment reign throughout our borders, and our be-
loved country presents a sublime moral spectacle to the world.
The troubled and unsettled condition of some of the principal European
powers has had a necessary tendency to check and embarrass trade, and to
depress prices thioughout all commercial nations; but notwithstanding these
causes, the United States, with their abundant products, have felt their effects
less severely than any other country, and all our great interests are still pros-
perous and successful.
In reviewing the great events of the past year, and contrasting the agitated
and disturbed state of other countries with our own happy and tranquil con-
dition, we may congratulate ourselves that we are the most favoured people
on the face of the earth. While the people of other countries are struggling
to establish free institutions, under which man may govern himself, we are
in the actual enjoyment of them — a rich inheritance from our fathers. While
enlightened nations of Europe are convulsed and distracted by civil war or
intestine strife, we settle all our political controversies by the peaceful exer-
cise of the rights of freemen at the ballot box. The great republican maxim
so deeply engraven on the hearts of our people, that the will of the majority,
constitutionally expressed, shall prevail, is our safeguard against force and
violence. It is a subject of just pride, that our fame and character as a nation
continue rapidly to advance in the estimation of the civilized world. To our
wise and free institutions it is to be attributed, that while other nations have
achieved glory at the price of the suffering, distress and impoverishment of
the people, we have won our honourable position in the midst of an uninter-
rupted prosperity, and of an increasing individual comfort and happiness. I
am happy to inform you that our relations with all nations are friendly and
pacific.
Advantageous treaties of commerce have been concluded within the last
four years with New Granada, Peru, the two Sicilies, Belgium. Hanover,
Oldenburg and Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Pursuing our example, the restric-
tive system of Great Britain, our principal foreign customer, has been relaxed;
a more liberal commercial policy has been adopted by other enlightened
1849.] Documents. 257
nations, and our trade has been greatly enlarged and extended. Our country-
stands higher in the respect of the world than at any former period. To con-
tinue to occupy this proud position, it is only necessary to preserve peace,
and faithfully adhere to the great and fundamental principle of our foreign
policy, of non-interference in the domestic concerns of other nations. We
recognise in all nations the rights which we enjoy ourselves, to change and
reform their political institutions, according to their own will and pleasure.
Hence we do not look behind existing governments, capable of maintaining
their own authority. We recognise all such actual governments, not only
from the dictates of true policy, but from a sacred regard for the independence
of nations.
While this is our settled policy, it does not follow that we can ever be in-
different spectators of the progress of liberal principles. The government
and people of the United States hailed with enthusiasm and delight the esta-
blishment of the French republic, as we now hail the efforts in progress to
unite the states of Germany in a confederation, similar in many respects to
our own federal union. If the great and enlightened German states, occupy-
ing, as they do, a central and commanding position in Europe, shall succeed
in establishing such a confederated government, securing at the same time
to the citizens of each state, local governments adapted to the peculiar con-
dition of each, with unrestricted trade and intercourse with each other, it will
be an important era in the history of human events. Whilst it will consoli-
date and strengthen the power of Germany, it must essentially promote the
cause of peace, commerce, civilization and constitutional liberty, throughout
the world.
With all the governments on this continent, our relations, it is believed,
are now on a more friendly and satisfactory footing than they have ever been
at any former period.
Since the exchange of ratifications of the treaty of peace with Mexico, our
intercourse with the government of that republic has been of the most friendly
character. The envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the
United States to Mexico has been received and accredited; and a diplomatic
representative from Mexico of similar rank has been received and accredited
by this government. The amicable relations between the two countries
which had been suspended have been happily restored, and are destined, I
trust, to be long preserved. The two republics, both situated on this conti-
nent, and with coterminous territories, have every motive of sympathy and
of interest to bind them together in perpetual amity.
The gratifying condition of our foreign relations renders it unnecessary for
me to call your attention more specifically to them.
It has been my constant aim and desire to cultivate peace and commerce
with all nations. Tranquillity at home, and peaceful relations abroad, consti-
tute the true and permanent policy of our country. War, the scourge of
nations, sometimes becomes inevitable, but it is always to be avoided when
it can be done consistently with the rights and honour of the nation.
One of the most important results of the war into which we were recently
forced with a neighbouring nation, is the demonstration it has afforded of the
military strength of our country. Before the late war with Mexico, European
and other foreign powers entertained imperfect and erroneous views of our
physical strength as a nation and of our ability to prosecute war, and espe-
cially a war waged out of our own country. They saw that our standing army
on the peace establishment did not exceed ten thousand men. Accustomed
themselves to maintain in peace large standing armies for the protection of
thrones against their own subjects, as well as against foreign enemies, they
had not conceived that it was possible for a nation without such an army, well
disciplined and of long service, to wage war successfully. They held in low
258 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
repute our militia, and were far from regarding them as an effective force,
unless it might be for temporary defensive operations when invaded on our
own soil.
The events of the late war with Mexico have not only undeceived them ;
but have removed erroneous impressions which prevailed to some extent
even among a portion of our own countrymen. That war has demonstrated,
that upon the breaking out of hostilities not anticipated, and for which no
previous preparation had been made, a volunteer army of citizen soldiers
equal to veteran troops, and in numbers equal to any emergency, can in a
short period be brought into the field. Unlike what would have occurred in
any other country, we were under no necessity of resorting to draughts or
conscriptions. On the contrary, such was the number of volunteers who pa-
triotically tendered their services, that the chief difficulty was in making
selections and determining who should be disappointed and compelled to
remain at home. Our citizen soldiers are unlike those drawn from the popu-
lation of any other country. They are composed indiscriminately of al! pro-
fessions and pursuits; of farmers, lawyers, physicians, merchants, manufac-
turers, mechanics and labourers; and this, not only among the officers, but
the private soldiers in the ranks. Our citizen soldiers are unlike those of any
other country in other respects. They are armed, and have been accustomed
from their youth up to handle and use fire arms; and a large proportion of
them, especially in the western and more newly settled states, are expert
marksmen. They are men who have a reputation to maintain at home by
their good conduct in the field. They are intelligent, and there is an indivi-
duality of character which is found in the ranks of no other army. In battle,
each private man, as well as every officer, fights not only for his country,
but for glory and distinction among his fellow citizens when he shall return
to civil life.
The war with Mexico has demonstrated not only the ability of the govern-
ment to organize a numerous army upon a sudden call, but also to provide it with
all the munitions and necessary supplies with despatch, convenience and
ease, and to direct its operations with efficiency. The strength of our insti-
tutions has not only been displayed in the valour and skill of our troops en-
gaged in active service in the field, but in the organization of those executive
branches which were charged with the general direction and conduct of the
war. While too great praise cannot be bestowed upon the officers and men
who fought our battles, it would be unjust to withhold from those officers
necessarily stationed at home, who were charged with the duty of furnishing
the army, in proper time, and in proper places, with all the munitions of war
and other supplies so necessary to make it efficient, the commendation to
which they are entitled. The credit due to this class of our officers is the
greater, when it is considered that no army in ancient or modern times was
ever better appointed or provided than our army in Mexico. Operating in an
enemy's country, removed two thousand miles from the seat of the federal
government, its different corps spread over a vast extent of territory, hundreds
and even thousands of miles apart from each other, nothing short of the un-
tiring vigilance and extraordinary energy of these officers could have enabled
them to provide the army at all points, and in proper season, with all that
was required for the most efficient service.
It is but an act of justice to declare, that the officers in charge of the several
executive bureaux, all under the immediate eye and supervision of the secre-
tary of war, performed iheir respective duties with ability, energy and effi-
ciency. They have reaped less of the glory of the war, not having been per-
sonally exposed to its perils in battle, than their pompanions in arms; but
without their forecast, efficient aid and co-operation, those in the field would
not have been provided with the ample means they possessed of achieving
1849.]
Documents. 259
for themselves andtheir country the unfading honours which they have won
for both.
When all these facts are considered, it may cease to be a matter of so much
amazement abroad how it happened that our noble army in Mexico, regulars
and volunteers, were victorious upon every battle field, however fearful the
odds against them.
The war with Mexico has thus fully developed the capacity of republican
governments to prosecute successfully a just and necessary foreign war with
all the vigour usually attributed to more arbitrary forms of government. It
has been usual for writers on public law to impute to republics a want of that
unity,' concentration of purpose and vigour of execution, which are generally
admitted to belong to the monarchical and aristocratic forms; and this feature
of popular government has been supposed to display itself more particularly
in the conduct of a war carried on in an enemy's territory. The war with
Great Britain, in 1812, was to a great extent confined within our own limits,
and shed but little light on this subject. But the war which we have just
closed by an honourable peace, evinces beyond all doubt, that a popular repre-
sentative government is equal to any emergency which is likely to arise in
the affairs of a nation.
The war with Mexico has developed most strikingly and conspicuously
another feature in our institutions — it is, that without cost to the government
or danger to our liberties, we have in the bosom of our society of freemen,
available in a just and necessary war, virtually a standing army of two mil-
lions of armed citizen-soldiers such as fought the battles of Mexico.
But our military strength does not consist alone in our capacity for extend-
ed and successful operations on land. The navy is an important arm of the
national defence. If the services of the navy were not so brilliant as those of
the army in the late war with Mexico, it was because they had no enemy to
meet on their own element. While the army had opportunity of performing
more conspicuous service, the navy largely participated in the conduct of the
war. Both branches of the service performed their whole duty to the country.
For the able and gallant services of the officers and men of the army — acting
independently as well as in co-operation with our troops — in the conquest of
the Californias, the capture of Vera Cruz, and the seizure and occupation of
other important positions on the Gulf and Pacific coasts, the highest praise is
due. Their vigilance, energy and skill, rendered the most effective service
in excluding munitions of war and other supplies from the enemy, while they
secured a safe entrance for abundant supplies for our own army. Our ex-
tended commerce was nowhere interrupted; and for this immunity from the
evils of war, the country is indebted to the navy.
High praise is due to the officers of the several executive bureaux, navy
yards and stations connected with the service, all under the immediate direc-
tion of the secretary of the navy, for the industry, foresight and energy, with
which every thing was directed and furnished, to give efficiency to that branch
of the service. The same vigilance existed in directing the operations of the
navy as of the army. There was concert of action and of purpose between
the heads of the two arms of the service. By the orders which were from
time to time issued, our vessels of war on the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico
were stationed in proper time and in proper positions to co-operate efficiently
with the army. By this means their combined power was brought to bear
successfully on the enemy.
The great results which have been developed and brought to light by this
war, will be of immeasurable importance in the future progress of our country.
They will tend powerfully to preserve us from foreign collisions, and to enable
us to pursue uninterruptedly our cherished policy of "peace with all nations,
entangling alliances with none."
260 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
Occupying, as we do, a more commanding position among nations than at any
former period, our duties and our responsibilities to ourselves and to posterity
are correspondingly increased. This will be the more obvious when we consider
the vast additions which have been recently made to our territorial possessions,
and their great importance and value.
Within less than four years the annexation of Texas to the Union has been
consummated ; all conflicting-title to the Oregon territoryjSouth of the forty-ninth
degree of north latitude, being all that was insisted on by any of my predeces-
sors, has been adjusted; and New Mexico and Upper California have been ac-
quired by treaty. The area of these several territories, according to a report
carefully prepared by the commissioners of the general land office from the most
authentic information in his possession, and which is herewith transmitted, con-
tains one million one hundred and ninety-three thousand and sixty-one square
miles, or seven hundred and sixty-three millions five hundred and fifty-nine thou-
sand and forty acre?, w T hile the area of the remaining twenty-nine states, and the
territory not yet organized into states east of the Rocky Mountains, contains two
million fifty-nine thousand five hundred and thirteen square miles, or thirteen
hundred and eighteen million one hundred and twenty-six thousand and fifty-
eight acres. These estimates show that the territories recently acquired, and
over which our exclusive jurisdiction and dominion have been extended, consti-
tute a country more than half as large as that which was held by the United
States before their acquisition.
If Oregon be excluded from the estimate, there will still remain within the
limits of Texas, New Mexico, and California, eight hundred and fifty-one thou-
sand five hundred and ninety-eight square miles, or five hundred and forty-five
million twelve thousand seven hundred and twenty acres; being an addition
equal to more than one-third of all the territory owned by the United States be-
fore their acquisition; and, including Oregon, nearly as great an extent of terri-
tory as the whole of Europe, Russia only excepted. The Mississippi, so lately
the frontier of our country, is now only its centre. With the addition of the late
acquisitions, the United States are now estimated to be nearly as large as the
whole of Europe. It is estimated by the superintendent of the coast survey, in
the accompanying report, that the extent of the sea-coast of Texas on the Gulf
of Mexico is upwards of four hundred miles; of the coast of Upper California,
on the Pacific, of nine hundred and seventy miles; and of Oregon including the
straits of Fuca, of six hundred and fifty miles; making the whole extent of sea-
coast on the Pacific one thousand six hundred and twenty miles, and the whole
extent on both the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico two thousand and twenty
miles.
The length of the coast on the Atlantic, from the northern limits of the United
States around the Capes of Florida to the Sabine, on the eastern boundary of
Texas, is estimated to be three thousand one hundred miles; so that the addition
of sea-coast, including Oregon, is very nearly two-thirds as great as all we pos-
sessed before; and excluding Oregon, is an addition of one thousand three hun-
dred and seventy miles; being nearly equal to one-half of the coast which we
possessed before these acquisitions. We have now three great maritime fronts —
on the Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Pacific — making, in the whole, an
extent of sea-coast exceeding five thousand miles. This is the extent of the sea-
coast of the United States, not including bays, sounds, and small irregularities
of the main shore, and of the sea islands. If these be included, the length of the
shore line of coast, as estimated by the superintendent of the coast survey, in his
report, would be thirty-three thousand and sixty-three miles.
It would be difficult to calculate the value of these immense additions to our
territorial possessions. Texas, lying contiguous to the western boundary of
Louisiana, embracing within its limits a part of the navigable tributary waters of
the Mississippi, and an extensive sea-coast, could not long have remained in the
1849.] Documents. 261
hands of a foreign power without endangering the peace of our south-western
frontier. Her products in the vicinity of the tributaries of the Mississippi must
have sought a market through these streams, running into and through our terri-
tory; and the danger of irritation and collision of interests between Texas, as a
foreign state, and ourselves would have been imminent, while the embarrass-
ments in the commercial intercourse between them must have been constant and
unavoidable. Had Texas fallen into the hands, or under the influence and con-
trol of a strong maritime or military foreign power, as '.she might have done, these
dangers would have been still greater. They have been avoided by her volun-
tary and peaceful annexation to the United States. Texas, from her position,
was a natural and almost indispensable part of our territories. Fortunately, she
has been restored to our country, and now constitutes one of the states of our
confederacy, "upon an equal footing with the original states." The salubrity of
climate, the fertility of soil, peculiarly adapted to the production of some of our
most valuable staple commodities, and her commercial advantages, must soon
make her one of our most populous states.
New Mexico, though situated in the interior, and without a sea-coast, is known
to contain much fertiTe land, to abound in rich mines of the precious metals, and
to be capable of sustaining a large population. From its position, it is the in-
termediate aad connecting territory between our settlements and our possessions
in Texas, and those of the Pacific coast.
Upper California, irrespective of the vast .mineral wealth recently developed
there, holds, at this day, in point of value and importance to the rest of the union,
the same relation that Louisiana did when that fine territory was acquired from
France, forty-five years ago. Extending nearly ten degrees of latitude along the
Pacific, and embracing the only safe and commodious harbours on that coast for
many hundreds of miles, with a temperate climate, and an extensive interior of
fertile lands, it is scarcely possible to estimate its wealth until it shall be brought
under the government of our laws, and its resources fully developed. From its
position, it must command the rich commerce of China, of Asia, and islands of
the Pacific, of Western Mexico, of Central America, the South American states,
and of the Russian possessions bordering on that ocean.
A great emporium will doubtless speedily arise on the California coast, which,
may be destined to rival in importance New Orleans itself. The depot of the
vast commerce which must exist on the Pacific will probably be at some point
on the bay of San Francisco, and will occupy the same relation to the whole
western coast of that ocean, as New Orleans does to the valley of the Missis-
sippi and the gulf of Mexico. To this depot our numerous whale ships will
resort with their cargoes, to trade, refit, and obtain supplies. This of itself
will largely contribute to build up a city, which would soon become the cen-
tre of a great and rapidly increasing commerce. 'Situated on a safe harbour,
sufficiently capacious for all the navies as well as the marine of the world,
and convenient to excellent timber for ship building, owned by the United.
States, it must become our great western naval depot.
It was known that mines of the precious metals existed to a considerable
extent in California at the time of its acquisition. Recent discoveries render
it probable that these mines are more extensive and valuable than was antici-
pated. The accounts of the abundance of gold in that territory are of such
an extraordinary character as would scarcely command belief, were they not
corroborated by the authentic reports of officers in the public service, who
have visited the mineral district, and derived the facts which they detail from
personal observation. Reluctant to credit the reports in general circulation
as to the quantity of gold, the officer commanding our forces in California
visited the mineral district in July last, for the purpose of obtaining accurate
information on the subject. His report to the war department of the result
of his examination, and the facts obtained on the spot, is herewith laid before
VOL. II. MARCH, 1849. 18
262 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
Congress. When he visited the country, there were about four thousand per-
sons engaged in collecting gold. There is every reason to believe that the
numberof persons so employed has since been augmented. The explorations
already made warrant the belief that the supply is very large, and that gold
is found at various places in an extensive district of country.
Information received from officers of the navy, and other sources, though
not so full and minute, confirm the accounts of the commander of our military
force in California. It appears also, from these reports, that mines of quick-
silver are found in the vicinity of the gold region. One of them is now being
worked, and is believed to be among the most productive in the world.
The effects produced by the discovery of these rich mineral deposites, and
the success which has attended the labours of those who have resorted to
them, have produced a surprising change in the state of affairs in California.
Labour commands a most exorbitant price, and all other pursuits but that of
searching for the precious metals are abandoned. Nearly the whole of the
male population of the country have gone to the gold district. Ships arriving
on the coast are deserted by their crews, and their voyages suspended for
want of sailors. Our commanding officer there entertains apprehensions that
soldiers cannot be kept in public service without a large increase of pay.
Desertions in his command have become frequent, and he recommends that
those who shall withstand the strong temptation, and remain faithful, should
be rewarded.
This abundance of gold, and the all-engrossing pursuit of it, have already
caused in California an unprecedented rise in the prices of the necessaries of
life.
That we may the more speedily and fully avail ourselves of the undeveloped
wealth of these mines, it is deemed of vast importance that a branch of the
mint of the United States be authorized to be established, at your present
session, in California. Among other signal advantages which would result
from such an establishment would be that of raising the gold to its par value
in that territory. A branch mint of the United States at the great commercial
depot on the west coas,t, would convert into our own coin not only the gold
derived from our own rich mines, but also the bullion and specie which our
commerce may bring from the whole west coast of central and South America.
The west coast of America and the adjacent interior embrace the richest and
best mines of Mexico, New Granada, Central America, Chili, and Peru.
The bullion and specie drawn from these countries, and especially from
those of western Mexico and Peru, to an amount in value of many millions of
dollars, are now annually diverted and carried by the ships of Great Britain
to her own ports, to be recoined or used to sustain her national bank, and
thus contribute to increase her ability to command so much of the commerce
of the world. If a branch mint be established at the great commercial point
upon that coast, a vast amount of bullion and specie would flow thither to be
recoined, and pass thence to New Orleans, New York, and other Atlantic
cities. The amount of our constitutional currency at home would be greatly
increased, while its circulation abroad would be promoted. It is well known
to our merchants trading to China and the west coast of America, that great
inconvenience and loss are experienced from the fact that our coins are not
current at their par value in those countries.
The powers of Europe, far removed from the west coast of America by the
Atlantic Ocean which intervenes, and by a tedious and dangerous navigation
around the southern cape of the continent of America, can never successfully
compete with the United States in the rich and extensive commerce which is
opened to us at so much less cost by the acquisition of California.
The vast importance and commercial advantages of California have hereto-
fore remained undeveloped by the government of the country of which it
1849.] Documents. 263
constituted a part. Now that this fine province is a part of our country, all
the states of the Union, some more immediately and directly than others, are
deeply interested in the speedy development of its wealth and resources.
No section of our country is more interested, or will be more benefited, than
the commercial, navigating, and manufacturing interests of the eastern States.
Our planting and farming interests in every part of the union will be greatly
benefited by it. As our commerce and navigation are enlarged and extended,
our exports of agricultural products and of manufactures will be increased;
and in the new markets thus opened, they cannot fail to command remune-
rating and profitable prices.
The acquisition of California and New Mexico, the settlement of the Oregon
boundary, and the annexation of Texas, extending to the Rio Grande, are re-
sults which, combined, are of greater consequence, and will add more to the
strength and wealth of the nation, than any which have preceded them since
the adoption of the constitution.
But to effect these great results, not only California, but New Mexico, must
be brought under the control of regularly organized governments. The exist-
ing condition of California, and of that part of New Mexico lying west of
the Rio Grande, and without the limits of Texas, imperiously demand that
Congress should, at its present session, organize territorial governments over
them.
Upon the exchange of ratifications of the treaty of peace with Mexico on
the thirtieth of May last, the temporary governments which had been esta-
blished over New Mexico and California by our military and naval commanders,
by virtue of the rights of war, ceased to derive any obligatory force from that
source of authority; and having been ceded to the United States, all govern-
ment and control over them under the authority of Mexico had ceased to
exist. Impressed with the necessity of establishing territorial governments
over them, I recommended the subject to the favourable consideration of Con-
gress in my message communicating the ratified treaty of peace, on the sixth
of July last, and invoked their action at that session. Congress adjourned
without making any provision for their government. The inhabitants, by the
transfer of their country, had become entitled to the benefits of our laws and
constitution, and yet were left without any regularly organized government.
Since that time the very limited power possessed by the executive has been
exercised to preserve and protect them from the inevitable consequences of
a state of anarchy. The only government which remained was that esta-
blished by the military authority during the war. Regarding this to be a de
facto government, and that by the presumed consent of the inhabitants it
might be continued temporarily, they were advised to conform and submit
to it for the short intervening period before Congress would again assemble
and legislate on the subject. The views entertained by the Executive on
this point are contained in a communication of the secretary of state, dated
the seventh of October last, which was forwarded for publication to California
and New Mexico, a copy of which is herewith transmitted.
The small military force of the regular army, which was serving within the
limits of the acquired territories at the close of the war, was retained in them,
and additional forces have been ordered there for the protection of the inha-
bitants, and to preserve and secure the rightsand interests of the United States.
No revenue has been or could be collected at the ports in California, be-
cause Congress failed to authorize the establishment of custom-houses, or the
appointment of officers for that purpose.
The secretary of the treasury, by a circular letter addressed to collectors of
the customs on the seventh day of October last, a copy of which is herewith
transmitted, exercised all the power with which he was invested by law.
In pursuance of the act of the fourteenth of August last, extending the
264 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
benefit of our post office laws to the people of California, the post master
general has appointed two agents, who have proceeded, the one to California,
and the other to Oregon, with authority to make the necessary arangements
for carrying their provisions into effect.
The monthly line of mail steamers from Panama to Astoria has been re-
quired to ''stop and deliver and take mails at San Diego, Monterey, and San
Francisco." These mail steamers, connected by the isthmus of Panama
with the line of mail steamers on the Atlantic between New York and Cha-
gres, will establish a regular mail communication with California.
It is our solemn duty to provide with the least practicable delay, for New
Mexico and California, regularly organized territorial governments. The
causes of the failure to do this at the last session of Congress are well known,
and deeply to be regretted. With the opening prospects of increased prosperity
and national greatness which the acquisition of these rich and extensive ter-
ritorial possessions affords, how irrational it would be to forego or to reject
these advantages, by the agitation of a domestic question which is coeval with
the existence of our government itself, and to endanger by internal strifes,
geographical divisions, and heated contests for political power, or for any
other cause, the harmony of the glorious union of our confederated States;
that union which binds us together as one people, and which for sixty years
has been our shield and protection against every danger. In the eyes of the
world and of posterity, how trivial and insignificant will be all our internal
divisions and struggles compared with the preservation of this union of the
states in all its vigour and with all its countless blessings! No patriot would
foment and excite geographical and sectional divisions. No lover of his
country would deliberately calculate the value of the union.
Future generations would look in amazement upon such a course. Other
nations at the present day would look upon it with astonishment ; and such
of them as desire to maintain and perpetuate thrones and monarchical or aris-
tocratical principles, will view it with exultation and delight, because in it
they will see the elements of faction, which they hope must ultimately over-
turn our system. Ours is the great example of a prosperous anil free self-
governed republic, commanding the admiration and the imitation of all the
lovers of freedom throughout the world. How solemn, therefore, is the duty,
how impressive the call upon us and upon all parts of our country to cultivate
a patriotic spirit of harmony, of good fellowship, of compromise and mutual
concession, in the administration of the incomparable system of government
formed by our fathers in the midst of almost insuperable difficulties, and
transmitted to us with the injunction that we should enjoy its blessings and
hand it down unimpaired to those who may come after us!
In view of the high and responsible duties which we owe to ourselves nnd
to mankind, I trust you may be able, at the present session, to approach the
adjustment of the only domestic question which seriously threatens, or pro-
bably ever can threaten, to disturb the harmony and successful operation of
our system.
The immensely valuable possessions of New Mexico and California are
already inhabited by a considerable population. Attracted by their great
fertility, their mineral wealth, their commercial advantages and the salubrity
of the climate, emigrants from the older states, in great numbers, are already
preparing to seek new homes in these inviting regions.
Shall the dissimilarity of the domestic institutions in the different states
prevent us from providing for them suitable governments 1 These institutions
existed at the adoption of the constitution, but the obstacles which they in-
terposed were overcome by that spirit of compromise which is now invoked.
In a conflict of opinions or of interests, real or imaginary, between different
sections of our country, neither can justly demand all which it might desire to
1849.] Documents. 265
obtain. Each, in the true spirit of our institutions, should concede something
to the other.
Our gallant forces in the Mexican war. by whose patriotism and unparal-
leled deeds of arms, we obtained these possessions as an indemnity for our
just demands against Mexico, were composed of citizens who belong to no
one state or section of the union. They were men from slaveholding and
non-slaveholding states, from the north and the south, from the east and the
west. They were all companions in arms and fellow citizens of the same
common country, engaged in the same common cause. When prosecuting
that war, they were brethren and friends, and shared alike with each other
common toils, dangers and sufferings. Now, when their work is ended, when
peace is restored, and they return again to their homes, put off the habili-
ments of war, take their places in society, and resume their pursuits in civil
'ife, surely a spirit of harmony and concession, and of equal regard for the
rights of all, and of all sections of the union, ought to prevail in providing go-
vernments for the acquired territories — the fruits of their common service.
The whole people of the United States and of every state, contributed to defray
the expenses of that war, and it would not be just for any one section to ex-
clude another from all participation in the acquired territory. This would not
be in consonance with that just system of government which the framers of
the constitution adopted.
The question is believed to be rather abstract than practical, whether
slavery ever can or would exist in any portion of the acquired territory, even
if it were left to the option of the slaveholding states themselves. From the
nature of the climate and productions, in much the larger portion of it, it is
certain it could never exist; and in the remainder, the probabilities are it would
not. But however this may be, the question, involving, as it does, a principle
of equality of rights of the separate and several states, as equal co- partners in
the confederacy, should not be disregarded.
In organizing governments over these territories, no duty imposed on con-
gress by the constitution requires that they should legislate on the subject of
slavery, while their power to do so is not only seriously questioned, but
denied by many of the soundest expounders of that instrument. Whether
congress shall legislate or not, the people of the acquired territories, when
assembled in convention to form state constitutions, will possess the sole and
exclusive power to determine for themselves whether slavery shall or shall
not exist within their limits. If congress shall abstain from interfering with
the question, the people of these territories will be left free to adjust it as they
may think proper when they apply for admission as states into the union. No
enactment of congress could restrain the people of any of the sovereign states
of the union, old or new, north or south, slave-holding or non-slaveholding.
from determining the character of their own domestic institutions as they may
deem wise and proper. Any and all the states possess this right, and con-
gress cannot deprive them of it. The people of Georgia might, if they chose,
so alter their constitution as to abolish slavery within its limits; and the
people of Vermont might so alter their constitution as to admit slavery within
its limits. Both states would possess the right; though, as all know, it is not
probable that either would exert it.
It is fortunate for the peace and harmony of the union that this question is
in its nature temporary, and can only continue for the brief period which will
intervene before California and New Mexico may be admitted as states into
the union. From the tide of population now flowing into them, it is highly
probable that this will soon occur.
Considering the several states and the citizens of the several states as
equals, and entitled to equal rights under the constitution, if this were an
original question, it might well be insisted on that the principle of non-interfe-
266 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
rence is the true doctrine, and that congress could not, in the absence of any
fxpress grant of power, interfere with their relative rights. Upon a great
emergency, however, and under menacing dangers to the union, the Missouri
compromise line in respect to slavery was adopted. The same line was ex-
tended further west in the acquisition of Texas. After an acquiescence of
nearly thirty years in the principle of compromise recognised and established
by these acts, and to avoid the danger to the union which might follow if it
were now disregarded, I have heretofore expressed the opinion that that line
of compromise should be extended on the parallel of thirty-six degrees thirty
minutes from the western boundary of Texas, where it now terminates, to the
Pacific Ocean. This is the middle ground of compromise, upon which the
different sections of the union may meet, as they have heretofore met. If
this be done, it is confidently believed a large majority of the people of every
section of the country, however widely their abstract opinions on the subject
of slavery may differ, would cheerfully and patriotically acquiesce in it, and
peace and harmony would again fill our borders.
The restriction north of the line was only yielded to in the case of Missouri
and Texas upon a principle of compromise, made necessary for the sake of
preserving the harmony, and possibly the existence of the union.
It was upon these considerations that at the close of your last session, I
gave my sanction to the principles of the Missouri compromise line, by approv-
ing and signing the bill to establish "the territorial government of Oregon."
From a sincere desire to preserve the harmony of the union, and in deference
for the acts of my predecessors, I felt constrained to yield my acquiescence to
the extent to which they had gone in compromising this delicate and danger-
ous question. But if congress shall now reverse the decision by which the
Missouri compromise was effected^ and shall propose to extend the restriction
over the whole territory, south as well as north of the parallel of thirty-six de-
grees thirty minutes, it will cease to be a compromise, and must be regarded
as an original question.
If congress, instead of observing the course of non-interference, leaving the
adoption of their own domestic institutions to the people who may inhabit
these territories; or if, instead of extending the Missouri compromise line to
the Pacific, shall prefer to submit the legal and constitutional questions which
may arise to the decision of the judicial tribunals, as was proposed in a bill
which passed the senate at your last session, an adjustment may be effected
in this mode. If the whole subject be referred to the judiciary, all parts of
the union should cheerfully acquiesce in the final decision of the tribunal
created by the constitution for the settlement of all questions which may arise
under the constitution, treaties, and laws of the United States.
Congress is earnestly invoked, for the sake of the union, its harmony, and
our continued prosperity as a nation, to adjust at its present session, this, the
only dangerous question which lies in our path — if not in some one of the
modes suggested, in some other which may be satisfactory.
(The remainder in the next number.)
1849.] Documents. 267
REPORTS OF SECRETARIES.
We give abstracts of the reports of the heads of the different departments.
REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR.
This document commences with a brief account of the operations of our troops
in Mexico after the taking of the capitol, and then adds:
Our military peace establishment is now nearly the same in numerical strength
as it was at the commencement of the war with Mexico. Filled up to the ut-
most limit allowed by law, it would be nine thousand eight hundred and seventy-
eight officers and soldiers, exclusive of the enlisted men of the ordnance; but its
actual numerical strength will generally fall considerably below this number.
The great extension of "our territorial limits required a new arrangement of our
military divisions and departments. The eastern, or first division, is not changed.
Texas and New Mexico have been added to the western, or second ; and Cali-
fornia and Oregon constitute the third — or the division of the Pacific.
In allusion to the neglect to send troops to Oregon to protect the settlements
from the attacks of the Indians, the secretary says that the mounted rifle regi-
ment was ordered on that service, but that this arrangement was frustrated by
the act of congress passed at the close of the last session, which gave permission
to the enlisted men of the regiment who had been in service in Mexico to ''re-
ceive, on application, an honourable discharge from the service of the United
States, and stand as if they had served out their respective terms.' 7 By the ope-
ration of this act, the regiment, as to the rank and file, was in effect disbanded.
Prompt measures were taken to recruit it; and no doubt is entertained but that
early in the spring it will be in a condition to leave for its destination.
The other regiments of the permanent military establishment were greatly re-
duced at the close of the war. They had been, to considerable extent, filled up
by recruits enlisted to serve only during its continuance. Owing to the late
period of their return to Mexico, and the unavoidable delay in recruiting or orga-
nizing, such as were destined for distant service could not be prepared to proceed
by land to Oregon, California, or New Mexico, until the season was so far ad-
vanced as to render a march across the country impracticable. Orders, in anti-
cipation of peace, were given to the general in chief command to send a regiment
from the headquarters in Mexico to California; but the Mexican government re-
fused to permit its passage to the Pacific coast.
The secretary then mentions in detail the troops sent up the Rio Grande to Ca-
lifornia and Oregon.
Troops to guard the Rio Grande frontier and keep in check the Indians in that
quarter have been ordered to Texas, and have arrived at or are on their way to
their respective stations.
The remainder of the army is distributed on the Indian and northern frontiers,
and on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.
The report notices the establishment of military posts at Grand Island and
Fort Laramie, on the Oregon route.
The amount of contributions and avails of captured property received by officers
of the army in Mexico, thus far reported, is $3,844,373 77, which will be some-
what increased by amounts collected in New Mexico and California. Of this
amount, $67,492 33 have been retained for expenses of collections: $346,369 30
paid into the treasury of the United States; $3,267,540 84 turned over to dis-
bursing officers; $49,712 28 credited by the Mexican government to the United
States in payment of the first instalment under the treaty; and the remaining
$113,259 02 charged against the collecting officers. Of the amount turned over
to disbursing officers $769,650 were applied towards the payment of the first in-
26S Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
stalment under the treaty with Mexico, and the greater part of the balance has
been disbursed for regular and ordinary purposes. Against the balances remain-
ing, charged to collecting officers, they may be entitled to further credits on the
several accounts above stated to the amount of about ^79,000.
fto fund was placed by special appropriation at the disposal of the executive,
or commanding generals, to meet expenses for secret services, or for extraordinary
objects. Disbursements of this character are not only usual, but indispensable
in the prosecution of a war, and particularly a foreign war. The collections
in Mexico have been resorted to for these purposes. It is not reasonable to ex-
pect that regular vouchers of payment for secret services should be produced, and
the accounts embracing such items must remain unadjusted, unless congress
should deem it proper to provide some mode for settling them.
To prevent delay, and to subserve the convenience of the volunteers, paymas-
ters have been sent into the several sections of the country where these troops
were raised and organized. It is estimated that from eighty to one hundred
thousand persons became entitled to three months' extra pay under the act of the
19th of July last; the greater part of this number had left the service before this
provision of law was adopted. Scattered, as they are, through every section of
the United States, much labour and time will be required to adjust these claims.
The vast increase in the extent of our territory, and in the number of military
posts, has induced the Paymaster General to ask that the additional paymasters
appointed for the war, and whose services were continued by an act of congress
passed at the last session until the 4th of March next, may be retained perma-
nently in the public service.
The number of military posts will probably exceed the number of medical of-
ficers now authorized by law. Should that be the case, the employment of phy-
sicians in civil life will become necessary. The secretary therefore recommends
the addition of two surgeons and twelve assistant surgeons to the medical staff
of the army.
The appropriations for the army proper required for the next fiscal year amount
to $4,43-2,286. The estimates for the transportation of the troops far exceed that
of any other year previous to the war. The increase in this item is to meet the
expense of sending troops to Oregon, New Mexico, and California.
In none of the branches of this department has the business been so much aug-
mented as in the pension bureau. The number of invalid pensioners has in-
creased, during the last year, six hundred and ninety-one; the whole number on
the list is three thousand one hundred and twenty-six.
More than sixty thousand claims have been presented under the act of the 11th
of February, 1847, for bounty land and treasury scrip. About forty thousand of
them have been acted on .and allowed, twenty thousand are now pending, and it
is estimated that there are forty thousand yet to be presented. Great efforts have
been made to despatch these applications, and about two hundred and fifty are
daily investigated and passed.
The report then concludes with a glowing picture of the Indian affairs.
There are sixteen manual- labour schools, and eighty-seven boarding and dis-
trict schools now in successful operation among the various Indian tribes, and
the number of Indian youths attending them, according to the reports received
at the department, is three thousand six hundred and eighty-two — of which two
thousand six hundred and fifty are males, and the remaining one thousand and
thirty-two are females. The schools are generally in charge of missionary so-
cieties, and are well conducted. These facts afford the most gratifying evidence
that nearly all our colonized tribes are rapidly advancing in civilization and moral
improvement.
Within the newly acquired territories there is a numerous Indian population,
over which our supervision and guardianship must necessarily be extended; but
this cannot be effectually done without the action of congress on the subject.
1849.] Documents. 269
Additional agencies are required to manage Indian affairs in these territories, and
to extend to them our Indian system of control and management.
The secretary asks attention to the following subjects; the settlement of claims
in California, a retired list of officers of the army, and an asylum for disabled
and wounded soldiers.
REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY.
The total resources of the year, including a balance of Si, 701, 251 on hand
at its commencement, were $58,394,701: — the total expenses $58,241,167, —
showing a balance in the Treasury of $153,534. At the close of next year it
is estimated that there will be on hand a balance of $2,853,694: — in 1850, it
is put at $5,040,542.
The secretary states the annual average revenue under the tariff of 1842
at $23,895,208 : that under the tariff of 1846 at $30,902,489. He then pro-
ceeds to point out the bad consequences that would have followed the con-
tinuance of the tariff of 1842, and the distribution of the proceeds of the
sales of the public lands. The result of protection, he urges, would have
been the destruction of commerce, the great importance of which he then sets
forth. Specific duties, moreover, he says, constantly increase, as the foreign
article falls in price, — which proposition he illustrates at length. Our manu-
facturers, he says, do not desire the restoration of the tariff of '42, because it
stimulated too much competition.
Our exports of breadstuffs during the year amounted to $37,472,751 — double
the amount exported under the tariff of '42. Our tonnage also increased from
2,839,046 to 3,150.502 tons. The most of this increase is attributed to the
present tariff. A re-enactment of the tariff of '42 will increase smuggling,
— great advantages for which exist along our coast, as is shown by elaborate
tables.
Mr. Walker refers to the revulsions of Europe, which have injured our trade,
and then enters upon an elaborate vindication of Free-Trade principles, in
opposition to those of protection, — enforced by the example of the several
States of the Union, among w T hich free-trade prevails. A large section of the
report is occupied with this argument, which is skilfully handled. The re-
peal of the British Corn Laws is attributed to our arguments. The protective
system is characterized as h agrarian," and a war upon property.
A cutter has been sent to Oregon to enforce the revenue laws there. No
duties can be collected in California as yet. It is recommended that other
collection districts on the Pacific Coast be authorized. Reference is made to
the facilities for commerce in the Pacific, — to the propriety of sending
steamers there, and to the great desirableness of a railroad across the isthmus
of Darien.
The Secretary recommends that an act be passed allowing goods to be taken
across the Isthmus to our Pacific ports, the same as from one port to another
on the Atlantic coast.
Consuls are needed at Chagres and Panama.
Drawback should be allowed on goods exported by the Rio Grande.
A variety of suggestions in regard to our trade in our new possessions are
submitted. Reciprocal free trade between Canada and Mexico and the United
States is recommended.
The Mexican Tariff imposed upon Mexico during the war greatly increased
our means, and set a salutary example to belligerents in future wars.
The Secretary strongly renews his recommendation for a branch mint in the
city of New York. It is urged as necessary, in order to secure to the city
the command of her due proportion of coin. The storehouse of the goods of
the Union, he says, must become the storehouse of its specie.
270 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
The department, since March, 1845, has coined at our mints the sum of
$38,717,709. Much more would have been coined, had there been a branch
"mint at New York. The branch mint would also greatly aid the operations of
the assistant treasurer.
The merchants of New York, from January 1, 1847, to November 30, 1848,
paid 835,360,678 for duties. The amount of specie received during the same
period by the assistant treasurer at New York was $57,328,369, and the coin
disbursed $55,496,269.
The sub-treasury system is vindicated as against the State bank deposit
system.
The transactions in regard to the loan of $16,000,000 in March last, are de-
tailed. The whole premium obtained was $487,168.
The public debt has been punctually paid whenever it became due. State-
ments are made showing that this has been done at every period of our his-
tory.
Our present debt is about $65,304,450, — less than half the annual interest
on the public debt of Great Britain.
Our whole public domain unsold amounts to 1,442,217,837.
The Secretary advises that power be given the department to purchase all
the public debt exclusive of Treasury notes without premium, and also to
purchase at the market rate any portion of the rest of the debt. Details are
given of the purchase already made. Reasons are given why the debt should
be discharged as rapidly as possible.
The Coast survey is making rapid progress. — Six new sections of coast have
been surveyed, and six new shoals discovered.
Improvements in our Light House system are urgently recommended.
New standards for weights and measures, and the adoption of the decimal
system are urged.
A scientific commission is asked to survey the mineral lands of California.
The warehousing system is reserved for a special report. Its progress has
been successful and satisfactory.
The Secretary makes some suggestions concerning the organization of the
Treasury Department, the separation from it of the Land Office, supervision
of the Marshals, and the appointment of an Assistant Secretary. He advises
also the detachment of the Indian Office and the Pension Office from the War
Department; and that of the Patent Office from the State Department; and
the organization of them all under a new head, to be called the Secretary of
the Interior. The whole expense would not exceed $20,000 per annum.
The report closes with invoking the blessing of Heaven upon our beloved
Union.
REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY.
The construction of the four steamships of war authorized by the act of
congress of 3d of March, 1847, is in a satisfactory state of progress. The
Saranac, built at the navy yard at Kittery, has been launched. The Powha-
tan, at Norfolk; the Susquehanna, at Philadelphia; and the San Jacinto, at
New York, may be launched and ready for sea in the course of the next
year.
There are unfinished on the stocks at the several navy yards four ships of
the rate of seventy-four guns, and two frigates of forty-four guns. They are
so near completion that they can be readily launched and fitted for sea service
on short notice, if public exigencies shall require it. The vessels in commis-
sion during the past year have been employed as follows : —
With a view to the general convenience, one of the three store-ships at-
1849.] Documents. 271
tached to the Pacific squadron sails on her return to the United States semi-
annually.
The report enlarges, with justness and propriety, upon the value and ser-
vices rendered by the navy in the war with Mexico ; presenting the fact that
although the enemy could not be encountered upon the water, yet the opera-
tions of the army were facilitated and derived much of their success from
the presence of the navy upon the Mexican coasts. Reference is properly
made to the aid afforded the Yucatanese by the American squadron in the
Gulf; being, in fact, aid to a portion of the people of a country with which
we were at war.
It is remarked that not a single American vessel was lost to her owners by
capture by the enemy under the rights of war; and there was not, it is be-
lieved, any material effect produced on marine insurance.
Upon the subject of promotions the report remarks, that the safest and best
mode is to require by law that officers rendered unfit for duty otherwise than
by wounds received in battle, or not qualified for promotion to higher grades,
should be placed on reduced pay, out of the line of promotion. Justice and
policy would require that great care should be taken against the exercise of
such a power capriciously, or without a due regard to the rights of all.
The advantages of such a system in guarding officers against contracting
disqualifying habits — in stimulating them to the active and zealous perform-
ance of duty — in exciting them to the acquisition of professional knowledge,
and in securing to the meritorious the rewards of promotion, without having
the way blocked up by others inferior and incompetent, would speedily de-
velop themselves. Such a measure would reduce the expense of the navy;
because, under existing laws, officers who do not perform duty, and are inca-
pable of it, are in the receipt of the full pay of the rank.
Another great security for efficiency in the navy will be found in the" edu-
cation, and in affording the means of instruction to the officers.
The beneficial effects of the naval school at Annapolis upon the service
are already beginning to be sensibly felt.
A necessary appendage to the institution is a vessel of the navy, fitted as
a school of practice in gunnery and navigation. I earnestly recommend that
the appropriation for the next fiscal year, for w T hich an estimate has been sub-
mitted, may be made ; and as no appropriation was made for the general
wants of the school for the present year, I recommend the propriety of
making it at the approaching session of congress.
There are now in one of the rooms of the building occupied by the navy
department a considerable number of flags and other trophies taken by the
navy from public enemies in war. I recommend that authority may be given
by congress to the Secretary of the Navy, under the direction of the Presi-
dent, to cause them to be placed, with suitable labels, at the naval school,
in the care of the superintendent.
The contracts for the naval works at Pensacola, Philadelphia, and at Kit-
tery — the prices to be paid for the works complete — are : —
At Pensacola, $921,937
At Philadelphia, 813,742
At Kittery, 732,905
Total, .... $2,468,584
The report speaks in high terms of the observatory, and suggests the pub-
lication of a nautical almanac.
The report bears testimony, as the result of experience, to the efficient or-
ganization of the navy department. Grateful obligations to the distinguished
men who are and have been in charge of the several bureaus are acknow-
ledged.
272 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
Besides the ships on the stocks, in ordinary, undergoing repairs, and in
commission, and excluding navy yards and other public lands required for
purposes of the navy, with their costly improvements, the reports herewith
submitted show that the public property on hand for naval purposes amounts
in the aggregate to $9, 400. 370.
The establishment of a bureau for the ordering and detailing of officers for
service, for the general superintendence of enlistments, for deciding primarily
on applications for service, relief or discharges, which duties now occupy too
large a portion of the Secretary's time, is recommended.
The efficiency of our ships of war, it is deemed, would be promoted, if the
marine guard allowed by the regulation could be enlarged, and an increase
of the rank and file of the corps from one thousand to fifteen hundred be
made. The number of landsmen might be reduced to the same amount.
Such an increase of the non-commissioned officers and privates would justify
an additional number of commissioned officers equal to the number dis-
missed.
The report concludes with the recommendation that the marine guards
attached, under orders, to the ships of war in the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico,
who, it is known, were often on land, co-operating, in the most gallant man-
ner, with the land forces, and encountering all the dangers and privations of
the service with the army, be put on footing, as to bounty land and other re-
muneration, with those who have already received what was given by law to
the officers and men of the army.
REPORT OF THE POSTMASTER GENERAL.
This document is of considerable length. We have prepared the following,
which is an abstract of all that is important in it.
He commences with the mail services for the year ending June 30th, 1848 ;
from which it appears that there is an increase in the length of routes of 9,390
miles- an increase on the annual transportation of 2,124,680 miles; but a
decrease in the cost of $12, 145. The new foreign mails have, however, added
to the expense of the department. The annual transportation, June 30th,
1848, amounted to 41,012,579 miles at a cost of $2,448,766; which, as com-
pared with 1845, shows an increase in transportation of 5,378,310 miles, but a
reduction of cost of $456,738.
The foreign mails, by steamships, are noticed favourably; lines being con-
tracted for, and some of them already in operation, between Charleston and
Havana; New York and California, (via Panama;) and New York and Bre-
men, (via Southampton.)
The revenues of the office more than justify the predictions of those who
advocated the reduction in the rates of postage. In the last fiscal year the
gross receipts were $4,371,077, being an increase of $425,184 on the pre-
ceding year, and exceeding by $6,445 the annual average of the nine years
preceding the 1st of July, 1845, (when the reduced postage went into opera-
tion,) thus demonstrating that under the low rate of postage the receipts are in-
creased.
The letter postage amounted to $3,550,304, exceeding that of tha previous
year $295,791.
The newspaper postage amounted to $767,334, being an increase of $ 1 24, 174.
The number of post offices on 1st July last was 16,159, being an increase
during the yearof 1,013. The number of offices established was 1,309. The
number discontinued 296.
It is estimated that the expenses of the department for the next year (in-
cluding the sums paid for carrying foreign mails in steamers) will be $4,746,-
1849.]
Documents. 213
845; and the receipts are estimated at $5,211,404, leaving an excess of re-
ceipts over expenditures of $464,562.
In view of these results, the postmaster general enters into an examination
of the question, whether a further reduction in postage ought to be made, and
he arrives at the conclusion that it should, and recommends —
That the rate of postage on letters be five cents per half ounce or less, for
all distances.
That newspapers be weighed ; and pay at the rate of one cent per ounce.
Periodicals and all other printed matter, two cents per ounce.
Letters sent to foreign countries, fifteen cents the half ounce.
The total abolition of the franking privilege.
The pre-payment of the postage on all letters, newspapers and other matter
sent by mail.
A change in the term of the office of the postmaster general, so as to make
his appointment hold for a number of years, he being subject to removal only
by impeachment, and the appointment, by him, of his principal subordinates
or deputies for a like term of years. In case of the removal of any subordi-
nate or deputy, the fact and the causes of it to be reported to the senate.
THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT TAYLOR.
5th March, 1849.
Elected by the American people to the highest office known to our laws, I ap-
pear here to take the oath prescribed by the constitution ; and, in compliance with
a time-honoured custom, to address those who are now assembled.
The confidence and respect shown by my countrymen in calling me to be the
chief magistrate of a republic holding a high rank among the nations of the earth,
have inspired me with feelings of the most profound gratitude; but, when I reflect
that the acceptance of the office which their partiality has bestowed, imposes the
discharge of the most arduous duties, and involves the weightiest obligations, 1
am conscious that the position which I have been called to fill, though sufficient
to satisfy the loftiest ambition, is surrounded by fearful responsibilities. Hap-
pily, however, in the performance of my new duties, I shall not be without able
co-operation. The legislative and judicial branches of the government present
prominent examples of distinguished civil attainments and matured experience;
and it shall be my endeavour to call to my assistance in the executive depart-
ments, individuals whose talents, integrity, and purity of character, will furnish
ample guarantees for the faithful and honourable performance of the trusts to be
committed to their charge. With such aids, and an honest purpose to do what-
ever is right, I hope to execute diligently, impartially, and for the best interests
of the country, the manifold duties devolved upon me.
In the discharge of these duties, my guide will be the constitution, which I
this day swear to ''preserve, protect, and defend." For the interpretation of that
instrument, 1 shall look to the decisions of the judicial tribunals established by
its authority, and to the practice of the government under the earlier presidents,
who had so large a share in its formation. To the example of those illustrious
patriots, I shall always defer with reverence; and especially to his example, who
was, by so many titles, "the Father of his country/'
To command the army and navy of the United States; with the advice and
consent of the Senate, to make treaties, and to appoint ambassadors and other
officers; to give to Congress information of the state of the Union, and recom-
mend such measures as he shall judge to be necessary; and to take care tluit the
laws shall be faithfully executed — these are the most important functions in-
trusted to the President by the constitution; and it may be expected that I shall,
briefly, indicate the principles which will control me in their execution.
274 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
Chosen by the body of the people, under the assurance that my administration
would be devoted to the welfare of the whole country, and not to support any
particular section or merely local interest, I this day renew the declarations I
have heretofore made, and proclaim my fixed determination to maintain, to the
extent of my ability, the government in its original purity, and to adopt as the
basis of my public policy, those great republican doctrines which constitute the
strength of our national existence.
In reference to the army and navy, lately employed with so much distinction
on active service, care shall be taken to ensure the highest condition of efficiency :
and, in furtherance of that object, the military and naval schools, sustained by
the liberality of congress, shall receive the special attention of the executive.
As American freemen, we cannot but sympathize in all efforts to extend the
blessings of civil and political liberty- but, at the same time, we are warned by
the admonitions of history, and the voice of our own beloved Washington, to
abstain from entangling alliances with foreign nations. In all disputes between
conflicting governments, it is our interest, not less than our duty, to remain
strictly neutral; while our geographical position, the genius of our institutions
and our people, and the advancing spirit of civilization, and, above all, the dic-
tates of religion, direct us to the cultivation of peaceful and friendly relations with
all other powers. It is to be hoped that no international question can now arise
which a government, confident in its own strength, and resolved to protect its
own just rights, may not settle by wise negotiation; and it eminently becomes a
government like our own, founded on the morality and intelligence of its citizens,
and upheld by their affections, to exhaust every resort of honourable diplomacy
before appealing to arms. In the conduct of our foreign relations, I shall conform
to these views, as I believe them essential to the best interests and true honour
of the country.
The appointing power vested in the President, imposes delicate and onerous
duties. So far as it is possible to be informed, I shall make honesty, capacity,
and fidelity, indispensable prerequisites to the bestowal of office, and the absence
of either of these qualities shall be deemed sufficient cause for removal.
It shall be my study to recommend such constitutional measures to congress a?
may be necessary and proper to secure encouragement and protection to the great
interests of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures; to improve our rivers and
harbours; to provide for the speedy extinguishment of the public debt; to enforce
a strict accountability on the part of all officers of the government, and the ut-
most economy in all public expenditures. But it is for the wisdom of congress
itself, in which all legislative powers are vested by the constitution, to regulate
these and other matters of domestic policy. I shall look with confidence to the
enlightened patriotism of that body, to adopt such measures of conciliation as
may harmonize conflicting interests, and tend to perpetuate that union which
should be the paramount object of our hopes and affections. In any-action cal-
culated to promote an object so near the heart of every one who truly loves his
country, I will zealously unite with the co-ordinate branches of the government.
In conclusion, I congratulate you, my fellow-citizens, upon the high state of
prosperity to which the goodness of Divine Providence has conducted our common
country. Let us invoke a continuance of the same protecting care, which has
led us from small beginnings to the eminence we this day occupy, and let us seek
to deserve that continuance, by prudence and moderation in our councils ; by well-
directed attempts to assuage the bitterness which too often marks unavoidable
differences of opinion; by the promulgation and practice of just and liberal prin-
ciples; and by an enlarged patriotism, which shall acknowledge no limits but
those of our own wide-spread republic.
1849.] Documents. 275
SPEECH OF THE QUEEN OF GREAT BRITAIN,
AT THE OPENING OF PARLIAMENT, FEB. 1, 1849.
My Lords and Gentlemen. — The period being arrived at which the business
of parliament is usually resumed, I have called you together for the discharge
of your important duties.
It is satisfactory to me to be enabled to state that both in the north and in
the south of Europe the contending parties have consented to a suspension of
arms for the purpose of negotiating terms of peace.
The hostilities carried on in the island of Sicily were attended with cir-
cumstances so revolting, that the British and French admirals were im-
pelled, by motives of humanity, to interpose and stop the further effusion of
blood.
I have availed myself of the interval thus obtained to propose, in conjunc-
tion with France, to the king of Naples, an arrangement calculated to produce
a permanent settlement of affairs in Sicily.
The negotiation on these matters is still pending. It has been my anxious
endeavour, in offering my good offices to the various contending powers, to
prevent the extension of a calamitous war, and to lay the foundations of last-
ing and honourable peace.
It is my constant desire to maintain with all foreign states most friendly
relations.
As soon as the interests of the public service will permit, I shall direct the
papers connected with these transactions to be laid before you.
A rebellion of a formidable character has broken out in the Punjaub, and
the governor-general of India has been compelled, for the preservation of the
peace of the country, to assemble a considerable force, which is now engaged
in military operations against the insurgents; but the tranquillity of British
India has not been affected by these unprovoked disturbances.
I again commend to your attention the restrictions imposed on commerce
by the navigation laws.
If you shall find that these laws are, in whole or in part, unnecessary for
the maintenance of our maritime power, while they fetter trade and industry,
you will no doubt deem it right to repeal or modify their provisions.
Gentlemen of the House of Commons: — I have directed the estimates for the
service of the year to be laid before you. They will be framed with the most
anxious attention to a wise economy. The present aspect of affairs has ena-
bled me to make large reductions on the estimates of last year.
My Lords and Gentlemen : — I observe with satisfaction that this portion of
the united kingdom has remained tranquil amidst the convulsions which have
disturbed so many parts of Europe. The insurrection in Ireland has not been
renewed, but a spirit of disaffection still exists, and I am compelled, to my
great regret, to ask for a continuance, for a limited time, of those powers
which, in the last session, you deemed necessary for the preservation of the
public tranquillity.
I have great satisfaction in stating that commerce is reviving from those
shocks which, at the commencement of last session, I had to deplore.
The condition of the manufacturing districts is likewise more encouraging
than it has been for a considerable period.
It is also gratifying to me to observe that the state of the revenue is one of
progressive improvement.
I have to lament, however, that another failure in the potato crop has caused
very severe distress in some parts of Ireland.
The operation of the laws for the relief of the poor in Ireland will properly
be a subject of your inquiry, and any measures by which those laws may be
276 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
beneficially amended, and the condition of the people maybe improved, will
receive my cordial assent.
It is with pride and thankfulness that I advert to the loyal spirit of my
people, and that attachment to our institutions which has animated them
during the period of commercial difficulty, deficient production of food, and
political revolution.
I look to the protection of Almighty God for favour in our continued pro-
gress, and I trust you will assist me in upholding the fabric of the constitution,
founded as it is upon the principles of freedom and justice.
MESSAGE OF THE MEXICAN PRESIDENT,
at the opening of the congress on the first of january.
Gentlemen : —
Favoured by the hopes of the country, by a general feeling of the necessity
of public order, and by a tranquillity which our revolutions had long forbidden,
you are once more about to begin the constitutional period of your labours.
A happy change in the state of things is realizing itself, such as assures, under
those auspices of law and of concord which we have, a further and regular
melioration. I congratulate you, »entlemen, most sincerely, that this assem-
bly of the people's representatives begins under circumstances so flattering,
and, besides, so favourable to the successful discharge of your legislative
duties.
Since the close of your last session I have nothing very notable to announce
to you. The government, although contending with incessant obstacles, has
gone forward in a course both steady and entirely constitutional. In the
several states the same spirit prevails, and much is doing toward the reorga-
nization of the different public business and private pursuits, which were
destroyed or paralyzed.
Faithful to its principles, the government will labour unweariedly to carry
forward those which it proclaimed in Queretaro, reduced to this single point
— "good administration." The papers which shall be laid before you by the
secretaries of the several departments will let you see what progress has been
made toward accomplishing that great object. Much is yet to be done; and
to you it belongs to establish, by wise and just laws, the foundations of an
administrative system that shall not permit change and corruption, frequent
and fatal.
To-morrow, the treasury department will submit to the congress the esti-
mates of the public expenditures for the coming year; and I may, in advance,
felicitate you upon the performance of a duty, about to be perfected by you,
which has never been executed, except once, in the long period of twenty-
seven years. The estimates once settled by your vote, the treasury will
assume a clear and regular orderliness, and the taxes will be paid without
repugnance, because it will be known that they are spent in conformity to
law. I can assure you, gentlemen, that it is not only not impossible, but
quite practicable and even easy, to square our public expenditures with our
receipts, and the public debt will be paid with punctuality, and must become
a fountain of credit and confidence, if the idea be adopted of establishing a
national bank, which, aiding the financial operations of the government, shall
banish that confusion in which we have hitherto wandered, without any
body's being able to tell what revenues belonged to the treasury and what to
its creditors.
Free from any such serious difficulty as might interrupt the friendly rela-
tions in which we stand with foreign nations; our administration of justice
making with success efforts to render secure all the guarantees of the person
1849.] Documents. 277
and of property; our public expenditures met by our receipts; the vicious
organization of our army reformed, and a militia raised; you can ; gentlemen,
perceive that our present condition is far from that which, all probabilities
considered, was to be expected from us. Let us, then, not lament our past
disorders, unless that we may guard against them henceforth. If they recur,
it will not be the people's fault; the people desire nothing but rest and tran-
quillity.
Let us do all that we can to accomplish that popular vow ; let the efforts and
the feelings of congress and of government be the same, for the principles of
moderation and of justice, for a sincere unitedness among the citizens, and
for the preservation of that peace within and without, which we owe to the
bounty of Divine Providence.
LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA
TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE NEW YORK COLONIZATION
SOCIETY.
Devonport, Dec. 6, 1848.
My Dear Sir: — Since my return from Paris my engagements have been so
numerous and pressing that I have not been able to send you even a line to
advise you of my doings. I am happy now, however, to inform you that
I have succeeded in England quite to my satisfaction. The English and French
governments especially have been exceedingly kind. I have concluded with
the British government a treaty of amity and commerce, which places the re-
public upon the footing of the most favoured nations.
Upon an application which I had the honour of making to her majesty's
government, they have kindly ordered the British commodore on the African
coast to render to the republic the necessary assistance to enable the Liberian
authorities to remove from their recently acquired territory at New Cestors
the slavers established there. The French government have also placed at
our disposal two vessels for the same purpose.
We have every prospect of obtaining from her majesty's government the
necessary assistance to enable us to secure the territory of Gallenas. They
have also promised to present to the republic a small vessel, to be fitted and
sent out soon, to be employed against slavers on the Liberian coast, which will
enable us, with the pecuniary aid to purchase Gallenas, no doubt thoroughly
and effectually to abolish the inhuman traffic in slaves from the entire coast
lyiri£ between Siena Leone and Cape Palmas.
At Brussels I found the government so engaged as not to be able to devote
any time to my business, unless I could remain there several days, which I
could not conveniently do. I have not been able to visit any of the German
states. Chevalier Bunsen, the Prussian minister in London, informed me that
his government had been notified of the change which had been effected in
the political relations of Liberia, and that he was authorized to say th;il the
Prussian government would follow the example of England and France, and
recognise the independence of the republic. I have addressed a letter through
their embassy at London to the Prussian court, asking a recognition, and pio-
posing a commercial treaty. I have every assurance that it will be favourably
received, but I must leave Europe without arranging any thing definitely with
that court. A reply to my communication will be forwarded to Liberia.
I embark to-morrow with my family on board her majesty's ship Amazon,
in which vessel the government have been kind enough to gramt me a pnssage
for my own country. Therefore I leave England under many, very many
obligations to her majesty's government for the kindness and attention I have
received at their hands. Not only am f indebted to all tfce officers of the
Britishgovernment with whom I have had todo; private individuals also have
VOL. II. — mAkch, 1849. 19
278 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
rendered me important services. Dr. Hodgkin, Samuel Gurney, G. Ralston,
George Thompson, and Petty Vaughan, Esq., have been unwearied in their
efforts to serve me. Indeed, sir, to name all from whom I have received great
attention and kindness during my visit to this country would be impossible.
I have every reason to believe that my visit to Europe will result in great
good to Africa in general, and to Liberia in particular. I found much igno-
rance here with regard to Liberia, and the operations of the society, and many
sincere good friends of the African race totally misinformed with respect to
the real objects of the Colonization Society, and, in consequence, prejudiced
against it. You, however, are aware of these prejudices, and of the arguments
used to sustain them. During my sojourn here I have conversed freely with
many who hitherto have been violent in their opposition to the society, and
think In many instances I have succeeded in correcting their erroneous im-
pressions.
I cannot fail to mention that in Paris I received^great assistance and atten-
tion from that unwearied friend to liberty, Hon. George Washington Lafayette.
He did all in his power, backed by all the members of his family, to facilitate
the objects of my mission. I am sure that it was by his assistance, and the
assistance of letters furnished me by his son-in-law, Mr. Beaumont, French
minister in London, to his government, that I succeeded in arranging my busi-
ness so quickly in Paris.
I have not time, dear sir, to write another letter;*! beg, therefore, that you
will inform Rev. Messrs. M'Lain, Pinney, Tracy, "and Mr. Cresson, of "my
doings in Europe, as far as I have been able to detail them here. When I
reach home, the Lord willing, I will send you and them a full account of my
proceedings. I cannot omit to mention a noble and generous act of my friend,
Samuel Gurney, Esq., of London, who, when I informed him of the desire of
the Liberians to secure the Gallenas, that they might extirpate the slave fac-
tories at that place, and effectually abolish the slave trade at that point, and
that the natives were disposed to sell the territory, but that the consideration
demanded was more than the present ability of the Liberian government to
meet, pledged himself for one thousand pounds to aid them in the purchase.
I beg that you will remember me kindly to all your family. Say to Messrs.
Dodge, Stokes, Altenburg, and your son Anson, that I can never forget their
kindness to me during my stay in New York. I shall entertain a crratefu!
remembrance of them as long as I live. I am also under lasting obligations
to your dear daughters. I am, dear sir, yours, &c.
Anson G. Phelps, Esq. J. J. ROBERTS.
MANIFESTO OF POPE PIUS IX.
"PIUS IX. TO THE ROMAN PEOPLE.
"The outrage in latter days committed against our person, and the inten-
tion openly manifested to continue these acts of violence, (which the Almighty,
inspiring men's minds with sentiments of union and moderation, has pre-
vented,) have compelled us to separate ourselves temporarily from our sub-
jects and children, whom we love, and ever shall love.
"The reasons which have induced us to take this important step — heaven
knows how painful it is to our hearts — have arisen from the necessity of our
enjoying free liberty in the exercise of the sacred duties of the Holy See, as
under the circumstances by which we were then afflicted, the Catholic world
might reasonably doubt of the freedom of that exercise. The acts of violence
of which we complain can alone be attributed to the machinations which have
been used, and the measures that have been taken by a class of men degraded
in the face of Europe and the world. This is the more evident, as the wrath
1S49.] Documents. 279
of the Almighty has already fallen on their souls, and as it will call down on
them, sooner or later, the punishment which is prescribed for them by his
church- We recognise humbly, in the ingratitude of these misguided chil-
dren, the anger of the Almighty, who permits their misfortunes as an atone-
ment for the sins of ourselves and those of our people. But still we cannot,
without betraying the sacred duties imposed on us, refrain from protesting
formally against their acts, as we did do verbally on the 16th day of Novem-
ber, of painful memory, in presence of the whole diplomatic corps, who on
that occasion honourably encircled us, and brought comfort and consolation
to our soul, in recognising that a violent and unprecedented sacrilege had
been committed. That protest we did intend, as we now do, openly and pub-
licly to repeat, inasmuch as we yielded only to violence, and because we were,
and are desirous, it should be made known that all proceedings emanating from
such acts of violence were and are devoid of all efficacy and legality. This
protesting is a necessary consequence of the malicious labours of these wicked
men, and we publish it from the suggestion of our conscience, stimulated as
it has been by the circumstances in which we were placed, and the impedi-
ments offered to the exercise of our sacred duties. Nevertheless, we confide
upon the Most High that the continuance of these evils may be abridged, and
we humbly supplicate the God of heaven to avert His wrath, in the language
of the royal prophet — '■Memento Domine David, is et omnis mansuetudinis ejus. 7
"In order that the city of Rome and our states be not deprived of a legal
executive, we have nominated a governing commission, composed of the fol-
lowing persons:
''The Cardinal Castricane, President; Monsignor Roberto Roberti Principe
di Roviano. Principe Barberini, Marquis Bevilacque di Bologna, Lieut. Gene-
ral Zucchi.
"In confiding to the said governing commission the temporary direction of
public affairs, we recommend to our subjects and children, without exception,
the conservation of tranquillity and good order. Finally, we desire and com-
mand that daily and earnest prayers shall be offered for the safety of our per-
son, and that the peace of the world may be preserved, especially that of our
state of Rome, where and with, when children, our heart shall be wherever
we in person may dwell within the fold of Christ. And in the fulfilment of
our duty as supreme pontiff, we thus humbly and devoutly invoke the great
Mother of Mercy, and the holy apostles, Peter and Paul, for their intercession
that the city and state of Rome may be saved from the wrath of the Omnipo-
tent God." "PIUS PAPA IX."
"Gaeta, die Nov. 28."
PROTEST OF POPE PIUS AGAINST THE CREATION OF A JUNTA.
The following is the protest of the Pope, made at Gaeta, against the crea-
tion of a Junta at Rome : —
"Raised by divine dispensation, in a manner almost miraculous, in spite of
our unworthiness, to the sovereign Pontificate, one of our first cares was to en-
deavour to establish a union between the subjects of the temporal state of the
church, to make peace between families, to do them good in all ways, and
as far as depended upon us, to render the state peaceable and flourishing,
But the benefits which we did all in our power to heap upon our subjects, the
wide-founded institutions which we have granted to their desires, far, as we
must in all candour declare, from inspiring that acknowledgment and gratitude
which we have every right to expect, have occasioned to our hearts only re-
iterated pain and bitterness, caused by those ungrateful men whom our pater-
nal eye wished to see daily diminishing in number. All the world can now
280 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
•
tell how our benefits have been answered, what abuse has been made of our
concessions; how, by denaturalizing them, and perverting the meaning of
our words, they have sought to mislead the multitude, so that these very
benefits and institutions have been turned by certain men into arms, with
which they have committed the most violent outrages upon our sovereign
authority, and against the temporal rights of our Holy See. Our hearts refuse
to repeat in detail the events which have taken place since Nov. 15, the day
on which a minister who had our confidence was barbarously murdered by
the hand of an assassin, applauded with a still greater barbarity by a tioopof
infuriated enemies to God, to man, and to every just and political institution.
''The first crime opened the way to a series of crimes committed the fol-
lowing day with sacrilegious audacity. They have already incurred the exe-
cration of every upright mind in our state, in Italy and in Europe ; they have
incurred execration in all parts of the earth. This is the reason why we can
spare our hearts the intense pain of recapitulating them here. We were con-
strained to withdraw from the place in which they were committed, from that
place where violence prevented us from applying any remedy, reduced to weep
over and deplore with good men those sad events, and the still more lamentable
want of power in justice to act against the perpetrators of those abominable
crimes. Providence has conducted us to the town of Gaela, where, finding
ourselves at full liberty, we have, against the authority of the aforesaid at-
tempts and acts of violence, solemnly renewed the protests which we issued
at Rome at the first moment, in the presence of the representatives accredited
to us of the courts of Europe, and of other and distant nations. By the same
act, without in any manner departing from the institutions we had created,
we took care to give temporarily to our States a legitimate governmental re-
presentation, in order that in the capital and throughout the state, provision
should be made for the regular and ordinary course of public affairs, as well
as for the protection of the persons and property of our subjects. By us. more-
over, has been prorogued the session of the High Council and Council of depu-
ties, who had recently been called to resume their interrupted sittings
" But these determinations of our authority, instead of causing the pertur-
bators and the authors of the acts of sacrilegious violence of which we have
spoken to return to the palh of duty, have urged them to make still greater
attempts. Arrogating to themselves the rights of sovereignty, which be long
only to us, they have, by means of two councils, instituted in the capital an
illegitimate governmental representation, under the title of Provisional su-
preme Junta of the State, which they have published by an act dated the
12th of the present month. The duties of our sovereignty, in which we can-
not fail, the solemn oaths by which we have, in the presence of God, promised
to preserve the patrimony of the Holy See, and to transmit it in all its integrity
to our successors, oblige us to raise our voice solemnly, and protest before God
and in the face of the whole universe, against this erand and sacrilegious at-
tempt. Therefore we declare to be null and of no force or effect in law. the acts
which have followed the violence committed upon us, protesting, above aJl,
that this Junta of State, established at Rome, is a usurpation of our sovereign
power, and that the said Junta has not and cannot have any authority. Be it
known, then, to all our subjects, whatever maybe their rank or condition,
that at Rome, and throughout the whole extent <>f the pontifical states, there
is not, and cannot be, any legitimate power which does not emanate expressly
from us; that we have, by the sovereign motu prnprio, of the 2?th of Novem-
ber, instituted a temporary commission of Government, and that to it belongs
exclusively the government of the nation during our absence, and until we
ourselves 6hall have otherwise ordained." " Pius Papa IX"
1849] Documents. 281
PROTOCOL TO THE MEXICAN TREATY.
The house of representatives, on the 5th of February, 1849, by a resolution,
called upon the president for the correspondence in relation to the 9th, 10th
and 12th articles of the treaty with Mexico, and for explanations, in relation
to the following document:
PROTOCOL
Of the conference, previous to the ratification and change of the treaty of
peace, between Ambrose H. Sevier and Nathan Clifford, commissioned as
ministers plenipotentiary on the part of the United Slates of America, and Don
Luis de la Rosa, minister of foreign and internal affairs of the Mexican
republic.
In the city of Queretaro, on the 26th of the month of May, 1848, at a con-
ference between their excellencies, Nathan Clifford and Ambrose H. Sevier,
commissioners of the United States of America, with full powers from their
government to make to the Mexican republic suitable explanations, in regard
to the amendments which the senate and government of the said United States
have made in the treaty of peace, friendship, limits and definite settlement,
between the two republics, signed in the city of Guadaloupe Hidalgo, on the
2d day of February of the present year, and his excellency, Don Luis de la
Rosa, minister of foreign affairs of the republic of Mexico, it was agreed, after
adequate conversation, respecting the changes alluded to, to record in the
present protocol, the following explanations which their aforesaid excellen-
cies, the commissioners, gave, in the name of their government, and in ful-
filment of the commission conferred upon them, near the Mexican republic.
1. The American government, by suppressing the 9th article of the treaty
of Guadaloupe, and substituting the 3d article of the treaty of Louisiana, did
not intend to diminish in any way what was agreed upon by the aforesaid
article 9th, in favour of the inhabitants of the territories ceded by Mexico.
Its understanding is, that all of that agreement is contained in the 3d article
of the treaty of Louisiana. In consequence, all the privileges and guarantees,
civil, political and religious, which would have been possessed by the inha-
bitants of the ceded territories, if the 9th article of the treaty had been retained,
will be enjoyed by them without any difference, under the article which has
been substituted.
2. The American government, by suppressing the 10th article of the treaty
of Guadaloupe, did not in any way intend to annul the grants of lands made
by Mexico in the ceded territories. These grants, notwithstanding the sup-
pression of the article of the treaty, preserve the legal value which they may
possess, and the grantees may cause their legitimate titles to be acknowledged
before the American tribunals.
Conformably to the law of the United States, legitimate titles to every
description of property, personal and real, existing in the ceded territories,
are those which were legitimate titles under the Mexican law in California
and New Mexico up to the 13th May, 1846, and in Texas, up to the 2d
March, 1836.
3. The government of the United States, by suppressing the concluding
paragraph of article 12 of the treaty, did not intend to deprive the Mexican
republic of the free and unrestrained faculty of ceding, conveying or trans-
ferring, at any time, (as it may judge best,) the sunf of twelve millions of
dollars, which the said government of the United States is to deliver in the
places designated by the amended article.
And these explanations having been accepted by the minister of foreign
affairs of the Mexican republic, he declared in the name of his government
that, with the understanding conveyed by them, the said government would
proceed to ratify the treaty of Guadaloupe as modified by the senate and
2S2 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
government of the United States. In testimony of which, their excellencies,
the aforesaid commissioners and the minister have signed and sealed, in
quintuplicate, the present protocol.
(L. S.) [Signed] NATHAN CLIFFORD.
• (L. S.) [Signed] AMBROSE H. SEVIER.
(L. S.) [Signed] LUIS DE LA ROSA.
MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES IN RE-
LATION TO THE MEXICAN PROTOCOL.
To the House of Representatives of the United States : —
In reply to the resolutions of the house of representatives of the fifth in-
stant, I communicate herewith a report from the secretary of state, accom-
panied with all the documents and correspondence relating to the treaty of
peace concluded between the United States and Mexico, at Guadaloupe
Hidalgo, on the 2d of February, 1848, and to the amendments of the senate
thereto, as requested by the house in the said resolutions.
Amongst the documents transmitted will be found a copy of the instructions
given to the commissioners of the United States, who took to Mexico the treaty
as amended by the senate, and ratified by the president of the United States.
In my message to the house of representatives of the twenty-ninth of July,
1S48, I gave as my reason for declining to furnish these instructions, in com-
pliance with a resolution of the house, that ".in my opinion it would be incon-
sistent with the public interests to give publicity to them at the present time/'
Although it may still be doubted whether giving them publicity in our own
country, and as a necessary consequence, in Mexico, may not have a prejudi-
cial influence on our public interests, yet, as they have been again called for
by the house, and called for in connexion with other documents, to the correct
understanding of which they are indispensable, I have deemed it my duty to
transmit them.
I still entertain the opinion, expressed in the message referred to, u that,
as a general rule, applicable to all our important negotiations with foreign
powers, it could not fail to be prejudicial to the public interests to publish
the instructions to our ministers, until some time had elapsed after the con-
clusion of such negotiations."
In these instructions of the 18th of March, 1848, it will be perceived "that
the task was assigned to the commissioners of the United States of consum-
mating the* treaty of peace, which was signed at Guadaloupe Hidalgo, on the
2d day of February last, between the United States and the Mexican republic;
and which, on the tenth of March last, was ratified by the senate, with
amendments."
They were informed "that this brief statement will indicate to you clearly
the line of your duty. You are not sent to Mexico for the purpose of nego-
tiating any new treaty, or of changing in any particular the ratified treaty
which ycu will bear with you. None of the amendments adopted by the
senate can be rejected or modified, except by the authority of that body.
Your whole duty will, then, consist in using every honourable effort to obtain
from the Mexican government a ratification of the treaty in the form in which
it has been ratified by the senate, and this with the least practicable delay."
i: For this purpose, it may, and most probably will, become necessary that
you should explain to the Mexican minister for foreign affairs, or to the autho-
rized agents of the Mexican government, the reasons which have influenced
the senate in adopting these several amendments to the treaty. This duty
1849.] Documents. 283
you will perform, as much as possible, by personal conferences. Diplomatic
notes are to be avoided, unless in case of necessity. These might lead to
endless discussions and indefinite delay. Besides, they could not have any
practical result, as your mission is confined to procuring a ratification from
the Mexican government of the treaty as it came from the senate, and does
not extend to the slightest modification in any of its provisions."
The commissioners were sent to Mexico to procure the ratification of the
treaty as amended by the senate. Their instructions confined them to this
point. It was proper that the amendments to the treaty adopted by the
United States should be explained to the Mexican government, and explana-
tions were made by the secretary of state, in his letter of the 18th of March,
1848, to the Mexican minister of foreign affairs under my direction. This
despatch was communicated to congress with my message of the 6th of July
last, communicating the treaty of peace, and published by their order. This
despatch was transmitted by our commissioners from the city of Mexico to the
Mexican government, then at Queretaro, on the 17th of April, 1848, and its
receipt acknowledged on the 19th of the same month. During the whole
time that the treaty, as amended, was before the congress of Mexico, these
explanations of the secretary of state, and these alone, were before them.
The president of Mexico, on these explanations, on the 8th day of May,
1848, submitted the amended treaty to the Mexican congress and on the 25th
of May that congress approved the treaty as amended without modification or
alteration. The final action of the Mexican congress has taken place before
the commissioners of the United States had been officially received by the
Mexican authorities, or held any conference with them, or had any other
communication on the subject of the treaty, except to transmit the letter of
the secretary of state.
In their despatch transmitted to congress,with my message of the 6th of July
last, communicating the treaty of peace dated M City of Queretaro, May 25th,
1848, nine o'clock, P. M.," the commissioners say: — '' We have the satisfac-
tion to inform you that we reached this city this afternoon, at about five
o'clock, and that the treaty, as amended by the senate of the United States,
passed the Mexican senate about the hour of our arrival, by a vote of 33 to 5.
It having previously passed the house of deputies, nothing now remains but
to exchange the ratifications of the treaty."
On the next day, (the 26th of May) the commissioners were, for the first
time, presented to the president of the republic, and their credentials placed
in his hands. On this occasion, the commissioners delivered an address to
the president of Mexico, and he replied. In their despatch of the 30th of
May, the commissioners say: — ''We enclose a copy of our address to the
president, and also a copy of his reply. Several conferences afterwards took
place between Messrs. Rosa, Cuevas, Couto, and ourselves, which it is thought
not necessary to recapitulate, as we enclose a copy of the protocol, which
contains the substance of Ihe conversations. We have now the satisfaction
to announce that the exchange of ratifications was effected to-day." This
despatch was communicated with my message of the 6th of July last, and
published by order of congress.
The treaty, as amended by the senate of the United States, with the accom-
panying papers, and the evidence that in that form it had been ratified by
Mexico, was received at Washington on the 4th day of July, 1848, and imme-
diately proclaimed as the supreme law of the land. On the 6th of July, I
communicated to congress the ratified treaty, with such accompanying docu-
ments as were deemed material to a full understanding of the subject, to the
end that congress might adopt the legislation necessary and proper to carry
the treaty into effect. Neitner the address of the commissioners, nor the
reply of the president of Mexico, on the occasion of their presentation, nor
284 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
the memorandum of conversations embraced in the paper called a protocol,
nor trie correspondence now sent, were communicated, because they were
not regarded as in any way material; and in this T conformed to the practice of
our government. It rarely, if ever, happens that all the correspondence, and
especially the instructions to our ministers is communicated. Copies of these
papers are now transmitted, as being within the resolutions of the House,
calling for all such "correspondence as appertains to said treaty."
When these papers were received ut Washington, peace had been restored,
the first instalment of three millions paid to Mexico, the blockades were
raised, the city of Mexico evacuated, and our troops on their return home.
The war was at an end, and the treaty as ratified by the United States was
binding on both parties, and already executed in a great degree. In this con-
dition of things, it was not competent for the President alone, or for the Pre-
sident and Senate, or for the President, Senate, and House of Representatives,
combined, to abrogate the treaty, to annul the peace, and restore a state of
war, except by a solemn declaration of war.
Had the protocol varied the treaty as amended by the Senate of tlie United
States, it would have had no binding effect.
It was obvious that the commissioners of the United States did not regard
the protocol as in any degree a part of the treaty nor as modifying or altering
the treaty as amended by the Senate. They communicated it as the sub-
stance of conversations held after the Mexican Congress had ratified the
treaty, and they knew that the approval of the Mexican Congress was as es-
sential to the validity of a treaty in all its parts, as the advice and consent
of the Senate of the United States. They knew, too, that they had no autho-
rity to alter or modify the treaty in the form in which it had been ratified
by the United States, but that if failing to procure the ratification of the Mex-
ican government, otherwise than with amendments, their duty, imposed by
express instructions, was to ask of Mexico to send without delay a commis-
sioner to Washington to exchange ratifications here, if the amendments of the
treaty proposed by Mexico, on being submitted, should be adopted by the
senate of the United States.
I was equally well satisfied that the government of Mexico had agreed to
the treaty as amended by the senate of the United States, and did not regard
the protocol as modifying, enlarging, or diminishing its terms or effect.
The president of that republic, in submitting the amended treaty to the
Mexican Congress, in his message on the 8th day of May, 1848, said, — "If
the treaty could have been submitted to your deliberations precisely as it
came from the hands of the plenipotentiaries, my satisfaction at seeing the
war at last brought to an end would not have been lessened, as it this day is,
in consequence of the modifications introduced into it by the senate of the
United States, and which have received the sanction of the president." u At
present it is sufficient for us to say to you, that if in the opinion of the govern-
ment justice had not been evinced on the part of the senate and government
of the United States, in introducing such modifications, it is presumed on the
other hand, that they are not of such impoitance that they should set aside the
treaty. I believe, on the contrary, that it ought to be ratified upon the same
terms in which it has already received the sanction of the American govern-
ment. My opinion is also greatly strengthened by the fact that a new negotia-
tion is neither expected nor considered possible; much less could another be
brought forward upon a basis more favourable for the republic."
The deliberations of the Mexican congress, with no explanation before that
body from the United States, except the letter of the secretary of state, re-
sulted in the ratification of the treaty as recommended by the president oj
that republic, in the form in which it had been amended and ratified by the
United States. The conversations imbodied in the paper called a protocol,
1849.] Documents. 285
took place after the action of the Mexican congress was complete; and there
is no reason to suppose that the government of Mexico ever submitted the
protocol to the congress, or ever treated it or regarded it as in any sense a
new negotiation, or as operating any modification or change of the amended
treaty. If such' had been its effect, it was a nullity until approved by the
Mexican congress; and such approval was never made or intimated to the
United States. In the final consummation of the ratification of the treaty
by the president of Mexico, no reference is made to it. On the contrary, this
ratification, which was delivered to the commissioners of the United States,
and is now in the state department, contains a full and explicit recognition
of the amendments of the senate just as they had been communicated to that
government by the secretary of state, and had been afterwards approved by
the Mexican congress. It declares that, " having seen and examined the said
treaty, and the modifications made by the senate of the United States of Ame-
rica, and having given an account thereof to the general congress, confor-
mably to the requirement in the 14th paragraph of the 110th article of the
federal constitution of these United States, that body has thought proper to
approve of the said treaty with the modifications thereto, in all their parts;
and in consequence thereof, exerting: the power granted to me by the constitu-
tion, I accept, ratify, and confirm the said treaty with its modifications, and
promise, in the name of the Mexican republic, to fulfil and observe it, and
cause it to be fulfilled and observed."
Upon an examination of this protocol, when it was received with the rati-
fied treaty, I did not regard it as material, or as in any way attempting to mo-
dify or change the treaty, as it had been amended by the Senate of the United
States.
The first explanation which it contains is, u That the American government,
by suppressing the ninth article of the treaty of Guadaloupe, and substituting
the third article of the treaty of Louisiana, did not intend to diminish, in any
way, what was agreed upon by the aforesaid article (ninth,) in favour of the
inhabitants of the territories ceded by Mexico. Its understanding is, that all
of that agreement is contained in the third article of the treaty of Louisiana.
In consequence, all the privileges and guarantees, civil, political, and religious,
which would have been possessed by the inhabitants of the ceded territories,
if the ninth article of the treaty had been ratified, will be enjoyed by them
without any difference under the article which has been substituted."
The ninth article of the original treaty stipulated for the incorporation of
the Mexican inhabitants of the ceded territories, and their admission into the
Union, ic as soon as possible, according to the principles of the federal consti-
tution, to the enjoyment of all the rights of citizens of the United States." It
provided, also, that in the mean time they should be maintained "in the en-
joyment of their liberty, their property, and the civil rights now vested in
them, according to the Mexican laws." It secured to them similar political
rights with the inhabitants of the other territories of the United States, and at
least equal to the inhabitants of Louisiana and Florida, when they were in a
territorial condition. It then proceeded to guarantee that ecclesiastics and
religious corporations should be protected in the discharge of the offices of
their ministry, and the enjoyment of their property of every kind, whether
individual or corporate; and, finally, that there should be a free communication
between the catholics of the ceded territories and their ecclesiastical autho-
rities, "even although such authorities should reside within the limits of the
Mexican republic, as defined by this treaty."
The ninth article of the treaty as adopted by the Senate is much more com-
prehensive in its terms, and explicit in its meaning, and it clearly embraces,
in comparatively few words, all the guarantees inserted in the original article.
It is as follows: '-Mexicans who, in the territories aforesaid, shall not pre-
2S6 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
serve the character of citizens of the Mexican republic conformably with what
is stipulated in the preceding article, shall be incorporated into the Union of
ihe United States, and be admitted, at the proper time (to be judged of by the
Congress of the United States,) to the enjoyment of all the rights of citizens
of the United States, according to the principles of the constitution, and in
the mean time shall be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of
their liberty and property, and secured in the free exercise of their religion
without restriction." This article, which was substantially copied from the
Louisiana treaty, provides equally with the original article for the admission
of these inhabitants into the Union; and, in the mean time, whilst they shall
iemain in a territorial state, by one sweeping provision, declares that they
shall be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of their liberty and
property, and secured in the free exercise of their religion without restric-
tion."
This guarantee embraces every kind of property, whether held by ecclesi-
astics or laymen, whether belonging to corporations or individuals. It secures
to these inhabitants the free exercise of their religion, without restriction,
whether they choose to place themselves under the spiritual authority of pas-
tors resident within the Mexican republic or the ceded territories. It was, it
is presumed, to place this construction beyond all question, that the Senate
superadded the words, "without restriction." to the religious guarantee con-
tained in the corresponding article of the Louisiana treaty. Congress itself
does not possess the power, under the constitution, to make any law prohibit-
ing the free exercise of religion. If the ninth article of the treaty, whether
in its original or amended form, had been entirely omitted in the treaty, all
the rights and privileges which either of them confers, would have been se-
cured to the inhabitants of the ceded territories, by the constitution and laws
of the United States.
The protocol asserts that "the American government, by suppressing the
tenth article of the treaty of Guadeloupe, did not, in any way, intend to annul
ihe grants of land made by Mexico in the ceded territories;" that ''these
grants, notwithstanding the suppression of the articles of the treaty, preserve
the legal value which they may possess; and the grantees may cause their
legitimate titles to be acknowledged before the American tribunals ;" and then
proceeds to state, that "conformably to the law of the United States, legiti-
mate titles to every description of property, personal and real, existing in the
ceded territories, are those which were legitimate titles, under the Mexican
law in California and New Mexico, up to the thirteenth of May, 1846; and in
Texas, up to the second of March, 1836."* The former was the date of the
declaration of war against Mexico, and the latter that of the declaration of in-
dependence by Texas.
The objection to the tenth article of the original treaty was, not that it pro-
tected legitimate titles which our laws would have equally protected without
it, but that it most'unjustlyattempted to resuscitate grants which had become
a mere nullity, by allowing the grantees the same period after the exchange
of the ratifications of the treaty to which they had been originally entitled
after the date of their grants, for the purpose of performing the conditions on
which they had been made. In submitting the treaty to" the Senate, 1 had
recommended the rejection of this article. That portion of it in regard to
lands in Texas did not receive a single vote in the Senate. This information
was communicated by the letter of the Secretary of State to the minister
for foreign affairs of Mexico, and was in possession of the Mexican govern-
ment during the whole period the treaty was before the Mexican congress,
and the article itself was reprobated in that letter in the strongest terms.
Besides, our commissioners to Mexico had been instructed that "neither the
President nor the Senate of the United States can ever consent to ratify any
1849.] Documents. 287
treaty containing the tenth article of the treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo in favour
of grantees of land in Texas or elsewhere." And again : " Should the Mexi-
can government persist in retaining this article, then all prospect of imme-
diate peace is ended, and of this you may give them an ahsolute assurance."
On this point the language of the protocol is free from ambiguity; but if it
were otherwise, is there any individual, American or Mexican, who would
place such a construction upon it as to convert it into a vain attempt to revive
this article, which had been so often and so solemnly condemned? Surely
no person could for one moment suppose that either the commissioners of the
United States or the Mexican minister for foreign affairs, ever entertained
the purpose of thus setting at naught the deliberate decision of the President
and Senate, which had been communicated to the Mexican government with
the assurance that their abandonment of this obnoxious article was essential
to the restoration of peace.
But the meaning of the protocol is plain. It is simply that the nullification
of this article was not intended to destroy valid legitimate titles to land which
existed and were in full force independently of the provisions, and without
the aid of this article. Notwithstanding it has been expunged from the treaty,
these grants were to "preserve the legal value which they may possess."
The refusal to revive grants which had become extinct was not to invalidate
those which were in full force and vigour. That such was the clear under-
standing of the Senate of the United States, and this in perfect accordance
with the protocol, is manifest from the fact, that whilst they struck from
the treaty this unjust article, they at the same time sanctioned and ratified
the last paragraph of the eighth article of the treaty, which declares that, "In
the said territories, property of every kind, now belonging to Mexicans not
established there, shall be inviolably respected. The present owners, the
heirs of these, and all Mexicans who may hereafter acquire said property by
contract, shall enjoy with respect to it guarantees equally ample as if the same
belonged to citizens of the United States."
Without any stipulation in the treaty to this effect, all such valid titles
under the Mexican government would have been protected under the consti-
tution and laws of the United States.
The third and last explanation contained in the protocol is, that " the govern-
ment of the United States, by suppressing the concluding paragraph of article
twelfth of the treaty, did not intend to deprive the Mexican republic of the
free and unrestrained faculty of ceding, conveying, or transferring, at any
time, (as it may judge best,) the sum of twelve millions of dollars which the
same government of the United States is to deliver in the places designated
by the amended article."
The concluding paragraph, or rather sentence, of the original twelfth article
thus suppressed by the^Senate, is in the following language: li Certificates, in
proper form, for the said instalments respectively, in such sums as shall be
desired by the Mexican government, and transferable by it, shall be delivered
to the said government by that of the United States."
From this bare statement of facts, the meaning of the protocol is obvious.
Although the Senate had declined to create a government stock for the twelve
millions of dollars, and issue transferable certificates for the amount, in such
sums as the Mexican government might desire; yet they could not have in-
tended thereby to deprive that government of the faculty which every creditor
possesses of transferring for his own benefit the obligation of his debtor, what-
ever this may be worth, according to his will and pleasure.
It cannot be doubted that the twelfth article of the treaty, as it now stands,
contains a positive obligation, "in consideration of the extension acquired by
the boundaries of the United States," to pay to the Mexican republic twelve
millions of dollars in four equal annual instalments of three millions each.
288 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
This obligation may be assigned by the Mexican government to any person
■whatever; but the assignee, in such case, would stand in no better condition
than that government. The amendment of the Senate, prohibiting the issue
of a government transferable stock for the amount, produces this effect, and
no more.
The protocol contains nothing from which it can be inferred that the as-
signee could rightfully demand the payment of the money, in case the consi-
deration should fail, which is stated on the face of the obligation.
With this view of the whole protocol, and considering that the explanations
which it contained were in accordance with the treaty, I did not deem it ne-
cessary to take any action upon the subject. Had it varied from the terms of
the treaty, as amended by the Senate, although it would even then have been
a nullity in itself, yet duty might have required that I should make this fact
known to the Mexican government. This not being the case, I treated it in
the same manner I would have done had these explanations been made ver-
bally by the commissioners to the Mexican minister for foreign affairs, and
communicated in a despatch to the state department.
Washington, Feb. 8, 1849. JAMES K. POLK.
REPORT OF COL. R. B. MASON, MILITARY GOVERNOR OF
CALIFORNIA.
[We rn^te copious extracts from this important despatch from Col. Mason
to the Adjutant General, under date of the 17th August, 1848. Col. M. left
Monterey on the 17th of June, accompanied by Lieut. Sherman, on a visit to
" the newly discovered gold placer in the valley of the Sacramento.'']
We reached San Francisco on the 20th, and found that all, or nearly all its
male inhabitants had gone to the mines. The town, which, a few months
before, was so busy and thriving, was then almost deserted. On the evening
of the 24th the horses of the escort were crossed to Sousoleto in a launch,
and on the following day we resumed the journey, by way of Bodega and So-
noma, to Sutter's fort, where we arrived on the morning of the 2d of July.
Along the whole route mills were lying idle, fields of wheat were open to
cattle and horses, houses vacant, and farms going to waste. At Sutter's there
was more life and business. Launches were discharging their cargoes at the
river, and carts were hauling goods to the fort, where already were esta-
blished several stores, a hotel, &c. Captain Sutter had only two mechanics
in his employ (a wagon-maker and a blacksmith,) whom he was then paying
ten dollars a day. Merchants pay him a monthly rent of $100 per room ;
and whilst I was there, a two-story house in the fort was rented as a hotel
for 8500 a month.
At the urgent solicitation of many gentlemen, I delayed there to partici-
pate in the first public celebration of our national anniversary at that fort,
but on the 5th resumed the journey, and proceeded twenty-five miles up the
American fork, to a point on it now known as the Lower Mines, or Mormon
Diggings. The hill sides were thickly strewn with canvass tents and bush
arbours; a store was erected, and several boarding shanties in operation. The
day was intensely hot, yet about two hundred men were at work in the full
glare of the sun, washing for gold — some with tin pans, some with close-
woven Indian baskets, but the greater part had a rude machine, known as
the cradle. This is on rockers, six or eight feet long, open at the foot, and
at its head has a coarse grate or sieve; the bottom is rounded, with small
cleets nailed across. Four men are required to work this machine ; one digs
1849.] Documents. 289
the ground in the bank close by the stream, another carries it to the cradle
and empties it on the grate, a third gives a violent rocking motion to the ma-
chine, whilst a fourth dashes on water from the stream itself.
The sieve keeps the coarse stones from entering the cradle, the current of
water washes off the earthy matter, and the gravel is gradually carried out
at the foot of the machine, leaving the gold mixed with a heavy fine black
sand above the first cleets. The sand and gold mixed together are then
drawn off through auger holes into a pan below, are dried in the sun, and
afterwards separated by blowing off the sand. A party of four men thus em-
ployed at the lower mines averaged $ 100 a day. The Indians, and those who
have nothing but pans or willow baskets, gradually wash out the earth, and
separate the gravel by hand, leaving nothing but the gold mixed with sand,
which is separated in the manner before described. The gold in the lower
mines is in fine, bright scales, of which I send several specimens.
As we ascended the south branch of the American fork, the country be-
came more broken and mountainous; and at the saw-mill, twenty-five miles
above the lower washings, or fifty miles from Sutter's, the hills rise to about
a thousand feet above the level of the Sacramento plain. Here a species of
pine occurs, which led to the discovery of the gold. Capt. Sutter, feeling the
great want of lumber, contracted, in September last, with a Mr. Marshall, to
build a saw-mill at that place. It was erected in the course of the past winter
and spring — a dam and race constructed; but when the water was let on the
wheel, the tail-race was found to be too narrow to permit the water to escape
with sufficient rapidity. Mr. Marshall, to save labour, let the water directly
into the race with a strong current, so as to wash it wider and deeper. He
effected his purpose, and a large bed of mud and gravel was carried to the
foot of the race.
One day Mr. Marshall, as he was walking down the race to this deposite
of mud, observed some glittering particles at its upper edge; he gathered a
few^examined them, and became satisfied of their value. He then went to
the fort, told Capt. Sutter of his discovery, and they agreed to keep it secret
until a certain grist-mill of Sutter's was finished. It, however, got out, and
spread like magic. Remarkable success attended the labours of the first
explorers, and in a few weeks hundreds of men were drawn thither.
. . The gold is in scales a little coarser than those of the lower mines.
From the mill, Mr. Marshall guided me up the mountain, on the opposite or
north bank of the south fork, where, in the bed of small streams or ravines,
now dry, a great deal of coarse gold has been found. I there saw several
parties at work, all of whom were doing very well; a great many specimens
were shown me, somp as heavy as four or five ounces in weight
You will perceive that some of the specimens accompanying this hold me-
chanically pieces of quartz; that the surface is rough, and evidently moulded
in the crevice of a rock. This gold cannot have been carried far by water,
but must have remained near where it was first deposited from the rock that
once bound it. . . . On the 7th of July I left the mill, and crossed to a
small stream emptying into the American fork, three or four miles below the
saw-mill. I struck this stream (now known as Weber's creek) at the wash-
ings of Sunol & Co. They had about thirty Indians employed, whom they
pay in merchandise. They were getting gold of a character similar to that
found in the main fork
From this point we proceeded up the stream about eight miles, where we
found a great many people and Indians— some engaged in the bed of the
stream, and others in the small valleys that put into ft. These latter are ex-
ceedingly rich, and two ounces were considered an ordinary yield f >r a day's
work. A small gutter, not more than a hundred yards long by four feet wide,
and two or three feet deep, was pointed out to me as the one where two men,
290 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
William Daly and Perry MCoon, had, a short time before, obtained $17,000
worth of gold. Capt. Weber informed me that he knew that these two men
had employed four white men and about a hundred Indians, and that, at the
end of one week's work, they paid off their party, and had left $10,000 worth
of this gold. Another small ravine was shown me, from which had been
taken upwards of $12,000 worth of gold. Hundreds of similar ravines, to all
appearances, are as yet untouched
Mr. Neligh, an agent of Commodore Stockton, had been at work about three
weeks in the neighbourhood, and showed me, in bags and bottles, over *2.000
worth of gold; and Mr. Lyman, a gentleman of education, and worthy of
every credit, said he had been engaged with four others, with a machine, on
the American fork, just below Sutter's mill; that they worked eight days, and
that his share was at the rate of $50 a day.
The country on either side of Weber's creek is much broken up by hills,
and is intersected in every direction by small streams or ravines, w T hich con-
tain more or less gold. Those that have been worked are barely scratched;
and although thousands of ounces have been carried away, I do not consider
that a serious impression has been made upon the whole. Every day was
developing new and richer deposits; and the only impression seemed to be.
that the metal would be found in such abundance as seriously to depreciate
in value.
On the 8th of July I returned to the lower mines, and on the following day
to Sutter's, where, on the 10th ; I was making preparations for a visit to the
Feather, Yubah, and Bear rivers, when I received a letter from Commander
A. R. Long, United States navy, who had just arrived at San Francisco from
Mazatlan, with a crew for the sloop-of-war Warren, with orders to take that
vessel to the squadron at La Paz. Capt. Long wrote to me that the Mexican
Congress had adjourned without ratifying the treaty of peace; that he had
letters for me from Commodore Jones, and that his orders were to sail with
the Warren on or before the 20th of July. In consequence of these, I deter-
mined to return to Monterey, and accordingly arrived there on the 17th of
July. Before leaving Sutter's I satisfied myself that gold existed in the bed
of the Feather river, in the Yubah and Bear, and in many of the small streams
that lie between the latter and the American fork; also, that it had been
found in the Cosummes, to the south of the American fork. In each of these
streams the gold is found in small scales, whereas in the intervening moun-
tains it occurs in coarser lumps.
Mr. Sinclair, whose rancho is three miles above Sutter's, on the north side
of the American, employs about fifty Indians on the north fork, not far from
its junction with the main stream. He had been engaged about five weeks
when I saw him, and up Jo that time his Indians had used simply closely
woven willow baskets. His nett proceeds (which I saw) were about $16,000
worth of gold. He showed me the proceeds of his last week's work — four-
teen pounds avoirdupois of clean-washed gold.
The principal store at Sutter's fort, that of Brannan & Co., had received, in
payment for goods, $36,000 worth of this gold from the 1st of May to the
10th of July. Other merchants had also made extensive sales. Large quan-
tities of goods were daily sent forward to the mines, as the Indians, hereto-
fore so poor and degraded, have suddenly become consumers of the luxuries
of life.
The most moderate estimate I could obtain from men acquainted with the
subject was, that upwards of four thousand men were working in the gold
district, of whom more than one-half were Indians; and that from s30,000 to
$50,000 worth of gold, if not more, was daily obtained. The entire gold dis-
trict, with very few exceptions of grants made some years ago by the Mexi-
can authorities, is on land belonging to the United States
1849.] Documents. 291
The discovery of these vast deposits of gold has entirely changed the cha-
racter of Upper California. Its people, before engaged in cultivating their
small patches of ground, and guarding their heads of cattle and horses, have
all gone to the mines, or are on their way thither. Labourers of every trade
have left their work-benches, and tradesmen their shops. Sailors desert their
ships as fast as they arrive on the coast, and several vessels have gone to sea
with hardly enough hands to spread a sail. Two or three are now at anchor
in San Francisco, with no crew on board. Many desertions, too, have taken
place from the garrisons within the influence of these mines: twenty-six
soldiers have deserted from the post of Sonoma, twenty-four from that of San
Francisco, and twenty-four from Monterey
I really think some extraordinary mark of favour should be given to those
soldiers who remain faithful to their flag throughout this tempting crisis. No
officer can now live in California on his pay, money has so little value; the
prices of necessary articles of clothing and subsistence are so exorbi4ant, and
labour so high, that to hire a cook or servant has become an impossibility, save
to those who are earning from thirty to fifty dollars a day. This state of things
cannot last for ever. Yet, from the geographical position of California, and the
new character it has assumed as a mining country, prices of labour will always
be high, and will holdout temptations to desert. I therefore have to report, if
the government wish to prevent desertions here on the part of men, and to
secure zeal on the part of officers, their pay must be increased very mate-
rially
Mr. Dye, a gentleman residing in Monterey, and worthy of every credit,
has just returned from Feather river. He tells me that the company to which
he belonged worked seven weeks and two days, with an average of fifty In-
dians (washers,) and that their gross product was two hundred and seventy-
three pounds of gold. His share (one-seventh,) after paying all expenses, is
about thirty-seven pounds, which he brought with him and exhibited in
Monterey. I see no labouring man from the mines who does not show his
two, three, or four pounds of gold. A soldier of the artillery company re-
turned here, a few days ago, r from the mines, having been absent on furlough
twenty days. He made, by trading and working during that time, $1500.
During these twenty days he was travelling ten or eleven days, leaving but
a week, in which he made a sum of money greater than he receives in pay,
clothes, and rations, during a whole enlistment of five years.
Gold is also believed to exist on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada;
and, when at the mines, I was informed by an intelligent Mormon that it had
been found near the Great Salt Lake by some of his fraternity. Nearly all
the Mormons are leaving California to go to the Salt Lake; and this they
surely would not do unless they were sure of finding gold there in the same
abundance as they now do on the Sacramento.
The gold "placer" near the mission of San Fernando has long been known,
but has been little wrought, for want of water. This is in a spur that puts off
trom the Sierra Nevada, (see Fremont's map;) the same in which the present
mines occur. There is, therefore, every reason to believe that, in the inter-
vening spaces of five hundred miles (entirely unexplored) there must be
many hidden and rich deposits. The ' : placer ;; gold is now substituted as
the currency of this country.'
I would recommend that a mint be established at some eligible point of
the bay of San Francisco; and that machinery, and all the necessary appa-
ratus and workmen, be sent out by sea. These workmen must be bound by
high wages, and even bonds, to secure their faithful services, else the whole
plan may be frustrated by their going to the mines as soon as they arrive in
California Before leaving the subject of mines I will mention
that, on my return from the Sacramento, I touched at New Almoder, the
292 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
quicksilver mine of Mr. Alexander Forbes, consul of her Britannic majesty at
Tepic. This mine is in a spur of mountains one thousand feet above the
level of the bay of San Francisco, and is distant, in a southern direction, from
the Pueblo de San Jose about twelve miles. The ore (cinnabar) occurs in a
large vein dipping at a strong angle to the horizon. Mexican miners are em-
ployed in working it, and driving shafts and galleries about six feet by seven,
following the vein.
The fragments of rock and ore are removed on the backs of Indians, in
raw-hide sacks. The ore is then hauled in an ox-wagon from the mouth of
the mine down to a valley well supplied with wood and water, in, which the
furnaces are situated. The furnaces are of the simplest construction — ex-
actly like a common bake-oven — in the crown of which is inserted a whaler's
trying-kettle; another inverted kettle forms the lid. From a hole in the lid
a small brick channel leads to an apartment, or chamber, in the bottom of
which is inserted a small iron kettle. This chamber has a chimney.
In the morning of each day the kettles are filled with the mineral (broken
in small pieces), mixed with lime; fire is then applied, and kept up all day.
The mercury is volatilized, passes into the chamber, is condensed on the
6ides and bottom of the chamber, and flows into the pot prepared for it. No
water is used to condense the mercury.
During a visit I made last spring, four such ovens were in operation, and
yielded, in the two days I was there, six hundred and fifty-six pounds of
quicksilver, worth, at Mazatlan, Si 80 per pound. Mr. VYalkinshaw, the
gentleman now in charge of this mine, tells me that the vein is improving,
and that he can afford to keep his people employed even in these extraordi-
nary times. This mine is very valuable of itself, and becomes the more so
as mercury is extensively used in obtaining gold. It is not, at present, used
in California for that purpose, but it will be at some future time. When I
was at this mine last spring other parties were engaged in searching for
veins, but none have been discovered that are worth following up, although
the earth in that whole range of hills is highly discoloured, indicating the
presence of this ore. I send several beautiful specimens, properly labelled.
The amount of quicksilver in Mr. Forbes' vats on the 15th of July was about
twenty-five hundred pounds.
STATE DEPARTMENT.
Extract of a letter from Thomas 0. Larkin. Esq., late consul, and now navy agent
of the United States, to the Secretary of State, dated at Monterey, November
Kith, 1348, and received in this city on Friday evening last.
''The digging and washing for gold continues to increase on the Sacramento
placer, so far as regards the number of persons engaged in the business, and the
size and quantity of the metal daily obtained. I have had in my hands several
pieces of gold, about twenty-three carats tine, weighing from one to two pounds.
and have it from good authority that pieces have been found weighing sixteen
pounds. Indeed. I have heard of one specimen that weighed twenty-five pounds.
There, are many at the placer, who in June last had not one hundred dollars,
now in possession of from five to twenty thousand dollars, which they made by
digging gold, and trading with the Indians. Several, I believe, have made more.
A common calico shirt, or even a silver dollar, has been taken by an Indian for
gold, without regard to size; and a half to one ounce of gold — say $8 to $16— is
now considered the price of a shirt, while from three to ten ounces is the price
of a blanket. One hundred dollars a day for several days, was, and is considered,
a common remuneration for the labour of a gold digger, though few work over a
1849.] Documents. 293
month at a time, as the fatigue is very great. From July to October, one-half
the gold hunters have been afflicted either with the ague and fever, or the inter-
mittent fever, and twenty days' absence from the placer during these months, is
necessary to escape these diseases. There have not, however, been many fatal
cases.
The gold is now sold, from the smallest imaginary piece in size, to pieces of
one pound in weight, at $16 per troy ounce, for all the purposes of commerce;
but those who are under the necessity of raising coin to pay duties to the govern-
ment, are obliged to accept from $10 to $11 per ounce. All the coin in Califor-
nia is likely to be locked up in the custom-house, as the last tariff of our congress
is in force here in regard to the receipt of money.
Could you know the value of the California placer, as I know it, you would
think you had been instrumental in obtaining a most splendid purchase for our
country, to put no other construction on the late treaty.
The placer is known to be two or three hundred miles long; and as discoveries
are constantly being made, it may prove 1,000 miles in length — in fact, it is, not
counting the intermediate miles yet unexplored. From five to ten millions of
gold must be our exports this and next year. How many more years this state
of things will continue, 1 cannot say. You may wonder why I continue my cor-
respondence. I answer, from habit, and your many remarks of the interest you
take in my letters."
NAVY DEPARTMENT.
Extract from letter No. 34, October 25, 1848, from Commodore Jones to the Se-
cretary of the Navy.
''Nothing, sir, can exceed the deplorable state of things in all upper Califor-
nia at this time, growing out of the maddening effect of the gold mania. I am
sorry to say that even in this squadron some of the officers are a little tainted,
and have manifested restlessness under moderate restrictions imperiously de-
manded by the exigencies of the times, as you will perceive by the enclosed pa-
per, addressed to three of the lieutenants.
"I am, however, happy to say that I have not been disappointed in the good
effects of the means employed to prevent desertion, and to maintain order in the
squadron, as but one desertion has taken place since the rush of eight from this
ship on the evening of the 18th instant; and that the views and opinions of the
few officers who were so skeptical as to the right or efficacy of the means em-
ployed to prevent offences and to punish crime, have undergone a most favoura-
ble change, whereby I shall be enabled to keep on this coast until the whirlwind
of anarchy and confusion confounded is superseded by the establishment of some
legal government potent enough to enforce law, and to protect life and property,
which at this time is in great jeopardy every where outside our bulwarks."
Flag Ship Ohio, Bav of Monterey, 7
[No. 36.] Nov. 2, 1848. $
Sir, — In my letter No. 24, from La Paz, I recommended the retention on this
toast of all cruising ships of the Pacific squadron, and pointed out how they
could be kept in repair and manned without returning round Cape Horn to the
Atlantic States. When that recommendation was made, I had no conception of
the state of things in Upper California. For the present, and I fear for some
years to come, it will be impossible for the United States to maintain any naval
or military establishment in California; as at present no hope of reward nor fear
of punishment is sufficient to make binding any contract between man and man
upon the soil of California.
VOL. II. MARCH, 1849. 20
294 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,,
To send troops out here would be needless, for they would immediately de-
sert. To show what chance there is for apprehending deserters, 1 enclose an ad-
vertisement which has been widely circulated for a fortnight, but without bring-
ing in a single deserter. Among the deserters from the squadron are some of the
best petty officers and seamen, having but few months to serve, and large balances
due them, amounting in the aggregate to over ten thousand dollars.
There is a great deficiency of coin in the country, and especially in the mines ;
the traders, by taking advantage of the pressing necessity of the digger, not un-
frequently compelling him to sell his ounce of good gold for a silver dollar; and
it has been bought, under like circumstances, for fifty cents per ounce, of Indi-
ans. To this state of dependence, labouring miners are now subjected, and must
be until coin is more abundant. Disease, congestive and intermittent fever, is
making great havoc among the diggers, as they are almost destitute of food and
raiment, and, for the most part, without houses of any kind to protect them from
the inclement season now at hand.
The commerce of this coast may be said to be entirely cut off by desertion.
No sooner does a merchant ship arrive in any of the ports of California, than all
hands leave her; in some instances, captain, cook, and all. At this moment, there
are a number of merchant ships thus abandoned at San Francisco, and such will
be the fate of all that subsequently arrive. The master of the ship "Izaak Wal-
ton. ,; that brought stores for the squadron at this port, offered, without success,
S50 per month to Callao, and thence $20 per month home, to disbanded volunteers,
not seamen.
We were obliged at last to supply him with four men, whose terms of service
were drawing to a close.* This state of things is not confined to California
alone. Oregon is fast depopulating; her inhabitants pour into the gold diggings ;
and foreign residents and runaway sailors from the Sandwich Islands are ar-
riving by every vessel that approaches this coast.
*********
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
THOMAS AP C. JONES,
Commander-in-Chief, Pacific squadron,
Hon. J. Y. Mason, Secretary of the Navy.
WAR DEPARTMENT.
Monterey, (Cal.) Oct. 23, 1848.
General, — 1 arrived here on the 18th inst. from San Diego, and have paid the
four companies of the 1st New York regiment in full, and they have all started
for the gold mines. The three companies composing the command of Lieut. Col,
Burton, are now here, and will be mustered out to-day or to-morrow, and paid by
Major Hill immediately, as the residents are extremely anxious to get rid of them;
they have the place in their power. Nearly all the men of Company "F," 3d
artillery, have deserted.
We have the Ohio, Warren, Dale. Lexington, and Southampton in port; but
they cannot land a man, as they desert as soon as they set foot on shore. The
only thing the ships could do in case of an outbreak, would be to fire upon the
town. The volunteers at Santa Barbara, Los Angelos. &c, behaved very well —
no murmuring or difficulties of any kind with them — they complained that they
were not allowed travelling allowance.
The funds from Mazatlan have at last reached here; the amount is $130,000.
It arrived very opportunely, as we have expended nearly all we had. The
* Our ships are all short of their complements ; the Ohio 145 short. We can spare
no more to our merchantmen.
1849.] Documents. 295
amount is a great deal 'more than will be required, as there are at present but
two companies in California — one of 1st dragoons, the other of 3d artillery- the
latter reduced to a mere skeleton by desertion, and the former in a fair way to
share the same fate. I should suppose that $20,000 would be sufficient to pay
the present force (provided the companies are filled up,) for a year.
Treasury notes are good for nothing now ; bills on the United States could not
be negotiated on any terms. Gold dust can be purchased for eight or ten dollars
the ounce, and it is said to be worth $18 in the United States — consequently all
remittances are made in it.
Colonel Mason, and most of the army officers, are at Fort Sutter. Commo-
dore Jones thinks it would be very imprudent to bring the public funds on shore,
except in such sums as may be required for immediate use. He does not like to
leave a ship here, on account of the difficulty of keeping the men. * * *
The gold fever rages as bad as ever, and the quantity collected has not dimi-
nished, but increased. Provisions, clothing, and all the necessaries of life, are
at most exorbitant prices. Living was always expensive in this country, but
now it passes all reason — board four dollars per day, washing five to six dollars
per dozen. Merchants' clerks are receiving from $1800 to $3000 per annum sa-
lary. What the government will do for civil officers, I do not know. Salaries
will have to correspond with the times.
The pay of governors, judges, &c, as allowed in the United States, will hardly
compare with that paid to salesmen and shop clerks here.
I am, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant,
WILLIAM RICH, A. P. U. S. A.
Gen. N. Tgwson, Paymaster General U. S. A., Washington, D. C.
REVENUE LAWS IN CALIFORNIA.
The following is the bill introduced in the house of representatives on the 24th
of January, which passed the house yesterday :
A BILL to extend the revenue laws of the United States over the territoiy and waters of
Upper California, and to create a collection district therein.
Be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives of the United Slates of Ame-
rica, in congress assembled, That the revenue laws of the United States be, and
are hereby, extended to and over the main land and waters of all that portion of
territory ceded to the United States by the " treaty of peace, friendship, and
limits between the United States of America and the Mexican Republic," con-
cluded on the second day of February, in the year eighteen hundred and forty-
eight, heretofore designated and known as Upper California.
Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That all the ports, harbours, bays, rivers, and
waters of the main land of the territory of Upper California shall constitute a
collection district by the name of Upper California, and a port of entry shall be,
and is hereby established for said district at San Francisco, on the bay of San
Francisco, and a collector of the customs shall be appointed by the President of
the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, to reside at
said port of entry.
Sec. 3. And be it farther enacted, That the ports of delivery shall be. and are
hereby established in the collection district aforesaid, at San Diego, Monterey,
and at some convenient point within the territory of the United States, to be se-
lected by the secretary of the treasury, as near as may be to the junction of the
rivers Gila and Colorado, at the head of the Gulf of California. And the col-
lector of the said district of California is hereby authorized to appoint, with the
approbation of the secretary of the treasury, three deputy collectors, to be sta-
tioned at the ports of delivery aforesaid.
Sec. 4. And be it farther enacted, That the collector of said district shall be
allowed a compensation of fifteen hundred dollars per annum, and the fees and
296 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March ,
commissions allowed bylaw: and the said deputy collectors shall each be al-
lowed a compensation of one thousand dollars per annum, and the fees and com-
missions allowed by law.
Sec. 5. Jnd be it farther enacted, That until otherwise provided by law. all vio-
lations of the revenue laws of the United States, committed within the district
of Upper California, shall be prosecuted in the district court of Louisiana, or the
supreme court of Oregon, which courts shall have original jurisdiction, and may
take cognizance of all eases arising under the revenue laws in said district of
Upper California, and shall proceed therein in the same manner and with the
like effect as if such cases had arisen within the district or territory where the
prosecution shall be brought.
Sec. 6. And be it farther enacted. That this act shall take effect from and after
the tenth day of March next.
IMPORTANT NOTIFICATION.
Panama, January 19th, 1849.
To Wm. Nelson, Esq., United States Consul at Panama: —
Sir : — The laws of the United States inflict the penalty of fine and imprisonment
on trespassers on the public lands. As nothing can be more unreasonable or unjust
than the conduct pursued by persons not citizens of the United States, who are
flockingr from all parts to search for and carry off gold from the lands belonging
to the United States in California, and as such conduct is in direct violation of
law, it will become my duty, immediately on my arrival there, to put these laws
in force, and to prevent their infraction in future, by punishing, with the penalties
provided by law, all those who offend.
As these laws are probably not known to many who are about starting for Ca-
lifornia, it would be well to make it publicly known that there are such laws in
existence, and that they will be, in future, enforced against all persons who are
not citizens of the United States, who shall commit any trespass on the lands of
the United States in California. '
Your position as consul here, being in communication with our consuls on the
coast of South America, affords you the opportunity of making this known moss
generally, and I will be much obliged to you if you will do it.
With sincere respect, your obedient servant,
PERS1FER F. SMITH,
Br. Major General U. S. A., Commanding Pacific Division.
PANAMA.
MEMORIAL OF ASPINWALL & CO.
To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives :
The memorial of William H. Aspinwall, John L. Stephens, Henry Chauncey,
and their associates, respectfully represents:
That the acquisition of California and the settlement of our boundary line
in Oregon have opened a new era in the history of this country. Of the value
of these new territories they do not propose to speak, further than to say that
the mildness of the climate, the richness of the soil, the great promise of
mineral wealth, and, above all, the long line of coast, with the magnificent
harbours on the Pacific, seem to be sufficiently appreciated by all classes of
our people. At this moment hundreds of young men, full of enterprise, from
our eastern states, are buffeting the storms of Cape Horn, while, in the coming
spring, the hardy pioneers of the west will be moving by thousands over the
desolate prairies, or climbing the rugged steeps of the Rocky Mountains, to
build up for us new states on the Pacific. Already it is felt as a hardship by
1849.] Documents. 297
those who go out from amongst us, that, once settled in California and Ore-
gon, they are, to a great extent, cut off from all the dearest relations of "life,
and that there are no means of returning, or of personal intercourse with
friends at home, except by the stormiest passage ever known at sea, or the
most toilsome journey ever made by land. ,
In view of this condition of things, and to hold out some encouragement to
emigrants, that they might not be virtually expatriated when upon our own
soil, and with a further view of facilitating our communications with our mili-
tary and naval stations on the Pacific, Congress, at its session before the last,
established a line of monthly mail steamers from New York to Chagres, on
the Atlantic side of the Isthmus of Panama, and from Panama, on the Pacific
side, to California and Oregon. This will, no doubt, answer sufficiently the
great purpose of facilitating correspondence by mail with those territories,
but it cannot answer, to any extent, the immediate and pressing want of a
thoroughfare for travel, which women and children may pass over, nor can it
answer at all the constant and sometimes pressing occasions for the transporta-
tion of men, munitions of war, and naval stores for our military and naval
stations on the Pacific; all of which, however great the emergency, and at
whatever sacrifice of time and money, must go by the long and hazardous
voyage around Cape Horn, or by the wild paths across the Eocky Mountains,
for half the year covered with snows, and entirely impracticable.
The Isthmus of Panama is about fifty miles in breadth, less than on any
other part of the continent of America, and from the falling off of the great
range of Cordilleras, running from the Rocky Mountains to the Andes, it has
always been considered as the region in which, if ever, an easy communica-
tion would be effected, either by canal or road, between the two seas. The
route over it is probably worse now than in the early days of Spanish domi-
nion, when the gold of Peru passed over it to freight with almost fabulous
wealth the argosies of Spain. No wheel carriage has ever attempted to cross
it. The present mode of doing so is by canoe, up the Chagres river; set, for
a great part of the distance, by poles against the current, and requiring twenty-
eight to thirty hours to Cruces. Thence to Panama there is a mule road, diffi-
cult at all times for women and children, particularly with the effects of a
moving or emigrating party, and, during the rainy season, almost impassable.
The memorialists then state that the Pacific Mail Company, with which
they are identified, had attempted a survey of the route, which was broken
up during the rainy season. They were, however, satisfied that the road was
practicable. They also refer to the treaty with New Granada, securing to the
United States the right of way across the Isthmus of Panama, and thus pro-
ceed : —
Impressed with the importance of this matter, as involving the prosperity
of California and Oregon, and the welfare of all who are in any way connected
with our citizens in those territories, and regarding it as vitally affecting the
best interests of our government, in a political and pecuniary point of view,
and having under their control the maps, drawing, and other information pro-
cured by the Pacific Mail Company, your memorialists have secured to them-
selves an exclusive grant or privilege of ninety-nine years from the Republic
of New Granada for constructing a railroad across the Isthmus of Panama,
and they come before your honourable body to ask the co-operation and aid
necessary for carrying out this great American work. They beg leave to say
that its speedy completion, by private enterprise alone, without the counte-
nance of Government, cannot be expected. Privilege after privilege, similar
to that which they now hold, has been granted to others, and all have failed.
It does not promise any immediate or certain returns; and, for complete and
298 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
early success, it requires some engagement for employment and compensa-
tion by this government, as an inducement to capitalists to unite with your
memorialists in furnishing the necessary means.
After urging that the great interests of the country call for the speedy ac-
complishment of so important a work, the memorial concludes: —
Your memorialists hope that these and other considerations of the like na-
ture may have all proper influence upon your honourable body: but they ask
your co-operation on none of these grounds; they ask it only on the ground,
first, of economy and pecuniary saving to the government, in the transporta-
tion of men, munitions of war, and naval stores to our military and naval sta-
tions in California and Oregon; and, second, on the higher and more import-
ant political ground of being able, on an emergency, and when occasion re-
quires, to send re-enforcements in less than thirty days, instead of six months,
as required to send them around Cape Horn or across the Rocky Mountains.
They ask no advance of money towards the construction of the road, and no
compensation until services are performed; but they respectfully pray your
honourable bodies to empower and direct the Secretary of the Navy to enter
into a contract with your memorialists for the transportation on said road, for
a period of twenty years, of naval and army supplies, including troops, mu-
nitions of war, provisions, naval stores, the mails of the United States, and
its public agents, at a sum not exceeding the amount now specified by law
to be paid for the transportation of the mails alone from New York to Liver-
pool ; provided that your memorialists shall within one year commence, and
within three years complete, the construction of a railroad across the Isthmus
of Panama, connecting the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
W. H. Aspinwall,
John L. Stephens,
Henry Chauncey.
TEHUANTEPEC.
Memorial of P. A. Hargous and others.
To the Honourable the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in
Congress assembled:
The petition of Peter A. Hargous, of the city of New York, for himself and in
behalf of others interested with him, respectfully represents, that they are in-
vested with full authority from the Mexican republic, under the most solemn
guarantees from that government, to open a communication between the Gulf of
Mexico and the Pacific ocean, across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.
Your petitioner respectfully presents the following facts, which he has derived
from the authentic and published report of the engineer who made the surveys in
relation to this route, in order that your honourable body may possess all the ne-
cessary information on this highly important subject.
The grant from the Mexican government, by which the privilege is secured to
your petitioner of opening a communication across the Isthmus, is of the most
liberal character, and offers the strongest inducements for undertaking the enter-
prise. The privileges of the grant are secured to your petitioner, and those asso-
ciated with him, for the period of fifty years; and during this time the govern-
ment of Mexico has pledged itself '-not to impose any contributions or taxes
upon travellers, or their effects in transitu, and not to levy any imposts or forced
loans on the grantees." The grant also secures the right to "all foreigners to
acquire real property, and to exercise any trade or calling, not even excepting
1S49.] Documents. 299
that of mining, within the distance of fifty leagues on either side of the line of
transit."
Finally ; "In the name of the supreme government, and under the most solemn
assurances, it is declared and promised that all and every one of the concessions
mentioned shall be honourably fulfilled, now, and at all times, pledging the
honour and public faith of the nation to maintain the projector, Don Jose Garay,
as well as any private individual or company succeeding or representing him,
either natives or foreigners, in the undisturbed enjoyment of all the concessions
granted, holding the national administration responsible for any acts of its own
or its agents, which, from want of proper fulfilment of this covenant, might in-
jure the interests of the proprietor."
Under this grant, topographical, geological, and hydrographical surveys of the
line of communication across the Isthmus have been made. They were made
under the direction of Mr. Moro, an Italian engineer of high distinction, assisted
by two other scientific gentlemen. "The entire line of country was carefully
surveyed and mapped. The face of the land, its productions and capabilities,
were examined with untiring perseverance," and a very full report was subse-
quently drawn up, which has been published, with accompanying maps, all of
which are now in the possession of your petitioner. '
"From these surveys it is established that the entire distance from sea to sea
is 135 miles in a straight line, and presents a wide plain from the mouth of the
Coatzacoalcos to the port of the Mesa de Tarifa, a table or elevated plain on the
line of the Andes, which rises to the height of 650 feet above the level of the
sea, and at the distance of five miles again descends to a plain which reaches the
Pacific. The summit level to be overcome is only 650 feet. Thirty miles of the
Coatzacoalcos are navigable for ships of the largest class, and fifteen miles be-
yond this for vessels of light draught, leaving only about one hundred and fifteen
miles of rail-road to be made. It would occupy too much space to enumerate ail
the details of these surveys, and which go to show so strongly how easily a rail-
road can be constructed across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. It is sufficient to
say that the absolute practicability has been clearly ascertained."
In other respects it affords great facilities for construction. " The entire course
of the Coatzacoalcos is bounded by forests, which can supply immense quanti-
ties of the proper kind of timber suitable for the construction of a rail-road, and
all of which is, by the terms of the grant, the property of the company under-
taking the construction of the road. Limestone, strong clay, asphaltum, and
building stone of the best quality, suitable for bridges where necessary, are placed,
as if purposely by nature, all along the direction of this route. The Zacatecos
and other Indians can be found in quite sufficient number to carry on the work,
and at those points where foreign labour is indispensable, the temperature is such
as to allow them to pursue their labour without either inconvenience or injury to
their health. The climate, though warm, is healthy. The natives are mild,
submissive, and tractable. There are ample sources whence to obtain a stock of
domestic animals and beasts of burden. Throughout the whole line secured by
this grant, as well for the purpose of a communication across the Isthmus as for
the settlement of the country by foreigners, all the productions of the equatorial
and temperate regions are found in the greatest abundance;" for the valley of the
Isthmus produces the former, and on ascending to the more elevated country bor-
dering on the valley, the climate of the temperate zone is found there as well as
its productions. At each end of the rail-road are suitable places for fine harbours,
as well as to depth, size, and security from storms. It is true there is a bar at
the mouth of the Coatzacoalcos. By different navigators the water has been
sounded, and from twelve to eighteen feet have been°found on it at low water.
Commodore Perry, in his surveys in 1847, found twelve feet. At a small pass
at the entrance of the ocean on the Pacific side, there is, at low water, seven
feet. Your petitioner, however, is convinced, from the character of the obstruc-
300 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
tiori3, that they can, at a small expense of time and money, be easily lemoved.
and will then open an entrance for vessels of large size into ports equal to any in
the world. He is prepared to show this to the satisfaction of your honourable
body.
Such are some of the physical advantages connected with this route. There
are others, however, no less important. The distance from the mouth of the
Mississippi to San Francisco, by the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. is 3,294 miles:
by the Isthmus of Panama 5000; thus showing that the route by the Isthmus
of Tehuantepec is 1,706 miles shorter than by Panama. The distance from
New York, by the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, is 4,744 miles: by the Isthmus of
Panama 5.858: making the route by Tehuantepec, from New York to San Fran-
cisco, 1.104 miles shorter than by the Isthmus of Panama.
The mere statement of this fact carries with it its own importance, for it is an
axiom that, in all human operations, the saving of time is the saving of labour
and money. This fact is already exercising its influence, for enterprising men
are at this very moment turning their attention to this route, without the advan-
tages of an artificial communication across it.
In time of war, too, the route by the Caribbean seas would bring us under the
guns of hostile forts and fleets, without any port of our own to resort to, either
for shelter or repairs; whereas, by the Tehuantepec route we would be all the
time within the limits of our own sea — for such, in truth, the Gulf of Mexico
may be considered in relation to us.
The petitioner then adverts to the advantages offered to emigrants to hold lands
in fee; and to the tendency of the project when completed to produce friendly re-
lations between the United States and Mexico on the basis of mutual interests.
He pledges himself to obtain from the Mexican government all the necessary
guarantees for the security of all parties concerned, and concludes as follows:
As to the practicability of the route, it may be well to give the very words oi
the distinguished engineer who surveyed it, and all of which has the confident
conviction of your petitioner as to its truth. He says : — "The careful survey of
the line of transit over the isthmus demonstrates the practicability of the project,
since it presents no one serious difficulty which may not be readily conquered
by means of capital and science, the gigantic development of which at this au-
spicious period seem to have placed at the disposal of the engineer an inexhaus-
tible and unlimited power."
Your petitioner has brought the principal facts to the notice of your honourable
body, in the hope further steps may be adopted which will insure a full exami-
nation of the results of the survey, in the firm conviction, on his part, that such
an examination will establish the value of this route to the United States in a
communication with its possessions on the Pacific shore.
P. A. HARGOUS.
1849.] Documents. 301
LIST OF ACTS PASSED AT THE LAST SESSION OF CONGRESS.
Private Bills. — For the relief of B. 0. Payne, of Albany, N. Y., Joshua Bar-
ney, U. S. agent, Joel Thacker, Mary G. Leverett, James Morehead, Major
Charles Larrabee, Capt. Alex. M'Ewen, David Thomas, of Philadelphia, John
P. Skinner and the legal representatives of Isaac Green, Dr. Adolphus Wislis-
zenus, W. Gott, Edward Quinn, George Newton, Robert Ramsay, Elizabeth S.
Cobbs, Daniel Robinson, Jesse Washington Jackson, Mrs. Anne W. Angus,
Elizabeth Mays, Nancy Tompkins, James Glynn and others, Jas. H. Comley,
Jesse Young, Stephen Champlin, William De Buys, late postmaster at New
Orleans, William Fuller and Orlando Saltmarsh, Esther Russell, Reuben Perry
and Thomas P. Ligon, the owners of the Spanish Restaurator; Anthony Bes-
see, G. F. de la Roche and W. P. S. Sanger, Zilpha White, Hugh Riddle,
Thomas Badger, Archibald Bell and L. P. Finch, Noah A. Phelps, Charles
Waldron, Col. Robert Wallace, aid-de-camp of Gen. Wm. Hull, James B. Da-
venport, Klisha Thomasson, James P. Sexton, Joshua Holden, Elizabeth Bur
riss, Simon Rodriguez, M. F. Johnson, Joseph Bryan, the heirs of W. Evans,
William Fuller, Charles Savage, Captain John Percival, U. S. N., John Mor-
rison, John Hibbart, W. Harding, Sarah J\ Caldwell, John B. Smith, Simeon
Darden, S. C. Bryan and others, Capt. Dan Drake Henrie, Eliza A. Mellor.
Philip J. Fontaine, Levi H. Carson, B. Cogswell, James Y. Smith, Thomas T.
Gamage, Salsy Darby, Charles Wilson, Solomon Davis, Peterill Grant, Sizur
B. Canfield, the legal representatives of Capt. G. R. Shoemaker, Chas. Benns,
James Norris, Chas. M'Lane, James Fagate, Commander J. J. Young, U. S.
Navy, John Campbell, John Savage, W. U. Wilson, Andrew Flanegan, the
heirs of J. F. Perry, J. Bleakly, N. Garrott and R. Morrison, George Center,
Henry Washington, Thos. Douglass, U. S. Attorney, East Florida, Jos. f'.
Caldwell, Creed Taylor, Jeanette C. Huntingdon, Mary Macrea, J. M. Moore
Thos. Talbot and others, Timothy Cuvan, Patrick Walker. James Hotchkiss!
James M. Scantland, William Plummer, William L. Wigent, Nehemiah Brush '
P. Chouteare, Jr. & Co., Henry D. Garrison, James G. Carson, Peter Capella'
John Caho, Elijah Petty, Jas. F. Sothoron, Thomas W. Chinn, Capt. Alex!
Montgomery, A. Q. M. of the U. S. Army, W. P. Yonge, Lowry Williams'
Mary Buck, Amelia Convillier, J. W. Hockett, H. Carrington, Peter Shaffer'
Polly Aldrich, Eve Boggs, Jas. H. Noble, Hervey Jones, Satterlee Clark'
Daniel Wilson, Sidney Flower, John T. Ohl, M. R. Simmons, Catherine Clark'
Polly Dameron, A. S. & A. W. Benson, H. M. Barney, John B. Nevitt, Geonre
R. Smith, J. Melville Gilliss and others. S
An act for the relief of the citizens of Cedar Bluff, in the state of Alabama
and for other purposes. 5
An act to authorize the judges of the courts of the United States of the 5th
circuit to hold the circuit court for the district of Kentucky.
An act concerning the selection of jurors in certain courts of the United
States.
An act declaring Fort Covington, in the State of New York, to be a port of
delivery, and for other purposes.
An act to transfer the towns of Vinal Haven, North Haven, and Isleborou"-h
from the collection district of Penobscot to that of Belfast, in the state & of
Maine.
An act to provide for the payment of horses and other property lost or de-
stroyed in the military service of the United States.
An act to authorize the coinage of $20 and $1 gold pieces at the mint of the
United States and its branches.
VOL. II. — MARCH, 1849. 21
302 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
An act for the settlement of the claims of New Hampshire against the
United States.
An act amendatory of the act entitled "An act amendatory of the act en-
titled 'An act to incorporate the Provident Association of Clerks in the Civil
Departments of the Government of the United States, in the District of Co-
lumbia,' "' approved March 3, 1825.
An act supplemental to the act approved the 6th day of July, 1842, entitled,
''An act confirming certain land claims in Louisiana."
An act to extend certain privileges to the town of Whitehall, in the State
of New York.
An act to make arrangements for taking the seventh census.
An act granting a half section of land for the use of schools within fractional
townships nineteen south of range eighteen west, county of Lowndes, state
of Mississippi.
An act to aid the State of Louisiana in draining the swamp lands therein.
An act to supply deficiencies in the appropriations for the service of the
fiscal year ending June 30, 1849.
An act to provide for carrying into execution, in part, the twelfth article of
the treaty with Mexico, concluded at Guadalonpe Hidalgo.
An act making appropriations for the support of the Military Academy for
the year ending 30th June, 1850.
An act making appropriations for the payment of revolutionary and other
pensions of the United States for the year ending 30th June, 1850.
An act making appropriations for the payment of navy pensions for the year
ending June 30, 1850.
An act granting five years' half pay to certain widows and orphans of offi-
cers and non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates, both regulars
and volunteers.
An act to establish an additional land office in the State of Missouri.
An act in relation to the Fox and Wisconsin river reservation in the state
of Wisconsin.
An act making appropriations for certain fortifications of the United States
for the year ending the 30th June, 1850.
An act to provide for the final settlement of the accounts of Thomas C. Shel-
don, late receiver of public moneys at Kalamazoo, Michigan.
An act to allow subsistence to certain Arkansas and other volunteers who
have been prisoners of war in Mexico.
An act for the relief of the forward officers of the late exploring expedition.
An act to settle the title to certain tracts of land in the state of Arkansas.
An act to amend the act entitled -an act supplemental to the act for the
admission of the states of Iowa and Florida into the Union."
An act to incorporate the Oak Hill Cemetery in the District of Columbia.
An act for the relief of the President and Directors of the Union Bank of
Florida.
An act to authorize the citizens of Ozark county, of Missouri, to enter less
than a quarter section of land for the seat of justice in said county.
An act making appropriations for the service of the Post Office Department
for the year ending the 30th of June, 1850.
An act for the relief of Samuel A. Grier.
An act to provide for the settlement of the accounts of public officer?
and others who may have received moneys arising from military contributions
or otherwise in Mexico.
An act to extend the provisions of all laws now in force relating to the car-
riage of passengers in merchant vessels, and the regulation thereof.
An act requiring all moneys receivable from customs and from all other
1S49.] Documents. 303
sources to be paid immediately into the treasury, without abatement or de-
duction, and for other purposes.
An act to establish the home department, and to provide for the treasury
department an assistant secretary of the treasury, and a commissioner of the
customs.
An act making appropriations for the support of the army for the year end-
ing the 30th June, 1850.
An act making appropriations for the naval service for the year ending 30th
June, 1850.
An act making appropriations for the present and contingent expenses ot
the Indian department, and for fulfilling treaty stipulations with the various
Indian tribes, for the year ending June 30th. 1850.
An act making appropriations for the civil and diplomatic expenses of go-
vernment for the year ending the 30th June, 1850, and for other purposes.
An act to extend the revenue laws of the United States over the territory
and waters of Upper California, and to create a collection district therein.
An act declaratory of the act for the admission of the state of Iowa into the
Union.
An act to extend the provisions of an act, approved the third of March,
eighteen hundred and forty-seven, for carrying into effect the existing com-
pacts with the states of Alabama and Mississippi with regard to the five per
cent, fund and school reservations.
An act to continue the light at Sand's Point on Long Island.
An act to amend an act, entitled "An act for authenticating certain re-
cords," approved February 22, 1849.
An act making appropriation for light houses, light boats, buoys, &c, and
providing for the erection and establishment of the same, and for other pur-
poses.
An act for the better organization of the district court of the United States
within the State of Louisiana.
An act concerning the pay department of the army.
An act to establish the collection district of Brazos de Santiago, in the state
of Texas, and for other purposes.
An act authorizing the payment of interest upon the advance made by the
state of Alabama, for the use of the United States government, in the sup-
pression of the Creek Indian hostilities in 1839 and 1837 in Alabama.
An act to authorize the secretary of war to make reparation for the killing
of a Caddo boy by volunteer troops in Texas.
An act to authorize the issuing of a register or enrolment to the ship Annie
Teft.
An act in addition to the act entitled " An act to incorporate the Washing-
ton, Alexandria, and Georgetown steam packet company.'"'
An act to cause the northern boundary line of the state of Iowa to be run
and marked.
An act to continue the office of the Commissioner of Pensions.
An act to grant the right of way to the Mobile and Ohio railroad company.
An act to provide for the increase of the medical staff, and for an additional
number of chaplains of the army of the United States.
An act to define the period of disability imposed upon certain bidders for
mail contracts.
An act to grant to the Atlantic and Gulf rail-road company the right of way
through the public lands of the United States.
An act for changing the location of the land office in the Chippewa land
district, and establishing an additional land district in the state of Wisconsin.
An act for authenticating certain records.
An act to establish the territorial government of Minesota.
304 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [March,
An act to carry into effect certain stipulations of the treaty between the
United States of America and the republic of Mexico, of the 2d day of Feb-
ruary, 1848.
An act to provide for the final settlement of the accounts of Abraham Ed-
wards, register of the land office at Kalamazoo, Michigan.
An act granting a pension to Bethiah Healy, widow of George Healy, de-
ceased.
% An act to relinquish the reversionary interest of the United States to a cer-
tain Indian reservation in the state of Alabama.
Joint resolution granting to the secretary of the treasury further time to
make the report concerning the sale and entry of certain lands in Cincinnati.
Joint resolution relative to evidence in applications for pensions by widows
of deceased soldiers under the act of July 21, 1848.
i Joint resolution for the purchase of copies of the general Navy Register and
Laws.
Joint resolution concerning the settlement of the accounts of William
Speiden, purser in the army of the United States.
Joint resolution authorizing a settlement of the accounts of Thomas M.
Howe, late pension agent at Pittsburgh, upon equitable principles.
Joint resolution for the distribution of the Official Register or Blue Book
among the several states.
Joint resolution authorizing the secretary of the senate and clerk of the
house of representatives, to subscribe for 1000 copies of a further publication
of the debates and proceedings of Congress, and for other purposes.
Joint resolution for the relief of the pursers in the navy as to expenditures
made in pursuance of orders during the war with Mexico.
Joint resolution directing that the government of Russia be supplied with
certain volumes of the narrative of the exploring expedition, in lieu of those
which were lost at sea.
A resolution for the appointment of regents in the Smithsonian Institution.
A resolution relating to the compensation of persons appointed to deliver
the votes for president and vice president of the United States to the presi-
dent of the senate.
A resolution authorizing the secretary of war to furnish arms and ammuni-
tion to persons emigrating to the territories of Oregon, California and New
Mexico.
A resolution to authorize the secretary of the treasury to make an equitable
settlement with the sureties of Robert T. Lytle, late surveyor general of the
district of Ohio.
A resolution to defray the expenses of certain Chippewa Indians and their
interpreters.
A resolution to fix the meaning of the second section of an act for changing
the location of the land office in the Chippewa land district, and establishing
an additional land district in the state of Wisconsin.
A resolution relative to the public printing.
(The proceedings and debates of the last Congress, with several valuable
documents, are deferred until the next number. We have also in reserve
some valuable information in relation to Insurance, and Insurance companies,
as well as interesting accounts of the operations and official acts of our naval
commanders during the past six years, &c, &c. — all of which have been
crowded out by the press of matter.)
THE
American
QUARTERLY REGISTER
MAGAZINE.
Causas rerum. videt, earumque progressus. — Cici
(tfotrtmrteb bg lames 0trgker.
JUNE, 1849. . . . Vol. II. No. II.
PUBLISHED BY THE PROPRIETOR,
NO. 520 CHESTNUT STREET.
1849.
Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1849, by
JAMES STRYKER,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
William S. Young, Printt
CONTENTS
No. 2. Vol. II.
Introduction, . . . . •
Historical Register of 1849, — United States, Mexico, Great Britain
France, Germany, Austria, Prussia, Italy, Russia,
Statistics:
Legal Business of the Federal Government,
International Exchanges, .....
The Post Office, ......
Progress of Canada, .....
Territorial Area and Internal Commerce,
Plank Roads, . . . ..-.'.
Factory Statistics, — Byfield and Lowell, .
The Whale Fishery, .....
American Religious and Benevolent Societies, (anniversaries,)
London Anniversaries, .....
Progress of Mormonism, .....
American Medical Association, ....
Penitentiaries in 1848, (statistical tables,) .
Mechanical Industry of America, do.
Agriculture, — Clearing Lands, &c,
Liberia and Australia, — Statements, &c, .
Tea Plant and Varieties, .....
Climate of California, .....
Education in Virginia, .....
Armies of Europe, (tables,) .
Statistics of the Weather for the Quarter,
Distance from England to the United States,
Libraries,-— Tables, &c, .....
Original Communications:
Tenure of Land, (continued,) .....
China and the Chinese, (continued,)
Comparative View of Education in Great Britain and the United
States, .......
Human Speech, or Apparatus of Language,
Rivers of Florida, . . . . .'--'-.
Texts of Discourses, .....
309
310—364
365
371
373
375
381
386
388—9
390
393
400
400
401
402
404
407
410—412
413
416
417
418
420
422
422
423
433
439
444
450
453
iv Contents.
Miscellaneous:
Nineveh and its Remains,
457
The Law of Human Progress,
468
Escape of Charles Albert, .
472
Napoleon — his Genius, .
476
Mist and Clouds, .
477
Garden Culture, (Meigs,) .
478
Poetry:
Minesota— (Mrs. Sigourney,)
480
Sonnet— (A. B. Street,) .
481
Course of Life — (Translation,)
482
Heroine of Monterey — (Rev. Dr. Lyons,) .
.
483
World full of Beauty, .
.
484
Resignation, (Longfellow,)
485
Biography :
James Knox Polk, .....
.
487
Edmund P. Gaines, ....
.
490
Louis Kossuth, .
•
492
Obituary Notices, .....
.
495—505
Notices of Books:
Life of John Q. Adams, . . . .
.
506
History of the Mexican War,
.
507
Generals of the last War, .
.
508
Life of Gen. Taylor, .
509
Memorial of Ambrose Spencer,
•
510
Quarterly Chronicle, for March, April, May, and
Appendix for
June, ......
. from 514 to 528
Documents :
President's Annual Message, (concluded.)
.
529
On Internal Improvement, . . . .
.
551
Veto Message of the River and Harbor Bill,
551
Memorial to Congress by Chicago Convention,
564
Address of the Peace Congress,
.
588
Arctic Expedition — Lady Franklin's Letter and
Mr. Clayton's
answer, ......
589
Manifesto of the Turkish government,
592
Constitution of the French Republic,
593
Capt. Folsom's Letter to Gen. Jessup,
.
599
British Navigation Act, .
602
Index to Vol. II., .....
.
605
THE AMERICAN
QUARTERLY REGISTER
AND MAGAZINE.
NO. II. VOL. II.
JUNE, 1849.
With this number we complete the second volume of the Register. Al-
though we have had to encounter many difficulties and hinderances in the first
stages of a work, exacting a very large amount of labour and expenditure,
still we believe that our original plan has been faithfully carried out. We
have, in all the numbers, given a digested summary of the leading events of
the times, carefully and impartially prepared — a body of statistical informa-
tion invaluable for future reference — a miscellaneous department which has
been received with general approval — and a chronicle and obituary for every
quarter, with a large body of important official documents; forming, altogether,
such a Register and Magazine as we promised to the public.
In the present number, according to our original intention, we have embod-
ied in the Historical Register of the United States, the debates in Congress
on the great and absorbing questions now before the people, which must prove
acceptable to all who wish to be possessed of the political history of the
country.
In relation to our time of publication, we wish it to be borne in mind by all
our subscribers, that unlike most other periodicals, the very nature and ar-
rangement of the work, prevent its coming out at the beginning of a month.
If, for instance, the June number were issued from the press before the 20th
of that month, we could not embrace in it the chronicle and obituary for
May, nor would we be able to write out the history for the preceding quarter;
we are therefore, necessarily compelled to consume the greater part of June
in getting through the press a June number. The same cause must produce
a like result at every period of publication hereafter.
VOL. II. — JUNE, 1849. 22
310 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [June.
HISTORICAL REGISTER.
1849.
UNITED STATES.
The new year found the United States in a condition singularly pros-
perous. With every foreign nation they were not only at peace, but
seemingly on terms of cordial amity. Never had their national cha-
racter stood so high. Their military success in the Mexican war had
shed a new lustre on their civil polity, and procured for it an admira-
tion and respect which its fitness to promote human happiness had
never before attained. The country was blessed, too, with plenty as
well as peace. Provisions of all kinds were abundant, and agriculture
was more than compensated by the quantity of its products for their
extraordinary cheapness. The profits of some classes of manufacturers
were indeed somewhat reduced, but they were still able to carry on
their business : and all the other classes profited by their partial loss.
The rich mines of California opened a new field to the shipping inte-
rests and commercial enterprise, which they had otherwise wanted.
But in the midst of so many causes of public gratulation, there was
seen on the horizon a dark spot which, already disturbing the harmony
of our public councils, caused lively anxiety for the more serious storm
it portended. This was the question of domestic slavery, which is
viewed so differently by the states which have it and those which are
exempt from it: by reason of which diversity the sympathies of one-
half of them are in constant collision with the feelings of self-preserva-
tion in the other. As this discrepancy of sentiment has been steadily
growing in importance since the Declaration of Independence, a notice
of its progress may not be uninteresting, and may, moreover, make us
better able to estimate the danger which most threatens our social har-
mony, and, perhaps, our political unity.
As an element of discord in the distribution of political power among
the several States on the one hand, and of their liability to taxation on
the other, it first manifested itself in the old Congress, in framing the
articles of confederation.
In determining the quotas of the different States of the money to be
expended for their common defence, after it was decided that they
should be in the ratio of their respective populations, the slaveholding
States proposed that slaves should not be counted, they being merely a
species of property, while the other States insisted that, as numbers
were an index of wealth, the whole population, whether bond or free,
1849.] History of 1849.— United Slates. 311
should be reckoned. A member from Virginia, Mr. Harrison, pro-
posed, by way of compromise, that two slaves should be counted as
one free man, there probably being that difference in the productive
powers of the two classes, as there actually was in their wages. Seven
States, however, voted against the discrimination, five in favour of it,
and Georgia was divided ; so that in bearing the burdens of government,
no distinction was made between free men and slaves.
In the convention which framed the constitution of the United States,
in 1789, the question again occurred in apportioning the representatives
among the several States, when a different rule was adopted. It was
there agreed by the two parties, by way of compromise, that both in
the distribution of power in the house of representatives and in the lia-
bility to direct taxes, five slaves should be deemed equivalent to three
free men : so that the slaveholding States had no representation for
two-fifths of their slaves, and a correspondent exemption from direct
taxes.
The subject, though thus settled by the constitution, failed to give
general satisfaction, and both parties objected to the compromise as
unjust to their respective divisions. The free States maintained that
slaves being as decidedly property in the south as horses and cattle
were with them, had no better claim to be represented, and ought to
be excluded altogether ; while the slaveholding States insisted that slaves
being persons, part of the human family, and whose labour contributed
to the wealth and revenue of the state, ought no more to be left out in
the estimates of population than women and children, who are equally
excluded from political rights, and therefore ought all to be counted.
They further added that as direct taxes were but occasional, and may
become entirely disused, the slaveholding States lost their full share of
representation, without receiving the compensation intended by the
compromise.
At first, slavery was regarded by the northern and southern divi-
sions of the States merely as it affected their political power or liability
to taxation ; but, after a while, a new element of far greater influence
than they mingled in the controversy. This was sympathy for the
enslaved race. It is remarkable that this sentiment, which the wildest
fervour engendered by the French revolution had not been able to
evoke, made its appearance after that moral effervescence had passed
away. It probably owed its new force to the discussions on both sides
of the Atlantic on the enormities of the slave trade, to the emancipa-
tion of the slaves in the British West Indies, and to the unceasing
taunts of Europeans against Americans for being slaveholders while
they professed the principles of liberty and equality.
The discordant feelings, thus enforced, first fully manifested them-
selves in the year 1818, when a bill having been introduced into Con-
gress for the admission of the Missouri territory into the Union as a
State, an amendment was proposed to it on the 19th of February, 1819,
312 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [June,
which prohibited the further introduction of slavery into the new State,
and provided that all slaves born within the State should be free, but
might be held to service until the age of 25. The bill, thus amended,
passed the house of representatives by a small majority, but the proviso
respecting slaves having been struck out by the senate, and each house
adhering to the ground it had taken, the bill was lost.
The subject excited a lively interest, which, however, was confined
chiefly to the politicians, and both parties in Congress prepared for the
contest at the succeeding session. The warm and protracted discussion
that then ensued, enlisted the feelings of the whole nation, and for a
brief interval the permanency of the Union, which had seemed exempt
from all danger, except in the minds of a timid few, from the growing
power of the west, was all at once threatened from a quarter which no
one had dreamt of. The proposed restriction was discussed as to its
constitutionality and expediency in both houses, with a zeal and ability
perhaps never before exhibited in Congress. It was nearly four weeks
in passing through the committee of the whole in the house of repre-
sentatives, and when neither party gave the smallest symptom of yield-
ing, and every patriot was looking with intense anxiety at the result,
Mr. Clay availed himself of his popularity in the house, then unequalled,
and his influence as Speaker, to bring about a compromise, by which it
was agreed that slavery should not thereafter be introduced in any new
State north of 36° 30', and that there should be no attempt to prohibit
it south of that line.
Though the controversy was thus rendered innocuous for the time by
the compromise, the feelings that accompanied it were but little allayed ;
and not long afterwards it was revived in petitions from the northern
States to Congress for the abolition of slavery in the District of Colum-
bia. The right to abolish it was vehemently denied by the slaveholding
States, and viewing ihe measure as one highly injurious to their inte-
rests, and perhaps dangerous to their peace, they objected even to the
reading of such petitions, as well as to their reference ; and having suc-
ceeded in thus rejecting them, the cause of the petitioners acquired
favour from all those who regarded the right of petition as sacred and
inviolable. This gave to the abolitionists a strength they had not
otherwise attained. Year after year these petitions were renewed, and
being disposed of in the same summary way, they received at home an
obvious accession of support. If these petitions gave rise to bitter
altercations in Congress, these same altercations greatly increased the
popular excitement on the subject in every part of the Union; a na-
tural effect of which action and reaction was, that ready materials were
thus afforded to demagogues and political adventurers of all parties
to play the patriot by fanning the flames of civil discord.
During this progress of the controversy, it was furnished with new
aliment by the acquisition of Texas. The annexation, when first pre-
sented to the public notice, was viewed with unanimous abhorrence
1S49.] History of 1849.— United States. 313
by the northern States, not only because they saw in it the extension
of slavery, but also a preponderance in the senate of the slaveholding
States. The overtures of Texas to be admitted into the Union were
unhesitatingly rejected during the administration of Mr. Van Buren,
yet but four years afterwards, when other councils prevailed under the
administration of his immediate successor, the annexation became a
favourite project both in Mr. Tyler's cabinet and in the southern States ;
and, such is the force of party discipline, it received the sanction of se-
veral of the northern States, and is believed to have mainly decided the
presidential election in favour of Mr. Polk.
The opponents of slavery seemed then disposed to redouble their
efforts to compensate the retrograde movement in the annexation of
Texas. It being foreseen, during the war with Mexico,' that a part
of her territory would also be annexed to the United States, Mr.
Wilmot of Pennsylvania brought forward that resolution to interdict
slavery in all new territories, which, under the name of " the Wilmot
proviso," has acquired so much celebrity. This has ever since been the
cardinal point on which this agitating controversy has turned. Its
application to the Oregon territory was opposed by the slaveholding
States, as out of the sphere of the constitutional powers of Congress,
and this opposition prevented for the time the organization of a govern-
ment for that territory. It, however, prevailed at the succeeding ses-
sion, and President Polk gave his sanction to the bill which contained
the prohibitory proviso, but, at the same time, declared that he would
negative any bill regarding the territories acquired from Mexico which
should contain the same proviso.
The recent session of Congress was chiefly occupied by this question
— one party insisting on inserting it in the bills for the territorial go-
vernments of California and New Mexico, and the other party as stea-
dily, and with yet more warmth, resisting the attempt.
Frequent were the occasions when this theme of discord gave rise
to angry discussion. The first was when a petition was presented in
the senate by Mr. Benton, from the people of New Mexico, asking for
a territorial government, denying the claims of Texas to any part of
their territory, and earnestly protesting against the introduction of
slavery among them. Mr. Calhoun opposed the reception of the
petition, which he denounced as " insolent." The petitioners were
warmly defended by the member who presented their petition.
Mr. Douglas' bill for the admission of California and New Mexico
into the Union, as States, which was mentioned in our last number,
gave rise, both before and after its reference to a committee, to re-
peated discussions. The resolutions of several States on the same sub-
ject, particularly of Virginia, South Carolina, and Florida, against the
restriction of slavery in the new territories, and of New York in favour
of it, all called forth animated, and often intemperate debate.
But this feverish agitation was brought to a crisis by a renewed
314 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [June,
attempt to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia. Hitherto the
members from the free States, content with offering the petitions of
their constituents for the same object, and urging their reception, had
generally expressed themselves unwilling to interfere with slavery in
the district, though they insisted on their right to abolish it. The
subject was, however, now brought forward by two members, Mr.
Giddings of Ohio, and Mr. Gott of New York, at their own instance ;
and as has been already stated, both the motion to take the sense of
the district on the subject of abolition, and that instructing a commit-
tee to bring in a bill prohibiting all traffic in slaves in the district,
passed the house of representatives by small majorities.
When Mr. Giddings, whose resolution proposed to take the sense
of the district upon abolishing slavery in it, was asked whether he
meant that free negroes and slaves should vote, he replied, that he
had no regard to difference of colour, but said he would be willing to
exclude slaves from voting, if the slaveholders were excluded also.
Mr. Palfrey of Massachusetts, afterwards asked for leave to bring
in a bill for the direct abolition of slavery in the district, which, as
well as Mr. Giddings', was rejected by a small majority.
•This offensive resolution was afterwards reconsidered, on the motion
of Mr. Stuart of Michigan. His motion was, on the 10th of January,
supported by Mr. M'Lane of Maryland, who gave a full detail of the
laws of that state against the importation of slaves, and who wished
the subject, if it should be reconsidered, to be referred either to the
judiciary committee or the committee on the District, to inquire whe-
ther the slave trade in the District could be constitutionally and legally
prohibited. The vote for reconsideration was carried by 119 yeas to
81 noes.
About the same time, too, a resolution instructing the committee on
the territories to prohibit slavery, passed the house of representatives
by 119 votes to 81.
The sensibility of the members from the Slaveholding states, always
sufficiently alive on the mere proposition for the interference of Con-
gress on this delicate subject, was excited to the highest pitch on its
present success. An informal meeting of those members was imme-
diately called, and the whole delegations from the fifteen slaveholding
States attended in the senate chamber on the night of the 22d of De-
cember. It soon appeared that though all considered the course pursued
by the majority in the house of representatives to indicate a culpable
disregard of their rights and interests, they differed widely as to the
measures to be adopted. While some, in the heat of sudden resent-
ment, were for staking their continuance in the Union on the interpo-
sition of the Federal Government on the subject of domestic slavery,
others were content for the present with remonstrance and an earnest
appeal to the justice and prudence of the community. As unanimity
was important towards success, the more vehement party, in the hope
1849.] History of \SA$.— United States. 315
of attaining it, consented to the postponement of their final action,
which the more moderate, under the belief that the existing fervour
would be thereby allayed, had prudently proposed. After some days,
an address from the southern members of Congress to their constituents
was submitted to the meeting by Mr. Calhoun. It states forcibly, but
with temper, the complaints urged by the slaveholding States against
the northern States for interference in their domestic concerns ; it refers
to the Federal Constitution, in which the institution of slavery, now so
earnestly and systematically opposed, is distinctly recognised, and the
rights of the slaveholder are expressly guarantied : without which sanc-
tion, it is w T ell known, the constitution would not have been adopted.
It adverts to repeated decisions of the Supreme Court, in which the
same rights are amply vindicated, all of which sanctions and guaran-
tees have been disregarded by citizens of the northern States, and either
evaded or openly violated, for the purpose of compelling the southern
States to emancipate their slaves. In a review of the Missouri com-
promise, he states that it was regarded as a permanent adjustment of
the territorial limits of slavery, yet since the acquisition of California
and New Mexico, it is no longer respected by the northern States. He
denies that the Federal Government can rightfully legislate upon the
subject of slavery, either to extend or restrict it. He insists that, as
the South contributed even more than its share of men and money to
the acquisition of the new territories, the principles of justice and
equality require that they should have the right of migrating thither
with their property, including their slaves. He referred to the reso-
lutions of Mr. Giddings and Mr. Gott, as well as to another by a mem-
ber from Illinois, which was not acted on, to show that " a greater
number of aggressive measures, and they f more aggravated and dan-
gerous,' had been introduced into Congress at the present session, than
had been ' for years before.' " He maintained that this system of
aggression and encroachment, if suffered "to operate unchecked," must
end in emancipation, without any formal act of abolition : and should
that not be the result of the course of aggression now pursued, the
same object would be obtained by an amendment to the constitution.
He adverts to the consequences of emancipation, and discriminates be-
tween its results in this country and the British West Indies ; he main-
tains that the free and servile races of the South cannot live together
in peace and harmony, except in their present relations ; that if emanci-
pated, the coloured race would, by the natural course of events, obtain
first a political equality with the whites, and finally an ascendency, by
which the last would be doomed to a state of degradation, poverty, and
wretchedness never before experienced by a free and enlightened people.
He then asks, what is to be done to avert these direful and immi-
nent evils? and answers, that the slaveholding States must, in the first
place, be united on this "vital question ;" and then they must convince
their adversaries that all other questions are considered by the South
316 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [June,
to be subordinate to this; that by such a course the North might be
brought to pause in their purposes of aggression, and should that not
be the case, the South should be prepared to defend their rights, in-
volving their property, prosperity, liberty, and safety, "without looking
to the consequences," for which their assailants, and not they, would
be responsible.
On the motion of Mr. Clayton of Delaware, to lay the whole subject
on the table, 60 voted in the negative, against 28 in the affirmative.
On the motion of Mr. Berrien of Georgia, the subject of the address
was referred to a committee, 41 ayes to 40 noes, and the meeting ad-
journed to meet in the same place, the senate chamber, on the evening
of the 22d of January.
At the meeting in the senate chamber, according to adjournment, a
substitute for the address offered by Mr. Calhoun, and which was pre-
pared by Mr. Berrien, was offered, but after some discussion, a majority
were against its adoption, and preferred the original address. They
were, however, very similar in character — the principal points of diffe-
rence being, that the first address was from members of congress to
their constituents, while the substitute purported to be from individuals
to the people of the United States. The substitute, too, after detailing
the grievances of the South, forbore to make any suggestion about the
redress that should be aimed, but left that expressly for the considera-
tion of the people.
We will now notice the other proceedings of Congress on this im-
portant subject.
The judiciary committee in the senate, to whom the bill for the ad-
mission of California and New Mexico together as a State had been
referred, on the 9th of January submitted an elaborate report on the
subject. They objected to the bill, first, that it was xepugnant to the
constitution of the United States, which had given to Congress the
power to admit states into the Union, not to create them, as the bill
proposed to do ; and, in the next place, that the provision in the bill
for a future division of the California into other States, was inconsistent
with the rights of a sovereign State. They further objected to the
bill on account of the claim made by Texas to the whole of that part
of New Mexico which lies east of the Rio Grande, since the new State
would be thereby involved with the State of Texas, in the litigation of
a question that ought to be previously determined.
Some days afterwards, Mr. Douglas offered a substitute for the bill
against which the judiciary committee had reported, which was re-
ceived by the senate: in consequence of which substitute, and of the
several amendments offered to it, the subject was referred to a special
committee * of seven members.
As chairman of that committee, on the 29th of January, he offered
* Messrs. Douglas of Illino : s, Johnson of Maryland, Jones of Iowa, Clayton of
Delaware, Davis of Mississippi, Badger of North Carolina, and Niles of Connecticut.
1S49. ] History of 1849.— United States. 3 1 7
amendments to the bill referred to them, by which bill a portion of
California, according to designated limits, should be set apart as the
territory of one State, and should be admitted as one of the States of
the Union, as soon as the people had formed a constitution and estab-
lished a government; and that the residue of the country acquired from
Texas should, in like manner, become a State, under the name of New
Mexico, as soon as it contained the proper number of inhabitants, and
formed a Constitution and state government ; by which course he sought
to obviate the constitutional objection made to his original bill by the
judiciary committee.
The question of admitting the new territories was then suffered to
sleep by both parties, as probably both despaired of obtaining a satis-
factory vote on it, relative to the subject of slavery; but on the 21st
of February, Mr. Walker of Wisconsin, revived it in the anomalous
form of an amendment to an appropriation bill. This amendment de-
clared that the constitution of the United States, and all the laws con-
cerning navigation, the impost, the Indian tribes, and the government
lands, which were of a public nature, and applicable to the new terri-
tory, should be extended to it ; and the president was authorized and
required to establish such regulations in that territory as should be re-
quisite to administer justice and preserve order. Mr. Bell of Tennessee,
with a view of testing the sense of the senate, offered an amendment
to Mr. Walker's proposition, by which California was forthwith to be
admitted as a state. He supported it with great zeal and ability, but
it was unacceptable to both parties : one, because it did not contain the
Wilmot prohibition — and the other, because the exclusion of slaves,
by the people of California themselves, would be the almost certain
consequence of their having the rights of a State. But four members
voted for the amendment, while thirty-nine voted against it. In the
course of the debate on Mr. Walker's proposition, which occupied
several days, Mr. Drayton of New Jersey, offered an amendment by
which the president was authorized to establish a temporary govern-
ment in the new territories, as had been formerly done in Louisiana and
Florida. He was opposed to Mr. Walker's amendment, because it
was without precedent to admit a State before it had gone through the
stage of territorial government ; because it assumes to settle the boun-
dary between New Mexico and Texas; and because it undertakes to
extend the constitution of the United States over the new territories.
There were, moreover, strong objections to the admission of California
as a State, derived from the circumstances of that country ; from the
insufficiency of its original population — which, probably, did not exceed
15,000 persons; from the motley character of the adventurers who are
now flocking thither in pursuit of gold; from its vast area — entirely
too great for a single State — and, lastly, from the numerous tribes of
Indians it probably contains, for whose protection, we may, according
to past experience, find it a most troublesome duty to provide.
318 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [June,
Mr. Webster said that having opposed all wars which led to the
acquisition of those territories, and all treaties that ceded them, he was
not responsible for the present embarrassing state of things, which he
had always foreseen. He was, however, not disposed to dwell on the
past, nor yet to look too far into the future, but to look only to the
present, which is sufficient to occupy us. For this single object he had
laid a proposition before the senate, to provide a temporary govern-
ment for these territories.* He thought that, for the present, their
government must be substantially military, the first object being to
keep the peace. He was opposed to all amendments to the appropri-
ation bill which provided a government for these territories, there being
another bill before the senate, more suited to the purpose, and better
deserving the consideration of the senate. If that bill failed, he should
submit his proposition, by way of amendment, to the bill from the house,
which extended the revenue laws to the territories. He was also op-
posed to the extension of those laws to the territories, because it gave
unnecessary power to the executive, and would prove at once expen-
sive and nugatory, as had been the result of a similar provision for
Florida.
Mr. Foote, of Mississippi, supported Mr. Walker's amendment. After
vindicating the democratic party for their agency in the acquisition of
the new territories, he addressed an argument ad hominem to the sup-
porters of General Taylor's election, to show their inconsistency in
objecting to the discretionary powers which the proposed amendment
conferred on the President, while those who opposed his election show
no such want of confidence. He argued against Mr. Drayton's amend-
ment, as not going far enough; and then assailed Mr. Webster's,
because he was for giving to the territories a military government,
which he thought both unconstitutional and inexpedient, and which,
moreover, was inconsistent with Mr. Webster's exclusion of martial
law. He also objected to the provision for retaining "the existing
laws " of the territories, as repugnant to our settled principles of juris-
prudence, &c. He maintained, at some length, that the constitution
of the United States did extend to the new territories, they being ac-
quired by treaties, which is a part of the supreme law of the land. He
urged that the people of the slaveholding States ought not to be ex-
cluded from the new territories, as they virtually would be by excluding
their slaves, whose labour was as well suited to working mines as was that
of free men. He defended those States from the charge of wishing to
secede from the Union, which, however, he insisted they had the con-
* According to this proposition, the President was authorized to hold possession
of California and New Mexico, and there maintain the authority of the United States,
for which purpose, and to preserve order, he might send such part of the army and
navy as he deemed necessary. That until the end of the succeeding session of Con-
gress, unless Congress should sooner provide for the government of those territories,
the existing laws should be maintained, provided, however, that martial law should
not be declared.
1849.] History of 1849. — United States. 319
stitutional right to do ; and justified himself for the part he had taken
in calling the meeting of the southern members of Congress, in the senate
chamber, a few nights before.
The debate was continued the next day by Mr. Walker. He laid
great stress on the necessity for immediate action, as admitted by all
who had spoken on the subject. He professed himself disappointed
that the senator from Massachusetts, to whose political wisdom he
had been accustomed to look with reverence, had suggested nothing
adequate to the exigency of the occasion. He examined Mr. Web-
ster's amendments, in detail, for the purpose of showing that they
were either superfluous or inefficient. He denied that his proposition
was new in its essential points, or that it undertook to settle the boun-
dary line between the United States and Texas, but that it merely
applied to that territory west of the Rio del Norte that is beyond dis-
pute. The claim of Texas was purposely left undisturbed. He main-
tained that the constitution of the United States extended to the terri-
tories, and while he was as much opposed to slavery as any one, if the
constitution permitted the introduction of slaves into the territories,
he was willing to let them go ; and though that instrument may not,
by its own inherent force, reach the new territories, its provisions
might, as Mr. Berrien of Georgia asserted, certainly be extended to
them by an act of legislature. This proposition was here denied by
Mr. Drayton, and defended by Mr. Berrien. Mr. Walker vindicated
the southern States from the charge of being less attached to the Union
than the northern, and made references to a northern confederacy in
1804, to Aaron Burr, and the Hartford Convention ; and he again in-
sisted that this was the time to meet this question of slavery and ami-
cably settle it.
Mr. Hale of New Hampshire, after jocularly adverting to some of
the topics of declamation of those who had gone before him, denied
that the constitution of the United States, with all its elasticity, could
be made to extend over these territories. If its provisions could be
extended by legislation, they could in the same manner be taken away.
It could be extended to no people who were not parties to it, or who
did not assent to its provisions. He then referred to the course taken
at the preceding session on the Oregon bill, the appointment of a spe-
cial committee, the passage, in the senate, of the bill that committee
reported, and, finally, its rejection by the house. It was then found
necessary to meet the question boldly, it was so met, and " its settle-
ment very easily effected." The same thing could now be done. He
warmly remonstrated against planting slavery in the new territories,
against the instructions of the legislatures of every free State in the
Union. He said that when they had " tried and failed, it would be
time enough to tell their constituents they could not succeed." He
warned northern members who were afraid to meet this question of the
fate which awaited them on returning to their constituents, and he
320 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [June,
was for no amendment, no experiment, no compromise of any sort, but
for adhering to the old ordinance of 1787, " which perpetually ex-
cluded slavery from the North Western territory."
Mr. Butler of South Carolina had been inclined to vote for the
amendment offered by Mr. Drayton until he had heard the reasons
offered in support of it. He had understood Mr. Drayton to say that
if the constitution could be extended to the new territories, Congress
ought not to extend it, as it might give to the South some advantage
in the present contest. He pressed with great force the monstrous
injustice of seeking to withhold from the South any rights or benefits
which the constitution conferred on them. He then argued that the
constitution, the moment that territories are acquired by treaty, at-
taches itself to them — though the machinery of courts and officers may
be wanting; and he asked whether Congress could make a distinction
between the ports of California and New York as to the revenue laws,
or whether if the people of the territories gave aid to the enemy they
would not be guilty of treason. He preferred the amendment of Mr.
Walker, because it provides that the Constitution should be, if it was
not already in force in the territories ; because he was opposed to any
further compromises in which he had no faith ; because it may put this
subject beyond the control of agitating politicians; and may enable the
people of California to make a constitution for themselves. In what-
ever way they might decide the question of slavery, he should acqui-
esce. He adverted in conclusion to a remark of Mr. Drayton that the
highest honors of the republic had been bestowed on southern poli-
ticians, and remarked that the fact was not attributable to the institu-
tions of the South, but because those eminent men had won the confi-
dence of their fellow citizens, and because, perhaps, northern men were
less ambitious of political honors.
Mr. Webster remarked that the member from South Carolina had
said that the northern States have not observed the compromises of the
constitution; and though he was not bound to take up a glove that
was thrown to the world, yet if Mr. Butler would inform the senate
wherein Massachusetts had* broken those compromises, it would be his
duty to defend the State he represented, if able to do so. He denied
that a law could extend the constitution of the United States to the
territories — " the thing was utterly impossible." The whole autho-
rity of Congress on this subject is derived from the brief clause in the
constitution concerning territories, and we have never had a territory
governed as the United* States are governed, for while it remains a
territory it is no part of the United States.
Mr. Calhoun combated this doctrine, and maintained that the con-
stitution interprets itself in pronouncing itself to be " the supreme law
of the land." It is the supreme law, not merely within the limits of
the States, but wherever our flag waves. He said that the member
from Massachusetts admitted that the fundamental principles of the
1849.] History of \SA9.— United States. 321
constitution applied to the territories, and he asked if there could be a
more fundamental principle than that all the States had a community of
interest in all that belongs to the Union, and that there should be perfect
equality among them. On expressing some doubt whether the Supreme
Court had decided that the constitution did not extend to the territo-
ries, Mr. Webster replied that they had so decided, and urged further
arguments in support of the doctrine, when a spirited discussion took
place, in which both of the senators spoke several times.
Mr. Douglas was desirous that the senate should take up the bill
he had introduced for the admission of California rather than discuss
this amendment, but the senate adjourned without taking the question.
When the subject was resumed on the 28th, Mr. Bell offered ex-
planation of his former speech on the subject, which he said had been
misrepresented by other members, and he, at the same time, replied to
the arguments of Mr. Webster that the constitution of the United
States did not extend to the territories, in which he questioned the
fact of a decision by the supreme court on this point. He was followed
by Mr. Underwood, of Kentucky, who urged further arguments on
the same side, drawn both from the words of the constitution and the
principles of international law. He was for allowing the people of
California and New Mexico to settle the question of slavery for them-
selves, by organizing for them territorial governments, but not by
creating them into States, to which he was opposed. To refuse these
people the right to settle this question for themselves is injustice to the
southern States, and despotism to the territories. The debate was
continued by Mr. Hunter of Virginia, and Mr. Westcott of Florida,
in favour of the amendment, and Mr. Niles of Connecticut who was
opposed to it, both for the large powers it vested in the President, and
because it might be used to get around the Mexican law that excludes
slavery. Mr. Hunter disclaimed any such purpose as had apparently
been imputed to him by the senator from Connecticut, on whom he
retorted with some asperity, and stated that in supporting Mr. W T alker's
proposition he was actuated only by a desire to settle this vexed ques-
tion, and give peace, order, and government to the territories. The
question being then taken on Mr. Drayton's amendment which simply
gave to the President the power to provide a temporary government
for the territories, it was rejected by 47 nays to 8 yeas.
Before the question was taken on Mr. Walker's amendment, the
part relative to the extension of the United States was modified by these
words with his consent, " so far as its provisions can be applied to the
conditions of a territory." Mr. Underwood offered an amendment
which impliedly denied the claim of Texas to a part of the province of
New Mexico, which was on that account opposed by the senators from
Texas, Mr. Houston and Mr. Rusk, and also by "Mr. Webster, who
wished to remain uncommitted on that question. ' Mr. Underwood in-
sisted that his amendment was no more an expression of opinion on
322 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [June,
the Texas boundary than Mr. Walker's. It was however rejected.
The original amendment was then passed by 29 votes to 27.
The preceding debate took place in committee of the whole, and
two days afterwards, when the appropriation bill being before the se-
nate as reported, the discussion on Mr. Walker's amendment was re-
newed with unabated vigour.
Mr. Dix, of New York, noticed in succession the propositions of
Mr. Bell, which had been disposed of, and the three others yet before
the senate — that is, Mr. Douglas' bill for the admission of new terri-
tories as States, the bill from the house to provide for the collection of
revenue in the new territories, and Mr. Walker's amendment to the
appropriation bill, which last he considered the most objectionable of
all. He pointed out the difference between this amendment and the
cases of Louisiana and Florida, which have been relied on as prece-
dents. He then referred to the debates of the convention which formed
the Federal Constitution, to show that no State should be admitted into
the Union until it had gone through a course of probation as a terri-
tory ; — and that this consideration was particularly applicable to Cali-
fornia, which differed in so many ways from the other States that had
been admitted into the Union. He thought that territorial govern-
ments should be organized for California and New Mexico, and that
slavery should be there prohibited by Congress. He then gave a his-
torical review of slavery in the United States, down to the Ordinance
of 1787, which excluded slavery from the north western territories. In
this review he cited Mr. Jefferson's plan for the government of the
north western territories, laid before the old Congress in 1784, which
proposed to divide it into ten States, then designated by name and
boundary; and as it contained an express prohibition of slavery in the
form of a proviso, such prohibition ought henceforth to be known as
" the Jefferson proviso." He adverted to the uniform opposition of
some of the southern States, especially Virginia, to the slave trade, and
to the abolition of slavery in Mexico, first declared in 1829, and after-
wards confirmed in 1837 and 1844, and insisted that the introduction
of slaves into the new territories would be unjust to them. In answer
to the question of a member whether he considered that any injustice
would result to California by allowing them to do as they please in this
matter, he replied, that he was in favour of doing what the fathers of
the republic had done as to the north western territory ; — of prevent-
ing the extension of what they considered, and he considered, a great
evil. He proceeded to show that slaves were not needed in the new
territories, but added that they had been carried, and always would be
carried whithersoever they are not prohibited, of which he considered
Missouri an instance.
He said that when those who supported the Mexican war were
charged with the intention of acquiring territories with the view of car-
rying slaves thither, the charge was indignantly repelled ; yet in the
1849.] History of 1S49.— United States. 323
first attempt to establish a government in the territories thus acquired,
" the right is insisted on, the purpose is confessed." He then adverted
to the negotiation of the Mexican treaty, during which the Mexican
Commissioners expressed the utmost abhorrence at the introduction of
slavery in the territory they ceded. He concluded with referring to
the instructions from the State of New York on this subject two years
ago, and he declared now, as he declared then, she never would give
her consent that slavery should be carried where it does not exist, but
that in whatever way the question should be settled, her devotion to
the Union would remain unshaken.
Mr. Dickinson, of New York, was in favour of Mr. Walker's amend-
ment. In answer to the objections urged against it, he said that the
powers it proposed to vest in the President were not greater than had
been given in the cases of Louisiana and Florida : and that the charac-
ter of the motley population in California, which his colleague had
urged against the amendment, presented a strong argument in its fa-
vour, as it subjected them to the restraints of civil government. He
spake of the rapid advancement of these States since their independence,
notwithstanding the existence of slavery in one-half of them, and said
it had been wisely decided to prefer union with slavery, to slavery
without union. He remarked that the frantic outcry against slavery
was not confined to fanatics, as some allege, but was also raised by po-
litical ambition. The Ordinance of 1787 was passed before we had a
constitution of the United States, but the case is very different now —
besides, both the temporary and permanent governments established by
that ordinance were to pay their quotas of the federal debts, which no
one would now think of imposing on the territories. He denied that
Congress stands in the same relation to the people of the territories that
a state legislature does to the people of a state, or that Congress had a
right, under the constitution, to legislate for the people of a territory.
Congress may legislate for the property of territories, and may pre-
scribe general enactments to aid the infant settlements in forming a go-
vernment; and to this course the people of the territories had assented.
He urged that the people of New York were less excited on the sub-
ject of slavery than was represented by those who claim to speak for
them. They regard it indeed as an evil, and they abolished it when it
suited them to do so, but they know that it did not originate under the
constitution, and they are willing to leave its sins and vexations, as
well as its profits, with the States that still tolerate it. He referred to
the rights of the slaveholder under the constitution, and said it is as much
a violation of the letter and spirit of that constitution to harbor a fu-
gitive from the laws of a State, as " to protect a fugitive from justice."
The North, he said, as a people, wanted not this race among them, and
that the races cannot exist together " upon terms of equality," without
degrading both. He thought, nothing could subvert this happy Union
but " the formation of sectional parties," to create which is " the evil
324 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [June,
tendency of the times." He believed, however, that the greatest dan-
ger had passed away.
He did not consider himself bound by instructions, on which topic
he dilated. He thought it better to meet this agitation now than here-
after, as it must progressively increase, if not immediately checked. He
insisted that New York, in spite of the efforts of desperate politicians,
would respect the rights of other States, and would stand by " the
principles of non-interference and the constitution." He concluded
with professions of his fidelity to her interests and wishes.
Mr. Johnson, of Georgia, dilated upon the importance of providing
a government for our new possessions on the Pacific, on account of the
large number of our citizens who were attracted thither by the gold
mines ; of the revenue we should derive from impost, and the extensive
commerce likely to be carried on with China and other eastern coun-
tries from those territories. He adverted to the special committee ap-
pointed at the last session, on the subject of a territorial government
for Oregon, and the several points which the North conceded by way
of compromise, and gave in detail the history of the passage of the bill
which passed the senate by a large majority, but failed in the house of
representatives, — the consequence of which failure had been that citi-
zens of the southern States have not gone to California ; and the north-
ern States were alone reaping the benefit of the gold mines. He was,
therefore, in favour of the amendment, which if we did not adopt, we
must either pass the territorial bill sent from the house, or admit these ter-
ritories as States, or consign them to the horrors of anarchy. Of the three
alternatives presented, he greatly preferred Mr. Walker's proposition.
He maintained that the territories were the common property of the
several States, that the federal government was merely their trustee,
and that they could not be admitted into the Union without the con-
sent of the States, though he agreed that such consent might be inferred
from the consent of Congress; and he added that if Congress were to
attempt to impose unreasonable or unequal conditions on a new State,
it would be justified in forming for itself an independent government,
as Mr. Lowndes had shown on the Missouri question. He objected to
Mr. Douglas' proposition for the immediate admission of California
into the Union as contrary to established usage, and on several accounts
inexpedient. He said it was insisted that no bill for a territorial go-
vernment could be passed unless it contained the Wilmot proviso, and,
therefore, the south were urged to vote for a bill (Mr. Douglas')
which would lead to the same result. He could not be operated on by
this threat, though he would not vote against the admission of the ter-
ritories, because they would exclude slavery, provided they had gone
through the usual course of probation. He wished this quesnon settled,
as did all the southern States, provided it could be done on terms con-
sistent with their honor and safety, and that, almost without a dissent-
ing voice, at the last session, they supported the Missouri compromise.
1S49.J History of 1849.— United Slates. 325
He referred then to other points of controversy between the North and
the South, particularly the laws passed to prevent the recapture of fu-
gitive slaves, and an attempt to interdict the trade in slaves. He in-
sisted that a part of New Mexico and California was adapted to slave
labour, and he defended the institution of slavery in the abstract by re-
ference to several passages in the Old and New Testament. That thus
sanctioned by religion, it was also expressly recognised and protected
by the constitution, and that the peace, the prosperity, the honor and
safety of the southern States were all staked in defending it. All they
asked of Congress was non-interference. The South was devoted to
the Union, but it was the Union which w T as formed "to establish jus-
tice, ensure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, pro-
mote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty."
Mr. Niles considered all the propositions to provide for the new ter-
ritories to have been framed for the purpose of escaping the great ques-
tion the subject presented, and which it was their duty to meet. He
adverted playfully to the zeal of Mr. Douglas and Mr. Walker on this
subject, and to the disputed claim of originating it made by Mr. Foote,
He said the discussion had all been on one side, with the exception of
what w 7 as said by Mr. Dix. He proceeded to reply to Mr. Dickinson
of New York, and first as to the great agitation caused by this ques-
tion, for which the other side and Mr. Dickinson himself were chiefly
responsible. He affirmed that the Wilraot proviso when offered pro-
duced no excitement, and received, he believed, thirty votes or near it,
in the house from the slaveholding States.
This was contradicted by Mr. Butler, and Mr. King, of Alabama,
said there was but one vote from a southern State for it.
Mr. Niles resumed: The bill which contained the proviso certainly
produced no agitation here, and passed as an ordinary bill. What, he
asked, has produced the change? It was, he said, brought to bear on
the presidential contest, and was used for this purpose by a portion of
the people of the North. Had the Northern States been united on the
question, it would have passed away quietly. The South too shared
in this responsibility. They made it a test question in the election of
president, which contributed to divide the democratic party in the
North. He adverted to Mr. Dickinson's declaration that he never had
voted for the extension of slavery, and he aimed to show that both at
this session and the last he had virtually done so. He combated Mr.
Johnson's position that the course pursued by the North on this ques-
tion was "an aggression on the South." The South being benefited
by one decision, and the North by another, if there was any aggression
it was natuial. But as neither had any exclusive right, there was no
aggression. He renewed the objections to the amendment on account
of the transfer of a part of New Mexico to Texas, a slave State, and
the large powers vested in the President, and he said our citizens there
would not submit to such despotism. If w T e failed to act, the people
vol. ii. — june, 1S49. 23
326 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [June,
of California would establish a provisional government for themselves.
He had no fears of anarchy from men who had arms in one hand and
the Bible in the other. He asked the member from New York how
this amendment could be reconciled with the Nicholson letter which
asserted that the right of governing a territory was in the people of
that territory, and not in Congress. As to the constitution, he main-
tained that if it extended at all to the territories, it is only so far as its
powers are there necessary and applicable, and he made numerous re-
ferences to the constitution and its amendments in support of his views.
He exhibited a comparison between the free and the slave States, to
show that the claims of the former were not unreasonable. The free
States have a larger population on a smaller territory — they averaging
27 to the square mile, while the slave States average but 9, and it will
take perhaps a century to make the population in the slave States as
dense as it now is in the free States — and since the new territories, ex-
cluding the worthless portions, are not greater than Texas, which was
given up to the South, those territories ought in justice to be given to
the North. He then replied to what had been personal in the speech
of Mr. Hunter — and to Mr. Butler's remarks on the large share of the
public honors conferred on southern men, which, after being called to
order by several members, and sustained by the chair, he presumed
must be attributed to their "peculiar institutions." He noticed the re-
solutions of the legislatures of Virginia, South Carolina, and Florida.
He contrasted the patriotic opposition of Virginia to the alien and se-
dition law with her present course, when she "speaks not in the cause of
liberty but of oppression." South Carolina, though a very respectable
State, had suffered from a nervous affection, which seemed to assume a
■chronic form. He said the advocates of slavery used bold language,
but that violence did not indicate a just cause. He considered the real
dangers to the Union were to be found in the extension of slavery in a
government like ours, where there is no standing army to preserve or-
der. That slave labour in agriculture deteriorates the soil, and deso-
lates the earth, and that every friend of the Union ought to resist the
extension of slavery as unjust to the free States, and injurious to the
whole.
Mr. Mason defended the course of Virginia, which, he said, was not
uncertain, and who has been responded to by the States further South.
Her declaration is, that if there be legislation by Congress, which shall
forbid her people to migrate to those territories with any species of
property whatsoever, such legislation shall be resisted "at every hazard,
and to the last extremity."
Mr. Niles asked if that was a threat?
Mr. Mason replied, " No more a threat than the declared purpose
of an honorable man to defend himself from impending assault." He
also adverted to the terms, "mode and measure of redress," contained
in the resolutions, and on which Mr. Niles had commented. He re-
1849.] History of 1849.— United States. 327
marked, he was not afraid to say it would be " such a measure " as
would " redress the wrong." It would be more — it would " place the
State of Virginia beyond the reach of further aggression." He added
that two elections had taken place since she passed those resolutions,
and he was "yet to hear the first voice from the people of the state in
condemnation." They have sustained the legislature without regard
to party distinction, and will do so at every hazard.
Mr. Phelps, of Vermont, considered the whole discussion as mat
apropos. He was convinced that this irritating question could not be
settled by the present Congress, and that, therefore, the appropriation
bill should not be embarrassed by it. He thought if the subject were
let alone, it would adjust itself in a few years. He had voted last year
in favor of the report of the select committee, but he was opposed to
the present amendment. The question was then taken at a late hour
of the night, when it was carried by 25 votes against 18.
While the subject of slavery, in relation to the new territories, thus
agitated the senate, it was also the theme of animated discussion in the
House of representatives, but with a very different result.
The bill introduced into the House for the government of the new
territories, containing the Wilmot proviso, several times during the
session afforded occasion for warm debate; and, in some instances, the
speakers called forth an admiration, which, perhaps, had not been
equalled since the Missouri question : yet as their arguments were sub-
stantially the same as those urged in the Senate, of which we have
already given an abstract, we forbear to take a more particular notice
of them. This bill, near the close of the session, passed the house by
119 votes to 81 ; and when the appropriation bill was sent to the house,
from the Senate, Mr. Walker's amendment was also struck out by a
decisive majority.
The two Houses of Congress thus disagreeing on this question, and
each one adhering to the ground it had taken, no government was or-
ganized for the new territories, and they were left under that military
authority which was created by the laws of war, and which, as Mr.
Buchanan thought,* must continue, from the necessity of the case, until
a legitimate government was provided for them by Congress, or by
themselves. The two houses, however, so far concurred as to pass an
act for extending the revenue laws to California, in which they made
a port of entry at San Francisco, and three ports of delivery at San
Diego, Monterey, and another to be selected by the secretary of the
treasury, near the junction of the Gila and Colorado, on the Gulf of
California.
So engrossing was this subject of slavery, that the members in both
houses availed themselves of every occasion to express their sentiments
on it. Thus on the 10th of January, a petition from Kentucky asking
* In his letter, written in October last, to W. V. Voorhies, appointed a post-office
agent for the new territories.
32S Quarterly Register and Magazine. [June,
for an annual appropriation to assist the Colonization society in trans-
porting colored persons to Liberia, gave rise to a warm debate, which
occupied the senate until a late hour.
Mr. Underwood, who had presented the petition, asked its reference
to the judiciary committee, with instructions to inquire whether Con-
gress possessed the constitutional power of making the appropriation,
and if so, whether it was expedient to exercise it. He professed also
to have another purpose. The southern States are habitually reproached
for the institution of slavery, on which it is known that their citizens
are divided: many of them being willing to manumit their slaves, pro-
vided they could be sent out of the country. He wished, therefore, to
test the opinion of northern men on the power and expediency of appro-
priating money to relieve the country of this evil. He saw no diffe-
rence between this case and that of appropriations for the removal of
Indians and recaptured Africans. He considered all attempts to sup-
press discussion on this subject hopeless — he wished to ascertain the
sentiments of the North. He was opposed to the refusal of Congress to
hear petitions on the subject, under the 21st rule, which had only aggra-
vated the evil. He did indeed consider that the right of petition had
its limits, which he stated, but still he was for hearing those petitions,
and allowing free discussion.
Mr. Metcalfe, his colleague, knew the petitioner, and testified to his
respectability. He is a slave owner, and is desirous of emancipation.
There are thousands disposed to the same course, if the liberated per-
sons can be sent out of the country : but there is the difficulty. Some
of the States have prohibited their introduction, and the citizens of Ken-
tucky would not tolerate their remaining there in political equality with
themselves. As the policy of emancipation is now agitated in Kentucky,
it is important to know if it can be aided by the national treasury
in transporting them. There would be no philanthropy in liberating
them, and allowing them to remain in the state, as their condition would
be thereby rendered worse — a fact which well deserves the considera-
tion of all who move in this matter.
Mr. Hale, of New Hampshire, made acknowledgments for the liberal
course of Mr. Underwood, but dissented from his restrictions on the
right of petition, which he severally examined. He said the northern
men had been upbraided for being aggressive on this subject. He
averred that their conduct had been pusillanimous — that even women
and children reproached them for their timidity. Slavery, he said, has
so ruled this government, that if they attempt to exercise the right of
the beggar, and cry for some relief, they are denounced as insolent.
They had been too submissive. He had no wish to interfere with the
rights of the South, he would go to the " full limits and letter of the
bond ;" but when his friends, in the name of humanity, ask not to tran-
scend their constitutional obligations, he desired they may not be called
ao-aressive.
1849.] History of 1849. — United States. 329
Mr. Douglas denied that the North had suffered degradation from
the South. They had always maintained their rights, and if they had
shown any submission, it was only to the constitution. He had voted
to exclude abolition petitions from the halls of Congress, and to keep
down the spirit of fanaticism, which was arraying the North and the
South against each other, to build up political factions. He wished to
execute the powers of the government in that spirit of conciliation which
brought the constitution into existence. If they would settle this ques-
tion, let us, he said, banish this agitation from these halls. Let us
remove the causes which produce it — let us settle it in the territory
acquired, so as to satisfy the honor, and respect the feelings of all. Do
not insult one section by the prohibition of slavery, nor defy the other
by threats of disunion. Bring the new territories into the Union as
States, and let them settle the question of slavery as any other question.
Neither the North nor the South have any right to enforce their pecu-
liar notions on them. Let it be settled in this district in the same way,
by a retrocession to Maryland.
Mr. Underwood denied that the right of petition could be assimilated
to the right of prayer. He regarded it as a practical thing, and it was
not a matter of right with most of the petitioners, as slavery did not
affect them. He admitted, in answer to a question from Mr. Hale, that
the people of the United States contributed to the expense of support-
ing slavery in the district to some extent, but this had an unappreciable
bearing on the subject, and afforded no justification to petitioners to ask
for the repeal or modification of a law w T hich did not operate on them-
selves.
Mr. Drayton re-enforced the objections he had made to instructions
to the judiciary committee, when the petition was presented. He was
for leaving the whole subject to the discretion of the committee. Be-
sides, by forestalling the action of the committee, they would drag into
the question the only institution — the Colonization society — which now
conciliates the kind feeling both of the North and the South. On his
motion, the instructions to the committee were struck out.
Mr. Mason could not give his sanction to any inquiry on the subject
of slavery, as it was not permitted by the constitution," and it could be
approached in no form in the Senate without injury to that institution.
He presumed that no one who was capable of understanding the con-
stitution, believed that Congress had any authority to appropriate money
for the proposed object — he was, therefore, opposed to the reference.
Mr. Davis, of Mississippi, argued against the right of petition on this
subject, and was opposed to the reference. He was even unwilling to
allow any influence to operate on the present convention in Kentucky,
one way or the other. He denied that slavery in the United States
had made any man a slave more than he was before. Slaves were
originally purchased from warring bands in Africa, and were thus saved
from a more degrading servitude. Slavery had brought with it com-
330 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [June,
merce, which was the parent of civilization. He invoked others to
follow the example of the senator from Illinois, (Mr. Douglas,) and
said that if our republican institutions are destined to fall, it is this ques-
tion which w T ill destroy them.
Mr. Butler was opposed to the reference. He had previously de-
termined to be drawn into no discussion by petitions relative to slavery,
and if the present petition were referred to the judiciary committee, he
should ask to be discharged from it.
Mr. Berrien and Mr. Niles both considered the appropriation asked
for to be unconstitutional, but were in favor of referring the petition.
On the motion of Mr. Dickinson for indefinite postponement, there
were 27 ayes to 23 noes.
A similar discussion was called forth on the 22d of January, when
Mr. Dix presented to the senate a preamble and resolutions, passed by
the legislature of New York. The senators of that State were in-
structed, and its representatives requested, on the following points:
1. To procure the passage of laws for the government of the new
territories, and that involuntary servitude, except for crime, be there
excluded.
2. That the territory between the Nueces and the Rio Grande, and
that part of New Mexico lying east of the Rio Grande, are the common
property of the United States, and that the senators and representatives
of the State use their efforts to protect it from the unfounded claims of
Texas, and to prohibit the extension over it of the laws of Texas, or of
domestic slavery.
3. That the existence of prisons for the confinement of slaves, and
of marts for their sale, at the seat of the national government, is viewed
by the legislature of New York with "deep regret and mortification,"
and that they ought to be forthwith abolished.
4. That the senators and representatives of the State use strenuous
efforts to procure a law that shall protect slaves from " unjust impri-
sonment," and " shall effectually put an end to the slave trade in the
District."
Mr. Rusk, of Texas, said he w T ould not question the jurisdiction of
the legislature of New York on the slavery question, which seemed
likely to agitate the Union from one extremity to the other, but he
would question their jurisdiction relative to the boundaries of Texas.
The territory claimed by his State has cost her a ten years' war, and
the loss of hundreds of lives: and he was prepared at all times to prove
that the Rio Grande is her boundary, but would have preferred that
the question had been left to the proper jurisdiction. Texas would
surrender her rights only with her existence as a sovereign State.
Mr. Yulee of Florida, was opposed to printing the resolutions, as
they were insulting to fifteen States, in saying, as the preamble did,
that " it would be unjust to Mexico arid California, and revolting to
1S49.] History of \SA9.— United States. 331
the spirit of the age," to permit domestic slavery, from which they are
now free, to be introduced among them.
Mr. Dickinson said there had been no previous instance of refusing
to print the resolutions of a sovereign State. Though he differed in
sentiment from a majority of the Legislature of his State on this subject,
he thought she had a right to be heard through her Legislature.
Mr. Foote was also in favor of printing, according to precedent,
and the respect due to a sovereign State.
Mr. Dix examined the preamble and resolutions seriatim, to show
that they contained nothing on the subject of slavery which had not
been reiterated in speeches and resolutions there and elsewhere. That
as to the boundary of Texas, they expressed the opinion entertained
by a large majority of the State Legislatures. When the subject came
up, he would listen to the senator from Texas with respectful atten-
tion. That the last resolution embodies the opinions of the members
of the Legislature, on the traffic in slaves in the District, which con-
cerns the people of the whole Union. That this traffic had been pre-
vented by a grand jury of Alexandria 46 years ago; and that John
Randolph of Virginia, in 1816, introduced a resolution to inquire if such
traffic existed: that the inhabitants of Washington had presented it as
a grievance. He had in his hand a memorial to Congress from the
inhabitants of the District, in 1828, praying for the gradual abolition
of slavery, which he then read. It was signed by 1060 persons, among
whom were persons of the first respectability. This memorial goes
much farther than the New York resolutions, and uses much stronger
language.
Mr. Mason was in favor of printing, because every State has a right
to be heard, and he moreover wished these resolutions to be reported
to the southern States in the very language in which they were uttered :
he wanted nothing suppressed. He expected Virginia also to speak,
and should ask that her resolutions should also be received and printed.
He drew a distinction between the people of this District speaking of
their own institutions, and the people of New York, where slavery no
longer exists; for such a State to speak of an institution which exists
in fifteen States, as " revolting to the spirit of the age," was to hold
" the language of contumely and indignity."
Mr. Dix remarked that New York did not speak of slavery as it
exists in the States, but only of its introduction into new territories,
where it does not exist, and whose inhabitants have petitioned against it.
Mr. Mason insisted on the offensive character of the language used,
but said it was important to the southern States, to know the senti-
ments of the northern States, and in the very terms used. He said
that if the introduction of slavery in the Territories, the common pro-
perty of all the States, was persisted in, there would be " no other al- .
ternative but submission or resistance," and he appealed to history to
show whether his constituents were likely to choose submission.
332 Quarterly Register and Magazine. [June,
Mr. Rusk was in favor of printing the resolutions. He asked if
New York had alone sent her armies to conquer Mexico. He averred
that the little State of Texas had contributed more men to that object
than the State of New York; that these resolutions were based on the
petition from New Mexico, but that petition emanated from a few indi-
viduals of doubtful character, and he traced it to local intrigue. He
vehemently remonstrated against the interference with the boundaries
of a sovereign State.
Mr. Yulee affirmed that the South had furnished more than its quota
of troops to the Mexican war.
Mr. Dickinson replied that New York had raised her full quota, but
that her troops were prevented from marching, out of favor to the
South.
Mr. Yulee was opposed to receiving the resolutions on account of
their disrespectful language, now introduced for the first time.
Mr. King, of Alabama, stated that resolutions of this character from
other States had contained language highly improper, but while he
regretted that such should have been used on the present occasion, he
thought the State of New York had a right to be heard, and that the
publication and diffusion of her sentiments would have a better effect
than their suppression.
Mr. Butler and Mr. Berrien were also in favor of printing the reso-
lutions.
Mr. Davis, of Mississippi, was opposed to the printing, and pro-
nounced the assertion, as to the prisons in which slaves " are unjustly
and illegally immured," in the District, a falsehood.
MrrFitzpatrick, of Alabama, was opposed to printing the resolutions,
as he would not aid in " disseminating the slanders and assaults " made
upon his section of the country and its institutions.
Mr. Niles wished to know of the member from Florida, (Mr. Yulee,)
who had said the Union was " tottering to its base," whether he knew
of any combination there or elsewhere against the Union.
Mr. Yulee answered that the Union was tottering under the blows
of northern fanatics and northern injustice. He places liberty before
union.
Mr. Douglas was in favor of printing, according to general usage.
He does not believe that the question endangers the Union. The reso-
lutions had fallen into the common error of supposing it was wished to
extend slavery to countries now free. He knew of none who wished
that, but only that the Territories should decide this question as they
pleased.
Mr. Downs was opposed to the printing, as the facts stated in the
resolutions were false. He called ,in question the fact that the people
of New Mexico did send such a memorial to Congress; it had upon its
face only fourteen names, but two of which were American. He doubted
the correctness of the statement as to the slave trade and slave prisons
1849.] History of '1849.— United States. 333
in the District. He adverted to the course of the Northern States, as
to the recovery of fugitive slaves; which he said was practically abro-
gated. He admitted that the Union was in danger from these agita-
tions. The people of the South were attached to the Union, and if it
should be destroyed, its destruction would not be caused by them, but
by the " gradual, constant, and determined purpose of the North to de-
prive them of some of their great constitutional privileges."
Mr. Foote justified himself for differing from his friends on the ques-
tion of printing the resolutions.
Mr. Niles alleged that the Senator from Louisiana, (Mr. Downs.)
was mistaken as to the difficulties in recovering fugitive slaves. He
denied that the North was disposed to interfere with slavery in the
States. He thought that the Union might be endangered by extending
slavery with the extension of our limits, and the endeavours to prevent
its extension in Territories was very different from interfering with it in
the States. The course of Congress towards those Territories should
be just; but whether just or not, it does not invade the rights of the
States. If this question of slavery in the Territories be decided one
way, one portion of the country regards it as an aggression ; if in an-
other way, then the other portion so regards it. He was deciding it
as the interests of the whole Union required.
Mr. Butler stated the facts of a particular case, relied on by Mr.
Niles, in which a master had recovered damages for personal injury to
himself, as well as for the value of his fugitive slaves. He alleged that
it is a penal offence in many of the States for any municipal officer to
aid a master in the recovery of his runaway slaves.
Mr. Dickinson declared that there was no such law in New T York,
and Mr. Cameron said there was none in Pennsylvania.
Mr. Butler said that a bill had been introduced into the Senate which
made it the duty of State officers to aid in the recovery of fugitive
slaves. When that should come up, he feared that many of those who
profess respect for the constitution, would not aid him in the support
of that bill. He said that the discussions in Congress had made the
slaves discontented. He believed it had been better for the country
if Congress had not met for the last ten years. He insisted on the
South's sharing in what had been purchased by its blood ; it was vain
to say that the institution of slavery in the States had rtot been invaded
— it had been invaded, and the lives of himself and his children had
been thereby put in jeopardy.
Mr. Dickinson again stated there was no such law in New York as
Mr. Butler had supposed; there had been some such proposition in the
legislature, but was rejected.
A case in Michigan concerning fugitive slaves having been mentioned
by Mr. Downs, Mr. Felch of that State, said, that was a suit brought
to recover damages for the loss of slaves, when full justice was done to
the injured party.
334 Quarterly Register and Magazine, [June,
Mr. Baldwin, of Connecticut, said that it had formerly been the ge-
neral opinion in the North, that under the constitution, the States were
Bound to provide for the surrender of fugitive slaves. Connecticut
had, accordingly, passed a law for that purpose; but it being afterwards
decided by the Supreme Court that this duty devolved, not on the
States, but the Federal Government, Connecticut repealed her law, and
going a step further, prohibited her magistrates from acting.
Mr. Downs referred to a particular case of interference with the re-
covery of a fugitive slave in New York.
Mr. Metcalfe said he had been often asked where Kentucky would
go in case of a separation of the States. He believed she would unite
neither with the North nor the South when separated, but would unite
with both when constituting one whole. Now, said he, when thrones
are every where tottering; when the world is looking to this confede-
racy as the polar star of human liberty, and the nations of Europe are
endeavouring to shape their governments after our own, let it not go
forth that this our Union is in danger. Let our motto be, " Union now,
and Union for ever."
On the motion to print, there were 45 ayes and 6 noes.
Besides these discussions when the merits of the slave question were
directly presented to the consideration of the legislature, the same ex-
citing topic was discussed in the House of Representatives, in commit-
tee of the whole on a bill for carrying into execution the 12th arti-
cle* of the Mexican treaty, — especially by Mr. Thompson of Ken-
tucky, and Mr. Crisfield of Maryland.
It was thought better to present in an uninterrupted form all that
was done at the last session of Congress on a subject which has ex-
cited more interest, both in Congress and out of it, than any other,
and which still greatly agitates the public mind, especially in the
southern States, and may be revived in unabated vigour at the next
session.
Let us now revert to the other important proceedings of Congress.
On the 2d of January, the President sent to the House of Represen-
tatives an answer to their resolution of the 18th of December, in-
quiring by what authority duties had been established in Mexico by
the Secretary of the Treasury, and that the revenue thence arising
had been appropriated to the support of the army in Mexico.
After referring to his annual message in 1847, and to two other
messages during the preceding session to the Senate and House of Re-
presentatives, responding to their several calls, he states that the du-
ties referred to were not established by the Secretary of the Treasury,
but by a military order issued by the President, and he cites copiously
from those messages, to show that this course Avas justified by the laws
of war, and was farther recommended by considerations of policy.
The mode of levying contributions authorized by the right of Congress,
* The article providing for the payment of fifteen millio.is of dollars.
1849.] History of 1849.— United States. 335
he said, was altogether discretionary, and the mode adopted had been
sanctioned by the treaty of peace with Mexico. As to his constitu-
tional power, he assimilates the right of levying contributions to the
right of blockade, which it is not disputed the President has, though
the constitution does not expressly give it ; and he adds that these
contributions mainly contributed to hasten the peace.
On the 8th of January, the bill for reciprocal free trade between
the United States and Canada in certain agricultural products, came
up for consideration, on the benefits of which arrangement to both
countries, Mr. Dix dwelt with much emphasis.
Mr. Pearce of Maryland opposed < the bill on the ground that the
reciprocity was delusive. The bill, he said, provides that wheat
and certain other products may be imported into either country from
the other free of duty. Should it pass, not a dollar's worth of these
products would come into the United States from Canada, but the ef-
fect would be to give her a share of our home market. He denied
that the effect of the bill would be to open the St. Lawrence to the
United States, and though it should, he considered that navigation,
with the existing artificial channels of commerce, to be of no value.
Formerly, when Great Britain had differential duties in favour of co-
lonial wheat, we did import grain into Canada which was shipped as
colonial produce to England; but since these duties have ceased, that
trade is at an end. He further objected that by the operation of our
treaties with other nations, those nations might insist on importing
their breadstuffs into this country, free of duty. He referred to the
convention with France in 1831, which lowered the duties on French
wine, as an example. He insisted that the bill would not profit the
agriculture of the United States, and that if it rendered any benefit, it
would be only to the millers of New York.
Mr. Niles 'of Connecticut supported the bill, as being mutually be-
neficial. In general, both countries have a surplus of the articles in
which a reciprocal free trade is allowed, and consequently there would
in general be no importation of them ; but if, on extraordinary occa-
sions, either should want what the other could spare, both coun-
tries would be benefited. As we possess greater resources and facili-
ties than Canada in every thing except timber, we should derive the
most benefit. Our carrying trade would also profit by the arrangement,
and much of their traffic would pass through the United States. He
considered that as Canada is not a foreign power, but only a colony,
the advantages granted